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.