Lit Omnibus Program: A Place for Everything?

I wouldn't have guessed it was changed that long ago. The last time I had looked before yeaterday, the release date was still February 22nd(or whatever the orginal release date was). I'll bet it was changed not too long after the release of the Quinlan Vos Omnibus was changed to December 2nd. Releasing the Quinlan Vos Omnibus earlier than orginally planned must've allowed Dark Horse to release ALTA Volume 3 sooner as a result.

 

With Annual 3 and RotJ ostensibly being published in ALTA vol. 4, it looks like that leaves only one more Omnibus volume for the ALTA series (vol. 5) to collect #82-107. Presumably there could also be an additional volume to collect both Devilworlds comics and the 2 Marvel illustrated books (which I guess are the UK comics?).

Then perhaps another Omnibus could collect the Marvel Droids and Ewoks series.

 

Would you happen to have any idea when ALTA Volume 3's release date was changed to January 19?

I first noticed it on January 10, when Diamond had it on it's 'Shipping Next Week' list. Amazon still had the February-date then (I don't know about DH, though)

 

Similarly to GGW on the first page of this thread, I too have compiled my own Omnibus predictions. It's actually more of a what-if scenario if Dark Horse decides to collect absolutely everything, even though there are some items on this list that I'm not sure will or can ever be collected. (I start with finishing off the ALTA and AWWTE series, then going from there in relative timeline order.) First, a key:

Default font = regular printed comic issue/monthly
Italics = newstrip or webcomic
"Quotes" = comic short story or any comic otherwise extracted out of a larger volume
Underline = original comic in TPB format

Omnibus ? At War with the Empire (Volume 2)
Empire 8-9, 12, 15, 23, 26-27, 29-30, 32-35
X-Wing Rogue Squadron ½
Rebellion 6-10
A Valentine Story
*Note: Ideally, A Valentine Story would fit much better in AWWTE vol. 1, but there is as yet no indication that's where it'll be placed, so here's my next best guess. Also, XW 0.5 should've gone in one of the 3 XW volumes, but maybe it'll be included here with the Darklighter arc.

Omnibus ? A Long Time Ago? (Volume 5)
[Marvel] Star Wars 82-107

Omnibus ? At War with the Empire (Volume 3)
Empire 16-18, 36-40
Rebellion 0-5, 11-16
*Note: This is all the "Tank" Sunber stuff.

Omnibus ? Knights of the Old Republic (Volume 1)
Knights of the Old Republic 0-18

Omnibus ? Knights of the Old Republic (Volume 2)
Knights of the Old Republic 19-35

Omnibus ? Knights of the Old Republic (Volume 3)
Knights of the Old Republic 36-50
Knights of the Old Republic: Handbook

Omnibus ? The Old Republic
The Old Republic 1-6
Knight Errant 0-5
[rest of Knight Errant issues]
Jedi vs. Sith 1-6
*Note: This is a tricky one, esp. since KE is an ongoing series and could go quite long for all we know. We're also not sure if TOR comics are finished yet either. If both series keep going, this could easily turn into 2 Omnibuses.

Omnibus ? Beginnings
Episode I: The Phantom Menace 1-4
?Battle for Theed?
Episode II: Attack of the Clones 1-4
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith 1-4
?Luke Skywalker?s Walkabout?
[Special Edition] A New Hope 1-4
*Note: Yeah, there's really no other place for "Theed" and "Walkabout."

Omnibus ? Blood Ties
Blood Ties 1-4
[rest of Blood Ties issues]
*Note: This assumes that this brand new series continues into something larger for a while.

Omnibus ? Honor & Duty
Republic 46-48, 61, 64-66, 78
Jedi Mace Windu
Jedi Shaak Ti
Jedi Yoda
[Free Comic Book Day] Routine Valor
*Note: This is a Republic: CW collection of general Jedi stories with no major character arcs.

Omnibus ? When They Were Brothers
Republic 50-53, 55-60, 62, 67
[Free Comic Book Day] Brothers in Arms
Obsession 1-5
*Note: This is everything from the Republic: CW run (and others) focusing primarily on Anakin and Obi-Wan.

Omnibus ? Quinlan Vos: Light & Dark
Republic 49, 54, 63, 68-77, 81-83
Jedi Aayla Secura
Jedi Count Dooku
*Note: See above, but this is the Quinlan Vos character arc in the CW.

Omnibus ? Paths to Nowhere
General Grievous 1-4
Purge
Purge: Seconds to Die
Purge: The Hidden Blade
Republic 79-80
Dark Times 1-5

Omnibus ? The Dark Times
Dark Times 6-17
Dark Times: Blue Harvest 0
[rest of Dark Times issues]

Omnibus ? Clone Wars Adventures
Clone Wars Adventures (Volumes 1-10)
*Note: They would have to reformat the whole comic, but I believe these are short enough to fit into one volume.

Omnibus ? The Clone Wars (Volume 1)
The Clone Wars 1-12
[Free Comic Book Day] The Clone Wars: Gauntlet of Death
[Free Comic Book Day] The Clone Wars: Opress Unleashed!
?Inside Job?
?Keep the Faith!?
?In Triplicate?
?The Droid Deception?
?Terror on the Twilight?
?Milk Run to Maarka!?
?Foreclosure?
?A Trooper?s Tale?
?A Little Help on Hakara?
?Suited?
?Prize Contender?
?The Professional!?
?The Guns of Nar Hekka?
?In the Air?
?Spices and Spies?
?Hunted?
[rest of The Clone Wars Comics UK]
*Note: The TCW series of series is going to be tricky. Here's my guess involving the short-lived comi

 

I don't think I saw this- but the best Omnibus for it is already it- Did you put in Star Wars: Jedi: Dark Side? I think that's the name of it, the one with Qui-Gon and Xanatos?

 

Jedi: The Dark Side and Darth Vader & the Lost Command are simply too new to even guess where they'll fit in--whether they'll go on long enough to make up their own Omnibus or if not, if there's anything else from that timeline era 5-10 years from now to collect it with. (I only made one for Blood Ties because it's obvious it's going to be longer than one story arc.)

 

There are a couple of very minor comics not mentioned in that massive list that I'd like to see omnibused. In the Hyperspace fan club kit a couple years ago, there was a comic that reprinted one of the Free Comic Book Day stories, as well as the Han/Indy crossover from Tales. In between those were several fake ads by Pablo Hidalgo spoofing old comic ads. They were hilarious, especially the single page comic story modeled on the old Charles Atlas-type ads titled "The Insult That Made a 'Sith' Out of Anakin." I'd hate to see this comic story fade into extreme obscurity. Speaking of ads, there are all of the comic story ads for WotC's miniatures games. And possibly the most obscure comic of all is "Il Potere Della Forza," an Italian comic published by Hasbro around 1999 or 2000. I'd love to see this finally translated and omnibused. Finally, note that Eddie recently discovered another "R2-D2's Tales from the Data Banks" comic in Marvel UK's Return of the Jedi comic, issue 83 if memory serves.

 

I have all the Free Comic Book Day comics covered (I think?), and the Han/Indy crossover would go in one of the Tales volumes.

Assuming they're not too long, the fake ads could go into the comedic Tales/Tag & Bink omnibus. The WotC ads I'm not as sure about. (Do you have a link where I can find more info on those?) They could probably go in with either Tales or Infinities.

Huh. When I did a Google search on that, all I got were hits for The Force Unleashed (since that's apparently what that title translates into from Italian). Which is very strange if this comic was originally published at the turn of the millennium. How long is it, and what is it about? And is there anywhere on the web I can find out more about it? (It's not on the Wook, and Google only gives me TFU Italiano.)

I've actually never heard of this one, but it would go in with the Devilworlds omnibus I suppose, where I've got all the Marvel UK stuff compiled. Do you have any more details about this one?

 

I wasn't intending to say that the Tales or FCBD stories were missed in your list, but just Pablo's ads. You can get info on some of the WotC ads here, here, and here, although I think there were one or two more. As for "Il Potere della Forza," yeah, google is no help. It's about six or so pages long. It's apparently Yoda and Palpatine recounting some of the events from the films, so it has nothing to do with TFU. There's a scan of the cover at Joe Bongiorno's site here. Finally, the R2 story is like the other one. It's a reprint of an older Marvel sci-fi story but with a new Star Wars title and a pic of R2 at the beginning.

 

Ha, those SW Mini ads look awesome! I could see those in the Infinities volume.

As for Il Porte, is that canonical? If so, I suppose it go into the "Beginnings" omnibus I have above, or if non-canonical, it would fit in with the Infinities one as well.

I can't really see either of the R2-D2 Data Banks ones being collected, except maybe the covers or something?

 

Rew, I just remembered some more items that weren't on your list. There have been several photocomics adapting TCW episodes besides the "mangas" in Japan.

Grosset & Dunlap:
Ambush (includes adaptations of "Ambush" and "Cloak of Darkness")
R2-D2's Adventure (adapts "Downfall of a Droid" and "Duel of the Droids")
Jar Jar's Big Day (adapts "Bombad Jedi")
The Battle for Ryloth (adapts "Storm Over Ryloth," "Innocents of Ryloth," and "Liberty on Ryloth")

Leapfrog:
Rescue in the Sky (adapts "Duel of the Droids")

 

Interesting remark: Not only UK Amazon has ALTA 4's release date still as April 22 (what propably won't change before Dark Horse announces their version), but it also has A Long Time Ago 5, to be released June 1. 2011.

Not thinking about the release date which is certainly wrong, I wondered whether the rest of ALTA TPB-material from the beginning of millennium fit into this one?

 

Ah, I finally found this page. Awesome. Here is my list of expectations for the near future. I think I need some extra fluffing in the A Long Time Ago... volumes 5 and 6 but otherwise I'm pretty sure this list is close to what Dark Horse will release in the next two years. The only thing missing is perhaps another prequel-era omnibus, perhaps the prequel film adaptations. Anyway...

Omnibus: At War with the Empire Volume 2 (Prediction Fall 2011 release)
Thus far, between the Boba Fett omnibus and Vol 1, we have collected issues 1-7, 10-11, 13-14, 19-25, 28, and 31. In total, those make up 408 pages covering 12 different story arcs. I expect the second omnibus will complete the series by including:

• 8-9, 12, 15: Darklighter
• 16-18: To the Last Man
• 26-27: "General" Skywalker
• 29-30, 32-34: In the Shadows of Their Fathers
• 35: A Model Officer
• 36-40: The Wrong Side of the War

Collectively, these comics should come out to just around 408 pages. Perfect. It also attempts to balance between "good guy" and "bad guy" stories as the first volume did, balancing 11 good guy issues with 9 bad guy issues. All-in-all, I expect this will be the Fall 2011 omnibus.

Omnibus: A Long Time Ago... Volume 5 (Prediction Winter 2012 release)
With Volume 4 releasing this summer, I expect Volume 5 will wait until around Christmas or January 2012 for a release. It may also be the final of the Marvel comic collections. Currently it would contain Marvel Issues 82 through 107.

The problem is, these issues total more than 550 pages, which would make it the largest omnibus yet! The likelihood, then, is that this may not, in fact, be the final A Long Time Ago... omnibus and that a volume 6 is in the works. This actually makes perfect sense because without a sixth omnibus, there would be no room for the Devilworlds Star Wars comics released originally in Britain but later brought to the United States in colored format. Collectively, those comics add around 60 more pages to the 550 page count. Where these Devilworlds comics fit in the original continuity is up for debate, which means they will probably be placed at the back of Volume 6. Thus, my proposal for Volume 5 is:

• Marvel Issues 82-96

That's it. The omnibus would be pitifully small, though, at only around 325 pages, so there is a good chance either something may be added to it, or to the next volume.

Omnibus: Dark Empire (Prediction Spring 2012 release)
Already collected in a new hard cover omnibus for the 25th anniversary celebration, I suspect this will get another reprint shortly as a standard omnibus. It is simply too important of a Star Wars story to not create an omnibus for. The very fact that they have not made one yet already surprises me. It would (obviously) include:

• Dark Empire
• Dark Empire II
• Empire's End
• Handbook 3: Dark Empire

This list matches exactly the current list for the hardback. Assuming the printing would be the same, the whole issue would be 352 pages, which is short for an omnibus, but not unusually so.

Omnibus: A Long Time Ago... Volume 6 (Prediction Summer 2012 release)
The justification for this volume is noted in the Volume 5 prediction. I suspect it won't see the light of day until Summer 2012. It would probably contain:

• Marvel Issues 97-107
• Devilworlds 1-2

As with the previous issue, though, that places the page count at just around 325, even with the double-length hundredth issue. I suspect some other material may be dredged up to fill this or the previous volume.

Omnibus: Crimson Empire (Predicted Fall 2012)
Despite the fact that a new comic is coming out from this series in the near future, I have a strong feeling that an omnibus is in the future anyway. Yeah, and it won't include the new comics. Despite that, it will be packed full of fun stuff. A lot of background has been created for Kir Kanos over the years and I think it would all fill up an omnibus quite well. Here's what I predic

 

From the Star Wars books website, which comes from Randy Stradey on the Dark Horse fourms:

"he coming year will see an omnibus of the UK Marvel material, Panini material, and even those Blackthorne stories which were originally published in red/blue 3-D. Also included in an upcoming Omnibus will be missing Hasbro material, unpublished stories from Star Wars Kids, and other stories which we have designated either "Unknown Regions," or "Wild Space."
"We're hoping to eventually collect all of the Star Wars comics material in one form or another. Still in the future: the Star Wars comics strips as they were originally presented.
"Oh, yeah, and along the way, we may find the time to publish a few original stories, too!"

and also:

"begun planning Clone Wars Omnibuses, and have discovered that some stories are designated "X months/years after Episode II" and others are placed at "X months/years before Episode III." Cause for pause. And then, of course, there are some stories that were never given actual dates -- and others that were retconned to have occurred at slightly different times than originally indicated. Hopefully, the Omnibus will become the "edition of record." Unless, of course, things change further!"

 

Excellent news! I for one look forward to seeing my mega post above be rendered completely irrelevant once some of these new announcements start coming.

 

This is great news! I love the Omnibus collections. Would X-Wing Rogue Squadron 1/2 most likely fit in At War with the Empire Vol. 2? I wonder if the At War with the Empire series will eventually collect Rebellion too. I wouldn't mind seeing collections of more recent series once the older stuff has been collected.

What is the Panini material?

 

I can't believe it, but I'm actually more excited about the upcoming omnibuses than I was before! I was hoping we'd get Classic Star Wars eventually, but the possibility of seeing the original strips reprinted...this is excellent!

TC

 

The ones I'm most interested in are the Clone Wars Omnibuses.

 

New news off the Dark Horse website has announced that the next omnibus will be "The Complete Saga" which will include the comic adaptations of all six films. This presents an annoying first for Dark Horse, since three of those comics have already been released in the A Long Time Ago... series, with Return of the Jedi adaptation appearing in the omnibus released immediately before this new one. That makes this the first Omnibus that I have no desire to purchase and it also means I have to now track down and buy the three prequel adaptations in trade paperback, something I had not been doing up until now because I had expected a prequel adaptation omnibus to release at some point in time. Ugh.

 

No worries, because ANH will be the Special Edition made by Dark Horse in 1996, not the Marvel one. That means that this omnibus will have 400 pages uncollected comics and TESB and ROTJ as "bonus" for those who already have them. So unless you are determined to not buy any omnibus which has overlapping stories (I'm hoping this one will be the only one), there's still about the same amount of uncollected comics as in the other omnibuses. And in much cheaper prize than buying the prequels as TPB:s.

 

Thanks very much for the info. - this is truly fantastic news to an old-school SW fan like me. Though I knew about the UK Marvel material being reprinted, I wasn't 100% sure about the 3-D comics, and don't really know what the Panini?! material will consist of. Kudos and Thanks to DH for going out of their way to collect and compile all of these obscure comics/strips into these Omnibuses - I'm sure it took/will take a lot of work and research to find all of this material - if it weren't for these forthcoming collections, it's a safe bet that most of us will never have a chance to see/read these.

Re: the 3-D comics, I wonder if they will remove the red/blue 3-D effect and add full color, or just present these in b&w. Either way, these will be good to see.

I'm guessing the UK Marvel material will consist of both what was reprinted in the 2-issue "Devilworlds" series DH published way back in '96, as well as any other UK comics that weren't published in "Devilworlds"; I believe this additional material should include the long out of print "World of Fire" small paperback that came out in the '80's.

Re: reprinting the comic strips as they were originally presented, this is also excellent news. Back in the early '90's I remember checking out a series of HC's from the library that included all of the Al Williamson-drawn b&w strips in their original format, but it's been years since I read these boooks (these strips were later reprinted by DH as their first "Classic SW" series in full color). However, seeing these strips in their original form will be great, whether or not color is added.

Also, somewhere in these future Omnibuses they should also reprint: "The Kasshyk Depths" (a story that originally ran in the newspaper by Russ Manning, I think); that other obscure SW Manning strip that was reprinted several years back in an oversized Luke Skywalker-centric HC by DH; another Manning strip that was given out as a thin promotional comic at some Kay-bee toy stores in the late '90's; the contents of SW #0, which is a very HTF DH promotional?! comic that came out in the late '90's and reprinted an equally HTF Pizzaz SW strip from the late '70's involving an adventure on an ice planet (not Hoth), etc.

And, we know the Ewoks/Droids Star comics should be reprinted in these Omnibuses as well.

And, I'm sure there are other obscure SW comics that I'm either forgetting or don't know about.

 

Is there a reason they went with a hardcover collection last year of Dark Empire and not the Omnibus? I don't really understand the reasoning.

This year is the 20th anniversary of the first Dark Empire, is it too late to expect an Omnibus?

 

There have now been two "Hardcover-Omnibuses", The Thrawn Trilogy and the Dark Empire Trilogy. Both of them were something special: The first Dark Horse product and the adaptation of the first EU product of the 90's. Most likely there will be a softcover collection later, but I wouldn't bet on any year. The next ones are the movie adaptations, Empire/Rebellion and the last of US Marvel comics. Those will take us to the spring, so definitely no Dark Empire this year.

 

Neither of these include the end notes and text from original DE TPB do they?

 

I know everyone and their master is hunting Darth Plagueis in book stores, but with two series (US Marvel and Empire/Rebellion) being collected soon, this should be a nice moment to try to predict and/or wish what?s next.

I?d except them to continue mixing old and new, like they did with Marvel and Empire, so the one after The Other Sons of Tatooine will be either Marvel?s UK comics, Droids/Ewoks, newspaper strips or something else lost in time. My money would be on the UK stories and old lost comics, based on quote from Stradley:

?The coming year will see an omnibus of the UK Marvel material, Panini material, and even those Blackthorne stories which were originally published in red/blue 3-D. Also included in an upcoming Omnibus will be missing Hasbro material, unpublished stories from Star Wars Kids, and other stories which we have designated either "Unknown Regions," or "Wild Space."?

So that?s for the old stuff. But what series should the omnibus after next cover, if it collects newer series? There?s a number of options:
1. Crimson Empire (not likely, I except them to wait until they can collect the third one in the same book)
2. Other New Republic Era series from the 90?s (would be nice, I?ve been waiting for them)
3. Clone Wars comics from the Republic series (very likely, time of publication matches with Empire)
4. Tales
5. Infinities
6. Something else? Random comics from the 90?s like Jabba the Hutt or This Crumb for Hire (unlikely if not part of a larger group)
Of these I?d pick Clone Wars as the first choice, and New Republic and Tales as second.

But one interesting notion: of the 22 announced Omnibuses, 12 are from Rebellion Era. As an Omnibus-collector, I?d like to see something else, and my wish seems to come true soon, because there are only 3-4 Omnibuses left from that era, and they are the ones collecting the 70?s and 80?s.