It should be collected / It should be in print

Ooh, I do have a Borders nearby- I'll have to drop in and see what damage I can do. I still have fond memories of their massive Criterion liquidation sale a little over a year ago.

Most of the X-Force stuff is pretty easy to find (and the Dead Girl mini is still in print), but X-Statix vs the Avengers is pretty hard to get.

Milligan, yes- his X-Force/X-Statix run, Skreemer, Skin, Rogan Gosh, Batman horror work, but most of all Enigma.

Enigma's out of print?! That's pretty crazy, I thought it was one of most critically acclaimed Vertigo series of all time.

Superhero-wise, now that Flex Mentallo is happening I'm not sure what to complain about anymore

Suicide Squad! The current Secret Six clearly owes it a lot, and DC even collected the (somewhat disappointing) new SS mini Ostrander did a couple of years ago, but the original 80s series has never been collected in any form. I have no idea why.

Wasn't there a contract/author compensation issue that made it difficult for DC to reprint stuff from that particular period?

A lot more Ostrander and Milligan comics should be in trade. A Suicide Squad collection is always being promised, but then put back by DC.

Enigma has been out of print for a while. There have been some collections of Milligan works recently which is promising, but there's a lot more to go - I'd add GIRL to the list above.

There's still an awful lot of 80s and early 90s Batman stuff that deserves some trading. Practically nothing from the Conway/Colon/Newton era, no Barr/Davis or Grant/Breyfogle collections, Milligan's short run, Dixon's Robin etc. While the latest Kevin Smith atrocity gets a hardbound special edition, yeesh.

Jan Strnad/Dennis Fujitake's Dalgoda

Wasn't there a contract/author compensation issue that made it difficult for DC to reprint stuff from that particular period?

yeah, they keep flip-flopping between Showcase B&W Suicide Squad and garish shiny-paged six-issue collections, without ever managing to make it to press

(niche interest at best, cost of production

yeah this would definitely be an issue with Kramers, esp esp esp given post-Buenaventura cashflow - also remember they DID reprint #4 in the same flexi format as 5 and 6

Same with earlier issues of Acme Novelty Library-

this is an 'intended to be limited' issue. if only he'd just let D&Q publish them instead of self-publishing one imagines the situation could change though.

Oh, not AT Borders - their stuff is still straight-up retail, or at least as long as they can keep afloat. I meant at used bookstores - I've noticed there's a preponderance of very new items, the AX manga comp., JLA omnibuses, etc. at my local Half-Price books which happens to be near Borders.

"DC is also goofball for not getting out a big collection of 80s Green Lantern editing together the best stuff of the Len Wein/Dave Gibbons stuff with the later run by Steve Englehart and Joe Staton. Pretty much Johns reset on the book is basically taking it to the status quo of the Englehart run which brought the Corps to the front with Kilowog and made Guy Gardiner a popular character."

DC has compliled a bunch of these Green Lantern since my post.

DC does have a hard cover Gene Colan Batman collection getting ready to come out.

It is kind of a shame that more of those good John Ostrander DC comics are not in print. I guess he was good at selling side property comics in his prime, DC never put him on one of the big characters. I think those Suicide Squad and Spectre books would be good in black and white anyway, as Luke McDonnell and Tom Mandrake had pretty stark styles that would work in that format. Color is good, but the big thing is people being able to read the stories, which is what works. Then again, I pretty much love that big phone book format. If nothing else, DC should do a Deadshots Greatest Hits trade and put the mini-series and a couple of the good stand alone issues with Floyd out. I think that would sell to some Batman fans. Deadshot was cool, but Ostrander made him one of my favorite comic characters.

The entire run of Suicide Squad can be picked up at every comic convention ever for like 50 cents an issue. It's fascinatingly 80s edgy/racist

Eh? I don't remember any racism in it that would've stood out... What do you mean?

lots of dodgy dusky fellows from made-up middle eastern countries, up to no good. if it's like every other 80s DC comic.

Well yeah, but like you say it wasn't any different in other mainstream comics (or movies) at the time, and unlike many others writers Ostrander balanced it by introducing likable Middle Eastern characters as well, so I don't see SS as a particularly notable example of 80s racism.

I seem to remember it being a lot "grittier" than other DC titles, so maybe that's why the dusky fellows stood out, as opposed to in JLI, where there was some kind of cake-having-and-eating meta-commentary on the use of those cliches. Anyway, nothing to get steamed about compared to the opening five minutes of To Live and Die in LA.

Oh yeah, another perennial request: SOLO!

Copied this from the other thread, because this one is better suited for it:

Apparently DC has decided to cancel the second TPB of Ostrander's Suicide Squad, even though they'd announced the publication date for December and you could preorder it an all. I guess this means SS will never be collected, all we got was a small taste of what could have been in the form of the first collection.

Also, the publication date for the Flex Mentallo hardcover book has been moved again, now it should come out in March. The collection was first announced in January 2011, I don't understand how it can take over a year for them to publish one book of material they already had in their hands to begin with.

And like someone said above, looks like there won't be any new Shade the Changing Man TPBs either, since the last came out in 2010. Let's just hope they at least manage to get the full run of Milligan's Human Target collected this time, they're one measly book away from doing that.

Meanwhile, while cancelling all this TPBs that would probably have the shelf life of years, they think it's a wise decision to reboot their supehero universe and publish 52 new titles for the dwindling single issue market. I just don't get it.

I'd assume illegal sharing on the net would be a smaller problem for comic publishers than music or movie companies, since reading comics on the computer is never gonna compare with reading them on paper. But with decisions like this it feels like DC is almost encouraging piratism, as it's pretty much the only way to get a hold of this stuff. (Unless you by chance manage to find someone willing to sell their collection for a reasonable price on Ebay.)

A real pity if that's true - I was under the impression the first SS trade sold pretty well?

I don't really understand the current Batman trades being released with the focus on different artists. I mean, it's cool to read early 80s storylines where Killer Croc was introduced and all, but why base them on artists and not writers?

I am looking forward to the Chase collection (the short-lived series by D. Curtis Johnson, plus introduction story in Batman and then later appearances) as I love that character; no doubt this was released to coincide with her appearance in Batwoman.

I bought that yesterday bcz I didn't have any of the non-"Chase" stories, and will be trying to return it - up to an inch of art and lettering gets lost in the gutter.

Daer Mr God,

If you could see your way fit to releasing a collection of Ann Nocenti and Sean Phillips' Kid Eternity, that would be super.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y115/kitbrash/dan-didio.jpg

I dunno, kid - you been tithin'? You gotta tithe, you know.

WRT to MARSHAL LAW, I last heard that it might come out from DC, from none other than Pat Mills himself at SDCC 2010. The Top Shelf release had been wobbly for some time.

As for the quality of the series overall, it's very hard to top the first storyline, so far ahead of its time as to not be funny (but instead hilarious.) I'd certainly be glad to have it all between two covers and I could skip over the prose LM works (which did nothing for me, though I purchased them dutifully.)

I'd also love to have all-in-one collections of stuff like MAN-THING up until about 1984 or so (yes, even the Claremont issues -- The Essentials are nice, but would be better to have it in color.)

Modern wise, an AGENTS OF ATLAS omnibus would be welcome on my bookshelves.

Mills confirmed Marshal Law at DC via twitter last summer. No idea when though; still dependent on O'Neill's schedule which is full of Moore at the moment.

This does remind me I need to get more Nemesis the Warlock stuff; I think the first volume is in print again?

Seems like the appropriate thread to post this, if everyone hasn't already seen it.

http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/12/29/how-alan-moore-killed-a-1963-reprint-for-all-time/

more proof that idealism makes total sense until you try and deal with actual people

I would hope NEMESIS is still in print, as it's possibly the best thing that Mills has ever done (and he had some STELLAR artists along for the ride, too.)

Nemesis goes in and out of print in the States all the time. I assume that is not true in the UK.

Hadn't considered that (I'm in the states too, but I guess I am lucky with stores who keep those copies around or are willing to order out for them.)

I think the success of the Judge Dredd reprints is helping to make other 2000AD stuff generally available.

I have a few volumes of the Titan books from the 80s but far from complete. Figure I should buy Vol 1 even if I have some of it to help sales enough for it to continue.

Those Titan collections of THE CURSED EARTH (sadly, expurgated) were what got me started on 2000 AD (and Britcomics) in the first place, back in 1986 or so. They would be a pretty expensive way to collect entire series at this point. The big ones are pretty dear as well, but still manage good value for the money.

Seems like the appropriate thread to post this, if everyone hasn't already seen it.

http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/12/29/how-alan-moore-killed-a-1963-reprint-for-all-time/

since it links to a Bissette post from April 7, 2010, this is hardly breaking news

Actually, the Mark Millar / Phil Hester / Kim DeMulder Swamp Thing would be great as well, a lot of really fine horror in there.

These Nemesis volumes are definitive, and seem to be kept constantly in print in the UK:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=nemesis+the+warlock

Nemesis was one of the titles I wrote about in this ESSENTIAL new book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/1001-Comic-Books-Must-Before/dp/1844036987/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325840021&sr=8-1

Those Nemesis volumes are just seeing print in the States - Vol 1 was out in September and Vol 2 this spring.

Cool to hear you're in that book Ward! Another reason for me to pick it up.

Thank you - I only wrote abt 15 entries, and I'm not on a royalty! If you can get past the whole dumb title/'concept', it prob is the best single volume comics guide that I know of, especially when it comes to non-North American strips (as you might expect from something edited by Paul G).

The dumb title/concept always kept me away, but i will check it out with your approval/contribution.

Forks, knowing a little of yr tastes I think you wld find it especially useful

okeydoke. i will snag this at the strand next time i'm there.

ah, wait: i was confusing your book with this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/000-Comic-Books-Must-Read/dp/0896899217/ref=pd_sim_b_2/275-9379208-6653742
i will look for the dredd cover.

or, i guess, cap for the american edition

yeesh, Tony Isabella? oh forks.

not a fan of the CBG i see

ewing was rating that 1001 comic books thing on tumblr recently

Meanwhile, while cancelling all this TPBs that would probably have the shelf life of years, they think it's a wise decision to reboot their supehero universe and publish 52 new titles for the dwindling single issue market. I just don't get it.

I'm not entirely sure about this: TPBs go to bookshops. As I understand it, bookshops have a right to return stock, and so if you print 10,000 copies of something and it sells twelve you end up with 9,988 copies of it on hand, costing you money to keep around. Whereas I think it at least used to be the case that stuff ordered from Diamond became your responsibility to deal with. So as long as you can get a high enough initial order to meet margins you're fine*. -- this obviously has awful knock-on effects, and making margins every month with ever-diminishing returns is a bad place for any publisher to be in. But bear in mind that for one thing, comic book publishers tend to display almost no business acumen at all ever, and two, the comic-book market largely exists to establish and prolong copyright on properties for licensing in other areas ie. movies, videogames. -- Arkham City shipped 4.6 million copies in its week of release, which surely translates into more money for DC than the entire Batman comics line will make all year**.

*DC currently has a return option on a lot of books, apparently, but I don't know how common or long-term that is
**Ten of the 52 52 first issues sold over 100,000 copies to retailers. This is (surely) going to be DC's biggest sales week of the year, and I'd be amazed if that made 4.6 million copies of the entire line put together

it should be noted that the above is very speculative and i have no actual knowledge in re this stuff

That's about right, I reckon. And maybe it's a gamble that will pay off for the companies as IP holders (not as publishing companies in and of themselves, but we're ultimately looking at two different kinds of things here). Diamond is non-returnable, captive audience stuff. it's great if you run your numbers right and guess demand correctly. It is, however, AWFUL for getting new readers.

But getting new readers of comics may not be their primary focus. And why would it, if you can keep the characters alive and financially kicking in other media.

Note that this is an observation, and nothing I'm particularly happy with.

I'm not entirely sure about this: TPBs go to bookshops. As I understand it, bookshops have a right to return stock, and so if you print 10,000 copies of something and it sells twelve you end up with 9,988 copies of it on hand, costing you money to keep around.

This may be true, but at least here in Finland most of the stores that sell TPBs are comic books stores or other specialist stores with large comic book sections that, in my experience, don't seem to have too many volumes of any particular item in stock. If they sell those few volumes, they can order more with other TPBs they order from the same publisher. And I've seen many TPBs that were released years ago on their shelves (and not all of them were steady sellers like Sandman or JLA), so it doesn't look they try to return them immediately if they don't manage to sell them within a few months. But maybe that is different in the US?

Also, there's the online market, which I thinks count for more and more when it comes to selling TPBs and other collected editions. (Especially in areas that don't have a specialist comic books store.) If you got to Amazon and look for any TPB that was released within the last 5 years, most of the times you find several online bookstores that sells new copies of that book. So when it comes to online book sellers, it looks like it makes sense to sell TPBs for at least a couple of years.

Also, if DC keeps putting out one or two collections of a series, then cancelling any further collections (which it what they've done with many series), that's gonna discourage people from buying any further collections of some other series by DC, because they fear the same thing might happen happen again. I do realize that committing to collect a full series is always a financial gamble, but surely there are many comic book readers like me who are much more likely to purchase TPBs if they know they'll be able to read the whole series from the beginning to the end. (Of course this applies only to finite series that have a beginning an end, like Suicide Squad or Shade, not to titles like Superman or Batman.)

Also, if DC keeps putting out one or two collections of a series, then cancelling any further collections (which it what they've done with many series), that's gonna discourage people from buying any further collections of some other series by DC, because they fear the same thing might happen happen again.

^ this has been me several times

ie getting burned, several times, and then not starting, several other times

yeah i know nothing about the market in finland to be quite fair so

i suspect that the great bulk of tpb sales came from, like, borders and b&n, which is one reason to stop putting them out. (no. of chain bookstores in the states & the uk vs. no. of comic shops in the states and the uk)

i suspect a lot of the online bookstores are remainder places / places with other bulk acquisition policies, and a lot of warehouse space

but there's a limit to how much i can defend this argt without access to the actual numbers on in what venues these things sell, and i don't have those, and you know who does have those? the guys who decided to stop selling them

Wow. Dynamite have acquired The Shadow and are publishing the Howard Chaykin mini first. It's probably worth buying just to encourage them to publish the Andy Helfer and Billy The Sink/Kyle Baker series.

Yeah, I saw that yesterday. It is indeed required reading for everyone here. It might not be AMERICAN FLAGG, but it is really very good. Keep in mind this came out the same year that DARK KNIGHT did. Now, which of these two really took more chances?

are they doing the Chaykin in a book or re-issuing as single issues, at overblown prices?

I'd rebuy the Helfer in any format if it meant that they pick up where Conde Nast killed it