Over Christmas I had a chance to read Superman: Secret Origin The Deluxe Edition hardcover.  I’ve been a long-term Gary Frank fan so I knew what to expect with the art, and Geoff Johns is a major powerhouse at DC so this couldn’t end up a disaster.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

Writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank bring you a startling new look at the beginnings of Lex Luthor, The Legion of Super-Heroes, Lois Lane, Metallo, Jimmy Olsen, The Parasite and more of your favorite characters from the Superman family …

1996 was the tenth anniversary of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.  It’s hard to believe twenty-five years have passed since Miller brought his dark future to comics; I haven’t heard of DC doing anything to celebrate this year but in ’96 they had big plans.

There was a bunch of material offered but the highlight was a slipcase containing a new signed and numbered hardcover collecting Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, two mini prints of Dark Knight posters and three 48 page prestige format …

As I mentioned in my latest Jiminy Christmas rant I picked up The Green Lantern Omnibus Volume 1 at a discount bookseller in Toronto for $38.  It collects material previously collected in DC Archives Green Lantern volumes 1-3 if you can find them.  I do have these volumes on my shelf at home but couldn’t pass this up for two reasons: it was a great price and I wanted to see how DC was handling the oversized format.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

Collecting SHOWCASE #22-24 and GREEN LANTERN #1-21 …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
Few people need an introduction to Frank Miller’s seminal take on Batman in his 1986 series Batman: The Dark Knight.  It’s heralded as the birth of the modern comic, along with The Watchmen, and exposed a lot of people to comics through its massive sales in a collected volume.  Three collected editions were released that year: a softcover trade paperback, a hardcover and a signed hardcover.  The softcover trade and hardcover were released by Warner Books …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
The title says it all.  Fables: Covers By James Jean is a 9×12″ hardcover collection of James Jean’s covers of seventy-four monthly issues, ten trade paperbacks, one on-shot and one graphic novel.  If you enjoy Jean’s work then pick up this book.  Nuff said.

Wait a minute, that sums it up but it’s the details and package that make this a stand out volume not only because of the content but the way it’s delivered.  Let’s start …

I’m an on and off Matt Wagner fan: his drawing I usually enjoy but his storytelling as a writer has me on the fence.  When he started Madame Xanadu I thumbed the first few issues but couldn’t commit; now that the first ten issues are collected as Madame Xanadu: Disenchanted.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

The first ten issues of the hit series from writer Matt Wagner and rising star artist Amy Reeder Hadley are collected in this new trade paperback! Madame Xanadu’s powers of sight can change the course …

I was perusing bargains and came across Gangland trade paperback from Vertigo, a collection of a four issue 1998 mini series I never heard of.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

Mixing realism with humor, GANGLAND presents an entertaining and surreal look into the violent world of gangs and organized crime. These fourteen felonious tales of malice and duplicity explore the motivations of men uniting for illicit gain through violence, murder, and intimidation. Featuring made gangsters, suburban wannabes, and alien enforcers, this provocative book includes stories of a …

Originally published under my Bound Together column at Comic Book Daily.
DC Comics announced yesterday in its retailer newsletter Direct Channel #104 that it will stop shrink wrapping most hardcovers beginning in December.  Here’s the blurb:

Please note that starting with books arriving in stores in December, DC Comics will no longer shrink-wrap most hardcover titles.
DC will continue to shrink-wrap titles priced at more than $50.00 US, as well as titles that include extra materials such as sell sheets or cards.
This serves two purposes: it reduces packaging which cuts cost and can …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
It was 1989 and DC comics was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Batman.  They had started slowly publishing reprint material in softcover trade paperbacks but hardcover editions were left to Warner Books, Graphitti Designs and with these volumes Longmeadow Press.

The Complete Frank Miller Batman collects three stories: Batman Year One, Wanted: Santa Claus Dead Or Alive and The Dark Knight Returns.  The only new material for this volume is an introduction by Richard Bruning, then DC design director.  Batman …

Originally published at Comic Book Daily under my Bound Together column.
Before I dive into this fascinating and edge-of-your-seat topic a little background information may be in order.  Welcome to the first column of Bound Together, a look at comic book trade paperbacks and graphic novels in all their shapes and sizes.  I have been a longtime collector of limited and hard to find comic book hardcovers.  I don’t really know why, other than it was a small and mostly affordable area of interest that, as all hobbies go, eventually …

I plan to attend TCAF this weekend and see Paul Pope is a guest.  Pope is a creator I see popping up here and there but in the past haven’t been willing to give his material a try; it’s too indie or hip for me.  After some perusing I decided to give Heavy Liquid a try: it’s a Vertigo mini series from 1999-2000 that was collected in 2008.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

In a future where New York has evolved into a sci-fi metropolis, “S,” a man addicted to “heavy …

I’ve wanted to pick up Starman Omnibus Volume 1 for quite some time but there always seemed to be something else more deserving of my available funds.  I finally had a chance when an Amazon gift card fell in my lap.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

The classic super-hero series STARMAN, starring a Gen-X super-hero, is re-presented in high quality format by James Robinson (BATMAN: FACE THE FACE) and Tony Harris (EX MACHINA).
The super-heroic legacy of Starman is renewed in these stories, in which Jack Knight—antiques collector and …

Growing up I was a dedicated Marvel comics fan and didn’t stray much into DC territory.  Sure I caught the big books, Dark Knight, Watchmen, V For Vendetta, but it had to be making a lot of noise for me to look at it.  Unfortunately I came too late to the party to ever see Jack Kirby’s DC work; I started collecting in 1980 and I only bought back issues of books I was enjoying on the news stand.  From early on I was hooked on Kirby’s style: my first …

I’m late to the party on this title but picked it up off the used trade shelf at my local comic shop.  An ongoing series since 1999 with thirteen trade paperbacks available and a very large following, 100 Bullets has been quite the hit.  100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call collects the first five issues from the series along with a short from Vertigo Winter’s Edge 3.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:
In this dark and intriguing trade paperback, the mysterious Agent Graves approaches ordinary citizens and gives them an opportunity to …

Through a recent Diamond sale I picked up Challengers Of The Unknown Must Die! by Jeff Loeb and Tim Sale.  The trade was published in 2004 and collected the original eight issues mini series from 1991 and was Loeb and Sales first collaboration together.  I’ve always found Challengers Of The Unknown (COTU) to be interesting characters, created before the silver age with a loose concept and purpose.  I picked this trade up based on the strength of the creator’s other works but since this was produced very early in their …

DC is launching a twelve issue weekly series in July called Wednesday Comics.  It’s being published broadsheet size 28×20″ and will be shipped folded twice to 7×10″.  The series is the brainchild of DC’s art director Mark Chiarello who besides lining up amazing cover artists has given us Solo, Batman: Black & White and New Frontier.

As usual Mark has lined up top talent for this and it will be something wonderful to read.  I have to say the name is going to cause a lot of confusion for people since …