It's official. The new Marvel catalog is out today and, for the first time in many years, a new MMW is not in it. Not that I didn't believe Bleeding Cool's reporting; it's just that not seeing a MMW solicited really strikes home for me. It would not be inaccuarte to say that the discontinuation of the MMW has "rocked my world" (figuratively). For a while now, regarding owning reprints in multiple formats, I have asked myself the question, "Going forward, which of these formats an I most likely to read in the future?" I do like facsimile editions, but I have hardly bought any for the past several years because everything being reprinted I already own in some other format, often an "omnibus" edition or some other archival format.
As soon as rumors of the cancellation of the line broke, I immediately went out and bought "The More Things Change..." (Fantastic Four Epic Collection Vol. 18). Up until then, I would have waited for the MMW version. As I was reading it, I was struck by how easy it was to simply read. Not that the MMWs aren't, but some of the omnibuses can be somewhat unweildy. Sometimes its really neat the way they package archival collections these days. Recently, for example, we discussed Marvel's "Man Or Monster?" Epic Collection which reprints all of the Hulk's solo appearances between Hulk #6 and Tales to Astonish #60, chronologically, in a single package between two covers. that's one I had to own, even though I already had both the MMW and omnibus editions.
Something else that got me thinking: last summer, I guy I don't know fell in love, got married and planned to move to Canada. He owned an extensive collection of DC and Marvel omnibusses... more than I do. In order to finance his wedding and his move, he was forced to sell his collection en masse to my LCS (where, yes, I bought a few). What's going to happen to my collections someday? Do I really need them all? Will I even have time to read them before I die? At this point I'd like to take a look at some of the choices I made in the past, and some I will have to make in the (near) future
YESTERDAY:
BLACK WIDOW: The Black Widow Stikes is an omnibus which comprises all of the character's solo appearances in the first half of the book, and some graphic novels and whatnot from the last 35 years in the second. I did buy this one because I didn't have most of the stuff from the last 35 years or so (although, admittedly, I haven't read it yet).
BLACK PANTHER: The Black Panther is a favorite character of mine and I have tracked his chronological development on more than one occasion. His omnibus does just that, but did I really need all that material again (albeit "all together in a single package between two covers")? I gave this one a pass.
DOCTOR DOOM: Same thing here. It would be really neat to own all of his earliest appearances (say it with me now) "all together in a single package between two covers," but there wasn't a story in there that I didn't already own in some other HC collection. I passed on this one, too.
TODAY: Marvel and DC's July catalogs shipped.
TOMORROW:
IRON MAN: An Armor Wars omnibus (collecting Iron Man #219-232, 258-266 & The Armor Wars #1-4) has been solicited for January 2026 release. Those stories were pretty good, I guess, but do they deserve to be collected in HC omnibus format? If I buy it, will I ever read it? Honestly, I much rather own these (if I have to own them at all) in tpb format. Luckily, both runs have already been reprinted in "Epic Collections" format, which I initially gave a pass to because I was collecting the Masterworks. I'm gong to pass on the omni, but I may look to see if the Epic Collections are still available.
DOCTOR DOOM: An Epic Collection of the omnibus material has now been solicited for Novemebr 2025 release. I didn't (and don't) want the omni, but I may just pre-order the tpb.
WARLORD: Here's another omnibus (solicited for Novemebr release), collecting #1-36. But do I really need it in omnibus format? I would much rather buy a "DC Finest" version. I think I'll give a pass to the omnibus and hold out for a DCF.
See what I mean? World: rocked. I am starting to re-evaluate my entire collecting ethos.
Replies
I altready told you (somewhere) that I'm re-evaluating as well. I can't keep collecting as though I'm immortal. I have to start considering what I will actually have time and motivation to read. Plus, I've always known that everything I buy I'm going to have to someday sell (or somehow get rid of, or my wife will), but that day was always far off. Now it's not so far off so I have to consider "How easy will it be to get rid of this?" every time I buy something.
When my Dad died, his "to be read" pile was like fifty books or more, none of which were of interest to me, because we had very different reading tastes. The vast majority of the books that he had spent a lifetime collecting had to be disposed of, because I didn't want them, and I didn't have any place to put them if I did. That was when it struck home to me that someday someone will be going therough all the crap that I've collected over the years with the same disinterested eye with which I wnet through my faather's stuff.
Over the last few years, I've disposed of dozens of books, and I've gotten my "to be read" pile down to three books, but there's still gonna be a huge pile of stuff to be dealt with when I do go ex-parrot.
Here's just one example...
MICRONAUTS: I have the entire series in periodical format, including annuals, mini-series, sequels and whatnot, but I haven't read them since Figserello's in-depth discission a decade or so ago (whenever it was). Later, in a fit of nostalgia, I bought three omnibus editions. There is a chance I may re-read the entire series at some point, but if I do, I'm going to read the omnibusses. Micronauts is a series I could easily get rid of in one swell foop, but that's a drop in the bucket to what I need to cull.
What I need is an "heir" with similar interest. For example, when I was a kid, I used to collect beer cans. I eventually amassed a collection of approximately 500 or so. My plan, at the time, had been to one day own a house with a bar in it, and use them to decorate it. I've owned a couple of houses in my life, but none of them, including the one I live in how, have had a bar... nor would my wife be particularly keen about having a bunch of rusty ol' beer cans in the house (nor, if I'm being honest, would I anymore). But after my mom died (my collection had been at her house all those years), I contacted my best friend from elementary and junior high school and asked him if he wanted them. We were competitors in those days, but we're more chill as adults. To my delight, he was willing to take them off my hands. Then he asked if I had a complete collection of Schmidt cans.
For those of you who may not know, Schmidt beer featured 21 panoramic scenes of sports or nature, and yes, I had the complete set. (The one with the collie was particularly hard to find, while some were as common as mud.) I had spent so much time trying to find those cans, they were ones I had planned to keep. But then I thought, no, it's all or nothing and I liquidated them without regret.
I was wholly unfamiliar with Doctor Who while growing up, and I certainly never owned any of the "Target" paperbacks, yet today I have the entire collection. That is, I have Bob and Tim's combined collections. Will I ever read them all? Ha! (I have read some. They're great to read on domestic flights because they don't take very long.) I often think surrendering their books to me made it eaiser for them to part with their beloved collections. I've still got 'em, guys!
Well, the thing is, I live in what is essentially a two-room apartment, and I really don't want my obituary's headline to read, "Local man found dead under pile of books".
I suspect that's the way I will go. I have suggested to Tracy that my body be burned on a pyre of comic books, but I don't know whether she will follow my wishes or not.
Tracy the Unpredictable!
All of my stuff is in a storeroom that seriously needs to be organized and culled. I've been more interested in Kindle e-books of late because I can keep everything on one portable unit with Cloud access. However all the single issue Es do NOT have the original (house) ads, special features (pin ups, etc) nor the letter columns. This is especially true of the original 80 and 100 page giants.
At some point all the "kiddie" books will probably go to my niece and nephew, depending upon when I tackle this Herculean task versus their actual ages at the time because when I stopped keeping count, my collection was approaching 40,000 comics. I'll more than likely keep everything up to Action Comis 434 when I actually started reading (and I do stress the R word), but beyond that? The digests, oversized tabloids, trades/hardcovers, along with the individual issues of the Wolfman/Perez Crisis on Infinite Earths; the Peter/Mary Jane, Lois/Clark and other weddings for sure. The rest will be decided when the time comes.