Marvel Comics
Far less of a surprise is the Captain America Lives! Omnibus, which follows up on two previous Omnibus editions collecting Ed Brubaker’s run on the character. I doubt I’ll be getting this, just because I made a conscious decision a while back not to buy anymore Omnibus collections of recent material, but it’s still nice to see.
One book that I have the feeling will pass under most people’s radar is Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Battlefield, Vol. 1. This will be the first book ever to reprint material from Marvel’s massive catalog of 1950s war comics, which is really exciting. Personally, I’m curious to see how the stories in this book stack up against the war comics done by EC Comics around the same time.
I’m also really happy to see Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, collecting the entire twelve-issue series written primarily by Mark Waid. These comics come from the same time as the material collected in Captain America: To Serve and Protect, which I reviewed a few months ago. Hopefully this will open the way for more collections of the late-‘90s Cap!
As wary as I am about the new Thor movie coming out next year, one good thing about it is that we’re bound to see a lot more Thor collected editions in the immediate future. One of those is a new hardcover edition of Thor: Worldengine, which was released in trade a number of years ago but has been out of print for almost as long. It’s written by Warren Ellis, and it’s only $19.99!
DC Comics
I could not be more excited about this next release: The Green Lantern Omnibus, Vol. 1, collecting Hal Jordan’s earliest appearances in Showcase #22-24 and Green Lantern #1-21. For years now I’ve been waiting for DC to finally start releasing their Silver Age comics in oversized hardcovers, the way Marvel has been doing since 2005, and it seems they’re finally catching up! And they couldn’t have picked better subject matter to start with, since Green Lantern is my absolute favorite DC comic from that era. On top of that, it’s only $75 – a full $25 less than what Marvel’s Omnibus editions usually run for. This book is a complete must-buy for me.
Finally, one of the very best comic books being published today is receiving its final trade paperback collection with Ex Machina, Vol. 10: Term Limits. I have extremely high hopes for this one, and I sincerely doubt it will disappoint.
Dark Horse Comics
The recent death of Frank Frazetta was something of a shock to his legions of fans, and it seems Dark Horse has taken notice. They’ve announced a new series collecting his longest comic-book run with The Classics Comics Archive, Vol. 1: White Indian. I don’t know much about it, to be honest, but I’m certainly interested in seeing what it’s all about.
Image
Another classic story receiving a new printing is Mage, Vol. 1: The Hero Discovered. This is the first in a trilogy of comic book series by Matt Wagner, of which only the first and second parts have been released so far. It’s been quite a few years since the second installment at this point, and I wonder if this new printing is any indication that the third is finally under way.
And that’s about everything that caught my eye in this month’s solicitations. Feel free to click the links to check out the full solicits for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and Image at CBR. What are you looking forward to in October?
Atlantis Attacks Omnibus... It's really hard to understand why Marvel put together this pile of crap instead of other material.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about Marvel's Omnibus line is that they're not all produced by the same people. The classic Omnibus volumes are usually edited by Cory Sedlmeier, who also oversees the Marvel Masterworks line (which is supposedly why the classics come out less often - the Masterworks are much more work-intensive), while the more modern releases are overseen by Mark Beasley, IIRC. IMO, Sedlmeier's releases are consistently better, not just because he's usually releasing better material but because the reproduction is better and the extras, like letter pages, are more interesting.
ReplyDeleteWell put, Andy, and I agree with you 100%! I haven't actually read any of the late '80s/early '90s Omnibus collections other than the first Secret Wars, which I don't have on hand -- do you know who oversees those ones? The amount of extras in the Secret Wars Omnibus was pretty impressive, so I wouldn't be surprised if it were Sedlmeier.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, you've hit the nail on the head in terms of why I don't buy modern Omnibus releases. The Omnibus format really isn't that aesthetically pleasing or desirable -- the books are bulky and can be physically hard to read at times. But for the classic material, it's actually a much cheaper alternative to the Masterworks, plus like you said, there are usually tons of extras (love the letters pages!). That's not so much the case for the Omnibus books collecting more recent material, which don't have any decent extras and can be purchased for about the same price in less clumsy, easier-to-read paperbacks.
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