posted December 15, 2002 12:24 PM               

Marvel is putting out a Daredevil HC titled Vol. 2 soon. What's unique about this is that there is no Vol. 1, nor is there one scheduled. It's all but certain, though, that sometime within the next 6-8 months or so, we'll all have a DD HC Vol. 1 to put next to our Vol. 2.

So my question here is- would you guys ever consider taking an Archives series (say...GA GL or GA Flash,) skipping ahead to the late 40's comics, and numbering it ahead as well? Perhaps give us a GA Green Lantern Vol. 8 before we get Vol's 3-7?

I think I know the answer to that: No. I think I also know why: because it would drive some people so crazy they might consider murder! I'm not in favor of this so much, I just want to know if it's something ya'll had considered.

Thanks for your time.

posted December 15, 2002 09:18 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by dylanfan:
All of a sudden I have questions for Bob. OK, I know this is apples and oranges, but bear with me:

Marvel is putting out a Daredevil HC titled Vol. 2 soon. What's unique about this is that there is no Vol. 1, nor is there one scheduled. It's all but certain, though, that sometime within the next 6-8 months or so, we'll all have a DD HC Vol. 1 to put next to our Vol. 2.

So my question here is- would you guys ever consider taking an Archives series (say...GA GL or GA Flash,) skipping ahead to the late 40's comics, and numbering it ahead as well? Perhaps give us a GA Green Lantern Vol. 8 before we get Vol's 3-7?

I think I know the answer to that: No. I think I also know why: because it would drive some people so crazy they might consider murder! I'm not in favor of this so much, I just want to know if it's something ya'll had considered.

Thanks for your time.

---

posted December 15, 2002 11:01 PM            

I've got four quick questions for you.

Questions
1)When will the beginning of Geoff John's run on The Flash be in TPB format (this would be the Wonderland storyline which runs from The Flash#164-169)?

2)Will we ever see the rest of Mark Waid's Flash run in TPB format?

Two Examples:
The Black Flash storyline through the Chain Lightning storyline:
From The Flash#139-150

The Dark Flash storyline until either the Honeymoon issue (the issue that Scott Kolins drew...the first Flash issue he drew until coming on board as the new artist for the current creative team) or until and including The Turtle storyline (The Flash#163):
The Flash#151-160 (or The Flash#151-163)

3)Any chance of a Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. TPB (Issues 0-14)?

4)Last but not least, when will the next TPB be coming out for Grant Morrison's run on Animal Man (Issues 18-26)?

posted December 16, 2002 01:43 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Greenberger:
A Silver Age Superman run is always a possibility but with Dynamic Duo in 2003, we aren't planning anything as of today.

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I can't believe this isn't a top priority for DC. This should have been a top priority years ago. I guess this is where the personal preferences of the Archives Squad take precedence over what the Archive buying public wants.

posted December 16, 2002 01:49 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Corrosive Kid:
I guess this is where the personal preferences of the Archives Squad take precedence over what the Archive buying public wants.

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Couldnt disagree more. Bob and company have been very receptive to what the buying public wants archived, and have asked, on several occasions for buyers imput.

posted December 16, 2002 02:23 PM               

Another quick question. Marvel has it's upcoming books listed months and months early on Amazon. Why doesn't DC? Is this a Warner Books thing more than a DC thing? Also, Amazon is very slow in getting its Archives. Not a question, I know, just an observation I'm sure you've heard before...

posted December 16, 2002 09:51 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by stoter1:
Couldnt disagree more. Bob and company have been very receptive to what the buying public wants archived, and have asked, on several occasions for buyers imput.

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And then put out what they want to put out anyway. Was Enemy Ace really at the top of anyone's list? Why have we had to wait so long for Adam Strange? Silver Age Superman is the company's most identifiable character, for cryin' out loud. Bob himself said that they take this board with a grain of salt (although he may not have used those exact words).

All I'm saying is, at the end of the day what the people who vote on these things want to happen is what happens. That doesn't necessarily reflect a groundswell from below. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't.

posted December 17, 2002 02:18 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Corrosive Kid:
And then put out what they want to put out anyway. Was Enemy Ace really at the top of anyone's list?

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Not Enemy Ace, per se, but war comics were pretty high on mine. I hadn't read any original Enemy Ace stories, and I'm enjoying the archive quite a bit.

Not that I'd object to someone flat out pulling 50 bucks from my pocket and handing me an Adam Strange archive. My decision about that's already been made, and I'm ready to complete the purchase anytime DC is.

Rob

posted December 17, 2002 11:51 AM               

1)With Spectre skipping over the All-Star issues, much to my dismay, does this mean you have specific (or even unspecific) plans for that material (and Big All-American)?

2)What about Comic Cavalcade? When that material is archived will it be Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman in the same volume, or are they going to each get their own ala Batman in World's Finest?

-Steve

posted December 17, 2002 01:01 PM            

Once again, thank you for taking the time to participate in this board.

I have two questions.

The first is about the annual meeting you discussed somewhere on this thread. My understanding is that you walk into this meeting with an approximate number of Archives that you want to produce and about twice as many candidates. If you aren't happy with the result, you look for more candidates. I assumed that at some point before this meeting, DC decides approximately how many Archives, trades, and other hardcover collections will be produced. I also assumed that the decision-making process for trades and other hardcovers is generally separate from the decision-making process for Archives. Have I misunderstood?

My next question has to deal with Lady Luck and Mr. Mystic. If this has been discussed before, I don't remember it. I know its way too early to begin seriously planning for this, but I'm wondering what the general mood at DC is towards these Archives and if there are any technical reasons why they might not happen. For instance, maybe Eisner doesn't own the original material or maybe the length (I'm ROUGHLY approximating 5 volumes each) is prohibitive. Does DC have any interest in this?

posted December 18, 2002 05:59 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Corrosive Kid:
And then put out what they want to put out anyway. Was Enemy Ace really at the top of anyone's list? Why have we had to wait so long for Adam Strange? Silver Age Superman is the company's most identifiable character, for cryin' out loud.

---

posted December 18, 2002 11:45 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by dylanfan:
Marvel is putting out a Daredevil HC titled Vol. 2 soon. What's unique about this is that there is no Vol. 1, nor is there one scheduled. It's all but certain, though, that sometime within the next 6-8 months or so, we'll all have a DD HC Vol. 1 to put next to our Vol. 2.

---

posted December 18, 2002 01:08 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by bluedevil2002:
Actually Volume 1 and Volume 2 are coming out at the same time, according to the March solicitations.

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Volume 2 came out two weeks ago. I think Marvel just left the "Still Available" off of that new March solicitation. They often re-list their tpbs and HCs when another related one appears.

posted December 20, 2002 01:04 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by JosephAdam:
I just recently bought at my local comic shop Superman: The Dailies 1939-1942. I wonder are they any plans to continue this series? Also are we ever going to see a complete reprint of the rare Wonder Woman dailies that ran from 1944-1945?

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I finished collecting all three Superman: The Dailies TPBs last year, and also bought Superman: The Sunday Classics even before that. I'm done reading the Sunday Classics and The Dailies volumes 1 and 2, and I am almost finished with The Dailies volume 3.

These newspaper strip reprints, as well as with the Superman Archives and Superman: The Action Comics Archives books, are all just classic stuff.

I too would like to see DC reprint the short-lived Wonder Woman daily strips as well.

posted December 20, 2002 03:11 PM               

OK, from the top....

All-Star from the '70s (including Huntress stories and Power Girl in Showcase) has come up a lot. No decision has been made but the demand has been noted.

As the guy who bought the Phantom Stranger origin from Alan, trust me, I remember the story well. If I recall, Paul Levitz had the notion of four different origins from four creators as the hook, and the package worked out well.

Strange Sports Stories are fondly remembered for their quirkiness as well as their poor sales. Right after science fiction, we seem to have a lot of trouble selling sports-oriented material.

Scribbly keeps coming up and as I have said before, while we all love it, no one believes there are enough people out there to make this economically viable today.

The trade paperbacks that seem to be collecting things in sequence do so as long as they sell and the creative team on the monthly gets support from said collections. We've skipped on Mark Waid's Flash, Judd Winnick's Green Lantern and will do so again on other titles. But Mr. Newton's list is fairly accurate and we can add in 100 Bullets, Lucifer, Y, and Fables.

Catwoman is on the 2003 schedule but Batman: Family currently is not. There's been little buzz about the latter so we don't see the demand to collect this. Again, the same holds true for Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. Much as Geoff's popularity has increased, we do not think collecting this 14-issue run would work.

Similarly, when we start something in sequence, we make an editorial commitment to it. Therefore, it's not likely we would leapfrog the numbering. That's one reason behind starting Dynamic Duo Archives as opposed to skipping ahead from Batman Vol. 4 to, say, Vol. 19.

All Star #1-2 has not been forgotten. There are plans. Same with Big All-American and Comics Cavalcade.

Speaking of Dynamic Duo, the first air freighted copy hit the office yesterday and everyone was seen with pleased smiles. And don't get me wrong, there's been a lot of talk on starting the Silver Age Superman Archives, but there are only so many slots....

While we loved the Superman and Batman Dailies, neither sold well enough for us to continue through the years. Wonder Woman does come up though, since her run could be done pretty much in one shot. No plans, though.

All of our books work in page counts divisible by 16 given the way the presses work. Once we count up the story pages, we round up to the next available 16. With the pages left, we figure out what's needed for the front matter and the remaining pages are used for the covers. Wehre possible, they will appear full size and sometimes, they get ganged up. To make the pages attractive, the designer may choose to run them at differing angles.

Yes, the final Animal Man collection is coming.

Simon & Kirby's library of material is always under discussion. Once we see how well Challengers does, we'll plan the next step.

Invasion? Charlton? Funny you should mention them.

We do a sales catalogue for the mass market bookstores, incouding Amazon, that comes out 2-3 times a year. It's from those catalogues that Amazon can post its information. Marvel works differently and given how oftne they change their plans and specs, it causes confusion. It seems to work pretty well for us as is.

Our meeting methodology is pretty much as described above. We tackle trades, hardcovers and archives in one long, fun meeting. The criteria we use to evaluate each line is unique. We're about to have a 2003 course correction meeting addressing issues raised at the recent RRP meeting and to review market conditions. Again, another reason why we don't divulge the entire year at once.

And finally, whew, we have no current plans to do anything with Lady Luck and Mr. Mystic.

posted December 20, 2002 04:07 PM               

I'm also glad that the last Morrison Animal Man trade is on the way, and that DC is at least talking about the 1970s All-Star. Also, if I read between the lines, do I see the probability of a Silver-Age Superman Archives in 2004?

posted December 20, 2002 04:15 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Greenberger:
Scribbly keeps coming up and as I have said before, while we all love it, no one believes there are enough people out there to make this economically viable today.

All Star #1-2 has not been forgotten. There are plans. Same with Big All-American and Comics Cavalcade. No plans, though.

---

Bob, as always, I appreciate a response on the Mayer question. Good to know it keeps coming up, though. I wish there was a way to print SCRIBBLY and make it worthwhile. At least if you DO reprint Big All-American, Scribbly and Ma Hunkel will appear (just not Red Tornado).

Thanks again.

Jim