posted February 06, 2003 11:40 AM               

Can we expect to see all Spectre covers on the back of the upcoming Spectre Archive? I was puzzled by the inclusion of Hawkman on the back of the GA Flash Archive, when there were more than enough usable Flash-centered covers from Flash Comics 1-17. (Why was that done, anyway?) Similarly, I'd find it odd to see any of the Dr. Fate covers, as much as I like them, on the back of the Spectre book--especially when we might plausibly see (I hope) a Dr. Fate collection within the next year or two.

If you ever get to a non-cover feature in the Archives (Martian Manhunter comes to mind) do you know what you would do on the back? Splash pages? Panel art? Or is the lack of covers (indicating that the character was not considered a marquee feature even at the time) a determining factor in deciding which strip is even worthy of an Archive?

Also, I know you've said that the decade books have only done okay sales-wise, but has there been any thought given to a Superboy in the 50s or 60s collection? Or possibly a volume 2 for any of the decades already covered? Has any particular book in that series stood out in terms of popularity?

Here's one for the wish list: a book collecting the best of Mike Kaluta's 70s work for DC--I realize that you'd run into problems with licensing on the Shadow and the ERB material, but I fondly remember things like the Spawn of Frankenstein back-up in PS, as well.

Speaking of licensing, I *really* think something should be done to get Joe Kubert's Tarzan stories back into print. DC has worked with Dark Horse before on Tarzan-related projects--couldn't some kind of arrangement be worked out between the two publishers and the Burroughs estate? Of course, the ERB people might not share my affection for Joe's run, or for DC, but I think it's the best looking Tarzan ever done expressly for comic books. And those covers! I'd buy a book of Joe's Tarzan cover art alone.

posted February 06, 2003 11:42 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by bluedevil2002:
It's definitely GK #32, Devin Grayson's last issue. GK #33 was Scott Beatty's first issue and started the "Bane Wayne" arc.

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He was talking about BATGIRL # 33, where Cassie visits her father in prison.

posted February 06, 2003 11:45 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by morpheus27@aol.com:
Oh, and for what it's worth, how about giving Joe Staton his props and releasing an E-Man trade collecting the Charlton issues. If it does well, maybe the First Comics run. He is, after all, probably the 2nd best Green Lantern artist after Gil Kane (Yes, I put him ahead of Neal Adams and Mike Grell).

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Hear! Hear! On BOTH counts! I can't wait for the 70's All-Star and Adventure JSA run that he did to be archived, as well.

posted February 06, 2003 01:54 PM               

1. What months will 2 archives appear in (approx times are fine)? Just wanting to know for budgetting purposes.

2. Will any other non-DCU archive type books start this year (Tor is finishing, Thunder Agents is in progress, Mad & Spirit are continuing)?

3. Know that I really disagree with your decisions about Scribbly & Red Tornado and especially Sugar & Spike.

posted February 06, 2003 02:15 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Greenberger:

Marvel is publishing issues 2-4.

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Does this mean that issue 4 will be late and published before issue 2?

posted February 06, 2003 03:42 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by tocoelho:
Everything you assumed is correct.

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What a rare, fine day it is when THAT happens!

Robin III was a 3-issue miniseries published in Brazil by Editora Abril. Some of the names of the characters remain the same, like Aqualad, and some are changed like Speedy that became Ricardito.

It's a fun fact that I live in Portugal and that's one miniseries I'd like to own but I never saw it here for sale!

Someday I'll buy it through the internet :-)

My best regards,

Tocoelho[/QUOTE]

Good luck finding them -- statistically, it's got to be easier for you than it was for me. These look like neat editions. Does Editora Abril also publish Marvel comics? I saw some ads for Captain America and Doom 2099 (Destino 2999) in the books.

And bringing things back to questions for Bob:

Is any other material produced for foriegn markets (such as I assume the new Batman hardcover was) being considered for a US edition?

posted February 06, 2003 03:56 PM            

Earlier in this thread Bob Greenberger said:

quote:

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When we inaugurated the numerical Superman collections, we wanted to put our best material out there to show casual readers a reinvigorated Man of Steel. That forces us to be selective. We think vol 4 (CRITICAL CONDITION) and vol. 5 (PRES. LEX) merit that.

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My question is which trades make up Volumes 1-3?

Also, are there going to be trades (or more volumes) for the following titles:

Catwoman
Doom Patrol (both the new title and the Morrison issues)
The Power Company
The Resistance
Automatic Kafka
Wildcats V3.0

Thanks. This is one of the first places I look to for info on Archives and Trades. Kudos to Bob and everyone else.

posted February 06, 2003 06:08 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by LarkinJay:

Also, are there going to be trades (or more volumes) for the following titles:

Catwoman
Doom Patrol (both the new title and the Morrison issues)
The Power Company
The Resistance
Automatic Kafka
Wildcats V3.0

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I'd definitely second Catwoman, Power Company, and the new Doom Patol series (as well as Morrison's run).

With Power Company, since it took a while for the book to hit its stride, maybe a later storyline (like Power Loss) should be the first collected, with some introductory material (and maybe the Manhunter spotlight) to fill in the blanks. That way, the better stuff gets collected, and new readers would have a more up-to-date jumping-on point.

Thanks,

posted February 06, 2003 06:18 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by LarkinJay:
My question is which trades make up Volumes 1-3?

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posted February 06, 2003 07:39 PM            

I'll just add those three to the list. Whoo-boy, the wallet is hurtin'.

Rob: I think you're right about Power Company. And with Astro City finally back (yay!) it'd a good time to capitalize on that buzz.

Larkin

posted February 06, 2003 09:41 PM               

Doom Patrol Vol. 2 TPB by Grant Morrison and Richard Case, covers Doom Patrol # 26-34

The latest Starman TPB covering issues #55 thru 60, plus the 80 PG Giant and The Mist/Girlfrenzy one-shot, to be followed by three more Starman trades and a Shade trade to round out the series over the next three years.

Transmetropolitan vol. 8 covering # 43 thru 48, followed by a Year Five single collection in 2004. (Why tease us, just put it out in one shot)

The Flash: Chain Lightning. Oh, and a Flash Archives vol. 4 in 2004, and a Golden Age Flash vol. 2 in 2005.

Zot!
E-Man
Charlton Archives
Alan Moore Collected stories

Kirby Fourth World color hardcovers.

Ditko

Toth

Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew TPB

posted February 06, 2003 09:51 PM               

I, like many others before me, wish to express my gratitude for your communication with us and generosity in giving out information.

I checked out the eight page preview of JSA: Princes of Darkness. It looks great! It started me thinking about the eventual TPB that will come out. Is there any chance that JSA: Princes of Darkness could be reprinted in hard cover. So far, at least from my point of view, it looks to be worthy of HC consideration.

Please add me to the list of those "demanding" Golden Age Flash Archives vol. 2.

posted February 06, 2003 11:19 PM            

I've got just one quick question for you.

Question:
1)Will there ever be a trade paperback for all the Hypertime storylines that happened after The Kingdom fifth week event?

This would include the following:

Superboy: Hyper-Tension storyline (issues 60-65)

The Flash: The Dark Flash storyline (issues 150 (the end of the issue) - 159)

The Titans: Who's Troia? storyline (issues 23-25)

posted February 07, 2003 08:36 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by superboy1988-92:
Bob,
When I saw Aquaman Archives vol. 1, I was puzzled as to why the back cover dustjacket for the traditional cover art gallery was reduced to only two covers shown (plus, the covers looked more larger in size also), instead of the regular four covers gallery. Why was this the case? What happened? This is not the plan for future DC Archive volumes, is it?

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Did Aquaman appear on the cover of any of those stories from Adventure Comics that appeared in volume 1? I don't believe so. That's possibly why we only got two covers on the back from Showcase - because those maybe were the only two cover shots he had for the stories in the volume.

------------------
Martin Maenza

posted February 07, 2003 09:00 AM            

Are there any plans with respect to any archives to skip a period. I mean, Batman Dynbamic duo is definitely a jump. Have you planned to do that again in any other archive?

can you comment at all about the possibility of a Kirby Library, with its own trade dress and any plans for any additional Kubert material.

has any thought been given to archiving the old treasurey edition comics, like superman meets spiderman and wonderwoman versus superman. I always loved those, and someone on WW board mentioned that its the 25th anniversary of that bok.

anby plans to bring back comic book digets? I uised to love these as a kid. wish the format would return. Kids love these. They can take themanywhere.

posted February 07, 2003 09:37 AM               

BATMAN: LEGACY was good and should be back in print. As for other LOTDK arcs, I've asked for suggestions and we're working through the list. Should any be selected, I'll clue you guys in first.

Yes, the SPECTRE ARCHIVES will have all the covers featuring Spectre, even some with Dr. Fate.

I wasn't there and can't explain why a Hawkman spotlighted FLASH cover was selected. However, trust me, we're not varying from the 4 cover pattern unless circumstances, like AQUAMAN dictate otherwise.

There's no further planning for any decades books featuring any characters. The feedback and sales just don't seem to justify the program.

I can't give out the Archive schedule since it's constantly in flux. Just the other week we flopped a few around since one was coming together faster than the other. But with 20 or so on the schedule, most months will feature two choices.

Until we're done, expect 3 SPIRIT collections a year. TOR wraps up with Volume 3, ending the Kubert Library for the moment. No MAD this year. 2 T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents this year. And maybe one more featuring something else.

I got it wrong yesterday, Marvel will handle JLA/A #1-3 and we will do #2-4. Trust me, we're doing everything we can t make sure that when this is schedule and solicited, we will ship all 4 on time. Me, I can't wait to start the collected edition.

As stated elsewhere, there is a second CATWOMAN collection coming in 2003. And another STARMAN. And more TRANSMETROPOLITAN. No DOOM PATROL planned. Or POWER COMPANY. Wildstorm sets their own tpb schedule so stay tuned (but can anyone really make heads or tails out of KAFKA?).

Mr. Newton, as frequently stated, it's not our goal or obligation to collect everything in their entirety. GK #32 and AZRAEL #91 add nothing to the overall FUGITIVE story and are not candidates for inclusion in any collection. Everyone's else points about GK #32 and BAT #604 will have me reread them and see about tweaking the line-up.

Yeah, Zot! would be cool to do. Nothing planned, but neat idea.

It's not likely we'd suddelny shift gears and do a JSA hardcover collection but as I've learned, never say never.

No one has mentioned collecting the Hypertime stories before. Don't know if they're good enough to collect, so I'll check.

No SGT. ROCK tpb on the horizon, just the hardcover graphic novel.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

posted February 07, 2003 10:19 AM               

Anyway, there were just a couple of things I wanted to mention. I've been skimming through the first thread and found that you mentioned an effort to collect stories from the 70's and 80's as TPBs, since many of these stories came before the popularity of the Trade Paperback, and yet are not high on the list of material to be Archived. I think this is a great idea. I, for one, don't belive that you should collect everything, and have consecutive trades for all series. They're not meant to be substitutes for the monthlies. Especially in this world of a rapidly growing bookstore market, you need to put your best foot forward, and get the cream of the crop out there. Sure, there are series that I believe do deserve to be reprinted in their entirety (or at least up to a certian point), but this should be done with completed series or runs first (Doom Patrol, Starman, Byrne Superman, Grell GA, etc). As far as I'm concerned, there is no need to collect every Batman or Flash story. Granted, these are quite good runs, but the TPB format should be for those stories that go above and beyond. If there are series where every story does that (JSA) by all means, collect them all. But other series (JLA) don't need it.

Secondly, let me bring up an idea. A lot of people have spoken about wanting DC Archives as soft cover. I know it took me years to make the HC plunge and spend so much on a comic, but now that I understand the quality and why it costs so much, to me it's worth it. But how about a "Best Of The DC Archives" softcover or two? I understand that the expense of these comes mostly from the restoration, but these have already been restored. The work is done. Now it would be simple to make a cheap TPB or two showcasing some stories from some of these archives. And you can use stories that haven't been reprinted much to give added incentive to buy it.

Of course, it's real purpose would be as a teaser. Let people test the waters before they jump in to buying a $50 hardcover. Throw in a JSA story, a JLA story, and a few other short stories (GA Flash, GA GL, GA Superman, Atom, Hawkman, Doom Patrol, whatever), and you've got a good one or two volume softcover with very little overhead that could be produced cheap and would not need to make a huge profit becasue it's primary role would be to attract people to the DC Archives. It would also let people sample Archives of characters they may not have had much interest in. Someone who might not have had an interest in the GA Starman might see a Starman story they like in there and pick that volume up. Same for other, lesser known characters. What do you think?

posted February 07, 2003 11:58 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Greenberger:
No one has mentioned collecting the Hypertime stories before. Don't know if they're good enough to collect, so I'll check.

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The Dark Flash arc is. (I haven't read the others.) It also worked for me as a then-brand new reader of Flash who mostly knew Wally from JLA. Also the lead feature of the Flash Secret Files #2 is part of the storyline.