To the Powers That Be at the Big Two,
Hi, my name is John and I have been a fan of comics since I was a little kid. The city I grew up in didn’t have a comic store so like many kids back in the day I biked all across town checking the racks and shelves of gas stations and supermarkets to get my fix. I’ve spent a great deal of my life with with my nose buried in one of your comics and loved every minute of it. One thing that is quite clear though is despite all my years of reading, I haven’t begun to scratch the extensive backlog of issues starring the characters I love. Thankfully, over the last few years omnibus editions have become popular. These giant tomes allow me to go back and enjoy prolific runs in the industry I never got to or were before my time as well as reread great runs and rediscover why I loved those comics in the first place. Both of you have went back into your catalogs and pulled out the best stuff from your best guys and put it nice giant collections on high quality paper that fans like me just eat up. However, in all your mining for the cream of the crop, you’ve made one rather stunning omission.
I want to take a moment to talk about this guy:
Yep, it’s Mark Waid, one of the best writers ever to grace the industry. Waid’s been kicking ass since 80’s and has amassed a rather impressive list of well remembered runs in his career. This guy is super passionate about comics and their history and has made you both a bunch of money over the years.
Now Marvel, DC, anybody else reading this, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to hop on Amazon right now and look for omnibus collections collections of Waid’s stuff from either company.
Don’t worry I’ll wait.
Back so soon?
Look, I don’t get it, people like Waid and love a great deal of his stuff, where are his fancy omnibus collections? Now I understand not every run is beloved and some just weren’t long enough to fill out an proper omnibus, but you both are sitting on at least one major thing from Waid that screams out for a mega-collection.
DC, do you remember Mark Waid’s Flash run from back in the 90’s? Y’know, the one that was one of the best and most important runs for the character of all time. Why isn’t this collected in an omnibus? More to the point, why do I even have to ask such a question?! Such a thing should already be happily sitting on my bookshelf. He wrote the book for the better part of a decade, I think you have enough material to print!
Oh, and Marvel, don’t think I forgot about you. Holding off on Waid’s Daredevil stuff makes sense since he isn’t done, what doesn’t make sense is why a sleek, sexy omnibus of his Fantastic Four run doesn’t exist! I know finding anybody at Marvel who gives a crap about Marvel’s First Family whose last name isn’t either Hickman or Robinson is a bit hard to find these days, but I can assure you the fans haven’t lost their appetite for these comics. Waid along with Mike Wieringo (who also worked with Waid on Flash) delivered one of the most popular runs for the FF in the last three decades, what more of an excuse do you need to make this thing happen?!
I only complain because I care. These comics deserve the omnibus treatment, not just for the hardcore fans like me, but for the next generation of readers as well. Every time I go to the comic shop and see a young boy or girls eyes light up at all the books it fills my heart with joy. I want to share the stories I love with the next generation and revel in how it sparks their imagination as it did my own back in the day. Give us some Mark Waid omnibi and make the world a better place. The only one stopping you is you.
A lifelong fan,
John K. Eckes
Interested in picking up some of Mark Waid’s books? Please use our Amazon links to do so!
