DC Comics: The Golden Age 1938 - 1956

https://www.foliosociety.com/row/dc-comics-the-golden-age-1938-1956.html

So, there's the pair. I had always wondered if these are good business for Folio, but judging by the continous publication of Marvel stories they are quite popular.

Also, I think it's wildly overpriced. You can get the same stories in decent omnibuses and, in the case of DC, the old Archive editions which are great quality.

Crazy high price. $260 in the US. I guess they’re banking on Action Comic #1 with the introduction of Superman being a big draw.

I only like Batman 😁

i've always felt like this is more so Taschen's domain

what i'm really excited about is the "First Printing" label below the title! that was one of the things i begged them to do on the survey, and i really hope they add this designation retroactively to the rest of their available books

Very high price. Though this does tempt me more than any of the Marvel editions.

Yeah, not a fan of "best of" collections like this. DC has near complete runs of Golden Age Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman in their Omnibus line (which surpassed the previous Archives line), as well as other heroes. They also just published a high quality Action Comics #1 Facsimile Edition last year for $6.99 for anyone that wants the comic without spending over $200.

Never has £185 been safer in my account. Also, from a design perspective, the FS colophon looks completely ridiculous against the rest of the binding.

I went to the FS site this morning to see if the Shakespeare LE was up. Imagine my surprise to see this instead. The dissonance was rather jarring.

Not for me. What really makes me sad is the idea that with the finite number of titles they publish per year a lot of slots will probably be taken with a multitude of DC releases in the next few years.

You know there will be at least two more compendiums and a whole Justice League's worth of individual character volumes like they did with Marvel.

>5 Geo135: For me as well, probably because I'm more familiar with Marvel so reading these DC comics would definitely be a new experience for me! Also the gold cover with gold gilded edges is kind of doing it for me, not going to lie.

Probably the wrong group to be asking this LOL, but do people have a preference between the Marvel comics and the DC comics? I saw a flash of 'Detective Comics' in the preview and honestly that sounds very up my alley.

>9 LeBacon: The other side of the coin is that perhaps these books are profitable enough that they are underwriting some of Folio's more traditional efforts. My guess is that pop culture and high-priced limited editions are what enables Folio to publish the rest of their line.

>10 BooksFriendsNotFood: During the Golden Age (1930's to 1950's), DC was arguably the most successful publisher with Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman in their stable. The only other publisher that was close was Fawcett with Captain Marvel (Shazam!), who was later purchased by DC. DC was eclipsed during the Silver Age by Marvel Comics (who published in the 1940's under the banner of Timely Comics and the 1950's under the banner of Atlas Comics), but didn't hit their stride until Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby created Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Avenger, X-Men, etc., in the 1960's.

Marvel has maintained their market share dominance since then, and continues to eclipse DC beyond comics in their films and television series. DC's saving grace has always been Batman, who remains the single most popular character and carries the company on his shoulders at times. In terms of "Detective Comics", this was the comic book where Batman first appeared (in issue #27) and continues to be published to this day with Batman as the feature character (the latest issue was #1073). The pre-Batman issues featured earlier vigilantes like Crimson Avenger and Slam Bradley. Fun stuff!

>12 HonorWulf: yep, that's it.

A couple more annotations: Marvel's heroes are thought to be more relatable (i.e. regular people caught in super-human situations). While DC's, having been developed earlier, are thought more mythic, god-like and thus, unrelatable. Hence the famous debate about Superman being boring.

Also, during the Lee/Ditko era Marvel had the fame of being more intellectual and engaging. DCs continuity is generally considered more convoluted since the Silver Age versions of well known characters (Flash and Green Lantern) are more popular than the Golden Age versions. So, to clean up the continuity the multiverse concept was developed, which later led to successive 'events' called 'crisis' to try to streamline the stories.

On the corporate side, DC was acquired in 1967 by a parking lot company that later acquired Warner Bros, and then it was spun-off to form an entertainment company called Warner Communications. WB has been changing corporate hands ever since, the main culprit of the irregular quality of films and TV shows (since 2017 WB has changed hands twice). Marvel, on the other side, retained its independence as a company until 2009 and was even listed in NYSE for some time. Apart from issues regarding theme park licenses and the Spiderman deal with Sony, it was free from turmoil and its acquisition by Disney was mostly a purchase of a stable, consolidated brand.

>12 HonorWulf: >13 dyhtstriyk: Thank you both for sharing this information! It sounds like I'd very probably enjoy a foray into these early DC comics, and older comics have never failed me yet (e.g. Marvel, Astro Boy, Cuphead, etc.)!

I also really like Superman, which is maybe unsurprising considering I like goody-goodies (non-derogatory XD) like Captain America. I've listened to several episodes of the Superman radio show which also overlaps with this Golden Age era, I enjoyed the more recent Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang (author of American Born Chinese which just got adapted by Disney+), and I genuinely liked the unpopular Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice which may or may not be the first DC film I watched.

This chunker is sitting pretty on my wish list.

EDIT: I had no idea DC stood for Detective Comics! Consider my mind blown.

I’d love it if FS produced fine volumes of Watchmen, Swamp Thing or even Sandman.

I find DC comics preferable to Marvel. Perhaps because I came to American comics via Sandman and then Vertigo. But, whatever the reason, this is the first Folio comics venture I have found tempting.

Good luck to them with it :-)

>15 Priyesh2022: Easton Press has published an Annotated Sandman.

>11 HonorWulf:
The other side of the coin is that perhaps these books are profitable enough that they are underwriting some of Folio's more traditional efforts. My guess is that pop culture and high-priced limited editions are what enables Folio to publish the rest of their line.
This hope is often suggested. The fact of the matter is that horse has long bolted: there are very few publications indeed nowadays for the more 'traditional' devotee, particularly when it comes to fiction.

I don’t even consider myself to be a big comic book fan but golden age comics intrigue me from a historical perspective. May make this worth it for me.

>11 HonorWulf: I think they are abandoning their traditional buyers. There is nothing wrong with this and all companies change, but the number of classic texts has ground to a halt with only occasional reprints of previously published texts

>13 dyhtstriyk: "Marvel, on the other side, retained its independence as a company until 2009 and was even listed in NYSE for some time. Apart from issues regarding theme park licenses and the Spiderman deal with Sony, it was free from turmoil and its acquisition by Disney was mostly a purchase of a stable, consolidated brand."

From the surface, it appears that way, but Marvel went through some crazy turmoil after founder Martin Goodman sold the company in the late 60's and over the next 30 years, it swapped hands from Cadence Film & Chemical (who almost bankrupted the company in the late 70's) to New World Entertainment (who carved up the film/tv business) to Ron Perelman (who did bankrupt the company) to a merger with Toy Biz. Fortunately, Marvel had a couple of things going for them -- strong editorial management that was able to weather the corporate storms, and their secret sauce: "continuity".

With Marvel, every story basically "counts", so if you read a collection of comics from the 1960's, those events are still relevant to today's comics. Epic stories like The Coming of Galactus, The Death of Gwen Stacy, The Dark Phoenix Saga, The Kree/Skrull War, etc., are all still canon. So, fans tend to weather the good times and the bad just to stay current on the continuity. Marvel has extended this practice to their "cinematic universe", so people are compelled to watch the next movie (and show) even if they have low interest level in the characters.

DC, on the other hand, is the King of Reboots, so if you read an old DC book, the odds are the events are no longer canon. The reboots themselves tend to generate short term sales, but they quickly taper out as readers get alienated by the changes. The last major reboot was in 2011 with a minor reboot in 2016. Ironically, they recently announced the reboot of their cinematic universe, with the upcoming Aquaman 2 ending the old universe and a new Superman kicking off the new universe in 2025, so history does indeed repeat itself!

>16 Cat_of_Ulthar: "I find DC comics preferable to Marvel. Perhaps because I came to American comics via Sandman and then Vertigo."

Yes, I think one of the (positive) buy-products of DC playing second fiddle to Marvel's super-hero universe, is that it forced them to be innovative. This was especially so in the 80's when they ushered in the "British Invasion" of comics by bringing over writers like Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison, and gave them free reign to experiment with low-selling and dormant properties like Swamp Thing, Sandman, Animal Man and Doom Patrol. This led to their mature-rated Vertigo line, and ushered in an era of great creator-owned comics as well (and was also an area that Marvel failed to replicate, despite trying with their Epic line). Unfortunately, DC has since shuddered these efforts as the prevailing corporate winds have darkened in recent years.

>15 Priyesh2022:

There are already excellent editions of Sandman. I don't know how FS could improve upon those.

>18 Willoyd:
The fact of the matter is that horse has long bolted: there are very few publications indeed nowadays for the more 'traditional' devotee, particularly when it comes to fiction.
As confirmed with the latest releases.

>15 Priyesh2022: This upcoming Sandman Masterpiece Edition looks pretty cool! And it's probably cheaper than a FS LE would be.

>24 Willoyd: Willoyd: There current publication strategy seems to be working for them so I don't see any change coming. At least there is the back catalogue on the secondary market to rely on, where most of my FS purchases have come from. I think FS producing only a few titles a year of what I might like is fine with me as practically speaking my want list from their back catalogue already is greater than the space I can put them in.

>25 BooksFriendsNotFood: The Morpheus book holder wouldn't quite work in my library ...

For Sandman, the most premium editions that DC published were the Absolute Edition Hardcovers, which consist of Sandman (5 volumes), Death (1 volume) and Sandman: Overture (1 volume) in 8" by 12" glory. These seven volumes are also available in cheaper Deluxe Edition Hardcovers, which are smaller, have glued bindings instead of sewn, and inferior paper and casing. There is also a three-volume Sandman Omnibus Hardcover series that contains the same material in a sewn binding at the Deluxe Edition size, but can be a bit unwieldly to read, imo.

PS: The new Morpheus set looks nice, although no idea why they left out the Death volume (which would drive me crazy). It also appears to be in standard trim size (6.5" by 10"), which is smaller than both the Deluxe/Omnibus trim (7.5" by 11") and the Absolutes (8" by 12").

>25 BooksFriendsNotFood: oh wow! Thanks for bringing this to my attention. The volumes themselves look ideal for me although I’d like to wait and see if the volumes are available without the helm, which I simply don’t have the space for.

>28 HonorWulf: the Sandman deluxe edition hardcovers published ~2020 have sewn bindings and are quite high quality.

I like them more than the "absolute" editions actually, which which aren't bound solidly enough for their size, in my opinion (just Google "sandman absolute edition binding issues" for a plethora of unpleasant photos).

>26 assemblyman:
Their current publication strategy seems to be working for them so I don't see any change coming.
Nor do I - which is why I said that 'the horse has long bolted' from what I think is wishful thinking by Honorwulf.

At least there is the back catalogue on the secondary market to rely on, where most of my FS purchases have come from.
As have mine over the past 3 years or more.

I think FS producing only a few titles a year of what I might like is fine with me as practically speaking my want list from their back catalogue already is greater than the space I can put them in.
I'm not sure my want list is that big, having been an FS buyer for over 30 years, but they certainly, at best, produce 'only a few titles a year' of what I might think of buying. My point was that I think that the idea that they use more 'popular' sales to support the more 'traditional' titles is now rather wishful thinking from more 'traditional' buyers (amongst whom I include myself). I don't think there's any support, and that they only produce more 'traditional' titles that are 'popular' and they think will in themselves be profitable. The days of interesting niche publications, or complete runs of author's works even when the lesser titles will inevitably be less popular, are long gone IMO.
I would rather welcome 'only a few titles a year' of what I want to buy. I've just checked my order record, and the last book I bought direct from the FS was 'Syria', back in May last year. The only other publications I've bought in the past 2 years are A Man On The Moon, and the Shackleton set, and the only fiction in the past 4 years, a sale copy of Humphry Clinker, which I happened to miss first time round (and didn't buy 2nd hand simply because the sale price was almost as low). Quite a contrast to the 20-50 volumes a year I used to buy!
As I said - long bolted. I'm not complaining, simply noting (and it's been very good for my bank balance!). I do live in hope of some more good quality travel/exploration classics - they seem to be the one area where there's still the occasional 'must have' (and which make up the bulk of my own want list from the back list!).

>30 abysswalker:

Mine are fine. It seems that some editions weren't up to par quality-wise, but most are.

>31 Willoyd: Yup. I've been a naysayer for years with the usual retort that Folio is just publishing certain titles to support others... and here we are now. I'm happy for those who like the current releases but it's obvious Folio now exclusively just pick extremely popular and trendy titles. The FS staff who now select what titles to publish has to be the easiest job imaginable these days and the antithesis of NYRB staff who actually find and translate hidden gems of the past two centuries. And the prices these days! Nearly all their recent LE are laughably expensive for what you get and in my opinion there are so many better publishers to spend that type of money on. I used to be so excited when their quarterly release came out and today is actually the first time looking at their new titles, and, boy, even their SE now are so much money! $150 for the Iron Curtain where you can get a hardcover like new copy on amazon for $10? $260 for a comic book? And Silk Road for $225? And this is before taxes and shipping!

I have hundreds of older FS titles and I would never purchase the majority of them if they had been this expensive; the quality certainly hasn't improved. At least now nearly every title they publish has little to no interest to me and which is why I haven't bought from FS in over two years when previously 80-90% of my book budget used to go to them.

>30 abysswalker: I own the Deluxe Editions and they are definitely glued. The individual registers are stitched, but they are glued together directly to the back board, which is why it doesn't sit flat and has gutter loss. Todd Klein, who worked on the book, comments on it here, followed by a nice detailed breakdown of all of the different Sandman editions:

https://kleinletters.com/Blog/incoming-the-sandman-deluxe-edition-book-1/
http://brockstargaming.com/the-definitive-guide-to-the-many-editions-of-sandman/

In terms of the Absolutes, the first printing had issues, but they were corrected in later printings.

>33 Joshbooks1: same here, after 30 years hardly buy much anymore given the anemic output. Only Comic-Con tie ins, dad friendly history books, YA bestsellers and high school summer reading list titles anymore.

>34 HonorWulf: great info, thanks for the clarification. I still think it's kind of misleading to call the deluxe bindings "glued" but you're right the signatures are attached to the backing, which despite being sewn leads to some minor gutter loss.

If the newer printings of the Absolutes have fixed the binding issues, maybe I'll check them out again.

Cheers to learning something new!

>35 DanielOC: nah... they also publish (and keep in print) classics. But classics that are guaranteed to sell, like the Austens, Conan Doyles, Barries, Brontes, Homers, the Fairy Tales & so...

>37 dyhtstriyk: But FS was never just a purveyor of best selling classics. Given their rich history of publishing good and great writing spanning ages and genres, the current blinkered, mercenary approach to title offerings is pretty sad.

>35 DanielOC: "after 30 years hardly buy much anymore given the anemic output. Only Comic-Con tie ins, dad friendly history books, YA bestsellers and high school summer reading list titles anymore."

Just curious which of these categories you would put Federica, Trainspotting, The Shadow of the Wind and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle into.

>37 dyhtstriyk:
And, aside from Austen, they cherry pick those nowadays.

>39 TheEconomist:
An interesting selection. As a Georgette Heyer fan, I'm not sure why anybody would want to spend so much on a few random novels of hers, but then they are not the sort of books I'd want to spend that money on anyway, so probably not the best judge. Shadow of the Wind is only available in LE, so only for those prepared to pay the relevant premium that entails - I personally don't count them.

>35 DanielOC: "dad friendly history" lol. Dads love military history and Folio keeps hammering that nail, for sure.

I would like more non-fiction that makes no reference whatsoever to WWII. Non-fiction could mean so many things but with Folio it's often science, WWII, or ancient history (specifically Roman). I've been reading Silk Roads which manages to sneak in all three, so it became increasingly apparent how that one got selected.

>39 TheEconomist: yes those titles look like FS’s nod to their literate past, though they make sure it’s best selling, mostly contemporary lit, and, for Heyer, seems they did their homework identifying her nexus to the saleable sff world building genre before publishing.

>28 HonorWulf: I would argue that the most "premium" edition of Sandman is easily the SIGNED silver omnibus edition. Although it does not have all the background info found in the Absolute Editions, this is absolutely (pun intended) more beautiful and a higher quality (much higher) production - and I say this as someone that has owned the Absolute Sandman. Released to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series, it was limited to 500 signed and numbered copies. Retail price was $500. For a while people were selling them cheaply, even at a loss, then of course Neil Gaiman became a household name. Even PC copies (which are the only ones I could find anywhere for sale) are extremely expensive.

>39 TheEconomist: To be fair all of those titles are very well known, extremely trendy, popular, and softball selections; books that I could think of in a day if I were a Folio employee. I have zero interest in reading any of those titles with exception to Murakami, whom I like but I don't think I'd pay more than $100 for any of his works. Murakami, Ishiguro, McCarthy are worthwhile reads but they are the most obvious, risk adverse titles anyone could think of. How Folio could choose Murakami over Oe or Mishima is certainly a head scratcher.

>44 Joshbooks1: I was thinking of one of my favorite Spanish independent publishers. It's called Impedimenta and they publish pretty much what the old timers dream Folio doing. They publish the likes of Maryse Condé, Tatiana Tibuleac, Mishima, Yuko Tsushima, Mircea Cartarescu, the entire ouvre of Stainislaw Lem, Graeme Macrae Burnett, Muriel Spark and Penelope Fitzgerald (alongside nonfiction from writers such as Roger Deakin and Penelope Lively).

They have lovely production values (smyth sewn paperbacks in cream colored paper), and their price tag is usually 22-23 euro. So, there is demand for highbrow literary content and curiosities, but maybe not at current Folio price point. Enthusiastic readers willing to fork out current FS price structure may definitely not align with readers of such literature. Makes me wonder how on earth did Folio managed to stay in business in the past, but I think it's largely due to demographic and publishing economics changes.

>45 dyhtstriyk: they publish pretty much what the old timers dream Folio doing.

Speaking as one of the old timers (with Folio since 1973) I have to say that, with the possible exception of Muriel Spark (i have both of hers already published by Folio) none of the writers you mention would interest me in the slightest. Paperbacks interest me not at all.

A different breed of old timer, perhaps?

>43 astropi: I had the unsigned Black versions of the Omnibus set and the book block was too heavy for the case and began to sag as it slowly came off the spine. It was also too unwieldy to read, but it did look nice on the shelf! No idea if the Silver signed version had better build quality or not, but, based on your feedback, it sounds like it does.

>47 HonorWulf: I've had the Silver Omnibus since it was first released back in 2013, so 10+ years. Still looks brand new. It is absolutely far higher quality than the previous omnibus editions. The only downside is it's now quite pricey - but worth it if you're a fan.

>48 astropi: I'll have to wait until the next major recession :)

The upcoming DC titles —
The Silver Age will be published in Autumn 2024 and DC Comics: The Bronze Age in Autumn 2025. There will also be a DC character series starting with DC: Batman in Spring 2024.

Source: https://downthetubes.net/folio-society-launches-dc-comics-the-golden-age-collect...

HonorWulf, dyhtstriyk, and Cat_of_Ulthar: Thank you again for the positive thoughts you all shared regarding DC comics! I just finished reading the FS collection and I loved it very much. They're satisfyingly different from Marvel and while it may be too early to call it, I'm tempted to claim that I enjoyed these even more than the Marvel comics I've read.

>51 BooksFriendsNotFood: You're welcome! Glad you enjoyed it. It's actually a very well-curated collection and DC really excelled during the Golden Age of comics.

>50 BooksFriendsNotFood: It states in that article that the Batman collection is scheduled for spring 2024. I’m looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.

>53 betaraybill: Here is the link to the upcoming Batman collection launching on Feb 20th! https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/dc-batman.html

And here is the link to the article talking more about it! https://screenrant.com/dc-batman-folio-society/

Physical description: An anti-scratch laminated hardcover features Batman’s signature silhouette, with titles foil-embossed in yellow and midnight blue, the book itself cowled in a pitch-black slipcase bearing the famous Bat-Signal.

EDIT: I forgot to mention this but it's also $100 USD (as are all the regular-sized Marvel books now apparently).

>54 BooksFriendsNotFood: Thanks for those links!

That looks quite nice. I may be tempted to take the Bat-Plunge with this one!

If any of these comic-related offerings sell out, it'll definitely be Batman.

>54 BooksFriendsNotFood: I'm not seeing a table of contents anywhere. My concern would be that the "12 selected issues" could include only incomplete parts of stories. (For example, Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns is a four-issue miniseries that needs to be read in its entirety, and I would be frustrated with any compilation that only included a portion of that story.)

Also, buyers should be aware that Batman #1 is not the character's first appearance--that would be Detective Comics #27. The ScreenRant article seemed confused on this point.

>57 JacobHolt: Yep, but it is the first appearances of both The Joker and Catwoman for anyone interested.

>57 JacobHolt: There’s no way that all four issues of “The Dark Knight Returns” gets reprinted in this. That runs just under 200 pages on its own.

Batman contents here:

https://www.ign.com/articles/folio-society-dc-batman-hardcover-preview-dc-comics

I’m surprised they appear to be including the whole of the Killing Joke. If I’ve understood correctly that’s a wonderful surprise.

>62 Priyesh2022: It's a self-contained 48 page story -- about the same length as the Dark Knight Returns #1 that they are also including.

Kind of a strange collection, though. There's the vintage Golden Age issues featuring the first appearances of Batman, Robin, Joker, Catwoman and Two-Face by the original creative team as expected. But it then completely skips the Silver Age and jumps 27 years ahead to the Bronze Age with a trio of issues that helped modernize the character. And then concludes with five more modern issues that laid the foundation for the current iteration of stories. Half of these stories are part of larger story arcs, so you're getting a lot of story fragments without conclusions. It's a good selection of artists, though, so it should succeed more as an art book then as an actual reading experience.

>63 HonorWulf: If you're a fan of the character, then you already know those stories and probably have them in square bound editions. So, why would you want a nice version with only a portion of them included that you then have to go to your other editions to finish?

And if you're jumping into the character for the first time, then you're going to go "what the hell?" with all these weird partial selections that leave you hanging with no where to go.

You really need to read Knightfall, Dark Knight Returns or Year One as whole stories.

They should have just selected all stand-alone issues. There are plenty to choose from.

>64 PartTimeBookAddict: Agreed! Can't really justify it outside of the high quality Batman #1 facsimile. The Action Comics #1 facsimile was insanely good -- about as close to the real thing as possible.

>64 PartTimeBookAddict: Verily.