Messages

Yes. Saga is the UY DH content. The Fantagraphics set is basically everything that came beforehand – the first seven trades with a cover gallery and interview in the second book. The set was also OOP for years and so I imagine it would be smart to buy it sooner rather than later if you're interested.

The other thing I've found is they don't always hang around. I was slow to buy Pulp, but I'm glad I did because the thing was OOP a few days later. (It's still in paperback.) But given that I've not disliked anything by the pair yet – and have actually really liked most of it – I'm good buying blind.

Yeah mean like the deluxe hardcover Nikolai Dante we NEED and the Complete Sinister Dexter Files we also need.

We're in fantasy land now, and I don't really want to double dip, but... I'd find it hard to resist a set of Nikolai Dante books in a format akin to Image's deluxes. (Oversized, but still readable. 300ish pages each. And no bloody dust jackets. Horrible things...)

A couple of friends use Kickstarter for projects and have complained they take a decent cut of revenue, but the main challenge they've faced is promoting in failry saturated markets which I assume Rebellion will have no real issue with.

Indeed. I think it's tough for individuals. You have to spend a lot of time promoting your Kickstarter, to the degree it's almost a full-time job. You have to account for manufacturing issues and changes in costs. Postage and replacements can eat into profits. And so on.

All of those are still relevant for publishers, but they have more people and presumably a lot more experience in dealing with these things. And judging by how things have been going for Boom, this stuff can work out really well. The only thing that hacks me off sometimes is when folks running these things don't bother considering anyone outside of the US. I'd have bloody loved an Atomic Robo HC set, but the postage was monstrous. (I know books are relatively heavy, but the cost of a full set of books effectively doubled the price, and the shipping was 2–3x what it much later cost me to have a pile of omnis shipped over from IST via trackable courier.)

Kill Or Be Killed: I thought that was great and it was the series that really got be into the whole Brubaker/Phillips thing. I'm now... probably a bit obsessive. Note quite a completist, but I've bought Pulp and the entire run of Reckless. Some other one-shots. All of Criminal (which I assume from "in which I bemoaned them only appearing once more" isn't in this list?), Fatale and Velvet. The Fade Out is missing, mostly because it's so bloody expensive on the second-hand market.

The only downside to KOBK is the HC book's construction is trash. If there's ever a reprint, I hope that's addressed. Either that or they release it as two deluxes, like Fatale.

[Doctor Strange]

Colin: I've been reading through hundreds of Panini Marvel reprints that cover the 2000s, and figuring out which I want to keep. Turns out, the answer is 'none of them', including the mostly strong Mighty World of Marvel. However, I have used them (and 'temporary' ownership of the first 60 volumes of the original Hachette Marvel collection) to govern some deluxe/omni purchases, most of which are relatively standalone own nature. I really enjoyed:

Doctor Strange (Aaron/Bachalo): quite grim and a divisive run, but one that for me really worked with the gorgeous art and mystical flavour.

Hawkeye (Fraction/Aja): just really smart comics, trying different things and mostly succeeding. I couldn't give two hoots about the character normally, but this just worked. The come down for the following volume was palpable.

Ms. Marvel (G. Willow Wilson): a smart take on the young superhero theme, despite part-way through getting caught in the end of the universe BS Marvel pulled around the time. I'm not keen on what they've done with the character more recently, but those early volumes were great.

Rocket Raccoon (Young): I mean, it's Skottie Young, even if he's just writing. I picked this up as two little HCs. Fun.

She-Hulk (Slott): A solid modern run that doesn't take itself too seriously, and that has interesting enough ideas and stories to keep the momentum going.

Silver Surfer (Slott/Allread): Basically an excuse to do Marvel Doctor Who. The omni recently got a reissue and so should still be in print. Personally, I'm no major fan of that format, but I had to have this one complete and in print. It's a lovely run.

Thor: The God Butcher (Aaron/Ribic): So I remember reading the Aaron run when I first subscribed to the Panini Marvel Legends series and liking it a lot. On re-reading it, I ended up buying just The God Butcher (deluxe, which also includes Godbomb) rather than the entire run, because that was the most impactful. What followed didn't quite do it for me, despite the uptick when the new Thor arrives.

Vision (King): A genuine surprise when I originally read this, and one I had to own. A great exploration that goes deep into what it means to belong, and the difficulties within a 'realistic' world of superpowers. Alas, I did not get on with DC equivalent Mister Miracle.

(On Marvel, I also of course have Langridge's Muppets, which is as close to The Muppet Show as it's possible to get in comic form. And I've also enjoyed but haven't yet fully read the Gwenpool omni.)

Tharg wanted him on horseback but here is the full article

That's quite the development for a single cover. I wonder what happens to the other completed one? It's surely good enough for a Star Scan when there's an empty page begging?

Seems like a good idea to me. Reduces risk. Gauges demand. Acts like a preorder. The Good Omens graphic novel was funded this way. And Boom is using it to finish off incomplete collections. (Lumberjanes is currently funding, letting you either buy a new HC set or buy books to complete the stalled To The Max set.)

Indigo Prime is an odd one. John Smith gained a reputation for impenetrable stories, but I never really thought that. And the UC collections have their moments of batshit weirdness, but the plots that thread through them are possible to cling on to during even the most bizarre moments. Kek-W seems to often flirt on the other side of that line. I certainly don't begrudge it being in the Prog, but it'd be nice if it had a touch more coherence.

[Droid Life]

Another good issue, I thought. Lovely cover. A funny Droid Life. What's probably going to amount to a slight Dredd, devoid of broader context, but, well, it's still Dredd vs Shako. Aquila gets bloody (or bloodier) and Brink and Proteus Vex both ramp up the interest. Only Indigo Prime has kind of lost me. Maybe it'd work if it was a precursor to handing a strand of it back to Smith, but I very much doubt that!

Oh, and a letters page. Albeit one in which Tharg confirms that the 'series finale' for Full Tilt Boogie really does mean the end of the strip. A pity, but I suppose at least it'll get an ending. *cough*Brass Sun*cough*

Clearly, your bribery package wasn't sufficiently bulbous. Or something.

Fixed now.

I don't recall seeing Rebellion on any of the lists. No idea why. Although FCBD kept shifting the goalposts, coincidentally in a manner that appeared to stop Rebellion offering its comics that massively showed up the competition for the flimsy ad-filled pamphlets that they were, so that might have had something to do with it. Or maybe it's just not worth the company's while, in terms of the return it got from taking part.

Short of funding it or having some really amazing connections to money and/or industry people who wouldn't wreck the property or attempt to own it themselves, it's hard to see how, unfortunately.

I imagine at this point, there's going to be very variable wish-lists, which hit some of the deep cuts within the comic. My main hope is that the quality remains high. There are some objective duffers lurking in the vaults that never need to see the light of day again, even if they have good art (Junker, say). And even though 20 unknown books is a fair amount to fill (assuming the series really does end with #200), there's still plenty of quality left from strips that have never been collected, or recent Rebellion trades that could be repackaged.

The first 2099 cover.