All New Marvel Collected Editions

[TomSlick]

It should automatically show everything with the additional 2% discount once you're logged into the site.

Yes! Thanks, it worked just like you said.

I had three big books I needed to get. Two - Absolute T-Met V. 2, and DD Companion omnibus - came out last week. The third - Green Lantern omnibus v. 3 - was this week. I had planned to just buy them all this week.

When I went to CGN, the discount was 45 percent off for the two from last week and what appeared to be about 40 percent off for GL.
Then there's that pesky shipping fee they charge.

IST had all three books available for 50 percent off - plus no shipping.

I bought the two from last week yesterday and just got the GL one today (with the 2 percent discount).

CGN used to be my go-to, especially after IST moved to Tennessee where they have a 9 percent sales tax (that tax often was more than CGN's shipping).
Now, I find myself just using my parent's mailing address with IST (they live in another state) and saving on the shipping and tax. Plus, the discounts are much, much better than CGN.

I think eventually, the only thing I'm going to use CGN for is its catalogue to tell me what's coming out the next few months.

[Captain Craig]

It's so marginal, having the tax applied, that even living in TN I go with IST over CGN every time. You still have to pay $6 for shipping at CGN so the difference is negligible.

[grahamgg]

That's an awesome confirmation, thanks! I was halfway worried the 2007 date was a glued reprinted and then there was ANOTHER reprint that was sewn.

Krisis, does this come close to what you have on the early Omnis?

Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus vol 1
1st edition ... Apr 2007 glued with thick paper (Ross painted cover was the DM variant, Kirby was the mass market cover)
1st edition reprint ... Nov 2007 sewn with thick paper (both covers available)
2nd edition ... May 2013 sewn with thin paper (Kirby cover only)
2nd edition reprint ... coming May 2016

Fantastic Four Omnibus vol 1
1st edition ... Jun 2005 glued with thick paper (Ross painted cover was the DM variant, Kirby was the mass market cover)
1st edition reprint ... Nov 2007 sewn with thick paper (both covers available)
2nd edition ... Oct 2013 sewn with thin paper (Kirby cover only)

Fantastic Four Omnibus vol 2
1st edition ... Jun 2007 glued (Ladronn painted cover was the DM variant, Kirby was the mass market cover)
2nd edition ... Dec 2013 sewn with thin paper (Kirby cover only)

New X-Men Omnibus
1st edition ... glued with thick paper (orange NXM 114 cover by Quietly
2nd edition ... Aug 2012 sewn not sure if thick or thin paper (white NXM 135 cover by Quietly)
2nd edition reprint ... coming Sept 2016

Uncanny X-Men Omnibus vol 1
1st edition ... Apr 2006 glued with thick paper (painted cover was the DM variant, classic Gil Kane GSXM1 cover was the mass market version)
1st edition reprint ... Nov 2007 sewn with thick paper (both covers available)
2nd edition ... Oct 2013 sewn with thin paper (classic Kane GSXM1 cover only)
2nd edition reprint ... coming May 2016

Captain America by Ed Brubaker Omnibus
1st printing ... Sep or Nov 2007 (?)
NOTES: There were originally 2 covers available for the 1st printing, both with glued bindings & thick paper. The DM cover was the white cover with Cap holding his fist/shield up towards the reader, a plane on the bottom right, and a Cobra Commander looking guy on the bottom left. The mass market cover was the one with Cap running in front of Bucky & Nick Fury.
I know this went thru at least 4 printings. Apparently everything after the 1st printing was sewn, but I can't be 100% certain of the printing & paper thickness. The last printing was approximately June 2011 (I found an email order acknowledgement from TOW where I ordered 4 copies to resell at that time). The white cover 1st printing DM variant has never been reprinted.

DD by Miller Omnibus vol 1
1st edition ... Mar 2007 glued with thick paper (I can never keep the cover variants straight but i THINK the red/black half DJ version was the DM variant).
2nd edition ... Nov 2013 sewn with thin paper (red/black full cover only)
3rd edition ... Mar 2016 sewn with thin paper (red/black full cover only)

DD by Miller Omnibus Companion vol 1
1st edition ... Dec 2007 glued with thick paper (I can never keep the cover variants straight but i THINK the red/black half DJ version was the DM variant).
2nd edition ... Apr 2016 sewn with thin paper (red/black full cover only)

Now that we've finally gotten a new version of the DD by Miller Companion, I believe of the early (approx 2005-08) Marvel Omnibus books, only the Eternals & Devil Dinosaur books have not been reprinted with sewn bindings.

[kodave]

I'd turn that question around on you (and everyone else).

What is the kind of information about Omnibuses and OHCs you find yourself needing to know again and again? Release date? Glued vs. Sewn? Omnis vs OHCs?

What printings were glued or sewn would be big.

It would be helpful if the great paper debate had easily accessible information. Like with what reprint did the paper switch to the thinner stock? That way people could easily decide "I want thick paper even if it is glued binding" or "Sewn with thin paper is the way to go!" or maybe there's an Omnibus with a holy grail of going from Glued/Thick Paper to Reprint Sewn/Thick Paper before disappointing everyone with Reprint Sewn/Thin Paper.

And it might be harder to pin down since unless someone has a caliper for measuring paper thickness, but an approximation of when the switch to thinner paper was made in case people want to avoid the newer Omnibuses all together, or buy something like the previous OHC editions that are glued but have thicker paper. Stuff like the Annihilation/Conquest Omnibuses versus OHCs comes to mind for that.

Info on changes in cover art beyond variants would be useful too. Like I think Morrison's X-Men has changed cover art between printings. And now the Miller Omnibus reprints have full printed dust jackets instead of the half-dust jacket juxtaposed with the faux-leather cover.

It also might be helpful if we had info on reprints that switched from the faux-leather covers to the printed art covers, if that's something that's happening.

Just info on faux-leather vs. printed cover would be helpful in general. And what is actually printed on the covers. Like maybe someone is deciding on getting a standard cover or a variant cover, but the variant cover is actually printed on the actual hardcover, so they think it would be better to get the standard dust jacket cover and have the best of both worlds. Stuff like that.

You could also get into the minutia of what reprints had changes to the Marvel Omnibus spine logo.

[TomSlick]

It's so marginal, having the tax applied, that even living in TN I go with IST over CGN every time. You still have to pay $6 for shipping at CGN so the difference is negligible.

Well, yes and no. The more expensive the order, the more it makes sense to compare. If it's a buck or two, then IST is certainly much faster and their packaging is insanely tough.

But, I've noticed that CGN's discounts are at the 45 percent or less level - even in the first week - and IST has started to keep theirs' at 50 percent longer. (It used to be the reverse.)

If they were equal I would have went with CGN. My 9 percent TN sales tax was $16.20 compared to the $6 shipping. In this case, though, I had it shipped to Georgia where it's not applied. Additionally, I saved about another $14 overall discounts applied to the books, so that was a $30 savings.

[mike1981]

I know everyone has been disappointed in the slight down-tick in quality found in Marvel's more recent Omnibuses, and today I think I've finally jumped on the bandwagon with the arrival of the Age of Apocalypse reprint.

Honestly, the thinner paper doesn't bother me as it's still pretty descent quality paper, but the cardboard covers really are pretty crappy.

Lining up the original print against the reprint, yes the reprint is thinner, but maybe maybe 1/5 of an inch so. This is a big book, so if the paper was really considerably thinner there should be a large cumulative net.

What really stands out is just how crappy the book block is attached to the super. The old book, even sitting on a shelf for years (although with the book block propped up), is still rock solid. The new printing, having just been taken out of shrink wrap, already has a sagging book block. What's even more concerning are all the signatures that already are loose of the super.

I'm sure it's still structurally "sound," but it doesn't make me feel good buying these large books when they arrive looking like they area already starting to degrade.

[ShooCat]

Now that we've finally gotten a new version of the DD by Miller Companion, I believe of the early (approx 2005-08) Marvel Omnibus books, only the Eternals & Devil Dinosaur books have not been reprinted with sewn bindings.

There's the Silver Surfer Omni, too.

Edit: and Amazing Fantasy, I think, but that one is rather thin.

[Drakul]

Anyone able to compare the thickness of the original Daredevil companion to the new re-print? Pics if possible.

I do not have the original version but if this helps the reprint is about the same size as the Secret Wars omnibus and the Inferno OHC.

(Yes, this means the Omnibus Guide update is underway. I don't want to overhype too much this early in the process, but let's just say it's a MAJOR change and I will be able to fairly say is the BEST Omni guide on the web. Okay, that was actually a lot of hype )

Oh how glorious!

For info I would like you to include OHCs as well if that's not too insane.
Glued v sewn
DM and reg covers (as well as spine?)
maybe the spine thickness?
the ordering of issues for stuff like spider-verse, new avengers.....

[Omnibus]

Now that we've finally gotten a new version of the DD by Miller Companion, I believe of the early (approx 2005-08) Marvel Omnibus books, only the Eternals & Devil Dinosaur books have not been reprinted with sewn bindings.

Good recap there Grahamgg. I think the Captain America by Ed Brubaker made it up to a 5th printing but not 100% sure. Fellow posters can chime in what printing they have to see if a 5th one is in the mix. Mine is a 3rd printing.

IMG_8353.jpg

For the New X-Men 2nd edition in Aug 2012 it was a thinner paper but not the really thin paper that came after that.

Add Silver Surfer and Amazing Fantasy Omnibuses to the Eternals and Devil Dinosaur for books not reprinted with sewn bindings.

Krisis.....have a new picture for glued bindings.

glue.jpg

[krisis]

I happened to stop by a local comic store today and they had TONS of collected editions (almost as many as I do ), including some thing that I've had trouble tracking down, like Clone Sage / Ben Reilly trades and the Nick Fury SHIELD MMWs.

Just goes to prove - it's always worth calling around to some local stores before dropping big dollars on eBay.

And it might be harder to pin down since unless someone has a caliper for measuring paper thickness, but an approximation of when the switch to thinner paper was made in case people want to avoid the newer Omnibuses all together, or buy something like the previous OHC editions that are glued but have thicker paper. Stuff like the Annihilation/Conquest Omnibuses versus OHCs comes to mind for that.

Those were all awesome suggestions! Honestly, if a $10 caliper settles all of our paper debates I'm happy to buy one - but, what happens when I run out of X-Men books to measure?! Am we going to have a caliper-shipping club to get it around to enough people to measure everything?

Krisis, does this come close to what you have on the early Omnis?

Captain America by Ed Brubaker Omnibus
1st printing ... Sep or Nov 2007 (?)
NOTES: There were originally 2 covers available for the 1st printing, both with glued bindings & thick paper. The DM cover was the white cover with Cap holding his fist/shield up towards the reader, a plane on the bottom right, and a Cobra Commander looking guy on the bottom left. The mass market cover was the one with Cap running in front of Bucky & Nick Fury.
I know this went thru at least 4 printings. Apparently everything after the 1st printing was sewn, but I can't be 100% certain of the printing & paper thickness. The last printing was approximately June 2011 (I found an email order acknowledgement from TOW where I ordered 4 copies to resell at that time). The white cover 1st printing DM variant has never been reprinted.

I remember AGONIZING over this when I first made the guide, and at the time I was convinced that the Nov 2007 printing was a 3rd print - which is sewn and maintains the permanent cover. Since that was the first sewn run that FF/UXM/ASM is from, I assume the paper is awesome.

Otherwise, your info matches up with my fresh research, but based on everyone's feedback I think I do need to add some sort of information about spines. I'll have to make some kind of survey for you all to help me fill in the blanks!

I know everyone has been disappointed in the slight down-tick in quality found in Marvel's more recent Omnibuses, and today I think I've finally jumped on the bandwagon with the arrival of the Age of Apocalypse reprint.

Honestly, the thinner paper doesn't bother me as it's still pretty descent quality paper, but the cardboard covers really are pretty crappy.

Lining up the original print against the reprint, yes the reprint is thinner, but maybe maybe 1/5 of an inch so. This is a big book, so if the paper was really considerably thinner there should be a large cumulative net.

What really stands out is just how crappy the book block is attached to the super. The old book, even sitting on a shelf for years (although with the book block propped up), is still rock solid. The new printing, having just been taken out of shrink wrap, already has a sagging book block. What's even more concerning are all the signatures that already are loose of the super.

I'm sure it's still structurally "sound," but it doesn't make me feel good buying these large books when they arrive looking like they area already starting to degrade.

That is really disappointing. I'm all for keeping things affordable, but the AOA omnibus was already of the newer wave of omnis (which I've always considered to be from X-Statix forward), so to think this one is even LESSER quality is disappointing.

[SJNeal]

Why?

As far as Waid goes, the MPCs almost collected all his stuff. The line got cancelled before the last book could come out in MPC format, but they released it as an unbranded TPB called Captain America: Land of the Free. Land of the Free also includes the material from "The Legend" one-shot that will be in this Epic Collection.

I believe the Operation Rebirth MPC is missing #449, which is part of the "First Sign" crossover event. The Epic collection will have that issue plus the three other direct tie-in issues which were not written by Waid. However, if you really want to read "First Sign," you might be better off picking up the "Avengers/Iron Man: First Sign" TPB which includes additional Iron Man and Avengers issues from around that time.

The Epic also includes the first Ashcan issue, but I don't believe there is any original Waid material in there (but I could be mistaken). The Epic also has material from the Captain America Collector's Preview, but I don't remember if any of that involves Waid either. Both the Ashcan and the Collector's Preview were published in 1995, which is probably why they're in this Epic Collection.

Waid ended the first volume of Captain America with issue #454. (Until Brubaker later picked up the original numbering.)

Volume 2 of Captain America is the Liefeld driven Heroes Reborn.

Volume 3 kicks off with Waid back on the title through #23. Then there's a DeFalco issue at #24 followed by Jurgens' run on #25 through #50 and a couple of annuals before that volume ends. Jurgens has his own complete run in 3 TPBs. So if you went with those trades, and completion is a big deal, you would be orphaning that DeFalco #24 which a future Epic Collection will surely have either at the end of Waid's run or the beginning of Jurgens' run, assuming the Epic line uses those natural stopping/starting points.

Volume 4 is the Marvel Knights run which I believe is being completely reprinted in some thicker TPBs.

Volume 5 & 6 is Brubaker's run.

In my opinion, unless you're really big on the Epic Collection format, those Waid MPCs (+ 1 TPB) are going to be much nicer way to have Waid's work than the Epic Collections. And they're about as complete as you're going to get for Cap around this time minus some throwaway stuff. And you're really not missing out on anything other than the First Sign stuff, which again, has a more complete looking TPB elsewhere. I know this forum is pretty high on the Epic Collection format, but I think if given the option of even regular sized HCs, I'd go with the HCs/MPCs because they're likely going to hold up better over time and probably have better quality paper than the Epic Collections.

I would suspect with the recent Jurgens TPBs and the Marvel Knights TPBs, the Epic Collection line probably isn't coming back to the late 90s or early 00s any time soon unless it's to do Heroes Reborn or the rest of Waid's run. This Man Without a Country Epic Collection effectively ends the first volume of Captain America, so I would guess future Epic Collections will focus on earlier issues for the time being.

Plus the Red Glare MPC has Waid's unedited Captain America #14 from Volume 3. Who knows if a future Epic Collection will collect that, the originally published edited version Waid removed his name from, or both versions of that issue.

I have all the MPC's, "Land of the Free", "First Sign", and the 3 Jurgens trades already. But I'm really a stickler for a uniform format, and while we've yet to see an Epic Collection line come to completion, I have high hopes.

So I guess the short answer as to why is... OCD?

[kodave]

I have all the MPC's, "Land of the Free", "First Sign", and the 3 Jurgens trades already. But I'm really a stickler for a uniform format, and while we've yet to see an Epic Collection line come to completion, I have high hopes.

So I guess the short answer as to why is... OCD?

Yeah but it's going to be a while before Marvel ever finishes something like the Captain America Epic line, and what if they do something unfathomable like change the trade dress on the spine, or just not finish the line at all?!

To me those Waid MPCs (along with the Captain America: War & Remembrance MPC) just look really nice on the shelf. Way nicer than Epics. Way sturdier build being HCs and all. Personally, I'd only get rid of them if they ever get around to doing a Captain America by Mark Waid Omnibus (I think Waid has written roughly 54 issues of Cap overall, including Sentinel of Liberty, Man Out of Time and contributions to other issues; Marvel could either do one giant Omnibus or divide it into two). Unless you really need that Ashcan or Collector's Preview issue stuff you've got it all and in a reasonably uniform way. But to each their own.

[Canucked]

Cobra Commander looking guy on the bottom left.

I wish.

[krisis]

I want you crazy people to know that I love you all so much that I am now watching video reviews of digital calipers on YouTube.

[Omnibus]

I want you crazy people to know that I love you all so much that I am now watching videos reviews of digital calipers on YouTube.

Now that's dedication!!!