IDW Publishing Forums

[odyseeos]

I actually kind of like the muted display on the covers. It gives me a sort of dreamlike sense of deep reminiscence.

But it is interesting to me that you focused on the colors. In 1949, by lengthy argument, I talked my mother into buying me the comic with the guy in the bright, yellow coat. It was that yellow-in-purposeful-motion that held my attention without any possibility of release. After it was read it to me, though, it became the stories and rhythms of speech that brought me back to the news stand at the tenth of every month. Meanwhile, the daily strip did not have that advantage of color. One had to imagine its hidden presence, oneself. That muted feel of faded time is really not unpleasant to me.

I pre-ordered Vol. 2 of "Annie". Amazon is giving me a shipping date of Oct. 23- Oct. 31, and (for vol. 3) for Mar. 6, 2009. I assume that the first span, at least, should hold.

[emb021]

[odyseeos]

I received an e-mail from Amazon, today, saying that shipping of "Annie 2" is delayed until Jan 15- Mar 10, next.

[emb021]

Well, BAM cancelled my order for Annie 2 & Buck Roger v1.

This is getting really annoying. I know BR should be here in November, I can't believe we have to wait for Annie v2 next year.
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MB

[WW Doctor]

Dean Mullaney was interviewed recently by Newsarama regarding the Library of American Comics line.

You can check out the entire interview here:
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/110825-IDW-Library-American-Comics.html

Mullaney mentions that the first volume of Terry has sold out. It should be noted that the early volumes of Dick Tracy are also sold out as well, though the interview doesn't mention this. Prices for the first volume of Terry and Tracy have skyrocketed at Amazon.

Mullaney mentions that Terry Volume 1 will eventually get a second printing. It's really too bad that the early volumes won't be available for this Christmas season, as they would be ideal gifts. It also hurts sales of later volumes, after all why would one buy volume 3 up if one can't get Volume 1 or 2?

Mullaney does talk a bit about Annie as well. According to the interview, Annie 2 is at the printer and he's currently working on Annie 3. New volumes of Annie are due to be published three times a year, new volumes of Tracy four times a year.

Finally, there's a picture of Volume 7's cover, which features the Mole rather than Flattop as what's seen at Amazon. It looks good, and I like the use of more color on the dustjackets.

Probably the only thing I'm disappointed about is the fact that there are no plans to continue with Terry past the Caniff years. I would have loved to see the Wunder strips, as it's the only version of the strip I've never really had a chance to read.

[emb021]

Well, it looks like only the first couple of Tracy volumes are hard to find. But if you look, you can get good prices. I recently ordered both thru Amazon Marketplace for about $10 & $20 each.

Good reason for IDW to reprint both, if they are going up in price.

In a similiar thread on the TCJ message board, they mentioned that apparently Annie is outselling Terry in bookstores. I wonder if this is mainly due to more people being familiar with Annie due to the play & movie. And wonder what they thought of Annie after reading it (not much like the play or movie ).

Also on the Tracy series. The redesigned volumes that Mullaney will be doing, in addition to being larger, will apparently also have the Sundays in color. That's good.

Since Terry v5 is out finally, I ordered a copy from Overstock. For some reason its out of stock from Amazon, and BAM hasn't gotten copies yet.
Since v4 left on a bit of a cliffhanger, want to see how that worked out.
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MB

[emb021]

I see on the 'New this week' section on the webpage that IDW has come out with 2nd printings of Dick Tracy v1 and v2. AND that Little Orphan Annie v2 is out. Wonder how long it will take Amazon et al to list it as available on their website...
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MB

[emb021]

Well, I ordered LOA v2 and Dick Tracy v3. Hope to see them soon.

I found that Books A Million has the title and info on LOA v4, which Amazon doesn't.

Here is the info out so far for the next 2 volumes:

v3, "And a Blind Man Shall Lead Them" (dailies and Sundays, April 1930 - December 1931), out in February 2009.
v4, "A House Divided (or Does Fate Trick Trixie?)" (dailies and Sundays, January 1932 - July 1933) out in June 2009.

v3 has some new stuff for me. Am familiar with the 1931 storyline, where "Daddy" is broke and blinded, and we met Ma Green. v4 has "Daddy" coming back and being married and the long "Cosmic City" storyline from 1932-33. As I have the Fantagraphics books, these are familiar with me, but I plan on getting the volumes as the sundays will be in color, and I want to support the series and see the post-1935 stuff.
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MB

[einnor]

Received LOA vol 2 from Amazon on Thursday, Jan 15.

Volume 2 picks up reprinting the last two strips from volume 1, Oct. 6 & 7, 1927. Then goes thru Dec. 7, 1929. A full two years.

Volume 3 is (planned) to be from Dec 8, 1929 thru the end of Dec 1931 (two years and three weeks). The tentative release schedule is March for vol 3, and June for vol 4.

Of course, all that may change, as we well know.

Color Sundays are included, in sequence, for all of 1928 (yippee!). There are no Sundays included for 1927 or 1929 (boo!). In the introduction, Dean Mullaney explains that most all of the 1928 Sundays WERE part of the story-line, but all the other Sundays were not. He mentions that all the stand-alone Sundays will be collected in a future volume. But no mention of when that will happen. He also says that starting with volume 3, all Sundays will be included, whether stand-alone or not, in sequence, in all future volumes (double yippee!!). I just wish they had done that from the start, because ...

I have noticed, while reading through volume 1, that there are four or five instances that a Sunday should have been included, but was not. You can just tell, from either a startling "jump" in the story arc, or a reference that Annie makes on Monday about something that happened "yesterday." No big deal, but wouldn't it have been easier just to include them all from the beginning, so you wouldn't have to worry about it?

Dean Mullaney explains that they did not include them because "We believed keeping the high melodrama of Annie's daily adventures isolated from the Sunday puns and slapstick would create the most satisfying experience for readers."

I see his point, but I think they are over-thinking it. The original readers of the 1920's newspaper comic strips didn't have any trouble with it, and they had to skip a day, for the "drama" story-arc!

Just for giggles, I plan on posting the dates of the Sundays I believe should have been included, so we can check later, and see if they really should have been included or not.

Except for the handling of the Sundays, I have no complaint at all. The books are gorgeous, with beautiful reproductions, and just so much fun to read!

With a planned publishing schedule of three books a year, and each book with a year and a half to two years of strips... hmm. Let's see, that means they will make it to 1968 (the end of Harold Gray's work), in 2016 at the earliest (I assumed five years of reprinted strips every year).

If they can stick to that schedule, that won't be too bad at all. As long as the volumes sell, and the company doesn't go under... Like what happened to Li'l Abner, which died after reprinting the first 27 years of the dailies. I wonder if any other publisher has ever thought of picking that series up? (The reprint series ended with the Dec 11, 1961 strip.)

I've jabbered long enough! Now if only "Walt and Skeezix" would get going again!

[emb021]

I also received my copy of LOA v2.

I read thru Mullaney's article, but have yet to delve into the strips.

In V1, they DID include a half dozen Sundays, at the front. But, like you, there were a few instances where I read references to the prior Sunday, but it wasn't included.

I saw something similiar with Dick Tracy. In the first IDW volume, when the Sundays were integrated with the dailies, the Sundays were STILL a little stand alone. Many of them at the begining were more stand along, almost gag strips, dealing with Big Boy trying yet another scheme to break out of prison, only to be caught by Tracy. The general feel of these sundays just wasn't the same as the dailies, as I noted, almost being more like gag strips.

I have to wonder if some of those missing Annie Sundays were the same way. They tied into the daily storyline, but where more gag-oriented.


Over on TCJ message board there has been some discussion about the Walt & Skeezix series. The D&Q people claimed that legal action by Tribune was the cause of the delay (no volume last year). However, the guy in charge of Tribune licensing (whom IDW would have worked with for Tracy & LOA) said that's not so. So no understand why the delay. They should have another volume out later this year, but its not on their schedule (unlike they upcoming John Stanley collections).

I look forward to the 6th and final volume of Terry & the Pirates later this month, and further reprints of Annie. V1 and 2 and been all new to me. V3 will be 50-50, as I have the 5 Fantagraphics collections.
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MB

[don brown]

I already have Volumes 1 to 5 of the complete Terry and the Pirates and Volume 6 is on order from Amazon. A couple of days ago I received an email from Amazon advising me that Terry and the Pirates Volume 6 appears to be in limbo. But they tell me they'll keep me informed. Is there a problem? I'd hate to get this close to a wonderful complete collection of Terry.

[emb021]

I also have v1-5 of the complete Terry, and am wanting to order the last one. I hope its not been delayed. I see someone on amazon.com selling a used one thru the marketplace, so maybe the booktrade just hasn't gotten their copies.

I see an announcement on the front page of IDW about the revamp of the Dick Tracy series to bring it more inline with the LOA books. I was also surprised they came out with a paperback edition of v1, after just reprinting the hardback. Wasn't expecting them to come out in paperback.
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MB

[WW Doctor]

I haven't heard anything on Terry Volume 6, but I don't think I would be too worried. I've noticed that the books show up first at comic book stores before being released to book sellers like Amazon.

According to Midtown Comics, Dick Tracy Volume 6 was shipped to comic book stores this week. I haven't yet made my trip to my comic shop yet (going Friday) but Midtown is usually pretty reliable.

Finally, what's everyone's thoughts on the upcoming Bloom County collection? I'm a big fan of Bloom County, I bought all the early paperback collections from the eighties (though I later sold 'em off and have been slowly re-buying them).

Needless to say, this is a no-brainer for me although I wish the collection had included the successor strips Outland and the recently-ended Opus.

I also hope this opens the door to possibly more humor-related strips being collected. While I do love the story strips, I've wanted some real nice collections of some humor strips as well. I would love to see some comprehensive collections of such strips as B.C., Wizard of ID, Crock and Hagar the Horrible. After all, as a child of the 1970s, these are the strips I grew up with.

I'm also hopeful that D+Q is able to resolve whatever difficulties they are having so we can see more Walt and Skeezix collections. The first three volumes were excellent!

[emb021]

Am hoping Terry v6 will be out soon. I want to order it (will probably also order one of the DT volumes. Have the first 3 so far).

I saw the announcement of the Bloom County collection. Maybe they can extend it with Outland and Opus as well.

I have been a BC fan from day one. I got all the collections, and was for many years collecting the strips in albums (which I really never did for any other strip).

One thing I found by doing this, is that some strips in BC were different between the book and my strip. Not just words, but art. I hope that the collection will reflect this.

Since the books were not complete collections, have a complete reprint series will be great.

Its gotten to the point where you wonder what other strips out there haven't been collected yet.

You have:

Krazy Kay & other Herriman's stuff (most KK sundays done, dailies coming, along with reprints of his other strips)
Peanuts (ongoing)
Dennis the Menace (dailies ongoing, will we see sundays?)
Gasoline Alley (3 albums so far, hopefully they'll get going again this year)
Terry & Pirates (Caniff stuff almost done, no plans for Wunder's stuff)
LOA (ongoing)
TT/Popeye (ongoing)
Steve Canyon (ongoing)
Flash Gordon (complete reprint of Alex Raymond's work done)
Buck Rogers (ongoing)
Gordo (ongoing)
Scorchy Smith (noel sickles collected)
Dick Tracy (ongoing)

upcoming:
Captain Easy & Wash Tubbs (CE in separate volumes coming soon)
Prince Valient (new reprint series to being soon)
Pogo (new reprint series to begin later this year)

ones I'd like to see

Tarzan. So many great artists, and I think they really only did a good reprint of the work of Raymond and Hogarth. What about Manning, Grell, and others??? Dark Horse is reprinting the Tarzan comics, why not a new, more comprehensive reprint of the strip?
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MB

[WW Doctor]

Other strips that I can add to that list of comprehensive reprints-

Leonard Starr's On Stage - 5 volumes so far
Dondi - 2 volumes so far
The Heart of Juliet Jones - 1 volume so far
Tove Jannson's Moomin - 3 volumes so far
Garfield - paperback collections are complete and comprehensive, 47 books so far
Mac Raboy's Flash Gordon - 4 volumes, complete
Little Nemo in Slumberland - 2 volumes by Checker, complete
Modesty Blaise - several volumes already out, can't remember how many though

and let's not forget the Calvin and Hobbes and Far Side collections that came out a while ago.