The Collector's Crisis
I read the Simpsons Comics very regularly, so of course, a year ago when they started printing The Best of the Simpsons
in Australia, I was overjoyed due to the fact that I could now get a complete collection of comics (because they featured
the stories from older Simpsons Comics). They also came with a side series, The Best Of Bart Simpson, which reprinted the
old Bart Simpson comics too. But then, it seemed as if Bongo here in Australia were running out of money or something, because
in December 2005 we suddenly started getting other series of these Collector's Editions: reprints of Itchy and Scratchy, Bartman,
and Krusty Comics, which had only last been printed just two years beforehand in their original Australian editions! Of course,
I bought them, because I hadn't read the Krusty series, and because I missed out on the original Itchy and Scratchy #1, but
seriously, I had no idea why they did the Bartman issue, because just a couple months before they had released the Bartman:
Best of the Best trade paperback collection with those very issues in them! Finally, in March 2005, they finally lost it:
within six months we had gotten SEVEN new series (because now they were also printing Lisa Comics and Futurama Comics collector's
editions too). I think if they were losing money, it would have been a better idea NOT to release these reprints, because
of the fact they would have to spend a lot of money to get them printed and distributed, and then no one would end up buying
them because they'd already have them from when they were originally printed! In fact, today, 10th June 2006, marks the day
that they completed releasing the Krusty, Itchy and Scratchy, and Lisa collector's editions. Bartman only has two issues to
go, and after that the only series I don't really want, Futurama Collector's Editions, will only be released every six months.
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