The Trades Thread: Collected Editions

Topic

TPBs, HCs, Absolutes, Omnibuses… discuss them all here!

Replies

We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us – Dec. 5th (earlier in LCS)

TP – 256 pgs.

James Bond meets The Island of Doctor Moreau in this graphic novel about a young girl who discovers her father isn’t the hero she believed, but one of the most dangerous super-spy villains on the planet.

After her mad-scientist father is killed by the world’s greatest spy, 13-year-old Annalise is left all alone in the world. Sort of. Her dead dad’s robot bodyguard won’t stop following her around for some reason. Now Annalise has a choice: try to lead a normal life for the first time ever…or seek revenge and maybe overthrow the world order in the process.

Embark on a journey of regret and retribution, super spies and pseudoscience, growing up and global domination from brilliant artist STEFANO LANDINI (Prodigy, Hellblazer) and okay writer MATTHEW ROSENBERG (What’s the Furthest Place From Here?, Uncanny X-Men)

Couplevof things that were announced on Near Mint Condition recently are up for pre-order.

X-Men: Age of Krakoa: Dawn of X Omnibus vol. 1 – Sept. 16th

Hardcover – 1472 pgs

Collecting X-MEN (2019) #1-7, X-FORCE (2019) #1-8, MARAUDERS (2019) #1-8, EXCALIBUR (2019) #1-8, FALLEN ANGELS (2019) #1-6, NEW MUTANTS (2019) #1-7, WOLVERINE (2020) #2-3, GIANT SIZE X-MEN: JEAN GREY AND EMMA FROST and material from WOLVERINE (2020) #1.
RATED PARENTAL ADVISORY.

Phoenix: The Death and Rebirth of Jean Grey Omnibus – Sept 16th

Hardcover – 1352 pgs

Collecting NEW X-MEN (2001) #128, #139-141 and #146-154; X-MEN: PHOENIX – ENDSONG #1-5; X-MEN: PHOENIX – WARSONG #1-5; AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #0-12; JEAN GREY (2017) #1-11; GENERATIONS: PHOENIX & JEAN GREY; PHOENIX RESURRECTION: THE RETURN OF JEAN GREY #1-5; and material from POINT ONE (2011) #1.

I question the logic of these two being released on the same day. Could just be a mix-up from Marvel (or Amazon)

More like Marvel don’t care, they’re charging $150 for the Krakoa one.

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Dave, Sean Robinson

Sean Robinson wrote:

I question the logic of these two being released on the same day. Could just be a mix-up from Marvel (or Amazon)

Maybe it’s a flipbook.

A 2,824 page flipbook.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sean Robinson

Currently I’m reading my first DC Finest collection, Justice Society Of America v1.

In terms of the DC Finest format, it’s pretty good. There’s a contents page (not always a given with DC), there are page numbers that make said contents page useful (not always a given with DC), each issue’s covers are at the start of the issue rather than shoved in the back (not always a given with DC). The paper quality is good (though maybe a tad too glossy, but not enough to be a problem). The art reproduction is good – I sold on my copy of the first JSA Archive years ago, so I can’t directly compare, but the linework feels cleaner than I remember it – though the colours are a little desaturated in places and don’t feel consistent page to page. It feels like the kind of palette that people who complain about Marvel’s Silver Age reprints being too garish want, replicating how the colours looked on cheap (aged) paper, which is too dull for my tastes. These are bright, primary colour characters, they should be that visually.

In terms of story, well, it’s been ages since I’ve read the first four of these issues in the old Archive format. I’d forgotten quite how hatstand the stories are. Spectre ones especially are just wild, with him going off into space and other dimensions and erasing people from existence at the drop of a hat. The plotting in most of them is pretty rough, with the first issue alone filled with lots of dying explanations of the plot by villains.

If anyone doesn’t know, JSA wasn’t a real team book as we’d think of it now. The series is just a showcase to advertise the monthly anthology titles the characters appeared in, with the JSA itself just a framing narrative to present a collection of solo stories by the characters’ usual artists (and sometimes writers), which do at least have a common theme to them after the first. That actually hinders the series a bit, because it means the stories get a bit repetitive across an issue. They vary wildly in quality too. The writing’s not great in pretty much any of them, frankly, but the art in Hawkman is spectacular vs say, The Atom, which is barely competent. The Atom’s probably the weakest link all round really (though there is actually a great moment in one of his stories where he bursts into a gambling den and vaults onto a balcony, which leaves a group of the gangsters arguing in the background about whether he really had or if the one who had seen it was making things up, which carries on all through the Atom bringing down the gang and the police arresting them all). At 64 pages, the issues are quite hard going. I’ve rarely managed to read a full one in a sitting. But there is novelty to them and I like them as a historical artifact. You can see the shared root of the medium with titles like the Beano, that would gradually diverge by the 60s, really.

[Sean Robinson]

Jupiter’s Legacy Library Edition Volume 2 – Nov. 11th

HC – 464 pgs
Collects Jupiter’s Legacy 1 and 2.

Hmm, the first one (out in April) has Jupiter’s Legacy Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Going to have to figure out what has what.
Is the first one Jupiter’s Circle? (No Frank Quitely art)
Edit: a quick check and thats exactly it.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Sean Robinson.
• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Sean Robinson.

Saw this. I know nothing, but I’m intrigued enough to pre-order.

Seven Secrets Deluxe Edition – Nov. 25th

HC – 464 pgs – Boom! Studios
Collects Seven Secrets #1-18.

SEVEN SECRETS WILL CHANGE THE WORLD.
For centuries, the Order has trusted in Keepers and Holders to guard the Secrets in seven briefcases against all harm but when their stronghold is attacked and the secrets put in peril, the entire Order must face their greatest fear―an enemy who knows too much and is willing to kill to get what he wants. Now, the Order’s newest member, Caspar, must discover the truth of the Secrets before the enemy does, or risk losing everything.

New York Times bestselling author Tom Taylor (DCeased) and fan favorite artist Daniele Di Nicuolo (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) present a sweeping saga about seven powerful secrets―words, wonders, weapons, and worse―with the power to change the world.

The entire journey is available now as a deluxe hardcover edition, bringing every issue of the critically acclaimed, action-packed series together for the very first time.

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Uncle Retrospective

Big thick trade collecting some (all?) of Zdarsky and Quinones’s Howard The Duck is out in September.

I liked Seven Secrets, a good story that knew when to end with good art.

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Uncle Retrospective, Sean Robinson

Epic Collections for the tail end of 2025, start of 2026.

Annihilation (Modern) v2
Carnage (Modern) v1
Captain America (Modern) v3
Ghost Rider v3
Spider-Gwen (Modern) v3
Moon Knight v6
X-Men v13
Hulk v10
Micronauts v3
Aliens v3
Doctor Doom v1 – Doom’s appearances in other titles, so lots of FF.
Doctor Strange v12
Star Wars: Darth Vader (modern) v2
Spider-Girl (modern) v6 – Mayday series. Not sure what that’s counted as modern.
Namor v5
Rom v3
All-New Wolverine (modern) v1
Avengers v27 – Timeslide up to Onslaught.
Hawkeye v3 – has all of Avengers Spotlight, even the non-Hawkeye issues.
Captain America v24 – This is the Heroes Return run, meaning v23 will be Heroes Reborn.
Spider-Man v12
Miles Morales (modern) v3
X-Men v11
Spider-Man (modern) v2
Deadpool (modern) v1 – start of the Daniel Way run.
X-Men v20 reprint
Avengers v16 reprint – Under Siege!

Martin Smith wrote:

Deadpool (modern) v1 – start of the Daniel Way run.

Daniel Way! I hadn’t thought about that name in a very long time!

Daniel Way, yes, yes…

 

…anyway, moving on…

2 users thanked author for this post.

Martin Smith, Todd

DC Finest trades for the rest of the year have shown up on Penguin-Random House’s site. Includes:

Superman – seemingly the second Golden Age volume
Hawkman – first Silver Age volume
Spectre – Silver Age
Static – first volume
Superfriends(!)
Wonder Woman – first Golden Age volume
Batman – last pre-Crisis volume
War – Kubert stuff
Horror – a mix of House of Mystery, House of Secrets etc
Green Lantern – debut of Guy Gardner
Supergirl – first volume of PaD’s 90s version
Blue Beetle – Dan Garret version, so 60s?
and some others I’ve forgotten

I worry they’re going slightly too far for breadth rather than depth. The Epic Collections started with only seven series in the first year (Thor, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Avengers, then FF, Captain America and Daredevil) then slowly expanded. DC Finest, in its first year, will have about 30 different series covered. But I’m also quite interested in a wide spread of them, so I guess I can’t complain.

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Sean Robinson

Sandman Mystery Theatre Compendium Two – Aug. 26th

888 pgs.
Collects Sandman Mystery Theatre #37-70, and Vertigo: Winter’s Edge #1-2.

Hitman by Garth Ennis & John McCrea Omnibus vol. 2 – Dec. 2nd

1096 pgs.
This volume collects Hitman #34-60, Hitman/Lobo: That Stupid Bastich #1, Superman 80-Page Giant #1, Justice League/Hitman #1-2, Convergence: Harley Quinn #2, All-Star Section Eight #1-6, Sixpack and Dogwelder: Hard Travelin’ Heroz #1-6 and DC: The Doomed and the Damned #1.

Warlord by Mike Grell Omnibus vol. 1 – Nov. 25th

1040 pgs.
This volume collects 1st Issue Special #8, Warlord #1-50, and Amazing World of DC Comics #12.

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Uncle Retrospective

Sandman Mystery Theatre Compendium Two – Aug. 26th

888 pgs.
Collects Sandman Mystery Theatre #37-70, and Vertigo: Winter’s Edge #1-2.

:O FINALLY! Thank you!

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Sean Robinson

DC Drop (7 Omni, 9 DC Finest, 3 Compendium and 3 Deluxe – Near Mint Condition (video)

Sean Robinson wrote:

Sandman Mystery Theatre Compendium Two – Aug. 26th 888 pgs. Collects Sandman Mystery Theatre #37-70, and Vertigo: Winter’s Edge #1-2.

No way! Is that all the rest of the series?

[Sean Robinson]

Yes, that is correct. It ran for 70 issues.

The second half of Matt Wagner, Steven T. Seagle, and Guy Davis’ acclaimed DC/Vertigo series is collected in a massive Compendium collection!

• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 5 days ago by Sean Robinson.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Martin Smith

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Compendium Vol. 2 – Oct. 14th

1224 pgs.
Collects G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO #51-78, G.I. JOE YEARBOOK #2-4, G.I. JOE SPECIAL MISSIONS #1-15.

Don’t see a second Transformers Compendium.

Sean Robinson wrote:

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Compendium Vol. 2 – Oct. 14th

1224 pgs.
Collects G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO #51-78, G.I. JOE YEARBOOK #2-4, G.I. JOE SPECIAL MISSIONS #1-15.

Don’t see a second Transformers Compendium.

I’m interested in seeing this, because this is the volume that has the issues that looked the worst in IDW’s volumes, so I’m curious to see if they’ve had a new restoration for Skybound or if they’re same old same old (which will also determine if I go for their Transformers compendium, as IDW also screwed up those quite a bit).

I guess I also need to get the first compendium of SMT, as it doesn’t line up entirely with those thick trades from a few years back.

paul f wrote:

Sandman Mystery Theatre Compendium Two – Aug. 26th

888 pgs.
Collects Sandman Mystery Theatre #37-70, and Vertigo: Winter’s Edge #1-2.

:O FINALLY! Thank you!

Right, I will now buy the first half. I was holding off due to the curse

3 users thanked author for this post.

Martin Smith, Sean Robinson, Ben

Martin Smith wrote:

Sean Robinson wrote:

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Compendium Vol. 2 – Oct. 14th

1224 pgs.
Collects G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO #51-78, G.I. JOE YEARBOOK #2-4, G.I. JOE SPECIAL MISSIONS #1-15.

Don’t see a second Transformers Compendium.

I’m interested in seeing this, because this is the volume that has the issues that looked the worst in IDW’s volumes, so I’m curious to see if they’ve had a new restoration for Skybound or if they’re same old same old (which will also determine if I go for their Transformers compendium, as IDW also screwed up those quite a bit).

I guess I also need to get the first compendium of SMT, as it doesn’t line up entirely with those thick trades from a few years back.

So I saw a video from Near Mint Condition, interviewing one of the Skybound people doing the Transformers Compendium (which is Kickstarting now) and they’ve confirmed that they’re just using the IDW scans for both Transformers and GI Joe. Which is a hard no from me. They’re bloody awful and using those again – even if they’re insisting the original files aren’t available (I don’t buy that, Marvel probably have them) – shows this is just a cash grab.

Ghost Compendium Vol. 1 – Oct. 21st

For the first time, collect the complete comics saga of Ghost in two oversized trade paperback graphic novel collections.

Volume one collects the origins of this gritty supernatural noir;
Comics’ Greatest World: Ghost, Ghost #1-#36, Ghost Special #1, Ghost Special #2, Ghost Special #3, and Dark Horse Presents #145-#147.
1088 pages

The Complete Harrow County Compendium – Oct. 28th

This volume collects the entirety of HARROW COUNTY, the dark southern gothic fairy tale by Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook, along with all extras from every library edition!
1080 pages

The Transformers Compendium Vol. 2 – Oct. 21st

THE END OF THE ICONIC ORIGINAL ERA OF TRANSFORMERS IS HERE!

Collects THE TRANSFORMERS #45-80, TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE #1-3, TRANSFORMERS GENERATION 2 #1-12.
1208 pages