Wildstorm’s Blizzard Brands Shift From Single Issues To OGNs

For readers of Wildstorm's Blizzard MMORPG-adapted franchises "Warcraft and "Starcraft," the argument for or against "waiting for the trade" seems to have been settled for them.

IGN reports that the properties have been canceled in single-issue format, being transferred to the larger collected editions.

Now, before you assume the worst, the move doesn't seem motivated by sales numbers. After all, according to ICv2's October charts "World of Warcraft" is in the top 200, with "Starcraft" in the top 300. Wildstorm says it's a matter of packaging content.

"While WildStorm and Blizzard loved the stories being told in the regular monthly comic-book series, we decided that the graphic novel would be a more suitable medium for the tales we wanted to tell next," Hank Kanalz, VP & General Manager of Wildstorm told IGN. "The larger format will give our artists and storytellers more room to explore Blizzard's rich, varied worlds and flesh out the characters that inhabit these places."

Both series will wrap in January, meaning fans will have to wait a bit for new content. Wildstorm will reportedly be making an announcement about its plan for OGNs soon.

The move follows a pattern from parent company DC Comics, having released numerous OGNs through Vertigo in recent years (most notably through its digest-sized crime line) as well as its "Earth One" line set to reimagine Batman and Superman.

Could 2010 be the year of the trade? These examples may seem like a drop in the overall publishing bucket right now, but that's how trends start, no?