20 Years of the Absolute Edition (*Possibly)

20 Years of the Absolute Edition (*Possibly)
I love DC's Absolute Editions, so to celebrate what I think - though I may be wrong - is the 20th anniversary of the first Absolute I take a look at the format.
Find me on Instagram: Off_My_Shelves
#AbsoluteEdition #DCcomics #HardcoverCollection #HardcoverComics #jackkirby #jackkingkirby #fourthworld #darkseid #DC #AbsoluteFourthWorld #Omnibus #GraphicNovels #Comics #CollectedEditions #GraphicNovel #NewGods #MisterMiracle #AbsoluteSwampThing #AbsoluteBatmanandRobin #AbsoluteAuthority #AbsoluteVforVendetta #AbsoluteAllStarSuperman #AbsoluteWonderWoman #AbsoluteBatmanYearOne #AbsoluteBatmanLongHalloween #AbsolutePlanetery #AbsoluteLeagueofExtrodinaryGentlemen

[@Kor33Com]

Nice Absolute collection! My first Absolute ed. All Star Superman. My favs Absolute editions are: All Star Superman(of course, first love), Arkham Asylum, Killing Joke and Final Crisis.

[@robbyadkins6367]

Just now seeing this video but I have at least 25 and maybe a few more. Kingdom Come and New Frontier were my first in 2006. Of the ones you don't have, I have 3 Green Lanterns, Kevin Smith Green Arrow, Identity Crisis and Alex Ross Justice and his other one of the Paul Dini stories (technically not an Absolute and slightly wider. Love the format. Just got Darwyn Cooke's second Martini Edition today and have Frazetta's oversized Death Dealer also!

[@OffMyShelves]

Wonderful collection you have there and more Darwyn Cooke is always a good thing!

[@DebjyotisGaming]

Awesome, I also have pretty much most of them, now on the fence whether to get Preacher or not have never read any of those. What do you suggest?

[@OffMyShelves]

I am exactly the same! I’ve read the first two volumes of preacher in the standard HC but not completed the series and normally I’ll only commit to the absolute if I read it and decided to upgrade….or if it’s stupid cheap. They are lovely editions but they are pricey so read a few volumes digitally or in tpb and if you like and you can afford it go for it as they are very pretty books tbf.

[@fbeye5890]

Just ordered by my first absolute edition yesterday, Swamp Thing Vol 1 can’t wait. Never read it but it’s Alan Moore and that’s good enough for me. Not an absolute but I also started reading Hellboy Library Editions because of your videos.

[@OffMyShelves]

Thats awesome! One of the best reads and best looking absolutes to start! And super happy to hear i put you in to Hellboy, i hope you enjoy them both as much as i have and will continue to!

[@Kor33Com]

Nice Absolute collection! My first Absolute ed. was All Star Superman. My favs Absolutes are: All Star Superman(of course, first love), Arkham Asylum, Killing Joke and Final Crisis. I know, lot of Grant Morrison stuff:)

[@OffMyShelves]

You have a very nice collection their! Gotta love a bit of Morrison! With Moore mixed in. 😉👍

[@Kor33Com]

@@OffMyShelves Which will be your next Absolute to raise your amazing collection? I miss from my collection Absolute Top 10 very much. But it's too pricy now.

[@OffMyShelves]

@@Kor33Com I’m not sure tbh. That top 10 goes goes stupid money now, who knows maybe a reprint one day will help.

[@fredbeaupre]

Absolutely lovely! 📚

[@socillizt4life]

My personal favourite ABSOLUTE EDITION is Alan Moore,Gene Ha & Zander Cannons ABSOLUTE TOP 10 & I absolutely agree about how much better V For Vendettas artwork looked in ABSOLUTE form compared to the TPB’s look & it even made the reading of V’ far easier for me because the TPB lettering of V’ was really blurry & hard for me to make out, so the ABSOLUTE actually made for a more enjoyable read, which is unique among my very humble absolute collection in comparison to your insanely epic set. It’s a very jealous inducing collection you’ve got yourself m8.✌️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇧🇿👍

[@OffMyShelves]

Great choice there! It is crazy how much format can totally alter your experience of a book. Thank you for the compliments! ✌️

[@mdb9920]

Great video. Thank you. I assume you own ever Absolute? I have I think 56 right now with the goal of tracking down all for a complete set. May take few more years though haha.

[@OffMyShelves]

Thank you loads! I don’t have all of them I only pick the ones that I really love/want, thankfully for my wallet I’m not a completionist. But wow, 56! That’s amazing fair play!

[@sviadoiv]

My first absolute was The Authority! I only collect absolute lol, it’s the best!

[@OffMyShelves]

A great, great book indeed!

[@turtleanton6539]

Oh wow😊

[@justinblong2003]

My favorite and only is “Authority” Vol 1. Since you like getting close to the original art size. Have you tried Jim Lee X-MEN XXL?

[@OffMyShelves]

That’s an excellent one to have tbf! I have seen that book and thought about it a few times but I’m not a big enough x men or Jim Lee fan to fully commit.

[@analogcomics]

I grew up reading European comics in the big album format. That is one reason I still have some (attitude) problems getting into Manga with its very small printing size. Having said that not all comics get better by showing bigger panels. My Absolutes are Y: The Last Man and Preacher. Looking at them now I`d be happy with just tpbs too. But your Watchmen made me realize how much Gibbons’ art deserves bigger format. I may need to upgrade one day😊 I do own Incal in Absolute size but as its Humanoids I guess it doesnt count🤔They call it Deluxe Collectors Edition. But the bigger the Moebius art is the better the life is🤘🏻

[@OffMyShelves]

Love the album format, with Tintin and Blacksad and all those wonderfully sized books it should be the standard size across all comics I think. You certainly picked two that the absolute doesn’t benefit hugely, the artwork in Preacher is great oversized but Y is possibly a bit worse when blown up. That incal version came and went so quick I’m gutted I didn’t have a chance to grab it it is a beaut!

[@turtleanton6539]

Darkhorse delux3

[@daxhalo]

That was a great video :') Just fun to watch a gushing video sometimes talking about the love of books, rather than any specific series, or overview, binding, etc. And I absolutely* loved the size comparison section! I was hoping it would go on and on tbh XD (*Pun intended)

[@OffMyShelves]

Thank you very much! Glad one of the few all out needless gushing videos was appreciated!

[@Phils_Nerdyverse]

Whilst one can see flashes of your jumper sleeve, I'm choosing to ignore that and believe you are totally naked behind that wall of absolutes .. books etc have god's & mortals for 50 dabs. It was one of first books read on the NH and at that price I am tempted. Great collection mate. I'm not even jealous, I'm just very happy for you!

[@OffMyShelves]

I knew the fake jumper sleeve wouldnt fool you!..im out there behind them books! 😂 thank you mate, im happy for myself too! And the gods and mortals absolute was bought a few days back cant wait for it to arrive!

[@Spacejack-xx2yp]

First here was Watchmen... favorites probably the LXG's, with a shoutout to JLA/Avengers. And--don't hit!--I actually kind like the Oliff recolor on Swamp Thing.

[@OffMyShelves]

Great choices!…and don’t worry I like the new colouring too!

[@tmyalt]

Well shit Chris, I didn't know you'd gotten into body building with all this FLEXING going on. I think I also see some serious bulking happening in the biceps department, I assume due to all the heavy lifting for this video. The Absolutes are a gorgeous format, and you seem to have acquired quite a neat bunch of them too! I am indeed a bit envious of the Absolute Ronin and Absolute Planetary, I need to look into adding those to my library. I think for me my favorite Absolute is probably Daytripper, it could easily have been Swamp Thing considering the amazing presentation if it wasn't for the recoloring, I'm still not sure how I feel about it, I think the original colors would have been amazing to see in this format. Perhaps we'll get to compare one day. My first Absolute Edition was Batman: Hush if my memory serves, which is funnily enough one that you don't seem to have in your library, along with Court of Owls, though I assume you wouldn't keep those out of the video and miss an opportunity to get some extra reps in. Lovely stuff as always Chris, I look forward to seeing you in the next one, all swole and roided out

[@OffMyShelves]

Thank you as ever! And behind those books I am ripped now! 😂 The two you need to look into are two of my favourites, both are so well put together and the story sings in that format…though Planetary is a heavy boy! I don’t have Batman hush because I did like the story; I enjoyed the first read though but on subsequent reads it didn’t do it for me. Court of owls on the other hand I don’t have for sentimental reasons…I have a complete set of the Snyder standard HCs and several were bought by friends and family and have memories attached so even though I wanna upgrade to absolutes and omnibus I’m sticking with the standard because I’m a sentimental old person. So that is why your first absolute and owls are missing in action.

[@paulhills1816]

Gotta love an absolute. Can’t wait for Swamp Thing volume 3 to finish off that run. 👍🏼

[@OffMyShelves]

I’m super looking forward to that! And the Wonder Woman gods and mortals, it looks lush!..but the 3rd book of moss is coming my way this month and I am excited for that.

[@paulhills1816]

For sure! Now if only Transmetropolitan 3 was available 🙏😁

[@FreakyFraser1]

Currently 30 Absolutes with room for 2 more before I have to sell something to make room. I'm pretty sure my 1st was Absolute Kingdom Come (Dark Knight couldn't have been too far behind).

[@sleepyreader666]

Awesome video. Bookgasam!!!

[@OffMyShelves]

Hahaha! Thank you! Glad I caused a reaction 😂

[@shawnkelly6440]

My first and still my favorite is League of extraordinary gentlemen, I got all 3 absolute editions and I know many aren't a fan of the scripts but as I'm rather interested in writing for comic books, the extremely thorough scripts of Alan moore is quite the nice addition to the book

[@OffMyShelves]

If you are into the construction of scripts and stories in general those absolutes are a treasure trove for sure! Great choice of favourites!

[@n0isefan]

I own twenty Absolute editions: seven Batman, seven Sandman, three Swamp Thing (3rd preordered and should ship in a few days), All-Star Superman, New Frontier and Watchmen. My first was Batman The Long Halloween and I kick myself for not getting Dark Victory as well! I ordered Batman Arkham Asylum from IST when it was still listed but the book went out of print before I could get it. Double kick myself for that as it’s my favorite and Dave Mckean’s art would be soooo amazing at Absolute size. I’m hoping for a 35th anniversary edition in a few years.

[@OffMyShelves]

Lovely collection of Absolutes there!! It took me ages to get dark victory so I understand the regret! Hopefully you will get one soon!

[@mdb9920]

Ya I grabbed Arkham when it was like $30. I had no idea it would be such a short print.

[@OffMyShelves]

@@mdb9920 bargain!!

[@ashleysmith640]

I have 14 myself need more 😂😂

[@OffMyShelves]

You can never have too many!! 😂

[@turtleanton6539]

Yes😂😂

[@jakefitzgerald1181]

I'm curious why you never picked up Absolute Dark Knight. You seem a big Batman fan and own 8 other Batman absolutes, and Dark Knight would be the one a lot of people say is a must own. (Personally, I was never interested in it either, but I do have Absolute Year One and Killing Joke).

[@OffMyShelves]

This a question I’m surprised I don’t get asked more! I adore the dark knight returns and would happily spend money on an absolute, but, package that story with the lacklustre follow up, dark knight strikes again, and it’s a big no. The majority of that absolute is the sequel and I don’t want to buy a book that has so much content I know I’ll never read. So I have the deluxe box set of DKR and until they do an absolute with just that story that’s what I’m sticking to.

[@andersonmbarboza1108]

​@@OffMyShelves same here. It's irritating how DC insists on packaging DKR with DK2. AFAIK, the deluxe box set is the only oversized edition of DKR (apart from the B&W version) without DK2. I hoped that with DK3 DK4 etc., they would finally stop doing that, but no luck, so far. I intend to get the deluxe box set eventually, but for the time being, the Tenth Anniversary TPB remains as my copy of ths classic.

[@chino062]

The Wonder Woman by Perez looks amazing

[@OffMyShelves]

It really does! Mine will be with me soon! Exciting!

[@turtleanton6539]

Sicc

[@nivagcomicsreviews7074]

I've got grant Morrison omnibus for batman but I still got absolute edition for batman and Robin and batman inc wish they would do the full run

[@OffMyShelves]

I wish they would too…and the Snyder run too for that matter!

[@fantumphool]

I think it might be the anniversary of the first book labeled "Absolute", but I think the Green Lantern Green Arrow book was published a few years earlier, which was the same size but not called "Absolute".

[@OffMyShelves]

Thank you for being an on the ball researcher! The green lantern/green arrow collection was a book I spent ages looking into and discounted it mainly for two reasons…first the name as you said…but most importantly the size of the 2000 slip case edition is nearer to a deluxe edition than an absolute. It took me ages to find the dimensions of it so I hope I have got that right! Anyway, thank you loads for helping out, much appreciated.

[@fantumphool]

@@OffMyShelves oh interesting! I have the reprint Absolute from 2015 (actually labeled Absolute and absolutely worth getting :-p). The Wikipedia article says they're the same size, but you're right, the dimensions I see listed are not the same. Hmmm. Well thank you being a more on the ball researcher than me! I learned something.

[@OffMyShelves]

@@fantumphool I’m sure I will grab the the 2015 one for dome Denny O’Neil and Adam’s goodness! It is very strange that the wiki page lists it like that as really speaking the only similarities are that it’s a HC in a slip case. The guy who edited that page must not be anywhere near as pedantic as me!

[@fantumphool]

@@OffMyShelves 😂

[@darklightdays]

It never occurred to me until now that the "Absolute" label must have come from "Absolute Authority", which is the only title that makes sense out of the lot 😂. I love the format, but am extremely picky about the ones I pick up. I generally don't want more than 350 pages or the book becomes a bit unwieldy. I also would rather it not have 100+ pages of supplement material in the back, and don't want it packaged with multiple colored versions (Year One, Killing Joke) or multiple stories (Dark Knight Returns). I currently own only two: Arkham Asylum (my favorite graphic novel) and The Black Mirror. Will hopefully be adding Ronin and Kingdom Come.

[@OffMyShelves]

I think you are right to be picky with these otherwise they will take over your shelves and the wallet and what a set of two fantastic ones to have. I’m not a huge fan at all of extras either, sometimes I think they add but more often than not they do nothing for me. I was exactly the same with page length too until absolute authority and fourth world came into my hands both are stupid big and heavy but worth the work out!

[@turtleanton6539]

Try batman long halloween

[@flyingdutchman8093]

I love the absolute editions but I think it’s a little over priced, the Dark House library editions are almost as good and a lot better priced.

[@OffMyShelves]

It’s always a battle in my head which one I prefer more tbh and often the LE’s win and they are certainly more consistent in their prices than DC…I do think the book design is better for the most part on Absolute editions though you look at swamp thing, new frontier, fourth world all the high end ones but again you would expect better design for the increased cost.

[@flyingdutchman8093]

@@OffMyShelves yeah there are definitely some absolute editions they do some cool stuff with, the swamp thing books are great examples. I have maybe 7 absolute editions, and a few more I’d like to get but when it come to longer series I can really justify ones that are more than maybe 2 books long and a few times they made them fairly short and should have included more (Superman Batman is an example of when they did too few per book). But at around 30$ for the library editions I will get a longer series.

[@OffMyShelves]

@@flyingdutchman8093 totally agree there! And it’s the reason I’ve never gone for preacher of sandman as the cost is huge across all volumes.

[@JohnnyComelately-eb5zv]

Is it just me or is Batman Year One garbage? The story is slight, the ending was muddled and abrupt and the writing is very basic compared to Alan Moore. Am I wrong?

[@OffMyShelves]

I think you are wrong for many but right for you. All this stuff is super subjective and if you like deeper plots and more convoluted, complex stories year one will always be a let down but for me it’s a great relaxing read; uncomplicated, straightforward origin tale with cool art. It doesn’t need to be better or worse than watchmen or moores work as it something totally different that will resonate with some and not others.

[@JohnnyComelately-eb5zv]

@@OffMyShelves ok fair enough. I was expecting something different. 👍

[@eduardocarvalho861]

Just compare this format with regular/ european size and you’ll see why almost all the original paperbacks, omnibus and the like, are shrinked for shelfspace wise. This is only to justify the absurdity of the bigger sizes. as a complete rip-off for the consumers

[@ta5777]

Best way to read League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in my opinion: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIrUhIadnap7frc

[@OffMyShelves]

That edition is stunning fair play, I can fully see why that would be your choice format…the b&w art looks amazing too.