Thanks Foom. IIRC, that extra $30-$40 per item more than makes up for any additional sales that could be had from selling a more inexpensive package? I'm assuming this is documented or at least has been demonstrated by the accountants at DC to the execs.

The lesson I'm learning from you and jason is that material that requires restoration cannot be profitable enough without the extra profit from HC presentation. I can certainly accept the logic of that if it's the case, I just sometimes wonder if there would be more units sold at the lower price of TPB's and if that would result in even more profits. Not like I know anything about this, of course, I'm a total layman.

It's not that I want DC to switch from Archives to TPB's, I just despair of ever seeing most of the material that seemingly is not being Archived, whether it be dozens and dozens of issues in families of titles like Superman, Batman, Capt.Marvel, Aquaman, etc...or titles that have yet to even see the light of day, like GA Aquaman. Hopefully the anthology approach will help, but still I worry that I'll never see the majority of this stuff, and that's kind of sad. But I'll never see the missing episodes of Doctor Who either, so that's life.

"Best Of" collections are at least something.

I'd really hope that we can at least get more color TPB's for more 70's and early 80's series (if not Archives). Those won't require the same restoration costs I would hope.

jason, thanks for your post!

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Add the Showcases


I can't do that. It's a different animal and one in which I've very little interest, until the time comes when it becomes obvious that that stuff will never be reprinted in color.

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Are there that many more people who will jump at, say, Blackhawk Vol 6 (a boy can dream) in tbp at $30 than would at $50 in HC?


That's exactly what I wonder. How are we sure there wouldn't be? You'd be getting almost 2-for-1 and only missing the actual "hard" cover.

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If they felt the market could support more color reprints of this stuff, wouldn't they just go ahead and ramp up Archive production?


I'm not sure if that's germane to the TPB vs. Archive issue, maybe it is. The lower prices of TPB and the number of units sold would seem to be part of the equation.

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To do color tbps would encourage people to not buy Archives (and wait for the tbp)


It's probable that I still haven't expressed myself clearly in this thread. I'm not saying I want color TPB's of Archived material. I'm saying that if Archives lines were to end prematurely (i.e. while there are still issues to be reprinted) then I would wish to at least see the unArchived issues in TPB's. But I understand the point about the relative profits of TPB's and HC's, I'm just not 100% convinced that the amount of units sold wouldn't more than make up for that. But I do lean toward believing you guys, because I respect and value Foom's opinions especially.

Thanks again for your posts, now I'll go cry over the fact that I'll never get to read all these DC comics.