[nightwrite]

Hello all,
I'm new to the forum but I've lurked for a few years. I really love this place and I appreciate the multi-tiered focus on all aspects of the GI Joe franchise. I'm a comics guy myself. I haven't owned the toys since I was a kid and the wife already puts up with my comic habit, so it's the Hama-verse (Marvel through IDW) all the way. I gave up on IDW's alternative line a while back.

Because IDW apparently canceled the complete collections (and because I'm stuck inside like everyone) I'm gathering the paperback GI Joe Classic volumes, Special Missions, and recent IDW ARAH hero series custom-bound for my personal library. I've gathered most of my materials, including the 25th anniversary figure comics, the old Marvel Order of Battle trade, the Yearbook trade, and anything else that probably belongs. This is a huge project that will result in 5-6 large hardcovers. I'm not sure how to go about this, so I'm looking for input. I can:

A. Bind them in the proposed reading order that people have listed in this forum (here: https://bit.ly/3dDOyoJ), or something close to it, minus the DDP stuff. This will take an enormous amount of work and recopying many, many pages to correct placement of covers. This seems the most logical, but I can...

B. Bind ARAH and Special Missions separately, because they only seem to, IIRC, actually cross over a couple of times. That would preserve the story flow of ARAH and not have the jumping-back-and-forth affect of reading self-contained stories every couple of issues. I could only include the essential crossover issues to preserve the flow. Marvel does this with their two series of Conan hardcovers--the main title only reprints issues of Savage Sword when the story mandates it. I'd need to learn which issues of ARAH continued in SM, though.

C. Say "screw it" because this is insane and I should just put the paperbacks on my shelf and grab a different one when there's a crossover.

Any ideas? Has anyone around here tried this before? I was really disappointed when the Complete Collection series up and died, but that still had some of the problems inherent in both of my suggestions (incorrect issue placement, missing issue or two, etc.).

I'm just looking for feedback at this point. I read the original 155 a few years ago and the first 50 IDW books, so I'm a little rusty on the degree of interplay between ARAH and SM, among other things.

Thank you all in advance!
NW

[J James]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nightwrite

B. Bind ARAH and Special Missions separately, because they only seem to, IIRC, actually cross over a couple of times. That would preserve the story flow of ARAH and not have the jumping-back-and-forth affect of reading self-contained stories every couple of issues.

I have a lot of thoughts in general but this process above stood out to me specifically. You could do three issues of the normal comic then three issues of the SM series, until you get to the Borovia stuff when they start alternating for a few issues. I wouldn't miss the chance to have those crossover.

Here is the ordered list someone else came up with for that period of the comics:

-051
-SM 001
-052
-053
-054
-SM 002
-055
-056
-SM 003
-057
-Yearbook 3
-058
-SM 004
-059
-060
-061
-SM 005
-SM 006
-062
-063
-064
-SM 007
-065
-066
-SM 008
-067
-068
-SM 009
-Yearbook 4
-069
-070
-SM 010
-071
-072
-SM 011
-073
-074
-SM 012
-075
-076
-SM 013
-077
-SM 014
-078
-079
-SM 015
-080
-081
-SM 016
-082
-SM 017
-083
-SM 018
-084
-SM 019
-085
-SM 020
-086
-086.5 (Destro / Iron Grenadier comic pack Numbered #7)
-SM 021
-087
-SM 022
-088
-SM 023
-089
-SM 024
-090
-SM 025
-091
-SM 026
-092
-SM 027
-SM 028
-093

[deadman]

Do the collected trades include the comic pack issues? I'm actually considering doing the same thing as far as binding, and would love to include the comic pack stuff as suggested here

[nightwrite]

No, I had to find them on eBay. I’m going to go ahead and do a full bind with everything in order. It’ll take a long time but it will be worth it.

[deadman]

ok thanks.

[deadman]

Who are you planning to use to make the binds @nightwrite?

[nightwrite]

Herring and Robinson as of this moment. I have some books at Houchen right now (non-Joe), but they are closed because of the virus. Given that the virus is keeping things closed for the foreseeable future, that makes me worried that Houchen will either take an interminably long time with what I've already sent them, or that they may never reopen and have to ship in-process books back (that is my fear; they told me they plan to reopen when they can).

Herring and Robinson, according to what they've told me, are in operation and have a small staff that is working strategically to avoid infecting each other.

I still haven't received all of the trades in the mail yet for obvious reasons. It's going to take me a while to do TOC pages and the like, but I think I've got nothing but time at this point.

[deadman]

Yeah, I'm planning to go with Herring and Robinson too. I've messaged Houchen a question their process to double check something( forgot what) and I haven't heard a thing from them....it's been months. H&R literally answered my emails within two hours of sending, including just the other day. Baased solely on the cost service in that regard H&R will get my business.

[vxc961]

Any progress on this project? I’m thinking of doing the same thing (continuing the IDW hardbacks) and I’m curious!

[nightwrite]

Check my most recent thread. Apparently Complete Collection volume 9 is on the way. I'm not sure if I should press on to make an even better set or just hold off to see if, first, it actually comes out and, second, it ever finishes.

I say this with no glee, but with the way the comic industry is going, I am worried that small-to-medium sized companies like IDW and Boom may not stay afloat. I've been buying trade paperbacks like crazy with the understanding that some of them may be out of print for a very long time.