Omnibus, Absolute, Deluxe, and HC Thread 19 19

[F For Fake]

IST has a smattering of MMW hc's for the crazy low price of $15 each! To be fair, these are mostly volumes that have been lingering on clearance for a while now, but they've never been this cheap. Add the 2% repeat customer discount, and they come out to $13.50 a pop. I got 11 MMW's for $157 shipped. You can't beat that with a bat!

I'm too lazy to link each individual book, but here's what I ordered, which is one each of all of the variant cover volumes they had on sale. There were a few standard/silver covers on sale as well, but I passed on those. I already had most of these, but at these prices it's well worth squirreling them away on a shelf for a rainy day. I don't see these prices ever being beaten.

[bronze_rules]

On 2/24/2023 at 10:34 AM, F For Fake said:

IST has a smattering of MMW hc's for the crazy low price of $15 each! To be fair, these are mostly volumes that have been lingering on clearance for a while now, but they've never been this cheap. Add the 2% repeat customer discount, and they come out to $13.50 a pop. I got 11 MMW's for $157 shipped. You can't beat that with a bat!

I'm too lazy to link each individual book, but here's what I ordered, which is one each of all of the variant cover volumes they had on sale. There were a few standard/silver covers on sale as well, but I passed on those. I already had most of these, but at these prices it's well worth squirreling them away on a shelf for a rainy day. I don't see these prices ever being beaten.

Yep, I went crazy on that. Awesome time to catch up.

[F For Fake]

On 2/24/2023 at 10:26 PM, bronze_rules said:

Yep, I went crazy on that. Awesome time to catch up.

I was especially surprised to see the Cap and Spider-Woman books at that price, as they’re only a few months old!

[Flex Mentallo]

Just relaying some info from Collected Editions for any precode horror/crime/war aficionados who might be interested in supporting a line of books from Fantagraphics!

This is from  Michael J. Vassallo:

"....Now it can be told! Ok, I’ve hinted about this for several weeks and it seems the cat is out of the bag, and I wasn’t even told it was!@#$%!

I've was hired by Fantagraphics last year to helm an ongoing line of Timely/Atlas reprints. (Although it will, for obvious reasons, be primarily Atlas). From what I understand, Marvel was happy with farming out the project that became “Atlas at War,” and while Dead Reckoning didn’t want to do a second volume, Marvel was happy enough with the result to approach Fantagraphics with the idea to be even more ambitious. As they ironed out whatever they had to iron out, I was contacted to see if I had interest in planning and organizing it. I was, obviously! So after hearing out what Fantagraphics was looking for, I composed a 2 year initial plan. Next I prevailed upon them to hire Allan Harvey to do the art restoration, hoping against hope they’d be interested, as they initially told me they would do it in-house. Well it turns out they did in fact follow my suggestion and hired him, so the band is back together! Now that you all know the artwork will look gorgeous, I’ll run down the initial plan….

Fantagraphics wants to do 5 ongoing series reprints "plus” one Best Of artist single volume compilation a year. I provide the source material scanned, write an introduction, and Allan restores the art. Two books are planned for the end of this year, one series reprint and one artist Best Of compilation. All genres are fair game, although the concern about sales of less popular genres were talked about. But that said, no genre is off the table so my potential array of choices are legion and just limited to what I have (nearly everything) and what condition it’s in for scanning.

The project will lead off with a pre-code horror volume comprising the first 8 issues of the title ADVENTURES INTO TERROR. Fantagraphics liked that title from my initial list of choices because of the strength of the word “Terror.” Understand that members of this group and like-minded Atlas collectors are a given in their idea of sales, but there's a need to tap into the non-Atlas, general Fantagraphics buyer to make the line really viable and continue beyond the initial 2 year period.

The second volume will be the first “Best Of” artist volume, and there was no one I could choose but Joe Maneely to launch the line! So yes, by the end of the year, we will “finally” get a Best of Joe Maneely (not the actual title) book! All the books in the line will be oversized like Atlas at War, similar, from what I understand, and similar to the recent Fantagraphics Complete Ray Bradbury EC Comics volume, perhaps even a bit larger. It will be much less expensive than a typical Marvel Masterwork so most budgets should be able to help support this. Let me tell you, trying to distill Joe Maneely's career into 45 (or so) stories and 25 (or so) covers is a difficult endeavor. I initially chose 100 stories and 100 covers, and have been whittling them down ever since. What I hope is, sales will warrant a volume 2 at some point.

Next year we will get Venus Volume 2. Understand that that volume will not come from the material already prepared by Marvel for the second volume that was never published. It will be all new art restored from scans of the original books. I have all the issues and the preparation will take some juggling as many of my issues are low grade and suitable for scanning, although some late covers are really raw. I may need a cover scan or two if folks here have them. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there as I already had to purchase a beat copy of Adventures Into Terror #7 to scan, my copy being too high grade. A search on eBay found a literal BTH copy with a shredded cover and perfect interior! So my cover was used and the interior came from eBay. That first book has been put to bed and is now being restored. I don't mind buying low grade copies to scan if necessary, and re-selling them afterwards, but I will not buy slabbed books. After breaking them out I won't be able to re-sell them for what I paid for them, and I'm not taking a loss on this.

So that's the update, folks. I'm hoping these books sell better than the Masterworks did and be able to run ... well, indefinitely. They will need everyone's full support. You've asked for it, and now you're going to finally get it! To paraphrase Jack Kirby slightly, "You’ve asked, now buy it!"....."

So we will finally see Bill Everett's Venus next year!

The first volumes have been trailed on Amazon already:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1683968913?ref_=cm_sw_r_apan_dp_M6ADJN30C11A949DYR4G

 

https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Into-Terror-Comics-Library/dp/1683968719/ref=sr_1_1?crid=21JJBA0END45M&keywords=Adventures+Into+Terror%3A+The+Atlas+Comics+Library&qid=1677341905&sprefix=adventures+into+terror+the+atlas+comics+library+%2Caps%2C516&sr=8-1

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

...and it seems Fantagraphics are on a high at the moment, because this:

https://www.amazon.com/Bill-Ward-Fantagraphics-Studio/dp/1683968727/ref=sr_1_1?crid=T95C0K5LXDEF&keywords=bill+ward+fantagraphics&qid=1677342102&sprefix=bill+ward+fantagraphics%2Caps%2C196&sr=8-1

Naughty but nice!

[F For Fake]

I was very surprised and excited about the Atlas announcement from Fanta. They do such lovely work, I'm sure they'll give this stuff the treatment it deserves. I'd also say that answers the question of whether nor not Marvel would ever reprint the Atlas era MMW volumes, as they weren't exactly brisk sellers the first time around.

[WolverineX]

Any reason why the hardcover battle chasers anthology is so expensive?

 

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 3/7/2023 at 5:39 PM, WolverineX said:

Any reason why the hardcover battle chasers anthology is so expensive?

 

Looks like the only hardcover that collects all of the issues - plus extras - and it's 12 years old. I imagine that the Crisis on Infinite Earths Absolute would be this astronomically priced if it was in the same situation.

[WolverineX]

On 3/8/2023 at 10:21 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Looks like the only hardcover that collects all of the issues - plus extras - and it's 12 years old. I imagine that the Crisis on Infinite Earths Absolute would be this astronomically priced if it was in the same situation.

Yeah,  i guess it's a first edition too. I wonder what the print run was...

[Dave2739]

On 3/8/2023 at 10:21 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Looks like the only hardcover that collects all of the issues - plus extras - and it's 12 years old. I imagine that the Crisis on Infinite Earths Absolute would be this astronomically priced if it was in the same situation.

I've had this since the Wednesday it came out. Is it a big deal? I also have the earlier, pre-Absolute slip-case version from the '90s.

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 3/8/2023 at 10:42 AM, Dave2739 said:

I've had this since the Wednesday it came out. Is it a big deal? I also have the earlier, pre-Absolute slip-case version from the '90s.

Good condition, opened books seem to sell for $250+. Saw a sealed one go for about $750 when I was considering adding one to my collection last year.

[Dave2739]

On 3/8/2023 at 11:15 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Good condition, opened books seem to sell for $250+. Saw a sealed one go for about $750 when I was considering adding one to my collection last year.

Sweet! I had no idea. I'm usually not that fortunate.

[F For Fake]

My clearance priced IST picks are starting to arrive. Most of these are still in stock, I believe, if anyone is interested. $30 for the OHMU89 Update, $40 for the X-Treme X-Men by Claremont, and $50 for the Cap by Remender. I think the X-Factor by David Vol 2 has sold out at the clearance price, but may still be available at full price. All of my cheap MMW's also arrived, not shown is the latest Cap volume, which arrived on its own yesterday. Lots of good deals lately, more than I can keep up with!

[Number 6]

Quick question about this Omnibus:

 

From what I gather this is a later printing/edition of the previous Miller omnibus with just a different dust jacket. 
 

Does anyone know if there’s any differences with the binding or paper quality, better or worse, than the previous editions?

[F For Fake]

On 3/15/2023 at 11:16 AM, Number 6 said:

Quick question about this Omnibus:

 

From what I gather this is a later printing/edition of the previous Miller omnibus with just a different dust jacket. 
 

Does anyone know if there’s any differences with the binding or paper quality, better or worse, than the previous editions?

I've still got my first printings of the DD by Miller Omni, as well as the Companion and Elektra books. Those were books I wouldn't allow myself to part with, so I've never bought the newer versions.

So, I can't personally attest to it, but here's Omar's review of the newest printing and comparison to the original. The cover you featured here is the "poster cover" variant, which was new for this printing. Also available with this printing was the Daredevil 181 version, which had been used previously. Same contents, two different covers.

Edit: the direct comparison begins around the 20:20 mark, if you don't want to watch the whole thing.

 

Edited March 15, 2023 by F For Fake

[piper]

I recently purchased Immortal Iron Fist.  Here's a current picture of the Marvel Omni Collection.  The Independents and DC are on some separate Kallax in another room.

[WolverineX]

A new reprint of Uncanny X-men omnibus 1 hits this week.   Looks like I can get it under MSRP at many places but man, I don't know about the cover.  What does everyone else think?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/385486588889?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28&srsltid=Ad5pg_EWHZbovMOWG5Rb-pt1JePDo2FmJxvHPb8EPTKVY5Xrxu7q5-Oxk8E

[WolverineX]

Also, I missed out on cheap graphic novels.com.  It was like 59 dollars.   Where would be the next best place to pick up this reprint for the best price? 

Edited March 20, 2023 by WolverineX

[bronze_rules]

On 3/20/2023 at 5:03 AM, WolverineX said:

A new reprint of Uncanny X-men omnibus 1 hits this week.   Looks like I can get it under MSRP at many places but man, I don't know about the cover.  What does everyone else think?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/385486588889?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28&srsltid=Ad5pg_EWHZbovMOWG5Rb-pt1JePDo2FmJxvHPb8EPTKVY5Xrxu7q5-Oxk8E

Me personally, I always prefer the original covers not modern variants.

[WolverineX]

On 3/20/2023 at 1:48 PM, bronze_rules said:

Me personally, I always prefer the original covers not modern variants.

I agree.  But several retailers have it for 75 dollars so I'm just going to buy it instead of paying over 100 for the original copy.  I'm going to be reading this omnibus anyway.