What Makes A Good Reprint Title?

[Silver Age Fan]

Since the other threads are cover gallery threads, I hope I'm posting in the right sub-forum for this.

Quite simply, when it comes to UK titles that reprint US DC and Marvel stories, what makes them a success? What are the key things that reprint titles should have? Here's my list.

1.) Character History

I believe reprint titles such as Astonishing Spider-Man should feature tales from a characters entire history, from classic tales to modern tales and also including milestone stories, one-shots, limited series, etc. Variety should be the key.

2.) Letters Page

Letters pages are underrated. Not only are they interesting things to view years later (how did a person feel about an issue from, say, 1969?) - and not only does a letter carry more weight than a forum post - but they can be a dialogue. Check out the avuncular relationship between the readers' of Panini Comics titles and the editors Scott Gray and Brady Webb.

3.) Dialogue

Scott Gray and Brady Webb, between them, edit several UK Marvel titles. And there's no doubt that as the editors, they are the ones responsible for the books. However, that doesn't mean there can't be a dialogue. For instance, Wolverine Unleashed, which started in 1996 and initially reprinted Wolverine tales, eventually became Wolverine and Gambit when fans demanded it. Editor Scott Gray listened.

4.) Passion

The passion that the Panini Comics editors have for the various UK Marvel titles is infectious. It feels like more than a comic - it feels like a passion. They appear to care deeply about what they do and listen to the fans.

5.) Classics

This is optional, I guess. A title such as Essential X-Men, which reprints various X-Men books, wouldn't have the room to print classic X-Men stories. However, if there's room for classics, it should be considered.

In 2003, Panini Comics acquired the licence to reprint DC stories for a UK audience, their first (and, sadly, only) title being Batman: Legends, although their title Avengers United had reprinted the JLA/Avengers crossover. Their Batman title was full of passion - with a lively letters page - and it lived up to it's moniker as it reprinted Batman tales from across the decades, both classic and modern stuff and plenty of milestone stories, too.

I don't think Titan Comics' Batman title has been as good. It doesn't have the same passion behind it, in my opinion. It won't reprint classics (the most popular stories for some readers) and when it does have a letters page, it is often about a quarter of a page. Unlike the previous volume, this one fluctuates between monthly and bi-monthly.

I do think Panini Comics (and Marvel UK before them) have reprinting US superhero comics down to a fine art. From the 70s until the 90s, Egmont/London Editions Magazines/Fleetway also excelled with their passionate DC UK titles. They've definitely been my favourite reprint titles at times.

[MacNimon]

As you say, variety is the key. A mix of old and new. The key thing is not only to have popular characters but it's more important to have good quality runs of those popular characters. In any long-running series there are bound to be occasional dips in quality which a reprint title should avoid, if possible. Of course this is much easier in an anthology title than it is in a title which is simply reprinting stories based around a single character or team, such as Spider-Man or Superman, where they would try to just reprint the stories as close to the original order as possible to avoid continuity problems.

Editorial interaction with the readership is an important factor as well, which is something that Marvel in particular (and now Panini) have excelled at over the years. The readers were made to feel as if they were part of a special group whose opinions really counted, rather than just people who were expected/hoped to buy and read the titles regardless of the quality (which is the main difference between Panini's and Titan's editorial policy). The letters pages help to build a bond between the editors and the readers, and there will always be something more special about seeing your name in print rather than just a user name on a forum.

[Silver Age Fan]

I like forums, but a letter in any publication carries more weight because, when you think about the volume of letters a newspaper/comic/magazine must receive, it's nice when *your* letter is chosen, isn't it?

The Panini Comics titles are avuncular. With Titan Comics' DC reprint titles, they often seem, as you once said, to be another job to Titan. They're not avuncular. You're lucky if you get a letters page in some issues (usually a quarter of a page or less) and they didn't even bother to announce that one of their titles was going bi-monthly a while back.

The hardest thing for me is that Panini's Batman title, which ran from 2003-2006, was full of the passion that we get in Marvel UK titles and it was nice to see them gain the DC licence. You had various tales reprinted from Batman's history, including many milestone stories, and it had a lively letters page.

When Titan started publishing Batman: Legends, there was a lack of a letters page at times, no consideration given to classic tales and the passion didn't seem there.

Egmont/London Editions Magazines/Fleetway published many DC titles over time. And they had passion. In particular, from 1988-1994, various DC titles were published for a UK market, particularly Superman and Batman titles. Printed in A4 size - and often with magazine-style features - the passion was infectious in these titles.