It should be collected / It should be in print

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

--

Ant-Man 1 Tales to Astonish #27, 35-69 OOP
Avengers 1 Avengers #1-24 OOP
2 Avengers #25-45, Annual #1 available from stockists
3 Avengers #47-68, Annual #2 OOP
4 Avengers #69-97, Incredible Hulk #140 available from stockists
5 Avengers #98-119, Defenders #8-11, Daredevil #99 available from stockists
6 Avengers #120-140, Giant-Size #1-4, Captain Marvel #33 and FF #150 OOP
7 Avengers #141-163, Annual #6, and Super-Villain Team-Up #9 available from stockists
8 Avengers #164-184, Annual #7-8, and Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2 available from stockists
Black Panther 1 Jungle Action (1972) #6-22 and # 24, and Black Panther (1977) #1-10 available from stockists
Captain America 1 Captain America Comics #5, Tales of Suspense #59-99, Captain America #100-102 OOP
2 Captain America #103-126 available from stockists
3 Captain America #127-156 OOP
4 Captain America #157-186 available from stockists
5 Captain America #187-205, Annual #3, Bicentennial Battles available from stockists
6 Captain America #206-230, Annual #4, Incredible Hulk #232 available from stockists
Captain Marvel 1 Marvel Super-Heroes #12-13, Captain Marvel #1-21 OOP
2 Marvel Super-Heroes #12-13, Captain Marvel (1968) #22-35, #37-46, Iron Man (1968) #55, and Marvel Feature #12 unavailable
Conan 1 Conan the Barbarian #1-25 OOP
Daredevil 1 Daredevil #1-25 available from stockists
2 Daredevil #26-48, Annual #1, Fantastic Four #73 OOP
3 Daredevil #49-74, Iron Man #25-26 OOP
4 Daredevil #75-101 and Avengers #111 OOP
5 Daredevil #101-125 and Marvel Two-In-One #3 #111 available from stockists
Dazzler 1 Dazzler #1-21, Uncanny X-Men #130-131 and Amazing Spider-Man #203 OOP
2 Dazzler #22-42, Marvel GN #12, Beauty and the Beast #1-4 and Secret Wars II #4 OOP
Defenders 1 Doctor Strange #183, Sub-Mariner #22, 34-35, Hulk #126, Marvel Feature #1-3, Defenders #1-14, Avengers #115-118 OOP
2 Defenders #15-30, Giant-Size Defenders #1-4, Marvel 2-in-1 #6-7, Marvel Team-Up #33-35, Marvel Treasury #12 OOP
3 Defenders #31-60, Annual #1 OOP
4 Defenders #61-91 available from stockists
5 Defenders #92-106, Marvel Team-Up (1972) #101, #111, #116 and Captain America (1968) #268 available from stockists
6 Defenders #107-124, New Defenders #125, Avengers Annual #11, Marvel Team-Up #119 available from stockists
Doctor Strange 1 Strange Tales #110, 111, 114-163 OOP
2 Doctor Strange #169-178, 180-183, Avengers #61, Sub-Mariner #22, Hulk #126, Marvel Feature #1, Marvel Premiere #3-10, 12-14 OOP
3 Doctor Strange #1-29, Annual #1, Tomb of Dracula #44-45 OOP
4 Doctor Strange #30-56, Chamber of Chills #4, Man-Thing #4 available from stockists
Fantastic Four 1 Fantastic Four #1-20, Annual #1 OOP
2 Fantastic Four #21-40, Annual #2, Strange Tales Annual #2 OOP
3 Fantastic Four #41-63, Annual #3, 4 OOP
4 Fantastic Four #64-83, Annual #5, 6 OOP
5 Fantastic Four #84-110, Annual #7, 8 OOP
6 Fantastic Four #111-137 available from stockists
7 Fantastic Four #138-159, Giant-Size Super-Stars #1, Giant-Size FF #2-4, Avengers #127 OOP
8 Fantastic Four #160-179,181-183, Annual #11, Marvel 2-in-1 #20, Marvel 2-in-1 Annual #1 available from stockists
Ghost Rider 1 Marvel Spotlight #5-12, Ghost Rider #1-20, Daredevil #138 OOP
2 Ghost Rider #21-50 OOP
3 Ghost Rider #51-65, Marvel 2-in-1 #80, Marvel Super Heroes Fall 1992, and Avengers #214 OOP
4 Ghost Rider #66-81, Amazing Spider-Man #274, New Defenders #145-146 available from stockists
Godzilla 1 Godzilla #1-24 OOP
Howard The Duck 1 Howard the Duck #1-27, Ann #2; Fear #19; Marvel Treasury Edition #12; Giant-Size Man-Thing #4,5 OOP
Human Torch 1 Strange Tales #101-134, Annual #2 OOP
Incredible Hulk 1 Incredible Hulk #1-6, Tales to Astonish #60-91 available from stockists
2 Tales to Astonish #92-101, Incredible Hulk #102-117, 147, Annual #1 available from stockists
3 Incredible Hulk #118-142, Captain Marvel #20-21, Avengers #88 available from stockists
4 Incredible Hulk #143-170 available from stockists
5 Incredible Hulk #171-200, Annual #5 OOP
6 Incredible Hulk #201-225, Annual #6 available from stockists
Iron Fist 1 Marvel Premiere #15-25, Iron Fist #1-15, Marvel Team-Up #63-64, Power Man/Iron Fist #48-50 OOP
Iron Man 1 Tales of Suspense #39-72 OOP
2 Tales of Suspense #73-99, Iron Man & Sub-Mariner #1, Iron Man #1-11 OOP
3 Iron Man #12-38, Daredevil #73 available from stockists
4 Iron Man #39-61 available from stockists
5 Iron Man ##62-75, #77-87, Annual #3 available from stockists
Killraven 1 Amazing Adventures (Vol. 2) #18-39, Marvel Team-Up #45, Marvel GN #7, Killraven #1 (MK) OOP
Luke Cage, Power Man 1 Hero For Hire #1-16, Power Man #17-27 OOP
2 Power Man #28-49, Annual #1 OOP
Man-Thing 1 Savage Tales #1, Astonishing Tales #12-13, Adventures Into Fear #10-19, Man-Thing #1-14, Giant-Size Man-Thing #1-2, Monsters Unleashed #5, 8-9 OOP
2 Man-Thing (1974) #15-22, Man-Thing (1979) #1-11, Giant-Size Man-Thing #3-5, Marvel Team-Up #68, Marvel 2-in-1 #43 and Doctor Strange #41 OOP
Marvel Horror 1 (Son of Satan/Satana) Ghost Rider #1-2, Marvel Spotlight #12-24, Son of Satan #1-8, Marvel 2-in-1 #14, Marvel Team-Up #32, 80-81; Vampire Tales #2-3; Haunt of Horror #24-25; Marvel Premiere #27 $10.59 OOP
2 (Living Mummy, Brother Voodoo, Golem, Mordred the Mystic, etc.) Supernatural Thrillers #5, 7-15; Strange Tales #169-174, 176-177; Tales of the Zombie #6, 10; Marvel Team-Up #24; Haunt of Horror #2-5; Monsters Unleashed #11; Marvel 2-in-1 #11, 18, 33; Marvel Chillers #1-2; Dead of Night #11; Marvel Spotlight #26 available from stockists
Marvel Saga 1 Marvel Saga #1-12 OOP
2 Marvel Saga #13-25 OOP
Marvel Team-Up 1 Marvel Team-Up #1-24 OOP
2 Marvel Team-Up #25-51, Marvel 2-in-1 #17 OOP
3 Marvel Team-Up #52-73, 75, Annual #1 OOP
4 Marvel Team-Up #76-78, 80-98, Annual #2,3 available from stockists
Marvel Two-In-One 1 Marvel Feature #11-12, Marvel 2-in-1 #1-20, 22-25, Annual #1, Fantastic Four Annual #11 OOP
2 Marvel Two-In-One #26-52, Annual #2-3 OOP
3 Marvel Two-In-One #53-77 and Annual #4-5 OOP
4 Marvel Two-In-One #78-98, 100 and Annual #6-7 available from stockists
Monster of Frankenstein 1 Monster of Frankenstein #1-5, Frankenstein's Monster #6-18, Giant-Size Werewolf #2, Monsters Unleashed #2, 4-10 OOP
Moon Knight 1 Werewolf By Night #32-33, Marvel Spotlight #28-29, Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #22-23, Marvel 2-in-1 #52, Hulk Magazine #11-15, 17-18 & 20, Marvel Preview #21, Moon Knight #1-12, Marvel Team-Up Annual #4 OOP
2 Moon Knight #11-30 OOP
3 Moon Knight #31-38, #1-6(1985), Marvel Fanfare #30,38,39, Solo Avengers #3, and Marvel Super-Heroes #1 available from stockists
Ms. Marvel 1 Ms. Marvel #1-23, Marvel Super-Heroes Magazine #10-11 OOP
Nova 1 Nova #1-25, Marvel Two-In-One Annual #3, Amazing Spider-Man #171 OOP
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe 1 OHOTMU Vol. 1 #1-15 OOP
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition 1 OHOTMU: Deluxe Edition #1-7 OOP
2 OHOTMU: Deluxe Edition #8-14 OOP
3 OHOTMU: Deluxe Edition #15-20 OOP
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: '89 Update 1 OHOTMU: '89 Update #1-8 OOP
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master Edition 1 OHOTMU: Master Edition (Abomination to Gargoyle) OOP
2 OHOTMU: Master Edition (Garokk to Proctor) OOP
3 OHOTMU: Master Edition (Professor Power to ZZZAX) OOP
Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man 1 Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #1-31 OOP
2 Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #32-53, Annual #1-2, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #13 OOP
3 Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #54-74, Annual #3 OOP
4 Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #75-96 and Annual #4 available from stockists
5 Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #97-114 available from stockists
Power Man & Iron Fist 1 Power Man and Iron Fist #50-72, 74-75 OOP
2 Power Man and Iron Fist #76-100, Daredevil #178 OOP
Punisher 1 Amazing Spider-Man #129,134-135,161-162,174-175,201-202,Annual #15, Giant-Size Spider-Man #4, Marvel Preview #2, Marvel Super-Action #1, Captain America #241, Daredevil #182-184, Spectacular Spider-Man #81-83, Punisher #1-5 OOP
2 Punisher #1-20, Annual #1, Daredevil #257 OOP
3 Punisher #21-40, Annual #2-3 OOP
4 Punisher #41-59, Annual #4-5 available from stockists
Rampaging Hulk 1 Rampaging Hulk #1-9, The Hulk! #10-15, Incredible Hulk #269 OOP
2 Hulk! #16-27 available from stockists
Rawhide Kid 1 Rawhide Kid #17-35 available from stockists
Savage She-Hulk 1 Savage She-Hulk #1-25 OOP
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?