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We have been watching the steady decline in comic book sales for a long time now. This is strange, because comic book movie adaptions are more popular than ever (record box office for Deadpool, The Avengers, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as prime examples).
Warner Brothers Animation started producing adaptions of DC stories, starting with the “Death of Superman” storyline in Superman: Doomsday in September 2007. Currently, its 24th film Batman: Bad Blood (which I bought) came out February 2016. Last year, WB re-released six animated films in a special graphic novel edition. These books/films were really good deals, event at a retail price of $25. You get the physical discs of the film on Bluray and DVD, the comic book it is based on, and, of course, digital copies (for both film and comics). Even if you already own the Blurays when they were originally released (like I have), it was still a bargain.
Starting in March 2016, WB added three more titles to the lineup, indicating that this will be an ongoing trend. Some of the books I’m betting will make its way to the new format will be Justice League: The New Frontier (Darwyn Cooke), All-Star Superman (Grant Morrison/Frank Quietly), and Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (Michael Turner)... the latter mostly because I feel could benefit from the Batman v Superman film.
Since I own all the books, here is a quick review of them:
All the books are hardcover bound with two discs (Bluray & DVD), with the exception of the Dark Knight Returns, which included a bonus Special Feature disc. The third disc was a clumsy addition, since it was just a loose insert. Personally, I would have either left out the disc (many of us already own the original Bluray release with the bonus special features disc) or create a spot just for the extra disc (perhaps a slot in the front cover?).
All the books are printed on glossy high quality paper, with the exception of Batman: Year One. The reason for this is because when the 10th Anniversary reissue came out in 1996, it was re-colored by Richmond Lewis. The new color benefited from the matted paper... giving it a muted, darker-toned color that the Frank Miller/David Mazucchelli’s story called for.
All of the reprinted books are the latest/best version of the books. For example, Grant Morrison/Frank Quietly’s JLA: Earth 2 got an added bonus sketch addition at the end of the book (not included in the original hardcover release).
Overall, I’m loving these releases and will continue to buy future editions. It does get expensive when you buy them all at once, so I’m hoping they slowly trickle them out throughout the year instead of releasing six at a time.
Warner Brothers Animation started producing adaptions of DC stories, starting with the “Death of Superman” storyline in Superman: Doomsday in September 2007. Currently, its 24th film Batman: Bad Blood (which I bought) came out February 2016. Last year, WB re-released six animated films in a special graphic novel edition. These books/films were really good deals, event at a retail price of $25. You get the physical discs of the film on Bluray and DVD, the comic book it is based on, and, of course, digital copies (for both film and comics). Even if you already own the Blurays when they were originally released (like I have), it was still a bargain.
Starting in March 2016, WB added three more titles to the lineup, indicating that this will be an ongoing trend. Some of the books I’m betting will make its way to the new format will be Justice League: The New Frontier (Darwyn Cooke), All-Star Superman (Grant Morrison/Frank Quietly), and Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (Michael Turner)... the latter mostly because I feel could benefit from the Batman v Superman film.
Since I own all the books, here is a quick review of them:
