DC Hardcover Collected Editions Part 3

[Vilynne]

I don't want to come across as ungrateful or rude as your offering a potentially great service to some members of the board by helping to track down some OoP trades (and some of those trades are very hard to come by).

But where are you? This is a very global board with people from the USA, UK, Europe, New Zealand, Russia, etc. You dont have a location listed under your profile and your previous post just says your going "out of town" without knowing where you are some people might not bother requesting anything because the shipping rates might be too extortionate.

I also said in other post to DM me for more details. I know a lot of folks here aren't regular, but in past conversations I've mentioned I'm in the United States. I'm literally just out of town at the State Capital an hour away. So if that helps.

[NeathBlue]

They're just a whole different ballgame, done in a different world for different audiences.

Growing up with the Superman 40s shorts and The Rocketeer and BTAS and loving history and appreciating that era's context drew me to Golden Age comics. I love the simpler morality and time machine aspect of those comics, getting a feel for that time. It's hard for me to know whether to recommend GA comics to the far unitiated because I've loved that stuff for so long. I love black and white movies and all that.

They're gonna be hard to read for modern comic fans. I love Golden Age Captain America because they're surprisingly very much horror comics and not even Batman was horror comics mostly.

I think a modern comic fan would need to go back and read stuff from each era before getting to the Golden Age stuff, otherwise it will be too much of a culture shock for most... There's a big difference between stuff that came out in the 70's compared to the 60's, the difference between 60's and 40's is massive to the eye.
Some of the artwork is brutal, especially Green Lantern and Flash, but once you get used to it you can really appreciate them for what they are... I've still got the full set of Wanted that came out in the 70's that reprinted Golden Age stories, they were my first introduction to GA stuff along with the 100 page Giants that DC were publishing with JLA, Superman, Batman etc... Still got them all 🙂

[Martin Sinescu]

Good points. All I know is that the title suggests a Reaper collection is probably the least likely for this. Seems like this will be a much fuller collection, hence its price.

Yeah, you're probably right basing it on the price, although someone else said its been canceled. Are the solicits still active on this book? Again, I'm not exactly pulling for a Reaper collection either, but I'm disappointed if this collected edition is as disjointed as the broader listing suggests. I like the Omnibus format because I like having everything in one volume (well, almost, in the case of Knightfall). The solicited post-Year One edition is leaning towards some sort of DC TPB jigsaw puzzle with Second Chances and other books, while still leaving out other pieces. It's the same with these artist and writer collections. I'm overjoyed at finally having their works collected and that folks such as Barr/Davis, Colan and Brennert are getting their due for their underrated contributions to Batman, but the reads still suffer from breaks in the continuity and that makes them tough to fully endorse. My even greater concern with this post-Crisis effort is that they put out an inferior product, experience lackluster response, and decide this era just isn't worth collecting. Just do it right, DC.

They're just a whole different ballgame, done in a different world for different audiences.

Spot on here and I agree with Captain Craig as well: Like most things from the past, you will benefit mostly by disarming your modern sensibilities and skepticism. Just go into it to broaden your understanding of the Batman mythology as a whole, place yourself in the era and have fun with it. I was afraid I'd hate these stories, but now that I've gotten quite a few under my belt, I know what kind of mood I need to be in before I pick the book up and they certainly can be quite enjoyable when I'm in the right frame of mind. One thing that amazed me was how much of the Joker was already there in his first appearance. Batman himself took time to evolve, but so many Joker staples were right there in Batman #1. That was pretty cool to me. And the part where the guy gets the axe to the head... OMG. That was nuts.

To me, the GA Bats read like an attempt to capture the contemporary movie style, i.e. what was later generalized as Film Noir. I love this era of late 30's and early 40's cinema, but what handicaps Bats and 'Tec is that they have such limited space to tell the story. Film Noir tales are typically very complex. By comparison, Batman features some really ham-fisted leaps in logic to get from Point A to Point B to Point C by the end of the book, but this predates the multi-issue arc format, so you just have to accept it. Another thing, too, is that they take a bit longer to read. They're just wordy, much more than modern books that you can skip through in 5 minutes. After, what, a year or so I'm finally getting close to the end of Omni 1 (yes, 2 and 3 await in the shrink-wrap still) and you can already see the evolution from front cover to back. It's fun. Plus you get the intro of so many great villains. I'm really looking forward to getting into the early-to-mid 50's, but that jump into the Silver Age when the aliens and monsters replaced Catwoman and the joker are going to be tough even for this diehard Batfan.

[Balakin]

I think a modern comic fan would need to go back and read stuff from each era before getting to the Golden Age stuff, otherwise it will be too much of a culture shock for most... There's a big difference between stuff that came out in the 70's compared to the 60's, the difference between 60's and 40's is massive to the eye.
Some of the artwork is brutal, especially Green Lantern and Flash, but once you get used to it you can really appreciate them for what they are... I've still got the full set of Wanted that came out in the 70's that reprinted Golden Age stories, they were my first introduction to GA stuff along with the 100 page Giants that DC were publishing with JLA, Superman, Batman etc... Still got them all ��

I don't think that's necessarily true, I can absolutely see some people not really caring about 60s or 70s stories but the crudeness of the early GA stuff working for them just fine. Obviously jumping from a Geoff Johns story to the GA might be a bit of a culture shock but if you've read one or two older stories you should be fine, no need for a gradual descent.

[Judge Dredd]

Hate the golden age stuff cannot wait till the move onto to the silver age. It is nice they are giving these characters originals stories in color in a high end format instead of showcases.

[Hawkgirl_70]

I grew up on late 80's/early 90's DC comic floppies. Stopped in the mid 90's because of college, guys, then a job teaching.
Always wanted to start reading again. Happened to be in a bookstore when the first few B/W showcase presents came out.
Bought Green Lantern and Brave and the Bold Telephone Books. Loved the Silver Age stories, some corny but still fun. Ended up buying every one of them that I wanted, a bunch! Then quit got busy again.
More time passed and saw the Superman Omnibus again opened at a bookstore.
Had to have it, sat and looked thru it. Loved those Classic stories. Ended up ordering it and the beginning of many many others when I found this board! Yeah!!!

So I like all periods of books.
It didn't have to be an acquired taste for me.
I compare it to tv shows, I like the old 60's and 70's comedies, also like 80's and 90's, and some shoes from today.
It's just what I'm in the mood for when I pick up one to read a story out of it.
That's why my reading corner has about 8 or 9 DC HC books as well as a novel, there at any one time.

[TomSlick]

I grew up on late 80's/early 90's DC comic floppies. Stopped in the mid 90's because of college, guys, then a job teaching.
Always wanted to start reading again. Happened to be in a bookstore when the first few B/W showcase presents came out.
Bought Green Lantern and Brave and the Bold Telephone Books. Loved the Silver Age stories, some corny but still fun. Ended up buying every one of them that I wanted, a bunch! Then quit got busy again.
More time passed and saw the Superman Omnibus again opened at a bookstore.
Had to have it, sat and looked thru it. Loved those Classic stories. Ended up ordering it and the beginning of many many others when I found this board! Yeah!!!

So I like all periods of books.
It didn't have to be an acquired taste for me.
I compare it to tv shows, I like the old 60's and 70's comedies, also like 80's and 90's, and some shoes from today.
It's just what I'm in the mood for when I pick up one to read a story out of it.
That's why my reading corner has about 8 or 9 DC HC books as well as a novel, there at any one time.

My problem with the GA era is that there's really no substance. The stories are mostly fun in a silly way and they obviously lay down the groundwork for years to come but after 300 or so pages of it, I'm just no longer interested. That's just my opinion. I know some people really like them.

[ER Prest]

My problem with the GA era is that there's really no substance. The stories are mostly fun in a silly way and they obviously lay down the groundwork for years to come but after 300 or so pages of it, I'm just no longer interested. That's just my opinion. I know some people really like them.

Kinda how I feel to be honest. I picked up volumes 1 and 2 of the Batman and Superman, and am planning on volume 2 of the Wonder Woman Golden Age books, and then I'm done with them. Probably will pick up the Green Arrow one and the Aquaman one, but I'm more in it for the stories, and Golden Age books don't really have that like more modern ones do

[FlashingSabre]

Kinda how I feel to be honest. I picked up volumes 1 and 2 of the Batman and Superman, and am planning on volume 2 of the Wonder Woman Golden Age books, and then I'm done with them. Probably will pick up the Green Arrow one and the Aquaman one, but I'm more in it for the stories, and Golden Age books don't really have that like more modern ones do

That's pretty much my plan. I want the debuts and some major early events. Day to day stories don't interest me much, when there's better, newer stuff out there.

[titansupes]

I really enjoy them as a curiosity, and they're great, fun little stories to read in between some of the modern/more sophisticated stuff, as a change of pace. I've only got the first Supes GA omni though, and will probably pick up the Batman one. I don't need more beyond that.

I'm glad they keep putting them out though. It's nice knowing the material isn't being forgotten, and we'll eventually get to the Silver and Bronze Ages.

[ER Prest]

That's pretty much my plan. I want the debuts and some major early events. Day to day stories don't interest me much, when there's better, newer stuff out there.

I'd also be much more inclined to buy further Golden Age Batman/Superman/etc omnibus books if they weren't released so quickly. If they were like one a year or so

[Judge Dredd]

So maybe Amazon had the right solicit as CGN have canceled The Caped Crusader book. Hopefully it is not correct and it does end up coming out.

[Hawkgirl_70]

I really enjoy them as a curiosity, and they're great, fun little stories to read in between some of the modern/more sophisticated stuff, as a change of pace. I've only got the first Supes GA omni though, and will probably pick up the Batman one. I don't need more beyond that.

I'm glad they keep putting them out though. It's nice knowing the material isn't being forgotten, and we'll eventually get to the Silver and Bronze Ages.

I completely understand everyone isn't going to like everything. I'm just an easy to please person. All DC age periods are mostly interesting to me. I like to mix up and read diff time periods.
I've got all the Superman and Batman GA released so far, will keep going, but with several of you posting you won't buy past the 1st Omnibus, I doubt those 2 lines will get all the way printed and collected and into the Silver Age. I just don't see them doing it if sales keep pointing downward with each new release.
It's going to take a lot of Me's to keep buying them and the price is going to shoot up dramatically with stuff being printed for the first time since it originally was. Hopefully I'm wrong but wouldn't surprise me if Bats and Supes GA ended after 5 or 6. Then a year later they would start the Silver Age run.

[Captain Craig]

I'm a "me" as well @hawkgirl70. I have every volume of GA Bats&Supes and will be getting WW v.2 this week. I have GA Green Arrow vol.1 on pre-order and was stoked to hear about GA Aquaman vol.1
I hope that these run their course but like you I see the downward trending sales numbers. However, if DC needs to hike subsequent volumes by a nice round $25 for Bats/Supes/WW then I'm on board. I fully feel that's why GA:GA vol.1 is $125 instead of $75, overall fewer likely interested persons so to justify they priced it higher. Still, a good value when it's bought week of release, per issue, in oversized hardcover and tracking down the issues is impossible and they sure aren't on digital platforms.

[Hawkgirl_70]

I'm a "me" as well @hawkgirl70. I have every volume of GA Bats&Supes and will be getting WW v.2 this week. I have GA Green Arrow vol.1 on pre-order and was stoked to hear about GA Aquaman vol.1
I hope that these run their course but like you I see the downward trending sales numbers. However, if DC needs to hike subsequent volumes by a nice round $25 for Bats/Supes/WW then I'm on board. I fully feel that's why GA:GA vol.1 is $125 instead of $75, overall fewer likely interested persons so to justify they priced it higher. Still, a good value when it's bought week of release, per issue, in oversized hardcover and tracking down the issues is impossible and they sure aren't on digital platforms.

I have GA Wonder Woman 1 as well. When I got it, couldn't get into the stories like Bats and Supes. Put it away until last month and decided to give it another try during some down time. Read the first few stories again and am still going. Maybe I was just tired/unfocused before. Its drawn me in and will be buying Omni 2. Didn't know it came out tomorrow.
I'm also getting the Aquaman & Green Arrow as well.
Can't wait until they get to the silver age stuff with all 5 characters I've mentioned.
Have all the SA & BA Teen Titans & JL, SA GL & Flashes. I think that's it?

Capt Craig,
We need to create more of 'US' so we keep getting more books! :-)