Comparamos el tomo recopilatorio con el cómic de grapa.

Comparamos can mean either:

• we compare (present tense), or
• we compared (simple past / preterite)

This happens because the nosotros form looks the same in both tenses for many -ar verbs.

So by itself, Comparamos el tomo recopilatorio con el cómic de grapa could mean either:

• We compare the collected volume with the staple-bound comic, or
• We compared the collected volume with the staple-bound comic

Usually the surrounding context tells you which one is intended.

In Spanish, subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.

• comparamos = we compare / we compared

So Spanish normally says:

• Comparamos...

rather than:

• Nosotros comparamos...

You could add nosotros for emphasis or contrast, but it is not necessary.

Spanish usually uses the definite article more often than English.

Here:

• el tomo recopilatorio
• el cómic de grapa

Both are treated as definite noun phrases: the collected volume and the staple-bound comic.

Even when English might sometimes sound more natural with a more general expression, Spanish often keeps the article.

Tomo means volume. In comics/publishing, it often refers to a thicker book-format edition.

Recopilatorio means collected or compilation-type, from the idea of gathering material together.

So tomo recopilatorio is a collected volume: a book that gathers previously published comic issues into one edition.

Literally, grapa means staple.

So cómic de grapa means something like:

• staple-bound comic
• single comic issue in the thin, stapled format

The structure noun + de + noun is very common in Spanish to describe type, material, purpose, or characteristic.

Examples of the pattern:

• camisa de algodón = cotton shirt
• mesa de madera = wooden table
• cómic de grapa = staple-bound comic

So de grapa describes the format of the comic.

In Spanish, adjectives often come after the noun, especially when they classify or describe it in a fairly neutral, objective way.

So:

• tomo recopilatorio

is the normal order.

If an adjective comes before the noun in Spanish, it often adds a more subjective, stylistic, or emphatic nuance. Here, this is just a straightforward classification, so noun + adjective is the expected order.

The verb comparar is commonly used with con when you compare one thing with another:

• comparar A con B = to compare A with B

So:

• Comparamos el tomo recopilatorio con el cómic de grapa

follows a very standard pattern.

You may also sometimes see comparar A y B in some contexts, but comparar ... con ... is especially clear and common.

Cómic is a borrowed word, and in Spanish it is normally written with an accent to show the stress:

• có-mic

Without the accent, the pronunciation rules of Spanish would suggest a different stress pattern.

Also note that cómic is often treated as a masculine noun in Spain:

• el cómic
• los cómics

It is singular here:

• el cómic

If it were plural, it would be:

• los cómics

So this sentence is comparing:

• one collected volume with
• one staple-bound comic

Spanish often uses the singular with the definite article to talk about something as a category or representative example.

So el cómic de grapa can mean:

• a specific staple-bound comic, or
• the staple-bound comic format/type in a more general sense

This is similar to how English can sometimes say things like the lion is a dangerous animal, where the singular represents a whole class.

Context tells you whether the sentence is about a particular comic or the format more generally.

A broad Spain pronunciation would be roughly:

com-pa-RA-mos el TO-mo re-co-pi-la-TO-rio con el CO-mic de GRA-pa

A few useful notes:

• cómic is stressed on the first syllable: CO-mic
• recopilatorio is stressed on TO
• grapa is stressed on GRA
• In much of Spain, c before i in cómic does not make a th sound here, because it is just a normal k sound. The th-like sound in Spain happens with z and c before e/i, but not with cómic.

Sometimes, yes, but not always with exactly the same tone.

In Spain:

• cómic is very common and widely understood.
• tebeo is also a traditional Spanish word for comic, often sounding a bit more old-fashioned, familiar, or culturally specific.

However, in specialist or collector contexts, cómic de grapa is a very natural expression because it refers to a specific publication format. So in this sentence, cómic is a very suitable choice.