Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: chew, Comics, deadpool, stan lee omnibus

Size Matters – Just Imagine Stan Lee Omnibus And More

Published Thu, 01 Aug 2013 17:00:53 -0500

Joe Farrar writes;

Welcome to Size Matters! A monthly look at the goings on in the world of comics. Specifically, a look at what oversized hardcovers will be seeing release in the near future. They're a niche within and a nice and are fantastic.

It looks like October is going to be a good month for oversized hardcovers.

Well, I say October. Some of these books won't even be released until next year. But still, October solicitations = October used throughout. Good times.

To start with, Marvel are releasing an omnibus of Deadpool by Joe Kelly, collecting his complete run on the title as well as some later issues. Great move by Marvel to capitalise on Deadpool's popularity by releasing the stories that people seem most fond of. Honestly? I probably won't buy this, but not for lack of interest. If this was split into two, 600-page books and released a few months apart (like the West Coast Avengers Omnibus books, for example), I'd snap them up in a heartbeat. But I bought Walt Simonson's Mighty Thor book. I have the X-Statix Omnibus. I learned my lesson. These 1,200 page books are HUGE. They can sometimes be a chore to read simply because of how thick they are.

See, 'Size Matters' doesn't just mean 'bigger is better'.

In related books-bigger-than-your-head news, DC solicited the DC Villains Omnibus, which will be collecting all the Villain Month issues. That's a lot of stuff. Again, the size of this book is off-putting, especially when you consider that DC has yet to match Marvel in terms of binding quality. Sleeper and Golden Age Superman came close, but Marvel just destroys DC when it comes to binding. I'm not one to mind a bit of gutter loss, but on a book this size it can be catastrophic.

DC also solicited two other oversized books, these two more manageable. First up, there's the Just Imagine: Stan Lee Omnibus, collecting all those issues in which Stan Lee took a hatchet to the DC stable, then built them back up with his wacky mind. I'm really looking forward to this. It was already solicited last year but never appeared, so I'm glad we'll finally be getting it. The artistic talent alone is enough to make your mouth water. Darwyn Cooke, Dave Gibbons, Chris Bachalo, Gary Frank, Stuart Immonen, Walter Simonson…the list goes on. I didn't read any of the issues when they came out, so I have no idea how much each of these artists contributes, but still. That's a whole lot of high quality art.

Secondly, there's Fables Deluxe Vol 8. I have the first 6 of these with the 7^th preordered. Excellent series. Some of the books have been a little on the thin side (hello volume 6), but with 9 issues, it looks like they're starting to beef them up again. Roll on, December.

DC also solicited the second volume of The Authority. For some reason, they're both standard trim. Who knows why. If anything is ripe for an omnibus, it's The Authority.

[Rich adds – and look, Grant Morrison, who ghost wrote for Mark Millar on the series is credited now…]

Moving onto Image! Quite the selection from them in October/whatever month this stuff comes out. They've got the first Revival hardcover, as well as the Chew: Smorgasbord edition. It's good to see Chew is taking the Kirkman-approach to hardcovers. I guess that means it's pretty darn successful. Speaking of Kirkman, The Art of [long-time partner] Charlie Adlard is coming out, which I guess is a book with a lot of Charlie Adlard art. For some reason, I doubt any of Rock Bottom will be in there. Plenty of zombies, though. Finally from Image, there's Bomb Queen Vol 4. For the people who enjoy scantily clad women and explosions. I'm just assuming that from the cover, it could be our generation's Watchmen for all I know. Butts and bombs!

BOOM! (capitalisation and exclamation mark necessary) Studios continue to release Adventure Time books like there's no tomorrow. October sees the Sugary Shorts hardcover. I've lost track of Boom's Adventure Time comics now, so I have no idea what this collects. Google time. Okay, apparently it's all the short stories from issues 1-14. I didn't even know Adventure Time comics had short stories in them. You learn something new every day.

Avatar have the Uber: Enhanced Vol 1. Fans of Bleeding Cool will probably be hearing about this closer to release. An Avatar book by a British writer? It's pure bleeding gold.

[Rich adds – Avatar are Bleeding Cool's publishers, folks!]

Now, to the part I've been looking forward to. A CHALLENGER APPROACHES. Valiant are entering the OHC game with X-O Manowar Deluxe Volume 1. Valiant are quite possibly my new favourite publisher (with Shadowman being my favourite ongoing title right now not called Saga or Peter Panzerfaust). And with an Amazon listing for Harbinger Volume 1, it looks like all of their titles will be getting the OHC treatment. Marvel and DC, this is how you do it. 14 issues in one big lovely book.

IDW have quite a Trek-centric month with the first Stardate Collection and the Doctor Who crossover both getting hardcovers. The Stardate book is strange to me. What about stories that take place over a long period of time? Editorial mishaps could have led to a Borg invasion in the middle of an isolated Klingon war at the edge of the universe or something. IDW also have a reprint of Simonson's Mighty Thor Artist's Edition. Temptation, thy name is Walter.

Now, last but not least, is a bit of a strange one. It is an oversized hardcover, but only relative to the original release. Scott Pilgrim volume 4 is coming out from Oni Press, and even though it's tiny compared to everything else I just listed, you should all buy it. Just because. You don't need a reason.

And that's it for October! I've almost certainly missed things from smaller publishers (and possibly even Dark Horse, now that I think about it), but oh well. Tune in next month for another Marvel Omnibus, more Adventure Time and maybe even some My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

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