I just read over at Newsarama that DC's Georg Brewer is currently working on a "New Gods Omnibus" that will collect Jack's entire Fourth World saga in four hardcover volumes. A year or two back, I went out and picked up the various black and white trade paperbacks that reprint the individual titles Jack was working on. I just got the "core" books and skipped on Jimmy Olsen because... well, I'm not keen on seeing them in black and white. They were intended and designed to be printed in color, and I think NOT having the color makes them look like they're missing something. I don't have many of Marvel's Essentials series for the same reason.
(On a side note, the Essentials books I do have are the first two Tomb of Dracula volumes. I thought those would be okay to view in black and white largely because they're by Gene Colan, whose artistic style is based more on the tonal qualities of the pencil than the definitive strokes of a brush or technical pen. I'm reminded of an editor's quote from years ago: "The trick is to present raw Gene Colan. Pencils only." His artwork always seems to lose something when it's inked. But even though the Dracula stories are inked, they still convey much of his original intent, I feel, and they stand up relatively well in the Essential line.)
But now, I'll have the opportunity to see Jack's storyline somewhat closer to how he laid it out. The books will (likely) be printed in chronological order in color, and they're talking about including both his introductory Jimmy Olsen stories and his Hunger Dogs finale; neither of which I've read. Regulars to this site will know that I have a GREAT respect for Jack and the sheer volume of work he produced makes it difficult to get my hands on all of it. But even though I'll be essentially buying these stories for a second time, I have the feeling that it will be very much worth it.
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