DC Hardcover Collected Editions Part 3

[Johnny Thunders!]

Agreed. Morrison's Doom Patrol had one of the greatest all-hell-breaks-loose-endings in comics. And the epilogue issue . . . wow!

I will have to reread it myself, when I first read it I thought it was basically "Tim Burton's X-Men" with an emphasis on the surreal vs. X-Men's soap opera.

I think Morrison's run on X-Men is much easier to digest than Doom Patrol, Invisibles, or the Filth.

[TomSlick]

I think Morrison's run on X-Men is much easier to digest than Doom Patrol, Invisibles, or the Filth.

This is a fair statement. The other books you mentioned are independent works so they weren’t as closely monitored by an editor afraid to tell Morrison “No.”

Doom Patrol was an exception that no one paid attention to and while it was “Morrison strange” it wasn’t that bad (at least compared to some of his other stuff).

I like a lot of his work but there’s a bunch of it that I will never be convinced is good. His Flex Mentallo run being one example.

[cmcok68]

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS (DC MODERN CLASSICS EDITION) HC
written by FRANK MILLER
art by FRANK MILLER and KLAUS JANSON
cover by FRANK MILLER
DC introduces DC Modern Classics, collecting groundbreaking, genre-defining works in new hardcover editions, presented in a beautifully designed slipcase.
In these tales from THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS #1-4, it is 10 years after an aging Batman retired, and Gotham City has sunk deeper into decadence and lawlessness. Now, as his city needs him most, the Dark Knight returns in a blaze of glory. Joined by the new Robin, Carrie Kelly, Batman takes to the streets to face the mutant gangs that have overrun his city.
ON SALE 12.05.18
$49.99 US | 200 PAGES
BOOK: 6.625” x 10.1875”
FC | ISBN: 978-1-4012-8531-9

Damn.. I have been hoping they might do a new edition/reprint of Absolute DKR sooner than later.

Also no official word of the Absolute Alan Moore Swamp Thing yet? I am guessing it got delayed.

[Johnny Thunders!]

This is a fair statement. The other books you mentioned are independent works so they weren’t as closely monitored by an editor afraid to tell Morrison “No.”

Doom Patrol was an exception that no one paid attention to and while it was “Morrison strange” it wasn’t that bad (at least compared to some of his other stuff).

I like a lot of his work but there’s a bunch of it that I will never be convinced is good. His Flex Mentallo run being one example.

Morrison's X-Men is obviously a different animal than Invisibles, Doom Patrol, or the Filth. X-Men is definitely a mainstream book. Of those three, The Filth is what I read first and it's probably the one I have re-read the most. Doom Patrol and the Invisibles are really dense. I read them only recently after being a big fan of all of Morrison's superhero stuff. With him, I err on the side of reading anything he writes and I totally respect what he does and tries to do with comic books (I did miss his Santa Claus book). I went out and re-read Invisibles for a second time and it was definitely much more rewarding. Doom Patrol I have read just once but it's one I plan on revisiting. Flex Mentallo is one I can easily reread but that's as much for Quitely than anything else. Joe the Barbarian, there's one I only have a mild interest in rereading.

[TomSlick]

Morrison's X-Men is obviously a different animal than Invisibles, Doom Patrol, or the Filth. X-Men is definitely a mainstream book. Of those three, The Filth is what I read first and it's probably the one I have re-read the most. Doom Patrol and the Invisibles are really dense. I read them only recently after being a big fan of all of Morrison's superhero stuff. With him, I err on the side of reading anything he writes and I totally respect what he does and tries to do with comic books. (I did miss his Santa Claus book.) I went out and re-read Invisibles for a second time and it was definitely much more rewarding. Doom Patrol I have read just once but it's one I plan on revisiting. Flex Mentallo is one I can easily reread but that's as much for Quitely than anything else. Joe the Barbarian, there's one I only have a mild interest in rereading.

Joe the Barbarian . . . was awful.

I love Invisibles but there are parts I don't understand (I'm not too proud to admit it) and the third volume went exactly one issue too long. King Mob . . . phone booth . . . that's all it needed.

The final issue of Animal Man was ****, too. Just Morrison showing off. (I know many will disagree). That said, his AM was really, really good.

I always dug Doom Patrol. It was dense at moments but certainly before it's time. His version of Constantine (they wouldn't let him use the actual character) was fun as well.

Morrison works best when he has an editor. JLA, for example, X-Men and Batman. Like you said, tho, they're mainstream and the powers that be aren't going to let him get too crazy.

One more title of interest I liked was Zenith. Early stuff but you can already see the weirdness creeping in.

[Russ840]

Is there any other material that could go into a hypothetical Deluxe Swamp Thing By Len Wein and Kelley Jones ?

We have the two issues of convergence and the six issue mini plus the story that was in the winter special. I think that is it?

[JBatmanFan05]

How come there are so few Superman trade solicits when there is so much yet to collect for Superman? DC is mining all of Batman's 90s and still not doing enough to collect Superman material or recollect it better.

[Hush]

So is this new Dark Knight Returns Modern Classics Edition an OHC or just a standard HC?

[Rincewind]

How come there are so few Superman trade solicits when there is so much yet to collect for Superman? DC is mining all of Batman's 90s and still not doing enough to collect Superman material or recollect it better.

I think it's because the Superman titles were much more interwoven than the Batman titles. The only way to collect the Superman titles in a consistent and coherent manner is to collect a few issues of each title in the Man of Steel TPB/Exile Omnibus manner. While there is a degree of interwoven storytelling on the Batman titles, there are still long uninterrupted runs for the titles. So we can see a collection line for Catwoman/Robin/Birds of Prey/Nightwing, when that isn't available for Superman.

Also, the Batman titles have a number of big storylines that are ripe for collecting. Between Knightfall and War Games, there are Contagion, Cataclysm, Legacy, No Man's Land, Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, etc. Superman has Death and Return of Superman (which has been collected in many formats) but not much else.

The one area where Superman outshines Batman is the immediate Post Crisis era. Superman has the Man of Steel series of 9 TPB and Exile Omnibus giving us the first 3+ years of Superman adventures. Batman (outside of Year 1 and 2 collections) is just beginning to be collected from that era.

[Orion]

How come there are so few Superman trade solicits when there is so much yet to collect for Superman? DC is mining all of Batman's 90s and still not doing enough to collect Superman material or recollect it better.

Superman at least has The Exile Omnibus...the Batman collections from that period are awful.

It's honestly shameful how they've treated both Batman and Superman as far as their 80s/90s output.

[Hellboydce]

Before Watchmen is the only one I’m interested in, sold the separate HC for about the same price I’ll be paying for this, so quite happy

[JBatmanFan05]

It's honestly shameful how they've treated both Batman and Superman as far as their 80s/90s output.

I can agree with that. Superman's mid/late 90s and early 00s output is really getting neglected. DC is closing more and more of the Batman gaps with 80s/90s output (and I custom bind, so my custom binds correct any mistakes they made in issue order or omissions), it at least feels like DC is trying with Batman.

[Balakin]

Joe the Barbarian . . . was awful.

GASP!....how dare you sir!
I mean yeah okay it's not his best but it's far from awful. It's very easy to follow and I think it has a sweet ending. Also the art is great! I genuinely enjoyed it.
As for editors saying "no" I don't really see the problem with not saying no in case of his creator owned
stuff, let him do whatever he wants, no one gets hurt.
In case of stuff like Final crisis...I can absolutely see your point, even though I really like that book.
Also they let him go crazy with Batman around FC, just think of the return of Bruce Wayne (loved that one too).

[Balakin]

Morrison's X-Men is obviously a different animal than Invisibles, Doom Patrol, or the Filth. X-Men is definitely a mainstream book. Of those three, The Filth is what I read first and it's probably the one I have re-read the most. Doom Patrol and the Invisibles are really dense. I read them only recently after being a big fan of all of Morrison's superhero stuff. With him, I err on the side of reading anything he writes and I totally respect what he does and tries to do with comic books (I did miss his Santa Claus book). I went out and re-read Invisibles for a second time and it was definitely much more rewarding. Doom Patrol I have read just once but it's one I plan on revisiting. Flex Mentallo is one I can easily reread but that's as much for Quitely than anything else. Joe the Barbarian, there's one I only have a mild interest in rereading.

Klaus is really fun, I would highly recommend it. It's kind of a superhero take on Santa but as awful as that sounds it's actually a really good book with only minor weirdnesses. I would risk to say that even TomSlick would enjoy it.

[Clark_Kent]

How come there are so few Superman trade solicits when there is so much yet to collect for Superman? DC is mining all of Batman's 90s and still not doing enough to collect Superman material or recollect it better.

The Exile omnibus is a good start, picking up right when the MoS tpb's ended, and I hope it sells well enough to continue (and at a brisker pace). Without looking for specifics, I'd guess there's room for 3 more omnis before you hit the Death/Return period which was already collected as an omnibus so they can skip that era, and then pick up with the aftermath and on through the rest of the triangle period. I agree that they haven't done enough yet, but starting where they did with Exile is at least a good step. They can continue from there without having too much overlap with existing collections.

Although, I just remembered they have a tpb of Superman Blue coming out soon, which would tend to negate what I just said. I'd like to see the omnis continue, for the sake of shelf uniformity, but if they wanted to do fat trades then that would be fine with me. As long as they collect it all somehow. I'd like to see collections released much faster than they did with the MoS stuff, however...