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We’re excited to announce that Marvel: Unforgettable Stories curated by Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum, is coming your way!
This incredible edition, featuring an introduction by Oswalt, will be available on Wednesday 27 November 2024.
Let the countdown begin! 🦸✨

Sounds dubious. That said, the DC volumes have gone MIA - I thought we were supposed to get the Silver Age one this year.

I have the lowest of low expectations for this volume.

I bought the Golden Age of Marvel one cheaply recently. It's a nice production, but I do not see anything "Folio" about it, other than its box. That's the issue with the comics; there's no room to get an imaginative illustrator or novel typography given that's already done. If I were tempted by any more, the Penguin Marvel Classics versions seem to cover the same ground.

Has there ever been anything said about Folio (re)publishing graphic novels rather than comic collections? I know there was a survey one year that mentioned Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's From Hell as a possibility, but that seems to have gone nowhere.

(I'm assuming, as previously mentioned, that there's not really much room for any of Folio's usual value-adds like illustrations and typography with a completed graphic novel)

It’s not folio but I picked this up earlier this year:

https://forbiddenplanet.com/410796-absolute-watchmen-signed-edition-hardcover/

Slipcased and sewn binding.

It’s been up for sale for quite a while and not sold out yet despite being signed so perhaps Folio don’t see it as a good prospect.

If the blue strip on the right of the cover isn't cloth, then I'll know that Folio is going for cheap over quality :')

>7 anthonyfawkes: How would you rate the quality of the chosen paper and printing overall? Folio level?

If anyone here is a "King of Queens" fan here's your chance to get Patton Oswalt's signature:

https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/marvel-unforgettable-stories-signed-edition.htm...

Edit: Sold out.

Unbelievable.

This is one of the worst, arbitrary, collections of Marvel comic book stories I’ve ever seen.

And yet, it will sell.

>11 betaraybill: Given that it’s clearly sold as a not being a best of but a ‘personal selection’ made by the 2 named individuals, complaints that the contents are arbitrary or ‘the worst’ seem silly - a ‘personal selection’ by its nature will be based on the personal whims & tastes of its curators. Had you been asked to make a personal selection i’m sure many would also find your choices ridiculous & arbitrary.

>11 betaraybill: Some great stories, though. ASM #33, DD #191 and UXM #205 are three of my all-time favorite comics. Not as fond of the more recent stuff, especially the two issues that are fragments of larger stories.

>12 antinous_in_london: Impossible! My taste is impeccable!

>13 HonorWulf: Amazing Spidey is the gem within this volume for sure. Daredevil and Uncanny X-Men are very solid as well. The others… Not so much.

>15 betaraybill: Don't think I've read the others beyond the X-Factor issue, which was decent. But my comic reading drops off significantly past the mid-nineties.

>16 HonorWulf: That’s when the majority of my comic reading drops off as well. I still kept/keep up with certain story lines or events. Mostly through the library.

>14 betaraybill: haha! yeah wow. I mean, the FS sure has found a nice cash cow. Splash a 5-cent sticker on the cover, have someone you've likely never heard of sign them, and then get $100 more for it! Look, I really enjoy comic books. I have no problem with them reprinting classic comics and more, I'd love them to do something other than just the usual Marve/DC -- how about a deluxe edition of Miracleman! You know, something that hasn't been reprinted numerous times and really deserves the royal treatment... probably too much to ask?

>18 astropi: I'm surprised they haven't done things like Maus, Persepolis or Ghost World yet.

>18 astropi: It sure seems that they've found a way to a nice little profit, what with those signatures. Ah well.

Miracleman would be interesting. Marvel owns the rights to the character and all reprints now, by the way. I still say Captain Britain would be quite cool. The Alan Moore era. Panini did a hardcover a few years ago, but there was a printing error (two pages swapped).

You know which graphic novel I was thinking would be fitting in this format? Stardust by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess.

>19 HonorWulf: I love Maus. Haven't read Persepolis or Ghost World.

Major guilty pleasure of mine: Little Lulu by John Stanley. But no way would I ever want to see it given the Folio treatment!

If I recall correctly, wasn’t Maus included in one if the reader’s surveys for future publication choices some time back? I’m definitely not the intended comic book (graphic novel if they insist) audience for any of these, but that’s one that would interest me.

>22 cwl: FS might have burned their bridges with Art Spiegelman due to the introduction debacle a few years back.

Marvel: Unforgettable Stories (unsigned standard edition) is live:

https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/marvel-unforgettable-stories.html
https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/marvel-unforgettable-stories.html
https://www.foliosociety.com/row/marvel-unforgettable-stories.html

£70.00 | $100.00 | £80.00

Surprised this wasn't in the Holiday catalog, but it does bring Folio's SE releases for the year up to 40 titles.

>20 betaraybill: Stardust was a novel before it was a graphic novel. Lyra's Books published an astounding edition featuring some new and some previously published art by Charles Vess. I know the graphic novel adaptation by DC is also excellent, but I think the actual novel is better -- highly recommended if you have not yet read it :)

Actually Stardust was a storybook with pictures published by DC’s Vertigo imprint in 4 installments in 1997. A collected version of this was next, finally followed by the novel without illustrations.

>23 Chemren: Oh yes, I had forgotten about that!

>26 Chemren: Ah yes, thank you, you are right! I think I may still have that 4-parter sitting around somewhere. And, what exactly happened with Art Spiegelman?

>28 astropi: The original version that Chemren described is the one I think would be a decent fit for Folio.

And I too am curious as to what went down with Spiegelman.

I recall this from the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/16/art-spiegelmans-marvel-essay-refus...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/17/art-spiegelman-golden-age-superher...

And now even more. Superman. I'm more and more becoming estranged and alienated from this current version of The Folio Society.

>31 LesMiserables: As there is a new Superman film coming out this summer it’s not really a huge surprise that FS would want to buy into the hype around it.

>32 antinous_in_london: Yes, absolutely, and no problem with that. I'm merely stating that the FS I locked into has changed dramatically from that which attracted me to it.

>33 LesMiserables: I feel your pain, scandalous how this treasured little lit publisher has been hijacked.

>34 DanielOC: I've heard all the arguments, pros and cons, and recognise all of it....however..... with Ms Omnichunnel driving the husk that was the Folio Society, we have to accept that absolutely anything in vogue will be published. Manga next? Perhaps a titillating joint venture with Taschen on things fleshy?

FS seems to ride the waves of popularity at the moment, yet where is the re-release of One Hundred Years of Solitude, given the success of the new series?
I was surprised to see that Superman hadn’t yet been published, as I thought it was one of the first comics they did. This shows how little I was interested, I suppose!

>36 cwl: Folio included a facsimile of Action Comics #1 and a couple of other Superman stories in the DC Golden Age compilation but there hasn't been a Superman-specific release before this one.

They did the Marvel golden, silver, and bronze age, then had separate books for the major marvel heroes, and another of the best stories.

If doing the same for DC, even if they just stop at the golden age with DC, they will need to cover Batman (done), Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash.

>30 FitzJames:

Thanks for the links. That's interesting, ugly - and unfortunately not really surprising.

>36 cwl: no, no GGM again, for the love of God. I don't like how he completely eclipses the rest of the latin american writers, especially outside of the spanish-speaking world. Do Rulfo or Garro or Bolaño instead. There's even a new Pedro Páramo film on Netflix and it was smothered by the One Hundred Years of Solitude series talk.

>31 LesMiserables:
As a kid my favorite comics were Mad Magazine and The Phantom. I'd be tempted by a Folio compilation of either, especially those of the Ghost who Walks.

>40 dyhtstriyk: Pedro Paramo is a terrific book, but I do wonder how it could be appropriately put on film. Bolaño's Savage Detectives was excellent, and I do need to get to the weighty 2666 some day. I haven't read any Garro - any suggestions? (As if I need to add any books to my TBR list).

>40 dyhtstriyk: GGM won the Nobel Prize for lit, which by extension means he’s better known outside the Hispanic world. If FS can’t rise to the obvious that IS receiving further media attention, why would we expect them to focus on others? Juan Rulfo is certainly a canonic author in Mexico, but little known in the English-speaking world.

>44 cwl: oh I know. But outside Vargas Llosa, FS hasn’t done any other latin american Nobel laureates ( and I can’t recall if he got the Nobel before or after Folio did War at the End of the World). Maybe because Paz, Mistral and Neruda were poets. Asturias would command little interest, I think. Maybe I just dislike GGM because of the clout he has over latAm literature overseas and because when he lived I considered him a very antipathetic person.

>43 coynedj: Film is Ok, better than the previous attempt starring John Gavin, who would become US ambassador to Mexico. Regarding Garro, her magnum opus is Los Recuerdos del Porvenir, whose title I’ve seem translated as either Memories of the Future or Remembrance of things to come

>33 LesMiserables: Possibly , though having picked up quite a few second hand FS books produced back in the ‘good old days’ (usually bought for under £5) FS also used to produce quite a few extremely mediocre editions even back in the halcyon days - both in content & in quality - many of which you probably couldn’t even give away today. (Reaches for his mint copy of ‘Bingo Boys & Poodle Fakers’ purchased as part of a job lot for 50p from a local charity shop.)

>36 cwl: I would love to see a refreshed version of One Hundred Years of Solitude, preferably with different artwork than the style of the 2004 edition.
As for those comics, I couldn’t care less. And even if I were in the market for them, I would probably turn to Taschen instead…

>46 dyhtstriyk: Bolaño in FS treatment? One can dream :) I suspect more “BookTok” titles in the future, considering the trends, ugh.

Obviously, financially, I get the decision from Folio to do these deluxe treatments for comics, but I really wish they never went this route. Other publishers (like Fantagraphics for instance) publish a lot of vintage comics in very nicely put-together editions, it just feels excessive for Folio to be doing the same.

50 Signed Superman's posted ahead of tomorrow's official release:

https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/dc-superman-signed-edition.html

Edit: Sold out!

>50 HonorWulf: Do we know the price for the regular edition?

>51 betaraybill: Nope, but probably around the same as Batman would be my guess.

>52 HonorWulf: That would make sense.

$100.00 in the States.
So, an extra $100.00 was for the signature. If the signature is on a tipped-in plate/page with art unique to the signed volume I can see the appeal. But if it’s just the signature alone, that’s pricey.

>53 betaraybill: Agreed, but $100 seems to be their standard signature mark-up these days (Noughts & Crosses aside).

Superman is now live:

https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/dc-superman.html

£70.00 UK / $100.00 US / £80.00 ROW

>54 HonorWulf: I wasn’t aware of that being the norm for signatures.

Too bad FS doesn’t commission a piece of original art for their comic volumes. That would be a nice bonus.

>56 betaraybill: Yes, you'd think that would be a no-brainer!

>57 HonorWulf: So say we all!

>56 betaraybill: >57 HonorWulf: I think the Marvel & DC Ages series each had original art prints, right?

>59 BooksFriendsNotFood: Yes, the oversized Age books in the Solander boxes each have an exclusive print. The individual hero books do not have any original art.

>60 HonorWulf: Do you know if the covers of the Marvel hero books use original art? I assumed that at least some of them did (like Doctor Strange and the new Marvel Unforgettable Stories) but I don't know Marvel well enough to be sure.

>61 BooksFriendsNotFood: That's a good question! Looks like the Marvel covers have original art, but the DC ones do not.

>62 HonorWulf: This is good to know, thank you!

>61 BooksFriendsNotFood: I see that the Wulf of Honor answered your queries. :)

I’ve owned several signed comic collections over the years, and in every case, each one had a signature plate with original art for the writer and/or artist to sign. It’s such a nice touch; that’s why I feel it would be a very appealing bonus for the signed Folio offerings.

>64 betaraybill: I agree that that would be awesome & that it's a great idea! I know the Charles van Sandwyk signature plates had his art on it although I'm not aware of whether they were unique to the signature plate or not, and I agree that original art would make the plates a much better offering.

>65 BooksFriendsNotFood: Glad you like the idea so much. :) Let’s hope that FS considers it going forward. There have been some very neat signature plates in the past. For example, a plate designed like a page from Rorschach’s journal (found in the limited WATCHMEN slipcased volume published by Graphitti Designs), or that lovely painting of Superman and Krypto and some other animals in the KINGDOM COME signed hardcover; those really add an extra special touch to the item.

>66 betaraybill: Indeed!