General omnibus & hardcover discussion vol. II

[maeda]

Regular deluxe Incal at $380? wtf that's just insane

[Drz]

So all i need is the Before the Incal and the Incal Hardcover? Those 2 and then it's all done?

[victorxd1999]

So all i need is the Before the Incal and the Incal Hardcover? Those 2 and then it's all done?

In theory, you could just read The Incal, Before Incal is like the Star wars prequels (except the quality differences of course), it adds to the story as a prequel, but should be experienced after the main story anf isn't mandatory to understand the main story.

[mard80]

- Armies (mentioned above)
- all the District 14 books (seasons 1 and 2 plus Lady Rozenbilt)
- Cape Horn
- Metabarons
- Koma

Those are the ones I've read (besides Incal) and I would recommend all of them.

And Milan k the teenage years. Just got this and read it in. One sitting pure awesomeness!!

[Black Iron Tarkus]

If you have the money then worry about where to put them later. I assure you they're worth it. High-quality matte paper, beautiful art and since each book has only 50-60 pages, they're not heavy and actually comfortable to read - despite the size (they are lighter than aby Marvel Omnibus, I think).

Dude, you're a bad influence: this entire forum is murdering my bank account! I think I'll sleep on it until payday... maybe

[Drz]

In theory, you could just read The Incal, Before Incal is like the Star wars prequels (except the quality differences of course), it adds to the story as a prequel, but should be experienced after the main story anf isn't mandatory to understand the main story.

Allright cool, can't wait to see the Incal hardcover going up on Amazon, you sure it includes the Final Incal?

[victorxd1999]

Allright cool, can't wait to see the Incal hardcover going up on Amazon, you sure it includes the Final Incal?

Final Incal? Never mentioned that? That's not available cheap right now. This is your cheapest option I think
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/159465...&robot_redir=1

[Drz]

Ah allright, well i'm assuming we'll get a normal HC of Final Incal too in sometime. Thanks alot for answering my noob questions.

[Black Iron Tarkus]

The normal Final Incal HC will probably be out next summer; the standard editions seem to lag a year behind the oversized/numbered editions.

[canadianaidan64]

Why is it so hard for Humanoids to keep anything in print? Some of the Incal books were only printed a few years ago but they already go for hundreds on the secondary market. I know they publish some obscure books that aren't in constant demand but Surely most comic fans are aware of jodorowsky and moebius?

[Curt Baboon]

You are not reading it wrong, I was writing it wrong. I meant, we spent pages reading a story with some mystery and building towards something and it all resulted in an incredibly rushed conclusion that not only didn't make sense but wasn't even rewarding. We went from slow burn to development to suddenly we're at the climax without knowing it.

I'm really torn on Glory, to be honest:

Pros:

+ Art is pretty damn great, and I actually like the character designs a lot (except for Riley, who looks WAY younger than she is).
+ Henry was a cool character.
+ The battles felt pretty epic.
+ Glory herself being a weapon of mass destruction who easily loses control is a really interesting concept...

Cons:

- ...But it also makes Glory kind of a complete bitch to everyone. I know they intended to make her somewhat cold and distant, but I had absolutely no sympathy for her throughout the course of the story; and I was actually rooting for someone to finally kill her.
- Glory's sister has to be the absolute worst character I've read in YEARS. Non-stop, meaningless cursing doesn't make a character interesting or "badass"; it just makes the comic read like it was written by a 12 year-old kid.
- The pacing was incredibly off. I know it was cancelled before its time and they had to wrap things up quickly, but the plot progression is all over the place and nothing that happens in the last few issues feels "earned" or satisfying.
- The dialogue never really "clicked" throughout the whole story. It mostly felt like endless exposition with very few character moments, and even those didn't do much for me.

...

I just don't know. I really love some things about it, and really hate others.

[Captain Planet]

I'm really torn on Glory, to be honest:

Pros:

+ Art is pretty damn great, and I actually like the character designs a lot (except for Riley, who looks WAY younger than she is).
+ Henry was a cool character.
+ The battles felt pretty epic.
+ Glory herself being a weapon of mass destruction who easily loses control is a really interesting concept...

Cons:

- ...But it also makes Glory kind of a complete bitch to everyone. I know they intended to make her somewhat cold and distant, but I had absolutely no sympathy for her throughout the course of the story; and I was actually rooting for someone to finally kill her.
- Glory's sister has to be the absolute worst character I've read in YEARS. Non-stop, meaningless cursing doesn't make a character interesting or "badass"; it just makes the comic read like it was written by a 12 year-old kid.
- The pacing was incredibly off. I know it was cancelled before its time and they had to wrap things up quickly, but the plot progression is all over the place and nothing that happens in the last few issues feels "earned" or satisfying.
- The dialogue never really "clicked" throughout the whole story. It mostly felt like endless exposition with very few character moments, and even those didn't do much for me.

...

I just don't know. I really love some things about it, and really hate others.

I think you hit the cons spot on for the most part and the pros just weren't nearly good enough for me to make up for all the problems with characters, plot and hum-drum dialog.

[Black Iron Tarkus]

Why is it so hard for Humanoids to keep anything in print? Some of the Incal books were only printed a few years ago but they already go for hundreds on the secondary market. I know they publish some obscure books that aren't in constant demand but Surely most comic fans are aware of jodorowsky and moebius?

It's deliberate, but I don't think it's necessary any more. Humanoids US was a fairly high-risk venture, as they had struggled to find an English-language audience in the past (as recently as their 2004-2005 partnership with DC), so obviously they want to minimise their exposure in terms of inventory.

As such, I think the strategy has been to start with limited editions (numbered print runs c.750/999/1500 copies), with low print run standard editions following about a year later. This makes sure the books sell out fast (with some people buying multiple copies to flip), and ensures they aren't stuck with excess inventory. Rather than reinvesting this money in additional printings, I think they use it to produce new titles (or at least new English translations), thereby continuing the cycle. The strong secondary market on OOP titles also promotes demand for new books, as it makes them look like good investments (i.e. why not buy two new copies, when you can probably flip one for twice the cover price next year?). Please note: this is all speculation, but it makes sense to me!

I'm torn on whether I like this strategy or not. I like having limited edition books, but it can be frustrating and alienating when you're late to the party. I've only recently gotten into Humanoids in a big way (I've had The Incal for a few years, but never branched out further than that), so I'm playing catch-up myself. Really, I think they've gotten to the point where they can afford to keep some of their bigger titles in print, even if it was just in paperback.

[Curt Baboon]

I think you hit the cons spot on for the most part and the pros just weren't nearly good enough for me to make up for all the problems with characters, plot and hum-drum dialog.

Actually, I forgot one pretty big plus: The ending.

It was ballsy, different, it changed my perspective on Glory herself and it showed me a main character I could ACTUALLY sympathize with. I absolutely love that final issue, regardless of my thoughts on the rest of the series.

And also a pretty big con:

...Except for the fact that Glory herself was a completely different character, personality-wise. I liked THAT Glory a lot, but the depiction of her in that last issue is so unlike what she was in previous issues that it doesn't feel like a character growing and becoming better as much as it's a complete retcon of Glory herself. It doesn't feel EARNED as much as it reads like the writer saying "look, I know how completely unlikable Glory is so here's something to make you feel bad for her, even though it pretty much comes out of absolutely nowhere! Isn't it cool how I inserted what is arguably the most important character of the story in the very last issue without ANY build-up?!".

And that's my problem with Glory: for every plus I think of there's a bigger con that somewhat invalidates said plus. I might re-read the whole thing with that final issue in mind to see if it gives me some added perspective, but I just don't think the writing itself is very good at all.

[canadianaidan64]

Thanks for the Very enlightening response, Tarkus. I hope one day they'll reprint the incal and the metabarons in an oversized format for people like me who were late to discover European comics and can't afford the crazy ebay prices (sometimes as much as a dollar per page.)

I wish dark horse would buy the rights to publish jodorowsky and moebius' stuff. We'd get library edition quality collections for $35 each and they'd remain in print forever....