Superman: The Triangle Era omnibus ships next week. It comprises Superman #49-64, Adventures of Superman #472-486, Action Comics #659-673 and Superman: The Man of Steel #1-8. It is named for the sequential numbering of the four regular series which appeared inside a little triangle on the covers at the time, making "Superman" essentially a weekly series. That's all well and good, but it seems an arbitrary method for delineating the beginning of a collection, especially considering that the so-called "triangle era" didn't actually begin until Superman #51, seven issues in to the collection. What's more, it leaves a gap of 34 issues of Superman continuity (Action Comics #647-658, Superman #38-48 and Adventures of Superman #461-471) from the point at which the Superman: The Exile & Other Stories omnibus ended. that gap had some good stories in it, too: "The Brainic Trilogy," "The Day of the Krypton Man" and "Dark Knight Over Metropolis" to name a few. That's enough for another omnibus in the future, but why not release them in order?
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I guess they just started with the month Superman: Man of Steel debuted, which is what allowed a Superman title every week. (I think there was a fifth one that was quarterly, to fill in the months with five Wednesdays.)
That would make sense, but for the record The Man of Steel #1 was 1991's "triangle" 19 (circa Superman 57, Adventures #40 and Action #667). The "fifth week" book was Man of Tomorrow, folded in in 1995 as "triangle" 28.
I think releasing the Trangle omnibus before following up the Exile story is just a marketing decision. People remember the "triangle era" fondly, and this collection can be marketed to those fans with the words they recognize.* The collection before it doesn't seem to have a hook like that, and it also doesn't have a really long well-remembered storyline like the Exile saga. So I think DC's strategy is to release a couple Triangle omnibuses, and then eventually use the success of the triangle books to help market a volume that fills in the gaps, but doesn't have a strong storyline hook to sell a giant volume on.
*And I have reason to believe it works. I've been thinking about picking this one up, but I never considered buying Exile -- which has nothing to do with the quality of either set of stories, and everything to do with nostaligia for the triangle-era "vibe" of the day.
Your reasoning makes sense. I'm sure you are correct.
I've been thinking about picking this one up...
I've been considering continuing this discussion if that helps sway your decision one way or the other.
We'll see if I see it at a decent price at Baltimore Comic-Con, or if it becomes available at InStock Trades...
According to Mike Carlin in his introduction: "This collection starts a tiny bit earlier than the Triangles themselves--with the "Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite"--but it was deemed important to have things like Lois and Clark's engagement on the table for the events in this and future omnibuses."
We'll see if I see it at a decent price at Baltimore Comic-Con, or if it becomes available at InStock Trades...
Let me if/when you move ahead (and that goes for anyone else reading this as well).
Will do; I've also lined those titles up on DCUI, in case I don't pull the trigger on the Omnibus.
Just writing in to say I bit the bullet, and bought the omnibus. I probably won't crack it open for more than a glance until I finish the Invaders omnibus (I've been on a spree of that, and just have one modern story and the What If story to go)... but I'm really looking forward to it. If there's one thing the DC Finest collections have taught me, it's that I love comprehensive collections of comics I read a few decades ago. This should be a blast!
Whenever you're ready, let me know. (I'm here every day.)
I've just read the first 5 issues of the omnibus, Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite! (I hope they wouldn't go for the same intentional misspelling today.) The story is a blast -- Lex Luthor finds a rock that presents iteself as red kryptonite -- in reality, a magic rock that's a manifestation of Mr. Mxyzptlk while he's away -- and uses it to make a wish that he has equal powers to Superman. The wish will last as long as Lex abides by the rules -- he can't tell Superman what happened. But instead of powering him up, it powers Superman down. Superman goes to Professor Hamilton for help, and they call in Starman (Will Payton; his book is written by Roger Stern, so he's part of the family). Starman can't power Superman back up, but he's able to impersonate him for a while with his chameleon powers. Superman has to go into action powerless, facing down Mammoth at one point, and then, in some super armor, a jilbreak at Stryker's. But also, at one point Clark confronts Luthor, saying he'll give him the rock back (Starman took it) if he tells Clark what's going on. When Luthor reluctantly agrees, the spell breaks (he didn't realize it, but he was telling Superman), and things get back to normal.
Although there are big changes afoot! Clark has asked Lois to marry him, and by the end of the story, she says yes!
Other interesting bits: The other dimension Mxy is in is hinted to be the Marvel Universe; although always obscured, he seems to be fighting with the Fantastic Four, in the guise of the Impossible man (although his coloration is reversed to provide a trademark fig leaf).
We also get soap opera: Perry and Alice are having marriage troubles, sparked by the death of their son Jerry, and the revelation that Lex was his real father. Lois's mom (whose name I don't know) is in the hospital; her dad, Sam, seems to bewarming up to Clark for standing by Lois during this time.
Also, in the Starman issue, there are three pages of Starman subplot that may be the least compelling pages of comics I've ever read. It's all about how someone at an ad agency is having writer's block for her ad copy, and they need to hire a full-time copywriter to grow, but they need to get more clients in order to afford a copywriter. Eventually, a sinister new client seems to be spying on them. But why?
Maybe that subplot had resonance for regular readers of Starman, but as a hook to bring Superman readers to the book, it's a massive fail.
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