This auction is now closed.
Just like it says in the title, folks: We’re auctioning off bound volumes of comics to raise money for charity, specifically the Hero Initiative. Full auction details are included at the end of the article, but lemme sum things up real quick:
Every weekday from today until Friday, June 5th, we publish a new Shelf Bound article announcing a bind or bound set up for auction.
Each item’s auction starts when its article is published and ends 72 hours later.
Bids must be posted in an item’s comment section to be considered for that item; highest bid posted before close of auction wins.
Bids from outside the U.S. are welcome; shipping outside the U.S. may incur additional fee.
The winning bidder emails me (greg at multiversity comics dot com) to verify donation particulars, then makes the donation and send me verification.
I send out the bind.
Everyone wins.
30 weekdays. 34 binds. All proceeds going to charity. Sound good? Let’s get to it!
MIRACLEMAN BY ALAN MOORE
Written by: Alan Moore (credited as ‘The Original Writer’)
Drawn by: Garry Leach, Alan Davis, Steve Dillon, Chuck Beckum, Rick Veitch, John Totleben
Inked by: Garry Leach, Alan Davis, Steve Dillon, Chuck Beckum, Rick Veitch, John Totleben
Colored by: Steve Oliff
Lettered by: Joe Caramagna, Chris EliopolousPublished by: Marvel Comics
Collecting: Miracleman #1-16 (March 2014 – May 2015)
Additional Material: None.
Bind Details:
- Oversewn binding
- Sky Blue Arrestox cover material
- Blue/white headbands
- White endpapers
- Page edges trimmed
Signatures: None
Sketches: None
Bound by: Herring & Robinson Bindery.
What we have here is a complete collection of the 16-issue Miracleman reprint series published by Marvel Comics. Don’t be fooled by the contractually obligated ‘The Original Writer’ pseudonym used in the credits; this is the Alan Moore material everyone had been clamoring for.
I wanted to kick things off with this collection because, prior to Marvel bringing the material back into print, a complete Eclipse-era Miracleman bind was SOMEwhere on every binding fans to-do list. If it wasn’t a complete ROM or an Epic-published color Akira collection, it was Miracleman.
The artwork has been recolored and relettered to achieve some kind of artistic cohesion for a series originally published in black & white, then color, then recolored for original collections, and now colored again.
(There were a few minor lettering & production glitches during the original print run. They may have been fixed in the later collections, but since this bind contains the original issues, those errors appear here as well.)
In a move surely made to pad out each issue and justify the $5+ price tag, half of each comic was dedicated to backmatter, including original art scans. As much as possible (i.e., when not sharing a sheet with a page of story matter) I moved that material to the back half of the bind. The end result isn’t perfect, but the actual story can now be read in a much easier manner than having the leapfrog over half of each comic in their original incarnation.
The inside back cover of each issue had a nearly text-less presentation of the next issue’s front cover. I moved all of those to the very back of the book, making a makeshift cover gallery by placing the inside covers facing each other. This meant the outer back covers also faced each other, which can seem odd if you happen to flip right to them.
Why You Should Bid
This material has been collected, but only in three individual hardcovers. There are no softcover releases, nor an omnibus collection (regular or oversized) as we close in on five years after the last issue shipped. With the followup storyline by Gaiman/Buckingham continually delayed, the marketing window for Marvel to publish such an omnibus or other collections is closed until that changes.
It appears that making your own omnibus is the only way to get this material in one volume.
Continued belowHow much would that run you? Over $100:
- Cost of all 16 original issues @ cover price – $81 (#1 $6 / #2-16 $5)
- Cost of all three HC collections @ cover price – $105 ($35/each)
- Cost to bind material in this configuration at H&R – $25 plus tax & shipping
So you COULD take the time & effort to track all those issues down and turn them into your own book via a binder using the techniques & approaches we cover every month in Shelf Bound . . .
OR
you could bid on the bind we’re auctioning today, get the benefit of someone else doing all that work for you, AND do some good for the comics community we all love in the process!
Starting Bid: $25
Auction Ends: April 30 at 4pm EST
Proceeds Benefit: The Hero Initiative
AUCTION FINE PRINT
- This auction ends 72 hours after the date & time of this article’s posting.
- Bids MUST be placed as comments below to be valid.
- Bids from outside the U.S. are welcome; shipping outside the U.S. may incur additional fee.
- DO NOT TRY BIDDING FOR THE BOOK BY REPLYING TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT TWEET!!!!! BIDS SENT IN THIS MANNER WILL BE IGNORED!!!!!
- Highest bid posted before the end of the auction wins. The winning bidder has 24 hours to contact me via twitter or email (see below) to set up payment. If contact is not made in this timeframe, the winning bid is invalidated and the next highest bid will be the winner.
- Winning bidder will make the donation in the amount of the winning bid to the agreed-upon charity. Upon successful donation and receipt of receipt (hehe) by me, the bind will be mailed out via Media Mail on the following Saturday unless an alternate schedule is agreed upon by all parties.
- Feel free to post any additional questions you may have prior to the end of the auction below; I will do my best to answer them ASAP. Additional and/or specific pictures of the bind are available on request.
- Thanks in advance to anyone bidding on these binds. Good luck!
