Of reprints and Patreons.
So a while back on the Twitterers I complained that a joke I had planned for an End of Civilization post was undone by the fact the publisher actually didn’t mess up something I thought they had messed up. I’ve been meaning to get around to telling the one or two of you who might remember that and still care just what I was talking about. And what I was talking about was the Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes hardcover volume one, as solicited in the March 2017 Diamond Previews:
That’s the image they’re using to solicit the collection, but obviously not the actual, final cover since that’s a pic of the Legion treasury edition the book will be including.
Anyway, my assumption is that there were going to be some issues skipped between the last of the DC Archives reprintings of the Legion of Super-Heroes and this volume, which picks up in the 1970s. However, to my surprise, this new book picks up exactly where the Archive editions left off, so for those of us depending on DC’s reprint program to gather up all those classic Legion stories in chronological order, like I know I was, that’s good news. Of course, this new format won’t have as many stories per volume, but also it won’t be $75 like that Archives generally were near the end there, so at least there’s that.
Like I mentioned, the treasury edition, featuring the wedding of Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad (hey, stop snickering, this is a big deal) is in this book, and I was greatly anticipating its appearance in the never-forthcoming Legion Archives Volume 14. At some point, around, I don’t know, 2008, I even passed up on a copy of the treasury because I figured I would eventually get that story in the archive series. Well, took a little longer than expected, but it’s finally on its way. Hopefully. Assuming it isn’t cancelled or postponed.
Now if we can get DC to pick up reprinting Sugar and Spike where that last archive edition left off….
And now, for a brief commercial message…as mentioned just the other day, plans are continuing apace for the Swamp Thing-a-Thon, my attempt at reviewing every Swamp Thing comic, that will be an exclusive, at least for a time, for Patreon supporters. I finally updated my Patreon page to include that reward tier in the sidebar.
Since I have the reward tier set at the lowest level (I mean, I don’t think you can contribute less than a dollar a month, can you?), anyone who supports my Patreon at any level will get access to the Swamp Thing-a-Thon posts. If you’re already a supporter, you’ll get access. If you click the “Become a Patreon” button and donate that generous $150 a month I know you want to, you’ll get access. You don’t have to click on that $1 Reward button to get access, that just makes it easier for you to chip in. If you’re contributing at all, you’re in.
Like I’ve said…the content there will make it over to this site eventually, but not for a while. If you can provide support, that’s great, but if you can’t or don’t want to, that’s perfectly okay too, and you’ll get to see that stuff anyway, if you don’t mind waiting a bit.
Thanks to you folks out there who still read this “comics” “blog” after all this time. I appreciate all the support and readership you’ve given me for so many years.
As excited as I am that DC has resumed its hardcover Legion reprints, I can’t help grumbling that if they’d kept up with the Archvies line they’d be well on their way to finishing Levitz’s second run by now…
I’ve been enjoying the big Showcase reprints because (a) I’m cheap and (b) black and white reprints in not great paper was how I first discovered the Legion. In Australia in the 70s/early 80s there was a bunch of companies (or maybe one company with many names) who put out a mish mosh of reprints of DC stuff, some of it only a couple of years old, some of it several years old and some early silver age stuff. It seemed to appear randomly, so following continuity was impossible. Sometimes they would publish 60s and 70s Legion in the same issue, which made my brain hurt. They were great.
Any hoo , I wonder if we’ll get more of Showcase Presents? Otherwise I might have to buy these fancy colour reprints to fill the gaps.
Will be interesting to see how this volume does as compared to the first Legion Omnibus coming on August 8.
Maybe Marvel and DC will retitle their black and white reprints as “Adult Coloring Books” so they won’t confuse all the reviewers on Amazon who got pissed off about buying black & white books. Maybe they’ll go back to some western or war titles from the fifties instead of regurgitating the superheroes for a fourth or fifth time. Maybe I’ll win Powerball.
The Legion tabloid book was a tale of epic scope and it was so cool to have Mike Grell back on the Legion again. It was a shame that Vince Colletta inked it instead of Wiacek, Rubenstein or Grell himself. Of all the pencillers Colletta attached himself too, Grell was the worst fit, especially on The Warlord.
Alas, the Showcase Presents volumes seem to be as dead as the Archives. As are Marvel Essentials. I miss them, I do, but I’m mostly going with omnibus volumes these days.
As an incidental note, the trade paperback volumes that follow the omnibuses from DC seem to be good value.
I’m still trying to complete my Legion Archives set…three volumes to go, and I can rest…until the omnibuses catch up. I am, of course, buying those omnibuses too.