| Posted: 05 April 2024 at 12:52am | IP Logged | 1
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I have been re-organizing my John Byrne comic book collection, and observed something that I had either not keyed into before or had forgotten about. And one question led to a few more:
1) the story begins in Dark Horse presents (excluding 2112, for the moment). I’m wondering what considerations came into play that led to the decision to launch this series in an anthology book first.
Was this the publishers or JB’s idea/ preference?
I can’t think of many ongoing anthology books in comic history (specifically, that have multiple stories in them at a time like heavy metal or the Warren magazines of the late 1960s), and it’s an interesting moment that both sin city and JBNM were both launched in the same run.
it’s a curious decision and choice to launch the story in the anthology book 1st. it’s one I applaud and enjoyed but I’m just curious about how that decision came about.
2) the four sub chapters that were printed in Dark Horse presents are prelude, interlude, interlude II and nativity, published in DHP issues 53 to 57.
However the original printing sequence order was interlude, which was published an issue 53, Followed by interlude II in issue 54. When reprinted in issue zero of JBNM, however, they were re-ordered so that prelude came first.
Was Prelude intended to come first or was that simply re-ordered for the reprint compilation in JBNM 0, and so forth?
3) in the trade paperback, book one, issues were re-ordered further. Issue six was placed before issue zero to make the story more chronological. Yet, I don’t believe this was noted at all in the introduction to the trade paperback or anywhere else in the trade. I’m wondering if people were confused about that and what considerations went into that.
I don’t own any of the subsequent reprints, so I’m also curious if that resequencing has been maintained, or whether it was reverted at any point.
This is not a question, but one general comment is that the original issues have many features that are compelling and fascinating that are not visible in the reprints or trade volumes. in particular, the letter column editorials and dialogue between readers and JB are fascinating.
I’m wondering how comic book collectors or simple John fans think about original issues as artifacts. Are you simply reading the story? Or are you putting the story in a particular context (place and time - namely, North America in the mid 1990s), and do you view the original issues as a different artifact that brings to the fore of time in place.
in that context, the questions I have about sequencing in ordering are all relevant. Think how George Lucas went back and tinkered with Star Wars. it’s not a perfect analogy, but the resequencing of the issues for the trade is not entirely different either. The dramatic beats and the narrative meaning all changes with more backstory revealed before you get to other parts of the story.
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