[wmichben]

I now see in my FedEx account that I have a label created by Quartermaster Logistics. Wooo!

I can't wait to read these but I am also confused by the printed order of releases as outlined by Josh Z. Should I read them from cover to cover or should I skip the Special Missions issues and come back to them?

[SquishyOH]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wmichben

I can't wait to read these but I am also confused by the printed order of releases as outlined by Josh Z. Should I read them from cover to cover or should I skip the Special Missions issues and come back to them?

There is some debate as to the exact reading order, but Special Missions should not be saved until last. Stories in the main title diverge off into Special Missions and adventures that took place in Special Missions are then referenced in the main title.

I haven't read the current line-up past issue #7 yet so I cannot say how good the Skybound reading order is, but it will be better than missing the issues and not getting them in any kind of context of the main title. My plan is to read cover-to-cover and if things seem out of order, then I will check some of the recommended lists.

[wmichben]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SquishyOH

There is some debate as to the exact reading order, but Special Missions should not be saved until last. Stories in the main title diverge off into Special Missions and adventures that took place in Special Missions are then referenced in the main title.

I haven't read the current line-up past issue #7 yet so I cannot say how good the Skybound reading order is, but it will be better than missing the issues and not getting them in any kind of context of the main title. My plan is to read cover-to-cover and if things seem out of order, then I will check some of the recommended lists.

That sounds like a good strategy. Thanks.

[Josh Z]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wmichben

I can't wait to read these but I am also confused by the printed order of releases as outlined by Josh Z. Should I read them from cover to cover or should I skip the Special Missions issues and come back to them?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SquishyOH

There is some debate as to the exact reading order, but Special Missions should not be saved until last. Stories in the main title diverge off into Special Missions and adventures that took place in Special Missions are then referenced in the main title.

Yeah, in addition to the explicit story crossovers, some notable characters get killed off in a Special Missions issue, and that gets referenced in ARAH later.

I haven't read enough of the compendiums yet to get to Special Missions, but I assume there must be some logic or rationale to the reading order. For the most part, aside from the few crossovers or the event I just mentioned, Special Missions were standalone adventures with some flexibility into where they fit in the ARAH timeline. Moving some of them around doesn't bother me too much.

A while back, I made a spreadsheet to track publication dates for the comic, so that I could see which issues of each title corresponded with each other. While the compendiums make a lot of changes to that, the only things that immediately stand out as perplexing are delaying Yearbook #2 by seven months (pretty far after its story recaps are relevant) and shoving Yearbook #1 all the way at the end of Vol. 2, *after* the other Yearbooks.

Also, splitting Issue 50 so that the main story is in Vol. 1 while the Special Missions preview short story it came with starts Vol. 2.

My best guess is that Skybound must have felt it really important for Vol. 1 to contain issues 1-50 of ARAH, which marks a pretty good stopping point for the first volume, and the only way they could do that was to push the first two Yearbooks and the Special Missions preview into Vol. 2. And then, because they didn't want Yearbooks 1 and 2 to be too close together, they shuffled the contents of Yearbook 1 (the less important one, lacking an original story of its own) all the way to the back of the book.

That being the case, I almost think it might have been better to delay Yearbook 1 all the way back to Vol. 4, with the Order of Battle issues. Having Yearbooks 2, 3, 4, and then 1 all in the same book is super-confusing.

On the other hand, leaving Yearbooks 2, 3, and 4 in Vol. 2 with no reference to Yearbook 1 at all might have left a lot of readers equally puzzled.

What this set really needs is a single-page insert somewhere with an editorial note explaining the reading order. That would have been immensely helpful.

[SquishyOH]

Looks like JoshZ is right about Skybound just fitting it in wherever there was room. All 4 volumes are at very nearly full 1230 page binding capacity (or whatever they quoted). Getting Compendium to a perfect 1-50 was likely a goal so I've got no issue that the back-up Special Missions literally could not fit and ended up as the first thing in Compendium 2. After that, fans having opinions about shifting the order of Special Missions back and forth a few issues shouldn't be a huge deal for understanding the plot.

Yearbook #1 can go pretty much anywhere since there is no original story. There is a pretty spotty summary of issues #8 - #25 and a bit about the original Sunbow MASS Device cartoon. It makes sense in Compendium #1, but I am fine with it fitting anywhere. The later Yearbooks had original solos stories that got progressively more important to the main title so definitely need to slot in certain places.

[JackKnight73]

I received my shipping in the last week or two. It is fantastic. I am no fan of large collections like this because I don't want the spines to cave but this really is awesome. Wonderfully put together and feels sturdy.

[Prowl2000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackKnight73

I received my shipping in the last week or two. It is fantastic. I am no fan of large collections like this because I don't want the spines to cave but this really is awesome. Wonderfully put together and feels sturdy.

I picked up the "paperback" version off Amazon of Volume 1 for under $50. If I end up reading that then I will look to purchase others as they are released. But it is about 1/4 the weight of the hardcover version.

[BigSteve03]

When is the next mass release volume coming out anyway? I would have thought it would have been out long before now.

[xasonnex]

I just got my compendiums! Fantastic, couldn't be happier.

[Junkyard84]

Little underwhelmed by the prints and posters but the actual book itself and the individual comics are impeccably done