Limited Collectors' Edition is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1972 to 1978. It usually featured reprints of previously published stories but a few issues contained new material. The series was published in an oversized 10″ x 14″ tabloid (or "treasury") format.
Publication history
Limited Collectors' Edition was launched with a collection of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer stories which went on sale October 24, 1972. DC Comics vice president Sol Harrison had suggested the format stating that "we could create a tabloid size comic that would stand out on the newsstand".[1]Limited Collectors' Edition shared its numbering with two other treasury format series, Famous First Edition[2] and All-New Collectors' Edition.[3] The final issues of the latter two series were tie-ins to the release of Superman: The Movie. DC later published treasuries as part of DC Special Series in 1981 and as a number of one-shots from 1999 to 2003 primarily produced by Paul Dini and Alex Ross.
In 2020, DC put out a new Famous First Edition, C-63, which reprinted in hardcover the first issue of New Fun Comics, which launched the company that became DC.
Reprints stories from Action Comics #22, 29; Superman #60, 142, 204 and The Amazing World of Superman, Metropolis Edition. Cover art by H. J. Ward[13] reproduced from a photograph of the original painting.[14]
Reprints stories from Captain Marvel Adventures #100, 129, 148 and Marvel Family #17. Photo cover features Jackson Bostwick from the Shazam! television series.[19]
Reprints Tomahawk stories from Star Spangled Comics #121, 126-127; More Fun Comics #70; and Tomahawk #45. These include the titles: "Adventure in New York"/"The Magic Tomahawk"/"The First Sub"/"Frontier Theatre"/"The Battle of the Master Woodsmen".[34]
Several planned features for Limited Collectors' Edition were never published. These include several projects by writer/artist Sheldon Mayer. Mayer had been working on an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz but DC's then-publisher Carmine Infantino canceled the project upon learning of a similar adaptation by Marvel Comics. The two companies published the project jointly and the adaptation was crafted by Marvel's Roy Thomas and John Buscema instead. Mayer also worked on a follow-up to "The Bible" issue of Limited Collectors' Edition titled "The Story of Jesus" as well as "Rudolph's Easter Parade", an Easter-themed Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer issue. Neither project was published. "The Legend of King Arthur" by writer Gerry Conway and artist Nestor Redondo was a four-issue storyline which was advertised as "Coming Soon" in DC comic books dated September 1975, but the series was never published.[42] A second volume of "The Best of DC" would have included stories reprinted from The Brave and the Bold #42; All-Star Western #11; Superman #247; and Green Lantern #75 but was canceled as part of the DC Implosion.[43]
Famous First Edition was a series of oversized reprints of original Golden Age comics. All but two (#F–7, All-Star Comics #3 and #F–8, Flash Comics #1) included full-size glossy cover-stock reprints of the front and back covers in addition to the usual cardstock outer covers. Famous First Edition reprinted the comics in their entirety, including any paid advertising and other features that appeared in the original. Several issues of Famous First Edition were also published in hardcover editions by Lyle Stuart, Inc.[53] The Grand Comics Database only lists hardcover versions for issues #C–26 (Action Comics #1), #C–28 (Detective Comics #27), #C–30 (Sensation Comics #1), #F–4 (Whiz Comics #2), and #F–6 (Wonder Woman #1)[54] while the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide includes a listing for a hardcover version of #F–5 (Batman #1) with a notation of "exists?"[55] The reprint of New Fun #1 published in 2020 was released in a hardcover edition only.[56]
All-New Collectors' Edition
Issue
Date
Title
Notes
C–53
January 1978
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
New Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer stories by writer/penciler Sheldon Mayer and inker Tenny Henson.[4][57]
Photos and background material from the film.[69][70][71]
Three features originally intended for All-New Collectors' Edition were published elsewhere due to the title's cancellation as part of the DC Implosion. "Superman's Life Story" by Martin Pasko and Curt Swan was published in Action Comics #500 (October 1979). The planned 1978 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer tabloid's material appeared in The Best of DC #4 (March–April 1980).[72] A Justice League story by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler saw print in Justice League of America #210–212 (January 1983–March 1983).[73][74][75]
Superman vs. Shazam! includes All-New Collectors' Edition #C–58, 192 pages, March 2013, ISBN978-1401238216
Superman vs. Wonder Woman collects All-New Collectors' Edition #C–54, 72 pages, December 2020, ISBN978-1779507204
Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth collects Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth, 72 pages, March 2020, ISBN978-1401291082
The World's Greatest Super-Heroes collects Superman: Peace on Earth, Batman: War on Crime, Shazam!: Power of Hope, Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth, JLA: Secret Origins and JLA: Liberty and Justice, 396 pages, July 2005, ISBN1401202543
^Wells, John (December 2012). "The Perils of the DC/Marvel Tabloid Era". Back Issue! (#61). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 1.
^Wells in Back Issue! p. 2: "Running parallel to Limited Collectors' Edition was another trailblazing tabloid...Famous First Edition provided exact replicas of key Golden Age DC issues".
^Wells in Back Issue! p. 6: "The series was renamed All-New Collectors' Edition with issue #C-53's Rudolph volume and shifted toward newly commissioned adventures".
^ abcdefgArnold, Mark (December 2012). "You Know Dasher and Dancer: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer". Back Issue! (#61). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 7–10.
^Barron, James (April 18, 2010). "The Mystery of the Missing Man of Steel". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 10, 2010. Retrieved July 19, 2013. The painting disappeared after [Harry] Donenfeld retired in 1957. All that remained...was a single color snapshot...that photograph had served as the basis for a cover of a 'limited collector's edition Superman comic' in the mid-1970s.
^Kelly, Rob (April 2014). "The World's Second Greatest Detective: Dick Tracy". Back Issue! (#71). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 48–49.
^Franklin, Chris (December 2012). "The Kids in the Hall (of Justice) A Whirlwind Tour with the Super Friends". Back Issue! (#61). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 24–28.
^Dohm-Sanchez, Jeffrey (August 30, 2019). "DC to Release Hardcover Edition of Its First Comic". ICv2. Archived from the original on August 27, 2021. DC Comics will reprint New Fun #1, its first comic, in an oversize hardcover edition to celebrate the company's 85th anniversary. Famous First Edition: New Fun #1, a 48-page, tabloid-sized black-and-white hardcover, will be released on January 22, 2020 at $19.99.
^Mangels, Andy (December 2012). "Kryptonian and Amazonian Not Living in Perfect Harmony". Back Issue! (#61). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 50–54.
^Ford, Jim (December 2012). "Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes". Back Issue! (#61). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 55–58.
^McAvennie, Michael (2010). "1970s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 177. ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9. Only an oversized treasury edition could have contained Superboy and the entire Legion of Super-Heroes' battle with the Time Trapper...and the long-awaited wedding of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl...Legion favorites Paul Levitz and Mike Grell were up to the enormous challenge with the popular tale 'The Millennium Massacre'.
^Weiss, Brett (December 2012). "Superman vs. Muhammad Ali". Back Issue! (#61). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 59–64.
^McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 178: "Writer/artist Neal Adams proclaimed that Superman vs. Muhammad Ali was "the best comic book" he and co-writer Denny O'Neil had ever produced".
^Hamerlinck, P.C. (December 2012). "When Worlds Collide The Colossal-Sized Confrontation Between Superman and Captain Marvel". Back Issue! (#61). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 65–68.
^ abcdEury, Michael (December 2012). "The Amazing World of Superman Tabloids". Back Issue! (#61). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 11–16.
^McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 180: "DC went to greater lengths with its tabloid-sized Superman: The Movie magazine than with prior treasury editions. Instead of containing stories and artwork, it approached the material with a greater eye toward graphic design".
^ abcGreenberg, Glenn (December 2012). "Tabloid Team-Ups: The Giant-Size DC-Marvel Crossovers". Back Issue! (#61). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 33–40.
^Manning, Matthew K. "1980s" in Dolan, p. 195: "Written by Len Wein and illustrated by José Luis García-López, the comic saw...Batman and the Hulk doing battle with both the Joker and Marvel's ultra-powerful Shaper of Worlds".
^McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 165: "The Yellow Brick Road from Munchkin Land to the Emerald City was also wide enough to accommodate DC and Marvel as they produced their first-ever joint publication...Roy Thomas scripted a faithful, seventy-two page adaptation of Dorothy Gale's adventure, while John Buscema's artwork depicted the landscape of Oz in lavish detail".
^Abramowitz, Jack (December 2012). "The Secrets of Oz Revealed". Back Issue! (#61). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 29–32.
^McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 170: "The tale was written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Ross Andru, both among the few [at that time] to ever have worked on both Superman and Spider-Man...The result was a defining moment in Bronze Age comics".
^ abcdefSmith, Zack (December 2012). "Paul Dini & Alex Ross Discuss a Treasured Format". Back Issue! (#61). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 69–77. From 1998 to 2003, [Paul Dini and Alex Ross] produced a series of fully painted oversized books featuring DC's biggest heroes.
^Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 286: "Alex Ross teamed up with writer Paul Dini...to tell a powerful story of the Man of Steel. In this beautiful sixty-four-page oversized one-shot...Superman fought a battle even he couldn't truly win: the war on poverty and hunger".
^Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 289: "The second in the oversized prestige-format tabloid collaborations between writer Paul Dini and painter Alex Ross, Batman: War on Crime was just as successful as its predecessor, and just as beautiful".
^Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Dolan, p. 297: "Artist Bryan Hitch made full use of the book's extra-large format...Written by Mark Waid, Heaven's Ladder dealt with religion and the afterlife".
