The Complete Zenith

[IronGraham]

You spoil us so much

[Molch-R]

You spoil us so much

We know.

[opaque]

A serious lack of money at the time

when payday came round the buggers were gone

Well you have plenty of time to save the money up now if it's gong to take 2 years for all 4 to come out!
Won't get caught out again

[The Monarch]

i got the first two volumes saved up for already

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

So.

At the risk of re-igniting the flames here, what should I be flogging my sealed complete Zenith for?

I bought it to re-read it, thinking it would be the only edition. I was on holiday when it came, and when I heard what they were going for decided not to open it: Mrs X would nag me forever for doing such a thing. Then, when I first listed it, bloomin' LMS announced Tharg was doing a four Phase collection.

I'll buy them, thanks, and not feel guilty when my boys read them.

Long story short: what's a fair price?

[Hawkmumbler]

I'll give you £100.01 for it.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

I'll give you £100.01 for it.

That's not very helpful.

But thanks for your kind thoughts.

[Jim_Campbell]

Good God — there are three on eBay right now for a grand, eight hundred quid and four hundred quid...

It's only a bloody comic!

Cheers

Jim

[Spikes]

Indeed. These seemed to fly off eBay when folks first put them up, but (crazy prices aside) they seem to hang around a bit longer now.

Has the bubble burst?

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Indeed. These seemed to fly off eBay when folks first put them up, but (crazy prices aside) they seem to hang around a bit longer now.

Has the bubble burst?

Frigging hope not!

[The Corinthian]

I have the five Titan collections and the original progs with Phase IV, so was never going to buy the complete hardcover - but upgrading to a collect Phase IV is tempting...

[Recrewt]

You can view completed listings on ebay to get an idea of what something is worth.  Not many have sold recently but in January a couple went for £130 and £150.  I think that is a bit low as although there are other books coming out, this is still the only complete collection.

[Frank]

Not many have sold recently but in January a couple went for £130 and £150

As an investment, you'd be better off sticking £100 in an ISA.

[Skullmo]

Not many have sold recently but in January a couple went for £130 and £150

As an investment, you'd be better off sticking £100 in an ISA.

ISAs are also a great read

[Jim_Campbell]

Just an interesting tangent to the legal issues. 20th Century Danny Boy has some deposition transcripts from the Gaiman/McFarlane legal tussles* and one doesn't have to read very far to find this:

NG:  I wanted to write for DC Comics.
Q:  Why is that?
NG:  2000 A.D. stuff that was published, I rapidly realized that they were taking all rights to the work I did.
Q:  Who do you mean by they?
NG:  2000 A.D., at that point I think it was Fleetway Publications. One had to sign over all rights and I saw stories I had written reprinted in American editions and that they gave me no copies of and that I was not paid for.
Q:  When you wrote for the comic 2000 A.D., were you paid for that work?
NG:  Yes.
Q:  Were you paid a flat fee for turning in the script?
NG:  Yes.
Q:  Did you sign a contract with, was it Fleetway Publishing?
NG:  Yes, it was a back-of-the-check contract at the time.
Q:  And did that back-of-the-check contract state that you were granting all rights in the work you were turning in to Fleetway Publishing?
NG:  I no longer remember.
Q:  How do you know that they were taking all rights?
NG:  Because they never paid anything else for use.
Q:  Were you finished with that?
NG:  I am now.
Q:  Did you ever complain about that to Fleetway?
NG:  I spoke to Steve MacManus, the editor, who said that was how they did it and they would love to change it, but it wasn't changed. And that was the last thing I did for 2000 A.D.
Q:  When you say they were taking all rights, what do you mean by the term all rights?
NG:  In this case I mean specifically reprint rights without payment.

So we're supposed to believe that Neil Gaiman, on the basis of writing four Future Shocks had a clear understanding of the rights situation with Fleetway where Morrison, with substantially more 2000AD work under his belt (and he claims to have been an old hand in The Biz by this point, remember) ploughed into a major work like Zenith with either a) no clue as to the rights situation or b) the belief that he was going to get a creator-owned deal unlike any other creator working for the title but never got it in writing...?

You may colour me slightly sceptical.

Cheers

Jim