Essential Human Torch cancelled????

What is the status of Marvel's best-selling Essential line? Human Torch was due in July but it looks like it's not on any list and X-fan has a trade list through January 2004, remarkably without a single Essential trade listed. Of course, Thunderbolts vol 2, and loads of other cancelled or poorly-selling Tsunami books are all being collected and killing trees for no particular reason other than Bill Jemas doesn't care about what READERS want, only about pushing things that he helped to oversee and greenlight. The fact that there are no Essentials, despite the fact that it's what READERS want, and they are the best-selling to non-FANBOYS in mainstream bookshops is why Quemas will be gone by September 2003.

People like being told great stories and that's what the essential line is all about. Anyone know if the promised books (Human Torch, Tomb of Dracula) are, in fact, still scheduled for this year?

According to Cory S. (a higher up in the Marvel TPB machine) via several message boards, including the Joe Quesada board, Essential HT would be released in July. Now, with the exception of that statement, I have seen nothing to back up this release. Perhaps he meant it would be solicited in July, making it a September release. If not, we should see it in the upcoming Previews, as it has to be solicited in soon to be released in July. He also stated that the highly ordered but still mysteriously cancelled Tomb of Dracula would be released in October, but time will tell. He also recently stated that they are looking over future releases, but that they would not be seen for a while at best.

Sometimes I'd like to know how the Marvel TPB choices are made, as we will undoubtedly see an onslaught of Tsunami tpbs but nothing in terms of Essentials, which although I have no numbers, would most likely outsell this new line. I mean, there are still a good eight to ten Essentials needed to finish the Silver Age and a hundred or so to attack the Bronze Age, but we see nothing of the sort. Need a person dedicated to the line? Add a dollar to the price! From the figures that I have seen, it looks like the average sales figures are about 4000 per tpb. With the extra dollar, if one Essential could be printed a month, that's $4,000 a month x 12 months, or a nice $48,000 a year job. The duties? Assemble 500 pages a month of black and white material, with the occasional photocopy or mismatched page being acceptable, I'm sure, as almost all Essentials have had them. 500 pages, divided by 22 average work days, is 41 pages a day, or 5 an hour. As we move farther from the sixties I'm assuming that the availability of pages are greater (but this is only an assumption), thus making the assembly of newer volumes more expeditious. If this is too much to ask in a month for one person, add two dollars and hire two people. I'm certain that the Essential buyers would agree to a dollar increase or even two dollars if it meant increasing the output.

In conclusion, I love the Essentials. Yes, the color is nowhere to be found, but the ability to read 25 rare issues in a row for about 50 cents an issue is a joy. And quite frankly, as an avid fan of comic book artists, it is a joy to see the line work untouched by color. I have discovered titles like Doctor Strange and Thor that I hated as a child as they 'looked boring'. After reading their adventures via the Essentials, my opionion has changed. I have completed reading all 32 Essentials over the last year, and I am ready for more!

Kevin

Not if they don't sell.

If you look at what will be solicited in the issue of Previews that ships next week, you'll see 'Essential Human Torch Vol. 1' listed for August.

Who says my complaints don't garner results?

According to Marvel's web site, the Essential Human Torch collection is scheduled to be released on August 13, 2003.
http://www.marvel.com/comics/trades/detail.htm?id=234

Woo-hoo! For me, this one's as important to get as the Ant-Man volume, because the original back-issues of both series are expensive to buy, and because frankly neither series is really worth the cost of those original back-issues. And neither was ever fully reprinted elsewhere.

I see the solicitaion has it as 288 pages - I think that should be 488 pages (and maybe Marvel can fill out the book with some other somewhat-related bonuses, such as Tales of the Watcher or the Medusa or Doc Doom stories from Marvel Super Heroes, or some Golden Age Torch.