Essentials From Begining to-???

[beaglegod]

This seems like an obvious question,so forgive me if its been asked before. I was just reading a thread on DCs Showcases and how they will possibly be stopping at 1975. I was wondering if anyone knew how far Marvell planed on taking the Essentials,since they dont seem to have some of the constraints DC has. They have already released huge collections on DVD wich I bought but I find I dont like reading off the screen. I have printed out quite a few issues but needless to say when you factor in time,paper and ink $$$!

So looks like Essentials is still the best deal all round.

[david r]

It seems that Marvel doesn't have the royalty rate issue that DC does. Just look at the X-Men Essentials, they are up to 1986, I believe.

The Essentials have been out for years, and I've never heard of any royalty problems. Didn't the Punisher Essential reproduce some 1980s comics? I don't think it's a problem for them.

[Cactusakic]

I dont own any of the Essential trades myself, but I'm sure I read a post on one of these boards not so long ago that said the next Wolverine essential volume was reprints from the 90's series.
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure.

[J'onn J'onzz]

I dont own any of the Essential trades myself, but I'm sure I read a post on one of these boards not so long ago that said the next Wolverine essential volume was reprints from the 90's series.
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure.

You are correct.

[Agentum]

I hope the people that have the rights to various characters ans storys in DC after 1976 understand and can take a resonable amount of money, otherwise they get nothing at all.

[J'onn J'onzz]

I hope the people that have the rights to various characters ans storys in DC after 1976 understand and can take a resonable amount of money, otherwise they get nothing at all.

I think DC has the rights to those stories and just doesn't want to put the m in Showcases because they are too new for them.

[Gingold]

I think DC has the rights to those stories and just doesn't want to put the m in Showcases because they are too new for them.

Apparently, DC had a different reprint royalty system in place between 1976 and 1993 (?- I'm not 100% on the years, but I think I'm pretty close), which means that they have to pay a higher rate to creators when that stuff gets reprinted. This rate apparently makes reprinting a lot of the material cost prohibitative, unless the creators agree to take the standard royalty rate instead. There is a fair amount of material from this period reprinted, but the Showcase format might demand a fairly low royalty rate in order to be profitable.

[david r]

The royalty issue is important. There is a snag for Showcase-lovers because they are so cheap. Because the price for them is only $16.99, the royalty rates from 1976-1997 would seriously eat up DC's profits from the Showcases.

I've never heard that Marvel has this issue. I've never heard of an Essential not materializing because of a royalty problem. Lack of still having the licensing for books like Micronauts of Master of Kung-Fu--now THAT has stopped those Essentials from coming out, yes. But I don't think Marvel has a royalty rate issue.

I now understand why DC announced that the Showcases were going to mine deeply into the Silver Age. DC was trying to put the best spin on it. The Golden Age books (!930s-1954) are too cost prohibitive for DC Showcases. And the years 1976-1997 have troubles because of the royalty rates. So the Showcases may only encompass the years 1955-1975.

[beaglegod]

Well in the case of Essentials if all the titles go up to the 90s at least,they are a godsend as its realy great fun reading all the issues of every major marvel hero, and hopefully being able to follow all the crossovers later on down the line. Im reading Iron Man Vol 1. right now and its taken me a week to get through half of it. I think its safe to say Im set for a very long time with essentials.

My only complaint is that while I understand the lack of color keeps cost down, some of the colors could have been reproduced as monocrome (b&w) and that would have added some more depth of feel to the art work,also in later works like the affore mentioned "Wolverine Vol 4" because of the change in paper and art style (lots of dark backrounds on glossy paper) that volume at least is very dark and its a bit hard to see seperation,you definitely need good lighting when reading it. Besides those minor gripes, at 10-11 bucks per book at some online vendors you just cant beat em!

[david r]

The absence of color can definitely be an issue. Probably the Green Lantern Showcases will definitely have troubles, because color is an integral part of that series.

I personally also feel the lack of color hurts horror comics like Tomb of Dracula and House of Mystery. Those dark shadows and gloomy hallways just lack in simple B&W. (At least for me.)

[Mike Kuypers]

The absence of color can definitely be an issue. Probably the Green Lantern Showcases will definitely have troubles, because color is an integral part of that series.

You would think so, but during the Silver Age GL often stated the obvious. "My ring is powerless against that yellow missile!" In color such a statement might provoke a "Duh!" from the reader, but in B&W it's quite helpful.

[jaguarshark]

Originally posted by Mike Kuypers
You would think so, but during the Silver Age GL often stated the obvious. "My ring is powerless against that yellow missile!" In color such a statement might provoke a "Duh!" from the reader, but in B&W it's quite helpful.

Exactly! It's like Broome could predict the future or something... actually, considering the serialised soap opera and gradual reveal of the GL universe which predated Marvel's Silver Age, and all the crazy inventions his stories involved, he probably could!

[Jonathan Bogart]

You would think so, but during the Silver Age GL often stated the obvious. "My ring is powerless against that yellow missile!" In color such a statement might provoke a "Duh!" from the reader, but in B&W it's quite helpful.
I'd guess that the color was written into the dialogue also to provide a nudge to the overworked and undervalued colorist, who might otherwise color the missile pink or dark navy or whatever. It's not like the colorist also got a copy of Broome's detailed script; they had to work on whatever information the black & white pages themselves gave them.

[Mike Kuypers]

Could be. But aren't those comments usually written in the margins?

[Slam_Bradley]

I personally also feel the lack of color hurts horror comics like Tomb of Dracula and House of Mystery. Those dark shadows and gloomy hallways just lack in simple B&W. (At least for me.)


I couldn't disagree more. I felt that Tomb of Dracula worked much better in B&W. In fact, most of Colan's art looks better that way. House of Mystery was a bit more dependent on the story.