Omnibus VS. Absolute Edition| Pros & Cons | What’s the difference?
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- Опубликовано: 8 окт 2023
- This is a question I get all the time, so I hope I am able to clarify the difference between a DC Omnibus and a DC Absolute Edition.
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I trend towards Omnis because I like having complete stories and reserve absolutes to “one-offs” like Absolute Justice or Kingdom Come. Just a personal preference.
My planetary omnibus has the batman crossover in it.
bought it a few years ago.
Same here
Absolute Fourth World is a beauty.
Totally, both volumes are gorgeous.
But so hard to read....
I just came back from a trip to nearby town this morning to pick up 3x absolute editions some person was selling. Absolute Killing Joke, Year One and something i was trying to get for past 2 years for my collection .. Absolute Batman Long Halloween :) (price was dum excellent, 90eu for all 3, i feel like i won lotto :P ) Cheers Omar
Absolutes for me everyday, my format of choice.
If there was to be a format royal rumble and only one can survive, I would be praying for an Absolute win.
Oversized HC Slipcase, I wish more publishers used it, it’s the gold standard of formats in my opinion
Re: Flashpoint, it's worth pointing out that for those more interested in the lead-up and core story, both are featured in the Geoff Johns Flash Omnibus vol. 3 with much more straight-forward mapping.
I own more Omnis than Absolute's, but some things are a must in Absolute, KINGDOM COME, Alan Moore's SWAMP THING, NEW FRONTIER, ALL STAR SUPERMAN, SUPERMAN: FOR ALL SEASON'S.
Don't forget Danger Girl.
You hit it on the head from the start. I'ma completionist so Omnibuses will always be my main choice. And if there happens to just be a solely 12 issue series to read then bet I'm grabbing the Absolute if available.
Thank you Omar!
Thank you for the in depth explanation and comparison. It felt a little complicated, but I enjoyed your detailed walkthrough of various scenarios with examples.
Thank you for the kind words.
Great video, Loved omar flexing that beautiful Black Mirror absolute! One of my Fav Batman stories.
I always prefer omnibus because of the amount of content. I feel omnibus is bigger than most formats.
I have only just started getting Absolutes, and I blame Omar, I have 5 so far 3x volumes of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, Killing Joke and V for Vendetta., I have 56 Omni's out of around a thousand books in total, I actually prefer OHC's to Omni's, same size art but not as heavy. And then there are Gallery and Treasury editions. As for Sandman, I have them all in OHC's but I've got the New Helmet edition on Order
Is this how you convince Melanie to double dip?? 😂
Shhhh yes
I used to not understand the point of absolutes. They’re more expensive than omnis while (most of the time) having a lot less content. After picking a few up (namely Watchmen and Preacher) I realized that the quality is totally worth the investment.
Thank you, Omar. This topic has been on my mind recently. You've put my mind at ease.
I prefer Absolutes but wary of buying anymore as my Dark Victory started splitting apart. Only read once and stretched.
This happened with my Sandman vol 1 - had to buy a new copy and now the spine logos don't match ! ( Vertigo vs DC )
Completely depends for me. Like Infinite Crisis I'd rather have the omnibus with all of the great tie-ins and minis leading up to the event but with Final Crisis I prefer the absolute with only the Morrison stuff.
There’s a lot to appreciate when it comes to the art. The scale is closer to the artists’ original work, and the paper quality and print quality reflect the colors more accurately. I wish it was more feasible to do more collections this way, but it’s all about balancing cost and quantity of comics.
I really miss very often in hardcovers the ribbon. Especially thick ones like omnibusses.
Great video Omar! Quick question, do you stretch the spines of your Absolutes, like you do with Omnis?
I always have a rule of over 350 pages I stretch the spines.
This video was very helpful, thank you!
Dang -I didn’t know that about planetary- imma hunt for the absolute. Good to know the extra stories on some Omnis don’t matter - didn’t know that either
Thank you so much for this video Omar !
Oh, man. I love the mapping of the Flashpoint omnibus! Doing it in release order allows the universe to unfold alongside the flashpoint story so that it all builds progressively. I personally think it works well because otherwise if you read the event first, then it would just feel like going backwards into a universe that doesn’t really matter. If I ever want to read just flashpoint, I can just skip ahead. So I’m glad DC chose the default reading order to work for first time readers of the full event.
For sandman, you could also get the seven deluxe editions to be even more cost effective. And it’s the same trim size as the Omnis!
For me, it was one of the worst mapped Omnis. If I wanted a feel of reading weekly issues, I would read floppies again. I need something between that and King in Black.
@@NearMintCondition I could see some of the tie-ins working better just straight through (since they are mostly self contained) but again it’s just not as epic that way! You get to see the flashpoint universe unfold side-by-side. It turns the omnibus into a movie, which is fantastic. It’s a lot like the six stories told in the film Cloud Atlas.
Like imagine if you were watching Game of Thrones and instead of cutting in between stories they just showed you the entire Mother of Dragons story and then forced you to go backward and watch all the flashbacks, you’d check out in an instant. It’d be terrible for building the world.
I only bring it up because I see people hating on the mapping a lot, but I don’t want DC to change course, because it really is perfect from a story perspective, imo. I hope others can come around to that or just buy the event HC since it’s an option.
@comicscoda To me these books have always been about reading experiences. I love the way Transformers IDW Phases were mapped. I also felt like Cloud Atlas was a mess, but that's just my opinion. I don't mind some series being in there. Infinite Crisis was perfect, but to have stories even taking place in the past, made zero sense. I know it's not an easy job to do when mapping books, but you have to think of the reader and try to find the best experience for them. 20 issues between the Aquaman issues I don't think would help anyone.
@@NearMintCondition that’s fair. I’m a reader too, though. And I loved it. So there’s just always multiple approaches. I read the whole book in like less than a week, so the gaps didn’t make a huge difference. I think dc lately publishes most of them tie-ins as separate collections like with dark crisis. So there’s that route. But even still, there’s something awesome about the way Flashpoint reads… like even with the big gaps, the tie-ins feel like flashbacks that flesh out characters but also shifts the reasons for their motives. And that informs your perception of the characters within the main event. If they jump the gun with tie-ins, that experience is ruined for the reader. I really do think DC knew what they were doing with it. Otherwise the book would spoil itself.
Absolute editions are very beautiful. But, if your on a budget, and limited shelf space.. You also have to consider omni's definitely have a much higher page count as well.
I thought that this would be a short video, but I was pleasantly surprised. You showed us great examples of exceptions of our perceptions of absolutes and omnibuses. I really enjoyed this video, Omar!
For me, I only have one absolute and it is Absolute Hush. And now that there is mention of an omnibus (FINALLY) I might want to buy the omnibus. I have a feeling that if I collect absolutes, then I would want to collect them all. For my next absolute, I would buy All Star Batman and Robin, since I do not see any more issues for this run as well as no omnibus in site. I know that there is a deluxe edition, but I DO see an absolute in my LCBS. A million thanks, hermano!!!
Thanks! Didn't know the Absolute Planetary had more content then the Omnibus...usually it's the other way around. :)
Actually, it's Omar's mistake. In fact, omni has that crossover issue.
Imo limited series are great in absolutes, but crossovers are better in omnibuses. But i got Planetary and Authority in omnibus format. And of course I got Batman Black Mirror in standard hardcover and in Absolute too( favourite Batman story ever).
Planetary Omnibus DOES contain the Batman story (Night on Earth), Must be other differences?
I wonder what the extra pages.
Hoping we get more Perez in Absolute
Absolutes all day long, but if on a tight budget, omnis. Of course Abs only exist for handfuls of titles.
I have definitely double dipped on several stories. In some cases I triple dipped. In those cases (Infinite Crisis being an example), I got the Absolute Edition so I can see the beautiful artwork large and in all its glory. I got the omnibus to have the complete story with all of the tie-ins. And then I would also get a nice hardcover or deluxe hardcover edition when I just want to read the main story without all of the tie-ins. For me the absolute and omnibus editions require me to sit at a desk or table to read them, where a nice hardcover I can just sit on the couch or chair and read the story.
Thanks for the video Omar, I really enjoyed it. I hope to see more videos similar to this in the future
How much more cost will be added if these publishers add a ribbon to the omnibus editions as well? I would argue a ribbon used as a bookmark is more useful to omnibus which usually is much thicker.
For me a shorter complete story with great art that I love, I go with the Absolute. I'm a big Jim Lee fan so I got all of those. Complete run or large portions of long runs, its the Omnibus. Honestly I wouldn't mind an Absolute of the big events plus one or two key issues as opposed to an Omni filled with bad issues along with the event..
Sandman absolute if you can find them at a good price are worth it
For event series and their spin-offs I think omnis are the way to go if they are mapped correctly so I can read the entire story. For a single story or arc I like the Absolutes, like Batman Hush. Thanks Omar!
Great video!👍🏼
One of your best videos ever Omar. I loved the in depth look at the differences of the different formats which I struggle to understand sometimes.
I look at it like; I own the 3 Geoff Johns GL books plus Blackest Night and Brightest Day. But I also have the 3 Absolutes. One of if not the best modern DC Runs ever and to have the complete story in Omnibus form (more or less) and then the Absolutes to highlight the main and best parts of the overall story to me, is a great way to collect and own that particular epic.
I prefer Omnibuses for the big events where a complete story in one place is more important for me. Then for big one-offs or some legendary series like Sandman, I love the Absolutes. Then for all the regular series, at least the ones I like loaning out to friends, I prefer softcover trade paperbacks, because they're easier reading, easier to bring along, and less of an issue if they get damaged.
Hey, Omar. Been watching your videos for over a year now and they've been a great resouece as I began getting into comics. Besides thanking you, I got a question. I watched a video you did on the different Sandman editions a while ago, and since you did the same here again, I wanted to make the question I had this time around.
Neither times when you compared the different Sandman editions did you point out how the page orders don't match. I mean that you got one page on the left in the Omnibus, but then the same page is on the right in the Absolute. I've never read Sandman so I don't know how important this difference might be, but apparently it's not a big enough deal for you to mention?
Although I only recently got into American comics, I've been reading manga for years, and in manga, I don't think you'll ever see this kind of difference, since the structure of how a book looks when open (even when it's not a double-page spread) is an important part of manga design in general. Is that just not the case in American comics? Do artists only care about how single pages look individually? I also get this impression from how in official apps such as Marvel Ultimate you simply cannot read two pages at a time.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
It’s just spacing is different to make way for spread pages is all. You mean sometimes the same page will be on left and sometimes right?
@@NearMintCondition Yes. I understand single pages have to be ordered in a specific way so the spreads line up when they do arrive, but I found it strange that it's not always the same depending on the different editions.
Going back to manga design, considering how manga are published in thicker books that have to take severe gutter loss into consideration, you'll find that pages on the left side of the book always have white space on the right, and viceversa. I think this intrinsic design of the medium also makes it so that manga artists take into account how the layout of two single pages seen at the same time when a book is opened can contribute to the feel and pacing of the work.
I understand comics don't account for gutter loss due to their origins in floppies, but do comics artists really don't think about what two single pages look like together? Or is it editorial oversight how different editions might end up changed or how Marvel Ultimate doesn't let you read two pages at a time etc? That's where I was going.
Ultimately, do you personally think it makes no real difference for the reading experience in the case of Sandman?
Ah. Usually that has to do with the different teams or publishers putting the books together.
@@NearMintCondition Sometimes even when there's not a two-page spread specifically, the layout of two facing pages will reflect each other. Sometimes a big reveal is intentionally put on the next page so the reader's eyes don't jump to it while reading the page building up to the reveal. I'm very surprised the Sandman omnibus/absolutes don't have the same pages on the same sides. A stickler for details like Gaiman might care; I wonder if he knows. edit: Dark Knights Metal too.
Love this video, and the others. Thanks
I find it hard to justify getting an Absolute edition when they miss important issues that help flesh out the main story eg. Death Metal. That Wonder Woman / Perez Absolute looks amazing ... if DC were to release another 2 volumes I'd strongly consider upgrading my omnis.
Planetary omnibus HAS crossover issue with Batman.
It does? My mistake. I really thought the added pages was the one shot.
Yes it does have the Batman story. So what makes up the larger page count for the absolute book
Only absolute you need it New Frontier. COME ON OMAR!
Batman Long Halloween, V for Vendetta, Batman Hush, Preacher and Sandman are exceptional in Abs format.
Whats the best way to shelve omnibuses and absolutes because Im having trouble deciding if i should go vertical or horizontal. Any advice would be appreciated !
Standing up. For sure😊
@turtleanton6539 I prefer to have them standing up. I now have most of them up and my heaviest ones I laid flat to avoid any sagging issues. Thanks !
I was expecting some Marvel book, then I remembered that Absolutes are DC´s exclusives.
Absolute edition is the top of the line
Those retail price points. Good golly.
That's odd; my Planetary Omnibus from 2015 has the Batman crossover right after the JLA Elseworlds. Did they remove the Batman one in later printings?
Absolute are the best to me, no debate, but i still get omnis when I want full stories (like infinite crisis)
I double dipped on Superman/Batman, by Loeb and McGuinness.
Any idea why DC has never reprinted the Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths? You said they're doing a great job of reprinting Absolutes, but this one has been OOP forever, and to me it is such an obvious one to bring back (specially after seeing this amazing Absolute Wonder Woman by George Pérez).
thry havent reprinted absolute justice by alex ross as well.
Team Onni all day!!
The only book I have in both omnibus and absolute is the new 52 Batman court of the owl story because well it came out in absolute way before Omni then I got the Omni because I never read the whole thing. That’s one probably niche scenario to have both tho since it’s only one story arc in the absolute
Has anyone ever had there absolute slipcase warp?
I choose neither! I collected omis for a while before realizing they are just too cumbersome to read comfortably. I feel like many just buy them as an investment and don't actually read them. I switched to just focusing on TPBs and (standard size) hardcovers. They are infinitely more readable.
DC, give us an ABSOLUTE JUSTICE BY ALEX ROSS REPRINT, and a NEW FRONTIER reprint
A crucial difference between the Absolute and the Omnibus of Sandman is that the placement of the pages is *wrong* in the Omnibus edition. At 6:15 you can see in the Absolute the first page is on the right-hand side (as is standard in western comics) whereas the Omnibus begins on the left-hand page. This gross oversight means that the Absolute is the only viable choice of the two editions.
Great catch. I was wondering which was which, as that has the potential to ruin two-page spreads. Now I have to wonder if some of these DC omnibuses have the same issue. One could probably make videos on it alone.
@@ZardaffronTKThank you kindly. I know this has been an issue for a few DC collections. Although I would argue that the problem extends beyond the two-page spread, and that the misplaced pages can have a subtle yet profound effect on the reading experience.
Generally speaking, a shocking reveal or visually impactful moment in a comic should be placed on the left-hand page so it's the first thing the reader sees on the page turn.
To return to 'Sandman' to illustrate my point, at 6:58 you can see how the splash page with the issue's title 'Sleep of the Just' is on the left-hand side of the Absolute. Morpheus is the first thing we see, and he commands our full attention. This is our introduction to the title character, and it's a reveal assigned the appropriate weight. This page is among the most important of the entire issue.
However, in the Omnibus you're seeing Morpheus out of the corner of your eye on the right-hand page as you're reading through the left. The moment is robbed of its power. It's not a reveal any longer, it's just the next thing to look at after you've read the page in front.
If a publisher expects the audience to spend in excess of $100 on a product (or indeed hundreds of dollars for the complete series), then that product should at the very least do the bare minimum to present the story in the way that it was intended to be read.
It is a great irony that the Omnibus should trip over this low hurdle, given 'Sandman' is all about the power and importance of storytelling.
It's still "nearmintcondtion" at 21:02...
If I just want the main story without the filler I go with the Absolute editions seriously you might think you're missing out on the storylines by skipping the Omnibus but why spend more on the Omnibus format with inferior artists when I can read those issue summaries online.
The only real downsides to onmis is that they can be to heavy, and the binding can fall apart
Absolutes are better than Omnis, especially those from Marvel that are made out of toilet paper.
Tell that to my V for Vendetta and Swamp Thing. I've never had an IMAK book fall apart like those books.
Absolutely 👍 😉
I never ever brought or read a Absolute DC book but looking at different formats I noticed the difference .you see more detail in art style and the pages are little bit longer and wider than your ordinary omnibus books.
But for me if I ever going to get a Absolute book it have to be Watch Men and Doom Day Clock. And I also would like to get Alex Ross Justice and Kingdom Come in the Absolute books.
Well done Omar keep up the good work. 📚🦸♂️🦹♂️👍👍