New WRATH OF THE SPECTRE omnibus announced

[Sock Monkey]

A few months back there was a discussion somewhere on the forum about missing out on THE WRATH OF THE SPECTRE omnibus. I think it was Ron and Dannyboy that were involved in the conversation, but I could be wrong. Anyways, just wanted to post that it looks like it will be reprinted in summer of 2025 if anybody is interested. It's number 117 on the list that the link below takes you to.

https://www.edelweiss.plus/#catalogID=5069369&page=3

[dannyboy121070]

Wooooooo-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Such great news! I've been kicking myself for missing out...so happy that they're doing a rare second printing! Thanks for the heads-up.

[Sock Monkey]

I'm glad that there's enough demand for reprint. I'm kinda hoping this will sell well and we might just finally get the Ostrander run collected (though, knowing my luck, that won't happen until I've finally completed acquiring the original comics; although that one stinking issue with the first appearance of the Michael Holt Mr. Terrific is gonna make it rather difficult as I just don't pay that much for comics anymore.)

There were a couple other announcements that piqued my interest:

• Both a SUICIDE SQUAD BY JOHN OSTRANDER Omnibus (that collects the first 18 issues, along with LEGENDS and some issues of FIRESTORM) and a new softcover edition as well.
• HELLBLAZER BY JAMIE DELANO OMNIBUS VOLUME 2. Vertigo was some the best comics being put out during their heyday. Very boundary-pushing and transgressive and often political, yet without making the reader feeling like their being preached at by the writer. One of my long-term goals is to read through the entirety of that HELLBLAZER series I'm just not sure if I want to go hardcover omnibus or softcover paperback. But anyways, I'm glad to see this run still getting some love, especially with a focus on something other than the run by Garth Ennis.
• DR. FATE BY DEMATTEIS is the big shocker for me as it's not a run that recall anybody ever really talking about. I am, however, very intrigued as I missed the run when it first came out and never tracked it down. It's also a 700+ paperback for only $29.99 (maybe less on Amazon or elsewhere upon release), which seems like a pretty good bang for one's buck.

[dannyboy121070]

I'm glad that there's enough demand for reprint. I'm kinda hoping this will sell well and we might just finally get the Ostrander run collected (though, knowing my luck, that won't happen until I've finally completed acquiring the original comics; although that one stinking issue with the first appearance of the Michael Holt Mr. Terrific is gonna make it rather difficult as I just don't pay that much for comics anymore.)

There were a couple other announcements that piqued my interest:

• Both a SUICIDE SQUAD BY JOHN OSTRANDER Omnibus (that collects the first 18 issues, along with LEGENDS and some issues of FIRESTORM) and a new softcover edition as well.
• HELLBLAZER BY JAMIE DELANO OMNIBUS VOLUME 2. Vertigo was some the best comics being put out during their heyday. Very boundary-pushing and transgressive and often political, yet without making the reader feeling like their being preached at by the writer. One of my long-term goals is to read through the entirety of that HELLBLAZER series I'm just not sure if I want to go hardcover omnibus or softcover paperback. But anyways, I'm glad to see this run still getting some love, especially with a focus on something other than the run by Garth Ennis.
• DR. FATE BY DEMATTEIS is the big shocker for me as it's not a run that recall anybody ever really talking about. I am, however, very intrigued as I missed the run when it first came out and never tracked it down. It's also a 700+ paperback for only $29.99 (maybe less on Amazon or elsewhere upon release), which seems like a pretty good bang for one's buck.

Ugh, at just 18 issues of the main series, it's going to take DC forever to finish collecting the series in Omnibus format...DC is notorious for just giving up and not finishing collecting certain runs.

I'm excited about the DR. FATE collection...that series ran alongside the Giffen DeMatteis JLA, and shares some of the same silliness, but it was a fun book, and the art, by Shawn McManus, was awesome.

[Sock Monkey]

Ugh, at just 18 issues of the main series, it's going to take DC forever to finish collecting the series in Omnibus format...DC is notorious for just giving up and not finishing collecting certain runs.

I'm excited about the DR. FATE collection...that series ran alongside the Giffen DeMatteis JLA, and shares some of the same silliness, but it was a fun book, and the art, by Shawn McManus, was awesome.

It looks to contain like 38 various issues in total, but some of it is a little weird like Millennium #4 (I'm sure this ties into their Millennium crossover issue in the main title, but kinda weird to throw in the fourth issue of the 8-issue event series), so with that many issues as a guideline, I'm thinking they're probably shooting for a three volume set. Two seems too little considering there is still 48 issues of the main series, plus the DEADSHOT mini, the Janus Directive crossover, and they might include the Blackest Night tie-in issue #67 and Ostrander's 8-issue mini-series from 2007.

I recently completed my Giffen/Dematteis run of JLA and have been looking forward to digging into it again as I've only read the first half. I have been very tempted to add some of the adjacent series that I've always wanted to read from that time frame, including the DR. FATE series and CAPTAIN ATOM. They aren't integral to the reading the JLA run, but I thought it would be interesting.

And, yeah, DC has a bad reputation for incomplete runs from their collections department. I'd think this tendency has to hurt their sales a bit. It's hard to commit to a $100+ omnibus purchase if you don't know if the next volumes are actually going to come out. Marvel's department seems so much more robust and organized in their approach that one would think DC would be looking at them as a blueprint for their own success.

[RonClinton]

A few months back there was a discussion somewhere on the forum about missing out on THE WRATH OF THE SPECTRE omnibus. I think it was Ron and Dannyboy that were involved in the conversation, but I could be wrong. Anyways, just wanted to post that it looks like it will be reprinted in summer of 2025 if anybody is interested. It's number 117 on the list that the link below takes you to.

https://www.edelweiss.plus/#catalogID=5069369&page=3

Fantastic news, and yes, it was me…I’m not a comic book guy anymore, but The Spectre holds a special place in my childhood and formative teenage/genre years, so when I discovered there’d been a contemporary omnibus that I missed out on, generous disappointment ensued. Wonderful to hear I get a second shot at it!

Any tips on where and when to pull the trigger on a copy? I haven’t bought a comic in 45 years, so don’t know if the industry works on a reservation system or pre-order or…?

[dannyboy121070]

You can pre-order a copy at a local comic shop, or you can do it online from a variety of stores. I just buy my new comics every Tuesday from In-Stock Trades, who usually has a discount ranging from 30%-50%. If you're worried about a sellout, pre-ordering is the way to go, though. Since this is coming out in June of 2025, you probably won't be able to pre-order a copy until March of next year.

[Sock Monkey]

You can pre-order a copy at a local comic shop, or you can do it online from a variety of stores. I just buy my new comics every Tuesday from In-Stock Trades, who usually has a discount ranging from 30%-50%. If you're worried about a sellout, pre-ordering is the way to go, though. Since this is coming out in June of 2025, you probably won't be able to pre-order a copy until March of next year.

I was gonna say the same thing. While I've yet to order from them, In Stock Trades seems to be very popular and reasonably priced. I will add that stumbling around the internet I found that Organic Priced Books already has a bunch of the new announcements for 2025 available preorder (including the Ostrander Suicide Squad Omnibus available for preorder for $76 which is about $49 off the MSRP and the DOCTOR FATE collection for $25) so I don't know if they're jumping the gun or what. I did not see the Spectre volume up for preorder on their site, though.

[dannyboy121070]

I haven't used Organic, because their website was completely impenetrable to me when they first launched, and I haven't been back. Folks on the comic-book message boards seem happy with their prices and customer service, though, so you should be safe ordering from them.

[RonClinton]

Good tips, guys — thanks much.