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Omnibus, Absolute, Deluxe, and HC Thread
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2,457 posts in this topic

13 minutes ago, piper said:

Being in Canada, my only real option is either my LCS or Amazon.  I've heard that Tales of Wonder might be a good option for my American compatriots.

Tales of Wonder and IST are basically sister companies, under one umbrella. When I order from TOW, IST processes the shipment. So the same problems have plagued them as well, from what I understand. I could go to LCS, but there's no discount at all and that's part of what's causing this distributor backlash, from what I hear.

LCS do not like the online retailers (and even discount bulk purchasing fan blocks) taking away their business with nice discounts and distributors (particularly DC) are getting more strict about distributing to online retailers.

Edited by bronze_rules
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On 10/17/2020 at 3:58 AM, punksdropdirtysrh said:

Picked this up for half cover price courtesy of some eBay bucks. Very curious about it as I hear it’s excellent stuff. 
 

E0DBCAF0-4847-495B-91A1-A7511BC395AE.thumb.jpeg.e633bae2ae78080377595f52c0ac7f4d.jpeg

Waid's one of my favourite writers, and it's one of the best evil Superman stories.  Great buy.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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1 hour ago, bronze_rules said:

Conan Omni 4 and LOSH 5 years later, on September 22.. 1st five minutes. Few others since then.

There's some discussion on another forum about distributor issues going on in the background. A lot of long time customers are leaving IST. But all of the online vendors seem to be having issues, so I don't know of a reasonable alternative right now.

 

I was going to recommend Infinity War Omni as the new edition came out today (for those who missed it years ago), but at this rate, I don't think even I would put in an order from them.

Hmm, that's interesting. I was aware of grumblings and rumors about their sister site Tales of Wonder, who haven't updated in some time, but I hadn't heard anything new about IST. For instance, I ordered the LoSH Omni on that same day as you, and got in about a week later. My previous order had only taken a week as well. I considered this a great step forward as my orders over the spring and summer had taken a bout a month each time to get here, due to USPS slowdown.

I'd hate to see IST go under, as they're the best bet for hardcovers and collections. No one else can approach their price anymore (Amazon doesn't even try, which is a shame, as they used to be pretty close) and their shipping is the absolute best, as far as safe packing is concerned.

Today the new volume of Absolute Swamp Thing was released, along with a reprinting of Vol 1. IST's price? $58 per book. Amazon? $90 each. Next best price is Cheap Graphic Novels, at $70 for #2 and $60 for #1. CGN isn't bad, but IST is hard to beat. 

I've only used CGN a few times, and I've had good experiences, so that might be a good alternative for you and others. Their prices are solid and packing is good. But IST is my #1 choice. I don't sweat shipping delays as I'm in no hurry, as long as I know the books are coming. I hope they don't get dodgy in that regard. I'd be surprised if there was an issue fulfilling your order, though, because LoSH and Conan 4 weren't instant sellouts. They hung around for a few weeks. I think LoSH just sold out last week, actually. So they should have had the books in stock for you for sure. So that's all very odd.

Bronze, Have you contacted them directly about the delayed shipment? I've had good luck reaching them by email.

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14 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

Hmm, that's interesting. I was aware of grumblings and rumors about their sister site Tales of Wonder, who haven't updated in some time, but I hadn't heard anything new about IST. For instance, I ordered the LoSH Omni on that same day as you, and got in about a week later. My previous order had only taken a week as well. I considered this a great step forward as my orders over the spring and summer had taken a bout a month each time to get here, due to USPS slowdown.

I'd hate to see IST go under, as they're the best bet for hardcovers and collections. No one else can approach their price anymore (Amazon doesn't even try, which is a shame, as they used to be pretty close) and their shipping is the absolute best, as far as safe packing is concerned.

Today the new volume of Absolute Swamp Thing was released, along with a reprinting of Vol 1. IST's price? $58 per book. Amazon? $90 each. Next best price is Cheap Graphic Novels, at $70 for #2 and $60 for #1. CGN isn't bad, but IST is hard to beat. 

I've only used CGN a few times, and I've had good experiences, so that might be a good alternative for you and others. Their prices are solid and packing is good. But IST is my #1 choice. I don't sweat shipping delays as I'm in no hurry, as long as I know the books are coming. I hope they don't get dodgy in that regard. I'd be surprised if there was an issue fulfilling your order, though, because LoSH and Conan 4 weren't instant sellouts. They hung around for a few weeks. I think LoSH just sold out last week, actually. So they should have had the books in stock for you for sure. So that's all very odd.

Bronze, Have you contacted them directly about the delayed shipment? I've had good luck reaching them by email.

My main personal gripe with CGN (and I"ve ordered in the past several times), is that the shipping costs end up killing any savings you might have got by any discounts.

IST was the hands down leader in discounts and shipping quality and price, IMO, and I ordered non-stop for years. Now, I'm afraid, I'm close to done with them. I do hope they come back.

People don't like Amazon because high price + often bad shipping quality.

My IST books are in pre-shipment since order day and they have not answered any emails at all. I know I"m not alone in that boat either.

Edited by bronze_rules
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12 hours ago, Ken Aldred said:

I was very disappointed.  The reproduction isn't really much better than what you'd get in British hardback annual reprints back in the 70s.

Also, the Harvey comics really aren't that good either.  (Spoiled by exposure to EC.)

You see, I was hyped up for EC, but disappointed by the artwork. I simply like the Harvey stuff I've seen much better.

I haven't read enough story content to judge both accurately, so EC may have it there, but IMO Harvey is better on the visual aspect.

Is the Harvey reprint quality worse than PS Artbooks' other Pre-Code material? I have some other stuff, and it's by no means perfect, but for stuff from the 50's it seems pretty good to me.

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14 hours ago, bronze_rules said:

My main personal gripe with CGN (and I"ve ordered in the past several times), is that the shipping costs end up killing any savings you might have got by any discounts.

IST was the hands down leader in discounts and shipping quality and price, IMO, and I ordered non-stop for years. Now, I'm afraid, I'm close to done with them. I do hope they come back.

People don't like Amazon because high price + often bad shipping quality.

My IST books are in pre-shipment since order day and they have not answered any emails at all. I know I"m not alone in that boat either.

After I read your post, I went over to the MMW boards and read the IST/TOW thread. Wow. It's crazy that things have fallen apart like that. I guess I got lucky with my last shipment coming so quickly. I haven't placed an order since then because there hasn't been anything I needed. Yesterday I ordered the Absolute Swamp Thing books, I guess we'll see how it goes.

So it seems like there are a couple of things going on, 1. IST isn't sufficiently staffed and 2. continued pandemic supply chain issues. Does that sum it up? The latter I understand, though I'd hoped it was improving, seeing as how the last couple of big release week books took longer to sell out than had been the case the last few months. But the former doesn't make any sense. Surely IST should have their staffing issues straightened out by now.

And I guess a third factor is the whole DC Diamond/UCS/Penguin/etc distribution shake up.

Very strange times.

I agree, I don't like Amazon either, primarily due to the shipping. I'd say 75% of the books I've gotten from them have some sort of damage. But sometimes they're the only game in town, so I take my chances. 

I certainly hope you get an answer soon. That's simply unacceptable. I guess I'll see how things go with my order from yesterday. If IST doesn't rebound, I'm not sure what the answer is. I guess I'll be buying fewer books. My local shop offers a 25% discount on trades/hc's, so that may be the answer. Then again, if distribution is affecting the big retailers, they may not have any better luck getting the books either.

Good luck and I hope you hear something soon, please let us know if you do!

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5 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

You see, I was hyped up for EC, but disappointed by the artwork. I simply like the Harvey stuff I've seen much better.

I haven't read enough story content to judge both accurately, so EC may have it there, but IMO Harvey is better on the visual aspect.

Is the Harvey reprint quality worse than PS Artbooks' other Pre-Code material? I have some other stuff, and it's by no means perfect, but for stuff from the 50's it seems pretty good to me.

I suspect part of the problem for me is that the presentation reminds me too much of the look of the hardback British Marvel reprint annuals I'd get for Christmas as a kid.  There are better remasters.

I only got one to try, though.  I was that unimpressed.  (It just happened to be Chamber of Chills Vol 1.) This year I've been reading some of the Fantagraphics artist-orientated  EC collections.  Both the stories and artwork still seem far superior when compared to the small, one volume sample of Harvey material : one volume of EC's Weird Science as a kid and I was hooked for life.

 

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1 minute ago, Ken Aldred said:

I suspect part of the problem for me is that the presentation reminds me too much of the look of the hardback British Marvel reprint annuals I'd get for Christmas as a kid.  There are better remasters.

I only got one to try, though.  I was that unimpressed.  (It just happened to be Chamber of Chills Vol 1.) This year I've been reading some of the Fantagraphics artist-orientated  EC collections.  Both the stories and artwork still seem far superior when compared to the small, one volume sample of Harvey material : one volume of EC's Weird Science as a kid and I was hooked for life.

 

Are you the guy who left a 1-star review on Amazon? lol

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1 minute ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

Are you the guy who left a 1-star review on Amazon? lol

No.  I do leave some critical reviews in the '1000 books in 2020' thread, though.

Interesting that it's become an expensive item.  I almost gave my copy away, I was that disappointed with it.

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1 minute ago, Ken Aldred said:

No.  I do leave some critical reviews in the '1000 books in 2020' thread, though.

Interesting that it's become an expensive item.  I almost gave my copy away, I was that disappointed with it.

Where would you rank Harvey behind EC? It seems like many consider them to be #2. Like I said, I have been relatively unimpressed with EC so far. Their reprints are even more expensive in some cases.

It doesn't help that Dark Horse has not published 20% of each of EC's horror volumes. >:(

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5 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

Where would you rank Harvey behind EC? It seems like many consider them to be #2. Like I said, I have been relatively unimpressed with EC so far. Their reprints are even more expensive in some cases.

It doesn't help that Dark Horse has not published 20% of each of EC's horror volumes. >:(

I have all of the Harvey reprints and almost all of the various EC reprints. I'd put EC higher in terms of quality and esp. artwork.

I really like the darkness of Harvey horror, but for whatever reason, the comparisons strike me as a Charlton horror production vs. DC horror in the bronze age. Both have merits, but clearly the DC horror is the king.

Where it really strikes home is looking at the EC horror artwork in various Artist's editions. Stunning, even compared to art from later decades.

Edited by bronze_rules
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29 minutes ago, bronze_rules said:

I have all of the Harvey reprints and almost all of the various EC reprints. I'd put EC higher in terms of quality and esp. artwork.

I really like the darkness of Harvey horror, but for whatever reason, the comparisons strike me as a Charlton horror production vs. DC horror in the bronze age. Both have merits, but clearly the DC horror is the king.

Where it really strikes home is looking at the EC horror artwork in various Artist's editions. Stunning, even compared to art from later decades.

The EC writing was also just on a whole other level.

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Probably not a wise decision to buy an Omnibus based on the cover art. That said, I’m looking at the Marvel Horror Lives Again Omnibus and the cover is just awesome.

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I've been looking at ebay on a couple of OOP Omnibus that I really would like to add to my collection:

Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1

Amazing Spider-man Vol. 1 

American Vampire Vol. 1

Should I bite the bullet on any of the above and pay above sticker price?  I'm pretty sure that ASM Vol. 1 was reprinted recently.  The problem was that I wasn't collecting Omnibus and Hardcovers yet.

At least I preordered the Stern and ASM Vol 2 coming out next year.

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45 minutes ago, miraclemet said:

Success!

Have been hunting for YEARS for the OOP 1st volume hardcover of Astro City. 

PXL_20201030_183944153.thumb.jpg.57e695d965c03bc40a7817e11b21478f.jpg

They've been hitting nearly $100 in auction when the do come up, and I lucked into this one that had some glue/gunk from an old library bar code ( though no interior stamping, yay!) for just $35. Cleaned up good as new and now I've got the 4 volume set of the original run complete! (All of this means an Omnibus is sure to be solicited in the next few months, base on my luck...)

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Ha, I was just going to say, thanks for picking this up so they'll maybe announce an omni now ha It's definitely one I've been waiting on. I'd love to reread these, those are really sharp looking books!

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1 minute ago, piper said:

I've been looking at ebay on a couple of OOP Omnibus that I really would like to add to my collection:

Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1

Amazing Spider-man Vol. 1 

American Vampire Vol. 1

Should I bite the bullet on any of the above and pay above sticker price?  I'm pretty sure that ASM Vol. 1 was reprinted recently.  The problem was that I wasn't collecting Omnibus and Hardcovers yet.

At least I preordered the Stern and ASM Vol 2 coming out next year.

Much like UXM Omni 1, ASM 1 is a perennial seller for Marvel. They tend to keep those two books out there. There are at least four printings I'm aware of on ASM 1, and there may be more I've forgotten about. The most recent wasn't very long ago.  It tends to come back every 2-3 years. If you don't want to wait that long, there should be enough copies out there that you should almost definitely be able to find one at MSRP or below. Volume 2 is finally getting a reprint next year, so I'd have to think we'd see vol 1 again before too long.

USM is an interesting case. No reprint so far, and we never got a Volume 2 either. And now that I think about it, New Avengers never got a second volume either. I'd wonder if there are sour grapes about Bendis leaving Marvel to go to DC, but  they have issued an omni of the Miles Morales series recently, so I guess that blows that theory. 

My personal two cents (and not even worth that much) is that a reprint of ASM 1 is as close to a sure thing as you can get these days, and my gut tells me that we'll get USM again at some point; but if you find one at a good price (i.e. under MSRP) I'd wouldn't turn it down. Just don't pay through the nose for a copy.

 

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