Here’s where we talk about collected editions: TPBs, hardcovers, omnibuses, Absolutes… anything with a spine!
The Trades Thread: volume two
- This topic has 997 replies, 30 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 4 months ago by
.
Author
-
It’s Prestige Plus, Ben (a la Superman: Year One and Batman: Damned). Or at least the individual issues were so I imagine the hardcover will be too.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
-
Panini are putting together an Alan Moore and Alan Davis Captain Britain Omnibus for release in October, in hardcover – with as yet unspecified extras…
https://downthetubes.net/?p=125485
-
The third and final Wonder Woman: Earth One HC was an excellent read and a great way to close out the trilogy. It feels both very timely – there’s a lot of stuff in here about culture wars and identity politics – and also quite timeless, with gorgeous art from Paquette (including lots of amazing double splashpages).
I also thought it really benefited from having reread the first two books recently. Taken as a set it’s a great piece of work, with the third one maybe the best of all.
5 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
Given it came out in 1988, as you might guess, it hasn’t aged well, if it was even considered good to begin with.
Being of sufficient age to remember, it wasn’t.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
-
Yep, Near Mint Condition is a good channel to follow.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Perfect, I can pick up the ‘Birth of a Legend’ CB hardback cheap secondhand, and recycle my old tatty originals?
Skip the middle hands, sell them to yourself.
-
Perfect, I can pick up the ‘Birth of a Legend’ CB hardback cheap secondhand, and recycle my old tatty originals?
Do you have any old issues of Daredevils that you’re planning to get rid of? I’m currently looking to put together a set so let me know if you want someone to take them off your hands.
-
-
-
I have pretty much all the material as Panini collected it all a few years back but the whole package looks tempting as the Moore/Davis/Delano era is a special run for me when I was growing up.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
I have pretty much all the material as Panini collected it all a few years back but the whole package looks tempting as the Moore/Davis/Delano era is a special run for me when I was growing up.
I’m sure it will be a decent book but as someone who’s only really interested in the Moore material (and I have the TPB complete collection of that) I’m not sure I’ll be tempted. Oddly enough I’d be more likely to buy a book with less in it!
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
I think the Delano run is really good too, the 70s stuff is all pretty hokey and run of the mill though.
The Dave Thorpe material that leads directly unto Moore’s run is quite original with some interesting ideas but a bit of a mess and Davis’s artwork doesn’t hit the levels we expect until he goes full time as an artist (which is around episode 6 or Moore’s run).
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
This arrived today. It’s the omnibus of the Morrison Action Comics run – exactly the same content as the three HCs, but oversized and in one volume (of a similar size to his Batman omnibuses).
A decent chunky book and I’m looking forward to rereading this run as it’s been a while.
I started looking at this tonight, and whoops, DC has managed to balls up another omnibus by removing all the word bubbles from this left hand page.
Luckily it’s not like they’re asking $75 for these books or anything.
-
-
Not as far as I’ve been able to find out. Previous mistakes have led to replacements in some cases (like a missing page in the Fourth World Omnibus) but with all the cuts at DC lately I would bet against it in this case.
For now I’ll just print out a copy of the affected page and tuck it in, and hope there aren’t any other mistakes later on. But my likelihood of buying another one of these on release has gone down to virtually zero. I’ll let other chumps be the guinea pigs and check if there’s anything wrong first.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
but with all the cuts at DC lately I would bet against it in this case.
Yeah, that doesn’t bode well for an already bad situation. I was so pleasantly surprised that there were no production or printing errors in Young Justice Book 5 beyond one page that had some minor printing stains on. I’ll take that.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
This arrived today.
Looking forward to finishing off this run.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
My LCS was selling discounted copies of the first two Miracleman hardcovers so I grabbed those and ordered the third online. I read torrents of the Moore/Gaiman issues back when they were out of print but this is my first time reading them physically (which I vastly prefer, I’ve basically stopped reading digital comics completely). I’m not a fan of the recoloring, it’s rather flat, but I’ve seen much worse (hello, Simonson Thor omnibus). I’m also happy to report the nudity and violence hasn’t been censored as far as I can see.
I forgot Moore wrote this as 6-page strips, the Kid Miracleman reveal happens in the first 15 pages! But despite the fast pace it all really works and feel properly fleshed out. I’ve just finished the first book, where MM discovers the truth behind his origins.
I’m not saying anything new here but Moore really is the master of deconstruction, not only does he come up with a dark, poignant sci-fi revision of MM’s origin but he thinks up plausible reasons for his powers too. Looking forward to the return of KM, and MM’s utopia.
I saw that Chuck Austen does some of the artwork in vol. 2. He’s a good artist so I’m not bothered, it’s just funny that probably the worst writer in superhero comics got his start drawing Alan Moore scripts!
6 users thanked author for this post.
-
Still waiting on Miracleman to be completed so I can buy the whole thing in one big, thick volume.
Almost given up hope that those final nine-twelve issues will ever see the light of day.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Yeah, what happened with those big plans Marvel had to finish Gaiman’s run?
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Seems to have died doesn’t it?
I assumed there would be a complete collection of the Alan Moore stuff at some point but maybe they’re holding off until the Gaiman stuff is done for one big omnibus.
I agree Will on the recolouring – it’s ok and thankfully not as drastic a change in approach as the likes of Thor or Swamp Thing. I’m more bothered by the occasional alterations to Moore’s text that I think defang it a bit in places.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
For anyone deciding that they want to complete their BPRD epic set of hardbacks, BPRD Devil You Know is at BooksEtc for £20.27 now.
I also have a copy of the Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Omnibus on the way from SpeedyHen.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
I got my dad the first 6 volumes of Criminal for Christmas and now that he’s read them he’s ordered Scene of the Crime and asked to borrow Fatale, The Fade Out, and Kill or Be Killed. He’s read them all before so I haven’t made a new a fan but it’s still fun to see him so jazzed about Brubaker & Phillips.
9 users thanked author for this post.
-
For anyone deciding that they want to complete their BPRD epic set of hardbacks, BPRD Devil You Know is at BooksEtc for £20.27 now.
Epic is the right word: 4 omnibus volumes of PLAGUE OF FROGS, 5 of HELL ON EARTH, and the new final collection for a total of 10 omnibus hardcovers depicting the end of mankind’s superiority on the planet.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
-
Oh yeah, I forgot one.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
I saw that Chuck Austen does some of the artwork in vol. 2. He’s a good artist so I’m not bothered, it’s just funny that probably the worst writer in superhero comics got his start drawing Alan Moore scripts!
He credited himself as Chuck Beckum back then, in truth it was his first job and the work is a marked step down in quality from Leach and Davis, it’s very stiff. The fan reaction against it was very strong and he was moved off the book pretty quickly and replaced by Rick Veitch.
Yeah once I got to his issues I realized he wasn’t that good of an artist at that point, which is weird because the covers included in the backmatter (which I looked at first) are actually good stuff. I guess he wasn’t as strong at interiors.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
It’s a very weird comic in a way because of its history. Originally it’s all black and white short episodes in Warrior Magazine. Eclipse got the rights and really sold it as a rival to Marvel and DC, being reprint material they had a standard 75c price point of the time when normally indie books were more expensive. Something like Grendel at the time was $1.50.
Then when they run out of the Warrior material (and Davis is now working for DC I think) they are still aiming for that monthly superhero book, hire Austen, fire Austen and release a fill-in issue when they have production issues rather than skip a month. By the time they get onto book 3 and then the Gaiman stuff they’ve given up on that entirely. It’s mostly late, the price shoots up and they start adding card covers and the like.
So it starts as a strip in an anthology, then goes for regular US monthly and then a prestige type book – and with the move to Veitch, Totleben and Buckingham a lot further away from traditional superhero art.
It works surprisingly well considering it was a comic being made and sold 3 different ways. I always thing book 2 suffers a bit though from the art changes which are quite stark and I did wonder since he has been Marvel exclusive for years whether they’d get Davis to redraw the Beckum pages but they didn’t.
4 users thanked author for this post.
-
SpeedyHen managed to nab me a copy of the Jim Lee X-Men Omnibus 2!
Maybe they’ll get lucky and nab Uncanny X-Men Omnibus 4, which is proving hard to get.
Regardless, they’ve done well on the Omnibus front.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
From Near Mint Condition, Sep-Dec Omnis from DC:
September sees an omnibus for Priest’s Deathstroke run. The bad news? RRP = $150.
Next is Batman: No Man’s Land Omnibus 1. Time to bag the Road To one.
October sees Books of Magic Omnibus 2.
November has the biggie – Snyder-Capullo Batman Omnibus 2, which includes Batman: Last Knight on Earth.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Road To isn’t worth it Ben. Go into No Man’s Land cold. It works much better.
Road To was a bit of a basket case, where the fired writers of the book were given a limited amount of time to wrap up their ongoing stories, say goodbye, and try to pave the way for NML proper. They were a bunch of professionals so they did a reasonable job of it, but it’s a prime example of editorially driven comics.
NML starts after an in continuity time jump, and with brand new creative teams.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
Much appreciated Vik!
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
Sandman Universe: John Constantine: Hellblazer: Volume Two: The Best Version Of You: T:P:B
Well, this was great, and even better than volume one. A combination of very timely subject matter (particularly around UK politics and populist movements more widely) with a timeless, classic take on Constantine and some genuinely creepy and disturbing horror throughout.
Plus, it’s very (darkly) funny at times.
Both artists work well together on alternating stories, and despite having quite different styles Bellaire’s colours bring it all together nicely.
I had been a bit concerned before reading it that the abrupt cancellation would mean a lot of loose ends, but it actually manages to tie everything up nicely – even if the last couple of issues do have to slam down on the accelerator to move all the pieces into place.
-
Also picked this up for a reread recently, after being on a Dodson kick for a while:
It was ok – it reminded me a bit of Batman’s Hush in that it mainly seemed to be about the pretty art and a big story with loads of WW’s rogues’ gallery.
It also made me realise how much Alex Sinclair’s colours defined that early-2000s era of DC as much as any line artist – his work always has a really distinctive vibe.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
Ouch. Any word on replacements for it?
This is a welcome surprise on the misprinted Grant Morrison Superman omnibus – they’re recalling and replacing the faulty books.
DC Comics Replaces All Of Grant Morrison Superman Omnibus For Free
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
Ouch. Any word on replacements for it?
This is a welcome surprise on the misprinted Grant Morrison Superman omnibus – they’re recalling and replacing the faulty books.
DC Comics Replaces All Of Grant Morrison Superman Omnibus For Free
Good news.
Can you imagine how much money they’ve just flushed down the bog when if they’d just sent a copy of the printing proofs out to a couple of fans they’d check that stuff out for them? (Or just edited properly in the first place of course but that would be an easy and cheap failsafe to set up).
4 users thanked author for this post.
-
Yep. It’s a costly mistake for them. Hopefully it’ll encourage them to take more care in future.
I wonder if they realised the potential chilling effect that this (and other recent mistakes) could potentially have on buyers of these expensive books. The recall and replacement has changed my feelings a bit and given me a bit more confidence in buying future books from DC.
-
I just checked on the books coming today and I saw that Marvel is offering an Omnibus of one of the most abominable Avengers story of all time. Who wants to pay $125 for the Gathering. Avengers get cool(?) jackets, Swordsman returns, Sersi as an Avenger…
https://www.amazon.com/Avengers-Gathering-Omnibus-Bob-Harras/dp/1302926497
You’re asking this question of a company also doing the Marvel 1961 omnibus and an industry where you can sling 52 #1 issues together and flog it as an $125 omnibus. Someones will buy – or have bought – all of these
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
How do recalls work on books that you buy from Amazon, or another online retailer? Idle curiosity.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
How do recalls work on books that you buy from Amazon, or another online retailer? Idle curiosity.
It’s a good question. I’m in the middle of finding out!
I’ll let you know what I hear.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
You’re asking this question of a company also doing the Marvel 1961 omnibus and an industry where you can sling 52 #1 issues together and flog it as an $125 omnibus. Someones will buy – or have bought – all of these
From a business perspective this all needs to be put into context. Omnibuses and any editions put out at $75+ have a very small and dedicated audience, which is why they go out of print almost immediately.
This will not change. It’s a completely different business to a standard trade, even if the material is the same. They can print run that shit Avengers story at 2000 copies and make a handsome profit as long as that many people have some love for the material. Do too many and you lose a ton. We have a big ‘remainder’ book market in Malaysia, a population that is mostly fluent in English but have on average much lower wages than the west. I scan the shelves there and there are tons of Marvel and DC books that have been returned unsold, literally thousands, I could take a photo next time I go. Never an omnibus or absolute.
It’s actually more comparable to Kickstarter than a standard comics audience, where you can often see a book backed by 200 people make a few grand.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
The (dearly departed) remaindered bookstore that used to be near me frequently had Omnibuses in amongst its Marvel section. I saw the X-Statix one, a Captain Britain one, the first FF omnibus, I think some Bendis Avengers ones. So they do get remaindered.
The fact is, I think the Harras run of Avengers is more popular than is generally perceived. Loads of the people on the other board I go to like it. That they’re printing this omnibus so soon after putting the same material in Epic collections suggests there’s a reasonable market for it (that or it helped make restoration cost effective).
But it’s clearly also being done to tie into the Eternals movie and probably would have been released closer to it if not for Covid.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
Heads up, Brubaker has confirmed the Criminal OHCs reprints are set for April. They are doing a major print run, but once gone that is it so move fast.
So I’m always checking, but don’t see anything for Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.au, or Amazon.co.uk
The only country I see it in is the U.S., and they have Criminal Vol. 1 (but not Vol. 2, or Fatale vol. 1)
Criminal Deluxe Edition Volume 1 – April 20th 2021
You promised!
-
So I’m always checking, but don’t see anything for Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.au, or Amazon.co.uk The only country I see it in is the U.S., and they have Criminal Vol. 1 (but not Vol. 2, or Fatale vol. 1)
From Brubaker’s latest email:
There’s been some confusion around the new editions of the CRIMINAL DELUXE EDITIONS, which Image has been working to fix, and as of the other day, you can finally preorder vol 1’s new edition from Diamond and online. This is because these are reprints of long out of print books (the first versions go for upwards of $175 bucks on the collectors market now) with new covers and this caused problems with various systems at the distribution level that we didn’t anticipate.
But we’re on top of it, and thanks to those of you who wrote in to alert me to the problem. I jumped right on getting it fixed.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
How do recalls work on books that you buy from Amazon, or another online retailer? Idle curiosity.
It’s a good question. I’m in the middle of finding out!
I’ll let you know what I hear.
Speedyhen have asked me to destroy the book and confirm that it has been destroyed by ripping off the cover and sending them a photo. Then they’ll refund it and I’ll have to place a new order for the new edition.
-
Harley Quinn by Connor and Palmiotti
I have to admit that, as a character, Harley Quinn is easy to despise. What kind of idiot thinks they can fix the Joker? Never mind falling in love with him and believing the relationship could be anything other than destructively toxic. Which is very much an out of world view, but even within the world, it’s still a hard concept to buy.
Sejic’s Harleen was an intriguing take on the character and managed to be distinct from Batman: Mad Love too. That book in part flowed from the popularity of the character and where did that come from? In large part from this five year plus, 2013-2018 run by Palmiotti and Connor. They understood that Harley Quinn allowed for a wide variety of story possibilities, but only if certain things were in place, namely two things: One, get Harley away from the orbit of the Joker and two, get her away from Gotham. With these two moves, they were free to take the character to new places and define Harley Quinn as an individual in a way I hadn’t seen previously. Who is Harley Quinn without reference to the Joker?
The answers to that question took a while and, to be fair, their run could have been longer. As it is, by bowing out when they did, they avoided a ‘putting the toys back in the box’ phase. They didn’t deconstruct all that they had built up for the character – I don’t know if DC were smart enough to keep that running, but I hope so. The reason being that this was a very smart, very sustained, pretty much event-free run. And how many of those do you hear about?
Omnibus 1-2 is a mix – each is one half of Harley’s ongoing series, with the other half being specials and linked miniseries – on one of those they had some fun by having the opening page say that you’d heard about this story a couple of hundred pages ago. The third is just a straight collection of the Rebirth issues. What stands out to me is how it all works – one story unfurls, develops, concludes, but there’ll be other stuff going on, some of which becomes the next story and on and on. This isn’t a new trick but, when done very well, it remains a magical one.
At the same time these creators understand the possibilities the character allows them, but only when matched to the right tone. Which is neither utter lunacy, nor deadly serious, but a careful balance of both to just the right degree. Too serious and there’s the problems of Harley killing various people, too much lunacy and that loses too much weight. At the same time it is a sort of redemption tale for the character as she realises she can have a life for herself.
The other strand that runs through the run is that of meta. The creators turn up in the comic, Harley is sometimes aware she is in and there’s some fun jokes, like Red Tool, where you can quickly work out who is being satirised.
Is it worth the £150-160 I spent on the three Omnibuses? Yes it is, especially in a world where both Marvel and DC tend to do big, flashy event stories that either end runs or seriously interfere with them. In the end? These are very fine, very fun comics and the run absolutely deserves its reputation.
And now I have Harley Quinn & The Birds of Prey waiting to be read.
-
/https://media.forbiddenplanet.com/products/c6/b2/e6578e6297876aa0eb36dcc3624a36a52523.jpg)
Aquaman: Underworld – Deluxe HC
I finally got around to reading this, and wasn’t disappointed, even if it wasn’t an all time classic.
Joining the story in the middle of the run (as I was only really interested in this arc for the art) meant it took me a little while to pick up a few things, but it wasn’t a huge problem. I haven’t read much Aquaman but I quite like the more serious Game Of Thrones style take on the story, with a lot of different factions all scheming around who gets to be king of Atlantis.
And the art is really nice – Sejic does the superhero stuff well enough, but it’s in the smaller interactions where the art really shines, in the facial expressions and body language during conversations. Having one character be mute puts a certain burden on the artist but he pulls it off. And the deluxe page size shows it all off really nicely.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
I really liked Abnett’s run once he got into his groove.
This and the Federici arcs were the peak.
Really special artwork from both considering they landed in the middle of a big ongoing run without much fanfare or ceremony.
I actually think this is some of Sejic best work. He’s style went a bit looser after this.
-
I actually think this is some of Sejic best work. He’s style went a bit looser after this.
I can’t remember if you ever read Harleen (if not, it’s recommended) but from memory his style is mostly pretty tight there.
Sejic is one of those interesting artists that really varies the tightness/looseness though, often within the same story, sometimes even the same panel. This page really struck me as there’s such a difference between the rough strokes for his arms and body and the more detailed face, but somehow it all comes together and works.
I thought that rough/loose approach worked really well in Sunstone too, where you often have a loose, sketchy style for the chatty, fast moving conversational scenes, and then this much more detailed and rendered style for the big showstopping images.
-
I’m hoping for an Abnett Aquaman omnibus at some point.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
-
A shocking reveal looking through this week’s confirmed Diamond list: https://www.previewsworld.com/NewReleases/Export?format=txt&releaseDate=03/31/2021
FEB201529 CINEMA PURGATORIO COLLECTION (MR) $19.99
It exists! Probably!
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
5 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
-
I am currently reading Kobane Calling, a comic by a Kurdish Italian writer/artist about his trip(s) to Kobane and to the Rojava region in Syria. It’s an immensely depressing book, portraying the people in these autonomous Kurdish regions as so brave, so righteous and just plain nice (mainly the YPJ, the all-women branch of their military) – at a time when it had already become clear that they would be left to be torn apart and die on the hands of Turkey, Assad and IS.
I can’t recommend this enough. It paints a very clear picture of the things happening in that region (and happening to the Kurdish people in general). It’ll leave you very angry that the West first let these people fight their war against IS, and then didn’t lift a fucking finger to help them.
4 users thanked author for this post.
-
Dealer Alert
For anyone after a bargain:
Batman: A Death In The Family Deluxe Edition OHC – BooksEtc – £20.11
Moving on to reviews….
Judge Dredd: End of Days
Dredd versus the Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Surely some mistake? Nope, but what surprises here is in how Willians executes the story. You think he can’t throw any curveballs but the story is a succession of them, all expertly thrown. Art is OK, it’s always better with MacNeil and Flint but the story doesn’t always have those two titans on the job. The aftermath stories are effective too, with one one once more highlighting the flaws of the Judge system, for those both inside and on the receiving end of it.
Harley Quinn & The Birds Of Prey OHC
Chalk up another Black Label success. If you ever wondered if DC Comics’ characters could mix with full on, uncensored cussing – the answer is, with the right writers, abso-fucking-lutely. It’s immensely satisfying reading Renee Montoya referring to the Joker as asshole and fucker because he is so deserving of the contempt.
Do you need to have read their bigger, previous run to enjoy this? You don’t need to, but it certainly helps, despite the excellent recap and summary of the first two pages.
It’s high praise to bring it in, but in terms of how this takes the mick out of superheroes, it reads like a more affectionate, more female orientated Hitman. It’s a very fun book, with some very sharp jokes, of great variety.
Art is superb and really shown off in the larger format. DC need to stick with this, you can feel the volume quality as you read it. True, not that cheap but worth it.
-
Dark Nights: Metal
This was a fun re-read. While second time around the disjointed nature of it stood out more, it still works quite effectively as a cap-off to Snyder and Capullo Batman run.
Dark Nights: Death Metal
I enjoyed this enough for what it was. I went in expecting a gonzo, cosmic continuity bollocks DC story and, in that respect, it’s fine. At the same time I really had a sense of:
It also really needs an Infinite Crisis Omnibus style that gathers both the main pieces that lead to it, plus the stuff it refers to mid-series, that would boost it quite a bit.
It does suffer from having a “ah, but I knew you’d do that” style villain, no matter how good a reason it has for it due to said villain being a dark Batman, because these kind of villains? They get a bit fucking boring.
One element I could not see in it at all is all the supposed meta commentary that’s …. somewhere in there? Maybe it is and it’s so cryptic as to be invisible to my eyes. Probably a positive for it too.
Of the two series, I think it’s predecessor is a better, more focused work. This one? Yeah, it works as a general big blow-out event series, but maybe I’ve read a few too many of those by now.
-
-
I missed out on UXMO4 but did nab a copy of Inferno, which arrived today.
One encouraging development is that Marvel has been reprinting earlier Omnis ahead of later ones coming out. They’ve announced this for the upcoming FFO4 and ASO5 editions.
There will be a UXO5. Likely covering the UX Masterworks v12-13, with v13 out in July. Ahead of that UXO1-4 gets reprinted.
I’m expecting them to announce Excalibur and New Mutants first omnis ahead of the December second volumes.
Why do this? Because people are reluctant to buy Omnibus 4 if they can’t also get 1-3.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Finally read Wonder Woman: Earth One vol. 3 and liked it immensely. I wasn’t expecting to like it, honestly, I thought the first two books were fairly disappointing. Gorgeous art, of course, and some cool ideas about an advanced matriarchal society, but I found the narratives in both hugely unsatisfying. Here though everything feels weighty. The stakes are high and we get to see Diana synthesize what she’s learned as she fulfills her destiny of ending man’s world and replacing it with something better.
Knowing Morrison’s non-binary gender identity now, that the future society includes lots of genderbending instead of being strictly “woman-dominated” is quite moving, and a fresh take on the world of Wonder Woman. Patriarchy insists on a rigid gender binary (even though many cultures throughout history have included more than two genders) so when WW overthrows patriarchy it makes sense that multiple gender identities would flourish, instead of the regressive idea of a strict/literal matriarchy.
-
I was gonna recommend picking up the Inferno OHC – that’s what I did.There’s nothing of note in the Omni that is not covered in the older OHC, if you are mostly about Mutants.
However rather than the 30-40 quid they should be there is only ridiculous prices on ebay.
Maybe keep an eye out!
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
I did a big full series re-read the past month of Vertigo’s House of Mystery series from 2008-2011ish – written by Matthew Sturges and pencilled by Luca Rossi, mainly. Well, I say “re-read” this was a case of buying finishing off something I’d started a long time ago. I bought the first three volumes as they came out, but for various reasons, fell out of touch with the series around the fourth volume, which for years I could never seem to get hold of for a decent price (even now, I paid more than I really wanted to for it – twice even as the first used copy turned up in an absolute state and the second wasn’t much better). But I picked up volumes 4-8 and read the whole series and…
Ironically, it really peaks with the first three. The premise initially is that the House of Mystery (the same one from the old DC anthology series hosted by Cain) has been stolen. It now sits in a crossroads of realities and is a bar for any particularly weird person to rock up to and frequent. Drinks are paid for with stories and this is the central gimmick of the series: each issue features a short story with a host of guest creators contributing them, while the bulk of the issue is about the people who run the House – five strangers that have found themselves there like the patrons but are unable to leave and don’t know why.
It’s a really good premise and serves the series really well initially. There are some fun short stories told by the bar’s patrons, ranging from fantasy to horror, while the main story is intriguing, as the five staff – Harry the bar manager, Poet the short-order cook, Ann the pirate bouncer, Cress the waitress and Fig, the new waitress and narrator – explore the house and try to work out why they can’t leave. It’s all pretty entertaining.
But then it starts to fall apart, mainly from volume 4. Ok, there were issues before that. The short stories in volume 2 start to be more about the staff than the patrons, which is ok for fleshing out their backstory I guess, but it means they’re largely all written by Sturges. Eventually, he’s writing all the short stories, rather than guest writers, and they start to become just parts of the regular comic but drawn by different artists, just flashbacks or cutaways and the anthology feel just withers away.
Fig’s narration really starts to grate after a while too. It’s both very fragmentary and philosophically self-involved – it doesn’t directly reference what’s happening in the panels – so it can be hard to follow when it’s laid out across so many pages and running concurrently with story.
By volume 4, the ongoing story arc has completely derailed the format and not in an hugely interesting way. It all gets very angsty and vague and, well, Vertigo, frankly. The fifth volume sees the book do a sort of soft reset, moving the House to a Goblin market that moves between realms, rather than a cross-roads of reality and adds Cain in, which adds a little spice, but it never manages to recapture the feel of the first few volumes. The central mystery has lost its appeal, becoming increasingly obtuse and convoluted, while the short stories are occasionally told by the patrons, but are still used a cheating extension of the main story in many issues and Sturges writes pretty much all of them.
Volume 6 sees the book put a lot of focus on one random character from early on who comes back, along with a big war between witches and goblins against The Thinking Man, a paper thin bogeyman also from an earlier volume is just given no weight at all. Sturges becomes increasingly diffident about story structure from here and by volume 7, the series just falls apart. Characters disappear with no explanation, plot threads go nowhere. Most of the main supporting cast just up and leave in the most unsatisfactory way. A character that’s in a text story at the back of volume 6 turns up as a minor character in volume 7 and then suddenly is the main character and narrator of volume 8, which feels like some attempt at heavily retooling the series. I think the cancellation order was known about at this time, so Sturges wraps up the over-arching plot, which I’d long since given up caring about or really trying too hard to understand, in a needlessly messy and convoluted way. The series ends in a way that’s at least conclusive. And then carries on for another issue, for some reason, suddenly recommitting to the short story format for three different tales about what happened to the House of Mystery after the series (despite the series having a long coda), one of which tries half-arsedly to clear up some continuity issues/unanswered questions and throws out a “they’re all stories and it’s up to you to choose which one is true” type thing. Bleh.
While I’m glad I finally got around to finishing off the series, it’s frustrating that it was never as good as the volumes I already had (and that’s not nostalgia talking particularly, as I remembered next to nothing from volume 3). I really think it’s a book where sticking to its format more strictly actually could have benefited it. There’s only so long it could tease out the mysteries of the continuing story before it got into Lost territory, but it allowed those to completely overshadow the anthology element, which was a good selling point. I don’t know if Sturges ended up writing all the short stories himself because he wanted them to fit more tightly into the main story or if that happened because they couldn’t book writers for it, but the series really suffers when it cheats it own format. One of the most entertaining issues is the #13 special, which ignores the main story entirely and does stories themed around the number 13 and a puzzle page (and in which every page is numbered 13). That sort of inventiveness and sense of fun is sadly absent as the series continues.
-
-
Just wanted to point out that Matt Sturges is now Lilah Sturges, in case you were unaware. I was until very recently.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Was that one of the series that started with Sturges co-writing with Willingham before taking over solo? Maybe that explains it going off the rails after a while. Just throwing it out there. I can’t accurately remember the specifics of it. I don’t think I read more than the first volume.
No, I think that was Shadowpact (which, now that I think about it, also had a similar bar setting initially and did also go off the rails). House of Mystery was sort of sold off the back of Willingham’s name initially I think though, as he did some of the early short stories, but Sturges wrote the main story solo.
Just wanted to point out that Matt Sturges is now Lilah Sturges, in case you were unaware. I was until very recently.
Ah, no, I had no idea. I can see a trans-allegory to some of the later stuff actually. Doesn’t make it any more entertaining to read, mind, but yeah, I can see that.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
Post a picture of yourself holding the book and we may, just may, believe you.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
My bookplate edition arrived an hour ago – signed by Kev and Al!
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
I read Batman’s Grave HC by Ellis and Hitch at the weekend. I enjoyed it a whole lot more than I expected to from the reviews. The art was as good as I thought it would be but Ellis spun a decent yarn and the relationship between Bruce and Alfred was as good as I’ve read in a long while.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Digital trades of one if my favourite series ever – Nikolai Dante – are on half price sale.
https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/on-sale
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
I read Batman’s Grave HC by Ellis and Hitch at the weekend. I enjoyed it a whole lot more than I expected to from the reviews. The art was as good as I thought it would be but Ellis spun a decent yarn and the relationship between Bruce and Alfred was as good as I’ve read in a long while.
I recently picked this up too. A bit disappointed that it’s standard sized as I was hoping for a deluxe, but still a decent collection.
-
Read/reread some Seth Fisher (RIP) DC classics:
Batman: Snow – written by J.H. Williams III & Dan Curtis Johnson. This is the one I’d read before. It’s a cool idea, post-Year One Batman realizes he needs help in the field so he recruits experts of various skillsets (surveillance, criminal psychology, etc) to help him. Meanwhile, Victor Fries becomes Mr. Freeze and Batman must face his first super-powered opponent. The main draw, though, is Seth Fisher’s meticulously detailed art. Unlike most super-detailed artists Fisher’s work always feels like it’s about to burst apart into a million vibrant little pieces. He’s like a chaotic Moebius.
The Flash: Time Flies – written by John Rozum. Flash chases a test pilot turned into living Speed Force into the future, hoping to stop him before he can reach the end of time and inadvertently erase the past. Another cool story elevated by terrific art. There’s occasional stiffness but Fisher’s designs and enthusiasm make up for them and then some.
Green Lantern: Willworld – written by J.M. DeMatteis. The best of the bunch, maybe a top 10 DC book ever for me. Morrison essentially remade it with a Conan/Slaine twist in the best issue of their GL run (#7 of season one). An amnesiac Hal Jordan finds himself in a surreal world filled with bizarre aliens, giant floating heads, and ships and architecture straight out of the minds of Moebius and Salvador Dali. Bit by bit he regains his identity before discovering the truth of his predicament. A staggering visual achievement that belongs on every comic fan’s shelf.
Pics from each of the three books:
-
This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by
.
-
This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by .
-
This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by .
5 users thanked author for this post.
-
This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by
-
Fisher was an amazing talent.
I seem to remember the Iron Man/Fantastic Four: Big In Japan series being quite good fun too.
5 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
-
A bit of Marvel Amazon fishing for the end of this year (I’m not going to include links, because that’ll see the post go in the spam filter). All found on Amazon Canada.
New Mutants Omnibus 2 v2
Mutant Massacre Omnibus
Howard the Duck by Zdarsky “omnibus” (in quotes because it’s only 400 odd pages)
What If? omnibus v2
FF by Hickman omnbus v1 reprint
Captain America Lives omnibus reprint
Ultimate Spider-Man omnibus
Captain Britain Omnibus new edition – 1368 pages! Everything from his creation up to Excalibur, it seems.
Tomb of Dracula Complete Collection v5 (finishing off the series).
Thor by Jason Aaron complete collection v4
Avengers Epic: Taking AIM which looks to be peak mid-90s.
A new printing/edition of the Marvel Project (Brubaker/Epting story set in the 40s)
The same month the Tomb of Dracula complete collection wrap up: Marvel Masterworks Tomb of Dracula v1!
Kull The Conquerer Omnibus
Killraven epic collection
Amazing Spider-Man omnibus v3
Jessica Jones omnibus
New edition/printing of Rise and Fall of the Shi’Ar Empire (Brubaker’s X-Men space story)
Amazing Spider-Man omnibus v5
X-Men Inferno Prologue omnibus
FF Omnibus v4
Spider-Man by MacFarlane omnibus
Daredevil by Charles Soule omnibus
-
I reread WW Earth One vol. 1 & 2 and liked them a lot more this time. Not sure why they didn’t work for me before. Maybe I just needed to know where Morrison was going with it before I could completely buy in. That’s kinda lame of me but for whatever reason it was the case with this book.
I still think Etta Candy is awful, though. But she has a progressively smaller role in each of the sequels which in my mind makes her the Jar Jar Binks of the series.
3 users thanked author for this post.
