Showcase Presents
is a
line
of
black-and-white
paperback
books
that were published by
DC Comics
(from 2005 - 2016) at an average rate of two per month. Much like
Marvel Comics
'
Essential Marvel
volumes, each book usually included over 500 pages of reprints, primarily from the
Silver Age
. Like the
Essential
line, a
Showcase Presents
volume carried the
suggested retail price
of US$16.99 (increased to $17.99 in September 2009) and was usually devoted to one character, "reprint[ing] all of their adventures in sequential order via cover date", or occasionally to a specific title rather than individual.
[1]
The reprint line started in October 2005 with the releases of
Showcase Presents:
Green Lantern
, Vol. 1
and
Showcase Presents:
Superman
, Vol. 1
, both offered at the lower introductory retail price of US$9.99.
Overview
[
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]
Name
[
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]
The name "
Showcase
" comes from a 1956?1970 DC
anthology
series often used to try out new characters.
Showcase
featured the
first appearances
of the
Silver Age
Flash (Barry Allen)
,
Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
, and the
Atom (Ray Palmer)
, among other characters. That series was revived briefly in 1977?1978 and its name was used again in 1984?1985 (for
New Talent Showcase
and
Talent Showcase
) and 1993?1996 (for 12-issue anthologies,
Showcase '93
et al.
). The title was also used to reintroduce characters in the
Action Comics Weekly
series in 1988.
Focus and other collections
[
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]
The
Showcase Presents
line was designed primarily to focus on the
Silver Age
DC stories, specifically ? according to then-collected editions editor
Bob Greenberger
? "the rich era from the mid-1950s through the early 1970s", which is widely regarded as "one of DC's most fertile and creative periods".
[1]
"While
Julie Schwartz
was reviving the super-hero genre, his success allowed editors like
George Kashdan
and
Murray Boltinoff
[to] try more offbeat approaches to heroics with characters like
Metamorpho
and the
Doom Patrol
. It was also during this time that
Mort Weisinger
really began to explore the entire Superman mythos, adding not only to his family, but his rogues gallery as well. Thus, it was the most logical starting point since it offered us a chance to explore a variety of characters and approaches".
[1]
Greenberger noted that DC's collections department had already determined when Superman's Silver Age began for the purposes of the
Man of Tomorrow Archive
editions. Greenberger further clarified that the
Showcase Presents
volumes were specifically targeted ? in the short term, at least ? on the Silver Age, writing that "the
Golden Age
is not currently in ou[r] plans. The Modern is a fuzzier dividing line and again, should the line be wildly successful, we can figure this out".
[1]
DC's
Showcase
volumes complemented their
Archive Editions
, which reprinted in more expensive, color hardback volumes, primarily Golden Age comics, although some Archives presented Silver and Modern Age comics as well.
[2]
Six months prior to the debut of the
Showcase
volumes, DC also began to reprint Golden Age stories (initially only for
Batman
and Superman) previously presented in Archive format in more affordable color paperbacks, such as the
DC Chronicles
titles. While the Archives tended to focus on specific comics titles (e.g., largely separate volumes for stories presented in the pages of
Batman
and
Detective Comics
), the
Chronicles
and
Showcase
volumes took a more chronological approach, mingling the titles to present the stories in (roughly) the order they were initially printed.
Since the mid 2010s, the
Showcase
line is replaced by the
DC Omnibus
books.
Production
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In contrast to the higher-quality and more expensive paperstock used for both the
Archives
and
Chronicles
volumes, the
Showcase Presents
books were, according to Greenberger, presented on "
newsprint
to maintain a traditional look and feel as well as to help keep the collections affordable".
[1]
The books were assembled largely from DC's extensive film archive (believed largely complete from the mid-1950s onward), with little need for extensive restoration. Occasionally, by virtue of the age of some of the film, Greenberger noted that "sometimes you find scratches that need cleaning", and even "[i]n some cases, you find odd missing pages".
[1]
Other titles (such as the
Teen Titans
volumes) that had previously seen print in DC's
Archives
line even had the preliminary work done, leaving the
Showcase
columns with "nice, clean film or digital files to work from".
[1]
According to the production staff, "[they scanned] in the photostats made from the film and then [scanned] in the stats. Then, on screen, [they cleaned] up scratches or blotches, correcting some punctuation and the usual work required to ready older stories for new readers".
[1]
The book design was by "Louis Prandi, one of our fine art directors", intended to be "faithful to the
Showcase
titles that have come before this as well as versatile for the wide range of genres [DC] hopes to present" in the
Showcase
format.
[1]
Possible reprint exceptions
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Initially,
Showcase Presents
volumes were limited to a specific time period (roughly 1955?1975), limited not just by the Silver Age scope and availability of film, but by differences in contracts signed between creators and DC between the years 1976 and 1997.
[3]
[4]
As explained by Greenberger, "DC pays a royalty based on a percentage of the cover price to writers, pencillers, and inkers to all material published prior to 1976 and after 1997. For the period in between, the vouchers that were in use called for a set reprint fee to be paid. In some cases, the amount of contractually obligated reprint fees makes the budget for a proposed collection unprofitable".
[4]
In effect, this meant that the low retail price of the
Showcase
volumes could not easily cover the contractually-required reprint fee that any republication would require. However, as Greenberger goes on to note, although this precluded some volumes from being produced under such contractually-stipulated guidelines, since
not
reprinting issues necessarily results in no reprint fee or royalty payments, in most cases DC will be able to negotiate with "the talent involved to waive the reprint fee in lieu of the standard royalty arrangement", since "[i]f the parties agree, then everyone benefits".
[4]
Thus, as with pre-1976 comics, royalty payments based on sales, rather than a flat single fee, can easily be factored into the cost-structures of the
Showcase
volumes.
Affected volumes included the solicited
Suicide Squad
,
Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!
,
The Great Disaster featuring the Atomic Knights
,
The Secret Society of Super Villains
, and
Jonah Hex Vol. 2
, as well as the not-officially-solicited but announced
Who's Who in the DC Universe
.
In April 2008,
Paul Levitz
referred to such contractual issues in a post on his
Newsarama
blog
, writing
(emphasis added)
:
When we introduced that first talent contract, it had a flat guaranteed reprint fee per page. In the pre-royalty days, that was an important step forward... but in the royalty era, it turned out to be cumbersome and uneconomical for some projects (most talent would rather receive a royalty stream than have a project not get published).
[5]
He goes on to note specifically that "this is the situation that's limited our ability to [produce] a few
Showcase
projects we planned last year, and we've successfully amended many of the relevant agreements since, so hopefully some of those projects will see the light of day".
[5]
Bibliography
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See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Contino, Jennifer M. (June 4, 2005).
"DC Showcase Presents Silver Age Comics Collections"
.
Comicon.com
. Retrieved
April 26,
2008
.
- ^
This overlap led to, for example, the
Showcase Presents: Teen Titans
volumes initially reprinting in black-and-white issues that had previously been collected in color for the
Teen Titans Archives
volumes.
- ^
It has been noted that these years coincide with
Jenette Kahn
's tenure as publisher. Kahn (as well as then-deputy, now-publisher
Paul Levitz
) was integral in instrumenting fledgling moves towards "Creator's Rights" ? prompt payment, return of artwork, and limited royalties ? in the mid-to-late 1970s.
- ^
a
b
c
"Sh-Sh-Sh-Showcases!"
.
Earth B
. April 25, 2006
. Retrieved
April 26,
2008
.
- ^
a
b
Levitz, Paul (April 15, 2008).
"Toasting Will Eisner and questions"
.
Newsarama
. Retrieved
April 26,
2008
.
External links
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]
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