Lit The Trades Thread (Discussion and Review for All Comic TPBs)

EDIT- We're redirecting this thread to this one: http://boards.theforce.net/threads/marvel-star-wars-general-news-trades-discussion-thread.50028034/




Comics are great but cheap they are not, the solution - collections, preferably bought online with a nice fat discount! You're loyal to your local shop? That's commendable! However, for me, the reduction in price allows me to buy more!

This thread is to allow people to catch up and discuss the TPBs, rule discussed in the temp incarnation was to say if a book has come out in the last 3 months - spoiler codes are required, for older items they're an optional courtesy!

As of 31 December 2014, Dark Horse Comics’ time as the holder of the licence to issue Star Comics ended and transferred to Marvel.

This does not mean you cannot obtain DHC trades, but it is something of a lucky dip depending on what you’re after.

Meanwhile, Marvel has various releases planned they cover:

• Remastered editions of old material in both Omnibus and Oversized Hardcover (OHC) editions – the difference between the two is one of price and page count, the dimensions are the same.
• New collections of DHC material as part of their Epic line which tends to be oversized paperbacks
• Collections of their new material.
• Omnibus / OHC editions vary greatly in how long they are around for and can go out of print rapidly. There's no hard and fast rule, best solution? If you want one of these pre-order months in advance and set aside the cash.

All info below is taken from Amazon.com


Out Now

Star Wars: The Complete Marvel Years Omnibus 1
Omnibus – RRP $125 – 880 pages

April 2015

Star Wars: Epic: The Empire: Volume 1
Possible oversized paperback – RRP $34.99 – 432 pages

May 2015

Star Wars: A New Hope
OHC RRP $24.99 – 128 pages

Star Wars: Epic: The NewRepublic: Volume 1
Possible oversized paperback – RRP $34.99 – 488 pages

June 2015

Star Wars: The Complete Marvel Years Omnibus 2
Omnibus – RRP $125 – 848 pages

July 2015

Star Wars: Epic: The Old Republic: Volume 1
Possible oversized paperback – RRP $34.99 – 440 pages

August 2015

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
OHC RRP $24.99 – 144 pages

September 2015

Star Wars: Epic: Rise of the Sith: Volume 1
Possible oversized paperback – RRP $34.99 – 488 pages

Star Wars: Princess Leia
Standard TPB – RRP $16.99 – 112 pages

Star Wars: Volume 1
Standard TPB – RRP $19.99 – 144 pages

Star Wars: The Complete Marvel Years Omnibus 3
Omnibus – RRP $125 – 1136 pages

October 2015

Star Wars: The Marvel Covers Volume 1
Possible OHC – RRP $34.99 – 208 pages

Star Wars: Darth Vader: Volume 1
Standard paperback – RRP $17.99 – 136 pages

November 2015

Star Wars: Epic: The Empire: Volume 2
Possible oversized paperback – RRP $39.99 – 440 pages

Star Wars: Kanan: The Last Padawan
Standard TPB – RRP $16.99 – 112 pages

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
OHC RRP $24.99 – 112 pages

Star Wars: Journey to The Force Awakens
Standard TPB – RRP $16.99 – 128 pages

December 2015

Star Wars: Epic: Infinities
Oversized paperback - RRP $39.99 - 504 pages

January 2016

Star Wars: Volume 2: Showdown on Smuggler's Moon
Standard TPB - RRP $19.99

Star Wars: Darth Vader: Volume 2: Shadows and Secrets
Standard TPB - RRP $19.99

Star Wars: Lando
Standard TPB - RRP $16.99

February 2016

Star Wars: Chewbacca
Standard TPB - $16.99 - 112 pages

April 2016

Star Wars: Epic: The New Republic Volume 2 (aka X-Wing: Rogue Squadron!)
Oversized TPB - $39.99 - 512 pages

Note: The older the item, the higher the chance of it going out of print. BUT there is no set rule for when that happens, some titles and some formats may go out of print far faster than others.


Release dates are indicative and subject to change, treat them as more like guidelines than absolute fact.




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Now to kick things off, a review I posted elsewhere a week ago:

Star Wars: Legacy: Volume 11: War

Finally got around to re-reading this series but as TPB rather than issues. I have to admit it reads well in collected form, although nothing can block completely the sense I have that DHC suffered a crisis of confidence and axed it prematurely. An extra issue or two would have given the space for some of the duels and confrontations to be done properly instead of the brutally abbreviated 2-3 panel affairs we get. Despite that the team of Ostrander-Duursema do their best to conclude their epic well, even with the carpet being pulled out from underneath them.

From that start, Legacy was always highly ambitious and it could be argued its reach exceeded its grasp in places. It is unfortunate then that the likes of LFL and DHC lacked that same ambition and prematurely axed it at #50, granting a 6-issue concluding miniseries. What they failed to grasp is that the big, 100+ issue series are not the work of a single creative team but multiple teams. The way Legacy ends invokes this sense of ambition, of concluding but also setting things in flow for a successor teanm to pick up the baton and run with it. Sadly, it has yet to be picked up, but I can hope someone sees sense in not leaving a most fertile patch of SW to go fallow!

 

For the record, many if not most comic shops will be happy to order trades for you. And if you're a regular, they may throw in a discount of their own - mine does.

 

Trades also have the benefit of standing on a bookshelf in an easy to read and access manner, where comic issues cannot.

 

If your local is able to match the likes of BD and Amazon and others with 30-40% off, then they're doing very well!

Issue isn't that you can't get trades from your local, it's at what cost. Nor do most local shops have much latitude as they've had to buy it at a certain price which in turn determines the sale price, but bigger operations can undermine that substantively and absorb the financial hit in a way most independent comic shops can't That's just the way it is..

 

I can't wait to pick up the Agent of the Empire and Dawn of the Jedi trades (and, whenever I get around to it, Knight Errant Vol. 2)

 

If you know you're going to be buying them, pre-ordering can be the way to get a bargain, for instance I've got those two TPBs preordered for just under £10, the RRP is £14.99.

Once the order's placed, you just need to allocate the money come the release month.

 

Eh. I like to place orders right after Christmas through Amazon. I've noticed a trend that stuff tends to be cheaper there following Christmas, and I can just make family and friends get me the stuff I want for Christmas and my birthday (which is right around Christmas).

 

Not match, no, but it's something. When you factor in $5 or so of savings versus the issue price, I can stomach an extra couple bucks to get the books faster and support my LCS. But that's me.

 

One time I picked up a trade in my local and he knocked a couple of quid which took it within a pound or two of the online prices, so yeah, bought it.

Then, circumstances changed greatly - and not for the better - thus that had to cease.

 

Do you get free shipping with Amazon? If so then you are probably ahead of the game. I get 25% off at my local comic shop on all purchases because I have a pull list there.

 

Seeing as how I have finally gotten into Star Wars comics with the one that revitalized Star Wars comics, the Dark Empire Trilogy. I am now planning on getting things like the Clone Wars TPBs at some point.

 

Yeah, I'll be picking up trades through Amazon for the next while. I really hate to do it to my LCS but it's more than $5 off per trade in some cases. My desire for savings is trumping my need to own said trade the day it comes out.

 

Yup, Robi, plus Book Depository and Foyles also do free shipping.

Though 25% off is not to be sneezed at, if they're able to give you that then give 'em your support in return, they've earnt it. For myself I try to get discounts in the region of 30-45% of if I can on each trade buy. In some cases I have managed to get it nearer the 50%, but that's rare.

 

Wow... looking at the list of TPBs, I'm way, way, way behind on my buying...

Maybe switching back from ritually buying every individual issue will be the right choice after all.

I've still only got the first two KOTOR and Legacy trades, despite the fact I'd much rather have them for easy re-reading than having to dig out all the issues, but I'm kinda scared at the prospect of having to go back and get the whole lot now. (At this point, I've almost resigned myself to just waiting for Omnibuses one day.)

 

I missed Knight Errant due to being overseas for most of its run, but I read the novel and enjoyed it. I think I'll order the first two from the English bookstore some time soon. Really interested in it.

 

Since you liked the book, be surprised if you don't enjoy the comics Jeff - one thing I'll say now is the way the two link up is very well-done.

 

There used to be various threads over the years (even one I used to maintain many years ago) tracking what has and has not been reprinted in TPB, and what TPBs have what issues. Is there a comprehensive list anywhere?

 

I get 20% off at my LCS on anything I buy, so it's not bad. That said, like Sinre, I usually buy the singles, or I'm too impatient to wait for the trades. There are very few comics I'll buy in both formats. Especially for SW. Something about Star Wars serials and single issues...even the ads in the comics make it feel like an...appropriate medium.

Having said that, I've found that Star Wars trades make great gifts for people not hugely into the EU but who enjoy geeky stuff like comics or SW. The opening arcs of both KOTOR and Legacy are great intros to a time when you really don't need any more context to understand what's going on. JvS is another good one. I'm actually behind on Knight Errant as Jeff is (though I DO have all the singles - they kept going in my box and I kept buying them, and they basically became a symbol of my promise to myself to catch up with the EU while I was...out in the wastes; as yet, one unfulfilled...) but I suspect it might work similarly.

In general I think they're a lot less daunting than say, the novels, where aside from The Thrawn Trilogy, you pretty much have to acknowledge that it's likely to be taking place in a very busy period of continuity and "you don't NEED to know this but, okay, here's the state of play..." is more daunting than, "Yeah, basically this takes place decades or even millennia away from anything else - just read it!"

 

See, 20% off at my LCS would keep me from using Amazon. I love my LCS but I'm paying a markup here in Canada. It must just kill my LCS. And our dollar has been even with the Americans for about 5 years now. That said, I picked up Dark Times vol 4 and Crimson Empire 3 recently. Haven't got around to CEIII yet but I loved DT. Man, does one get their money's worth with this comic. One minor complaint I had though. What did Dass see in Ember?

And while you're discussing KE, how is this last arc? Really enjoyed the first arc. LOVED the book but I was a little disappointed in the the second trade. Is there a feeling of closure considering that it was cancelled?

 

Just ordered the Crimson Empire Saga hardcover from Amazon UK. It was cheaper than buying CE 2 and CE3 and it has extra material.

 

That makes it sound more like a collection of risqué photographs of male celebrities.

 

What is Star Wood?