All New Marvel Collected Editions

[Peter Parker]

Anything from the last few years doesnt warrant a reprint imo. There still plenty of popular runs in need of one: Brubaker Cap and Daredevil, bendis daredevil, ultimates, astonishing. Still angry these haven't come around while I understand the need, all we seem to keep getting is this silver age crap

I theorize whoever is in charge of Omni releases at Marvel stockpiled the Daredevils, Ultimates and Astonishing. They then sell a two per year on e-bay for a retirement fund.

[kodave]

As a general question about OHC/Omnibus reprints, does anyone know why DC and Marvel have such different policies on this? Especially with the movies and TV being such a big thing now, it seems odd. DC has reprinted some of their HCs more than 5 times. On the Marvel side we have the next season of Daredevil on Netflix, and Punisher is showing up. Why not reprint the Omnibus? Or at least reprint the Max no. 4 HC that everyone and their mother has been wanting for years?

I think the comics that sell best out of bookstores and places like Amazon are often TPBs. They're cheaper for consumers. They're cheaper to produce and ship. More people are probably readers than collectors and therefore don't need regular or oversized hardcovers. I think that's why we're seeing Epic Collections from Marvel. That's why we're seeing a lot of TPB collections from DC for older material when a lot of it would be perfect for Omnibuses. I think that's why we're seeing DC do less regular HCs and Marvel abandoning regular HCs almost completely. There's just a lot less financial risk with TPBs, especially if they don't sell and the company has to eat the loss.

Punisher Max is getting reprinted in Complete Collection format. No need for Marvel to reprint Vol 4 of an OHC that's been OOP for years now. Even if they did reprint it, sure it would get some pre-orders from everyone who has a gap in their collection, but overall, new readers aren't going to jump in to buy it unless you re-print the other four books and then manage to sell them on buying all five books, and also convince retailers that they should buy five books and make shelf space for them all. It's probably going to be far more profitable for Marvel to sell Punisher Max complete collections than it will be to cater to the large format collecting customers right now. Plus, the demand on Vol. 4 was artificially created after that Amazon price glitch. At least the first two volumes of that OHC collection were remaindered. Volume 6 (not Ennis) was remaindered. Marvel has the sales numbers. I'm sure they've seen the message board requests. And for whatever reason, it probably doesn't make sense right now to bother with OHCs for Punisher Max.

Plus they're reprinting Daredevil vs. Punisher: Means and Ends in TPB, which will again be perfect for the "reader" crowd who gets an inkling of interest from season 2 of DD on Netflix but doesn't want to invest in a large format book.

I think what is a little surprising is no Punisher 616 Omnibus reprint. That should have been a no brainer for Marvel. But they've already got the two Miller DD Omni reprints coming out in time for season 2 (when arguably should have been no brainers for season 1 that they failed to capitalize on), so maybe they feel the market might be too saturated with large format books tying into the Netflix show at the moment. Marvel had it's act together for the Alias Omnibus reprint in conjunction with the Netflix series. I'm sure Season 2 of DD won't be the last time we see Punisher, so there's always tie in potential down the road for the 616 Omnibus reprint. Or maybe we'll get a rush reprint like they did with Howard the Duck after Guardians of the Galaxy. Marvel has generally been pretty good with pushing out one or two Omnibuses to tie in with every film, Marvel Studios or otherwise. They just got off track when it came to Daredevil on Netflix.

In short, there's going to be plenty of Punisher stuff out there to tie into Season 2 of Daredevil that will satiate the curious. It's just not going to be the stuff that large format collectors on message boards such as this want to see.

As for why the different strategies between Marvel and DC when it comes to reprinting various HCs? There's no way to say for certain. They each have their internal sales data. They know what kind of budgets their collected editions departments have to work with. They presumably have market research of some kind to figure out what to print and when. We don't have any of that. Maybe Marvel is making more money printing the things they print rather than reprinting certain things certain vocal collectors want reprinted. Maybe they're just dumb as rocks. It's hard to say since we're not there in the corporate office. Maybe DC is doing it right by reprinting in-demand HCs. Maybe DC is missing out on other sales opportunities by spending resources reprinting HCs that are available in other formats. Who knows?

[UltimateTy]

These are just theories that I have no hard data researched to back up, but:

1) It seems like Marvel definitely distanced itself from PHCs toward the end of Marvel Now. I could be wrong but I believe all of the Secret Wars mini series all were TPB only.

2) Premiere HCs may not have sold all that well during Marvel Now. Pretty much all of the no-dust jacket premiere HCs from that era hit the remainder pile. All of the Season Ones, nearly all of the volumes of Savage Wolverine, Gillen's Iron Man, Waid's Indestructible Hulk and Remender's Captain America have hit the clearance racks. I also believe the All-New/Uncanny Bendis X-Men and Hickman Avengers PHC books were remaindered, or at least the earlier volumes were. Nova only survived one hardcover before it was clearanced and the rest of the series went TPB only. I would assume Aaron's Thor sold well enough since they OHC'd it and it seems to be the only series continuing in PHC for ANAD, but it's possible those Marvel Now PHCs were put on clearance.

3) I think Marvel is finding that instead of hoping people double or triple dip with PHC/TPB/OHC, they can make as much or more money when they start in TPB then hit collectors with Oversized or Omnibus editions for things that sell real well, like we saw with Hawkeye, Deadpool, Ms. Marvel, the new volume of Daredevil etc. Plus with no premiere hardcovers, that means Marvel can start jacking up the price of the basic TPBs, which are now all in the $16-$20 range for 6 or less issues. And then they can eventually charge more for collectors who really want that hardcover edition because there's no step down between OHC and pure TPB. It seems like the going rate for the OHCs is $35 but I'm sure that will change soon too.

3) TPBs weigh less than HCs. The difference might not seem like much, but it definitely adds up when you're talking about shipping hundreds if not thousands of copies from the printer in China. Especially considering Marvel is still clearancing out those Marvel Now PHCs (and I would assume take a loss on them financially) after they seemingly adjusted their printing practices to try and reduce over-printing (at least as far as Omnis and OHCs go). So the shipping savings might be pretty worthwhile to basically abandon the PHC format.

4) Digital sales are supposedly increasing. I think most of the Marvel Now Era PHCs came with a digital code for the trade. Perhaps Marvel has realized the most profitable path is to give physical readers the simple TPB, have digital TPBs available for the digital crowd, and anyone who wants to double dip can buy both rather than get the windfall of the digital bonus copy found inside the PHCs. And of course if it's something to pander to the collector crowd, give them an OHC eventually.


Secret Wars and the abandonment of the PHC format for ANAD makes a great jumping off point for me as a trade collector. I'm really not interested in acquiring a bunch of cheaply made but still expensive TPBs, and I'd rather just go digital than buy these TPBs. If something good comes out in OHC, then I'll definitely be interested. Maybe way down the road I would be interested in Large TPB/Complete Collection books if they're never going to do OHCs, but even that's iffy for me personally. DC is doing me the same favor with how Convergence/DC You mirrors Secret Wars/ANAD Marvel, both in terms of continuity resets/refreshes and in terms of trade collection. Though DC is keeping most Batman books as HCs, so they still get me there.

Thanks for the response, those are solid points.

[Canucked]

There are omnibus sized presents under my christmas tree....

[kodave]

There are omnibus sized presents under my christmas tree....

90s Omnibus, Marvel Now Omnibus, etc.

[Omnibus]

90s Omnibus, Marvel Now Omnibus, etc.

Those are big lumps of coal then.....

Canucked, were you a bad boy this year?

[Drakul]

good fuel for the fireplace.

[Canucked]

90s Omnibus, Marvel Now Omnibus, etc.

Those are big lumps of coal then.....

Canucked, were you a bad boy this year?

good fuel for the fireplace.

Bite your tongues.

[BoyMeetsComics]

Here's my wish list to Santa for 2016

Amazing Spiderman Omnibus V2
Mutant Massacre OHC
X-Men Inferno OHC
Uncanny X-Force Omnibus
Astonishing X-Men Omnibus
Thor by Simonson Omnibus

[FlashingSabre]

There are omnibus sized presents under my christmas tree....

Yeah, I basically order a couple things for other people for me, so I'm pretty sure I'm getting a few.

[World1]

The X-Men is the only 1 I'm missing from that era, and it's killing me. Just 1 damn book needed to complete that era. But unless they reprint it or I'm suddenly become willing to spend $300 on 1 book, I'll have to go without and just get the Epics. Just 1 book, though - it's maddening.

Need this also. Missed a chance recently to grab one for close to $100 because the sleeve was ripped or some shit. Which I couldnt care less about since I read all of mine and dont exactly keep the jackets on them anyway. Missed it :/

I wonder why there hasnt been a silver age DD omnibus? I've been wanting one.

[PLEDGE]

The X-Men is the only 1 I'm missing from that era, and it's killing me. Just 1 damn book needed to complete that era. But unless they reprint it or I'm suddenly become willing to spend $300 on 1 book, I'll have to go without and just get the Epics. Just 1 book, though - it's maddening.

They'll re-print it, along with Thor Vol. 1 and Iron Man vol. 1. It's only a matter of time.

[Raffi Ol D'Arcy]

It looks like Ultimate Marvel Omnibus Volume 1 has already landed in the "Remainder" stack and going for clearance prices. Those prices are still way too high.

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Marvel Firsts: The 1990s Omnibus is also decreasing in price everywhere.

[Iron Fist]

It looks like Ultimate Marvel Omnibus Volume 1 has already landed in the "Remainder" stack and going for clearance prices. Those prices are still way too high.

Capture.jpg

Marvel Firsts: The 1990s Omnibus is also decreasing in price everywhere.

It annoys me these clearance prices never cross the atlantic.

[Raffi Ol D'Arcy]

It annoys me these clearance prices never cross the atlantic.

Yes, I know what you mean. However, in this case these are 2 Omnibuses I don't want anything to do with.