Patrick's Hat Trick: Why aren't these collections still in print?

by Patrick

Why worry? It's just me, Patrick, returning with another hat trick. Since we were blessed with the short work week this week, new comics won't come out until tomorrow. So rather than the normal review, this week we are going to the bookshelf to look at three trade-paperbacks and ask "Why aren't these books still in print?"

Robocop Vs. Terminator: The rebels of the Terminators future have found out there was a human mind that was attached to Skynet to give it sentience. And that mind was Alex Murphy's AKA Robocop. So the rebels sent a person back to kill Robocop, and she succeeds. In order to stop that Terminators sent back a unit to stop her. And it does. Then Murphy starts to figure things out. More Terminators show up. And lot and lots of things blow up. Written by the guy who wrote Robocop 2 and 3. A guy who had a little bit of a comic background named Frank Miller. And drawn by a Walt Simonson who was at the top of his game. This book needs to be back in print. Not only that, but the original trade is very weird. It was published by Diamond and what they did was take the comics themselves and bound them together. The covers are on cover stock. The adds and letter pages are still in there. As are the cardboard cutouts that were in every issue. It would be nice to have an addition that read more like a trade without adds and such.

Marvel Monster Masterworks: You might think that with Marvel doing well with both it's various Jack Kirby Collections (Essentials and Omnibus, as well as trades of things like a his runs on Cap) and it's various Marvel monsters (things like old Dracula, werewolf, and newer things like Marvel Zombies) a collection of the best pre-marvel Kirby monster stories would be a no-brainer to have in print. Yet this collection from 1989 has been out of print for a long long time. Divided into sections such as Alien Invaders, Man Made Monsters, and Ancient Menaces. and packed with great creatures such as The Glop, X The Thing That Lived, and that most revered of Marvel monsters, Fin Fang Foom. I do believe the day has come for this collection to be back in print.

Scott McCloud's Zot! Book One: One of the many tragedies is that we never got the final collection of Scott "Understanding Comics" McCloud's Zot!. We, that wrong was finally righted with Harper Collins publishing Zot!: The Complete Black and White Collection: 1987-1991 a few weeks ago, we got finally got those issues we missed the first time around. And while it is great to have any of this great strip back in print, I think it's a crime that these first ten remain out of print. They are filled with charm, wit, and great characters. And he's all over the internet this week with his Google browser comic, I love my new Black and White collection, but it's only the 2nd half of the Zot! Story. We finnaly got the final issues in a collected format, now bring back the first!

So, do I think they will they ever bring these books back in print?

Well, until they do, I'll treasure the copies I have and hope that others will get to join me in my appreciation of these fine volumes someday.

So, any treasures on your bookshelf that you think should be back in print? Share your thoughts in the comments and we'll see you next time.