Flash Omnibus to Reprint Geoff Johns’ Wally West Run

Now this is unexpected news! Just a few days ago, I was grumbling about how DC seemed to be ignoring a potential market by keeping Geoff Johns’ first run on The Flash out of print. It seemed like a sure thing: DC’s current superstar writer (not to mention Chief Creative Officer) on one of the books that made him famous (the other being JSA) — and one that he’s returned to with a high-profile relaunch.

Well, DC has posted a list of summer 2011 collections, including this surprise:

The Flash by Geoff Johns Omnibus Vol.1 HC
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artists: Angel Unzueta, Scott Kolins, Ethan Van Sciver, Doug Hazlewood, Jose Marzan Jr. and others
Collects: THE FLASH #164-176, THE FLASH: OUR WORLDS AT WAR #1, THE FLASH: IRON HEIGHTS #1 and THE FLASH SECRET FILES #3
$75.00 US, 448 pages
Scheduled for release in May

Compared to the trade paperbacks, that reprints Wonderland and Blood Will Run (the second edition includes Iron Heights) and the never-before-collected Our Worlds At War tie-in.

Admittedly, $75 is a pretty steep price, but it’s comparable to the Starman Omnibuses and still cheaper than the typical Absolute hardcover. Also it’s usually easy to find these books at a discount. (The $50 Archive books can usually be found online for around $35, for instance.)

And considering that you have to spend about that much for a copy of the out-of-print Crossfire or Blitz trade paperbacks anyway, it’s starting to look like a good deal!

So it looks like DC has plans to bring Wally West’s Flash stories back into print after all, even the incredibly-hard-to-find Crossfire and Blitz. Judging by the length of this book, it will probably take them four volumes to cover all of Geoff Johns’ run.

(The image I’ve used here is from the cover of Flash Secret Files #3. It’s not from DC’s post, which doesn’t include any covers.)

Share

12 thoughts on “Flash Omnibus to Reprint Geoff Johns’ Wally West Run

  1. Ken O

    Hot damn. Much like Starman, I’ll be tripple dipping here. I have the singe issues, the first trades, and I’ll pick up the omnibus too.
    I’m very excited about this, I love my Starman omnibuses so much.

    Reply
  2. Craig

    Now that is unexpected. Good news though. Makes sense too. I’d still like to see them reprint some of the earlier issues by Mike Baron, William Messner-Loebs and Mark Waid though.

    Reply
    1. Ken II

      Really? I own, but don’t much care for the early West Run of Flash, but recommend new readers to skip Baron and Messner-Loebs and go straight for issue #62. As a Flash Completest, though, I would buy those omnibus if offered…

      Reply
      1. Perplexio

        I’d start with the storyline with Vandal Savage I think it was Issues 47 or 48-50… When Savage shoots and “kills” Wally only to have Kilg%re rescue and “re-construct him.” That’s when Wally started to win me over. By the time Mark Waid’s Return of Barry Allen storyline came out I was completely won over (“Barry who?”)

        Reply
  3. collectededitions

    Exciting indeed. I like how these omnibuses bring attention to DC’s real classics, especially their “new classics.” Starman deserved this, as did Gotham Central, and Johns’s Wally West Flash run deserves it, too.

    If this goes four volumes and puts Blitz and Ignition together like I expect, that’ll be one artistically beautiful, moving volume.

    Reply
  4. Luke

    People pay that much for those trade paperbacks? Are you serious?

    I have Wonderland in singles, Blood Will Run in trade (which I just got for like $7), and then everything after that in singles. Heh, maybe I can sell those and buy the Omnibuses instead! 😉

    Reply
    1. Kelson Post author

      I don’t know whether people actually *pay* that much for them, but where I’ve seen them online, that’s what sellers are asking. It’s only those two, though. The rest are more typically-priced.

      Reply
      1. D. Mark Simms

        I managed to find the UK edition of Blitz for about $30 and just a day before this announcement bought a copy of Crossfire for $35, both off of eBay. But that’s before shipping; with shipping and the US-to-Canadian conversion, I dished out $50 for Crossfire and I think $40 for Blitz.

        However, now (other than Blood Will Run, which is still in print, and thus I was saving for last) I have the entire Geoff Johns trade collection. Had I known the omnibuses were coming out though, I would have waited!

        Reply
  5. Kyer

    Ah. Hmm…Can someone tell me what’s in the secret files and the war parts? I already have the rest in tradebook form. Doubt I’d get the omnibus for that much, but maybe I’d get the singles.

    Reply
    1. Kelson Post author

      The Secret Files story is already in the Blood Will Run trade. It’s the one that introduces Hunter Zolomon. The Our Worlds at War story guest-stars Cyborg, and with all the New Gods stuff going on, has Wally racing against death in the form of the Black Racer.

      Reply
  6. umyeha

    Summer 2011 -weeeehhhh! I just love how well far ahead they plan. So you can probably read these issues digitally right now using some *coughs* creative methods.

    Reply
  7. Lexavi80

    “Omnibus” is a term used by Marvel comics to promote big hefty reprints. These books normally comes without extras, normal size and hardcover. Also, it is normal that these editions comes with a number of pages no shorter than (between) 500 and 600 pages. Because of this the price is higher than normal.

    This Flash “omnibus” comes with no extras, normal size but with only a squalid 448 pages at $75 RETAIL PRICE!!. Amazon price has decreased from $47 to $44.88 but I still think is a robbery!!!.

    I just found a book named “The Legion of Super-Heroes – The Curse (Deluxe Edition)”. This is an oversized book with a few extras, 544 PAGES at $31.49!!!!!!!!!!.

    I a-l-m-o-s-t let myself carried away and bought the Flash book with the recent discount, but my way to see is that is still a rip off. I’ll get the legion book instead. I fancied the Flash one but not at that price. Should be no more than $35 at least for me to think about it.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.