Which Omnibus collections NEED to happen?

[Comic-Reader Lad]

I've become a big fan of the DC and Marvel Omnibus format over the last couple of years. This is in spite of the production errors that crop up (mostly from DC, it seems) like the missing/duplicate page from the recent Fourth World Omnibus and the missing text from the Justice League International Omnibus.

The format is completely unwieldy and awkward to read, but I just love the sheer audacity of these 600-1000+ page books that enable you to go through large chunks of comics history in just a few volumes.

So, I was just wondering what people's ideas are for Omnibuses that you desperately want to see published that have not materialized as of yet. These could be from any and all comics companies -- even ones that currently don't publish in the Omnibus format.

For me, I'm really interested in everything up to the Bronze Age (say, pre-Crisis). Most stuff after that seems too recent for me to have a sense of nostalgia about it that I want to see it collected in the high-priced Omnibus format. Also, I prefer Omnis to be collected by series rather than by storyline. This is really not a problem for comics from Bronze Age or earlier as intertitle crossovers were not really commonplace.

Without further ado, here are my ideas:

DC COMICS
- Sea Devils - a Silver Age series that only lasted 35 issues. Tailor-made for the Omni format as a single volume can package the entire series including the Showcase tryout issues of #27-29.
- Rip Hunter, Time Master - another Silver Age series lasting 29 issues preceded by 4 Showcase tryouts.
- Silver Age Metamorpho
- Golden Age Aquaman
- Silver Age Aquaman
- Silver Age Superman
- Silver Age Batman
- Silver Age Martian Manhunter - the Detective backups followed by his House of Mystery run
- Silver Age Challengers of the Unknown
- Silver / Bronze Age DC Mystery titles: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love, Sinister House of Secret Love, Secrets of Haunted House, Ghosts, Witching Hour, The Unexpected
- Jonah Hex
- Mike Grell's Warlord
- Sugar and Spike
- Silver / Bronze Age Lois Lane
- Silver / Bronze Age Jimmy Olsen

MARVEL COMICS
- Conan the Barbarian - using the original coloring rather than the Dark Horse digital remastering
- Savage Sword of Conan magazine
- all other Marvel Conan related material each in its own Omni (e.g. King Conan, King Kull, etc.)
- Crazy Magazine
- Rampaging Hulk / Hulk! magazine
- Golden Age Omnis with each character / title in its own series of books: Captain America, Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Marvel Mystery, etc.
- Marvel's teen comics characters each in their own Omnis: Patsy Walker, Millie the Model, etc.

ARCHIE COMICS
- Little Archie
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch
- Josie / Josie and the Pussycats
- Archie's Girls, Betty and Veronica
- Golden Age MLJ Heroes - each character should get his own omnibus: Shield, Steel Sterling, Hangman, Wizard, etc.

HARVEY COMICS
- Richie Rich (each series)
- Casper (each series)
- all the other long-running characters: Little Dot, Little Lotta, Spooky, Hot Stuff, etc.

Now, maybe the demand wouldn't be there to support expensive hardcover books of the Archie and Harvey stuff, but no reason a softcover Omnibus format couldn't be developed. The key is that the books would be at least 600 pages long, in full color (no Essentials/Showcases), and be in publication order for each series.

So, does anyone else want to see the books I listed above? Also, what books would you add?

[Rincewind]

There is a ton of material from the 80s and 90s that needs to be collected.

I would love to see an omnibus series for the anthology titles put out. There's Marvel Comics Presents and Marvel Fanfare. Gong back some, there is Marvel premiere and Marvel Spotlight. It's good to see the Epic collection line including MF, MCP, and relevant graphic novels. But there are a lot of stories of minor characters that will never be covered in the Epic line.

I also would like to see creator specific omnibus come out. A Marvel Universe by Peter David collecting the issues he wrote outside of Hulk or X[Factor would be great. I could see a similar volume released for Dwayne McKuffie or Fabian Nicieza.

On the DC side, I would love to see them collect more of the post Crisis line. Captain Atom, L.E.G.I.O.N. or LoSH Five Years Later all deserve to have the full runs collected.

[Graphic Autist]

Totally down for the Conan The Barbarian Omnibus you mentioned.

[comicscollector]

Doctor Strange Omnibus 2.
Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus 4.
Marvel Team Up Omnibus.
Peter Parker:Spectacular Spider-Man (vol:1) Omnibus.

[Mad Hatter]

Marvel

Avengers by Roger Stern
Thunderbolts by Busiek and Bagley
Amazing Spider-Man by DeFalco/Frenz
Amazing Spider-Man by Michelinie and Bagley
Spectacular Spider-Man by DeMatteis/Buscema
Iron Man by Michelinie & Layton volume 2
Hulk by Peter David


DC

Swamp Thing by Alan Moore
Jonah Hex (Gray/Palmiotti pre-new 52)
The Question by Denny O'Neil
JLA by Grant Morrison


Bonus:

Dark Horse libraries

Beasts of Burden
Harrow County
Age of Reptiles

[awayne83]

I'm of the opinion Marvel has done a much better job of mining omni worthy material than DC. There's A LOT of material I'd like to see collected from the 80's-00's from them. When we do the "most wanted omni polls" i have a hard time coming up with 10 marvel omni's that aren't currently in route (i.e. ASM, UXM). I can throw out 20 -30 for DC easily. Could be because their focus has been golden and silver age material as of late, and the relatively late acceptance of the omni market when compared to Marvel. As far as material OP listed, i don't think we NEED any of those lol. Different strokes and all I'd like to see more modern Spidey omni'd. A bagley volume, JMS, Slott, BND, Spectacular. USM!!! for the love of God!

[GhostPirate]

Completely on board with Warlord, Swamp Thing, Jonah Hex, and Conan.

DC:

Ostrander Spectre (this most of all... I think Mandrake's style begs for oversized formats)
Ostrander Suicide Squad
All-Star Squadron
original Kupperberg Checkmate

really random pick: the Grant/Semeiks Lobo run, including the issues from Grant's time on Demon

Marvel:
Moench/Sienkiewicz Moon Knight
Claremont New Mutants (if I'm being honest... primarily for the Sienkiewicz issues, but one Omni should cover the run to and through his entire time on the title)
Claremont Uncanny X-Men 4 (& 5 if necessary), whatever it takes to bridge the gap between the 3rd UXM Omni and the 1st Claremont/Lee Omni

Independent:
Matt Wagner's Grendel and Mage series... real, oversized Omnis, not the digest-sized Omnis the Grendel series was printed in.

[bobellis75]

Marvel

Avengers by Roger Stern
Thunderbolts by Busiek and Bagley
Amazing Spider-Man by DeFalco/Frenz
Amazing Spider-Man by Michelinie and Bagley
Spectacular Spider-Man by DeMatteis/Buscema
Iron Man by Michelinie & Layton volume 2
Hulk by Peter David


DC

Swamp Thing by Alan Moore
Jonah Hex (Gray/Palmiotti pre-new 52)
The Question by Denny O'Neil
JLA by Grant Morrison


Bonus:

Dark Horse libraries

Beasts of Burden
Harrow County
Age of Reptiles

Good choices all the way around. I have the Stern Avengers being custom bound right now actually!

[arosenbarger]

marvel

avengers by roger stern
thunderbolts by busiek and bagley
amazing spider-man by defalco/frenz
amazing spider-man by michelinie and bagley
spectacular spider-man by dematteis/buscema
iron man by michelinie & layton volume 2
hulk by peter david


dc

swamp thing by alan moore
jonah hex (gray/palmiotti pre-new 52)
the question by denny o'neil
jla by grant morrison


bonus:

dark horse libraries

beasts of burden
harrow county
age of reptiles

agreed!!

JM SB SPSM.jpg

[Jlaavenger]

DC Comics

The Warlord by Mike Grell is number one on my list but I'm ok if it only includes material by Mike Grell with all of the Mike Grell miniseries to complete the story.

Aquaman the Silver Age:
Volume 1: (893 pages) Collecting: Adventure Comics #260-280, 282, 284; Showcase #30-33; Detective Comics #293-300; Aquaman #1-18; World's Finest Comics #125-133, 135, 137, 139
Volume 2: (895 pages) Collecting: Aquaman #19-56

Aquaman the Bronze Age:
Volume 1: (608 pages) Collecting: Adventure Comics #435-437, 441-455, 460-466, 475-478; DC Special #28; Aquaman #57-63; DC Special Series #1; World's Finest Comics #262-264; Action Comics #517-521, 527-530, 536-540

Aquaman by Peter David

JLA but not exclusively by Morrison because I want to see JLA/Titans: the Technis Imperative included in a JLA omnibus.

OMAC collecting the Kirby, Starlin and Perez material. (267 pages)
Collecting: OMAC #1-8; Kamandi #59; Warlord #37-39, 42-47; DC Comics Presents #61

Finish the Bronze Age Justice League of America and Brave and the Bold lines but include all of the George Perez post cards this time.

Justice Society of America: with Power Girl and The Huntress
Volume 1: (910 pages) Collecting: All Star Comics #58-74; DC Special #29; Adventure Comics #461-466; Showcase #97-99; DC Comics Presents #56; DC Super-Stars #17; Batman Family #18-20; Wonder Woman #271-287, 289-290, 294-299, 301-321; The Brave and the Bold #184

Flash:
Volume 1: (814 pages) Collecting: The Flash #200-247; Super-Team Family #3
Volume 2: (808 pages) Collecting: The Flash #248-277; Super-Team Family #11, 15; DC Special Series #1, 11; Adventure Comics #459-465


Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes: Volume 1: (951 pages) Collecting: Superboy #172-173, 176, 183-184, 188, 190-191, 193, 195, 197-230; Karate Kid #1-10; DC Special #28; Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #231
Volume 2: (927 pages) Collecting: Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #232-258; Karate Kid #11-15; DC Super-Stars #17; All-New Collectors' Edition C-55; Kamandi #58; DC Comics Presents #13; Legion of Super-Heroes #259

DC Comics Presents:
Volume 1: (769 pages) Collecting: DC Comics Presents #1-40
Volume 2: (763 pages) Collecting: DC Comics Presents #41-46, 48-69; DC Comics Presents Annual #1-2
Volume 3: (783 pages) Collecting: DC Comics Presents #70-97; DC Comics Presents Annual #3-4


Man of Steel by Byrne

Superman the Bronze Age:
Volume 1: (915 pages) Collecting: Action Comics #396-414; Superman #233-254
Volume 2: (906 pages) Collecting: Action Comics #415-439; Superman #255-278
Volume 3: (896 pages) Collecting: Action Comics #440-463; Superman #279-304
Volume 4: (948 pages) Collecting: Action Comics #464-483; Superman #305-318; Superman Family #182-188; DC Special Series #5; All-New Collectors' Edition C-54
Volume 5: (938 pages) Collecting: Action Comics #484-499; Superman #319-338; Superman Family #189-196; All-New Collectors' Edition C-58

Superman the arrival of Maxima: collecting Action Comics 647-656.

Green Lantern/Green Arrow the Bronze Age
Volume 1: (833 pages) Collecting: Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76-106; The Flash #217-221, 223-224, 226-228, 230-231, 233-234, 237-238, 241-243, 246; Super-Team Family #12; DC Special Series #1
Volume 2: (750 pages) Collecting: Green Lantern/Green Arrow #107-122; Green Lantern #123-140; Adventure Comics #459-460; Tales of the Green Lantern Corps (mini-series) #1-3

Green Arrow and Black Canary:
Volume 1: (677 pages) Collecting: The Brave and the Bold #85; Justice League of America #75; Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76, 78, 85-87, 100; Adventure Comics #418-419; The Flash #217-219; Action Comics #421, 424, 426, 428, 431, 434, 436, 440-441, 444-446, 449-452, 455-458; Detective Comics #663-668; World's Finest Comics #244-256; DC Super-Stars #17; DC Special Series #10

Justice League America by Ed Benes

Justice League International volume 2

The Omega Men:
volume 1: GREEN LANTERN #141-144 & 160-161, ACTION COMICS #535-536, NEW TEEN TITANS #24-25, NEW TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #1, OMEGA MEN #1-19.

The return of the New Gods:
collecting the non Kirby Mister Miracle and New Gods material:
- (441 pages) Collecting: The New Gods #12-19; 1st Issue Special #13; Super-Team Family #15; Adventure Comics #459-460; Mister Miracle #19-25; The Brave and the Bold #112, 128, 138; Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #2; DC Comics Presents #12

All-Star Squadron

Marvel Comics

Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Savage

Infinity War

Defenders

Doctor Strange volume 2

Avengers volume 4

Fantastic Four volume 4

Marvel Team Up

Marvel Two in One

Micronaughts

Rom


What if?

The Marvel universe by George Perez

Hulk by Peter David

Thunderbolts

[koonfasa]

Also the New Mutants.

I like the sound of "The story of the Hobgoblin". It would be an awesome collection.


Also wouldn't mind some sort of Thinderbolts collection unleaded I missed it. I kinda used that point and Heroes Reborn to quit comics. I actually started when the Masters of Evil had taken over the Avengers mansion with Blackbolt and enjoyed that story. Which omnibus would that be collected in?

I'd love to see some bad guy collections like the Masters of Evil or Freedom Force. What ever happened with that Scourge thing and "Justice is Served"?