It would never happened but I'd love to see Nancy get this treatment. Just the idea of such a fancy package for a stip with that type of (anti-)humor would be funny.
Ian Brill | Email | Homepage | 12.26.05 - 12:28 pm | #

Mike, I talked to some Andrews McMeel people this year and they want to do up to five more series, even though they're aware that the Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes books won't be matched in terms of mainstream interest.

Bloom County would be an obvious candidate. There aren't all that many candidates for something like that from a publisher like that.

We should see renewed shots at at least Barnaby and Popeye according to contracts working their way through various publishers' system. We'll see a grand Pogo from someone sooner or later, too.

Of what I haven't heard anything about and of the not-weird variety (Rudy!), I'd like to see about twenty years of Little Orphan Annie done. I love Little Orphan Annie. Little Orphan Annie is a ABC Kids TV-Movie as filmed by David Lynch.

This strip would be good, too:

http://www.comicsreporter.com/in...ommentary/1861/
Tom Spurgeon | Email | 12.26.05 - 1:25 pm | #

"Cahty" so it would be in one, easily-disposed of compendium.
Fred | Email | Homepage | 12.26.05 - 1:43 pm | #

Part of the thing with Bloom County is that Breathed has really diluted the goodwill by the less good Outland, and so bad it hurts Opus strip. It's like if Watterson did a "Hobbes" strip and repeated the same jokes he did 10 years ago all the time. Feh.

That said, my complete strip fantasy was Peanuts, and it's here, so I'm a happy man. I would like to see Doonesbury get a more comprehensive treatment than it's gotten in collections, though, it's a true classic that doesn't date.
Nik | Email | Homepage | 12.26.05 - 2:09 pm | #

A Doonesbury collection would be a natural, except that you'd probably have to treat it differently in some way (annotations, commentary) for it to have value to fans that have been able to access this material three different ways now, at which point the degree of difficulty would go up like 2000 percent. If I were the editor in charge I'd line it up and quit before it came to my working on it.
Tom Spurgeon | Email | 12.26.05 - 3:22 pm | #

I'm on record for wanting THE COMPLETE BARNABY but I'd also love to see some of the serial strips like RIP KIRBY, ON STAGE and even the underappreciated ALLEY OOP!Oh, and I WOULD buy the BLOOM COUNTY one if they skipped OUTLAND and OPUS.
SteveT
Booksteve | Email | Homepage | 12.26.05 - 5:49 pm | #

A giant volume of twenty years or so of the best Alley Oop would be incredible. That strip is drawn really well, in a way that's hard for some people to appreciate at first.
Tom Spurgeon | Email | 12.26.05 - 5:55 pm | #

The wind doth smell of bittersweet,
Like jasper wine and sugar;
I bet it's blown through others' feet,
Like those of...Caspar Weinberger!

("Start over!")

I still have several old Bloom County books hanging around (the "singles" books in the odd 3x8 [?} format include more than the larger collected volumes), and while it's true that a younger generation may not appreciate the Caspar Weinberger humor for itself, there's still plenty of appealing character humor ("must be able to grimace musically!").
Sarah | Email | 12.26.05 - 6:39 pm | #

When I was a kid of about twelve, I used to read through my dad's Bloom County collections when I'd visit him over the summer. Steve Dallas was my hero.

To this day, I have trouble attracting women, but considering my job, I think that's just a coincidence.

As for the bottomlessly wretched Peeing Calvins (as opposed to the mildly wretched Peeing Calvinists), I think it's weird that the people who have them are ostensibly Calvin & Hobbes fans, and yet they're all bootleg, since Watterson shied away from merchandising. So not only are they tasteless and a sure sign that you're a douche, Calvin's creator doesn't get a penny.
Chris | Homepage | 12.26.05 - 8:00 pm | #

Merry Christmas, Mike. Stating the obvious here, but that's a great gift your parents got you.

I have been looking around for the complete Little Nemo in Slumberland, which supposedly came out as a "complete" volume twice over, but both versions seems to be out of print, and cost a fortune on eBay. Wish some publisher would come up with a version that stays in print.

Other wishlist "complete collections":
Alex Raymond's run on Flash Gordon, Roy Crane's Buz Sawyer, and yep, Bloom County.
Beatzo | Email | Homepage | 12.26.05 - 9:30 pm | #

I'd love to see a collection of the old Thimble Theater/Popeye strip back in print again. That strip was pure genius.

Also, the complete Pogo, for sure. In chronological order and assembled together at last.
N | Email | Homepage | 12.26.05 - 10:06 pm | #

Ian - As a proud owner of all the Nancy books from Kitchen Sink, I can only say "right on."

Tom S. - That's good news, particularly on the Popeye front. I missed out on Fantagraphic's run-through (though I have been able to borrow and read them, at least). I'd also love to get a new printing of that old Rudy collection, but I think we can put that in the "fat chance" file.

Nik - I think there was a complete Doonesbury of sorts, with that CD-ROM collection. In fact, for some strips with either 1) too many strips to completely reprint affordably, or 2) of limited mass market appeal (or 3) both), CD-ROMs may be the way to go.

Sarah - I think the character humor of Bloom County could easily carry readers through the Reagan jokes, so I'm with you there. ...All this Bloom County talk makes me want to pull the books off my shelves for a good rereadin'.

Chris - Nature abhors a merchandising vacuum, doesn't it? Actually, I think I may have an amusing story about that for tomorrow's post....

Beatzo - The last reprinting of Little Nemo I remember was about four or five years ago, in a huge ol' red book. The problem with reprinting this strip is that it's such a niche market item. I wish it was in print all the time, but alas, a market that prefers Garfield can't support something like that.
Mikester | Homepage | 12.26.05 - 10:38 pm | #

I've actually got that Complete Doonesbury book and CD, but the $&@! thing doesn't play on Macs, of course.
Nik | Email | Homepage | 12.27.05 - 7:55 am | #

Breathed really *has* diluted the goodwill of Bloom County with his follow-on strips, hasn't he?

They actually have me wondering to myself whether Bloom County itself was as good as I remember it, or whether it sucked as badly as *Opus*, but I was just too young and stupid to realize it.
David C | Email | 12.27.05 - 8:19 am | #

can't agree enough with the Pogo, Thimble Theatre and Barnaby suggestions.

I have that Rudy collection and the art is the main selling point. The reality of comic strips at that point simply didn't allow any real depth of storytelling.

and based solely on the selection reprinted in a long-ago issue of NEMO, I'd love to see King Aroo in some sort of collected form. This one might even have a chance, as libraries love Jack Kent's children's books and may have an automatic order in place for anything with his name!!

and I believe that Fantagraphics has publicly stated that they are going to do something with the complete Pogo that they already started with their previous 11 volumes.
jim kosmicki | Email | 12.27.05 - 10:03 am | #

I'd love to see an affordable version of "Little Nemo."

I've gone back and re-read "Bloom County" a few times over the years, and while they aren't quite as good as I remember, they're still entertaining.
And in lieu of a "Complete Bloom County," you could do worse than to check out a few used bookstores. I've seen the old collections (the smaller 5 X 8" books, the square ones and the big treasuries, all with varying levels of comprehensiveness in collecting the original strips) in most places I've checked in North Carolina and Virginia.
Mason | Email | Homepage | 12.27.05 - 12:49 pm | #

Re: "As for the bottomlessly wretched Peeing Calvins, I think it's weird that the people who have them are ostensibly Calvin & Hobbes fans"

I read this on MetaFilter:
"In Cuba the pissing Calvin car sticker is used with the opposite meaning. I don't really understand how it works, but most (modded) cars have a Calvin pissing on Panasonic logo on the back window. I asked why everyone hated Panasonic, and the response was confusion - 'they like Panasonic, it's cool'.
Maybe it's the only way to get a brand name onto your vehicle?
Also, 'soy un malo' with Calvin pissing on it is very popular. Again, this is not a dig at guapo (image) obsessed young men as again it only appears on cars owned by same. Irony not a strong point in Cuba.
Perhaps urination has a different cultural meaning in Cuba. Unlikely. I think they are just a pila de locos."
Martin R | Homepage | 12.27.05 - 4:04 pm | #

A few years ago I bought an old collection of "The Heart of Juliet Jones," a mild soap opera from the 50's. Delightful stuff, horribly out-of-date and unrealistic, like something from the mid-afternoon TCM lineup.

I want all of it.
Cat M. | Email | 12.27.05 - 9:07 pm | #

I'd like to see a collection of a strip I remember with great fondness: Tim Downs' "Downstown."
Dave Sikula | Email | 12.27.05 - 10:49 pm | #

Nik - Is there any way to access the strip graphics on the disc with your Mac, aside from using whatever software is included on said disc? (As a Mac owner and Doonesbury fan myself, I'm curious.)
Mikester | Homepage | 12.27.05 - 11:58 pm | #

I'd love to see a nice hardbound collection of Dykes to Watch out For, which is now only available in flimsy paperbacks.
Bill Burns | Email | 12.28.05 - 5:10 am | #

Another vote for Alley Oop, and thumbs up for Bloom County. If stranded in a used book store, I would happily re-read all the Berkley Breathed. Completely indifferent to the Calvin and Hobbes. So sue me. On a larger issue, can the newspaper comic strip ever be saved? Zippy is hanging in there, but editors and the syndicates seem indifferent to the art form.
Travesty McGee | Email | Homepage | 12.31.05 - 8:17 am | #