I'm a long time comic fan. I'm still a Transformers fan today because the comics are what kept me interested in Transformers when my peers would otherwise have put toys aside.
However the price of the comics has risen high enough that I'm considering cancelling my order and buying the stories in trade format only.
Take for example the current ongoing series.
The first six issues individually ($8 each) = $48
The first six issues in trade format = $30
The first trade from bookdepository = $20
The first trade from Target = $13
Looked at this way, why am I spending 3.5 to 2.4 times as much for the individual issues compared to the trade?
I don't know how many of IDW's trades will be released to local stores (Vol 2? Ironhide? Drift?) but even importing the IDW ones is a big saving.
The trade gives all the covers, and the whole story in one nice book easily accessed from the bookshelf.
The IDW books are nice in that they don't disrupt the story flow with adverts, keeping them all at the back. Some of the individual issues though have felt light on (the Ironhide series for example) so it's not until you have multiple issues does the story seem complete.
I can't think of any recent IDW series where buying the issues was really necessary except for Last Stand of the Wreckers. That series featured profiles in the individual issues that weren't reprinted in the trade. The trade however featured two new profiles, a mosaic story, and best of all a brand new prose story that is much more interesting than the profiles.
The downside of the trades is the wait for the story, but the comics don't get discussed that much here. And aside from the occasional spoilers in someone's signature it's easy to avoid the reviews until the books have been read.
The other downside is that by not buying the monthly issues it potentially hurts whether the series will continue to be produced at all. If the market can support things like Ironhide, Sector 7 and Drift, then the books must be going okay for now.
About 6 years ago I stoped buying X-Men comics on a month to month basis but have successfully moved on to just buying the trades (and buying more series in trade than I ever did in regular format). I think I'm about ready to do that now with Transformers.