Trade paperbacks have become a big trend in comics over the past 5-10 years. A lot of Marvel and DC monthly comics now feature 6-12 issue storylines so that they can be packaged as a TPB. Unfortunately, this means most monthly comics are paced with TPB's in mind, so they contain a lot of setup and filler. The average comic from the mid-80's probably featured 3 or 4 times the action and plot advancement than today's do.