My Later Heresies finally arrived, and I'm broadly pleased and hungry for a third volume (Final Heresies?), with or without Tubular Hells.
As has been noted elsewhere the repro is uneven, especially in Book V and a few places in Book VI - these are pretty obviously using the same source as the Casefiles edition, with many of the same issues. I would have thought that Talbot's assertive lines would have been easier to reproduce than most, but alas.
However, the B&W treatment of the colour spreads is far sharper to my eye, and the Diceman strips are a massive improvement over my Casefiles copy. The photostrips seem about the same, but they benefit greatly from the clean white of the paperstock. This increased contrast also benefits the Hicklenton episodes, which while maybe a bit heavy on the blacks look amazing.
The real jewels of this edition are a superb full-page colour cover galley, and a glorious colour printing of Torquemada's Second Honeymoon. These hint annoyingly at what could potentially have been achieved elsewhere, but are lovely in their own right.
Once you accept that what you're getting for your money is a beautifully bound and nicely designed larger-format edition of Casefiles Vol 2 on lovely paper, with legacy flaws and quite minor improvements, plus excellent colour bits, rather than a reworked "absolute" version or a Hibernia-quality labour of love, I think it succeeds as a very worthwhile purchase.
