"The comic book movement itself is special. It's something that's a result of evolvement. From what I understand, the editorial comic was first. And then they added a few panels to that and you had a comic strip. And they added a few pages to that and you had a comic book. And what we can add to the comic book? We may have to think about that. So I believe that's the interesting part of the entire field, is to say, 'What is it?' 'Where is it going?' 'How will it evolve?' And we experiment with that every day." -- Jack Kirby
ARCHIVES / MASTERWORKS: Marvel and DC ushered in the "Golden Age of Reprints" in 1987 (with Marvel Masterworks) and 1989 (with DC Archives). Although both lines are now defunct, they lasted decades, and the "Golden Age of Reprints" is still going strong.
ESSENTIAL / SHOWCASE: I no longer recall which came first, but DC launched Showcase Presents and Marvel Essentials right around 2005. Each of these lines presented a "satisfying chunk" of stories for an inexpensive price. The problem was, in order to keep the cost down, they were printed on newsprint in black and white. Nevertheless, it was an affordable way to acquire such oddball series as "Rip Hunter, Time Master" and "Tales of the Great Disaster" in one swell foop, series that might not warrant collection in a more expensive format.
EPIC COLLECTIONS / DC FINEST: After a brief period of overlap, Epic Collections and DC Finest replaced Essentials and Showcase Presents (respectively). These volumes are in color and on better paper stock, but cost about twice as much. Marvel started earlier, but at this point DC is doing a better job selecting a variety of material to be reprinted.
OMNIBUS EDITIONS: For many years, this had been my format of choice. It delivers the most bang for your buck, plus it's excellent for research. But some have called it unwieldy. That can be true, but it isn't always. Take the first volume of Amazing Spider-Man for example, which includes the Lee/Ditko run in its entirety (43 issues total). That one is unwieldy. But the complete run of The Eternals by Jack Kirby is only 20 issues and is perfectly easy to handle. It just depends on how many issues are reprinted between the covers. And take the first volume of Mike Grell's The Warlord (38 issues). That one is printed on a white paper stock akin to newsprint rather than on heavier, glossy stock. It's super light and practically floats out of your hands as you read.
ARTIST'S EDITIONS: different publishers have different names for this format, but "Artist's Edition" is the best known. Original art pages are photocopied in color at full size. It is the next best thing to owning original art, but at a fraction of the cost. Even so, they're not exactly cheap, and can be a bit unwieldy to read.
MONSTER EDITIONS: This is a Marvel-only format, as big as an "Artist's Edition" but printed on glossy stock in color. It is the comic book equivalent of widescreen IMAX, but very heavy and quite unwieldy to read.
TREASURY EDITIONS: Both Marvel and DC have revivied this format which flourished briefly in the '70s. DC's version is more traditional, but with whiter paper stock (although they sometimes release them as hardcovers), whereas Marvel's feature plactic-like covers with glossy paper stock. Also, DC's are mainly reprints of period material, whereas Marvel's reprint entire runs of more recent material.
COMPENDIUMS: This format may well replace omnibuses in terms of "bang for your buck." They are smaller than hardcover omnibus editions and softcover, but they reprint just as many issues on high quality paper. So far I have only five of them, but I foresee many more in my future.
And just today DC will be releasing a new format...
"WORK IN PROGRESS" EDITIONS: Solicited as having "unique dimensions," I haven't seen them yet but I am given to understnad they are 11" x 17" (the dimensions of an "Artist's Edition"). They are also color photocopies of original art pages, but single issues priced at $15.
What about you? What are your favorite formats? Which have I missed?
Replies
Judging by my bookshelf, Showcase Presents / Essentials has been my favorite format. Those volumes made it possible to finally read the entire Lee/Kirby run on the FF - something I had wanted to do for years. Because I own much of what I wanted to read in those two formats, I haven't felt compelled to pick up very many color editions.
I own several Artist Editions and love 'em. They are awesome to flip through but not easy to read. I'd own more but the price makes that unreasonable.
Last week the DKR WIP edition did not ship to my LCS (for reasons we need not go into here), but this week both DKR & Watchmen did. One thing I did not realize was that these are softcovers, which explains the cheap inexpensive price point. Each has an introduction, but Dave Gibbons' is about four times as long as Frank Miller's. The DKR one shows much more of the "process" than the Watchmen one does (for reason explained by Gibbons in his intro). the latter is much more akin to a large, b&w version of the first issue; gibbons identifies it as the most "evokative" of any previous reprint for him.
One thing I remember about DKR #1 from from back in '86 is that it jumped right into the narrative with no splash page. Okay, I thought. Miller is experimenting with the form. (Ronin didn't have any captions or thought balloons, for example, which was unusual for comics at the time.) But the DKR WIP reveals that a splash page was drawn, but has remained unpublished (AFAIK) until now.
ON FORMAT: I really like this new "Work In Progress" format. It's like a combination "Treasury Edition" and "Artist's Edition" (at about the same price as a new TE but a mere fraction of the price of an AE).