Tharg’s 2020 in Review - Best trade / collection / GNs

[Colin YNWA]

Okay so this one has taken some work BUT wow what a year it's been for collected editions. So let’s celebrate the fact that Tharg kept us entertained with lovely shiny items from both his Thrill Vault but also the increasingly insanely brilliant Treasury of British Comics.

What is your favourite collection - well I’m hopefully going to provide a list in my next post in a sec of all the collections I can spot - please let me know if I’ve missed any.

Format is easy. Simply look at the list in the next post - and post your top three in a reply to this thread - just make sure to clearly indicate your order using the format below - with the points awarded for each placing:

(1st, foremost and best) = 5 points
(2nd runner up) = 3 points
(Bronze who cares really) = 1 point

If you don’t make it clear I’ll award all your mentioned votes 3 points each.

The vote will run for a week(ish) and I’ll announce the winner early Sunday 3rd January… hopefully...

If you have any questions just ask and I’ll wing it as normal…

[Colin YNWA]

List

For this list I’ve just included new collections or editions I’ve not included re-issues, or the same edition released in a different format - so no webshop exclusives listed separately and no paperback if the hardback was released in an earlier year … I think…). I’ve tried to put them in alphabetical order by title - but I’ve not really been much of a Librarian for a while now so that might have gone horribly wrong. I’ve also been too lazy to list the creators but ya know…

OH and this list is LONG - I trawled the Webshop as best I could but please let me know if I missed any.

(Oh and no Hatchette Ultimate Collection either - see laziness but I want this to be about the House of Tharg specifically…)

Adam Eterno

Aquila: The Burning Fields (Digital Edition)

Armoured Gideon (Digital Edition)

Bad City Blue (Digital Edition)

Black Max - Vol. 2

Brink - Book 4

Dark Justice - The Torture Garden (Digital edition)

DreadNoughts: Breaking Ground

Devlin Waugh: Blood Debt

Fall of Deadworld - Volume 3

Durham Red: Born Bad (Digital Edition)

Firekind (Digital Edition)

Flesh: Midnight Cowboys (Digital Edition)

Full Tilt Boogie

Hellman of Hammer Force

Hershey: Disease

Hope…Under Fire

Hugo Pratt - Battler Britton

Hugo Pratt - Night of the Devil

Janus Stark: Volume 3

Judge Dredd: Case Files 36

Judge Dredd: Case Files 37

Judge Dredd: Case Files 38

Essential Judge Dredd: Apocalypse War

Essential Judge Dredd: Origins

Ken Reid’s Football Funnies: The first half

Lawless Volume 3

Major Eazy: Volume One The Italian Campaign

Mean Arena: Volume 1 (Digital Edition)

Megatropolis

Misty Presents: The Jaume Rumeu Collection

Revere (Digital Edition)

Roy of the Rovers: Best of the 70s

Roy of the Rovers: The best of the 80s

Roy of the Rovers: New Digs

Slaine Dragontamer

Slaughter Bowl (Digital Edition)

The Spider’s Syndicate of Crime

Stainless Steel Rat - Deluxe Edition

The Steel Claw: Invisible Man

Tammy and Jinty: Remixed

Tales from the Black Museum (Digital edition)

Third World War - Book 2

The Thirteenth Floor Vol. 3

Thistlebone

Time Flies (Digital Edition)

Tom Paterson Collection

Trigan Empire - Volume 3

The Vigilant

Zombie Army 4: Last Rites (Digital Edition)

[broodblik]

1. Armoured Gideon (Digital Edition)
2. Firekind (Digital Edition)
3. Essential Judge Dredd: Apocalypse War

[AlexF]

Hard one to judge, this. First, i have bought/read very few of these specific collections. Second, do i reward the choice made to collect a strip, or the format used, or the whole package? Brink is super mega excellent, but the trades so far have been v. basic, for example, and its no great skill to make a trade of the most popular thrill of recent years.

Guess i’ll stick with trying to combine all thoughts into which collections gave me joy…

1) Flesh: Midnight Cowboys
2) Full Tilt Boogie
3) Thistlebone

(I didnt buy any ‘Treasury’ collections this year, and theyre often the best overall packages)

[Colin YNWA]

Well way I'll appraoch this is the fact I didn't buy it doesn't matter - as such - it means it didn't interested me enough / I couldn't justify getting it - so that's cool it can't get a vote. Though having looked at one collection I've not bought (yet) in my local comic shop I might vote for it cos man it looked stunning!

The I'll be going whole package. A strip I've never read is always going to excit me more BUT there's real credit in producing a collection of well read material that excited me enough to get it anyway. So yeah I agree with AlexF

Guess i’ll stick with trying to combine all thoughts into which collections gave me joy…

[rogue69]

1; Third World War - Book 2
2; Slaine Dragontamer
3;Major Eazy: Volume One The Italian Campaign

[Huey2]

1). Thirteenth Floor Volume 3

[The Mind of Wolfie Smith]

1. full tilt boogie

[sintec]

• Thistlebone
• Hope... under fire
• Fall Of Deadworld 3

The last I haven't purchased but only because I want to know if we're getting more of Deadworld in the Hachette collection before spending my £s.

[gogilesgo]

Most of the GNs I bought this year were from years past and the archive but there were plenty of great buys in 2021.

My three favourites:

1 Dredd Guatemala (Colin, looks like you missed this one)
2 Major Eazy: Volume One The Italian Campaign
3 Tales from the Black Museum

[Colin YNWA]

1 Dredd Guatemala (Colin, looks like you missed this one)

Oh Crap and End of Days - if anyone fancies changing their vote?

[The Corinthian]

1 Revere digital edition
2 Full Tilt Boogie
3 Steel Claw

[Rogue Judge]

1. Judge Dredd: Case Files 36 - The Case Files are truly the highlight of my reading year any time they come out. Any of the Case Files could have taken my #1 slot.

2. Essential Judge Dredd: Origins - I hadn't read Origins before, loved it! I've read the Apocalypse War a few times before, so I'll go with Origins for the Essential slot.

3. Stainless Steel Rat - Deluxe Edition - I bought this for the Ezquerra art was pleasantly surprised by the fun story too. Especially enjoyed 'Saves the World'', it really picks up then.

HM:  Major Eazy: Volume One The Italian Campaign - Fantastic art but I found the stories a little monotonous. Still, a fun series and looking forward to the next volume.

[Colin YNWA]

My purchases have been mainly focused on the Treasury - which so delightfully gives access to material I otherwise will never have got hold of, well in fact other might never have known about, so that makes my list a little surprising:

1. Hugo Pratt - Night of the Devil - I guess this one stands tall for all of the amazing Treasury work. Who knew this year I'd not only have a full collection of Corto Maltese curtesy of IDW but that Rebellion would find more Hugo Pratt stuff I didn't even know existed!

2. Essential Judge Dredd: Apocalypse War - for the sheer ingenuity showed to make me buy this again!

3. Megatropolis - I don't even own this but saw it in my LCS two days ago and it blow me away as a package. Will be picking this up its beautiful!

[Colin YNWA]

Going to give this one a bump as - well the voting, as might be expected with such a glorious range of titles is very spread. We have collections clearly in first, one in 2nd - just and then, get this 8 (!) tied for 3rd place, but by virtual of having one top placed vote each!

So any votes over the last couple of days here could change anything. Will end this one on Friday I think and keep nudging it so we stand a chance of getting a clear decision - though a bit of me thinks celebrating so many might be the best reflection of the wonderful range that came out last year!