I see an opportunity to push inexpensive collections of the major characters and mystery titles to a wider audience, but i don't see many non-comics fans will picking up a thick book of Metamorpho or even the Legion.

They might do better making them smaller and cheaper--we're comic fans on this board and have talked about how it becomes a chore to plow through some of these. New/casual readers might prefer more variety with different characters/genres than an exhaustive collection of repetitive stories.

My son picked up an Archie collection for me--400+ pages, color, smaller than a comic, but larger than a digest, $9.99 list price. www.amazon.com/Best-Archie-Comics-Superstars/dp/1879794845/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429539359&sr=1-3&keywords=archie+comics Not a bad format. Plus, it contains some introductions putting the stories in context and highlighting some creators.

My Showcase collection includes:
Batman and the Outsiders 1 For handy access to this important Aparo work
Brave & Bold 2-3 For handy access to even more important Aparo work
Dial H For Hero 1 & Eclipso 1 One of the best things about these is the opportunity to read complete collections of the minor Silver Age series like these two. Not the best material--especially the aggravatingly nonsensical Eclipso--but at least I've read them all now.
Elongated Man 1 Wasn't a big fan, but this was such a long-standing backup feature that I wanted to read this, most of the Silver Age run
Haunted Tank 1 I didn't read many DC war comics when they were running, and I realize now I was really missing out. Haunted Tank was not their best, but was darn good stuff. Terrific art in B&W!
House Of Mystery 1 disappointed me a little--these stories were a lot tamer than I remember.
Jonah Hex 1 One of the Bronze Age bests, and it looks great (mostly) in B&W.
Losers 1 Another of those war comics I avoided, this series is Winners with me. I'd love another volume (especially if it skipped the Kirby issues, which I have in hardcover). Amazing Severin artwork!
Martian Manhunter 1-2 See Dial H and Eclipso--I can at least say I've read all of J'onn's long-running series.
Metal Men 2 I picked this over volume 1 to get both the classic team and the bizarre Sekowsky "Hunted Metal Men."
Phantom Stranger 1-2 Love this series and these collections. Magnificent looking in B&W, especially Aparo's work
Spectre 1 Another favorite character, great Aparo art and fascinatingly odd Silver Age short run.
Strange Adventures 1 I fondly remembered DC's SF reprint comics of the 70's, but these were a tough slog
Superman 1-3 & Superman Family 1-3 I love the Silver Age Superman Family stuff--every issue is a joy to read
Unknown Soldier 1-2 The best of DC's war comics, so far, but I just got volume 2, and I haven't hit the Haney years. Michelinie & Talaoc did outstanding work here.
War That Time Forgot 1 Fun, but only in small doses. Kanigher was irritatingly repetitive.


From the Essential line, I have
Ant-Man 1 A favorite character's complete Silver Age run
Avengers 1 To have the early Marvel Kirby
Captain America 1 Again, for early Marvel Kirby
Captain Marvel 1 Loved Marvel's Space-Born Super-Hero--I've got great fondness for this clumsy but interesting run
Uncanny X-Men 1 Again, for early Marvel Kirby
Fantastic Four 1-5 To have the complete Kirby FF
Human Torch 1 To have the even completer Kirby "FF"
Incredible Hulk 1-2 Again, for Kirby, and because that early run is just cool
Man-Thing 2 Thought I was getting volume 1, but I've always enjoyed Man-Thing and Gerber
Sgt. Fury 1 Because I thought I should try it. Turns out I'm more of a DC war comic fan--I found this almost unreadable. Maybe color would have helped.
Thor 3 Again with the Kirby, was learning to dig Colletta with this volume
Tomb of Dracula 1-2 Wanted this in collected form. Looks fine in B&W
Werewolf by Night 2 Inspired by a renewed interest in Don Perlin. I usually like anything by Doug Moench. It appears this was cancelled and uncancelled during the course of these issues, because Moench wraps everything up in what is clearly a "final" issue, only to start up again with the next.








 

Yeah I guess that's true. I don't actually read those Silver Age Marvels, but since Stan Lee keeps getting mentioned as one of the greatest writers ever I just assumed his old comics would be as fun to flip through as Carl Barks. Have you seen the thousand page Archie digests? They're cover priced at more than $10 but they sell for about ten bucks each usually. They're huge for the price. I actually enjoy thick chronological volumes though. Like the Library Editions at Dark Horse. I tend to avoid collections that jump around the series to collect bits from here and there. I wish the TMNT Ultimate Collection collected the entire series instead of just the Eastman/Laird stuff. I understand that's the stuff most people like, but there was some good stuff in the other contributions, and what "ultimate collection" skips half the material?

Yeah, I think it would be worth it for both Marvel and DC to print their entire catalog. Even if the initial printings were small, and even if they held off on the next volume until the current volume sold through. Eventually, I think a print on demand standard format would work. It might not be viable in a value price point, but people would buy it. They have larger catalogs than probably any other publisher just sitting there. And of course it's not all great stuff, but SOMEONE out there wants it, guarantee it.

Thanks for the link,the Amazon entry has a few pages in a preview and it seems intriguing--I just may pick up this volume. Interesting how different Archie looked when he first started out, facially kind of like Mickey Rooney (which may have been the point, as Rooney/Andy Hardy was probably America's most popular teenager back then).