Yeah, but the weird thing about it is that they didn't even have it in their coming soon list or available to even put in your wish list there like most books.

Bingo! I’ve always been able to add things I was interested in to my (admittedly small) wish list – usually months in advance – and then just check that for release dates, price drops etc. but for whatever reason, they kept this omnibus MIA until the last minute, even though other sellers had it listed for ages.

That website has always felt like it was held together with chicken wire.

I bought the DC/Marvel omni with the code.

It might be because of the delays in this and Amalgam (which is also not listed yet).

If you go on eBay several sellers (supposedly listing their location as Vietnam) have been selling cheap copies of Rom, Micronauts, and a couple other Marvel omnibuses for under $30. They are apparently using BookOutlet as dropshippers.

While it looks sketchy, the books show up fine. I got the Captain Britain omnibus sealed for $29 off eBay. You just can't beat those prices now that InstockTrades has gotten rid of their clearance section's extreme discounts.

Literally this. InStockTrades' "coming soon" lost tends not to be updated when dates slip, so once the initial solocitation date is passed.. most books won't be 'upcoming' any more.

The oddest thing about these books is the titles.

This 'DC vs Marvel' Omnibus does not collect DC vs Marvel, because it is the lead-in to the Amalgam stories and hence collected there...

Nostalgia, theory and (hazy) memory color and inform my opinions, but with those caveats - I'm looking forward very much to revisiting DC v M and the Amalgam Age very much indeed. No doubt the writing and plot are significantly less impressive than younger-me found them, at a time when the unlikelihood and fannishness of the gimmick elevated the thin idea into something to be savored and enjoyed.

Behind-the-scenes wranglings (and editorial demands) no doubt played as big a part in the match-ups - and victors! - in the original miniseries' world's colliding and heroes fighting premise, but in theory, those four issues polled readers and answered questions: Who Would Win In A Fight Between... before allowing us to see cross-universe heroes set aside their differences and fight side-by-side.

But not before The Powerful Enemy smashed both universes together and formed a hybrid world, an AMALGAM world where the characters we know and love (from the 90s) were fused together in smart, witty and weird ways. Swamp Thing + Man Thing! Superman + Captain America! Batman + Wolverine! Superboy + Spider-man! Dr. Strange/Fate! Dr Doom/sday! ...Lobo the Duck?! etc., etc.

If you know your heroes and continuity, like spotting in-jokes and 'get' minutiae, there is a lot to like. For every eye-rolling oddity, there's a clever twist and in-joke just for you. The writers had a field day putting together a haphazard semi-chronology for the new universe, with footnotes and unspoken pasts, references to the Infinity Crisis and whatever they mixed with Secret Wars and all kinds of fictional earlier comics titles and characters.

Generation Hex is a legitimately great title and amalgamation. Having Frank Castle and Diana Prince work together as crimefighters is inspired, and a Marvelized Bruce Wayne might very well become an Agent of SHIELD. Where else can writers and artists playfully acknowledge that several characters from either stable are obviously knockoffs from the competition?

And who wouldn't root for Tim Drake and Jubilee to have a quiet moment together?

I can't wait. But it makes me extremely sad that (allegedly) two issues won't be included because of real-world wariness about their co-authors real-world crimes and how some parts of America might try to frame their republication. Sours things a little, but... fingers crossed that the pulping delays might have taken enough heat off the book and they'll wind up included. Please.

Disney refused allowing them to publish the Gerard Jones' issues. They will not be in there at all.

Keeping this in the realm of deals, OrganicPricedbooks is having a great sale on DC omnibuses and absolute editions. 52% off and free shipping.

https://organicpricedbooks.com/colle...collected-sale

Weird, any idea why these are coming from Vietnam?
I only saw Rom for 40 but I'll keep an eye out, thanks for the heads up.

Not quite sure myself, I suspect that is some sort of workaround exploiting Bookoutlet's discount codes? For the eBay seller to hit free shipping, they usually throw in a free random book as well. I got some vampire manga for free when the order arrived on top of the omnibus.

I've also seen them listed from Kenya. It's got to be a scam, right? Not for the eBay buyers. They get the books. But rather the sellers are scamming Bookoutlet and turning around and selling stuff cheap. That would be my guess anyway.

There’s definitely a scam going on somewhere along the way. And I think it applies to a lot of products made nowadays, and not just books like these. I suppose that’s a possible byproduct of sending so much manufacturing and printing overseas where the corporate clients (like Marvel) can’t truly monitor the production and supply chains 24/7, with countless items probably slipping out the printing companies’ side doors while the bulk are shipped to North America and the west via the proper channels. I mean, Vietnam and Kenya? Real hotbeds for big omnibus comics there, I’ll bet. And even if they were ‘unofficial’ editions pumped out on the sly, I doubt there’d be any difference between them.

It does amaze me – sort of – just how many ebay (etc) sellers from second- and third-world countries have access to, and plentiful supplies of, first-world products and charge so little for them, ship free, etc.

I mean the shipping alone on an omnibus if it really came from overseas has to be pretty big (but these don't really come from Vietnam, right?)

No. As far as I can tell they're not actually shipping from overseas.

Probably not. I’ve received many parcels bought from legit overseas movie retailers (like Eureka, 88, Chameleon, YesAsia, etc) that actually ship from various non-descript warehouses right here in my city, despite me occasionally paying more for shipping from “overseas” than it would actually cost to ship a box across town (same goes for “overseas” orders shipped to my U.S. addresses from within the U.S.). I often Google map the sender addresses on the labels and Streetview always shows huge plain-Jane warehouses or converted business park buildings that you’d drive right by without ever thinking about what’s inside.

I think there’s a whole system in play here that is probably difficult to fully comprehend unless you’re part of the chain, above board or below it. So the Kenyan or Vietnamese sellers can bulk ship their (possibly ill-gotten, for pennies on the dollar) products – possibly without ever seeing them? – to these warehouses in whatever country they decide to sell in. Toronto, I’ve been slowly discovering, has a quite a few of these places. I always assumed they were just alternate parcel pick-up options tied to smaller-scale couriers, not unlike when you collect your parcel at a big UPS or FedEx facility, but I suspect many of them operate like mini-Amazons, holding stock for sellers from gawd-knows-where and shipping it to locals as needed. I’ll admit I don’t know the full workings, but I’ve seen clues over the past few years that this is pretty big machine, and one within which it’s probably easy to commit fraud.

I've always assumed it was some sort of credit card fraud operation by the seller. The tell on that is digital goods are also often available from similar sellers. They pop up on eBay, stick around for a month or two, then disappear into the wind.

Someone on eBay last year sold me an annual Crunchyroll subscription...for $30. I thought it was fishy but the membership worked with my account.

Target has B2G1 on books, and some of their stuff has decent pricing before the discount

Here's what I got (all Marvel Omnibus, price after discount)

• Godzilla: The Original Marvel Years $45.71
• Star Wars: The Rebellion 2 $46.10
• Luke Cage $46.13

Always great pricing on target's sale but I've kind of given up ordering omnibuses from them. In the last sale they shipped me a Superman omnibus which I had to return given the terrible packaging. I think it's safer ordering smaller hardcovers and trades from them.

This isn’t really a bargain or a hot deal, but since the pricey Taschen Marvel books have come up in this thread before, it’s worth noting that they’ve started reissuing them in standard size editions, closer (but just a bit bigger) in dimension to regular omnibus editions. Both are printed on consistent paper stock throughout rather than the mix of gloss and re-engineered “newsprint” (or whatever it was) seen in the deluxe editions. Both also have more pages than the deluxe editions, which I’m assuming is because they redesigned the bonus sections somewhat for clarity (a common practice with them). The deluxe editions are regularly $200 and $600, respectively, and half of that on sale. These new ones are $80 regular, but down the road they’ll inevitably be included in Taschen’s various 50% sales, too, which would be a very affordable way to get the whole series over time, albeit without the manufacturing bells and whistles of the deluxe editions.

Avengers Vol. 1
https://www.taschen.com/en/books/com...ers-1963-1965/

Spider-Man Vol. 1
https://www.taschen.com/en/books/com...man-1962-1964/

Just a heads-up that some of the big Taschen Marvel Comics Library books are half-price at Target, so $100 each, the same price Taschen sells them for during its own sales.

As far as I can tell, the discount applies to SILVER SURFER, FANTASTIC FOUR, and X-MEN. They’ve also got the XXL edition of THE FANTASTIC WORLDS OF FRANK FRAZETTA for $100.

(keep in mind as per my previous post that the Marvel books are slowly being reissued by Taschen in smaller, omnibus-sized editions at $80, albeit without the mixed paper stocks, which will inevitably be $40 or so in sales down the road. Also, the Frazetta book also exists at a much smaller size as part of the 40th Anniversary series, which retails for around $25 - $30)

https://www.target.com/p/marvel-comi...a/-/A-89423399

https://www.target.com/p/marvel-comi...a/-/A-87904644

https://www.target.com/p/marvel-comi...a/-/A-92797202

https://www.target.com/p/the-fantast...a/-/A-87566843

I really wish I had known of this deal about 3 hours ago. I could have gotten the Silver Surfer Taschen for near $60 with the Target Circle discounts I had on my account. Used it for something else, alas.

I keep waiting for the Spider-Man Volume 2 XXL version to drop to $100. It will happen. I just have to be patient.

I ordered the Silver Surfer book, despite the fact that an omnibus reprint is coming in May. I do like the coffee table art book nature of these, and the unique print quality and bonus materials, but Taschen’s own upcoming smaller editions will probably motivate me to build a whole set over time during their sales. But I keep coming back to my cart with these ones just sitting there . . .

I’m also really tempted by the Frazetta book, although I saw the smaller 40th Anniversary version of it at a bookstore here on the weekend (full cover price, so no), and it’s complete and quite nice, and would sit nicely beside a few others I’ve picked up over the last year or so. Tough call.

Saw a video on YT about the Marvel books noting that Taschen is planning on printing four volumes for each of the characters they’ve done so far, and that’s it. So obviously they’ve still got a long ways to go. I wouldn’t mind having the first of each, but four for each title at $100 a pop would be a bit much.

I don't think 4 volumes per character is exactly right. I think this was based on a reddit thread I saw where a Taschen rep was posting. I don't follow this line super closely, but my recollection is that currently they are planning:

5 Spider-Man
4 Fantastic Four
3 X-Men
2 Avengers
1 Silver Surfer
Maybe Hulk?