Marvel Collected Editions

[PrankT]

I hate to assume that FF2 is headed for clearance, because nothing is guaranteed, but I truly don't know if I could bring myself to pay $62.50 for it even if I wanted to.

I'll get FF2 even though it's overpriced so that I can complete a great story (I won't be waiting for a discount to save a few bucks and chancing that it goes away). After that I will buy few and far between. This time last year I would be buying Wizard of Oz and some other books...now I'm more hesitant. I'd love to see pictures of it, though.

[DarkBeast]

It was recently upped to $75 SRP, but Amazon never changed their price which was discounted off the initial $50 SRP.

Good to know. I had been thinking that $50 for a 14-issue event OHC was a remarkably modest cover price from Marvel in 2014. :-(

Previews' site hasn't updated the price on the page here (http://www.previewsworld.com/Home/1/...emID=AUG140894). At Amazon it's 55% off right now... but I'm still going to hold out and get it from IST, because IST won't charge sales tax and will get it to me in perfect shape.

[Thesanmich]

Those page counts are about right (upper end) but my I think $125 is my limit if looking at RRP regardless of page count.
As regardless of whatever discount is applied it will be out of my price range. At $150 RRP that's about $90 on a good day. Stern's Spidey made me think but i like Spidey.... even though i haven't read any of the Omnis
If i have to think about the price it means it's borderline, $60 after discount or so and i don't think that much.

It just means less money for Marvel and more to somewhere else

I hate the $150 price point. It's always either too pricey or too heavy for me which why I haven't bought Doom Patrol, Invisibles, Teen Titans, etc. I lucked out during the glitch sale when I got the 52 omnibus but it's a still chore taking it off the shelves and laying it flat for a quick read.

[DarkBeast]

I hate to assume that FF2 is headed for clearance, because nothing is guaranteed, but I truly don't know if I could bring myself to pay $62.50 for it even if I wanted to.

I wonder how much Marvel adjusted the printing on FF2 based on however well the first volume of Hickman's run sold.

Because Byrne FF1 was massively discounted at one point, which probably informed Marvel to print fewer copies of v2.

Not saying that Hickman FF1 hasn't sold well, but I would expect it to go on discount long before v2 would. And that first volume has yet to go on discount. Maybe this Christmas it will.

Either way, I think it will be a looong wait until Hickman FF2 goes on discount. I'm going to be waiting, though, because I sold my original issues/HCs of that entire run for $110 last year, and there's no way I'm buying the Ominis of it at a loss. They're both going to have to be at least 60% off for me to even think about buying them. Which is fine. It was a fairly good run but I've already read it twice and it doesn't break my heart not to own it.

[krisis]

Does anyone have a shelf pic of the Fear Itself Hardcover? I don't see it in many people's collections.
Thanks

No photo at the moment, but it's just a standard HC with the same trade dress as all of the other FI HCs. I'm not even seeing it shelved in Google Image searches, because most people have all of their events lined up in OHC.

It's sad that it's effectively the one Marvel event EVER to not be in OHC. The art was great.

[CrazyOldHermit]

Eh....I'm a huge fan, but even I have to admit the first few issues of the Hulk were kind of a mess. I wouldn't call them user friendly. The first issue is an all time classic, but after that, they're literally all over the place. He's gray, he's green, he can fly, he's controlled by Rick Jones, the transforms with the rising/setting of the sun, then later via the gamma ray projector, etc. It's a mess. A fun mess, granted, but a mess nonetheless.

I'd say the later TTA stories are where the classic Savage Hulk vs Ross & military stories come from. Also by that point, Banner is outed as the Hulk and his transformations have settled into the "transforms in times of stress..." era.

Yeah, issues 2-5 are pretty rough (like you said, #1 is a classic) but the TTA adventures are great. A really fun run.

[Mobe1969]

No photo at the moment, but it's just a standard HC with the same trade dress as all of the other FI HCs. I'm not even seeing it shelved in Google Image searches, because most people have all of their events lined up in OHC.

It's sad that it's effectively the one Marvel event EVER to not be in OHC. The art was great.

I've always wanted it, but wasn't about to spring on a dozen or so regular thin HCs.

[RIPLynott]

No photo at the moment, but it's just a standard HC with the same trade dress as all of the other FI HCs. I'm not even seeing it shelved in Google Image searches, because most people have all of their events lined up in OHC.

It's sad that it's effectively the one Marvel event EVER to not be in OHC. The art was great.

Does Chaos War count as an "event"? I dont even think it has a HC let alone OHC. Could be wrong though

[legion_quest]

Don't let them get away with that. Could you post exactly what you wrote to them here? I want to see how you really gave it to them.

Standard angry nerd email:
"I am absolutely furious. I have ordered a copy of this item from yourselves and it has arrived today, in good time, recorded delivery. Unfortunately when opening the box, the item inside was in terrible condition. It had clearly been dropped and there was damage to the top spine of the book. This would not have been caused in transport as another book of the same size was undamaged.
Alongside this, the outer dust jacket has either slipped and bent within the plastic wrap to a new position or the printing on this copy is defective because the image on the spine bends half way over on to the front cover, with a section of the back cover thus covering the spine.
This is a highly collectable expensive product and I do not expect this kind of treatment from Amazon. What makes it worse is that this is the second Omnibus volume I have purchased from Amazon in as many months that has arrived totally defective/damaged. That is simply not acceptable. At all. I demand a replacement copy is dispatched at once by overnight post and that I am recompensed for this total and utter failure in Amazon's ability to provide high quality new items in appropriate condition.
I await your reply, apologies and affirmation that action will be taken to rectify this appalling situation. I still have three of these omnibus items on order over the next few months but honestly feel I will need to purchase these elsewhere as my confidence in the ability of Amazon to provide these products is at rock bottom."

Amazon has replied and is sending me a new one by overnight post, have given me £5 off my next purchase and given a standard copy/paste apology. Exactly what they did when I bitched about my Infinity Gauntlet turning up with a damaged front corner.

[kodave]

How poorly do collections have to do for Marvel to do a clearance for them?

Because I'm looking at a lot of recent Marvel HCs and these prices are ridiculous:
Original Sin-$75 416 pages
Hickman's F4 Vol. 2-$125 832 pages
Uncanny Avengers-$100 672 pages
AXIS-$35 204 pages
Hawkeye Omnibus-$100 552 pages
Original Sin Companion-$125 904 pages
...and then we have the Spider-Verse HC which is $35 for 640 pages for some odd reason.

This **** makes me puke. Aside from a few reasonably priced books like Busiek's Avengers, I'll be staying away from Marvel for a good while...gotta catch up with DC anyway who, by the way, is going ham with their collections and at good prices too.

It all depends on how many copies were printed to begin with. Marvel overprinted the crap out of a lot of deluxe books in the past (along with regular books). They fired or moved the guy who was in charge of that. So now print runs should be more under control, in theory, but I don't know when that exactly went into effect.

If we look at the two AVX OSHCs that were just remaindered/clearance in terms of direct market copies moved:

AVX moved 5,336 copies in November 2012 and 853 copies in December 2012
AVX Companion moved 1,178 copies in May 2013

AVX moved a **** ton at regular price. Marvel must have done a massive print run on this book. But we have no idea how many copies were remaindered off. Enough to hit the clearance piles, but it might not have been remaindered as a sign of failure because of low sales necessarily. The Companion isn't that great. I'm guessing the numbers of the main OSHC might have resulted in an increased print run for the Companion that consumers weren't necessarily interested in since maybe 20% of people who bought the main OSHC bought the Companion.

The reason I say "moved" is because the numbers are what Diamond sold to local comic shops in North America. We probably have no idea how many of those ordered actually SOLD to consumers. Perhaps LCS owners/managers massively over-ordered the AVX books. Or perhaps AVX OSHC was a huge sales success until it reached market saturation. I don't know if these were non-returnable or not like some deluxe books are.

The other thing to consider is that these were event books. And event books featuring the Avengers and X-Men fighting each other. It's got all of the markings of something that should be extremely popular. So these two books aren't a great barometer to compare other Omnibuses and OSHCs against, except for maybe other modern event books.

I've done past posts looking at the numbers for other books and the odds of those books being remaindered if you want to go through my post history.

If Marvel is indeed reducing print runs, then I wouldn't hold your breath for anything to be remaindered as a certainty. Other than the Original Sin books, all of those other ones you listed should sell well in theory regardless of the high price/lower page counts.

[zeze]

Marvel should totally give them away for free if you have proof of purchase of the books or tpbs and OHCs. They are so greedy sometimes.

You here too?

You have found my second addiction!!

[Brian]

My copy of the UK Panini Trial of Magneto pocketbook has been dispatched!!!!!!!! *dances*

I shall now have Uncanny #1-214, 220-337 in two unbroken pieces! I just need Marvel and/or Panini to get it together and release Uncanny 215-219 in colo(u)r.

I didn't realise there was another X-Men pocketbook on the schedules. Thanks for the heads up.

[Ari Gold]

Amazon has replied and is sending me a new one by overnight post, have given me £5 off my next purchase and given a standard copy/paste apology. Exactly what they did when I bitched about my Infinity Gauntlet turning up with a damaged front corner.

When Amazon replaces your copy, is it contingent on your returning the damaged one?

[Ari Gold]

OZIBUS!
Excited about this book . . . wondering if it's a must-purchase this week at 50% off or if it will be possible to get it at same price, or cheaper, at a later date. Any thoughts?

I want that Marvel MW collection badly but can't afford it at that price right now . . . maybe someday soon . . .

Hickman FF vol. 2. How is the entire run? I know some of his stuff (like Secret Warriors) doesn't get to finish to its scheduled completion, was his FF run the same way? Does it stay the same caliber throughout (i.e. if I loved the first, will I love the second)?

When I went to check the release date on Pg. 1 I noticed a Hawkman omnibus . . . meh . . . makes my vol. 1 purchase even more disappointing...

[momaw]

Just did the IST/Amazon comparison and IST was only a couple of dollars more for the Deadpool Minibus and Vol 10 Walking Dead OHC to Australia than my current amazon preorder so I cancelled amazon and ordered from IST. This is the third order for me using IST international. 50% off plus their cheaper international shipping (compared to what it used to be) has made them a really alternative to amazon. A few extra dollars is worth it for pristine condition books and not having to dread how your order is going to arrive.