Limited Collectors' Edition
{{short description|American comic book series}}
{{for multi|the album|Limited Collector's Edition (Glen Campbell album)|the general concept|Special edition}}
{{Infobox comic book title
|image = Limited collect c20.jpg
|imagesize = 200px
|caption = Cover to Limited Collectors' Edition C-20, the first of the series (Christmas 1972); art by Rube Grossman.
|schedule =
|ongoing = y
|Superhero =
|publisher = DC Comics
|startmo =
|startyr = 1972
|endmo =
|endyr = 1978
|issues = Limited Collectors' Edition: 32
Famous First Edition: 10
All-New Collectors' Edition: 7
|main_char_team =
|writers = {{List collapsed|John Albano, E. Nelson Bridwell, Gerry Conway, Leo Dorfman, Mark Evanier, Paul Levitz, Sheldon Mayer, Dennis O'Neil}}
|artists =
|pencillers = {{List collapsed|Neal Adams, Rich Buckler, E. R. Cruz, Ric Estrada, José Luis García-López, Mike Grell, Sheldon Mayer, Bob Oksner, Frank Redondo, Nestor Redondo, Gerry Talaoc, Alex Toth}}
|inkers = {{List collapsed|Dan Adkins, Terry Austin, Vince Colletta, Dick Giordano, Tenny Henson, Bob Oksner, Nestor Redondo, Alex Toth, Wally Wood}}
|letterers =
|colorists =
|editors =
|creative_team_month =
|creative_team_year =
|creators =
|subcat =
|sort = Limited Collectors' Edition
|addpubcat1 =
}}
Limited Collectors' Edition is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1972 to 1978. It usually featured reprints of previously published stories but a few issues contained new material. The series was published in an oversized 10″ x 14″ tabloid (or "treasury") format.
Publication history
Limited Collectors' Edition was launched with a collection of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer stories which went on sale October 24, 1972. DC Comics vice president Sol Harrison had suggested the format stating that "we could create a tabloid size comic that would stand out on the newsstand".{{cite journal|last = Wells|first = John|title = The Perils of the DC/Marvel Tabloid Era|journal = Back Issue!|issue = #61|page = 1|publisher = TwoMorrows Publishing|date = December 2012|location= Raleigh, North Carolina}} Limited Collectors' Edition shared its numbering with two other treasury format series, Famous First EditionWells in Back Issue! p. 2: "Running parallel to Limited Collectors' Edition was another trailblazing tabloid...Famous First Edition provided exact replicas of key Golden Age DC issues". and All-New Collectors' Edition.Wells in Back Issue! p. 6: "The series was renamed All-New Collectors' Edition with issue #C-53's Rudolph volume and shifted toward newly commissioned adventures". The final issues of the latter two series were tie-ins to the release of Superman: The Movie. DC later published treasuries as part of DC Special Series in 1981 and as a number of one-shots from 1999 to 2003 primarily produced by Paul Dini and Alex Ross.
In 2020, DC put out a new Famous First Edition, C-63, which reprinted in hardcover the first issue of New Fun Comics, which launched the company that became DC.
The issues
Several planned features for Limited Collectors' Edition were never published. These include several projects by writer/artist Sheldon Mayer. Mayer had been working on an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz but DC's then-publisher Carmine Infantino canceled the project upon learning of a similar adaptation by Marvel Comics. The two companies published the project jointly and the adaptation was crafted by Marvel's Roy Thomas and John Buscema instead. Mayer also worked on a follow-up to "The Bible" issue of Limited Collectors' Edition titled "The Story of Jesus" as well as "Rudolph's Easter Parade", an Easter-themed Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer issue. Neither project was published. "The Legend of King Arthur" by writer Gerry Conway and artist Nestor Redondo was a four-issue storyline which was advertised as "Coming Soon" in DC comic books dated September 1975, but the series was never published.{{Citation|last = Wells|first = John|title = 'Lost' DC: 1976-1980|newspaper = Comics Buyer's Guide|issue = #1249|page = 127|date = October 24, 1997|location= Iola, Wisconsin}} A second volume of "The Best of DC" would have included stories reprinted from The Brave and the Bold #42; All-Star Western #11; Superman #247; and Green Lantern #75 but was canceled as part of the DC Implosion.Wells in Back Issue! p. 5
Famous First Edition
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Issue | Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| align="center"|C–26 | align="center"|1974 | align="center"|"Action Comics #1" | Exact reprint of Action Comics #1 (June 1938).[http://www.comics.org/issue/68935/ Famous First Edition #C–26] at the Grand Comics Database |
| align="center"|C–28 | align="center"|1974 | align="center"|"Detective Comics #27" | Exact reprint of Detective Comics #27 (May 1939).[http://www.comics.org/issue/68936/ Famous First Edition #C–28] at the Grand Comics Database |
| align="center"|C–30 | align="center"|1974 | align="center"|"Sensation Comics #1" | Exact reprint of Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942).[http://www.comics.org/issue/68937/ Famous First Edition #C–30] at the Grand Comics Database |
| align="center"|F–4 | align="center"|October–November 1974 | align="center"|"Whiz Comics #2" | Exact reprint of Whiz Comics #2 (February 1940).[http://www.comics.org/issue/371501/ Famous First Edition #F–4] at the Grand Comics Database |
| align="center"|F–5 | align="center"|February–March 1975 | align="center"|"Batman #1" | Exact reprint of Batman #1 (Spring 1940).[http://www.comics.org/issue/68940/ Famous First Edition #F–5] at the Grand Comics Database |
| align="center"|F–6 | align="center"|April–May 1975 | align="center"|"Wonder Woman #1" | Exact reprint of Wonder Woman #1 (Summer 1942).[http://www.comics.org/issue/94323/ Famous First Edition #F–6] at the Grand Comics Database |
| align="center"|F–7 | align="center"|June–July 1975 | align="center"|"All Star Comics #3" | Exact reprint of All Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940–1941)[http://www.comics.org/issue/68941/ Famous First Edition #F–7] at the Grand Comics Database |
| align="center"|F–8 | align="center"|August–September 1975 | align="center"|"Flash Comics #1" | Exact reprint of Flash Comics #1 (January 1940.[http://www.comics.org/issue/68942/ Famous First Edition #F–8] at the Grand Comics Database |
| align="center"|C–61 | align="center"|March 1979 | align="center"|"Superman #1" | Exact reprint of Superman #1 (Summer 1939).[http://www.comics.org/issue/68938/ Famous First Edition #C–61] at the Grand Comics Database |
| align="center"|C–63 | align="center"|2020 | align="center"|"New Fun #1" | Exact reprint of New Fun #1 (February 1935). |
Famous First Edition was a series of oversized reprints of original Golden Age comics. All but two (#F–7, All-Star Comics #3 and #F–8, Flash Comics #1) included full-size glossy cover-stock reprints of the front and back covers in addition to the usual cardstock outer covers. Famous First Edition reprinted the comics in their entirety, including any paid advertising and other features that appeared in the original. Several issues of Famous First Edition were also published in hardcover editions by Lyle Stuart, Inc.Wells in Back Issue! p. 2: "Partnering with Lyle Stuart, Inc., DC released $5 hardcovers of its first six replicas". The Grand Comics Database only lists hardcover versions for issues #C–26 (Action Comics #1), #C–28 (Detective Comics #27), #C–30 (Sensation Comics #1), #F–4 (Whiz Comics #2), and #F–6 (Wonder Woman #1){{gcdb series|id= 39253|title= Famous First Edition (Lyle Stuart, Inc.)}} while the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide includes a listing for a hardcover version of #F–5 (Batman #1) with a notation of "exists?"{{cite book|last1= Overstreet|first1= Robert M.|title= Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide|edition= 49th|publisher= Gemstone Publishing|date= 2019|location= Timonium, Maryland|page= 669|isbn= 978-1603602334}} The reprint of New Fun #1 published in 2020 was released in a hardcover edition only.{{cite web|url= https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/43941/dc-release-hardcover-edition-its-first-comic-new-fun-1|title= DC to Release Hardcover Edition of Its First Comic|first= Jeffrey|last= Dohm-Sanchez|date= August 30, 2019|website= ICv2|archiveurl= https://archive.today/20210827004012/https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/43941/dc-release-hardcover-edition-its-first-comic-new-fun-1|archivedate= August 27, 2021|url-status= live|df= mdy-all|quote= DC Comics will reprint New Fun #1, its first comic, in an oversize hardcover edition to celebrate the company’s 85th anniversary. Famous First Edition: New Fun #1, a 48-page, tabloid-sized black-and-white hardcover, will be released on January 22, 2020 at $19.99.}}
All-New Collectors' Edition
Three features originally intended for All-New Collectors' Edition were published elsewhere due to the title's cancellation as part of the DC Implosion. "Superman's Life Story" by Martin Pasko and Curt Swan was published in Action Comics #500 (October 1979). The planned 1978 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer tabloid's material appeared in The Best of DC #4 (March–April 1980).[http://www.comics.org/issue/34179/ The Best of DC #4] at the Grand Comics Database A Justice League story by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler saw print in Justice League of America #210–212 (January 1983–March 1983).[http://www.comics.org/issue/37025/ Justice League of America #210] at the Grand Comics Database{{Citation|last = Wells|first = John|title = 'Lost' DC: The DC Implosion|newspaper = Comics Buyer's Guide|issue = #1249|page = 132|date = October 24, 1997|location= Iola, Wisconsin}}Wells in Back Issue! p. 6
DC Special Series
Other DC treasuries
- The Amazing World of Superman: Metropolis Edition (1973): Reprints stories from Action Comics #210; Superman #170; and Superboy #153, 161, and 169. New story by writer E. Nelson Bridwell and artists Carmine Infantino, Curt Swan, and Murphy Anderson.[http://www.comics.org/issue/71506/ The Amazing World of Superman, Metropolis Edition] at the Grand Comics Database
- MGM's Marvelous Wizard of Oz (1975): The first joint publishing venture between Marvel Comics and DC Comics.McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 165: "The Yellow Brick Road from Munchkin Land to the Emerald City was also wide enough to accommodate DC and Marvel as they produced their first-ever joint publication...Roy Thomas scripted a faithful, seventy-two page adaptation of Dorothy Gale's adventure, while John Buscema's artwork depicted the landscape of Oz in lavish detail". Comics adaptation of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film by Roy Thomas, John Buscema, and Tony DeZuniga.{{cite journal|last = Abramowitz|first = Jack|title = The Secrets of Oz Revealed|journal = Back Issue!|issue = #61|pages = 29–32|publisher = TwoMorrows Publishing|date = December 2012|location= Raleigh, North Carolina}}[http://www.comics.org/issue/29370/ MGM's Marvelous Wizard of Oz #1] at the Grand Comics Database
- Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man (January 1976): The first crossover between DC and Marvel characters, written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano.{{cite journal|last = Greenberg|first = Glenn|authorlink = Glenn Greenberg|title = Tabloid Team-Ups: The Giant-Size DC-Marvel Crossovers|journal = Back Issue!|issue = #61|pages = 33–40|publisher = TwoMorrows Publishing|date = December 2012|location= Raleigh, North Carolina}}McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 170: "The tale was written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Ross Andru, both among the few [at that time] to ever have worked on both Superman and Spider-Man...The result was a defining moment in Bronze Age comics".[http://www.comics.org/issue/30562/ Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man] at the Grand Comics Database
- Superman: Peace on Earth (January 1999): One-shot by writer Paul Dini and artist Alex Ross.{{cite journal|last = Smith|first = Zack|title = Paul Dini & Alex Ross Discuss a Treasured Format|journal = Back Issue!|issue = #61|pages = 69–77|publisher = TwoMorrows Publishing|date = December 2012|location= Raleigh, North Carolina|quote= From 1998 to 2003, [Paul Dini and Alex Ross] produced a series of fully painted oversized books featuring DC's biggest heroes.}}Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 286: "Alex Ross teamed up with writer Paul Dini...to tell a powerful story of the Man of Steel. In this beautiful sixty-four-page oversized one-shot...Superman fought a battle even he couldn't truly win: the war on poverty and hunger".[http://www.comics.org/issue/94251/ Superman: Peace on Earth] at the Grand Comics Database
- Superman/Fantastic Four: The Infinite Destruction (April 1999): Intercompany crossover by writer/penciler Dan Jurgens and inker Art Thibert.[http://www.comics.org/issue/297734/ Superman / Fantastic Four] at the Grand Comics Database
- Batman: War on Crime (November 1999): One-shot by writer Paul Dini and artist Alex Ross.Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 289: "The second in the oversized prestige-format tabloid collaborations between writer Paul Dini and painter Alex Ross, Batman: War on Crime was just as successful as its predecessor, and just as beautiful".[http://www.comics.org/issue/235009/ Batman: War on Crime] at the Grand Comics Database
- JLA: Heaven's Ladder (October 2000): One-shot by writer Mark Waid and artists Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary.Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Dolan, p. 297: "Artist Bryan Hitch made full use of the book's extra-large format...Written by Mark Waid, Heaven's Ladder dealt with religion and the afterlife".[http://www.comics.org/issue/65369/ JLA: Heaven's Ladder] at the Grand Comics Database
- Shazam! Power of Hope (November 2000): One-shot by writer Paul Dini and artist Alex Ross.[http://www.comics.org/issue/235010/ Shazam! Power of Hope] at the Grand Comics Database
- Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth (November 2001): One-shot by writer Paul Dini and artist Alex Ross.[http://www.comics.org/issue/235008/ Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth] at the Grand Comics Database
- JLA: Secret Origins (November 2002): One-shot by writer Paul Dini and artist Alex Ross.[http://www.comics.org/issue/297735/ JLA: Secret Origins] at the Grand Comics Database
- JLA: Liberty and Justice (November 2003): One-shot by writer Paul Dini and artist Alex Ross.[http://www.comics.org/issue/235011/ JLA: Liberty and Justice] at the Grand Comics Database
Collected editions
- Adventures of Superman: José Luis García-López includes All-New Collectors' Edition #C–54, 360 pages, April 2013, {{ISBN|978-1401238568}}
- The Amazing World of Superman collects The Amazing World of Superman, 64 pages, April 2021, {{ISBN|978-1779509185}}
- The Bible collects Limited Collectors' Edition #C–36, 72 pages, May 2012, {{ISBN|1401234259}}
- Shazam! The World's Mightiest Mortal Vol. 2 includes All-New Collectors' Edition #C–58, 328 pages, April 2020, {{ISBN|978-1779501172}}
- Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 1 includes All-New Collectors' Edition #C–55, 312 pages, June 2017, {{ISBN|978-1401272913}}
- Superman vs. Muhammad Ali collects All-New Collectors' Edition #C–56, 80 pages, November 2010, {{ISBN|9781401228729}} (treasury size); {{ISBN|9781401228415}} (comic book size)
- Superman vs. Shazam! includes All-New Collectors' Edition #C–58, 192 pages, March 2013, {{ISBN|978-1401238216}}
- Superman vs. Wonder Woman collects All-New Collectors' Edition #C–54, 72 pages, December 2020, {{ISBN|978-1779507204}}
- Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth collects Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth, 72 pages, March 2020, {{ISBN|978-1401291082}}
- The World's Greatest Super-Heroes collects Superman: Peace on Earth, Batman: War on Crime, Shazam!: Power of Hope, Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth, JLA: Secret Origins and JLA: Liberty and Justice, 396 pages, July 2005, {{ISBN|1401202543}}
See also
- Marvel Treasury Edition - a similar series published by Marvel Comics
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{comicbookdb|type=title|id=14361|title=Limited Collectors' Edition}}
- {{comicbookdb|type=title|id=10430|title=Famous First Edition}}
- {{comicbookdb|type=title|id=6293|title=All-New Collectors' Edition}}
- {{cite web|url= http://www.treasurycomics.com/gallery/galleryDClce7275.htm#C20|title= Limited Collectors' Edition 1972-1975|first= Rob|last= Kelly|date= n.d.|publisher= TreasuryComics.com|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20151026095045/http://www.treasurycomics.com/gallery/galleryDClce7275.htm|archivedate= October 26, 2015|url-status= dead}}
- {{cite web|url= http://www.treasurycomics.com/gallery/galleryDClce7679.htm|title=Limited Collectors' Edition 1976-1979|first= Rob|last= Kelly|date= n.d.|publisher= TreasuryComics.com|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20151026044012/http://www.treasurycomics.com/gallery/galleryDClce7679.htm|archivedate= October 26, 2015|url-status= dead}}
- {{cite web |url= http://www.treasurycomics.com/gallery/galleryDCfamous.htm|title= Famous First Edition|first= Rob|last= Kelly|date= n.d.|publisher= TreasuryComics.com|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20151026020346/http://www.treasurycomics.com/gallery/galleryDCfamous.htm|archivedate= October 26, 2015|url-status= dead}}
Category:Comics by Dan Jurgens
Category:Comics by Dennis O'Neil
Category:Comics by Gerry Conway