This was a tough one. I do want to say that the TMNT collection is quite a book, but in terms of a sheer collection, Starman takes the cake. From the expertly crafted story, to the inclusion of several issues previously not collected, it really is the best collection to come out this year. They've still got 3 more to go before the entire series is finished, and I look forward to each one as they come. It's downright criminal that it took this long for these issues to come out again, but this is the best way to read it. Even the front and back covers are expertly drawn and the art is directly on the covers, which is relatively rare for the hardcovers coming out today. Starman's a great book, and this is a great presentation of it. You're cheating yourself if you don't at least take a look.

Along with the relaunch, IDW has been re releasing the original series in trade paperbacks containing 10 issues each. Now that means it will be about 16 trades to have the whole series, each one has been great so far. Five volumes in and no sign of stopping. Each collection is pretty bare bones: A new cover for the book, 10 issues, end page ad for the next one, and we're done. It would have been nice to see more extras, but it's hard to beat old G.I.Joe.

Josh Howard has fast become one of my favorite artists. His cartoony style really speaks to me and this collection holds all of the Dead @ 17 miniseries up until the most recent Afterbirth one. It's a solid trade paperback that looks great on the shelf and presents the original stories in a great format. It's a great way to get caught up and easy to recommend. Plus, I love single volume books like this. The whole story in one is a great idea.

The third volume came out not long ago, and with that we're halfway through Judd Winick's contribution to Exiles. It is a series I had been trying to go back and collect for some time, but these Ultimate Collections have taken care of that problem. Printed as a trade paper back with each holding 20 some issues, these are great collections for people trying to read the entire story without getting hit with searching for hard to find back issues. Plus, the book itself is awesome, so that helps.

Everyone loves Starman. Finally with these Omnibi, I got my look. And it did not disappoint. Not only are the covers great, and the reproductions beautiful, this is also the complete series. It includes the Shade's diary issues that were apparently missing from the trades, along with some great retrospective looks from Robinson about what he went through on the book. Once you start reading, it's hard to put down, and the quality of this collection is one to behold.

This is a bit sad since Mirage's days of printing TMNT stories have come to an end. Who knows what will happen to all of the trades that won't get printed, but at least this one made it out before the sale. This collection goes through the end of the initial Eastman/Laird run on the original book. Each issue has been retouched and looks great. The black and white comes through really clear and it was a blast reading through these old stories again. Also, look at that cover. Freakin awesome. The only problem I really have is that we will never see a Vol. 2. At least, not from them.