Why are TPBs so adverse to including the original covers?

[Hanshotfirst113]

Having just gotten the first trade of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run, I notice that none of the original bloody covers are included! In my JLA trades, they're sometimes omitted, and even when they're there, they're often drastically reduced in size to fit them all in the corner of a page. By contrast, in stuff like the Marvel Essentials line, they preserve them, and even the ads originally pasted in the corners. It's a pet peeve of my. Just include the freakin' covers! What is the deal?

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

This is my complaint for D&Q's (D@Q's) TPB reprints of John Stanley's comics (cue collective "huh?" from toonzone :sweat:)

I can understand it if it's a price issue, trying to keep the pages down. But when these TPBs have chapter breaks that are basically whole blank pages, that's no excuse not to include covers on these blank pages.

[Wolf Boy2]

IDW includes them, thank God. Marvel's reprints of GI Joe had the original covers tilted, like pages laying on a table, reduced in size with part missing. It ticked me off! But IDW has reprinted them all in full.

Most of my DC trades include them, though. "DC: The New Frontier", "Batman: Year One", "Dark Knight Returns", "Watchmen", "Crisis On Infinite Earths" and so on. Though I don't know about "The Long Halloween", I don't think it does.

[Matt Hazuda]

My guess would be it's a royalties or rights issue that makes it cost prohibitive to actually include the covers in the books.

And then of course, you can always buy books of covers (http://amzn.com/1401215556/) when the work is popular enough.

[Shawn Hopkins]

This is my complaint for D&Q's TPB reprints of John Stanley's comics (cue collective "huh?" from toonzone :sweat:)

I can understand it if it's a price issue, trying to keep the pages down. But when these TPBs have chapter breaks that are basically whole blank pages, that's no excuse not to include covers on these blank pages.

Sorry for going off topic but do you have the Melvin Monster volume? Is it any good?

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Sorry for going off topic but do you have the Melvin Monster volume? Is it any good?

I've read it, but I don't own it.

I think it's merely OK by Stanley standards...I find the humour to be just a tad less caustic than his usual stuff. It's not something I'd pay $25 for, but it's a perfectly satisfying borrow from the library.

[Anthonynotes]

In my "Shazam" Showcase Presents volume, it's a rights issue for one entire missing cover----one issue (#25?) featuerd a story about Isis (the 70s Filmation animated version), and thus featured her and Capt. Marvel on the cover. Since DC apparently at the time the Showcase volume was published didn't have the rights for Isis/her image, they excluded the entire issue (including the cover) from the volume, and just stuck a blank page instead, followed by the next non-Isis story...

-B.

[Temple Fugate]

Rights issues aside, I feel there are no excuses to omiting covers in TPBs. It's somebody's art that the company paid to produce, why wouldn't they throw them in there?


Though I don't know about "The Long Halloween", I don't think it does.
Long Halloween's covers were minimalist to begin with. It's easy to confuse the covers in the TPB as customized chapter breaks. Unfortunately I don't have my copy in the apartment so I can't confirm, but I'm almost positive it included the covers.