The door is open with Star Wars…
By ROB KELLY
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (the 1970s) Marvel Comics published treasury editions. While DC was first out of the gate with them, Marvel caught up quickly and, in a lot of ways, surpassed DC’s efforts.
While DC basically rotated the same four or five characters to headline their treasuries (Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel/Shazam!, Tarzan, and… Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, with Wonder Woman not getting her own treasury until this month), Marvel was a lot more democratic: Lesser-knowns like the Defenders, Howard the Duck, and Shang-Chi all got oversize collections. They also created some truly fantastic supplementary material, when they had an extra page or two to fill.
By the 1980s, the treasuries were dying out and Marvel relegated the format to licensed characters like G.I. Joe, the Smurfs, and Annie, the kinds of books more suited to be sold in department stores, aimed at a broader audience, not die-hard comics fans. So while the Marvel treasuries came in with a bang, they went out with a whimper.
Other than a brief flirtation with the format in the 2010s, Marvel has resisted bringing the treasuries back, even after DC has seemingly had huge success doing so. 13th Dimension in particular has been beating the drum to get Marvel to change its mind, and I’ve tried my best to put the idea out into the ether on my podcast devoted to the format, TreasuryCast.
But with the very welcome news — broken by 13th D — that Marvel is commemorating the 50th anniversary (OMG, am I old) of Star Wars with a treasury-size reprint of Marvel Special Edition Featuring Star Wars #1, it appears that the House of Ideas has finally seen the dollar sign-shaped light.
And while us treasury comic fans are very, very grateful, all this means is that we want more, more, more! So in case Marvel needs some ideas, here are 13 MARVEL TREASURIES WE’D LIKE TO SEE — RANKED:
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13. Marvel Treasury Edition #1: Spider-Man (Reprint). Considering the last Spidey movie made, oh, 2 billion dollars, this is the obvious place to start, just like Marvel did back in 1974.
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12. Deadpool. I’m not even a Deadpool fan, but a collection from the thousands of merc stories to pick from would sell like hotcakes.
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11. Marvel Treasury Edition #11: The Fantastic Four (Reprint). It’s surely too late to get this out in time for Avengers: Doomsday, but a Doctor Doom-centric treasury is a no-brainer.
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10. Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars. It’s not too late for this! Collect the first three or four issues of the landmark mini and get it in stores for the movie next year.
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9. Special Collector’s Edition Featuring Savage Fists of Kung-Fu (Reprint). For some reason Marvel gave this book its own one-shot instead of slotting it in as an issue of Marvel Treasury Edition, making it a book a lot of fans don’t even know exists!
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8. Return of the Jedi. While Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back got the treasury treatment back in the day, Return of the Jedi never did. Let’s fix that in 2033!
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7. Marvel Special Edition Featuring the Spectacular Spider-Man #1 (Reprint). Another treasury strangely published as a one-shot, this Sinister Six-centric collection would be, again, a license to print money.
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6. For Your Eyes Only/Octopussy. OK, stay with me here. Marvel published magazine-size adaptations of two Bond films, and with the launch of a new 007 in 2028, the time could be right!
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5. Marvel Treasury Special: Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag (Reprint). Marvel and DC have been doing new holiday-themed collections for years. This fits right in with those efforts.
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4. Spider-Man: Editorial La Prensa. I know this list is very Spidey-centric, but I want Marvel to make money here! In the 1970s, the Mexican publisher got special permission to do original Spidey stories, with continuity diverging from the “official” canon (an alive Gwen Stacy, anyone?). How fun would it be to see these collected, big as life?
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3. Marvel Treasury Edition #25: Spider-Man vs. the Hulk at the Winter Olympics (Reprint). The United States will host the Olympics in 2028 (even if it’s the summer kind). Get this goofy adventure (featuring movie star the Mole Man as villain!) out there.
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2. The Empire Strikes Back (Reprint). If Star Wars turns fifty in 2027, then I think (I’m not good at math) that means Empire turns fifty in 2030.
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1. The Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans. I ask for this book on every single treasury-related list I have ever written, but since this one-shot was actually published by Marvel, it’s probably more likely to come from them than DC. This book just missed the end of the treasury format, and it cries out for the deluxe treatment. Art by Walt Simonson and Terry Austin! What are we doing here?!?
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MORE
— EXCLUSIVE! MARVEL Finally Jumps Into TREASURY EDITION FACSIMILES With 1977’s STAR WARS. Click here.
— 13 MARVEL TREASURY COVERS to Make You Feel Good. Click here.
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ROB KELLY is a podcaster, writer, illustrator, and film commentator. You can find his work at robkellycreative.com. He writes the REEL RETRO CINEMA column for 13th Dimension.
