So, I was pretty glad to see that DC had scheduled THE QUESTION OMNIBUS BY DENNIS O’NEIL AND DENYS COWAN VOL. 1. Regular readers of this site, if there were any, might be aware of my affection for the series (based on the character created by Steve Ditko). Now, I'm not really the market for 900+ page larger trim hardcovers in this day and age, but my feelings for the work are such that I'd have trouble saying no if I come across it with a decent discount on-line or at a convention (assuming I ever go to one of those again). Mostly I'm glad to see a favourite old series get the recognition of a prestige reprint that it deserves, and hopefully gets in front of more appreciative eyes.
Now, there was a previous reprint of the series, of course, in six paperback volumes published from 2007 to 2010:
Those were okay, though if I'm honest I'd say I mostly bought them out of a sense of obligation, after almost twenty years of telling anyone who would listen they needed to be reprinted. They were pretty bare-boned and left a lot to be desired. The principal sin was probably the lack of completeness, having only the 36 issues of the series, not either of the two annuals, much less the Detective and Green Arrow annuals which tied in to the series, and none of the subsequent work by O'Neil with or without Cowan (THE QUESTION QUARTERLY and various other things). That looks like it'll be corrected this time, with the Fables storyline reprinted in the first Omnibus, and since the second book will only have nine issues of the monthly to wrap up it should have more than enough pages for the remaining stuff to run a similar page count.
There should also be more than enough pages for other odds and ends. They may even have room for HELLTOWN (a 330 page mass market paperback shouldn't take more than 100 pages of a large hardcover, maybe add in some new illustrations...).
As I said, I got those paperbacks, but have never really read them. If I wanted to read a full story, I'd always go back to the original issues, where the paper holds the colour better and it's just overall a more enjoyable reading experience. I do pull the books off the shelf frequently to look up a particular scene, especially if I can't remember exactly what issue it was in.
So the other day, I had the first book out to look at a scene, and decided to read a full issue while it was at hand. I picked #6, a favourite, maybe fourth best issue. For the most part fine, but then there was this sequence...
Hm, let's rewind and try that again in the original...
I guess it's "..and meet the sun" all over again (and there have been other DC comics with similar errors, some of which resulted in recalls and reprints). I wonder how these mistakes keep popping up on comics that were lettered on the boards?
I'm kind of tempted to go through it page-by-page to see if there are any other mistakes. I'd be surprised if there aren't (they did get one paging reversal from the original fixed in the reprint). Hopefully they'll take more care in the upcoming reprint.
[edited to add, spoiler alert, no, messed up in the $100 hardcover]
