FAQs: Library Editions and Omnibuses

[middenway]

This thread is here to answer whatever questions you may have about the Library Editions or the Omnibus Editions. If you're going to ask a question, please read through previous posts just in case it's already been posted and answered. Here's a few of the usual ones for now.

What do the Library Editions contain?
You can find that information on the Hellboy Wiki. And here's a link for the contents of the Omnibus Editions.


When's the next Library Edition coming out?
No idea. Mike Mignola has indicated all the Hellboy in Hell stories will be collected together, so none of those stories will be in a library edition until the second Hellboy in Hell trade has been out for at least a year.

As for any other Hellboy material going library editions... no idea. We'll have to wait and see.


Will B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth be collected in omnibus editions?
Yes, it will. However, it won't happen until Hell on Earth has completely finished, so don't expect any until late 2016 at the very earliest.


What about B.P.R.D. 1946-1948?
Haven't you heard? It's already in an omnibus collection!


What about the rest of the Hellboy Universe? Will those trades get collected in hardcover formats too?
Mike Mignola and Scott Allie have discussed one day having everything collected in hardcovers, but these discussions are very tentative at best. For now, the answer is... maybe someday. (Some sooner than others...)


A Library Edition is out of print...
Don't worry, Dark Horse tries to keep these volumes in print, so if you wait it'll return to print again.


An Omnibus Edition hardcover is out of print...
Sadly there are no plans to reprint these. For now, once the hardcovers go out of print, the reprints will be paperbacks.

Any other questions? Ask below. I'm sure someone on the forum can help you out.

[MajorHoy]

How does the binding for thicker Library Editions affect page layout and readability compared to a thinner tpb or even the lay-flat single issue copies? I know I've seen thicker collections from other companies where any artwork / words that are too close to the edge of the spine may get lost into the binding with a larger number of issues being combined into a thicker collection.

[middenway]

How does the binding for thicker Library Editions affect page layout and readability compared to a thinner tpb or even the lay-flat single issue copies? I know I've seen thicker collections from other companies where any artwork / words that are too close to the edge of the spine may get lost into the binding with a larger number of issues being combined into a thicker collection.

The library editions read far better than the trades. You don't really loose anything to the binding. They're very well made.

[Joker]

Yeah, you don't lose anything. They seem to have a little extra page to compensate for the binding. I love them, they're a fantastically made book and stupid cheap considering their content, size and quality.

[Kees_L]

Agreed on the Library Editions their quality being just perfect and unbeatable. Any of the hardcovers too although I couldn't speak for the BPRD ones since I don't have those.

The singles and TPBs are usually also of very high quality.

[fred25_ca]

It's too bad it's so hard to tell what will be release as a hardcover down the road. I like collecting the hardcovers only (the BPRD omnibuses and the Hellboy library for exemples) and I'm sure one day we'll get omnibuses for stuff like Lobster Johnson and Abe Sapien. But my problem is with series like Frankenstein Underground. It's such a small series and it's only being released in paperback but where would they even fit that in a hardcover? And yet, had they released it as a small hardcover like The Amazing screw-on head, I'd be all over it. Or how about the original Hellboy graphic novels like Midnight Circus? I keep hesitating buying them because I keep wondering if they'll release those in Library editions down the road... Aww the life of a hardcover collector, it ain't easy. :P

[Joker]

At least Midnight Circus and House of the Living Dead are hardcovers.

[adamhasser]

At least Midnight Circus and House of the Living Dead are hardcovers.

In my opinion those should have come out in TPB's first, then been collected into one HC. I still have yet to purchase those due to high cost.

[fred25_ca]

In my opinion those should have come out in TPB's first, then been collected into one HC. I still have yet to purchase those due to high cost.

Yeah, though with the recent release of the tpb of Hellboy in Mexico including House of the living dead, I'm guessing that means that once we get a second trade about old Hellboy adventures (that is not Hellboy and the BPRD), we'll get a Library edition with House of the living dead. Plus, didn't Mignola say we wouldn't get anymore OGN? I decided to hold on buying both of them, since now that I think about it, they are bound to be in the Library collection down the road.

The ones I'm most wondering are the random mini series like Frankenstein Underground or Sledgehammer 44. Where would they even fit in upcoming omnibus? I doubt we'll get sequel to those, which is why I'm anxious to get them in a good hardcover format. :P

Edit: What I'm also wondering is how they'll handle Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. I mean, technically, what's the difference between something like 1952 or 1953 and the Hellboy in Mexico trade? Will they make a library edition of the first two Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. trade or will they do like the B.P.R.D. omnibuses?

[zerodemon]

So, for Library edition 7, what do you all think we are looking at?

I'm imagining a bigger book, containing Hellboy in Hell, Hellboy in Mexico (minus the actual title story which is already collected) and The Midnight Circus.

[Joker]

I'd like Hellboy in Hell to be collected in its own Library Edition, with no number. I wouldn't mind if it included The Midnight Circus in it since it pertains to events that take place later In Hell, but I don't know how they'd include it without it feeling weird/tacked on.

I'd love Hellboy and the BPRD Library Editions as the content permits. Those could have their own numbering, I guess.

[middenway]

I'd like Hellboy in Hell to be collected in its own Library Edition, with no number. I wouldn't mind if it included The Midnight Circus in it since it pertains to events that take place later In Hell, but I don't know how they'd include it without it feeling weird/tacked on.

Yeah, I agree.

[zerodemon]

I would love that too, if only because it might indicate that we'll be getting more Mignola Hellboy down the line (so that In Mexico could be collected elsewhere.) That said, maybe they'll just collect In Mexico in a Hellboy and the BPRD omnibus collection somewhere down the line instead of in a Library Edition.

[The Archivist]

The ones I'm most wondering are the random mini series like Frankenstein Underground or Sledgehammer 44. Where would they even fit in upcoming omnibus? I doubt we'll get sequel to those, which is why I'm anxious to get them in a good hardcover format. :P

I know that this is old, but I believe we'll see these two along with Rise of the Black Flame in a secret histories omnibus. I imagine any future one off miniseries would be collected under the same label.

[jb681131]

Real Hellboy Omnibus comming out with the reboot of the movie franchise:
Dark Horse announces Hellboy Omnibus editions with new Mike Mignola covers