Via Collected Editions:
A hardcover Great Darkness isn't a great suprise, given that the original book is out of print, that Levitz is about to begin a new run on Legion, and that DC already announced a new Legion of Super-Heroes: Prologue to Darkness paperback that leads in to Great Darkness. What is a surprise is the deluxe format, which makes the hardcover a bit bigger and, in my opinion, adds some extra value for the reader even if they already own an old, dog-eared copy of Darkness.However, the Prologue book (previously announced in February) has been removed from Amazon:
... Maybe the deluxe edition contains the Prologue issues, too (at an announced 416 pages, the deluxe edition is about twice the size of the original Great Darkness trade paperback).The original, out of print trade paperback version of Great Darkness only runs 192 pages.
I suspect that the Prologue volume was folded into the Deluxe Edition. And that it has been cancelled, even if not listed by DC that way as yet, due to their realizing that it couldn't stand too well on its own.
ReplyDeleteWhen an event is as heavily foreshadowed as the Great Darkness was, the premonition or early-echo stories aren't going to have that much standalone appeal, however well done. And they were well done.
What I hope is that this Deluxe book will have the fold-out reprint of the Giffen/Mahlstedt Legion poster, with the (originally) fan-generated character keys, as the first edition of the Darkness TPB had.
If a feature that spectacular — the only word for this poster — isn't restored, it can hardly be a "deluxe" treatment. It also helps in keeping the story straight, especially for LSH new(er)comers. Storyboards and character sketches, as well, would be entirely fitting.
If they're smarter yet, they'll commission some new jacket art that doesn't show Darkseid.
Oh... drool...
ReplyDeleteThe summer that the poster came out, I happened to be re-reading my entire Legion collection, so it was fun to try and ID each character on the poster from those readings. I had gotten about 60% of the identifications on sight alone, the rest came from reading back issues. And I did it all myself, well before the chart that is reprinted in the TPB.
ReplyDeleteAs for the cover, while Darkseid was such a shocker at the time, I don't think anyone who hasn't read it would be shocked to see him, even if the solicitation and cover didn't give it away. And by now, he's old hat, everyone has seen him before, it's not like he's so underused like he was when this story came out.