“Absolute”-ly Anything
First there were single issues of comics, then along came “trades”, graphic novels, prestige editions and various other formats all leading up to the “Absolute”, (DC) or “Omnibus”, (Marvell) editions. Huge, hard-cover versions of the best of the best of comics books, perfect for replacing those old tattered, dog-eared copies of their favourite comics, that comic fan in your life insists on thumbs though, over and over again.
These look absolutely beautiful on any book shelf, just make sure it’s reinforced if you are going to get more than one as these are HEAVY!
Both DC and Marvel both have excellent collections available from throughouh ther publishing histories from the original adventures of The Fantastic Four to Warren Ellis’s modern riff on the concept in Planetary, from Joss Whedon’s relatively recent take on the X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, to one of the pillars of comics lore Crisis on Infinite Earths, to Grant Morrison’s weighty single volume omnibus of The Invisibles to the “absolute” daddy of them all them all, the 5 volumes of Neil Gaimans Absolute Sandman.
Any comic fan would be over the moon to own any of these, and while they may be on the pricey side, you could be taking care of Christmas/birthday/(wedding?) presents for years to come in the case of some of the longer running series.
In The Kindly Ones Neil Gaiman noted of the book that “…in hardback at least, could undoubtedly be used to stun a burglar; which has always been my definition of real art.” By that definition these books are the pinnacle of comic art
Price: RM400 and upwards
Where to get it: Kinokuniya, your friendly neighbourhood comic book shop.
