DC Hardcover Collected Editions Part 3

[Pete Wisdom]

Gotham Central has been collected, like, three times.

[JBatmanFan05]

And yet people keep begging for books like Grant/Breyfogle Batman.

And I think DC misinterprets the fans in taking out the few issues in the run not the drawn by the artist. The collections would still be like 98% Breyfogle or Jones.

It's all DC's fault for these rigid collections. People want (more readable) complete runs, not incomplete runs.

Batman 526 (drawn by JH Williams) is very important thematically to Moench's run with Jones and DC omitted it....it's one of the best examples of how wrong DC's rigidity is.

[Pete Wisdom]

It's really hard to misinterpret 'Grant/Breyfogle Batman'. After all it doesn't say 'Grant/Breyfogle Batman but with those other guys too'. And it's not like there aren't plenty of custom binds done by fans that don't include non-Breyfogle Grant Batman stories. In many cases people actually are asking for Grant/Breyfogle Batman and nothing else.

[JBatmanFan05]

It's really hard to misinterpret 'Grant/Breyfogle Batman'. After all it doesn't say 'Grant/Breyfogle Batman but with those other guys too'. And it's not like there aren't plenty of custom binds done by fans that don't include non-Breyfogle Grant Batman stories. In many cases people actually are asking for Grant/Breyfogle Batman and nothing else.

We'll have to agree to disagree. I think someone saying "I want Grant/Breyfogle" is just using shorthand to say the entire run including any few issues not by the artist/writer. And I firmly believe people want more stories and not less.

[canadianaidan64]

I'm with JBatmanFan05 on this one. It's very short-sighted of DC to exclude the odd issue just because it has a guest artist, especially if it's a part of the larger story arc. I will not purchase any of those tales/legends of the batman/dark knight collections for this very reason. They seem to be marketed to an audience who wants a single artist's work compiled, regardless of whether or not it tells a coherent story, and I would rather buy books that provide a good standalone read without any missing chapters.

The funny thing is, DC already properly collects entire runs in their omnibus line, for example the "JSA omnibus by Geoff Johns" does include the initial issues penned by James Robinson. I wish they'd do the same with their tales of the batman line.

[Azrael]

Too many books to choose from! I'll get TDKR, Year 100, DMZ, Fables, Multiversity, Sandman and Swamp Thing.

[Pete Wisdom]

There's no JSA Omnibus by Geoff Johns. There was one announced once, and it started with JSA #6. Then people made noise, DC changed the content to include earlier stories, and changed the title to JSA Omnibus.

[Hellboydce]

Gotham Central has been collected, like, three times.

In one book?

[Johnny Thunders!]

The Will Elder, Jack Davis, and Wally Wood Mad collections are must buy for me. I am reluctant to buy Multiversity and Overture in Deluxe because an Absolute seems inevitable. Of course I'm still waiting for Grants Action and Seven Soldiers in omnibus or absolute. How about the Johns Flash Omnibus volume 1. Volume 2 is good but essential? I don't know, any thoughts!

[RIPLynott]

There's no JSA Omnibus by Geoff Johns. There was one announced once, and it started with JSA #6. Then people made noise, DC changed the content to include earlier stories, and changed the title to JSA Omnibus.

Lots of fan noise is what it took the change that and also the absolute blackest night contents. Dc does have a bad habit of riding someones name and chopping up a run, remember new teen titans vol 3? Or Even the johns run, i too would love to have some sequential batman similar to the way the masterworks do it but with comics outside the silver age as well

[SJNeal]

I would really hate them to discontinue the series. I'm still waiting for more Shade the Changing Man trades... I think vol. 4 onwards should be deluxe sized like Lucifer, Hellblazer, and Animal Man IF they decided to continue to reprint the series. It's been awfully long since vol. 3.

I'd love to see them complete Shade too, but I'm pretty sure it was officially announced at some point that they wouldn't be continuing past vol. 3...

[JBatmanFan05]

i too would love to have some sequential Batman similar to the way the masterworks do it but with comics outside the silver age as well

My god, amen. Why do I have the feeling I will never see any sequential comprehensive collections of Batman comics in the 70s. Of either Batman or Detective (even though I'd want both together, ala Chronicles).

[ullar77]

I'm so happy that GL/GA is finally getting an Absolute. I've had my eye on the old GL/GA collection for a while now but it's pretty pricey.

[Pertl]

That Swamp Thing Deluxe Edition looks more like an Omnibus than a Deluxe Edition. It's 496 pages long and costs $50, so it'll probably include the whole run and the Animal Man tie-in issues. And the same can be said about Lemire's Green Arrow. After all, I consider a book is an Omnibus when it collects every issue of a run, no matter the number of pages (like Marvel's Young Avengers Omnibus) or a lot of issues from a very long run.

These two books are definitely Omnibus.

Seems to me as if they would generally increase the page count for deluxe editions (the same as they did with the omnibuses): Invisibles 4 is actually as big as 2 of the other 3, and I really cannot imagine they have planned it like this from the start. Fables are getting bigger and bigger, No. 11 is solicitated with issues 86 to 100 (issue 100 alone being 4 times a normal issue), previous Fables deluxe had 9 to 12 issues,...

I don't think that this is a bad thing, but why can't they plan a thing right from the beginning and then stick to the plan for a while?

[TomSlick]

I'm so happy that GL/GA is finally getting an Absolute. I've had my eye on the old GL/GA collection for a while now but it's pretty pricey.

Same here. The omnibus is gonna make that sucker obsolete!