Yes, I know about that History of the DC Universe drawn by Pérez.
So pal Nat has published via About Comics the complete Dalgoda Omnibus:
Featuring all the comics by Jan Strnad and Dennis Fujitake and others, starring your favorite space dog. Also includes images of promotional artwork, retailer posters and signs, and mag covers. Of note…I helped a very tiny bit with this publication, providing a scan of a magazine cover for the book’s art gallery. I’m thanked in there and everything.
So anyway, if you want copies, they’re out there for sale…and I’ll have ’em for sale at my shop, too. If I run out, I’ll just give pal Nat a ring-a-ding and get some more!
(I wrote a bit about Dalgoda here as part of my Final ’80s Countdown series on fave indie comics.)
Okay, I was maybe a little too harsh on my assessment of Marvel Saga, that company’s attempt at retelling the history of their shared universe via panels and sequences from their long history of publications, with additional text filling in the gaps. Like so:
A couple of you in the comments there expressed your appreciation of that project, which made me rethink my opinions on it. I may have come at it from a retailer perspective, looking at unsold copies sitting in a bin and so forth.
But I forgot what it’s like to be a fan, new to all this nonsense, not having immediate access to Everything That’s Come Before in the comics you were just starting to read. It reminds me a bit of a certain Mr. Roynaldo Thomas and his work at DC Comics in the early 1980s, particularly this series:
…where I, a kid who didn’t have a full run of every Golden Age superhero comic ever printed, could learn about DC’s past characters in stories set in a time from which they originally came into existence. And then there was the America Vs. The Justice Society mini, with its copious footnotes detailing the decades-past stories referenced during the main plot.
I devoured this stuff. I loved learning about DC’s Golden Age via these new comics. As it turns out, I find them somewhat hard to read now…just kinda overly dense and clunky in a way I don’t have patience for. Which isn’t to say I don’t still have positive feelings towards those comics and how they helped fill in some comic knowledge gaps when I was a young and eager fan.
And so, there’s Marvel Saga, presenting the breadth of the Marvel Universe, a relatively stable and consistent setting compared to DC’s own superhero setting which had at that time (and several times since) been recently reset. Plus, this particular format (previously used for the Super-Villain Classics retelling the story of Galactus) made a recent appearance in the similarly-purposed History of the Marvel Universe from just a few years ago:
I take back my initial dismissal of Marvel Saga and acknowledge its use as a guide through the company’s continuity, especially for those folks who could use the introduction or the refresher. There can be a steep learning curve for folks trying to get a handle on a superhero universe’s fictional setting, and books like this help. Sure they could use Wikipedia, but it’s more fun through the comics themselves.
If you fed Roy Thomas’ resume into a computer and asked it what his ideal scripting assignment would be, the answer (for better or worse) would be ‘America vs. The Justice Society’.
I bought a couple of issues of Marvel Saga out of the bins, they were fine. The Wolverine Saga, a prestige format series in the same style that told the story of Wolverine in chronological order up through 1989, was much better. It focused on a single character, and the writer retold the events depicted in the assembled comics as Logan’s journey from misanthropic loner to valued friend, teammate, and mentor. In the pre-(widespread) internet, almost-no-reprints days, Wolverine Saga was an important reference source.
So something I’ve been wondering lately, and the comments mentioning how Marvel Saga was useful before everything was reprinted makes this at least tangentially related: What’s the longest ongoing series from a Marvel/DC that has had the fewest issues collected?
(Someone on Bluesky said Golden Age Aquaman, so let’s say Silver Age and forward and limit it to superhero and related titles.)
I was wondering this because I was looking up Alpha Flight and saw that other than the first 29 issues by John Byrne barely a handful of the other 100+ issues have ever been reprinted anywhere. Are there other superhero series with longer uncollected runs?
I think it is a shame that circa 1981 Marvel stopped publishing almost all of the reprint titles that had featured the classic Marvel stories from the 1960s and early ’70s: Marvel’s Greatest Comics; Marvel Double Action; Marvel Triple Action; Amazing Adventures; etc. As a kid at the time this was a great way to read early Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men, Captain America, Iron Man, etc. stories from the first two decades of Marvel Comics’ published history (not counting the Timely and Atlas iterations). I think the only thing they kept going beyond 1981 was Marvel Tales with the classic Spider-Man reprints. Then, of course, in the late ’80s we got Classic X-Men reprints and some supplemental story content.
@Oliver
For me All-Star Squadron was the best series Roy Thomas ever did at DC–followed by Infinity Inc., and Arak.
@Matthew Murray
To the best of my knowledge Golden Age Aquaman stories appeared in More Fun Comics, Adventure Comics, and some Superboy Comics–Aquaman wasn’t popular enough in the Golden Age to have his own comic book. Probably there is a lot of Quality Comics inventory from the 1940s -’50s that DC acquired that still hasn’t been reprinted.
Speaking of uncollected comic runs, Roy Thomas, and Arak: No issues of Arak have ever been collected. It may not be the longest stretch, but a 50-issue (plus one annual) run from the period 1961-1990 from Marvel/DC with no issues ever collected seems to be a very rare occurrence in the 2020s.
I’d actually rank Arak as Thomas’ best comic book work. I love that series. I own the entirety, but I expected that DC would have collected the entire series in two of their B&W Showcase Presents volumns, yet it never happened.
Also, speaking of love, it was such a joy to discover Marvel Tales in the 1980s, reprinting the Lee/Ditko issues of Amazing Spider-Man from the start. Then, to be able to hunt down the MT back-issues featuring the Lee/Romita and Conway runs at an affordable price.
Marvel Saga was a few years before I got into comics, especially Marvel. Spider-Man Saga came out at just the right time for me though, I loved it.
Marvel may have eliminated their regular reprint books other than Marvel Tales and X-Men Classic by the time I started reading, but they would do occasional special things, like JM DeMatteis’s Ghost Rider or Starlin’s Warlock, and new series would occasionally start up like X-Men: the Early Years or Sabretooth classics. It was always appreciated.
Aquaman’s… lack of popularity during the Golden Age despite him being continuously published reminds me of my favorite bit of comics trivia– Aquaman’s first US cover appearance is Brave and the Bold #28, more famously the first appearance of the JLA.
Re: Golden Age Aquaman, I guess what with Timely Comics’ Submariner debuting first and being a great anti-hero and foul for the original Human Torch, DC’s Aquaman might have seemed passe by comparison. But from the few Golden Age Aquaman stories I have seen reprinted, he seemed like quite a bad-ass–chucking full-grown polar bears at poachers, etc. Also, his origin story was much more in line with an Iron Munro/Philip Wylie’s “Gladiator” motif where his scientist father performed experiments that let Aquaman breath underwater, etc. He was not from Atlantis. I really wish that Roy Thomas had integrated Earth-2 Aquaman in to the All-Star Squadron comic beyond the one or two token appearances he made right when COIE was altering “reality.” They also should have kept that aspect with Silver and Bronze Age Aquaman stories where he –and all Atlanteans–had major strength, considering that they lived in the depths of the oceans. It always bugged me during the Bronze Age Teen Titans revival when they made Aqualad/Garth weak or sick. By contrast, late Silver/early Bronze Age Aqualad/Garth was shown beating Dick Grayson in a fist fight, when he came back to check in on the Titans after an extended leave of absence and found that Mr. Jupiter was now running the show. Which makes sense, as an Atlantean should have the strength advantage over a surface dweller. Going back to the original Justice League, the only members who should have been physically stronger than Aquaman would be Superman, Wonder Woman, and maybe Martian Manhunter.
*foil
How much of Warlord has been reprinted?
Randal-I think only the first 28 issues in the Showcase Presents volumn.
——————————————
Wait…doesn’t throwing a polar bear as a weapon at poachers sort of defeat the purpose of trying to stop poachers?
@ Chris V.
Those poachers were so startled that they froze on the spot and the polar bear exacted its revenge…thanks to Golden Age, badass Aquaman!
https://www.reddit.com/r/DCcomics/comments/1477r7y/comic_excerpt_golden_age_aquaman_throws_some/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
https://www.reddit.com/r/DCcomics/comments/1477r7y/comic_excerpt_golden_age_aquaman_throws_some/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
@Randal:
Aside from the Showcase presents volume Chris V mentioned, there was a trade in the early 90s reprinting the first 10ish issues in color, a few issues are in the “DC through the 80s” HCs that came out at the beginning of the decade, and there was one trade of the 2009 revival (which was by Grell).
Where’s the Adventures of Jerry Lewis DC’s Finest collection?
Considering that PS Art books is releasing the fourteenth volume of Quality Comics Blackhawk this week (which collects issues 70-74), it would seem that all of the Golden Age Quality Comics output is in the public domain, even if DC owns the copyright and usage on the characters for any stories they appear in once DC began publishing them. And I guess the same the ng applies to Golden Age Fawcett Comics.
Personally, I think it would be cool if DC comics did a handful of 100-Page Giants and/or Treasury Edition sized comics that showcased these characters. For instance, there could be a “Freedom Fighters” 100-Page Giant which could reprint the first appearance of the characters in the JLA “Crisis on Earth X” two part story, as well as the first issue of the team’s short-lived 1970s title, several issues of All-Star Squadron which dealt with Earth X, and the first appearances or origin stories from various Quality Comics for Uncle Sam, The Ray, Black Condor, Phantom Lady, Doll Man, Human Bomb–and maybe even Plasticman, Firebrand, The Jester, Midnight, etc.
Similarly, DC could do an Earth-S (Fawcett
Comics) 100-Page Giant which could feature the three part story from JLA, “Crisis on Earth S,” as well as the first appearance of Captain Marvel/Shazam as a DC character and then also reprint Fawcett Comics first appearances for Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., Mary Marvel, Ibis, Spy-Smasher, Bulletman & Bulletgirl, Mr. Scarlet & Pinky–and they might as well throw in Minute Man, Golden Arrow, Commando Yank, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny and any other Fawcett Comics superhero whose Golden Age origin story is public domain. I’m not certain if Captain Midnight could be used or not.
And then the same thing could be done for Earth-Charlton and the first appearances of the Charlton Action Heroes–as well as reprinting the first Golden Age Dan Garrett/Blue Beetle appearance from Fox Comics. Maybe they could even work out a deal with Bill Black to reprint the AC Comics story that had Captain Atom, The Question, Ted Kord Blue Beetle, and Nightshade together as a team for the first time in the ’80s–I think they were called The Sentinels of Liberty and the comic came out before Watchmen. They could also throw in the first post-COIE appearances of the Charlton characters in the DC Universe, and maybe the Elseworlds “Pax Americana” story.
And how about 100-Page Giants or Treasury Edition sized comics that would be artist-specific? The Best of Jack Kirby; The Best of Steve Ditko; The Best of Neal Adams; The Best of Alex Toth; The Best of Joe Kubert; The Best of Gil Kane; The Best of Carmine Infantino; The Best of George Perez; The Best of John Byrne; etc.
So Warlord seems a contender. I’ve been mildly surprised Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man haven’t gotten any love other than Essentials. Peter Parker had 250+ issues, only 115 being Essential-ed, and no other dedicated collections. Where are my Spectacular, Web, and Team-Up Epics?
Marvel did finally get around to collecting the classic initial JM DeMatteis run on Spectacular in an Omnibus. That was the height of Spectacular Spider-Man comics, for mine.
I’m surprised that Peter David’s also justly-classic run (including some of his material from Web Of also) hasn’t been granted the Omnibus format (or similar) as of yet.
Spectacular was always my favourite of the Spider-Man titles.
@Sean
I seem to recall a series of hardcovers called “Before Watchmen” being solicited sometime in the last decade which collected the Charlton adventures of Blue Beetle et al.
Of course, sadly, they never made it to actual publication.
Going back a bit, there were two volumes of DC Archives “Action Heroes” that did reprint the Charlton material.
OK. I’ll be the DALGODA guy. That book was always near the register at the LCS from the early 80s. For whatever reason, it sold way better than the other dependents on the rack.
The title a play on LAD: A DOG, made in Canada but always on FAMILY CLASSICS here on Sundays. There was also a film, THE LITTLEST HOBO. Also Canadian. 1980 Wayne had no idea Canada had films distributed to the US, though I knew about GODZILLA, ASTRO BOY, and the like. Oh, and TOBOR THE EIGHTH MAN. I Knew about everything but to the dog films.
OK. I’m out of here. DALGODA was a great book.
There are going to be two Warlord omnibuses reprinting Grell’s entire run.
https://mikegrell.com/news/?p=2540
Rob Kelly had Danny Fingeroth as a guest on his “Mountain Comics” Podcast for the Fire and Water Network. They were discussing issue #93 of World’s Greatest Comic – reprinting part of the Overmind storyline from the early 70’s. In it Fingeroth blew my mind when he stated that the real reason Marvel published so many reprint titles through the 70’s was to satisfy their contractual obligation to their advertisers. I had never even considered this before. Looking back it does make sense. Hey, at least that’s more chances to see Kirby comics and Jack Davis artwork in advertisements!
I loved finding all of those reprint titles while digging through the cheap bins in the 90’s! Running across a WGC, Marvel Double Feature or Marvel Spectacular for 50 cents was a bargain value way of peering into the silver age, and much appreciated!
Much better than the way overpriced and garishly colored “Masterworks”.
In 1986 I was 13/14 and like the reprints I would later discover, Marvel Saga was a way of getting a glimpse into the Marvel of a bygone era. It wasn’t as thrilling as OHOTMU or Who’s Who, but it did serve a valuable function.
I feel all of the indexes, handbooks and “sagas” create a sort of para-social relationship to the comics they are discussing, which already have that para-social built element to them, creating an effect of being even further removed – if that makes any sense.
I’ve never read a single comic involving Chemical King, The Gardner, Roy Raymond: TV Detective, or The Hangman, etc., but their entries are still burned into my mind.
In some ways it gives one the sense that they know more about these comics than they actually do.
That said, I was TOTALLY obsessed with the Fantastic Four Index!!! It was a godsend to a fledgling FF fan.
https://fireandwaterpodcast.com/show/mountain-comics/?pager=4
Marvel Masterworks has Spectacular Spidey up through #91 with another volume taking it to #100 due in April.
One other attempt to collect SSM does exist– Marvel put out a thick trade of #137-150, the beginning of the Conway/Sal Buscema run, which was labelled volume one, but apparently didn’t do very well as no volume 2 ever appeared.
The ASM Epics will be including all four Spidey titles while covering the second Clone Saga, much like the original second Clone Saga trades (which covered #217-241, roughly 13% of the series).
I’m not an omnibus guy, but the DeMatteis/Sal Buscema run is my favorite Spidey run of all-time, so I had to order that. It won’t actually be out until summer.
The Super-Villain Classics origin of Galactus didn’t really use that Marvel Saga format. It repurposed a lot of Kirby panels from various issues of FF and Thor, but it filled in parts of the story with new comics by then-modern creators, not with blocks of text.
Big fan of Dalgoda, and rushed to get the new collection when I heard of it. Great stuff, reads really well as a 12-issue saga. I reviewed it here:
https://fourrealities.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-dalgoda-omnibus-by-fujitake-strnad.html
There are going to be Warlord omnibuses? Fantastic news! Finally, my favorite disco gladiators will get some respect!
@LouReedRichards
If you ever decide that you do want to read a story with Chemical King, I highly recommend the Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes two-part story in issues 228 and 229, by Paul Levitz, James Sherman, and Jack Abel.
I think that on the whole Who’s Who had much more dynamic art and was funner, whereas OHOTMU had a lot more facts and information–but blander, almost generic art. But they both served their purpose at the time.
That is interesting information about the plethora of Marvel reprint books during the ’70s, and advertising. I tend to pick them up when I can find th m in decent condition at a reasonable price. Always fun to read old Atlas genre stories with art by Ditko, Kirby, Russ Heath, Joe Maneely, Carl Burgos, Bill Everett, etc.
I’m glad that Saga has its fans– but I still think Marvel could have got an artist to redraw all of the panels for a consistent style; either an up and commer from the ’80s like Butch Guice or Paul Smith, or an old dependable artist like Sal Buscema, Don Heck, George Tuska, Gene Colan, etc .
In addition to Dalgoda, Dennis Fujitake also did some really cool illos for The Comics Journal, Amazing Heroes and other fanzines in the late ’70s/early ’80s. His style had a lot of Steve Ditko and Gil Kane influences to it, as well as Mobieus. It would have been cool to see Fujitake draw some Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, The Creeper, or Hawk and Dove stories.
https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1422422
“Okay, I was maybe a little too harsh on my assessment of Marvel Saga, that company’s attempt at retelling the history of their shared universe via panels and sequences from their long history of publications, with additional text filling in the gaps.”
my objection is it’s so text-heavy, and not as fun as reading the originals, at least some of which could be reprinted. Maybe a couple collections of continuity-important issues, esp. if they’re related in some way.
“Spidey”
Spectacular Spider-Man has at least one big hardcover! I’ve got it! It’s got Spidey & moon knight on the cover.
“Arak”
Pretty, pretty good! one of the bast last issues of a series I’ve ever read!
“Warlord”
reprinted? AWESOME! ENTER THE LOST WORL OF THE WARLORD! WOMEN IN FUR BIKINIS!