Comic Book Resources

It was my understanding that the entire Byrne Superman run (or at least nearly so) IS available in TPB.

I completely agree about the trades (although I believe Stressfactor is correct), but not at all about the multiverse.

DCs history is extremely wrapped up in the concept of the multiverse. They tried just going with it ten years ago with Hypertime and it never caught on. Concepts like a specific Earth-2, or Earth-X work very well because they have extensive backstory. The problem DC has is their insistence in applying elseworlds stories to a particular Earth. Imaginary stories should be able to operate completely independently from the 52.

They are trading Byrne’s Superman run, but you get the Wolfman issues of “Adventures of” in the same package, so…

But yeah. If DC was Marvel, we’d have an OMAC hardcover by now and I would be happy.

I find the multiverse silly, too. But I guess they simply *had* to label Earth-Haney or whatever. Eh.

In the end, it’s the stories that really matter. I just wish they were more widely available.

What’s with the Major series getting a Hardcover treatment, like 4 years before a mention of a softcover? Sorry DC, but those things way a ton, and cost about as much and I prefer the softcovers.

Yeah, check out the Superman: Man of Steel trades, almost all of Byrne’s run has been collected in the last few years. I think part of why Marvel seems better at putting out trades is that they have roughly half of the back-catalogue as DC. Let’s face it, DC has a lot more to get out. Also, they do put out old, failed series. Hell, there’s a Stars & STRIPE trade out this month. Word is that Suicide Squad is set to come out with Ostrader’s new SS series that’s been teased, and there’s a new JLA: Classified Hitman arc coming, so I’m sure the rest of the Hitman trades will follow. The other thing is that DC keeps its trades in print at all times. With Marvel, once that Thing printing is sold out, it’s gone for a long time most likely.

All of that said, I’m still waiting for DC to schedule a final Starman trade including the rest of the Times Past stories and the Shade mini-series.

Until any part of the Joe Kelly Deadpool run is collected, DC wins in the trade department for me.

My bad about the Byrne Supermans. I have NEVER seen any trade with it, either in comic stores or bookstores, so I figured they hadn’t gotten them out. Of course, with the Superman movie, you would have thought there would have been a bigger push on the books, and there’s no law saying you can’t have a new printing or new packaging, but neither company is particularly good about linking their movies to the comics …

It is nice to see DC getting with it with the old books, so maybe they’re changing their attitude toward these things.

Marvel is really bad about keeping the good stuff in print.

X-Statix Volume 3 is impossiable to find and the last two Simonson Thor Visionaries are out of print.

Here’s a kicker too… Daredevil: Born Again is out of print. C’mon it’s Frank Miller!

Also should add those books were released or rereleased only a few years ago.

And when can we get a new Longshot trade. Art Adams art should count for something.

I’m not sure it’s fair to compare Marvel collecting The Thing with DC’s failure to collect books that are 10-15 years old. How does Marvel fare with books in a similar time frame? I don’t see any New Warriors trades, for example. Or Warren Ellis’ early Marvel works? Actually, it’s kind of funny – maybe DC’s tpb ommissions are more glaring because they have more older books I want to read than Marvel?

I’m with you on the multiverse, though. It’s fine as a background, like Marvel has, but apparently it’s supposed to be a really big deal. I can’t handle the compulsive “Everything must fit together perfectly!” philosophy that seems to rule DC editorial. Like that “History of the DCU” in the first few issues of 52 – that thing was intolerable.

Might this all boil down to money in the end? Yes, DC has deeper pockets than Marvel because of the parent company, but they may have bigger obligations, too. I have been told that Jack Kirby’s estate gets royalties out of DC’s “Fourth World” reprints, but not from Marvel’s “Eternals.” Without getting too self-righteously indignant about it, there is a non-trivial amount of bookkeeping required to pay royalties to people. Marvel’s quicker TPBs may just mean they have fewer of those kinds of obligations.

To their credit, I think DC has been getting better about trades. Gail Simone’s “Birds of Prey” run used to be nearly 2 years behind the main title, but I think it’s down to a number of months now. They also seem to have boosted the paper quality of the trades without affecting costs significantly.

My bad about the Byrne Supermans. I have NEVER seen any trade with it, either in comic stores or bookstores, so I figured they hadn’t gotten them out. Of course, with the Superman movie, you would have thought there would have been a bigger push on the books, and there’s no law saying you can’t have a new printing or new packaging, but neither company is particularly good about linking their movies to the comics …>>

I’m pretty sure DC had an extensive consignment campaign timed with the release of Superman returns. They also put out Superman vs Luthor trades, and a few “best of” sort of trades.

A few years ago, when Morrison’s star was beginning to rise & DC had quite a bit of crossover with 2000AD, I hoped they would collect the full Zenith series in trade format. So far, nothing.

Damn shame; In one arc he out-does Crisis with a multiverse spanning epic involving dozens of obscure British superheroes, Cthulu myths,and a title character that’s a self-involved pop star. Good readin’ if you can track it down.(either in the original 2000AD’s or the few b&w trades that actually got released)

“X-Statix Volume 3 is impossiable to find.”

Trust me, it’s no great loss.

Anyway, the multiverse problem is just a symptom of DC’s terrible habit of twisting itself in knots when it comes to continuity, the Marvel method of just selectively forgetting about inconvenient stuff is a lot more sensible.

Both companies have shocking gaps in thier TPBs. For that matter, why hasn’t Image reprinted 1963?

I’m sure some fan out there has catalogued all the various Marvel Universes (”No, Captain Airstrip One is from Earth-23!”)

Here you are, sir: A Wikipedia page listing every alternate earth in the Marvel multiverse. Some people are obsessive.

“X-Statix Volume 3 is impossiable to find.”

Trust me, it’s no great loss.

But then you would miss out on naked Iron Man vs. naked Mr. Sensitive!

Another criminally uncollected DC series: Young Justice. (Actually, Superboy and Impulse are pretty poorly represented as well. You’d think, with the increased profile of both characters during and after Infinite Crisis, they’d have done collections about their earliest adventures.)

As for the Multiverse, Hypertime used to be a lot like how Marvel deals with things: There were multiple timelines, which occasionally crossed over into the “main” one, but there wasn’t an obsessive catalogue of it.

It’s also worth noting that most times, when Marvel does delve into cataloguing its Multiverse, it turns out pretty lame. (C.f. Claremont’s eternally bewildering fascination with Roma, the Capt. Britain Corps., and a whole shitload of characters nobody sane finds interesting.)

“I’m not sure it’s fair to compare Marvel collecting The Thing with DC’s failure to collect books that are 10-15 years old.”

A fair point, but I think the response would be that DC could and should have been collecting similar short runs at the time they came out, or that they should be collecting short-run series now as current series and projects use the concepts and characters in question.

Holy Moley… they assigned a universe/number to Kitty’s Fairy Tale?

“What’s with the Major series getting a Hardcover treatment, like 4 years before a mention of a softcover?”

It’s because DC refuses to even solicit a paperback until the hardcover is completely sold out (from them, not from the stores). I remember waiting a long time for ‘Promethea’ book 5 because of this.

“and there’s a new JLA: Classified Hitman arc coming, so I’m sure the rest of the Hitman trades will follow.”

I hope so, but somehow, I don’t expect it. It’s been five or six years since the last trade was published. I don’t think it’s high on their list of things to do (although I believe, as of now, it’s the only Ennis series they own that they haven’t collected). Hell, they haven’t even finished milking their Morrison stuff yet.

“I hoped they would collect the full Zenith series in trade format. So far, nothing.”

There’s some ridiculous copyright battle going on; check out the urban legends page for the urban legend that there is a warehouse in England full of ‘Zenith’ trades collecting dust (to be honest, I forget if the legend is true or not, but it is true that there’s a battle over the rights).

“For that matter, why hasn’t Image reprinted 1963?”

I guess there’s some audience for everything, but I didn’t think *anybody* wanted to be reminded of that. (I believe they also never collected “Spawn/WildC.A.T.s”, though I have seen a trade for “Spawn: Blood Feud”; fans can argue forever over which of these three is the single worst Alan Moore thing ever.) They also promised a ‘Youngblood’ trade with Moore’s stuff.

The annoying thing about Image Moore trades is that they are incomplete; ‘Blood Feud’ is missing an 8 page prequel story, ‘Judgement Day’ is missing a lot of little stuff, and they never collected his story from ‘WildC.A.T.s’ #50; my understanding is, there are several places that could’ve fit.

I’ve been saying for years that DC needs to release the entire run of Ostrander/Mandrake’s run on The Spectre. That was an amazing series, and a great swan song for Jim Corrigan. Sadly, despite my letter campaigns, no such luck.

sean–2000AD reprints: true indeed, according to Brian Cronin
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2006/04/20/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-47/

I’m sure you know this already, but it’s my understanding that the Extremist universe from the G/D League was filled with near-peer marvel characters… SS is the Scarlet Witch, Wandjina Thor, Blue Jay… I don’t know, I’m not big on my Avengers… Ant Man? Is there an Ant Man?

Anyway, does that Universe still “exist?” If it does, I guess that’s your Marvel one.

R

All DC comics between 197(8?) and 199(7?) are governed by different (and much higher than usual) royalty rates.

That is why few books are reprinted from then. They have to be such clear good sellers as to make it worth it (Miller’s stuff, the first Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League trade, Cosmic Odyssey, etc.), and not many books fit that criteria.

In the alternative, DC sometimes has creators sign new deals to get paid less – which also happens infrequently, as you might imagine.

It’s awfully amusing to look back at Kahn’s columns from the time, where she bragged about the royalty rates, only to see DC now intentionally avoiding reprinting those stories BECAUSE of those rates.

I just wish DC would collect Paul Jenkin´s Hellblazer run.

On that note, what’s up with the giant gap of uncollected issues between “Dangerous Habits” and the beginning of Steve Dillon’s run? It’s like a year and a half of Garth Ennis stories just sitting there doing nothing. Not quite as bad as halting Hitman 1/3 of the way through, but still…

I forgot about the royalty thing, Brian. Still, you would think DC would figure out a way to get something done in that regard.

They try, Greg, but it’s got to be an awkward situation – “Hey, Creator Y, would you mind taking less money than the contract says so we can afford to print this collection?”

I know it’s basically a matter of the creator getting less money versus NO money at all, but I would still imagine a good deal of creators would be hesitant to sign such an agreement.

Hitman and The Spectre were among the very best things DC was printing at the time. Both deserve their full runs collected in trades. I’d also love to see all of the Spectre covers collected the way they did the Preacher.

But at least I can count on DC to put out a brand new ultimate essential vital masterwork masterpiece director’s cut this time we really mean it at least until next year collection of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman again this year.

And where’s the Herbie the Fat Fury trade, anyway?

“For that matter, why hasn’t Image reprinted 1963?”

Image can only reprint what the owners of the property want to reprint. It usually comes out ofthe creators own pocket (they get most of profits though).

1963 I think the problem is Steven bissette and Alan Moore two of the owners of 1963 are not on speaking terms right now. Otherwise I’m sure Top Shelf or somebody would be reprinting it.

“I guess there’s some audience for everything, but I didn’t think *anybody* wanted to be reminded of that. (I believe they also never collected “Spawn/WildC.A.T.s”, though I have seen a trade for “Spawn: Blood Feud”; fans can argue forever over which of these three is the single worst Alan Moore thing ever.) They also promised a ‘Youngblood’ trade with Moore’s stuff.
The annoying thing about Image Moore trades is that they are incomplete; ‘Blood Feud’ is missing an 8 page prequel story, ‘Judgement Day’ is missing a lot of little stuff, and they never collected his story from ‘WildC.A.T.s’ #50; my understanding is, there are several places that could’ve fit.”

Wildstorm is putting out a trade this month of his various Wildstorm storm stuff plus a trade of his WildCATs run that’s out in a month or two.

A lot of that stuff ranges from good to mediocre.

http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Moore-Wild-Worlds/dp/1401213790/ref=sr_1_1/002-9849568-0229628?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178758127&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Moore-Complete-WildC-Wildcats/dp/1401215459/ref=sr_1_2/002-9849568-0229628?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178758192&sr=8-2

All DC comics between 197(8?) and 199(7?) are governed by different (and much higher than usual) royalty rates.

That is why few books are reprinted from then. They have to be such clear good sellers as to make it worth it (Miller’s stuff, the first Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League trade, Cosmic Odyssey, etc.), and not many books fit that criteria.

So THIS is what is keeping the original Amethyst Princess of Gemworld maxi-series stuck in a back issue box and not being reprinted in trade paperback (and digest form for today’s fantasy obsessed pre-teen crowd)!?

I must go and do a lot of forlorn sighing.

Graeme

“My bad about the Byrne Supermans. I have NEVER seen any trade with it, either in comic stores or bookstores, so I figured they hadn’t gotten them out. Of course, with the Superman movie, you would have thought there would have been a bigger push on the books, and there’s no law saying you can’t have a new printing or new packaging, but neither company is particularly good about linking their movies to the comics …”
I’m not certain, but I’m fairly sure there was a big push on these books around the time the movie came out. As in, the older volumes were reprinted (I think), and a new volume was released. You lost this one, stop trying to blame DC!

I agree with you to a point about the Multiverse- I will never understand why DC needs to make segmented alternate realities such a big part of their stories either- but this is an area where I think a lot of people just block out something that ruins their argument.

If Mark Waid wants to write an alternate Batman story without worrying which part of the multiverse it fits into, he can. It’s called Elseworlds, and DC’s been doing it for a really long time now. They’ve been bringing out the DCAU books ever since B:TAS started, too, which I guess counts as an ‘uncategorised’ alternate reality.

>I’m sure you know this already, but it’s my >understanding that the Extremist universe from the G/D >League was filled with near-peer marvel characters… SS >is the Scarlet Witch, Wandjina Thor, Blue Jay… I don’t >know, I’m not big on my Avengers… Ant Man? Is there an >Ant Man?
>Anyway, does that Universe still “exist?” If it does, I >guess that’s your Marvel one.

The universe itself might exist – but I’m pretty sure every character from it is dead now, so it might be a little empty
(Is Blue Jay still alive? I’ve forgotten)

It is amusing that Marvel now has a larger “multiverse” than DC ever had. I think that DC’s powers-that-be are still hung up on the Crisis on Infinite Earths’ concept of making everything streamlined and “one universe.” The funny thing is that Marvel pre 1985 or so was pretty much like DC is now. All the Marvel stories took place in one universe and timeline except for the stories featured in “What If?” and what else is “Elseworlds” but a DC take on What If?

Funny, I thought the Extremists and Assemblers/Justifiers weren’t from another universe at all, but another Earth-like planet in OUR universe.

Completely agree about the trades, DC needs to get their asses in gear.

As for the multiverse thing, I think that DC realized they completely tossed out the baby with the bathwater and are making strides to capitalize on a pretty cool concept, which is why we’ll probably see a big Crisis style crossover before you can say “Giffen drew a penis on Lobo’s arm!”

I demand a Coatimundi series.

With Mike Nelson as the series protagonist.

I also agree about DC’s trades (or lack thereof) of not-so-successful, but still good, series. Personally, I have been wanting a collection of the “Azrael” series forever now. Yeah, the series really crapped out after the “Fall of St. Dumas”(issues 1-26)and the “Angel Insane” (where he goes into Arkham, issues 27-28) storylines, so how about we just have a collection of those? Azrael was an integral part of the Batman-mythos for a good decade, so I think that warrants a trade of some sort.

I just want to see the uproar that will happen when the Watchmen Universe becomes one of the 52 and someone crosses over into it.

Not much to add, aside from saying that I’m still upset that Gail Simone’s Deadpool/Agent X run never got put out in trade paperback form. Seriously, what’s up with that? I remember wanting to get it as a gift for someone a few years back and being rather peeved that Marvel never bothered to collect it.

“I just want to see the uproar that will happen when the Watchmen Universe becomes one of the 52 and someone crosses over into it.”

As bad of an idea as that is, it’ll never happen. I believe any further use of those characters by DC must be signed off on by Moore & Gibbons, thus why the action figures were cancelled.

stealthwise: your big crisis-style crossover is called Countdown.

It’s funny that people keep saying “If Mark Waid wants to blah blah blah” sense Mark Waid’s the one who inevitably makes whatever multiversal concept unworkable. It’s who has to have Kingdom Come show up everywhere and “be real”, it was him who took the basic Hypertime idea and say “If someone sticks around too long in a different world, that messes up history”, heck, he’s been involved in all 3 LSH continuity reboots!!

Greg asked about trades of Ostrander’s Spectre. Just a few months after the series started, the first four issues were collected. This would fall into that period with the problematical royalty terms that Brian Cronin mentioned. No follow-up volume, yet it appears to still be in print, at least the last time I checked the list of “Graphic Novels” on DC’s website it was there. Some that aren’t are “Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told” (“Greatest Fifties…” IS), “Mysteries In Space” and “America At War.” So I am hard pressed to make sense of it. (I am not disputing the royalty thing, as I have heard about it relevant to reprints of JONAH HEX shifting to OUTLAW or something just when they were reaching the really good part of the run.)

The failure for me is that DC apparently has no plans to collect The Next by Tad Williams.

The series sold like crap, I know, but like you pointed out in your Marvel example, even crap-selling series get collected. Particularly if it’s a crap-selling series that happens to have a high-profile writer with a current gig from the company.

Maybe I’m only bothered by this because I work at a bookstore, but I would like to able to make a display of novelists-turned-comickers with that title on it.

stealthwise: your big crisis-style crossover is called Countdown.

Good gravy.

The series sold like crap, I know, but like you pointed out in your Marvel example, even crap-selling series get collected. Particularly if it’s a crap-selling series that happens to have a high-profile writer with a current gig from the company.

Is Tad Williams a high profile writer? I’ve never heard of him/her

“For that matter, why hasn’t Image reprinted 1963?”

Because it’s incomplete? There was an 80 page annual, plus 1963 1/2 was advertised but never came to be.