For a while, my list of "I'll buy that someday" included the Showcase Presents reprints of the Flash. If money were no object, I would buy the Archives in a second ... but my budget is limited, so the Archives - at full price, anyway - are not an option. In any event, DC has been slow with Flash Archives anyway - only five volumes (since 1996!), going up to issue 141. Meanwhile, there have been 3 Showcases, already at issue 161, and obviously released with more frequency than the Archives reprints. I have a hunch that The Flash is one of those series that lose a lot without color, but I'm willing to overlook that to get 20 more issues, and at a much cheaper price.
So what's my dilemna? Glad you asked. DC recently released Flash Chronicles. The Chronicles imprint seems to be doing well, with Golden Age Superman, Golden Age Batman, and Silver Age Green Lantern being the other series being collected. On average, about 2 volumes of each get released each year. They are in color, with a price similar to Showcase, with about half the pages. You get only a few less issues than you would with an Archive. If I'm patient, and the Flash Chronicles sell as well as the others, it would seem to be the way to go. However, patience is not one of my strong suits - Showcase covers lots of issues and shows no sign of slowing down either. To sum up -
Chronicles - in color, affordable, but only one volume so far, will roughly take about 2-3 years to catch up to where Showcase is now, if volumes are released as frequently as the other Chronicles are
Showcase - best bang for the buck, in black and white, 3 volumes out so far, and Dc is releasing roughly one volume per year, so in 3 years, the number of volumes could double
What would you do in my shoes? And any tips on where to find any DC Archives not at full price?
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I'm buying the Chronicles for the GA stuff, but sticking to Showcase for SA material. I'd rather have lots of story in black and white, then a teeny bit of story in color.
In all honesty, I would wait for the optimum release for you (which is obviously the Chronicles). Of course, I once waited, no joke, 13 years to buy something because I thought it was overpriced, so obviously patience IS my strong suit. Still, if you're going to end up buying the Chronicles anyway to get those issues in color why waste money on the Showcases as well?
And aside from eBay and Amazon, try ioffer.com (sort of a looser eBay) and overstock.com. I got the two New Teen Titans archives I wanted from overstock.com for half price.
While I have the archives, I've noticed that Tom Katers (of the Tom vs the Flash podcast) has mentioned during the earlier issues how much the B&W showcase issues lend a moodier cast to Infantino's pencils. There are panels that have really impressed him that he said he'd probably have glossed right over in color.
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Dagwan said:
And aside from eBay and Amazon, try ioffer.com (sort of a looser eBay) and overstock.com. I got the two New Teen Titans archives I wanted from overstock.com for half price.