So the Byrne one is a 125 one, better jump on that Amazon price...

First one I will be ordering from Amazon

And the covers!

I love that FF #236 cover

In anticipation of a price jump, I pre-ordered the Byrne last week. Already had the others pre-ordered.

Another who jumped on the Byrne price

both of these are currently listed at $62.99, so I'm gonna order them now, just in case. If they both jump to $125, getting them for $126 combined will be nice. Not sure how accurate Amazon is this far out, but Claremont/Lee vol. 2 is listed as having over 100 more pages than vol.1, which has a list price of $125

P.S. Thanks, slop101, for that initial heads-up on the likely Byrne FF price-jump. Good lookin' out.

I just checked my orders I placed last week and they were changed to 62.99 and 59.84. I know Amazon gives you the lowest advertised price between when you order it and when it ships, but do they also apply the gold box discount to it after the fact? i had never noticed that before.

When Byrne drew the cover it originally had Kirby standing in front of Stan, that waving arm isn't original (which is why it looks somewhat awkward). Jack was removed because of legal issues Marvel was having with him at the time. I think the published cover had a text balloon over that area. All these years later, I wish they could have restored it to give Kirby his due.

Yeah I have heard that story. Just looks awkwardly empty now. Wonder what Byrne will say on his forums?

The original:

^ I remember buying that issue.

Me too. I actually had stopped reading FF till Byrne came in and I really liked the look of it. Ran across that floppy a couple years ago and read it again.

Decided to order the Byrne Fantastic Four Omnibus too.

I'm sure this is the variant cover but I wish it was the regular, because I like it much better.

I thought the same thing upon seeing both

So I got my first Omni which is the Simonson Thor, and which I'm about half-way through and still enjoying quite a bit. I didn't have it for more than a few days though when I thought "this is such a handsome production I should probably pick anything else I'm interested in a.s.a.p. since the print runs seem very limited, and secondary prices and options get more restrictive."
So I ordered the new Kirby Captain America and the second original X-Men volume.
Got them both in today and, man, am I disappointed. The content is what it is, but God, do I hate that garish, flat, simplistic, primary heavy coloring when it's printed on a slick glossy stock. It's one thing to have this style printed on a pulpier stock (like some of the DC Ominis) where the paper will absorb the ink and and temper it. But slick, modern paper stock really needs these things recolored with more nuance and subtlety to not over-power the art. When the material is re-colored well, with palates and techniques geared specific to the media it will be printed on, it's almost like reading the material again for the first time- which is the sensation I'm experiencing with Thor.

Since Thor's re-coloring seems to be a one-off for now (most people expect the Byrne FF Omni to retain the same flat early 80's coloring that can already be had with the Visonaries volumes), I won't be ordering any more of these Omni's, and will be canceling the Byrne FF. It's a shame too, as you can look at the cover to the FF Omni which utilizes a modern, recolored version of the #236 cover and see what might have been, with the whole book interior being that lush.

I think it cuts both ways. 1 of my favorite comics from when I was younger is Matt Wagner's Grendel (the Comico series). When Dark Horse rereleased them, they recolored them and IMHO, the newer versions fucking suck. The color palate is RUINED and it crushes me.

Now that said, the Simonson Thor is my first Omnibus too, but it is gorgeous. I also just got the Uncanny X-Men Omnibus and it looks great too. It's color seems to be reconstructed, but it seems to be mostly in primaries and it looks great, fwiw. I don't know. I'd have to check it out, because I want both of those two you just mentioned.

I agree not all recoloring is equal. I was hugely disappointed with the Neal Adams Batman books which are extremely ugly (imo). But something like the FF cover above is not a radical recoloring. It simply introduces nuances, gradients, shading, and other digital aided processes that clarify and improve the readability of the original art.

I'm a purist when it comes to my movies- I hate the new color timing Ridley Scott is forcing on his movies on Bd, for instance- so I could see someone accuse me of being a hypocrite. But I see it as a much different proposition when you are taking about the umpteenth time these stories are getting collected for a trade, as well as the basic nature of how this material was created to begin with. And while I might sympathize initially with the fan that just wants a better representation of a look that he has bonded with ages ago, once this material is removed from it's newsprint origins and stuck on modern glossy stock, a huge part of it's original character is fundamentally changed already. So now we are just haggling over what constitutes the best/better change.

Recoloring, like the job done on Thor, cost big money (relative to the production budgets for these things). The best way to aggregate that cost would be a higher priced large , all at once, collection.
The Omni's, with their premium price tags, are really where these things should be done as a matter of course.

And if purists hate it, they can still keep their HC Masterworks or TPB Masterworks or Visionaries, or any of the other collected editions that Marvel keeps repackaging. But for Pete's sake, there should at least be one premium product out there that takes advantage of the current technology to show off classic material to it's best advantage.

Sorry, I just had to vent after all the coin I dropped on these
____________

BTW- I would have loved to have gotten the Uncanny X-Men V1 Omni- but this is also the kind of material that I crave to see get recolored.
I mean, look at this cover for the tpb- am I the only one that would drop serious money to see the whole Bryne run get remastered as lush as this?

Well, I've gone from 0 - 60 in no more than a month's time.

I've bought:

Thor By Walter Simonson
The Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1

I've just ordered:

X-Men Vol. 1
Wolverine Vol. 1
The Amazing Spiderman Vol. 1

I've pre-ordered:

The Amazing Spiderman By David Michelinie & Todd McFarlane
The Uncanny X-Men By Chris Claremont & Jim Lee Vol. 1
The Fantastic Four By John Byrne
X-Statix

And many more to come.

FWIW, Amazon is now showing the #236 cover. Price still holding at $99.

Claremont-Lee now at $125.

Omnibus news has been a little sparse lately. Good for the wallets to recover. And as usual there is a backlog of Omnibuses solicited but as yet unshipped. Nobody is hurting for reading material.

We knew this one was coming from Amazon. I have my order in at the cheaper price point here for now.

And I think we knew this one was coming. now it's up on Amazon as yet unsolicited. I am not sure the price will differ so much from DCBS on it.

The Avengers Omnibus, Vol. 1 [Hardcover]

EDIT: yeah we must have known about it because I found my order with the Claremont/Lee Vol 2 on Amazon.

I wouldn't be surprised to see another Avengers Omni released before the film. Maybe even a couple focussing on some of the characters. Cap and Thor have plenty of Omnis but Iron Man and Hulk could each use another. I don't think anyone is clamoring for a Black Widow omni. But a West Coast Avengers Omni might be cool for Hawkeye.

Lastly, over on the Masterworks board there is confirmation of an Untold Tales of Spider-man Omni.

They are currently releasing West Coast Avengers HCs... would they do both? I also started collecting the Alpha Flight Classics trades, so expect an Omnibus of that any time now...

No kidding. I pre-ordered a number of them when we suspected they might be reprices, and some others that appeared in my Gold Box. I probably won't even remember what I ordered till the flatbed pulls up to my door.

Any reviews on the new Spider-man Omnibus? Amazon changed delivery date from August 24th to 1 to 3 days. Another thing-why doesn't Marvel start at the beginning with all their Omnibuses instead of skipping around?