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Post by Icctrombone on Sept 30, 2023 5:52:51 GMT -5
The padded issues containing reprints has completely been undermined by the proliferation of TPB, and collected editions. They didn't have those in the 70's but Marvel had their reprint books like Marvels Greatest Comics. This is how I originally read the first 80 issues of Fantastic Four. Can you imagine paying 3.99 for a single issue reprint ? It's not cost effective for a collector as opposed to a TPB or Masterwork. Years ago , I bought the Warlock masterworks for about 20 dollars each on eBay, they were brand new still in the shrink wrap. Yeah, it makes sense with so much stuff collected these days. But again, putting digital access aside and just focusing on print, it makes this hobby a whole lot more expensive if you have to pay even $20 for a trade (and many are much more) even though "per unit" cost (average per issue you end up paying) is a benefit. Honestly, while I'm at a point in life where I feel blessed to be able to buy whatever trade I want, I hate putting the $$$ down unless I'm REALLY interested in the material. It's another volume that will get thrown on the stack, if I even read the whole thing. It's like it's too easy. I'm just waxing some silly philosophical here now, but sometimes I think it's the journey not the destination. The reprint material "paced out" a little more meant for relaxed reading, just discovering stuff as you go. I just wonder if modern readers get to enjoy the journey as much is all. There's a difference between spending a lazy afternoon with a 100-page giant versus a stack of 5 epic collections or a couple of omnibuses. I totally get this point. Some comics suffer from being read in a binge fashion. Many older books become repetitive if read one after the other.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 30, 2023 8:33:08 GMT -5
That's definitely true! I can enjoys Silver Age DC in small bits, but definitely not something you want to sit down and read a giant Omibus for! Definitely need lots of bookmarks!
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Post by tarkintino on Sept 30, 2023 22:15:16 GMT -5
I'm intrigued, that seems like the stuff of dreams for me having actual GA comics growing up. Can you share more? My parents (and their siblings) bought a ton of GA comics growing up, and by some miracle, my father had many of his comics stashed away while he was in the Army. As a result, when he obtained his old belongings, he had the comics, too, so by the time my siblings and I were born, we were exposed to GA books, from publishers such as DC (a LOT of Batman, Detective Adventure and Action), Fawcett ( Captain Marvel), Timely/Atlas (the Big Three heroes and some westerns), Dell (smorgasbord), Archie ( Archie, Jughead, Pep, etc.), Fox, such as Dagar, Desert Hawk (hence the cover I entered for this week's contest) and a few crime titles. There were other GA titles, but my brothers and I were exposed to a very deep "bench" of the Golden Age. Personally, it did not necessarily influence my Silver Age-forward tastes (especially in cases when there was no precedent for certain types of titles / subject matter), but I did have an appreciation for early GA adventure (Not so much the increasingly childish, repetitive, corporate kind of superhero story that dominated late GA titles of the genre) and welcomed reprints during the 60s & 70s. Interesting point, particularly about comic book IPs delivered in a far different way (or more consistent movie/TV productions than any other period of history), and how that influences perceptions. That said, with few exceptions, I see more complaints and/or comparisons between movies and comics from the Silver - Bronze Age than any comic from the 90s, and I don't believe that's just due to specific stories being adapted, but it might suggest comic fans look to the 60s and 70s as the standard superhero movies are judged by, rather than comics from the 90s.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2023 3:19:45 GMT -5
I'm intrigued, that seems like the stuff of dreams for me having actual GA comics growing up. Can you share more? My parents (and their siblings) bought a ton of GA comics growing up, and by some miracle, my father had many of his comics stashed away while he was in the Army. As a result, when he obtained his old belongings, he had the comics, too, so by the time my siblings and I were born, we were exposed to GA books, from publishers such as DC (a LOT of Batman, Detective Adventure and Action), Fawcett ( Captain Marvel), Timely/Atlas (the Big Three heroes and some westerns), Dell (smorgasbord), Archie ( Archie, Jughead, Pep, etc.), Fox, such as Dagar, Desert Hawk (hence the cover I entered for this week's contest) and a few crime titles. There were other GA titles, but my brothers and I were exposed to a very deep "bench" of the Golden Age. Personally, it did not necessarily influence my Silver Age-forward tastes (especially in cases when there was no precedent for certain types of titles / subject matter), but I did have an appreciation for early GA adventure (Not so much the increasingly childish, repetitive, corporate kind of superhero story that dominated late GA titles of the genre) and welcomed reprints during the 60s & 70s. That's amazing, not only the volume of content but the mix of it all. What a way to spend your early reading years!
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Post by tartanphantom on Oct 1, 2023 13:21:35 GMT -5
I don't think that there is a lack of "market" for reprints-- but where the market is focused is different from the '70s reprint trends.
The mere existence of hardbound Omnibus, Masterpiece, and Archive editions speaks to the fact that classic reprints in the present era are primarily focused at mature collectors with deeper pockets. This is a niche apart from what was the general comic-buying demographic of 50 years ago. While 9-13 yr. olds of the early '70s might have found the reprints to be somewhat novel and intriguing; and a bigger bang for their allowance or deposit-bottle money. That demographic largely doesn't exist as a target audience (for comics) any more.
As a result, printing costs notwithstanding, it doesn't make economic sense for a publisher to include extra pages with an 8-page Jungle Jim story from the 1940's, especially when they can package 2 dozen Jungle Jim stories into a limited-run omnibus and sell it to an age 55-70 target market for a substantial markup.
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Post by Prince Hal on Oct 1, 2023 14:07:29 GMT -5
And despite all those faults you mention here, speculators and canny fanboys bought tons of those crappy comics and now you can't sell a one of them even for kindling.
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Post by jason on Oct 3, 2023 15:08:42 GMT -5
Something Classic X-Men did to make their title stand out (which, in retrospect, Marvel should have also done with Marvel Tales) was print all new backup stories which took place around the same time the issue in question took place. They were rarely action stories, mostly personal stories that delved into the personalities of the characters. Sadly, the desire for ads took over and they dropped them by the 90s (the last one had a young Rogue kissing a boy and discovering the full extent of her power).
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2023 17:23:17 GMT -5
Something Classic X-Men did to make their title stand out (which, in retrospect, Marvel should have also done with Marvel Tales) was print all new backup stories which took place around the same time the issue in question took place. They were rarely action stories, mostly personal stories that delved into the personalities of the characters. Sadly, the desire for ads took over and they dropped them by the 90s (the last one had a young Rogue kissing a boy and discovering the full extent of her power). That's a good callout! Kind of a "reverse padded" approach, and I remember picking up that title for a time. These were not contemporary to each other obviously, but when you mentioned Marvel Tales, it made me think of Busiek's Untold Tales of Spider-Man and how those stories could combine. Read a vintage reprint, then read an "untold" story in the same issue maybe!
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Post by tartanphantom on Oct 3, 2023 17:28:21 GMT -5
Marvel Tales did pad out issues with new "Spectacular Spider-Ham" stories from around '87 to '90. Not exactly Spidey slice-of-life fare, but tangential to the main reprint character.
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Post by majestic on Oct 4, 2023 9:18:26 GMT -5
In 2010 when Dark Horse held the rights to the Gold Key characters... The first issues had a new story with a second reprint story from the original Gold Key era.
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Post by badwolf on Oct 4, 2023 9:26:12 GMT -5
The last time I remember seeing anything like this was with Marvel's occasional "Monster" issues. There were a couple during Kurt Busiek's Avengers run, and they were priced the same or only slightly higher than a normal issue, IIRC.
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Post by rberman on Oct 8, 2023 15:31:23 GMT -5
That's definitely true! I can enjoys Silver Age DC in small bits, but definitely not something you want to sit down and read a giant Omibus for! Definitely need lots of bookmarks! My kids have experienced many Silver Age books that way, though.
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Post by tonebone on Oct 10, 2023 13:58:36 GMT -5
DC tried it with the Walmart Giants... clearly they didn't do will enough to continue. I think today doing a reprint in a monthly would be weird... now we have trades where you can simply buy many of the older stories you might want... you have milestone reprints, and you have Marvel and DC's digital services that offer whatever you might want... who would pay extra for a random reprint in a monthly? The failure of the Walmart giants were not because of reprints. It was because they located them in a stupid part of the store... on the "collectibles and cards" isle. They should have been placed in the toys or pop culture collectibles sections, which in most stores is near the video games/dvds. Also, the price... they cost MORE than a regular comic, when they should have cost LESS, to attract non comics readers. They could have made them a little smaller, on cheaper paper, for a lower price. No one complains that Manga is on cheaper paper.
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