Will they bridge the Omnibus gap between Exile and Death and Return?

[tib2d2]

After Vol 4 of Byrne's Man of Steel HC comes out later this year, we'll have a good run of Superman comics from the start of Byrne's run through the Superman in Exile Omnibus. But then there will be a huge gap from Exile until the Death and Return issues. All those Roger Stern issues, the start of the Triangle Era, the intro of Hank Henshaw, etc.

Will they ever bridge this gap?

[Vordan]

No clue, the collections department at DC isn’t very good at giving heads up on what will be coming, or on asking people what they’d like to see collected, so all we can do is hope that someone there wants to fill the gaps.

[Phantom Zone]

For some strange reason, Superman has never gotten all that much love when it comes to omnibuses.

[SJNeal]

I'm completely blanking on who at the moment, but a poster here mapped out the entirety of post-COIE Superman, from Byrne through the end of the Triangle Era. It was excellent work, and I want to say there were 3 or 4 omni's needed to comprehensively fill that gap between Exile and Death and Return.

Point being it's completely possible, but I'm not sure anyone at DC's collected editions dept. cares enough to put in the time and effort to do such a project right.

[Phantom Zone]

Yeah, that was me. Here it is again.

Superman: The Engagement and Other Stories Omnibus (1989-1990)
Action Comics #647-660
Superman #38-50
Adventures of Superman #461-473, Annual #2
Starman #28

Then the series as such:

Superman: The Triangle Years Vol. 1 Omnibus (1991)
Superman #51-62, Annual #3
Adventures of Superman #474-485, Annual #3
Action Comics #661-672, Annual #3
Man of Steel #1-6
Superman: For Earth

Superman: The Triangle Years Vol. 2 Omnibus (1992)
Man of Steel #7-16, #17 (minus epilogue), Annual #1
Superman #63-72, # 73 (minus epilogue), Annual #4
Adventures of Superman #486-495, #496 (minus epilogue), Annual #4
Action Comics #673-682, #683 (minus epilogue), Annual #4
Superman Special #1

Superman: The Triangle Years Vol. 3 Omnibus (1992-1993) (new, retitled edition of The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus)
Man of Steel #17 (epilogue only), 18-27, Annual #2
Superman #73 (epilogue only), 74-83, Annual #5
Adventures of Superman #495 (epilogue only), 496-506, Annual #5
Action Comics #684 (epilogue only), 685-693, Annual #5
Justice League America #69-70
Green Lantern #46
Legacy of Superman #1
Supergirl and Team Luthor #1
Newstime Magazine

Superman: The Triangle Years Vol. 4 Omnibus (1993-1994)
Man of Steel #0, 28-37, Annual #3
Superman #0, 84-93, Annual #6
Adventures of Superman #0, 507-516, Annual #6
Action Comics #0, 694-703, Annual #6
Supergirl (mini-series) #1-4
Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #1-3

Superman: The Triangle Years Vol. 5 Omnibus (1994-1995)
Man of Steel #38-49, Annual #4
Superman #94-105, Annual #7
Adventures of Superman #517-528, Annual #7
Action Comics #704-714, Annual #7
Man of Tomorrow #1
Doomsday Annual #1
Guy Gardner: Warrior #30

Superman: The Triangle Years Vol. 6 Omnibus (1995-1996)
Man of Tomorrow #2-6
Action Comics #715-726, Annual #8
Man of Steel #50-61, Annual #5
Superman #106-116, Annual #8
Adventures of Superman #529-539, Annual #8
Steel #22
Superman/Toyman #1

Superman: The Triangle Years Vol. 7 Omnibus (1996-1997)
Superman #117-127, Annual #9
Adventures of Superman #540-550, Annual #9
Action Comics #727-737, Annual #9
Man of Steel #62-71, Annual #6
Man of Tomorrow #7-8
Superman: The Wedding Album #1

Superman: The Triangle Years Vol. 8 Omnibus (1997-1998)
Man of Tomorrow #9-10
Man of Steel #72-79
Superman #128-135
Adventures of Superman #551-557
Action Comics #738-744
Superman Red/Superman Blue #1
Superman Secret Files #1
Aquaman #43
Challengers of the Unknown #15
Teen Titans #19
Supergirl #20
Steel #50
Team Superman Secret Files #1
Superman Forever #1 (minus epilogues)

Superman: The Triangle Years Vol. 9 Omnibus (1998-1999)
Superman Forever #1 (epilogues only)
Adventures of Superman #558-563, 1,000,000
Action Comics #745-750, 1,000,000
Man of Steel #80-85, 1,000,000
Superman #136-140, 1,000,000, Annual #10
Man of Tomorrow #11, 1,000,000
Superman: Save the Planet #1
Superman: The Doomsday Wars #1-3

Superman: The Triangle Years Vol. 10 Omnibus (1999)
Man of Tomorrow #12-15
Superman #141-150, Annual #11
Adventures of Superman #564-572
Action Comics #751-759
Man of Steel #86-94
Supermen of America #1
Superman Secret Files #2
Superman: King of the World #1
Team Superman #1 (How did this NOT become a series?)

Then to cap it all off, I'd like to see:

Superman: The New Millennium Omnibus (1999-2000)
Superman #151-163, Annual #12
Adventures of Superman #573-585
Man of Steel #95-107
Action Comics #760-772
Superman: Y2K #1
Superman: Emperor Joker #1
Superman: Metropolis Secret Files #1

[SJNeal]

Yes! Thanks so much for posting this again.

[Vordan]

For some strange reason, Superman has never gotten all that much love when it comes to omnibuses.

Not that strange alas. Aside from Batman most other characters don’t get collections. I’m still holding out hope for some Absolutes and Omnibuses for 2023 for his 85th but otherwise I don’t expect much.

[exile001]

I've been waiting years and would love a few Exile-style hardcovers to fill in the gaps. I just don't think DC believe it would sell.

I've got a bunch of trades from that period and there are some excellent and fun comics there - Panic in the Sky, Time and Time Again, Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite (yikes on that title!), They Saved Luthor's Brain, Eradication! (the origin of the Eradicator).

Edit: also, where the heck is my City of Tomorrow Vol 3?!? Really hope DC hasn't dropped them. We only got around halfway through the original tpb run.

[Lvenger]

Edit: also, where the heck is my City of Tomorrow Vol 3?!? Really hope DC hasn't dropped them. We only got around halfway through the original tpb run.

Volume 1 was released in December 2019 whereas Volume 2 was released in November 2020. Based on those release dates, City of Tomorrow Volume 3 will hopefully be announced in the November or December solicitations. If it isn’t, I will be taking it up with DC personally. This is one of my favourite periods of Post Crisis Superman, and I’m aiming to collect the entire run.

[tib2d2]

Ok, if I counted correctly, here's how you can read Post-Crisis through the Death and Return of Superman with what is currently collected (or coming out later this year) in hardcover, Omnibus or TPB.

Man of Steel Hardcovers Vol 1-4 (Vol 4 releasing late 2021)

Superman in Exile Omnibus

Superman: Eradicated!

Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite

Time and Time Again

Panic in the Sky

Death and Return of Superman Omnibus

There are roughly 104 issues missing to bridge the gaps between the collected editions, sigh. Unless I missed any TPBs that cover that era?

[SJNeal]

^ ^ ^

They Saved Luthor's Brain.