Omnibus, Absolute, Deluxe, and HC Thread 19 19

[Cat]

Yesterday I got in something different, a book for my reference library, the Transformers: A Visual History. It came in two editions, a standard, or a Limited Edition. The book came out in 2018 but surprisingly Amazon still had copies of the Limited Edition for sale brand spanking new, and for only $15AU more for the LE, I went with that. The differences are that while both are hardcovers, the LE features a magnetic case, lenticular cover, and 5 lithographs. I definitely feel I got my money's worth. 

I've only had time to thumb through the book itself, which is divided into sections covering all eras and areas of the Transformers, from packaging art, to the cartoons, to the comics, to of course the films and toys. Unfortunately I didn't see anything new, besides a few IDW pages in inked but uncoloured state, which is hardly exciting, but something I guess. I'm sure as I give it a proper read new bits of info will make themselves known to me. 

This book is ideal for someone who doesn't already have an extensive Transformers reference library, or is just getting into things, would be my initial impression. It gives you a little bit of everything to capture your interest and introduce the topics, leaving you to investigate them further in other books and websites. It's a very big, heavy book, so it's not short of content, and you'll certainly feel as though you got your money's worth. While it's probably the least essential book on my shelf, I'm still glad I got it. I'm sure I'll learn some new information, especially from the Movies section. 

Below are pics of the lithographs you get with it. They're very high quality, and I'm VERY happy with these. I was just musing to myself the other night how I don't have a movie poster for the 1986 Animated film, well this gives me the gorgeous art from it. Then we've got promo art for the then-upcomimg Siege line, the classic Marvel #5 cover by Bill Sienkiwicz, a piece from Fall Of Cybertron, and a 'Paint Me Like Your French Girls' of Bumblebee from his self-titled film. I'll be getting the Siege art and the movie poster framed, one of these days. Here are the lithos below. 

[ganni]

More Than Meets The Eye 

On 8/22/2023 at 10:23 AM, Cat said:

 

 

[F For Fake]

Some new things came in this week. First up, a couple of recent Bat-releases.

[F For Fake]

Next, a stack of dirty muties! When the Krakoa era of X-Men began, I was determined to keep up with it via the monthly digest trades, vowing that I'd eventually pick up all of the oversized hc's. I very quickly fell behind on both goals, and in the interim, prices have really shot up on the hardcovers. Last week I found an auction for a huge stack of the books I need, still sealed, and all in one group, and ended up getting them at a nice bargain. Wasn't cheap, but was still well under what I would have paid had I bought each volume individually. Now to catch up on the rest.

[Cat]

On 8/25/2023 at 11:30 PM, F For Fake said:

Some new things came in this week. First up, a couple of recent Bat-releases.

Those Batman/TMNT books are REALLY enjoyable. I've got the individual hardcovers for each of them. I'm still considering the omnibus though. 

[F For Fake]

On 8/25/2023 at 9:41 AM, Cat said:

Those Batman/TMNT books are REALLY enjoyable. I've got the individual hardcovers for each of them. I'm still considering the omnibus though. 

OH, that's good to hear, because I haven't actually read them! I missed the original releases, but I thought I'd grab this to keep the Bat-shelves complete. Had no idea of what to expect, really, so this is welcome news.

[Cat]

On 8/25/2023 at 11:46 PM, F For Fake said:

OH, that's good to hear, because I haven't actually read them! I missed the original releases, but I thought I'd grab this to keep the Bat-shelves complete. Had no idea of what to expect, really, so this is welcome news.

You'll love them. They're all completely different from each other, and all just as good. 

[F For Fake]

On 8/25/2023 at 9:47 AM, Cat said:

You'll love them. They're all completely different from each other, and all just as good. 

Awesome, can't wait!

[Loading...]

On 8/25/2023 at 9:41 AM, Cat said:

Those Batman/TMNT books are REALLY enjoyable. I've got the individual hardcovers for each of them. I'm still considering the omnibus though. 

I am currently working my way though the TMNT IDW run and was thinking of picking this up as well. Hearing others mention it being an enjoyable read is making me think it's time to place an order with instock this weekend.

Nice pick ups btw @F For Fake I have only read the Powers of x / House of x but have heard good things about the krakoa era especially the marauders.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Loading...

[F For Fake]

On 8/25/2023 at 10:48 AM, Loading... said:

I am currently working my way though the TMNT IDW run and was thinking of picking this up as well. Hearing others mention it being an enjoyable read is making me think it's time to place an order with instock this weekend.

Nice pick ups btw @F For Fake I have only read the Powers of x / House of x but have heard good things about the krakoa era especially the marauders.

I was really enjoying the entire line of X-Books, but a bit after X of Swords I just got off track and then never got caught back up again. So I am at least a couple of years behind, but I was really loving it up to the point. Obviously the Hickman books were the better ones, but Marauders tied in closely to those stories as well. Excalibur by Howard was certainly enjoyable, but i've always been fond of the Captain Britain/Excalibur/Moore side of the X-universe. Fallen Angels was easily my least favorite, and I didn't exactly love the Wolverine stories, at least not at first. But taken as a whole, I really enjoyed the line of books. Now I have to figure out where to pick back up. It gets fairly convoluted.

[Cat]

On 8/26/2023 at 1:07 AM, F For Fake said:

I was really enjoying the entire line of X-Books, but a bit after X of Swords I just got off track and then never got caught back up again. So I am at least a couple of years behind, but I was really loving it up to the point. Obviously the Hickman books were the better ones, but Marauders tied in closely to those stories as well. Excalibur by Howard was certainly enjoyable, but i've always been fond of the Captain Britain/Excalibur/Moore side of the X-universe. Fallen Angels was easily my least favorite, and I didn't exactly love the Wolverine stories, at least not at first. But taken as a whole, I really enjoyed the line of books. Now I have to figure out where to pick back up. It gets fairly convoluted.

That's why I gave up on it. You'd think they'd have made a clear, concise way of collecting it in collected editions. They did not. It's a mess. For the first time I just said "no" and decided to pass, regardless of how much I love Hickman's work. If they can't make it easy for me to collect, I'll buy some thing else. The market is full of good material, after all. 

[Loading...]

On 8/25/2023 at 9:55 PM, Cat said:

That's why I gave up on it. You'd think they'd have made a clear, concise way of collecting it in collected editions. They did not. It's a mess. For the first time I just said "no" and decided to pass, regardless of how much I love Hickman's work. If they can't make it easy for me to collect, I'll buy some thing else. The market is full of good material, after all. 

This is my fear for the krakoa era. Hickman may have had a grand picture mapped out but it is but poorly executed currently. Maybe in the near future the powers that be can plan out a solid reading order for things. I like the idea at face value but it may be a bit over stretched from a story telling point of view. 

That said I think an omnibus series is possible but it may be a couple years down the road after hickman’s contributions have come to fruition. 

As @Cat is alluding to the krakoa era is heavy handed and convoluted. Maybe giving it a little time to be digested will allow the publishers to map out things better in the near future. 

[Jesse Larson]

I lucked in to this Secret Wars Battleworld box set a while ago... It's out-of-print and signed by Mike Zeck, John Beatty, Jim Shooter (x2, inside and outside), Steve Leialoha (x2, inside and outside).

)

[F For Fake]

On 8/25/2023 at 9:55 PM, Cat said:

That's why I gave up on it. You'd think they'd have made a clear, concise way of collecting it in collected editions. They did not. It's a mess. For the first time I just said "no" and decided to pass, regardless of how much I love Hickman's work. If they can't make it easy for me to collect, I'll buy some thing else. The market is full of good material, after all. 

At first, they were doing a good job with the monthly trades, as they collected all of the various series, all in order. And that was fine, but then the events started getting their own hardcovers, and were separate from the collections, so you had to figure out where to slot those in with your reading. I sold the trades and am not going back to the hc's, but it's true, you pretty much need a map or tour guide to figure it all out, which seems dumb. 

[Cat]

On 8/29/2023 at 11:49 PM, F For Fake said:

At first, they were doing a good job with the monthly trades, as they collected all of the various series, all in order. And that was fine, but then the events started getting their own hardcovers, and were separate from the collections, so you had to figure out where to slot those in with your reading. I sold the trades and am not going back to the hc's, but it's true, you pretty much need a map or tour guide to figure it all out, which seems dumb. 

Exactly my issue with it. No consistency, leading to a messy shelf and confusion over where, if at all, you're doubling up. It's just not good enough these days. 

[F For Fake]

On 8/29/2023 at 10:01 AM, Cat said:

Exactly my issue with it. No consistency, leading to a messy shelf and confusion over where, if at all, you're doubling up. It's just not good enough these days. 

I think the issue with collecting it consistently is that while Hickman was the ringleader, he didn't write all of the books, so how do you proceed? Some readers only want the Hickman books, which have all been collected in OHC, but some folks want ALL of the series, which I imagine gets messy with creator credits and stuff. But then again, if you only buy the Hickman OHC's, it feels like you're probably missing some of the story. I don't know that there's a perfectly clean solution, especially now that we're like 4 years into the thing, Hickman is gone, creative teams and titles have all changed. My problem coming back to it now is figuring out which titles are "essential", and which ones are just ancillary.

[Cat]

On 8/30/2023 at 12:07 AM, F For Fake said:

I think the issue with collecting it consistently is that while Hickman was the ringleader, he didn't write all of the books, so how do you proceed? Some readers only want the Hickman books, which have all been collected in OHC, but some folks want ALL of the series, which I imagine gets messy with creator credits and stuff. But then again, if you only buy the Hickman OHC's, it feels like you're probably missing some of the story. I don't know that there's a perfectly clean solution, especially now that we're like 4 years into the thing, Hickman is gone, creative teams and titles have all changed. My problem coming back to it now is figuring out which titles are "essential", and which ones are just ancillary.

All true, but Marvel has done nothing to clarify it for readers. They know Hickman has a following, yet they're not really catering to it to its full potential? I dunno, I just reckon they could do better. It doesn't feel clear at all. Nothing is numbered, so where does Hellfire Gala happen in relation to X Of Swords for example? I only know because of release date. Some consistency in the books would be nice. Just a little outline or something. 

[piper]

I can’t believe that the Phantom Stranger Omni really got printed. I can’t wait to pick up my copy!

[DeadOne]

For those interested, Taschen has a sale going on right now on their website.
Not all of the comic stuff is on sale, but the Avengers and Spidey XXL books are 50% off and the History of EC Comics XXL book is $80 bucks off (I picked this one up).

https://www.taschen.com/en/books/comics/

[F For Fake]

On 8/31/2023 at 9:11 AM, piper said:

I can’t believe that the Phantom Stranger Omni really got printed. I can’t wait to pick up my copy!

It's insane to think that it was originally solicited something like five or six years ago. What a long, winding road it took to get here today. I ordered mine, but it hasn't shipped yet. I think this will be my "spooky" read for this Halloween season.