DC Omnibus harcovers?

[PNGwynne]

How do the DC Omnibus editions compare with the Archive Editons?

[MRP]

I only have the first Golden Age Batman omnibus (though I preordered the JLA in the Bronze Age one). The only DC Archives I had were the first Superman and first Flash volumes, so I cannot give a direct comparison of the same material. I did however have a lot of the Batman material in the Chronicles editions. With the caveat in mind... The omnibus editions are slightly larger in height so the pages are slightly bigger in the presentation allowing for better viewing of the art. Not a lot bigger, but bigger. Obviously the omnibus are also larger in page count. The first volume of the Golden Age Batman Omnibus has all the material from the first 3 volumes of the Chronicles. Whereas the Archives focused on a single title for Batman, the Omnibus follow the Chronicles pattern of all appearances from all titles in Chronological order, so the Omnibus collects the stories from Detective, from Batman, from the World's Fair issues, and from World's Best/World's Finest. Only the Batman stories though, none of the other characters stories from 'Tec, WF, etc. are collected.

The reproduction is similar to the Chronicles in terms of coloring, but on heavier paper stock. Not sure how the coloring compares to the Archives though.

The Omnibus size can make it unwieldy to read if you are trying to hold the book rather than laying it on a table or other flat surface, but not overly so. The Archives are obviously lighter and easier to handle because of the smaller size.

Not sure if that helps or not, if you have specific questions feel free to ask and I will see if I can answer them.

-M

[PNGwynne]

Very helpful, thanks, I have all the JLA archives, but their releases have stalled and I was hoping to continue with the omnibuses.

[MRP]

I think DC has discontinued both the Archives and the Chronicles as lines. The Omnibus are taking the place of the Archives essentially, offering the material in hc, while the softcover trades that break each omnibus into essentially 3 volumes is taking the place of the Chronicles (I have a bunch of those-the 1st 2 JLA in the Silver Age, the first Flash in the Silver Age and the first GL in the Silver Age). For the most part, I find those superior to the Chronicles in production value, though some find the thinner newsprint like paper of the Chronicles endearing, I am not fond of it because of the distortion and color variations inherent in even the same print runs on newsprint because of ink density variations and blotting that occur on the pages, resulting in the same panels from 2 different copies form the same print run having variations in coloring and black detail depending on when in the print run they came off the press, something that really only happens on newsprint and not higher grades of paper.

-M

an article that provides some food for thought concerning the effect of newsprint on comic art and the artist's intent...

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/03...stly-care-art/

[PNGwynne]

I like the better paper myself.

Now, if only they'd release Aquaman omnibuses.