I think the argument that more Epics diminish the line is only valid if they continue to release only 1 (or none) Epic a month. If they want to keep expanding the line, then release more than one Epic a month. Then everyone will be happy. You can always buy what you want, that's obvious, but even for those of us who will pick and choose what to get, and not get everything, when I get 1 or less Avengers Epic solicited a year, as an example, it kinda takes the wind out of the sails. We were told we'd get everything in Epic up to a certain point (early 90's, something like that, IIRC), released out of order, but eventually they'd all line up pretty on your shelf and you could have everything. I totally see the point of working around omnibuses/other collections to get the uncollected material out first, but it's getting so SLOW, it's aggravating. *I totally realize this is a 1st world problem, "Oh man, I have to wait X years for more books to come out!", but I digress.
It's cool that with the Michelinie / Layton omnibus, and now soon to be two straight Epics after it, you have quite a chunk of issues there in order - that's cool. That's what (I believe) most collectors want. Keep doing that. Don't release "Final Threat" knowing that MMW line will reach that point in a year - or the Ultron one that is in omnibuses and MMWs already just cuz the movie mentioned Ultron in its name - release stuff that's not collected or not ordered well. I like the fact that I can get ~20ish issues in one fat TPB, at a reasonable price. While I don't care about Power Man or Silver Surfer or Wolverine Epics, I don't begrudge those that do, but suddenly the entire line's releases have slowed to a crawl. If the desire of the fans is there, and if these books sell, why not release two per month? Unless they've tried that and it didn't work? The only time I can think of would've been when they pushed out all the vol 1's, and that's not a good read on the market, as so many of us have those issues in so many formats, it's obvious that not everyone got the vol 1's...
Anyways, that's my thoughts. I realized I'm rambling here, just wanted to put my thoughts out there. It feels like what books to put out shouldn't be as hard as they make it (and again, why put out the SW kiddie comics in an omnibus? That right there points to lunatics running the asylum)
"Boomerang arrow, Kate... It comes back to you in the end. Boomerang. Respect it." - Clint
"Why the hell do you need an arrow that comes back to you after you shoot it, Clint?" - Kate
"Because... Boomerangs." - Clint.
That's what they did for the Punisher v1 Essential. The first 2/3 of it are his guest appearances in ASM, Giant Size Spidey, first solo stories in various Marvel magazines, etc then they last third or so of the book contains the first Punisher mini series. Some Epics (like Moon Knight) followed the same style layout.
Exactly. The fact that a lot of material coming up in the Epics was only published a few years back in the defunct MPC line is an aggravation. Sure wish they'd go for uncollected stories first.
The first Avengers Epic: Final Threat was 99% a re-do of a couple of Avengers MPCs "The Private War of Dr Doom" + "Bride of Ultron". Now the front end of the Final Threat Epic is reprinted again as a MMW. Under Siege is now going to Epic format when the content is easily available as MPCs or other TPs ("Once & Future Kang" + "Under Siege" TP).
Poster "The Third Avenger" wrote this over on the MMW MB and I fully agree with it!
"Normally, I don't like to judge people's tastes... but if any adult over the age of 18 shells out $100 to get the following in a prestige over-sized hardcover format, it might be time to consider radical and invasive therapy that involves removing part of your brain. With this nickel bin material readily available in original floppies, you can't even use "I'm getting this huge oversized heavy volume for my five year old nephew" as an excuse. Good grief... who is this collection for? Did the editors even look at what was going between the covers? I'm a huge Star Wars fan... but good f*%@$# grief!"
I will say I bought the SW: Droids & Ewoks Dark Horse Omnibus a while back for cheap (<$15) when DH was printing those smallish-almost-digest-sized Omnibus books. For that price I don't really care about the content. I might skim it one day since I've never read those stories, or give it to my kids or nephew, etc. But to pay $100 in an over-sized book for that content? God no.
I bought the SW: Droids & Ewoks Dark Horse Omnibus yesterday at a Books-A-Million on the clearance shelf for $6 and gave it right to the kids. Right size for them, right price to give it to them, and they love the content. Added bonus: the first three issues are penciled by Jazzy John Romita!
Wolverine vol 1 is too much removed from the ongoing (and fits better with X-Men issues anyway) and Weapon X will be put shortly before #48, because that where it came out (and was incorporated into ongoing), if at all.
DAMAGE CONTROL - anybody read this? With the recent tpb or back in the day?
Does the writing hold up? Do you recommend it?
I agree. I also don't think either series would work well with the other stories in the epic which focuses only on Patch and Madripoor era Wolverine. I'm not an omnibus buyer and one of the things that keeps me away is how often unnecessary material is put into the volumes. Glad at least this Epic stayed focused.
No worries mate. Seeing as you’re a monster fan, below are the premiere month figures from Diamond for several of your “monster” favourites:
Tomb of Dracula Vol. 2 Omnibus – 1,158 (Dec 2009)
Tomb of Dracula Vol. 3 Omnibus – 508 (Jan 2011)
Man-Thing Omnibus – 1,041 (Oct 2012)
Werewolf By Night Omnibus – 1,347 (Oct 2015)
I was unable to obtain the figure for Tomb of Dracula Vol. 1 Omnibus which was released in October 2008. At that point, only the Top 100 was available. Apparently, they only started doing a Top 300 ranking for Graphic Novels in November 2008, a month later. I do know that the Variant cover for ToD Vol. Omnibus 1 shifted 457 in November 2008. I would assume that the regular cover on release in October 2008 had a similar figure to Vol. 2 i.e. circa 1,100, if not higher.
Btw, I would be all for a list of Top 5 sellers on the first page or a link. Canucked? NZ_InFerno?
Thought i'd share my second wave of X-Men Dust Jackets. I worked out a few kinks with them, mostly some sizing problems not translating into printing but now they are near perfect. I'm only posting the close ups of editions I've changed, for the most part I only change the spine unless the entire edition needed redoing because it's just TOO ugly (like Phalanx Covenant, that is a fugly book).
So i hurried up my order for the alias omni after someone said demand would skyrocket after the show. Thankfully got it from IST before they removed the 45% discount. I was planning to read it before watching the show but it has only gotten here today. To those of you who have watched or are watching the show currently, which do you think i should tackle first? The omni or the show? Does the show follow the book too closely or might it ruin some things in the book?