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Well, as in, if it chose to pursue a set of reprints. It's not like this is unheard of in publishing. I'm not suggesting it could magic up a set of reprints from nowhere.

Maybe a bunch will show up later, as happened with Leviathan. Fingers crossed. I've been phoning around today and none of the places I know that might have had a copy have stock. One local store says their distributor reckons it can get a copy in, but that it won't arrive until late May. I've no idea what that's all about, but I've said fine to that. (If I somehow magically end up with an extra copy, I'll let folks here know, in case anyone still needs one.)

I think you might be very wrong there. Action Force is a dead franchise, while Sonic is very much alive, and IDW currently have the licence to make Sonic comics.

Fair enough. I would have thought under those circumstances the current rights holder could, if it chose, work with the previous one and Sega.

Sonic would surely be somewhat simpler, given that the licenses wouldn't be so complicated.

There's a bit of me wondering whether I need to just bite the bullet and start collecting the floppies (well from the start of the Dark Horse stuff - as any earlier is going to get expensive!) given how much I love what I've read to date...

Or you could buy my box of Usagi Yojimbo trades, which I still haven't got around to selling, and that are a complete run through to before the switch to IDW!

Looking at the terrifying pile of boxes in my office, I really need to start offloading
books again. I haven't sell anything for over a year now. Oops.

Anything that can't be read slumped on the couch is doing something wrong!

For me, the Library Editions are just about OK. I've read those while lying on one of our sofas and kind of balancing the book on my legs/knees. It's not the best, but it's fine.

Also I think I'm the only person in the world who didn't get on with Hellboy.

Hellboy is an odd one for me. I was utterly smitten with it in the early days. The artwork is gorgeous. And I loved its fairytale logic. That run in the Library Editions is one of my favourite of any comics I've read. But. Then I got sucked into BPRD, which started well and ended horribly. Beyond that, the universe expanded to a ludicrous degree.

It was impossible to keep up. Moreover, the focus was gone. Without Mignola's guiding hand, what you get is a little too random for me. Sometimes, it's fantastic. Other times... not so much. So while I used to immediately grab anything remotely Hellboy related, now I'm much more cautious. And the BPRD hardcovers are one more read away from going on the 'for sale' pile, even though I know if I did I'd never be able to buy them again in the future. (Those editions are hen's teeth rare.)

Nice to see it's possible to untangle rights occasionally so this sort of thing can happen. I wish someone would have managed this with Zoids. (IDW did try.)

The omni thing always baffles me. I do prefer hardbacks myself, but the ideal size for me is a deluxe edition. So you get oversized art, but the book is still manageable. Omnis and library editions tend to be unwieldy, and so I go for those under special circumstances: Hellboy for the art; Usagi Yojimbo because those DH editions are just too gorgeous not to; a few Marvel omnis because the series in question weren't compiled any other way.

But, yes, some editions do skyrocket in price the second they're OOP. Try getting hold of a deluxe edition of Brubaker's The Fade Out right now, for example...

Yeah. I remember towards the end of the TF run how hard it was to get hold of certain issues. Even so, I wasn't expecting Born Bad to sell out almost immediately. Oh well.

I very much doubt it. Early in the run, they corrected major cock-ups. But more recently, messed up end papers and other have been met with apologies or silence. It's probably not viable to do another print run.

@Norton: Weirdly, I didn't get that email. Although it's worth noting that when the forum does this, admins can't get in either, from what I can tell. (I certainly can't.)

Yep. I mean, it's supply and demand. One of those things. I don't really want to pay (once postage is taken into account) almost 3x cover price. So if one shows up for a more reasonable price, I'll grab it. Otherwise, I'll hope Hachette gets more stock (which has happened in the past) or at some random point someone weirdly ends up with dozens of copies on eBay (which happened with Leviathan, which was for a time also impossible to find).

So that Durham Red book sold out insanely quickly. I was about to grab a copy from Hachette last night and it's already gone. Hopefully it'll rock up again at some point if Hachette gets some returns. Very few sales on eBay, mind, and Forbidden Planet isn't listing it. So maybe these books are now getting tiny print runs, or Durham Red is insanely popular. Perhaps both.

Anyway, you snooze, you lose, I suppose. I'd been really looking forward to this one and should have grabbed a copy when I had the chance. Lesson learned...

The original design had a small armour piece as well. This is like marrying the original Ezquerra eagle with, I dunno, a Bolland armour piece. But whatever. I'm fine with it, and the giant bear was fun.

I thought it still looked Dredd enough, although the teeny tiny eagle looks a bit weird next to the gigantic armour on the other shoulder. Bit unbalanced.

[Droid Life]

I like the cover. Striking. Painterly. Droid Life is fun, and Dredd opens with a bang, some throwing up, and a sticky situation. If nothing else, this one's already got my attention. Nice sound effects too, including the little THAC!

Antumnos was atmospheric and looked great, but felt more like part one than a standalone. I assume the twist is old geezer's life was burned from him. So: a bit frustrating.

Full Tilt Boogie continues to zip along with each episode, while Indigo Prime confounds. And then Proteus Vex gives us a meaty finale.

I thought this was a really good Prog – lots of stuff going on. Plenty of variety. Top stuff.