DC Hardcover Collected Editions Part 3

[momaw]

My only gripe with the GL omnibus is the GLC issues. If they collect those in ohc, I'd be all down. Until then, I'll stick to my trades

I agree. I personally found GLC to be the better book and would love to get it in oversize.

[jjsheridan1001]

So... I'm kind of back in action with this great hobby after some moving from one continent to another and all of that, and I wondered, run wise, is the Geoff Johns GL run worth it? I do like the character, but the last thing I read was Rebirth. I am not a fan of the retcon that turned him into an innocent superhero, but I can live with that being the case if the run makes it worth it. I am really interested in getting the first Omnibus, but will I like it? I know that no matter what you all say, until I don't read I will not know, but are those GOOD stories? Is the run as a whole as good as people say?

Did you not like Rebirth because you didn't like the retcon or did you not like Rebirth because of the storytelling?

I grew up reading Kyle Rayner. I loved Kyle as GL, and though I went back and caught up with Hal, I never fell in love with him and was fine with Kyle being GL (in fact, when Hal became the Spectre I thought that was an excellent place to put him to move him back into the good), and I disagreed with all the whining about making him go bad. It's not like it was a random act - it was overwhelming loss that sent him off the deep end, and I like when comic book characters are noble but still flawed. After all Hal is still only human underneath the costume and ring.

So, when I heard about Rebirth I avoided it; I didn't love the hate that creators like Tony Bedard gave Kyle ("didn't have the heart of a Green Lantern") and I'm not a fan of out and out retcons (I loathe many things about Kevin Smith, but I love that he brought Oliver Queen back to life without undoing his death). Still, the mini was acclaimed by people I respected, and...well, sometimes you just have to embrace what is, and comics are all about change with new creators. If you can't accept that, might as well never start reading.

This is the long way around saying...Rebirth held me in a trance. Geoff's wonderful ability to pay homage to the origins of a character, combined with the fact that he's the first writer in history to make me LOVE Hal Jordan, caught me in an iron grip. The fact that he brought the GL world to life in a way it had never been rendered, while making it seem like that's how it was all this time made me a fan. And, the fear entity remains one of the most clever ways I've ever seen a writer get out of a character going evil. I too didn't think it was necessary, but at the same time someone was inevitably going to do it, and I'm thankful it was a writer as skilled as Johns.

And then he one-ups himself by building an amazing ten year epic tapestry to GL stories, the first of which are collected in the omnibus.

So...if you liked the storytelling of Rebirth, then you're in for a treat. If you didn't even like the way Johns told the story...I seriously doubt reading on will make it better for you.

[drumguy1975]

Does anyone have any pics of the GL Omnibus that they could share? My conundrum is that a few years ago, I managed to find most of the first 25 issues or so at about $1 each so I picked them up, thinking that I would eventually have them bound, along with all of the the GL events. Well, FF a few years and I still haven't completed filling the holes or had any of them bound. So I'm wondering if I would be better served to pick up the Omni(s) and unload the floppies, or keep the floppies, fill the holes and bind them.

[DavidRaid]

@drumguy1975
I'm a long time lurker and first time poster. <_<
https://twitter.com/PFBooksComics/st...806144/photo/1

Here are the first real life photographs of the Omnibus.. let's hope that binding is up to the same production quality as the JSA vol 2 Omnibus.

[NZ_InFerno]

Welcome and thanks for the pic, I've just removed the eBay link as they're not allowed. I'm sure the photos will show up soon.

I'm not a big fan of the spine, looks a bit naff. Book seems like a monster, can't wait till it turns up.

[DavidRaid]

Thanks for the welcome and sorry for the eBay link, it was just a second source of photographs and it didn't occur to me to check for rules about buying websites, I should have checked. :P The spine design seems to try and match the title style of JSA.. but we'll have to see how well they line up. It's the flexibility of the binding I'm looking forward to seeing.

[CP1234]

I'm late to the party, but I just got the first volume of Absolute Sandman, and my god that book is gorgeous. I think I'm going to have to move up the rest of the volumes on my to-buy list.

[JJ87]

I went to my LCS today and saw Absolute Batman Incorporated. It is very very tempting.

Thing is, I do have all of Morrison's Batman run in trades (which seems to be the only collected format on which it was uniformally released - I know there are Deluxe oversized hardcovers for most of the run, but 1. most of them are hard to get and 2. there's no Deluxe for neither Time and the Batman nor his two N52! Batman Inc hardcovers).

Do you think there's a chance the rest of his not-yet-Absolute Batman run (Batman and Son, The Black Glove, Batman RIP, Time and the Batman and The Return of Bruce Wayne) will get the treatment someday?

[canadianaidan64]

I'm late to the party, but I just got the first volume of Absolute Sandman, and my god that book is gorgeous. I think I'm going to have to move up the rest of the volumes on my to-buy list.

Yay! Now you can join the rest of us in waiting for Absolute Sandman Overture.

[GenericUserName12]

I'm late to the party, but I just got the first volume of Absolute Sandman, and my god that book is gorgeous. I think I'm going to have to move up the rest of the volumes on my to-buy list.

Absolute Sandman is the key book that spawned my obsession with the hardcover collection. My favorite storyline was blessed with this beautiful format and I've been hooked ever since. I grew up collecting floppies, but when I realized this medium could be presented in such a wonderful way, I knew I couldn't go back to bag & boarding floppies. Besides the price, Absolutes are actually the perfect book in terms of readability and build.

To be honest, Absolute Sandman has been one of those evergreen series so you don't have to rush to purchase each book in fear of the OOP tax. Read it at your leisure and pick up the next book because you want to read it and not because you think you won't be able to get that format when you want.

[Pertl]

I went to my LCS today and saw Absolute Batman Incorporated. It is very very tempting.

Thing is, I do have all of Morrison's Batman run in trades (which seems to be the only collected format on which it was uniformally released - I know there are Deluxe oversized hardcovers for most of the run, but 1. most of them are hard to get and 2. there's no Deluxe for neither Time and the Batman nor his two N52! Batman Inc hardcovers).

Do you think there's a chance the rest of his not-yet-Absolute Batman run (Batman and Son, The Black Glove, Batman RIP, Time and the Batman and The Return of Bruce Wayne) will get the treatment someday?

We had quite a discussion about this two weeks ago, you will find it a few pages back. Some say yes (including me), some others think that an omnibus (or probably two omnibuses) would be more likely.

[DavidRaid]

Comparing the spine of the GL Omnibus
https://twitter.com/PFBooksComics/st...806144/photo/1

with the spine of the JSA Omnibus
https://twitter.com/RokkRevolution/s...086272/photo/1

irritates me on a strange level. It's nice that they're trying to stick to a similar title style, with the black bars between lines of large typefaces.. but why can't they have them on the same damn end of the spine? So close to a new style of uniformity, yet so far. Would it have been so hard to put a GL logo at the top, the ring picture in the middle and the title at the bottom so that it all lined up with the two (and upcoming third) JSA Omnibi? :/

At least the DC logo is in the same place..

[Dr. Jay]

I think you guys get too caught up in the spine of a book. Each book is different and not necessary designed to be a continuation or sister book to the previous. I kind of get it when it is a volume 2 or 3, but when it is a totally serparate book I don't quite get it.

When you go to a bookstore and look at different books, they don't line up perfectly. And that's how books stand out from one another. I say give the cover designer wide bearth to make a gorgeous collection.

[Sousa]

Comparing the spine of the GL Omnibus
https://twitter.com/PFBooksComics/st...806144/photo/1

with the spine of the JSA Omnibus
https://twitter.com/RokkRevolution/s...086272/photo/1

irritates me on a strange level. It's nice that they're trying to stick to a similar title style, with the black bars between lines of large typefaces.. but why can't they have them on the same damn end of the spine? So close to a new style of uniformity, yet so far. Would it have been so hard to put a GL logo at the top, the ring picture in the middle and the title at the bottom so that it all lined up with the two (and upcoming third) JSA Omnibi? :/

At least the DC logo is in the same place..

Are those spines flat and not curved at all? Is that better for the spine or? I'm very new to omnibus purchases and the only ones I've gotten are from Marvel

[DavidRaid]

@Sousa

The spine of JSA (and I expect GL given that DC Omnibi have followed this trend for a while now) is slightly curved, but ultimately the shape of the spine itself isn't all that important to the binding. The recent Saga Omnibus by Image has a completely flat spine, as do Dark Horse's Library editions of Hellboy and they have some of the best binding around. Binding is why most people love omnibus editions. Good binding is make or break. Glued is blasphemy, Sewn is the standard by which all stand by.

The quality of sewn binding depends upon the flexibility of the fabric strip the pages are sewn into. This usually depends on how much and/or what kind of glue they have used to strengthen the book (as those things are heavy!). Rigid glue means that despite having sewn binding, that fabric part will not bend very well when the book is open, stopping it from forming the 'curve' or 'triangle' that lets you see all the way to the middle of pages. Glued binding has the pages glued to the spine itself instead of letting it bend freely, causing terrible 'gutter loss' and you lose art in that giant crevase.

Marvel Omnibi are always sewn (with the exception of their very early attempts) and have always been very good with the flexiblity of their binding whereas DC have very slowly been improving theirs and are basically playing catch-up. While they do use sewn binding on their new Omnibi, the glue they tend to use to strengthen it makes it more rigid than people would like, which is what people mean if you hear the word 'mousetrap'. They're referring to the way the glue prevents the fabric from bending and thus the middle of the pages won't rise to be level (flat) with the ends of the pages.. this also comes with the problem of the book not liking to stay open if you're not at the middle of the book.. thus swinging closed like a mousetrap.

Ultimately when you're buying non-Marvel Omnibus, I'd check on here for information on how good the binding is as every volume seems to vary. DC produced a fantastic binding with their Sandman Omnibus Vol 1 some time back and then surprised many with a downgrade of quality with their Vol 2 and JSA Vol 1. However, JSA Vol 2, which is their most recent Omnibus I believe, has the very best DC sewn binding I have ever seen, it's almost on par with Marvel's early sewn binding, just as good as the Walter Simonson Thor Omnibus I'd say. So everyone is crossing their fingers with the Green Lantern Omnibus Volume 1.

Hope this helps!

Mousetrap DC binding of the past http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...r/IMG_0073.jpg

JSA Omnibus Vol 2 DC Binding of today https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...47607417_o.jpg
Note that beautiful curve that lets you see the middle of the pages with ease. The binding didn't need any loosening for JSA Vol 2, it was like that from the beginning. DC is really making strides.