A couple unusual collections stuck out to us from the list of DC Comics early 2010 collected comics solicitations that we wanted to bring special attention to.
DC Universe: Origins - Could this be a collection of the 52 and Countdown hero and villain profile pages (and maybe the Blackest Night "Origins and Omens" lead-ins)? Long rumored, it looks like this collection is finally here. Of course, the other possibility is that this collects a new History of the DC Universe ... (Remember when you read about DC Universe: Origins later, you heard it on Collected Editions first!)
Batman: Under the Cowl - With all the hubub these days as to who wears Batman's cowl, this collection by various authors surely contains stories from the Golden Age to today of times when someone else was behind Batman's mask.
Brave and the Bold: Milestone - Written by Dwayne McDuffie and others, this collection surely includes Brave and the Bold #24-26, which teams the Milestone characters with the heroes of the DC Universe, but three issues isn't enough to make a collection. Surely DC won't reprint the entire fourteen-issue DC Comics/Milestone Worlds Collide miniseries from the 1990s, but I wonder if parts of it will end up here.
Kobra: Resurrection - Kobra's experiencing a comeback in the DC Universe right now, between the "Faces of Evil" story and Eric Trautmann's JSA vs. Kobra miniseries. I've heard rumors there's more to come, and this collection undoubtedly contains recent stories plus selections from the 1970s Kobra series. (Or maybe DC's trying to horn in on the upcoming GI Joe movie.)
The Creeper by Steve Ditko - This hardcover, which seems akin to the Jack Kirby Demon Omnibus and like titles, seems to collect at least Steve Ditko's Creeper stories from Adventure Comics #445-447, World's Finest Comics #249-55, and The Flash (vol. 1) #318-323. Could a The Question by Steve Ditko hardcover be far behind?
Starman Omnibus Vol. 4 - The fourth Starman Omnibus would seem to contain the sixth and seventh Starman trade paperbacks, To Reach the Stars and A Starry Knight, roughly issues #39 through #53 of the series. That leaves three more trade paperbacks left to be collected, but two omnibus volumes planned. Will some additional Starman material round out the sixth?
Doc Savage: The Silver Pyramid - With the apparent return of Doc Savage, the Phantom, and others to the DC Universe, here's a collection of Doc Savage stories by Dennis O'Neil.
Tiny Titans: Sidekickin' It! - Just liked the name of this one, pure and simple.
Your question of the day: - What's the biggest, most ostentatious comics collection not year produced that you'd like to see? Dream big!
I would love a pre-Crisis Batwoman collection like the (Earth-2) JSA Presents: The Huntress collection. It appears that it would take at least two collections to catch it all.
ReplyDeleteMaybe one of the STARMAN HCs will have the BATMAN/HELLBOY/STARMAN mini?
ReplyDeleteA Batwoman collection would be good, especially with the random pre-Crisis Batwoman appearances in Batman RIP, and of course given the current Batwoman revival.
ReplyDeleteCompletely forgot about Batman/Hellboy/Starman; that's a brilliant suggestion. I hope DC could get the rights to it -- indeed it won't be *complete* Starman without it.
Absolute Young Heroes in Love
ReplyDeleteChase Omnibus
Young Justice Chronicles (Trades or oversized specials reprinting YJ and early solo SB, Tim Drake and Impulse stories)
Batman Adventures trades. Lots of them.
Absolute Superman: Secret Identity
Yeah, I miss Mike Carlin's DC.
Oh, and I'd like an X-Statix Omnibus kthx, Santa.
I want to see DC kick the Batman chronicles into high gear. Start a 1950's run, 1960's, 1970's etc. At the current rate of 2 books per year it is going to take decades.
ReplyDeleteAlso Absolute Morrison Batman run please :)
Young Justice trades would be an interesting fit into the DC Trade Paperback Timeline. For that alone (and they're great issues), I'd like to see that too.
ReplyDeleteOn Twitter, James Robinson says he thinks we'll see Batman/Hellboy/Starman in the above solicited Starman Omnibus volume 4. Thanks James!
That's excellent, so I'm guessing it's:
ReplyDeleteSTARMAN #39-46 (including three uncollected "Times Past" stories) plus the two issues of POWER OF SHAZAM! (rounding out the "Lightning and Stars" crossover).
Add to that the two issue B/S/H mini, it's a twelve issue book. And maybe the GIRL FRENZY: THE MIST thrown in there as well?
For the other two, I'd have to guess volume five would be #47-60 + STARMAN #1M. I don't see them splitting up the "Stars My Destination" material into Vol. 4.
For vol. six (#61-80) - it would be a bit top heavy, but it's got the year long "Grand Guignol" and the closing arcs.
And I can't think of any other random issues out there to fill in gaps. I think that's it.
I hope this Kobra: Resurrection TPB will include Rucka and Trautmann's last Checkmate arc, which still remains uncollected.
ReplyDeleteI would love a Young Justice collection too. or some omnibuses collecting Chuck Dixons run on Robin.
ReplyDeleteFor the Starman Omnibus volumes, I totally forgot about Girl Frenzy: The Mist and the issues of Power of Shazam! It's amazing and impressive how well James Robinson was able to tie everything that was thrown at him back into Starman.
ReplyDeleteAnd seeing the final issues of Rucka and Trautmann's Checkmate collected would reassure me all is right with the world.
Brilliant ideas all around.
The Starman Omnibus series will go down as a "must own" for any serious collectors, like ourselves.
ReplyDeleteGood catch on the DC Universe: Origins book. I hope it includes the Donna Troy: History of the DCU back-ups, too.
The History of the Multiverse backups from the beginning of Countdown to Final Crisis might also be included.
ReplyDeleteIt still boggles my mind that DC won't let me buy a Children's Crusade collection [which would make both the Rieber Books of Magic run finally complete as well as reprinting the only Gaiman stories that haven't been reprinted somewhere else].
ReplyDeleteAnd while I'm waxing Vertigo, how about Morrison/Millar Swamp Thing?
A few 80s-nostalgia pieces: The JLA/All-Star Squadron "Crisis on Earth Prime", since the Crisis on Multiple Earths series appears to be dead, and the "Half a Superman" arc that was one of DC's first experiments with long-form storytelling, and also the Teen Titans Taraman arc that crossed over with that story.
That the Crisis on Multiple Earths series does seem to be dead is truly a shame.
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with the "Half a Superman" arc. Do tell.
Action Comics 534-541. (+527 as a prologue, and it's possible that 542 was epilogue-like; I'm not sure.)
ReplyDeleteIn many ways the first modern superman story. Wolfman/Swan. A couple of dueling time-travelling sorcerors both want Superman's body for some ritual, and in fighting, they split him in half, with the powers split down the middle. The winner keeps the half with invulnerability, and the story follows the other half, returned to the present and having to deal with metropolis's villains...
I'm not sure how well it's aged, but it's the only real pre-crisis bronze age 'epic' superman story, and possibly the only such story in the entire age outside of Titans and Legion books
Interesting. Where does it fall (apologies for not just looking this up) vis a vis Walt Simonson's Kryptonite Sand Creature storyline? I've heard that described as an epic Bronze Age Superman story; which do you think is better?
ReplyDeleteInteresting question. I haven't read either lately, and the one I'm talking about is the one I read during my own Golden Age of Comics, so I'm probably biased. Kryptonite Nevermore certainly had a bigger impact in continuity going forward.
ReplyDeleteThat story was also much more of the bronze age (it established what the Bronze age meant, for superman), whereas 'Half a Superman', while being in the bronze age, was more of/prefiguring the age we'd see after the Crisis. [The crossover between it and the Titans and Omega Men story may well have been the first time you say story arcs in unreleated books cross over at DC since the Zatara and Dr. Light threads out of JLA.]
Other than long overdue Omnibus Vol 2's (Spider-Man, Uncanny X-Men), the biggest, most ostentatious collection I can think of that I'd buy in a heartbeat would be the Age of Apocalypse Omnibus.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'd like:
ReplyDeleteShadow-At least the DC issues....early post CRISIS,maybe O'Neil,Kaluta,Helfer etc
Deathstroke-All the early post CRISIS issues were great
Finally they're reprinting the BLACKHAWK Chaykin series as BLOOD AND IRON...would also love to see his SHADOW and the Mark Evanier BLACKHAWK from the early 80s
Half a Superman was pretty good...I think it featured Lord Satanis(the post CRISIS was Lord SatanUs)
Also the now lost SUPERMAN trades:
Jurgens era:
TIME AND TIME AGAIN,PANIC IN THE SKY,BIZARRO'S WORLD,TRIAL OF SUPERMAN,DEATH OF CLARK KENT,REVENGE SQUAD,SUPERMAN TRANSFORMED!,THE WEDDING & BEYOND
Loeb era:
NO LIMITS,ENDGAME,TIL DEATH DO US PART,CRITICAL CONDITION,EMPEROR JOKER,PRESIDENT LEX,RETURN TO KRYPTON,and a lot of uncollected Loeb/McGuinness material
Rucka era:
UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE,THAT HEALING TOUCH & RUIN REVEALED
And needless to say,Batman:
ALAN GRANT had great issues,a lot with art by NORM BREYFOGLE on Batman/Detective/Shadow of the Bat.Also the DOUG MOENCH/JIM APARO/KELLEY JONES run was great stuff.So was PETER MILLIGAN's classic run including DARK KNIGHT DARK CITY.BATMAN:SON OF THE DEMON/BRIDE OF THE DEMON by MIKE BARR & BIRTH OF THE DEMON by DENNY O'NEIL.
ELSEWORLDS-MASQUE by MIKE GRELL,BATMAN/HOUDINI by CHAYKIN,BOOK OF THE DEAD by DOUG MOENCH,BROTHERHOOD OF THE BAT /LEAGUE OF THE BATMEN by DOUG MOENCH,HOLY TERROR by BRENNERT/BREYFOGLE,NEVERMORE by GUY DAVIS.
Also the out of print TEN NIGHTS OF THE BEAST,A LONELY PLACE OF DYING,BILND JUSTICE and the uncollected OSTRANDER/MCKONE/MARZAN from Detective 622-624,maybe with GROTESK from BATMAN 659-662 by OSTRANDER/MANDRAKE
This turned into a soap opera of uncollected DC material,innit?