It should be collected / It should be in print

What runs or complete series should be collected, or what graphic novels should still be in print?

I read Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham (by Mike Mignola, it's basically a Hellboy-style comic that has the cast of Batman) and realized that it's not in print despite the interest it could have.

Noncenti and Romita Jr's Daredevil.

All-Star Squadron. Man, did I love that series - it was my entry point for JSA and the 40s heroes.

R.F. Outcault's Buster Brown

TEH COMPLEAT EYEBEAM!

A big Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle Batman collection would be good.

I have to assume that the royalties issues that have stymied a few Showcase volumes (most likely including a theoretical All-Star Squadron collection, which would seem like a no-brainer given the current popularity of the JSA) are the reason a lot of DC's 80s/90s stuff isn't in print. I'd snap up collections of triangle-era Superman in a heartbeat.

Triangle era Superman collections exist!
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=superman+chronicles&x=0&y=0

I would totally buy the Nocenti/JRJR Daredevil trades!

My #1 most desired trade set is the entire five-year gap era Legion of Super Heroes. It's very unlikely to ever happen. Sad.

These things should be out in big affordable phone books.

Wolfman/Perez New Titans
Levitz/Giffen Legion
Stern/Romita Jr. Amazing Spider-man (Heck they should reprint big swaths of 80s Spider-man including more by Peter David & JM DeMatteis)
Stern's run on Avengers
The 70s/80s What If (it would pretty much be two Marvel Essentials)

I think a whole lot more 70s & 80s Batman and Superman should be compiled.

I'll second the Grant/Breyfogle Batman run, particularly the Detective Comics portion. Will never give up my floppies, but I'd love to be able to share.

five-year gap LoSH would be ace too.

Lots of good stuff mentioned so far.

I also think Mike Grell's Warlord could be popular and look really cool printed in a big black and white phone book book.

The thing about stuff like Warlord or the New Teen Titans is that you really appreciate the book after you read a big stack of them. DC has reprinted a couple of story lines, but really does the story with Terra really work unless you read it from the start and see how Deathstroke has been screwing with them over the issues. It just isn't the same.

Stern's run on both Avengers and Spider-man are pretty iconic for Marvel. Criminy the reset they did on Spider-man is just to directly take him back to living in the shitty apartment with the skylight when he was getting some coochy from the Black Cat and playing the field.

DC is also goofball for not getting out a big collection of 80s Green Lantern editing together the best stuff of the Len Wein/Dave Gibbons stuff with the later run by Steve Englehart and Joe Staton. Pretty much Johns reset on the book is basically taking it to the status quo of the Englehart run which brought the Corps to the front with Kilowog and made Guy Gardiner a popular character.

Ostrander's Suicide Squad was supposed to come out in Showcase and it should.

I'm just waving the flag for a Showcase Presents Sugar & Spike or four.

While we're at it: My Greatest Adventure from the pre-Doom Patrol era?

And I would totally buy a giant black-and-white (or color) omnibus of romance comics from the '60s and '70s.

Legion fans: DC has started releasing collections of Levitz LOSH more or less on the sly (2 out so far). Although they inexplicably started with the beginning of the Baxter series.

Gosh, I've got a whole mental queue in my head of titles but none of them are coming to mind. Beto's GIRL CRAZY, probably.

Is the Englehart/Rogers run on Detective in print? If not, then that.

Woodring's non-Frank stuff from "Tantalizing Stories" and "Jim."

cosine; he needs a 'complete' edition.
I'd also like to see a complete work of Seth Fisher book.

THE PUMA BLUES by Stephen Murphy/Michael Zulli

CASANOVA'S LAST STAND by Hunt Emerson - Hungering for it since Eddie Campbell heaped great praise.

The absence of quality Milligan outside of ENIGMA (LONDON, GIRL, various et ceteras, and (oh dear god) the McCarthy collaborations) is a damn near palpable in my day-to-day existence. I've been itching for quite awhile to read the rest of his Hewlett story that began in A1 #2.

Beto's GIRL CRAZY, probably.

Was collected on August 13, 1997, has not gone out of print yet.

Is American Flagg in print? I would like to read it, so that I could decide once and for all whether Howard Chaykin ever wrote anything of consequence.

American Flagg: The first ardcover reprint came out last fall. I believe that a TPB is coming out this spring.

I'm not a fan of his (read Flagg in the 80s and wasn't that impressed; his Shadow stories are better), but your mileage may very.

Imagine there is an "H" or at least an ' (maybe I've got a cool accent I don't know about!) before ardcover.

Noooo! Cockney is better.

aardcover
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51bARoomE7L._SS500_.jpg

I would like to read it, so that I could decide once and for all whether Howard Chaykin ever wrote anything of consequence.

Issues 1 through 12 are max thrillpower but it gets boring after that and Chaykin's art gets sloppier as it goes along. Probably starts dropping off a bit before issue 12 TBH, more like issue 10 or so. And to hear Steven Grant tell it, AF! is like the most consequential mainstream series to come out in the Eighties... No Dark Knight/Watchmen without it.

Englehart/Rogers run is already collected. Haven't read it -- it's pretty short for a "definitive" run, though!

I third the Grant/Wagner/Breyfogle run -- especially in COLOUR! -- and 5YL. And what happened to that Suicide Squad reprint?

I know it's been (over)collected, but I'd love to have JLI (at least the first two years) collected in one big book. I'd probably never read it (again), but it's something I'd certainly buy, if only for (predictably) nostalgic reasons.

Corto Maltese

Oh yeah, Zenith. It is one of my big gripes that this is out of print.

I saw the American Flagg reprints in a shop the other day. amazing.

you thought the restoration was good?

well, to be honest I wouldn't really know, I didn't read it back in the day. It looks fairly impressive, art-wise, and not just thanks to all the semi-naked ladies.

I've been moving through various Marvel Essentials and I think the biggest holes out there is the fact that they have not done one for Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD or Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos. I know they have the Steranko issues in print, but the series ran for a good while before he started and a little while after he left. I figure they could do the whole Agent of SHIELD in two volumes and maybe fill it out with that 4 issue mini-series from the 80s. In reading the Captain America Volume 1, which guest stars Fury and has AIM and Hydra popping up a couple of times it made me want to read the SHIELD series from the start. The Howling Commandos also has a bunch of Kirby and Severin artwork, so I would figure that would make it something people would want to check out. I figure if Marvel is ever going to do these, right now with the new Secret Warriors series is probably the best time to make it happen.

David Chelsea's Welcome To The Zone - I wanna spoil that last page so badly. Stop me, indie publishers!

Re: earlnash's post, the Nick Fury stuff titles are literally the only Marvel silver age thing that hasn't been Essential-ized at this point. But there are rumors that it's coming soon. Agent of Shield, anyway. Don't know about Sgt. Fury.

Marvel could also some Essentials with Black Panther and The Inhumans that would be cool, but both of those start a bit later.

I figure the Fury/SHIELD stuff is coming soon as they have done 2 hardcovers and there can't be more than 1 or 2 more volumes to compile.

I guess part of it has been reprinted, but I would like to read Yummy Fur twenty years later. That shit (literally) tripped me out when I was a teenager. I guess Lloyd Llewellen and some of Dan Clowes early stuff that I read is not all in print either. Staying in the 80s indie stuff, someone could also do Puma Blues too. These kind of things seem pretty hard to find now as back issues.

Peter Milligan's short run of Batman and Detective stories. They're some of the best ever IMO.

That includes "Dark Knight, Dark City" right? Good stuff.

How about more than one trade of Milligan's Shade? I keep thinking dude's gonna get his props (especially now, given that he's currently writing two ongoing Vertigo series), but it just never happens.

He definitely got some notice for that goofball "X-Force" run with Allred, I don't remember much else, though...

Yeah, Milligan started his Batman run with the brilliant "Dark Knight, Dark City", then followed up with a string of really neat, twisted done-in-one stories: "The Hungry Grass", "Library of Souls", "The Bomb", "And the Executioner Wore Stiletto Heels"; best of all was the disturbing "Identity Crisis" which was adapted, loosely, into an animated series episode with several story elements changed.

I've read somewhere recently that DC have finally decided to release a second volume of Shade, maybe later this year.

Yeah, they announced more Shade volumes starting in Nov or Dec, I think.

Speaking of Milligan, I don't think DC ever collected his full run on Human Target. That's a shame, because most of it was top notch. Apparently there's a new tv series based on Human Target starting next year, maybe that will prompt DC to collect the rest of the series.

rock music legend Rick Springfield

Oh:

SHADE THE CHANGING MAN VOL. 2: THE EDGE OF VISION TP
Written by Peter Milligan
Art by Chris Bachalo, Bill Jaaska and Mark Pennington
Cover by Brendan McCarthy
This new, second volume collects SHADE THE CHANGING MAN #7-13 for the first time ever, as Shade and Kathy George continue their epic, mind-bending journey into the heartland of a nation on the trail of The American Scream.
Advance-solicited; on sale November 25 • 192 pg, FC, $19.99 US • MATURE READERS

Your screen name is zarjaz.

Peter Milligan is working on a pretty good Batman story in the current issues of Batman Confidential with Andy Clarke doing the artwork. It is a Batman versus the Russian mob story, which is pretty classic and refreshing considering the state of the Batman.

Shade is one of those things I'd stick in a "glad I bought a nearly-complete run on ebay" thread.

Was it three bucks altogether?

nah, considerably more, but it was well worth it.

Eerie/Creepy. Maybe the first few Vampirella issues, but just for prurience's sake.

There are a few stories/serials from the Skywald horror mags that I'd like to see again -- they had a rough energy. I remember "The Saga of the Victims" and "The Human Gargoyles" being pretty intense.

Dude, Dark Horse has been doling out big hardcover collections of Eerie and Creepy for a little while now. Your wish is granted.

!!!

shows how much attention I pay! Thanks for the info.

Don't get too excited; they are HELLA PRICEY: $50 for a hardbound collection of five issues.

o_O

guh! I can't afford that.

That's why god invented petty theft, my friend.

Heh...yeah, only Creepy #21 and Eerie #86 have turned up so far.

33 a pop on amazon if you can handle that kinda scratch

Does anyone know what's the deal with that Marshal Law omnibus? I think it was originally supposed to come out last year, but now the Top Shelf page for it only has a text saying it's "a 2011 release". How can it take so long to release one book? Surely Top Shelf had secured the rights to ML from the previous publishers before announcing the book?

On a positive note, I just bought the TPB that reprints the first Human Target mini and the Human Target graphic novel by Milligan, and was glad to notice that the back of the book said it was vol. 1, which I assume means more reprints will follow. Hopefully Vertigo will finally reprint the whole ongoing series that followed the graphic novel, as it's one of the best comics of the 00s.

More reprints have followed, I believe (a vol 2, at least).

When they announced, Top Shelf hadn't secured rights to every single piece of split-copyright ML, so maybe they're actually managing to get more of them. It's probably also a really difficult task to source reproducible art for the vast majority of it, so if they're scanning from printed copies, that could take a few years in itself. Also [and especially as the book is likely to be a total brick in inventory and not shift much past the first order and reorder cycle, once people who've not read it before cotton on to how steeply diminishing returns make 80% of the book surplus to requirements, IMO, IANAL], a 512 page deluxe oversized full-colour hardcover requires a giant wodge of cash to print, and they might a) not have it to hand, and b) be waiting for a better economic climate to try and earn it back once they outlay it.

There are two earlier TPBs that collect the first half the Human Target ongoing series, but the second half remains uncollected. This new reprint only came out like a month or two ago, I don't think it's been followed by any more books yet, but hopefully they'll end up collecting all of HT eventually. The new collection is sold on the strength of the new Human Target TV series, though from what I've gathered it doesn't have much to do with Milligan's HT, except for the basic concept. So I'm not sure if the cross-marketing will actually have much effect on its sales, but I do hope enough comic fans (like myself) who missed the series during its initial run will now realize how great it is.

As for Marshal Law, I see your point, but if Top Shelf feels the omnibus will be hard to sell, why not test the waters by releasing ML as a few separate TPBs before printing the hardcover book?

Is the omnibus going to be all of Marshall Law? Given that the first book is brilliant and the rest are, eh, not so brilliant, maybe the non-availability of the ombnibus is a blessing in disguise.

What does IANAL mean?

"I am not a lawyer"

The new collection is sold on the strength of the new Human Target TV

Did this thing get any ratings at all? I was complete uninterested in it after watching a couple episodes. In any case, it doesn't bode well for the comics if they're banking on the success of the show. I notoriously think the guy who was the main actor in it is a charisma black hole, though.

A problem also for reprinting something like Marshall Law is also that the back issues are not that hard to find and not worth much either. I pretty much got all of them off of ebay for like ten bucks. It's cool that it would be compiled, as it was WAY ahead of the curve considering when it came out.

There was a Human Target with a "2" on the spine next to the new one with a "1" on the spine when I bought the latter - must have been an old one. They did still have the Final Cut TPB for $33 next to the reprint of it for $19.

As for Marshal Law, I see your point, but if Top Shelf feels the omnibus will be hard to sell, why not test the waters by releasing ML as a few separate TPBs before printing the hardcover book?

a) because that would cut down even further on the sales of the omnibus
b) because the last separate reprint TPB of the original mini is still in print, so it would be completely fucking retarded to do another one?

I hope with Marshal Law they are doing what they did with Alec - take the time they need, use as much original art as possible, get the artist to approve every step and it'll come out when it's ready. Kevin O'Neill isn't quick these days, and I'm sure LoEG is the priority project right now, so Marshal Law touch ups and approvals are a pretty low priority.

I'm just happy they're doing it; my trade is pretty beat up and I'd love a more archival collection. Same with the Bacchus collections that have been pushed back - do it right and whenever it comes out it'll be appreciated.

oh wait and c) because that would cut even further into their immediate cashflow!

Original 80s New Mutants, please! Please!

How far along is Essential Fantastic Four? The John Byrne and Walt Simonson runs seem like must-haves to me, but I basically have no clue where the title was in the 70s and if it's worth slogging through.

I think some of the 80s New Mutants have been recently collected, or at least I saw a TPB of it in the local comic store. But if you're talking about collecting the full Claremont run, yeah, that probably hasn't been done.

As for the Byrne and Simonson FF: both of them have been collected in the "Fantastic Four Visionaries" series of TPBs, which is better than Essential FF since it has the original colours (nice paper too). I think the "Visionaries" series has by now collected the entire Byrne and Simonson runs, so you should check them out.

Oooh! Sounds great. Thanks, Tuomas.

between the end of the kirby issues (102) and the first john byrne issue, the ff is mostly a wasteland, apart from some really gd roy thomas issues round abt nos 165-190 that haven't been reprinted in the essential vols yet

I couldn't be arsed reading more than about an issue of EFF vol 5 beyond Kirby's departure, which doesn't bode well for the 70s run.

Roy Thomas comics have not aged well.

Don't be harshin' on Roy! Especially his work on the Savage Sword fo Conan - still ace. And though he wrote like 50 pages of text for each All-Star Squadron I still love them. His 70s "contemporary" stuff is pretty much dreck though.

Like any of those dudes that wrote hundreds of comics, the best stuff Roy Thomas did is still pretty good. I think his Conan is pretty good, even if quite a bit of it is adapted stories (by Howard and others). I think Thomas is really the guy that 'made' the Avengers too, as really I don't think the book is gets really good until he becomes the regular writer.

It's the same with Denny O'Neil or say Marv Wolfman or Doug Moench etc. pretty much most of those dudes that wrote like six long boxes of comics.

bump

ZOONIVERSE

I wish Pigeon Press would reprint the Kramers Ergots before 6, but there are tons of plausible reasons why not (niche interest at best, cost of production, maybe some legal issues from when Buenaventura went under, maybe intended to be limited, etc). Same with earlier issues of Acme Novelty Library- I was able to round up 18-20 (18.5 inclusive) after realizing that at this pace I'd be well into my thirties before Rusty Brown or Building Stories books come out. Other "art comics" (gag) stuff: Teratoid Heights, Jimbo in Purgatory, Dal Tokyo, probably some others I'm forgetting.

Superhero-wise, now that Flex Mentallo is happening I'm not sure what to complain about anymore (except for those recent books that go OOP inexplicably quickly before I can pick them up, like the second Morrison JLA hardcover or the third? Fourth? Ennis Punisher MAX hc).

OH WAIT forgot: Steranko Nick Fury, now that the Agent of SHIELD trade is OOP and the Who Is Scorpio trade is super-OOP and supposedly one of the worst reproduction jobs ever.

Forks' suggestion for a complete Seth Fisher book would be fantastic- I reread Big In Japan last night, and his work only gets better with age. It's not hard to get, but it is out of print. And over on the DC side, his Vertigo Pop Tokyo and Batman: Snow are still available, but it'd be nice to roll up Snow with Green Lantern: Willworld and Flash: Time Flies in a big oversized format.

Milligan, yes- his X-Force/X-Statix run, Skreemer, Skin, Rogan Gosh, Batman horror work, but most of all Enigma.

I"m sure Milligan's Marvel x-work may be "out of print" but I suspect it's pretty easy to find. As is, weirdly, SKREEMER. Everything else Milligan-wise: YES.

If you're near a Borders, that stuff is getting remaindered QUICK. I can find some recent shiny shiny shiny JLA omnibuses at nearby used bookstores at a super-swell discount.

Ooh, I do have a Borders nearby- I'll have to drop in and see what damage I can do. I still have fond memories of their massive Criterion liquidation sale a little over a year ago.

Most of the X-Force stuff is pretty easy to find (and the Dead Girl mini is still in print), but X-Statix vs the Avengers is pretty hard to get.

Milligan, yes- his X-Force/X-Statix run, Skreemer, Skin, Rogan Gosh, Batman horror work, but most of all Enigma.

Enigma's out of print?! That's pretty crazy, I thought it was one of most critically acclaimed Vertigo series of all time.

Superhero-wise, now that Flex Mentallo is happening I'm not sure what to complain about anymore

Suicide Squad! The current Secret Six clearly owes it a lot, and DC even collected the (somewhat disappointing) new SS mini Ostrander did a couple of years ago, but the original 80s series has never been collected in any form. I have no idea why.

Wasn't there a contract/author compensation issue that made it difficult for DC to reprint stuff from that particular period?

A lot more Ostrander and Milligan comics should be in trade. A Suicide Squad collection is always being promised, but then put back by DC.

Enigma has been out of print for a while. There have been some collections of Milligan works recently which is promising, but there's a lot more to go - I'd add GIRL to the list above.

There's still an awful lot of 80s and early 90s Batman stuff that deserves some trading. Practically nothing from the Conway/Colon/Newton era, no Barr/Davis or Grant/Breyfogle collections, Milligan's short run, Dixon's Robin etc. While the latest Kevin Smith atrocity gets a hardbound special edition, yeesh.

Jan Strnad/Dennis Fujitake's Dalgoda

Wasn't there a contract/author compensation issue that made it difficult for DC to reprint stuff from that particular period?

yeah, they keep flip-flopping between Showcase B&W Suicide Squad and garish shiny-paged six-issue collections, without ever managing to make it to press

(niche interest at best, cost of production

yeah this would definitely be an issue with Kramers, esp esp esp given post-Buenaventura cashflow - also remember they DID reprint #4 in the same flexi format as 5 and 6

Same with earlier issues of Acme Novelty Library-

this is an 'intended to be limited' issue. if only he'd just let D&Q publish them instead of self-publishing one imagines the situation could change though.

Oh, not AT Borders - their stuff is still straight-up retail, or at least as long as they can keep afloat. I meant at used bookstores - I've noticed there's a preponderance of very new items, the AX manga comp., JLA omnibuses, etc. at my local Half-Price books which happens to be near Borders.

"DC is also goofball for not getting out a big collection of 80s Green Lantern editing together the best stuff of the Len Wein/Dave Gibbons stuff with the later run by Steve Englehart and Joe Staton. Pretty much Johns reset on the book is basically taking it to the status quo of the Englehart run which brought the Corps to the front with Kilowog and made Guy Gardiner a popular character."

DC has compliled a bunch of these Green Lantern since my post.

DC does have a hard cover Gene Colan Batman collection getting ready to come out.

It is kind of a shame that more of those good John Ostrander DC comics are not in print. I guess he was good at selling side property comics in his prime, DC never put him on one of the big characters. I think those Suicide Squad and Spectre books would be good in black and white anyway, as Luke McDonnell and Tom Mandrake had pretty stark styles that would work in that format. Color is good, but the big thing is people being able to read the stories, which is what works. Then again, I pretty much love that big phone book format. If nothing else, DC should do a Deadshots Greatest Hits trade and put the mini-series and a couple of the good stand alone issues with Floyd out. I think that would sell to some Batman fans. Deadshot was cool, but Ostrander made him one of my favorite comic characters.

The entire run of Suicide Squad can be picked up at every comic convention ever for like 50 cents an issue. It's fascinatingly 80s edgy/racist

Eh? I don't remember any racism in it that would've stood out... What do you mean?

lots of dodgy dusky fellows from made-up middle eastern countries, up to no good. if it's like every other 80s DC comic.

Well yeah, but like you say it wasn't any different in other mainstream comics (or movies) at the time, and unlike many others writers Ostrander balanced it by introducing likable Middle Eastern characters as well, so I don't see SS as a particularly notable example of 80s racism.

I seem to remember it being a lot "grittier" than other DC titles, so maybe that's why the dusky fellows stood out, as opposed to in JLI, where there was some kind of cake-having-and-eating meta-commentary on the use of those cliches. Anyway, nothing to get steamed about compared to the opening five minutes of To Live and Die in LA.

Oh yeah, another perennial request: SOLO!

Copied this from the other thread, because this one is better suited for it:

Apparently DC has decided to cancel the second TPB of Ostrander's Suicide Squad, even though they'd announced the publication date for December and you could preorder it an all. I guess this means SS will never be collected, all we got was a small taste of what could have been in the form of the first collection.

Also, the publication date for the Flex Mentallo hardcover book has been moved again, now it should come out in March. The collection was first announced in January 2011, I don't understand how it can take over a year for them to publish one book of material they already had in their hands to begin with.

And like someone said above, looks like there won't be any new Shade the Changing Man TPBs either, since the last came out in 2010. Let's just hope they at least manage to get the full run of Milligan's Human Target collected this time, they're one measly book away from doing that.

Meanwhile, while cancelling all this TPBs that would probably have the shelf life of years, they think it's a wise decision to reboot their supehero universe and publish 52 new titles for the dwindling single issue market. I just don't get it.

I'd assume illegal sharing on the net would be a smaller problem for comic publishers than music or movie companies, since reading comics on the computer is never gonna compare with reading them on paper. But with decisions like this it feels like DC is almost encouraging piratism, as it's pretty much the only way to get a hold of this stuff. (Unless you by chance manage to find someone willing to sell their collection for a reasonable price on Ebay.)

A real pity if that's true - I was under the impression the first SS trade sold pretty well?

I don't really understand the current Batman trades being released with the focus on different artists. I mean, it's cool to read early 80s storylines where Killer Croc was introduced and all, but why base them on artists and not writers?

I am looking forward to the Chase collection (the short-lived series by D. Curtis Johnson, plus introduction story in Batman and then later appearances) as I love that character; no doubt this was released to coincide with her appearance in Batwoman.

I bought that yesterday bcz I didn't have any of the non-"Chase" stories, and will be trying to return it - up to an inch of art and lettering gets lost in the gutter.

Daer Mr God,

If you could see your way fit to releasing a collection of Ann Nocenti and Sean Phillips' Kid Eternity, that would be super.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y115/kitbrash/dan-didio.jpg

I dunno, kid - you been tithin'? You gotta tithe, you know.

WRT to MARSHAL LAW, I last heard that it might come out from DC, from none other than Pat Mills himself at SDCC 2010. The Top Shelf release had been wobbly for some time.

As for the quality of the series overall, it's very hard to top the first storyline, so far ahead of its time as to not be funny (but instead hilarious.) I'd certainly be glad to have it all between two covers and I could skip over the prose LM works (which did nothing for me, though I purchased them dutifully.)

I'd also love to have all-in-one collections of stuff like MAN-THING up until about 1984 or so (yes, even the Claremont issues -- The Essentials are nice, but would be better to have it in color.)

Modern wise, an AGENTS OF ATLAS omnibus would be welcome on my bookshelves.

Mills confirmed Marshal Law at DC via twitter last summer. No idea when though; still dependent on O'Neill's schedule which is full of Moore at the moment.

This does remind me I need to get more Nemesis the Warlock stuff; I think the first volume is in print again?

Seems like the appropriate thread to post this, if everyone hasn't already seen it.

http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/12/29/how-alan-moore-killed-a-1963-reprint-for-all-time/

more proof that idealism makes total sense until you try and deal with actual people

I would hope NEMESIS is still in print, as it's possibly the best thing that Mills has ever done (and he had some STELLAR artists along for the ride, too.)

Nemesis goes in and out of print in the States all the time. I assume that is not true in the UK.

Hadn't considered that (I'm in the states too, but I guess I am lucky with stores who keep those copies around or are willing to order out for them.)

I think the success of the Judge Dredd reprints is helping to make other 2000AD stuff generally available.

I have a few volumes of the Titan books from the 80s but far from complete. Figure I should buy Vol 1 even if I have some of it to help sales enough for it to continue.

Those Titan collections of THE CURSED EARTH (sadly, expurgated) were what got me started on 2000 AD (and Britcomics) in the first place, back in 1986 or so. They would be a pretty expensive way to collect entire series at this point. The big ones are pretty dear as well, but still manage good value for the money.

Seems like the appropriate thread to post this, if everyone hasn't already seen it.

http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/12/29/how-alan-moore-killed-a-1963-reprint-for-all-time/

since it links to a Bissette post from April 7, 2010, this is hardly breaking news

Actually, the Mark Millar / Phil Hester / Kim DeMulder Swamp Thing would be great as well, a lot of really fine horror in there.

These Nemesis volumes are definitive, and seem to be kept constantly in print in the UK:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=nemesis+the+warlock

Nemesis was one of the titles I wrote about in this ESSENTIAL new book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/1001-Comic-Books-Must-Before/dp/1844036987/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325840021&sr=8-1

Those Nemesis volumes are just seeing print in the States - Vol 1 was out in September and Vol 2 this spring.

Cool to hear you're in that book Ward! Another reason for me to pick it up.

Thank you - I only wrote abt 15 entries, and I'm not on a royalty! If you can get past the whole dumb title/'concept', it prob is the best single volume comics guide that I know of, especially when it comes to non-North American strips (as you might expect from something edited by Paul G).

The dumb title/concept always kept me away, but i will check it out with your approval/contribution.

Forks, knowing a little of yr tastes I think you wld find it especially useful

okeydoke. i will snag this at the strand next time i'm there.

ah, wait: i was confusing your book with this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/000-Comic-Books-Must-Read/dp/0896899217/ref=pd_sim_b_2/275-9379208-6653742
i will look for the dredd cover.

or, i guess, cap for the american edition

yeesh, Tony Isabella? oh forks.

not a fan of the CBG i see

ewing was rating that 1001 comic books thing on tumblr recently

Meanwhile, while cancelling all this TPBs that would probably have the shelf life of years, they think it's a wise decision to reboot their supehero universe and publish 52 new titles for the dwindling single issue market. I just don't get it.

I'm not entirely sure about this: TPBs go to bookshops. As I understand it, bookshops have a right to return stock, and so if you print 10,000 copies of something and it sells twelve you end up with 9,988 copies of it on hand, costing you money to keep around. Whereas I think it at least used to be the case that stuff ordered from Diamond became your responsibility to deal with. So as long as you can get a high enough initial order to meet margins you're fine*. -- this obviously has awful knock-on effects, and making margins every month with ever-diminishing returns is a bad place for any publisher to be in. But bear in mind that for one thing, comic book publishers tend to display almost no business acumen at all ever, and two, the comic-book market largely exists to establish and prolong copyright on properties for licensing in other areas ie. movies, videogames. -- Arkham City shipped 4.6 million copies in its week of release, which surely translates into more money for DC than the entire Batman comics line will make all year**.

*DC currently has a return option on a lot of books, apparently, but I don't know how common or long-term that is
**Ten of the 52 52 first issues sold over 100,000 copies to retailers. This is (surely) going to be DC's biggest sales week of the year, and I'd be amazed if that made 4.6 million copies of the entire line put together

it should be noted that the above is very speculative and i have no actual knowledge in re this stuff

That's about right, I reckon. And maybe it's a gamble that will pay off for the companies as IP holders (not as publishing companies in and of themselves, but we're ultimately looking at two different kinds of things here). Diamond is non-returnable, captive audience stuff. it's great if you run your numbers right and guess demand correctly. It is, however, AWFUL for getting new readers.

But getting new readers of comics may not be their primary focus. And why would it, if you can keep the characters alive and financially kicking in other media.

Note that this is an observation, and nothing I'm particularly happy with.

I'm not entirely sure about this: TPBs go to bookshops. As I understand it, bookshops have a right to return stock, and so if you print 10,000 copies of something and it sells twelve you end up with 9,988 copies of it on hand, costing you money to keep around.

This may be true, but at least here in Finland most of the stores that sell TPBs are comic books stores or other specialist stores with large comic book sections that, in my experience, don't seem to have too many volumes of any particular item in stock. If they sell those few volumes, they can order more with other TPBs they order from the same publisher. And I've seen many TPBs that were released years ago on their shelves (and not all of them were steady sellers like Sandman or JLA), so it doesn't look they try to return them immediately if they don't manage to sell them within a few months. But maybe that is different in the US?

Also, there's the online market, which I thinks count for more and more when it comes to selling TPBs and other collected editions. (Especially in areas that don't have a specialist comic books store.) If you got to Amazon and look for any TPB that was released within the last 5 years, most of the times you find several online bookstores that sells new copies of that book. So when it comes to online book sellers, it looks like it makes sense to sell TPBs for at least a couple of years.

Also, if DC keeps putting out one or two collections of a series, then cancelling any further collections (which it what they've done with many series), that's gonna discourage people from buying any further collections of some other series by DC, because they fear the same thing might happen happen again. I do realize that committing to collect a full series is always a financial gamble, but surely there are many comic book readers like me who are much more likely to purchase TPBs if they know they'll be able to read the whole series from the beginning to the end. (Of course this applies only to finite series that have a beginning an end, like Suicide Squad or Shade, not to titles like Superman or Batman.)

Also, if DC keeps putting out one or two collections of a series, then cancelling any further collections (which it what they've done with many series), that's gonna discourage people from buying any further collections of some other series by DC, because they fear the same thing might happen happen again.

^ this has been me several times

ie getting burned, several times, and then not starting, several other times

yeah i know nothing about the market in finland to be quite fair so

i suspect that the great bulk of tpb sales came from, like, borders and b&n, which is one reason to stop putting them out. (no. of chain bookstores in the states & the uk vs. no. of comic shops in the states and the uk)

i suspect a lot of the online bookstores are remainder places / places with other bulk acquisition policies, and a lot of warehouse space

but there's a limit to how much i can defend this argt without access to the actual numbers on in what venues these things sell, and i don't have those, and you know who does have those? the guys who decided to stop selling them

Wow. Dynamite have acquired The Shadow and are publishing the Howard Chaykin mini first. It's probably worth buying just to encourage them to publish the Andy Helfer and Billy The Sink/Kyle Baker series.

Yeah, I saw that yesterday. It is indeed required reading for everyone here. It might not be AMERICAN FLAGG, but it is really very good. Keep in mind this came out the same year that DARK KNIGHT did. Now, which of these two really took more chances?

are they doing the Chaykin in a book or re-issuing as single issues, at overblown prices?

I'd rebuy the Helfer in any format if it meant that they pick up where Conde Nast killed it

As a collection.

Presumably they're going to be scanning the 80s issues for the reprints - can't imagine Chaykin would have held onto his originals on a WFH piece, and DC are unlikely to want to supply them with negatives, if they even still have them. Have Dynamite ever done an archival project from print sources before? (I have never even looked at anything they've published.)

Corto Maltese

― Fox Force Five Punchline (sexyDancer), Tuesday, March 17, 2009 10:49 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

How To Destroy A Comics Classic

To avoid making the text in the new edition so small it was illegible, the layout of the panels on each page was reformatted by moving about 1/3 of each page onto the next page.

Can't believe anyone would still be doing this sort of thing.

Ugh! That came in the mail the other day but I haven't cracked the spine. Shameful. I was so excited to finally get some Corto in English after all these years. Back to Amazon it goes.

Huh. I guess someone felt the need to throw down a challenge to the awfulness throne of those Checker Supreme collections.

the previous english language edition of ballad of the salt seas, published by collins harvell in the uk, is the one to seek out - p gd translation, no resizing or adding colour

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hbSKO-g301o/T1PDkt7OCcI/AAAAAAAAAD8/8JIZ4WSXzPs/s1600/harvill+ballad.jpg

sorry

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hbSKO-g301o/T1PDkt7OCcI/AAAAAAAAAD8/8JIZ4WSXzPs/s1600/harvill+ballad.jpg

It's such a pain to find any of the Maltese books! I have Fable Of Venice but that's it. Pre-ordered this because I wanted to support getting the stories out here in nice editions. Didn't have any expectation they would butcher it to hell.

Between $35-60 on ebay for the old editions is absurd.

I've never read any Corto Maltese and shit like this is why.

I found Fable Of Venice on clearance at Atomic Books back in the day and instantly fell in love with Pratt's linework and the Corto character. Have kept my eyes peeled ever since for more of it.

I'm quietly seething over here.

the earlier NBM translations are generally p poor, tho they don't fuck w/ the layouts etc

basic plot and decent art is better than nothing, or whatever you want to call this current thing.

Ugh. What the fuck? Returning my copy as well; there's no excuse for that.

That's a damn shame about Ballad of the Salt Sea, I was hoping you English-speakers would finally get to appreciate Pratt's work in its full glory. I haven't liked the way Cinebook has shrinked many of the of European comics they've translated into half size, but at least they didn't mess with the original layouts! Does it really cost so much more to print these books in Euro size that these publishers would risk alienating a lot of their potential customers?

I gotta say about the colours in the English edition, though: I think they are the original colours that were added to most of the European reprints of Corto Maltese years ago, presumably with Pratt's blessing (though they weren't done by Pratt). IIRC a couple of the latter CM books even came out in colour to begin with, not in black and white. (The Secret Rose would be kinda weird to read without colour, as it plays a significant role in the story.) Though most of Pratt's work certainly looks better in the original black and white.

Publisher is now saying the revisions are based on Pratt approved revisions done for the Italian market before his death. The plan was to make a more mass market digest sized version available. This includes moving one whole line of panels, cropping some images, etc.

Still sending it back.

but at least they didn't mess with the original layouts!

insert my standard bemoaning of the terrible clunky computer lettering making Cinebooks unreadable due to damaging eyeflow

It's a bit clunky, but I wouldn't call it unreadable, I've definitely seen worse examples. And with Thorgal, at least, I think they were trying to imitate the original French lettering which is also a bit clunky:

http://www.heimdallr.org/pictures/thorgal_thrall.jpg http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/IMG_0007.jpg

Publisher is now saying the revisions are based on Pratt approved revisions done for the Italian market before his death. The plan was to make a more mass market digest sized version available.

This seems like a weird excuse; in Italy, there may've been the need to produce a mass market digest version of CM, but I can't imagine these books being a mass market product in the English-speaking world. The people who buy them are probably mostly art comic buffs, who would be willing to pay a little extra to get a better looking product.

My thoughts exactly. If I had a choice, I'd pay more for an archival version. As is, I'll keep my scan of the last proper edition (dodgy translation or no) and they won't see a penny.

Shame, really.

some good news:

Pat Mills ‏ @PatMillsComics

DC Comics confirm Marshal Law omnibus Spring 2013. All ML stories except crossovers. Sorry for delays. Sounds like it's finally happening!

It's a bit clunky, but I wouldn't call it unreadable, I've definitely seen worse examples.

Lucky Luke is the one I've bemoaned on here for years. It's bad enough to be the difference between me buying every one they've printed, and buying none.

As with Tintin, it's completely bemusing WHY they'd reletter it on computer anyway, since there have been wonderful, fluidly-lettered translations around for decades.

BTW if those are both Thorgal and you're trying to illustrate your argument, I strenuously disagree. First one is beautiful, second one is terrible.

Well, of course a computer font is gonna look less beautiful, but my point was that when it comes to readability, the originals are not necessary that much better. I'm not familiar with Cinebook's editions of Lucky Luke, though.

Anyway, back on the thread subject: why the heck hasn't the second Seaguy mini been collected like the first one? Is DC waiting for Morrison to do the third mini before collecting it all? (Which might take years.) It's kinda irritating for people like me, who live in a country where floppies are not easily available, so we have to wait for the TPB.

Is DC waiting for

apparently yeah

also they are generally not keen on it iirc

Maybe not, but they've collected pretty much everything else Morrison has ever done for them. Surely they recognize his books have a readymade audience?

DC: Your Home Of Sensible Business Decisions!

Seaguy is awesome

Yeah, DC has no idea what the fuck they're doing these days. Marvel may have a disproportionate sense of what material is actually worthy of collection (an Atlantis Attacks omnibus? Really?), but they do seem fairly equitable in their apparent pursuit to collect everything they ever published.

It's six of one/half a dozen of the other, because Marvel can't seem to keep anything in print.

Marvel deliberately don't keep anything in print. They are aggressively opposed to the long tail.

Reason #4,287 illustrating that comic book publishers are their own worst enemies.

Reason #4,288: Failure to diversify their fanbase in the event of a fatal outbreak of nerdpox.

wait - second Seaguy mini?! when did that come out

2009

so there are issues that aren't in the TPB? how come I never even saw these

If you decide to look for it it's called Slaves of Mickey Eye.

cbz means the internet will provide

sic, i admire yr high standards re: computer font lettering (def agree that the 2nd Thorgal example is an eyesore), but i guess i'm more of a pragmatist (or a despicable mono-linguist) - cinebooks have now issued almost every goscinny written Lucky Luke, the vast majority previously untranslated, with decent repro (they've kept the original colouring) and unlikely to ever be attempted by any other publisher = a must-buy. i look at any imperfections in the lettering as the equivalent of less-than-optimal subtitles on some rare 'foreign' movie - the price you pay for pursuing a minority taste

yeah, i'm with ward on these in that all the cinebook lukes i've bought are the only ones i've ever seen!

"It's six of one/half a dozen of the other, because Marvel can't seem to keep anything in print."

From what I understand part of the reason DC was better on keeping backstock in print was that it was apart of Time Warner which has an extensive publishing wing with warehouses and distribution system setup etc. and Marvel really didn't, so most of the trades they print get shipped straight to the distributors like Diamond.

that's almost completely wrong. DC actively pursued and carefully cultivated a backlist system, since the early 90s have launched many bookstore-targeted lines, and publish their own books, not cross-licensed to Hachette. mmaaaaaybe they use AOL warehouses though, idk about that. Marvel's backlist could work better if they reprinted books even once, but they publish them like periodicals - to order. Not owning warehouses isn't the problem - a) they could buy or rent them, with money, and b) Diamond is their distributor to the bookstore market, so i) of course they fucking ship their books to them, and ii) Diamond could warehouse them super-efficiently and cost-effectively. But given that Perlmutter's penny-pinching is so legendary that paper-clip usage is monitored in the offices, the tiny outlay on printing and shelving more now against long tail profits over the next ten years is aggressively discouraged.

computer lettering on translations CAN be done sensitively and smoothly - cf Fanta's Tardi line, or Dirk Rehm on D&Q's Dupuy & Berberian

Have to agree with the above. DC has always been forward looking on trades, with some caveats. It's still tricky to manage anything resembling a reading order for say, GREEN LANTERN. But DC was aggressive on getting evergreen titles out early (and they stumbled into WATCHMEN being a perennial, which has its own downsides). Note that DC also printed books that even non-comics readers wanted to read (evidence SANDMAN). Marvel has just a handful of titles that sell outside of already-reading-comics folks. I mean, which SPIDER-MAN book do you send a new reader towards? I love old UNCANNY and FANTASTIC FOUR, but most people will find them impenetrable. Add to that the fact that Marvel is pretty conservative when it comes to breaking new formats, and you have a recipe for some wheel-spinning.

Of course, with every passing day, I get more and more hopeless about seeing the last chapters of SEAGUY. I'm pretty surprised that volume 2 even happened, given the sales of the first.

"I mean, which SPIDER-MAN book do you send a new reader towards?"
If they have no love for Ditko/Romita or any sense of the history? Probably the Brian Michael Bendis Ultimates run tbh

^ forks trying to drive readers away

I dunno. If they have no familiarity with Spider-Man, I'd guess that extended to Marvel on the whole and possibly to mainstream comics or comics history more generally. As such, said new reader might have some trouble getting over the "corny & old-timey" hump with the Lee/Ditko stuff (which I just realized is almost fifty years old). I agree that Bendis isn't necessarily an ideal alternative, but as an alternative, it's a damn sight better than some of the other contenders (e.g. Straczynski's run, which would stand a good chance of driving readers away from comics altogether).

just saying I read some of the start of that and it was terrible comics

Well, that's part of the problem. Comics of the 60s and comics of today, at least in the world of superhero comics are a damn far sight apart from one another. Corniness is a hobgoblin that superhero comics think they've been fleeing for the last thirty years (never knowing that the extreme flavor of the 90s is just as corny, only in a different direction altogether.)

BMB Spiderman is readable and hews closely to canon; it's good trash reading for me. ymmv

So, the Marshal Law omnibus finally has a a release date, and at the moment you can pre-order it on Amazon for 9.59 quids (75% off the official price). I have no idea why it's so cheap, but hey, I'm not complaining...

Very beginning of the punisher unlimited series

Walt Simonson run on FF, all the time bubble shit

A large portion of the OG Punisher series is available as Essentials.

A bunch of it is on MDCU as well.

The Walt Simonson FF run was collected a few years ago in I think 3, maybe 4 volumes of Fantastic Four Visionaries TPBs. No idea if they've slipped back out of print because Marvel is HORRIBLE at managing their back catalog availability. Also all on MDCU, which may be their focus going forward.

A large portion of the OG Punisher series is available as Essentials.

available yes but "in print" is relevant here

a large portion of the OG Punisher series is available as back issues iirc

Guess I shoulda checked that. Yeah, they're super shitty about keeping stuff in print. You'd think they'd at least make more of an effort with the Essentials so they could showcase their classic material.

They literally don't keep anything in print, as Perlmutter won't pay for warehousing. Their collections are printed like periodicals, on initial orders, plus whatever Diamond chooses to stockpile.

I knew they did that with the Omnibi, but...that's just insane as an across-the-board business model for collections.

this is the dude who cuts stationery budgets if he sees paperclips on the floor, and only allows one bathroom per style of genitals for several hundred staff, to save money

Marvel seem to keep most of the Essentials in print (dunno about the Punisher)

Pat Mills is pushing on with reprints from my childhood at a pace I can barely keep up with. The collected Shako came out a couple of weeks ago.

I was looking at that over Amazon, is it worth buying?

Shako, I mean.

Dude, it's a story about a polar bear infected by a secret CIA disease who kills people. He punches a Russian guy in a bar at one point. I also haven't read it since I was 8. Hookjaw is the closest in tone of the reprints to date and I loved that so BRING ON THE THRILL POWER.

My enthusiasm for the 200AD/Battle/Action reprints are entirely based on the 8 year old me. So far I've been about 75% right.

xxxxp even the essentials seem to drop in and out of print. a few years ago i was looking to pick up spiderman and fantastic four essentials and was surprised that various volumes were oop. right now FF vol 1 is unavailable from amazon/b&n.

I swear, the omnibuses are worth picking up if even to resell a few months later when they go out of print

I still want the Iron Fist omnibus :(

Marvel seem to keep most of the Essentials in print (dunno about the Punisher)

orly come at me bro

--

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Sgt. Fury 1 Sgt. Fury #1-23, Annual #1 available from stockists
Silver Surfer 1 Silver Surfer #1-18, Fantastic Four Annual #5 OOP
2 Silver Surfer (1982) #1, Silver Surfer (1987) #1-18, Annual #1, Marvel Fanfare #51 OOP
Spider-Man 1 Amazing Fantasy #15, Amazing Spider-Man #1-20, Annual #1 OOP
2 Amazing Spider-Man #21-43, Annual #2, 3 available from stockists
3 Amazing Spider-Man #44-68 OOP
4 Amazing Spider-Man #69-89, Annual #4, 5 available from stockists
5 Amazing Spider-Man #90-113 available from stockists
6 Amazing Spider-Man #114-137, Giant-Size Superheroes #1, Giant-Size Spider-Man #1-2 OOP
7 Amazing Spider-Man #138-160, Annual #10, Giant-Size Spider-Man #3-5 OOP
8 Amazing Spider-Man #161-185, Annual #11, Giant-Size Spider-Man #6, Nova #12 OOP
9 Amazing Spider-Man #186-210, Annual #13-14, Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #1 OOP
10 Amazing Spider-Man #211-230, Annual #15 available from stockists
11 Amazing Spider-Man #231-248, Annual #16-17 available from stockists
Spider-Woman 1 Marvel Spotlight #32, Spider-Woman #1-25, Marvel Two-In-One #29-33 OOP
2 Spider-Woman #26-50, Marvel Team-Up #97, Uncanny X-Men #148 OOP
Sub-Mariner 1 Daredevil #7, Tales To Astonish #70-101, Tales of Suspense #80, Iron Man & Sub-Mariner #1, and Sub-Mariner #1 available from stockists
Super-Villain Team-Up 1 Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #1-2, Super-Villain Team-Up #1-14, 16-17, Avengers #154-156, Champions #16, Astonishing Tales #1-8 OOP
Tales of the Zombie 1 Tales of the Zombie #1-10, Dracula Lives #1-2 OOP
Thor 1 Journey Into Mystery #83-112 available from stockists
2 Journey Into Mystery #113-124, Thor #125-136, Annual #1-2 OOP
3 Journey Into Mystery #137-166 available from stockists
4 Thor #167-195 OOP
5 Thor #196-220 available from stockists
6 Thor #221-247 available from stockists
Tomb of Dracula 1 Tomb of Dracula #1-25, Giant-Size Chillers #1, Werewolf by Night #15 OOP
2 Tomb of Dracula #26-49, Dr. Strange #14, Giant-Size Dracula #2-5 OOP
3 Tomb of Dracula #50-70, Tomb of Dracula magazine #1-4 OOP
4 Tomb of Dracula magazine #2, 4-6, Dracula Lives #1-13 OOP
Warlock 1 Marvel Premiere #1-2, Warlock (1972) #1-15, Incredible Hulk (1968) #176-178, Strange Tales (1951) #178-181, Marvel Team-Up (1972) #55 and Annual #2, and Avengers Annual (1967) #7 available from stockists
Web Of Spider-Man 1 Web Of Spider-Man (1985) #1-18, Annual #1-2, Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #268 available from stockists
2 Web Of Spider-Man (1985) #19-32, Annual #3, Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #293-294, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132 available from stockists
Werewolf By Night 1 Marvel Spotlight #2-4, Werewolf By Night #1-21, Marvel Team-Up #12, Giant-Size Creatures #1, Tomb of Dracula #18 OOP
2 Werewolf By Night #22-43, Giant-Size Werewolf #2-5, Marvel Premiere #28 OOP
Wolverine 1 Wolverine #1-23 OOP
2 Wolverine #24-47 OOP
3 Wolverine #48-69 OOP
4 Wolverine #70-90 OOP
5 Wolverine #91-110, Annual 1996, Uncanny X-Men #332 OOP
6 Wolverine #111-128, Annual 1997 available from stockists
X-Factor 1 Avengers #262, Fantastic Four #286, X-Factor #1-16, Annual #1, Thor #373-374, Power Pack #27 available from stockists
2 X-Factor #17-35, Annual #2, Thor #378 OOP
3 X-Factor #36-50 and Uncanny X-Men #239-243 OOP
4 X-Factor #51-59, Annual #4-5, X-Factor: Prisoner of Love, Marvel Fanfare #50 and more available from stockists
5 X-Factor #60-70 and Annual #6, Uncanny X-Men (1963) #270-272, #280, material from Annual #15, and New Mutants (1983) #95-97, material from Annual #7 available from stockists
X-Men 1 X-Men #94-119, Giant-Size X-Men #1 OOP
2 X-Men #120-141, Uncanny X-Men #142-144 available from stockists
3 Uncanny X-Men #145-161, Annual #3-5 OOP
4 Uncanny X-Men #162-179, Annual #6; God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel available from stockists
5 Uncanny X-Men #180-198, Annual #7-8 available from stockists
6 Uncanny X-Men #199-213, New Mutants Special Edition #1, X-Men Annual #9, X-Factor #9-11, New Mutants #46, Thor #373-374, Power Pack #27 available from stockists
7 Uncanny X-Men #214-228, Annual #10-11, Fantastic Four vs. the X-Men #1-4 available from stockists
8 Uncanny X-Men #229-243, Annual #12, X-Factor #36-39 available from stockists
9 Uncanny X-Men #244-264 and Annual #13 OOP
10 Uncanny X-Men (1963) #265-272 and Annual #14, , New Mutants (1983) #95-97, and X-Factor (1986) #60-62, material from Fantastic Four Annual #23, New Mutants Annual #6 and X-Factor Annual #5 available from stockists
11 Uncanny X-Men (1963) #273-280, Annual #15, X-Factor (1986) #69-70, X-Men (1991) #1-3, and material from X-Factor Annual #6 and New Mutants Annual #7 available from stockists
X-Men (Classic) 1 X-Men #1-24 available from stockists
2 X-Men #25-53, Avengers #53 OOP
3 X-Men #54-66, 67-80 (covers only), Amazing Adventures #11-17, Marvel Team-Up #4, Incredible Hulk #150, 161 OOP

--

I count that as 104 out of 168 currently unavailable from Diamond or Amazon, or almost 2/3s. Those that are available either have movie tie-ins and would have been resolicited, late entries in a run that haven't sold out their initial print run yet, or are things that no-one bought in the first place (eg The Rawhide Kid).

And in instances where Marvel does resolicit something, that means it's unavailable to order for at least four months, and then technically out of print a month later. That's not "keeping in print."

Even if you're generously allowing "resoliciting occasionally and hoping that Diamond and Amazon between them warehouse enough to cover a couple of months or years" as "keeping in print", note that the first five out of six WOLVERINE volumes are unavailable in the year before a Wolverine movie. If they actually had even a semblance of a program for "keeping things in print," would that happen?

my beautiful tab indents, all lost

a productive morning's work

Oh man, my dire financial straits got me thinking about selling some of those (I have pretty much everything pre-1970 and a smattering beyond, like most of the Claremont X-Men volumes) but maybe I should hang onto them. Or maybe I should sell them for ridiculously gouged prices.

xp where's your data from? ... FFs 3-5, for example, ARE available from amazon. not that i'm disputing the point you're making.

In stock at amazon != in print

out of stock or one copy left on those on amazon uk and ca

xp that's why i asked. the list is from where?

Marvel?

sorry, forgot to paste after searching those two before - stripped from http://collectededitions.com/storefront/buy_essentials.html

those three

Outside first prints and that one Essential Conan, most of them are not too hard to find through online sources. The odd ones are I think the ones that can be harder to find.

Essential Super-Villain Team Up

This one took me a bit to find a copy between local shops and online.

You can often find them way under cover price new at My Comic Shop and Mile High Comics web sites.

I'm pretty much a Marvel Essentials junkie. It is about all the comics I read these days.

howard the duck is a pain in the ass to find iirc

That was one printing only, I think - they did an Omnibus with much closer to every single appearance later, but the Essential was approved by Gerber as the material he wanted to stand in the record

Godzilla only had one printing due to licencing issues - that was known ahead of time, wonder how many retailers stockpiled

I wanna know why the Tomb of Dracula volumes seemed to only get a single printing before they were put out to pasture. It looks like they're letting all of the '70s monster stuff go that direction.

heh my comment was based on the hard scientific evidence of seeing lots of Essentials volumes in my local Forbidden Planet. i mean, i know certain of the volumes have had more than one printing - they've changed the cover design on the FF Vol #1 about three times, now.

crap i have two copies of essential fantastic four #1 somehow, will this send my kids through college??

I wanna know why the Tomb of Dracula volumes seemed to only get a single printing before they were put out to pasture. It looks like they're letting all of the '70s monster stuff go that direction.

either bcz it didn't sell fast enough without Blade in the title or because fuck Marv Wolfman that's why, my two best guesses

surely they've already fucked marv wolfman by retaining copyright on characters he created and are now in the post-coital cigarette stage of reprinting his work without paying him a penny piece in royalties - think the reason the Essential TODracs lapsed is that Marvel subsequently reprinted them all in two thick omnibus hardcovers, and at least started reprinting them as full colour paperback graphic novels - again, I bet most of these bks are still on the shelves of yr local comic bk hut

surely they've already fucked marv wolfman

well yeah, I was thinking the time these were out was probably the same time he was suing them, right?

think the reason the Essential TODracs lapsed is that Marvel subsequently reprinted them all in two thick omnibus hardcovers, and at least started reprinting them as full colour paperback graphic novels

this is another example of their unfocussed lack of a trade program - since they AREN'T set up to keep things in print, the collections dept valiantly tries to make up for this by cycling through different modes of reprinting for both classic and modern series. how many different versions of Morrison's New X-Men alone have they done in the last six years?

I was thinking the time these were out was probably the same time he was suing them, right?

cld be - I thought they were post-lawsuit (ie Marvel finally went ahead with reprints once they knew there was no legal impediment to doing so). obviously wolfman's lawsuit was timed to coincide w/ the first Blade movie, whenever that was.

btw, i hope i'm not giving the impression that i think Marvel are in any way gd custodians of their back catalogue. in fact, their problems go right the way back to the sixties, when the company never even bothered to keep decent stats of the original artwork - compare the shitty repro and obv art retouching on a lot of the Essential volumes w/ the far cleaner, sharper reprints (of often much earlier material) in the equivalent DC Showcase volumes.

Question about the Marvel Masterworks:

Are the Nick Fury volumes recolored in the same horrible way as the paperback release was? They pretty much fucked up the colors and Steranko's linework. I'd be tempted to get the hardcover masterworks versions if they're ok.

Brian Hibbs on Marvel's lack of a trade program impacting their bookstore performance:

I think it is very difficult to look at Marvel's backlist business as anything other than an abject, deeply embarrassing failure, especially when you consider that there was a film that grossed a billion-and-a-half dollars, and was not only also a critical hit, but a near perfect encapsulation of what's awesome about comic books serving as the greatest advertisement for their comics that one could possibly imagine, and Marvel's best-selling comic in BookScan is… "Kick Ass 2."

Listen: Not a single comic book featuring a character owned by Marvel comics sold even ten thousand copies.

That's insane. That's you-are-doing-everything-wrong levels of crazy, and if I were a Disney shareholder, I'd be storming the meetings, demanding that they actually attempt to reach out for what is clearly low-hanging fruit. Marvel could clearly be grossing tens of millions more dollars every year if they had a backlist program aimed at delivering books that people want, in formats and at prices that they want, and actually kept them in print.

I hate to repeat myself from last year, but as I've spent a huge chunk of this column saying, the single hottest property in the entire industry is that zombie comic book by Robert Kirkman; the highest grossing media presentation of the year was "The Avengers" film -- they have a book that is literally zombie versions of those same exact Marvel characters featured in "The Avengers" that is actually written by Kirkman himself, and just how many copies of "Marvel Zombies" sold this year via BookScan? 2814, that's it. That's fewer copies sold than "The Cartoon Guide To Chemistry," for god's sake!

And, worse? It actually dropped in sales this year, down from 3239.

That is some epic-level ball dropping, if you ask me.

Marvel's #1 book this year, as I said, is "Kick Ass 2," scoring just below 11k copies sold.

At #2, there's the expensive hardcover of "Avengers Vs. X-Men," with just 9805 copies sold.

At #3 is the collection of "The Infinity Gauntlet" which is nearly exactly the precise comic book I'd want to put in the hands of someone walking into the lobby after seeing "The Avengers" -- it's self-contained, epic, intensely action-filled, yet with a deep emotional heart. And they can only sell 7266 copies through BookScan reporters. They should have been able to shift 20-30k of those, in my opinion!

#4 for Marvel is "Civil War" (6927), while #5 is a sadly waning "Dark Tower" volume with just 6698 sold. You know the number one question I get from civilians about those comics? "What order should I read them in?" Confusing your customers is seldom the path to success….

Here is Marvel's Long Tail. The only message to take from this performance is: it's not working. "The Avengers" and "Amazing Spider-Man" movies in the theatres (to say nothing of "Ghost Rider"), and sales dropped pretty sharply.

lol marvel
that seems pretty dead on.

I wish there was a Geof Darrow coloring book.

Chester Brown bible stories.

Yeah!

I've been looking for Essential Thor Vol. 2 and 3 and those seem to be kind of scarce right now.

those are the b&W ones...?

I keep an eye out on the Marvel Masterworks stuff I want (like Thor) and then buy them as soon as their available, that stuff does not stay in print

think marvel quite often reprint Essentials when there's a relevant movie coming out, so i wldn't be surprised if those Essential Thors came back into print when Thor2 is released

And like someone said above, looks like there won't be any new Shade the Changing Man TPBs either, since the last came out in 2010. Let's just hope they at least manage to get the full run of Milligan's Human Target collected this time, they're one measly book away from doing that.

― Tuomas, 3. tammikuuta 2012 9:59 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

So, the third Human Target TPB never came out... :( I really don't understand DC, they've now collected the first two thirds of Human Target twice (first in the early 00s when the series was new, then again in 2010 and 2011), but the final third has never appeared. All it would've taken is one more TPB to finally collect the full series! I'm never gonna trust DC to reprint any series in full again. (Unless the series has the word "Batman", "Superman", or "Green Lantern" in the title, of course.)

I am guessing that was related to the Human Target TV series - which as cancelled after its second series in 2011.

Yeah, that's my guess too, but it's still hella irritating that they did the same thing twice.

Corto Maltese

― Fox Force Five Punchline (sexyDancer), Tuesday, March 17, 2009 10:49 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The Complete CORTO MALTESE To Be Published In English For The First Time

woah

Worst thing about that info is that I'd prefer the hardcovers - which means waiting a year and then hoping to get in early enough on a limited edition (assuming they even ship to the UK c.f. Peanuts).

Yeah, I'm conflicted about that - in a way, the paperbacks are 'truer' to the way the material was presented originally, and those IDW hardcovers tend to be pretty expensive. When they say the hardcovers will be 'original art size', I take it to mean the pages won't actually have been shot from the original artwork.

But I bet they will be very desirable festish objects.

I <gulp> have more than enough of the IDW hardcovers to have come to terms with the price. Plus the Don Lawrence Collection sets of both Trigan Empire and Storm redefined what that sort of pricing level meant, really.

I'm assuming they're going to be the size of the Prince Valiant reprints, or maybe the Popeye ones?

That's cool news! The link says the books will be the black & white versions, but they should at least publish The Secret Rose in colour, as colours play an important role in the story of that book. I think The Secret Rose was also the only Corto book to be in colour right from the start (since Pratt obviously realized this story couldn't be properly told in b&w), the other coloured books were originally black and white, so I guess reprinting is more faithful to the originals. (The added colouring, which is not by Pratt, looks really nice, though it also affects the composition of Pratt lines, so your opinion may vary whether it makes the books better or worse.)

The original Corto books are roughly in the Euro "comic album" size, i.e. the same as with Tintin, Asterix, etc (Wikipedia has a nice reference pic of different sized comics), so I guess "original art size" means that? Wouldn't make much sense to print them larger than that, since Pratt's line is quite thick to being with.

Original art is generally larger than the printed version, even with European albums - for example the Tintin originals I've seen are about twice the size of the printed pages. There are a few comics artists who have worked 'same size', but not many. Pratt may be one of them - his artwork isn't really about details or fine lines, obv - but I would be slightly surprised, even so (I've never seen a page of original Corto artwork.)

also, there would be no point in announcing that the hardcovers will be larger than the paperbacks if... they're going to be the same size.

Yeah, I know original art is usually bigger than what's printed, though like you say that may not be the case with Pratt, his line is pretty thick already in the printed book. But even if his original art is bigger, I don't see the point of releasing it in that size? Obviously Pratt (like any other comic artist drawing in larger size) would have meant for their comics to be published in a certain size, so it's not like printing them bigger is truer to the artist's vision or anything.

also, there would be no point in announcing that the hardcovers will be larger than the paperbacks if... they're going to be the same size.

I took the line about "original art-sized" to mean the hardbacks will be in the original Euro size, and the paperbacks will be shrunk to make them more US friendly. If Pratt's original art was, say, twice as big as how it was printed, publishing it in that "original" size would make the books ludicrously big.

The announcement says the paperbacks will be bigger than Asterix/Tintin by at 9 1/4" x 11 3/4" (as opposed to 8 1/2" x 11 1/4"). A bit of googling produces some production art sold a couple of years ago at 12" x 18" which is huge, bigger even than Popeye (10 1/2" x 14 1/2", give or take).

Also, having seen the original artwork for the cover of Destination Moon at full size (Bristol Board 12x18) I'd absolutely want to see these reprints at that size.

EuroComics is working closely with Patrizia Zanotti, Pratt’s long-time collaborator, to present the complete Corto Maltese in a series of twelve quality trade paperbacks in Pratt’s original oversized black and white format. I'm sure they mean the original European album format by this.

IDW already publish a number of large-sized 'artist's editions' exactly reproducing original artwork, and again, I would bet that the hardcover Cortos will closely resemble them, even if they're not directly shot from original pages.

I took the line about "original art-sized" to mean the hardbacks will be in the original Euro size

everything above and: it's Dean Mullaney doing these.

Who's Dean Mullaney?

Okay, I guess I was wrong about the size thing... Still don't understand why anyone would want to read Pratt's thick line in larger size than it was originally printed in, but I guess there's a market for that?

I mean, I understand publishing comics in bigger size if the artist has a fine line and some of the details were lost in the original printings, but that's hardly the case with Pratt.

See my comment on Destination Moon.

Just for example, I think aspiring comic book artists often learn things from studying original artwork - and I'm sure Pratt's mastery of the brush, of black and white contrast, of reduction and subtraction, would be even more evident printed at a larger size.

Mullaney is the creative director of IDW's Library of American Comics line, and was formerly the owner/publisher of Eclipse Comics. He's got a (deserved) reputation for delivering a high quality product (see for example the Noel Sickles and Alex Toth volumes that he edited for IDW).

I didn't know mullaney was with IDW now. Names to conjure with.

Okay, glad to hear the Corto reprints are in good hands. Wasn't the previous English printing of Ballad of the Salt Sea horribly cropped or something? I remember it being discussed on ILC.

The recent American color edition was printed at a small size and inappropriately coloured, yes.

There's an earlier edition published by Collins Harvill that was at the correct size, and with a much better translation than the NBM Corto volumes.

Wasn't Mullaney a creator too?

Nope

I must have been thinking of Dean Motter.

Yep

Wasn't the previous English printing of Ballad of the Salt Sea horribly cropped or something?

see upthread.

So, with volume 8 of the Suicide Squad TPBs coming out this May, DC has *finally* collected the entire Ostrander/Yale run, only 17 years after it finished. Too bad they've never managed the same with Milligan's Shade or Human Target, nor does it seem like they ever will.

It's frankly shocking that they managed, as DC tends to prematurely abandon their reprint projects more often than not (the most recent example I'm aware of being a proposed two-volume collection of Sleeper, for which the second volume was recently solicited and then cancelled).

Yeah, I mentioned Human Target because they've started collecting it and then abandoned it *twice*, which is ridiculous. And it's not like it's a long, multi-volume series, the last time they would've needed to release just one more TPB, and it would've all been reprinted.

I guess I should keep my finger crossed with SS vol. 8, there's still time to cancel it...

Did those English editions of Corto Maltese we talked about upthread ever happen, btw?

Yes, and they're still happening. I think another one of the volumes was just solicited last month.

Like the current Barks reprints, though, they're being released out of order for some reason.

The Barks ones is for a good reason, at least

entire Ostrander/Yale run, only 17 years after it finished.

calling for a recount on this

Oops, yeah, I guess it's 27 actually.

With the Corto Maltese books, the reading order isn't really that important, since they're all stand-alone stories, and some of them are in anachronic order to begin with. You should read Ballad of the Salt Seas first and finish with the last two (Secret Rose and Mu) though, in order to make sense of certain supporting characters reappearing.

And the ultimate fate of Corto is sorta revealed in a piece of dialogue in "The Scorpions of the Desert", another series by Pratt that's set in the WWII and is otherwise unrelated to CM.

IDW haven't got round to Ballad of the Salt Seas yet, I think partly because there have already been two previous English language editions of it - a perfectly fine translation from Collins Harvill published in 1996, and more recently a reduced size, colour version from a company called Universe Publishing in 2012, that should probably be avoided (I don't know who did the translation, or how good it is).

Yeah, that reduced-sized book and the way it was altered from the original comic was discussed upthread.

It's too bad if they haven't published Ballad yet, it really makes to read that one first, as it establishes the relationship between Corto and Rasputin, and it also features an important supporting character who never appears again, but who gets alluded to several times in the following stories. OTOH, I didn't read Ballad first as a kid either (because the Finnish publisher also published the books out of order in the '80s), and I understood most of it just fine.

Awww man, the second volume of Sleeper was cancelled?! DC are beginning to turn this into an art form! What about the 90s Books of Magic?

And it is a shame that Shade, Sandman Mystery Theatre and Human Target are unlikely to ever be collected in full. Ostrander Spectre and Hawkworld, too.

I am happy to see an attempt at collecting the early post-Crisis Batman years in paperback editions (titled The Caped Crusader and Dark Knight Detective, for Batman and Detective Comics issues respectively). I hope they at least make it up to the point before Knightfall starts up, even if that does mean including the Louise Simonson arc about the kid who can make reality into a giant video game (or as I like to call it, the worst Batman story of all time).

I started buying those new Batman collections but I'm thoroughly expecting DC to shit the bed before they get very far with them. I had been excitedly buying the Batman/Superman Adventures reprints buuuuuut it's been nothing crickets for a while now. And yet I just keep holding out my hand so they can burn me again.

Hasn't Sleeper been collected a few times?

Didn't realise they stalled at Gotham Adventures, too bad as I've never read those. The first two Batman Adventures runs are fantastic. There was a pretty good issue of Back Issue magazine all about B:TAS not too long ago, went into the spin-off comics in good detail.

I would definitely recommend the associated comics to anyone who's a fan of the DCAU. I would definitely not recommend holding your breath for DC to finish collecting all of those comics.

So, with volume 8 of the Suicide Squad TPBs coming out this May, DC has *finally* collected the entire Ostrander/Yale run, only 17 years after it finished. Too bad they've never managed the same with Milligan's Shade or Human Target, nor does it seem like they ever will.

― Tuomas, 7. tammikuuta 2019 16:53

This one did actually come out, so they did manage to collect the entire run, and the Ostrander/Yale Deadshot mini too. Now if they would only do the same with Ostranders' runs on Firestorm, Spectre, or the Martian Manhunter. Or with those Milligans books, etc.