August 1978
Standard sized
Deluxe
Omnibus
Absolute
That series doesn't feature the best Superman stories from the Bronze Age and it doesn't have a single artist guiding the book, but the highlights are huge. Jim Starlin writes one of the greatest Superman stories in his team ups with Supergirl and the Spectre. Garcia Lopez's books with Deadman and the Flash are gorgeous. Alan Moore even teams up Swamp Thing with Superman during the series. I just want to see something from the Bronze Age in a big deluxe format. Honestly, you could probably find most of the original issues out there, I'm talking all the bronze age superman comics for an okay price but I want to see some big deluxe treatments. DC comics presents has some great team ups with the whole DCU and the rotating artist list could be pretty great at times. I just want something from DC! (Hey speaking of which, Jonah Hex and Sgt. Rock would make a pretty nice couple of immediate buy omnis.)
ABSOLUTE SWAMP THING BY ALAN MOORE VOL. 1
U.S. Price: $99.99
On Sale 6/26
Alan Moore’s legendary run of Swamp Thing tales is collected in Absolute format at last, completely recolored for this new edition! This first of three volumes includes Moore’s first Swamp Thing story, issue #20’s “Loose Ends,” a prelude to his haunting origin story, “The Anatomy Lesson,” which reshapes Swamp Thing’s mythology with terrifying revelations. Collects Saga Of The Swamp Thing #20-34 and Swamp Thing Annual #2.
https://www.vertigocomics.com/graphi...an-moore-vol-1
I'd buy an omnibus or deluxe editions in a second but pass on the Absolute. Absolutes should be reserved for 1-2 volume works tops.
So $300 retail price for the entire run? Good to see it's finally getting released I guess, but no wonder they haven't released it in one omnibus. That's a lot of scratch...talk about "milking it".
It's not out of the ordinary at all. In fact, it's cheaper than I thought it'd be. $100 per >400-page Absolute is in line or cheaper than many other Absolutes with similar page counts. Couple that with it having a new recolor process and being a long-cherished run never out in oversized format, this is about the best outcome possible.
This run deserves the extra-oversized art that an Absolute gives, rather than an omnibus. And I'm more than okay paying $150 for three great-looking Absolutes of Alan Moore Swamp Thing.
Disappointed in the announcement that Swamp Thing will be recolored. I thought the Killing Joke recoloring was awful, but at least that had the excuse of Bolland wanting to do it to his own work.
I realize there are arguments about what "authentic" coloring should be (since no one ever intended the colors to look the way they do in glossy reprints), but I feel like an '80s comic should not have coloring that looks like it couldn't have been done in the '80s, because if the coloring is modern then it clashes with the art.
I like the original coloring. Is it possible that recoloring is required to make it look decent at absolute size? I'm not aware of the condition of the available source they have to produce it.
The first 19 issues of The Sandman were recolored because the original coloring apparently looked awful at absolute size with glossier sturdy paper. I'd imagine that much of Swamp Thing's run, if not the whole run, would have the same problem. Note that no one in the general public has seen what the initial pages of The Sandman would have looked like as an absolute; this is just based on what Gaiman has said.
DETECTIVE COMICS: BEFORE BATMAN (VOLS. 1 AND 2) OMNIBUS Cover:
THE NEW TEEN TITANS OMNIBUS VOL. 4 Cover by GEORGE PEREZ: