Prestige format

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Prestige format is a term coined by DC Comics but now in wider use to refer to a square-bound comic book with cardstock covers. A prestige format comic book is usually longer than a normal, stapled 32-page comic (sometimes referred to as a pamphlet). Prestige comics typically also have higher quality paper and printing than pamphlet comics.

The first comic to be referred to as "prestige format" was Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, published by DC Comics in 1986. The term has been used regularly by DC since that time, and has seen use by other comic publishers as well, but is not used universally. Sometimes squarebound comics are simply said to be in a squarebound format.