It looks like DC Comics are using the Omnibus format as their current way to collect classic material in chronological order. In the past, there have been the Archives series (hardcover, full color), the Showcase Presents series (softcover, black and white, usually twice the page count of an Archive), and the Chronicles series (softcover, full color, smaller page count than an Archive). In the past few years, all of these lines have been quietly shuttered, and now DC is releasing Omnibus collections in both hardcover and softcover formats.
As you would expect, the Omnibus hardcovers are huge. Two Silver Age volumes collected the first 76 issues of JLA (along with Brave and Bold 28-30 and Mystery in Space 75), for example. Earlier this year, DC released JLA: The Bronze Age Omnibus Volume 1, collecting JLA # 77-113. That's almost half of the original series collected in this way, which for a fan like me is great news. The JLA Archives had 10 volumes, collected the first 93 issues, and the first volume and last volume were released twenty-two years apart. The first JLA Omnibus came out in 2014.
DC is also releasing these collections in trade paperbacks with a smaller page count than the hardcovers. The great thing is that these TPBs collect more issues than the Archives did! The material collected in the first JLA Silver Age Omnibus has all been released in 3 TPBs.
I have the first JLA Silver Age TPB, and I loved it! I also have the first JLA Showcase Presents, but I find that without color, I just don't enjoy the stories as much as I could. Actually, I find I enjoy most Silver Age comics more in color versus reading them in Showcase Presents and Essential Marvel.
I wonder how many of the rest of you are buying and reading these Omnibus collections, and what you think of the format.
Replies
I've always been curious about this title. I jjust preordered it from Amazon. A Tip: when searching for this be sure to say "Moon Girl EC" or you will only see the Marvel Moon Girl books.
It's a quirky little thing. Like the description says, "The Complete Moon Girl collects the amazing adventures of Claire Lune and Lionel Manning—Moon Girl and the Prince—who together fend off invaders from other planets as well as fight crime, and who 'dedicate themselves to the task of creating a better world.'" It's all over the place... in a good way... science fiction, superhero, crime... part Wonder Woman, part Buck Rogers and part Crime Does Not Pay. I think you'll like it.
I've wanted this for a long time.
You know, Moon Girl is kind of like the Atlas Venus in a way in that it features a female protagonist and the title itself reinvents itself every couple of issues (there's some romance in there, too).
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