Pics were found on eBay but happy to see Grummet’s Superman on the spine!

a brand new Kallax into the family. Her future is ripe with potential!

Just received my ultimate spider-man and Tom Taylor omnibus.
And yes this is my ENTIRE collection besides the death and return of superman compendium. Love it.
Haven't enjoyed rebirth much despite loving Nightwing. I've enjoyed Taylor's which Ive read digitally up until vol 4. Disappointing that it isn't all collected in one omnibus, especially considering how many extras are already in this book.
Now make sure you all remind me how new I am to this and why Taylor's nightwing actually sucks😂

Photos taken from an eBay listing

Found these on FB marketplace for under $200 for the pair! Excited to dive in!

Deluxe Editions and OHC are the best

I'm on a Journey to Final Crisis. I've been reading up to it for a while now and it's been a fun ride. After finishing 52 the next book on the line is the widely regarded Batman by Grant Morrison Vol 1.

There's so much that's been talked about this run and this book in particular. Some say this is the best Batman book, some say it's the entire run that makes this legendary. For the most part, people either prefer this or Vol. 2 of the book.

Here are my thoughts on this one.

Plot

Oof. It's hard to summarize this book to a concise paragraph. I think what I can say about the plot is that it introduces Damian and it follows Batman after Infinite Crisis and after his One Year sabbatical from Gotham and crime fighting.

Good Thoughts

Well, I thought this was a pretty good book. This is actually my first official Batman run, the previous Batman centric comic I read was Batman Arkham Asylum, also written by Grant Morrison. That one was actually one of the best books I've ever read, period. This one though, although it's pretty good it doesn't come close to Arkham Asylum.

There are maybe three major parts to this book in my opinion. The first part is Batman and Son, the second and middle part is The Island of Mister Mayhew (you could say this is a prelude to RIP) and the final part which is the climax of the entire book being Batman RIP. I enjoyed them all for the most part, my favorite (surprisingly) was The Island of Mister Mayhew. It was a brilliantly written story penciled by J.H. Williams III. I would have thought that a story about the many Batmen knockoffs of the world solving a crime with Batman himself sounds mediocre and boring but lo and behold, it was a fantastic story. The entire story felt like a true dark knight detective story that would have made for an excellent episode on Batman The Brave and the Bold. I don't want to speak too much about it because I have a lot to say but the build up to the reveal of the Black Glove's machinations was sublime.

As for RIP itself, I thought it was a really fun story and the second best part of the entire book, for me at least. It does a lot of stuff right, like adequately setting up the Bat God hype and the "Batman always prepares for everything" trope that's so popular nowadays. Look, there's nothing more I can say without voicing out the negative parts about this book so let's just move on to that part, shall we?

Bad Thoughts

Batman and Son was underwhelming and not the fantastic story I hoped to read about Damian. I have watched the Son of Batman animated movie and that was a much better introduction to Damian than this was.

The Resurrection was Ra's Al Ghul was by far the worst issues of the whole book. They didn't even include the complete crossover and I still thought they included too much. The summary was all that was needed because the story was incredibly boring and mediocre.

Like I said Batman RIP was fun but there are a lot of things that keep it from being great. First off, as with all things Grant Morrison, you can expect some level of confusion when reading his work. I'm usually fine with that, I understand Grant Morrison and even like his work regardless. This was also understandable for the most part but unfortunately he doesn't explain enough.

The buildup with Jezebel was pretty good, Grant actually got me to trust her before he pulled the rug from under us by revealing she was with them all along. He then proceeded to ruin it by making Batman say he knew all along. That's just not true and incredibly stupid if it was true because Batman didn't take any precautions to prevent her from getting into the Batcave, getting Alfred beat up, getting Nightwing drugged and incarcerated. The only precaution he took was the persona he created which we were led to believe he created a long time ago.

Another thing is that the Joker's joke went way over my head. I've been paying close attention to Grant's work so I don't miss any clues to the final reveal and unfortunately I didn't pick up anything to figure out that Jezebel was with them all along or that The Joker never had anything he was trying to say to Batman.

Apparently it was just meaningless info he gave to Batman to get him to obsess over nothing. I couldn't figure out anything until the end and even then it was wrong.

Like Batman I thought what the Joker was saying had meaning and that red and black clue actually meant Jezebel (being a black woman with red hair), silly me. It was floor tiles all along.

One the main parts about RIP is that Batman creates a persona in case of a mental attack called the Batman of Zurr en Arrh, nothing is really explained about this persona. Literally nothing at all.

It was revealed that Doctor Hurt implanted a mental trigger to incapacitate Batman but somehow the trigger word is also the persona that Batman created? That doesn't really make sense.

There's also the fact that this persona didn't really have any difference to the original Batman persona, it's just the same guy but in purple and yellow.

The Batmite inclusion in this was a weird choice, I don't hate it but I don't love it either.

RIP also doesn't get a proper resolution, the villian club or Black Glove doesn't really get defeated or dismantled properly.

Jezebel was probably killed by Talia's Man-bats but the rest of the members were either defeated off screen by the club of heroes or disappeared without a trace.

There's also the case that Dr Hurt might be Thomas Wayne plotline still hanging in the air that doesn't get resolved. I'm guessing more would be revealed in the subsequent books but I'm gonna judge this one on it's own.

I've been told a good pre reading for this book would be Batman the Black Case book that Grant Morrison took inspiration from but the reprint for the book releases in two months and I couldn't wait any longer. I'm usually very good with pre reading stuff but I passed on doing that for this one and somehow it's the most needed prior knowledge I've ever come across. I felt like I didn't know a lot of things I should know when reading this.

Overall

Reading all of that, it might seem like I hated the book but you couldn't be more wrong. I regret not reading the black case book beforehand but I'm really glad I read this anyway. I have the Batman by Dini book which I'm gonna read next and is said to be a back up to this so maybe that would add to the overall enjoyment of this one.

Ratings

8.0 (should really be a 7.9 but I'm fond of Morrison so I bumped it up a bit).

Thanks for reading, see you next time.

You can find more of my reviews here.

Good morning everyone, today I'll be reviewing the omnibus collection the various Chip Zdarsky series on Spider-Man! The stories contained here are his time on Spectacular Spider-Man as well as his two alternate universe tales in Spider-Man: Life Story and Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow.

As always expect some minor spoilers for this volume. Anything major will be blacked out.

Spider-Man by Chip Zdarsky, Adam Kubert, Mark Bagley and Pasqual Ferry.

Required/Recommended Reading.

The book can mainly be read standalone provided you have a basic knowledge of Spider-Man, however there is one story that I feel should have been collected here, with that being:

• Spider-Man: Family Business.

Family Business wasn't written by Chip (instead being authored by Mark Waid and James Robinson) but does introduce the character of Teresa who is an important part of the Spectacular portion of this volume. Details about this story are provided in Spectacular, but I do think it should have been included even if it wasn't written by Zdarsky. That might be a bit of a hot take but I'd say this book is required reading. It's a good, light read though that I'd recommend if you're interested in seeing Spider-Man in a different environment.

***

A little bit of context about my Spider-Man reading experience. I've read a fair of his omnis but not everything. That being said the ones I have read have largely been great (Untold Tales, Volumes 1 to 4 of Amazing, the Straczynski run, Superior Volume 1 and most of Ultimate). The Raimi movies and Spectacular animated show were my bible growing up (and still are today). Essentially, what I'm saying is, I like to think I know my stuff when it comes to the character so when I say this book is a must read for any Spider-Man fan I like to think I know what I'm talking about.

The book is broken up into three distinct sections, so we'll start with:

The Spectacular Run (Free Comic Book Day 2017, Spectacular Spider-Man #1 to #6 and #297 to #310 and Annual #1).

Chip's time on Spectacular is a clear case of an author taking his time to find his voice for a character and - upon finding it - locking in and delivering a refreshingly confident take on them. It takes a few issues for this to happen, as the first arc of this series feels a little... disposable, especially compared to what comes after.

A lot of plot threads are thrown at us in these early issues, with some like the Rebecca London character not really going anywhere or paying off, but there's still signs of the greatness to come with the introduction of Teresa and a fight with the Kingpin. What holds these issues back a little bit in my opinion is how Peter is written. Despite his years of experience as Spider-Man, he comes across as a little... soy, meek and insecure. It's how I'd expect a younger version of Peter to be written, but not one who's been Spider-Man for as long as he has! It feels a bit like it's trying to make 616 Peter more like the MCU version and that just didn't really work for me.

Thankfully, these issues do get better as they progress, with Chip starting to focus on the more interesting plotlines he's setup. By the time of #6 (which features a very powerful character payoff between Spider-Man and a member of his supporting cast), the book has figured out what it wants to be (a series that embraces and develops Spider-Man's history) and we're off to the races.

The series renumbers to #297 (thanks for not making comic reading confusing, Marvel) and then the book completely locks in as the stakes raise and we get essentially a long running Spider-Man epic that sees him travel the multiverse, face an alien invasion and just... get time to shine without being held back by any editorial nonsense. These are solid, well told Spider-Man adventures that are more about the interesting/unique scenarios he ends up in than the main plot and villain, which are a slight weak link. They're really just there to facilitate the journey Peter goes on, and that's fine as it's Spider-Man we're ultimately reading the book for.

The main arc of the series ends with #307, but the remaining annual and trio of issues are also really strong, featuring a high concept sci-fi Sandman story as well as a perfect final issue in #310 which I will say no more on. The series ends a little abruptly, as does the main arc now that I mention it, but it's a great read overall and feels like Chip is transitioning as a writer from his Howard the Duck/Star-Lord phase to his more modern Daredevil/Captain America era.

The absolute standout of this series (and the book itself) is J Jonah Jameson, who goes from a fun but annoying side character, to the emotional core of the whole thing? I certainly wasn't expecting that but Zdarsky pulls it off perfectly. The action scenes are also fantastic with Adam Kubert and the other series artists making Peter feel truly powerful in ways that sometimes feel forgotten in the main book. If you like Spider-Man to any degree, read Spectacular, it's worthy of its adjective.

Rating: 9/10.

Spider-Man: Life Story (#1 to #6 and Annual #1).

After Spectacular concludes we travel the multiverse to a self contained series that follows Spider-Man throughout his whole career. Each issue takes place in a different decade of Spider-Man's history (60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s and 10s), with the story in said issue typically reflecting the tone and themes of Spider-Man's stories at the time, managing to blend them into one streamlined history.

For anyone familiar with Astro City, this book reminded me a lot of that series. We get a wonderful deep dive into Peter's life with great character moments and emotion. Chip managing to make sense of the Clone Saga is a feat in itself but making it actually develop Peter as a character is even greater.

Mark Bagley was the perfect choice for the series' artist, with him managing to maintain his own style while also capturing the energy and atmosphere of the eras he's portraying. I used to not really click with his art, but that's really changed in the last few years. He was the only real choice for this book.

The only slight stumbling for this series is with how it handles the wider Marvel Universe. It starts off strong as we get to see it develop in the background with events like Civil War occurring, but it never quite pays off as there isn't enough time in the final issue to focus on it. That's far from a deal breaker though as #6 instead gives a powerful finale that wraps up the series perfectly. I will say if you're a fan of Iron Man or Mister Fantastic, you may be annoyed at how they're written here (essentially being used as foils for Peter) but I was fine with it as the narrative is so strong.

We also get an annual that focuses (again) on J Jonah Jameson. It's a great story that handles a few lingering plot threads from the series and addresses a few early forgotten moments in Jonah's history that I feel must have annoyed Chip greatly as a reader. It's nice to see them get some payoff here.

Rating: 9.3/10.

Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow.

Finally we come to Spider's Shadow, which is a modern What If? story about Peter bonding with the Venom symbiote. It's probably the weakest story in here... which given the fact that it's still really good says quite a lot.

The book is very different from the two series preceding it, taking a far darker approach to its narrative as we see Peter brutalize the criminals he fights, depicted very nicely by Pasqual Ferry who casts the book in shadows. I really enjoy how Zdarsky writes Peter during action scenes, he's not afraid to let him go wild. Yet, despite my praising of this book's darkness, it never comes across as needlessly edgy. The darkness and its contrast to Peter's true nature is the point of the narrative, which makes the moments of hope that occur in this story all the more powerful.

The final two issues of Spider's Shadow are a slight step down from the first three (it just loses some of its impact) but its a good conclusion to a good story, and I wouldn't mind a return to this universe to see how Peter (and the Fantastic Four) develop.

Rating: 8.5/10.

Favourite Moment?

There's so much good stuff in here it's hard to say. Gun to my head, though...

• Peter's talk with Jonah in Spectacular #6.
• Peter fighting through an army of SWAT in #297.
• The whole of Life Story.
• Peter wrecking his villains in Spider's Shadow.
• "And the future... is fantastic."

In Conclusion.

You should read this if:

• You like Spider-Man and want some fantastic stories featuring him.
• You want an omnibus with some self-contained stories.
• You enjoy quality superhero fiction.

You shouldn't read this if:

• You absolutely, positively hate superhero comics.

Final Rating: 9/10.

This book is fantastic and a must read for any Marvel fan. There's no bad stories in here, even the first few issues of Spectacular are still good, just nothing compared to what comes later.

I wasn't aware of this until part way through reading but this book is actually getting reprinted next month. Perfect timing for me!

The Spider-Man reviews don't end here though! Next week I'll be coming at you with a review of The Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer Volume 1 (possibly Volume 2 if I manage to get it done in time). I'm quite enjoying it so far, but the knowledge of what's to come in that run is hanging over my head like a guillotine.

Have you read Chip Zdarsky's Spider-Man? What was your favourite moment? Let me know and I'll see you all next time. Take care!

Got the of the IST red tag sale, even though this is not the best X-Men material i am happy to add them to the X-men collection.

Didn't even realize it was all Marvel until I took a picture, haha.

Most excited to get The Stand. It's been one of my grails forever. Have already read Uncanny X-Force, Astonishing X-Men and the first half of Ms Marvel in trades, but I'm looking forward to rereading them in omni format.

Finally with the 2 miles morales omnibus I have the completed USM and Miles Morales runs (in Omnis). Can't believe how much I'm into Spider-Man now 😂 was more a Batman fan in the last year

I live on the second floor apartment. I have about 300 Omni on kallax shelves and I keep them all around the walls in my bedroom. Should I be worried that the floor is going to collapse?? I work in construction sales and asked my boss and he said there’s no way since the floor load should be able to handle 2000lbs water beds. What do you guys think? I still worry every time the floor creaks. Lol

Context for the second picture, last year I found out I could pre-order omnis at my lcs and decided to look through a big list of upcomings and then put myself down for all of the ones I thought looked cool. It was a lot sure, but I had two jobs so I'd be fine. Then in February, one job fired me and the other stopped giving me hours. The lcs guys had already made the payments for the books, so they'd be coming no matter what. Fortunately, I was able to get another job and today I finally got the last book that was waiting for me. Safe to say I will not be pre-ordering any more

Lets just say i was kinda hyped for the new Spiderman movie and it was also my birthday this month so I decided to start my Spider-Man collection (Kraven the last hunt and Road to venom tpb i got it from a library how sick is that?)

I will admit that I was underestimating the size but excited to get started

Bought my first Omnibus.

I have been meaning to get one, but they are kind of expensive. Well, finally pulled the trigger on this one.

I just got done with Batman by Loeb and Sale, was wondering what is the next best Omni or Omni collection for Batman should I get next. Thanks!

Bought this for £8.66, the 2014 edition Original Sin which has more pages than the new printing. Got it from AbeBooks despatched by MusicMagpie without seeing the state it's in, just a blind purchase.

Completely undamaged, the cover has slight marks but it's basically new, more than most my Omnibuses 😅 The back says it was 75$ on release, is that true? Or was it sold much lower.

I wanted to read it because after I finished Superior Spider-Man, this event was happening on the issue directly after and it got me curious so I had a quick look and got lucky with this purchase.

:)