Omnibuses and the like : cost (!) and usability

[Tony]

As I get older I appreciate the larger size for reading. If I buy anything new it's oversized or digital the only exception being new to reprint Thor Epics and those honestly I'm starting to think should go digital. Also a fan of large print books and Kindle adjust font size books. Invincible OHC books are just joy.

[Hellboydce]

Oh I'll have to check out DH's SA Fantastic Four and Shield omnis then!

Make the break, you'll feel much better for it

[JAG2045]

I'm not sure what kind of response I'm expecting but I can't believe I'm the only one who can't afford (or perhaps more correctly, can't bring himself to spend that amount of money) Omnibuses and the like.

Maybe the only response is that I am a miser or that somehow I should gain more disposable income. I just can't justify spending so much money on a book (admittedly a BIG book)!

I'm in the UK and matters have been made so much worst by the slump of the British Pound. *sigh*

Over here we have a discount book store ("The Works") but they don't get many graphic novels and the like (perhaps that's a peculiarity of my local branch). Do you guys stateside have discount stores where you can pick up omnibuses at a reasonable price? (Even that doesn't help me due the huge shipping costs to the UK).

Also, on usability : how they heck do you read an omnibus? I like to read graphic novels lying on my back, that must be impossible with an omnibus!

I guess what we really need is for a UK publisher to reprint these books over here ... I would still imagine they'd be beyond my reach in price.

So, I'm sorry, I guess I'm just having a moan. Please don't be too harsh in your comments.

Like you I live in the UK and have seen the cost rise up for the DC Omnis, the best thing I have found is to preorder early on Amazon so you get the best price with the pre-order guarantee (eg the Brave and the Bold vol 1 only cost me £32.00 instead of £82.00!)

Otherwise you can try 3rd part sellers or wait for the paperback's of the omnis (where 2 TPB volumes = 1 omni) Also you could try the digital comixolgy store (where the TPB versions are under £15.00 each)

Lastly you could try and get the older archives which were smaller and still hardback which people have been putting up for sale on ebay as they replace them with the omni's however be aware that same are OOP and go for high prices also the fact that they all have endpoints when the program ended which the omni's will be (hopefully) passing in the future.

[rui no onna]

I think sensible way to measure cost is work out cost per individual comic. To give a simplified example, if an omnibus contains a run of 50 comics, and costs 100 dollars...you're paying 2 dollars a comic. That might be cheapest way you can read that particular run of comics...buying it floppy by floppy might well give a total cost well over the 100 dollar omni price.

My main interest in comics is reading long runs of comics by favourites writers, and until recently I always looked at cheapest effective way of getting runs I'm interested in. And sometimes..not often..I found omnis was cheapest way to get a particular run. (Tend to just buy digital now.)

Yup. This pretty much. Price tag of omnis may be high but you have to figure how many issues they collect to figure value for money. If an omnibus is $100 but collects 50 issues versus $15-20 trades that only collect 5-6 issues per book, then the omni is the better value.

I typically find the single issue comics to be the worst value for money (unless you're picking them off the $1 discount bins).

[Dark-Flux]

Forbidden Planet stock all Omnis at 30% off of the RRP. 40% if one is selected for the bi-weekly preorder discount.
Speedyhen usually match somewhere in that region too.

[zevious zoquis]

Forbidden Planet stock all Omnis at 30% off of the RRP. 40% if one is selected for the bi-weekly preorder discount.
Speedyhen usually match somewhere in that region too.

Yeah but you have to factor shipping into the cost. For me in Canada, it's pretty much never a better deal ordering from any seller outside of Canada. Even if the book is 60% off the shipping usually bumps the $ back up to full retail anyway...since Amazon and indigo ship for free.

[Dbrewer75]

It just comes down to ordering what you REALLY want and not buying into the gotta collect them all mentality.

I do miss the Essential line of books though mainly for the massive amount of reading for very little cost. They are also easier to loan out to people who may want to try comics rather than a 10 pound omnibus LOL

[ArthurCurry]

It just comes down to ordering what you REALLY want and not buying into the gotta collect them all mentality.

This is A+ advice. It's easy to fall into the trap of trying to buy up a ton of omnibuses where you see people who have literal WALLS of omnibuses behind them, but come on, most of those people admit to not reading most of them.

Buy the ones you cant wait to immediately read, or buy the ones that are your all time favorite runs. You'll have a lot less regret down the line than the people who buy every single book that comes out.

[paurru]

Big Marvel omnibus collections will always cost 100 bucks when first released it re released but then the stupid hoarders and scalpers will Jack up the prices up to 200 to 400 bucks. Worse fir the DC stuff too.


I just stick with single back issues anyway as always with a few Epic Collections and or the Marvel Essentials.

[jbmasta]

I got the Green Lantern by Geoff Johns omnibus volume 1 off Book Depository end of last year. Free shipping worldwide and it was discounted off the RRP, which is really handy with something as pricey as that! It's also a good place to get trades much more affordably. Shipping time is also excellent. I've received things in New Zealand sent from the UK (almost literally halfway across the world) in just over a week.

[Lindsey]

My comic buying habits are strange, I only really buy about 5 print comic's a month, with 3 of those only being purchased for support for the book. I do most of my reading on Marvel Unlimited and catching things I'm interested in on sale digitally. I have 4 long boxes of comic's and two book shelves of trades and have no more room for expanding. I am thinking of selling off all my physical copies of everything but Valiant books and Ms Marvel and Moon Girl.

[DebkoX]

As a someone who was a student untill a few years ago I can say thats really not true its just about how you use your money. I never really had a big pull list, I saved my money and then I bought a new omnibus one or two times a year. Its true as a student you can rarely afford to buy as much as some people here does, but a couple of them a year was never hard for me. Between sales, amazon and various savings its possbile if you are somewhat selective. I bought the things I really wanted.
And I live in Denmark so I dont even get nearly the same prices they do in the US.
I see a lot of people here, not directed at you DebkoX, say they are to expensive yet still they are paying 3,99 for whatever latest issue a month of any given marvel comic. If you drop 1 or two titles like that a year its almost 100 $ already. (3,99 x 2 x 12, and thats not even counting annuals or when Marvel doubleships).

As for the other reasons: Storage: Well sure if you have as many as some here does its a lot but a 40 issue omnibus still takes up less space then the same amount in single issues. As for not having enough time to read them: That really depends on the material.Silverage takes a lot longer then most modern material.

Well I buy digitally, so stogage isn't so much of an issue. Also I like to have some variety of stories to read. I wouldn't want to read one whole collection.

[Bor]

Well I buy digitally, so stogage isn't so much of an issue. Also I like to have some variety of stories to read. I wouldn't want to read one whole collection.

That is completely valid, my response was just to your claim regarding the amount of money involved and why its not impossible for a student to buy an omnibus.

It its by no means impossible to buy and omnibus or two a year even as a student. As I said if you drop just a couple of titles a month from marvel at 3,99 that is the same amount of money as buying an omnibus. Personally I would rather buy classic clamont x-men vol 1 then 80 % of what either marvel or DC is putting out now. Besides with marvel unlimited I get to read all the marvel titles I want from newer series. Yes I have to wait 6 month but I have no problem with that.

[DebkoX]

That is completely valid, my response was just to your claim regarding the amount of money involved and why its not impossible for a student to buy an omnibus.

It its by no means impossible to buy and omnibus or two a year even as a student. As I said if you drop just a couple of titles a month from marvel at 3,99 that is the same amount of money as buying an omnibus. Personally I would rather buy classic clamont x-men vol 1 then 80 % of what either marvel or DC is putting out now. Besides with marvel unlimited I get to read all the marvel titles I want from newer series. Yes I have to wait 6 month but I have no problem with that.

You are probably right, yes. However I personally couldn't justify it on what can be a shoe-string budget at times. A lot of my expenses go out on food/supplies. The only omnibus I have is an Aquaman 75th anniversary edition one which was £20 (roughly 2 TPBs).

[Bor]

[QUOTE=DebkoX;2690980]You are probably right, yes. However I personally couldn't justify it on what can be a shoe

But see that is exactly my point. There is no justification needed in terms of money if you are already spending the amount of money on even just a couple of new titles each month. I see a whole lot of posters on here who buy between 6-10 titles a month and yet they keep complaining that an omnibus is to expensive. The fact is that if you only buy 3-6 titles instead you can easily afford to buy an omnibus now and again.
If you don't like buying and reading a huge chunk of the same title/character then yes buying an omnibus does not make sense, but personally as I said before buying Classic 70s/80s X-men instead of the vast majority of x-titles coming out at the time I was a student 3 years ago was for me a very good decision.