Superman Collections - Arg!

[speedster]

I love me some Superman. He will always be my first love when it comes to superheroes. I was following the New 52 Superman title for the first year before I decided to drop it. With the rotating creative teams, the title didn't have any direction (I stayed on as long as I did due to my love for George Perez and Dan Jurgens).

I was debating to go to collections only for Supes (as I am with Morrison's Action). I was really excited about the "H'el on Earth" storyline. For the longest time, I was wondering how it was going to be collected. Today, I got my answer:

Superman: H’el on Earth HC
Writers: Scott Lobdell, Tom DeFalco and Mike Johnson
Artists: Kenneth Rocafort, R.B. Silva, Rob Lean, Roger Robinson, Iban Coello, Amilcar Pinna and Mahmud Asrar
Collects: Superman #13-17, Superboy #14-17 and Supergirl #14-17
$29.99 US, 296 pg

The whole. Damn. Thing. In. One. Volume! I was not expecting that! I figured it was going to be at least 3 volumes. Then I noticed something else on the collections list:

Superman Vol. 3 HC
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artist: Kenneth Rocafort
Collects: Superman #0 and 13-19
$24.99 US, 192 pg

Now, I am confused. Why would DC print this? Granted, it has the "0" issue, but why would it print issues with only 1/3 of the HoE storyline? How would that even be cohesive? Then, I noticed that it also contains 18 & 19 as well. And, judging by the solicitations, 19 ends on a cliffhanger. Now, I have nothing against collections ending on cliffhangers, but this seems to be poorly thought out.

Wouldn't a better idea be have the "H'el on Earth" storyline collected as is, and then Superman: Vol. 3 collect 0, 18-24 (or some other round number)? This is kind of maddening for trade collectors as it somewhat forces them to re-buy the same stuff.

I don't want to sound like a stick-in-the-mud. I get why companies would reprint stuff in different collections at the same time. The recent Batman crossovers are a good example of how to do it right. The main storyline (in Batman) was printed in its own collection and the one-off tie-ins were in their own. Then, those tie-ins were then also collected in their own series collections. It makes sense in that case. For example, if you are only following Batgirl, then you still get all the issues and that one-off doesn't tie directly into the crossover enough to impact your reading experience, because it isn't essential reading. And if you are not reading Batgirl, then you can get that one issue that ties-in. This Superman crossover is a different beast entirely.

I appreciate DC being through (the size of the volume is good for the price), but seems logistically bizarre. Then, I noticed DC's listing for Action Comics:

Superman: Action Comics Vol. 3: At The End of Days HC
Writers: Grand Morrison and Sholly Fisch
Artists: Travel Foreman, Rags Morales, Mark Propst, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, Chris Sprouse and Karl Story
Collects: Action Comics #13-17
$24.99 US, 224 pg

Wasn't Morrison's run extended to issue 18? Please tell me this was a misprint and his final issue won't be in the next volume.

Am I crazy with any of this? Or do I have a point? I really don't want to turn this into a DC bashing thread, but its maddening.

I know. I know. First-World-Problems.

[xBarryxAllenx]

I don't think you are necessarily DC bashing. Unfortunately, it is all too true that multiple changes in creators have caused a somewhat uneven feel to the Superman storylines. It is more unfortunate that their collections are ending in the middle of storylines.

I don't think this extends to all of DC. Thankfully, the creative team for the Flash has largely been left alone, with relatively little editorial interference other than not being allowed to bring Wally into the story. I believe that is part of what has made this volume of the Flash as amazing as it has been.

[speedster]

My frustration in this particular matter has less to do with the creative team changes (that happens all the time in comics) and more to do with how the current crossover is being clumsily handled when being collected.

I guess I could sum up my whole point in: collections shouldn't be this difficult to figure out!

[xBarryxAllenx]

That is strange - it is one thing to leave a cliffhanger in the regular series...but to cut off the story mid-stream in a collection is truly odd.

[Savitar]

Yeah, I see what you mean. It would have been better for the next Superman collection to begin with issues following the H'El story arc.

I'm with you. Been wanting to read a good Superman comic yet sadly haven't been able to find any. Don't have the budget to buy all the issues of Superman, Superboy, and Supergirl so was waiting to get the eventual TPB of the H'El storyline.

As for Morrison, I do believe his last issue was #18. Been reading that or at least trying to read it. Again, Morrison has some brilliant ideas on paper yet the execution seems lacking in properly displaying those ideas.

I'm hoping the upcoming Snyder/Lee Superman title will be as good as it sounds. It'll also be interesting to see what Pak does on the new Superman/Batman title.

[speedster]

Mar 26, 2013 6:51:22 GMT -5 xBarryxAllenx said:

That is strange - it is one thing to leave a cliffhanger in the regular series...but to cut off the story mid-stream in a collection is truly odd.

I think it somewhat depends on how the cliffhanger plays. For example, the recent Flash collections have ended on cliffhangers. Move Forward, for example, ends with Flash #8 with Barry crashing down in Gorilla City. While it is a cliffhanger, the previous story was mostly wrapped up. Same thing with Vol. 2 with it ending with the Gorillas crashing down (in Annual 1). It is a natural breaking point.

The flip side is if the story isn't completed and the breaking point is odd. Say, for example, a Flash collection stopped in the middle of either the Mob Rule arc or the Gorilla Warfare arc. That wouldn't make sense.

Mar 26, 2013 8:19:33 GMT -5 Savitar said:

As for Morrison, I do believe his last issue was #18. Been reading that or at least trying to read it. Again, Morrison has some brilliant ideas on paper yet the execution seems lacking in properly displaying those ideas.

I'm hoping it was just a typo or from a press release that wasn't updated after Morrison got another issue. This wouldn't be the first time something like this had happened in the history of publishing.