Del Rey Omnibus Manga: School Rumble 14/15/16

Posted in Manga News on July 8, 2010 by Johanna

I was curious about the upcoming Del Rey Manga omnibuses (omnibi?). Instead of continuing to publish single volumes for certain series, they’re releasing two (Samurai Deeper Kyo 37/38) or three books’ worth of material in one binding.

School Rumble 14/15/16 cover
School Rumble 14/15/16
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I just got a chance to flip through School Rumble 14/15/16, due out later this month, and here’s some notes and thoughts on the format:

If you’re a fan of the series and would be buying all these entries in the series anyway, it’s a great deal. The previous single volume, 13, (released 10 months ago) was $11 ($9 at Amazon) for 176 pages. This one is almost three times the size, 512 pages, at a list price of $20, which brings it down to $13.49 currently at Amazon, or under $5 a book.

If you’re not already a fan, this is an intimidating starting point in its bulk. But I don’t think it’s designed to attract new readers. I suspect most would start earlier in the series.

Unlike Mushishi 8/9/10, which completes that series in one convenient book (and is $5 more), the end of this one says “to be continued in Volume 17″. I don’t think I’m confident enough to bet on seeing that in this country. There’s a listing on Amazon for it, but it’s dated last year and seems to mostly be a placeholder. I would be curious to see, if it does come out, if Del Rey does another omnibus of 17/18/19.

The decision to make this a combined edition seems to have been handled in something of a slapdash or shortcut fashion. The copyright page lists all three volumes, but after that, the individual books have simply been printed in full. That means you get a title page for Volume 14, followed by its table of contents, then the manga, then its extras and translation notes, then it all starts over for book 15. Including restarting the page numbers at 1. Weird.

Overall, these books are a nice gesture to long-time fans. I’m perhaps reading too much into them, but the format shake-up for three lesser-known titles feels like one last stab at getting something out of material already licensed and translated, and I’d rather see a company do this than just disappear the series.

Similar Posts: Kodansha Comics Done Rescuing Del Rey Titles § Dark Horse Adds Manga to Digital Store § Tokyopop’s Dreaming to Become Movie § OEL Classification? § Del Rey Partners With Cartoon Network; Also Launches Bacteria Manga

12 Comments

  1. However, whether it’s planned or by coincidence, The present counting system is perfect for continuing School Rumble in omnibus. It ends at Volume 22, so you would get 17,18 & 19, then 20, 21 & 22 to complete the series.

  2. That is a neat coincidence! Thanks for pointing that out.

  3. I love School Rumble, and would marry it if I could. If it’s so close to completion, I wonder if that’s just a way to finish off the series more quickly for the publisher, or if they decided that’s a better format for some reason (and will go back and republish the earlier volumes in omnibuseseses?)

  4. I’m not sure six more books past the three they just put out is really “close to completion” — that would be, what, another two years at the current release schedule? I don’t know what Del Rey’s motivation is here, although I am curious.

  5. [...] (Kuriousity) Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 16 of Reborn! (The Comic Book Bin) Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 14-16 of School Rumble (omnibus edition) Lori Henderson on the August issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Xanadu) Amy Grockl on [...]

  6. Seems like less when you say “two omnibuses” rather than “six volumes”, though.

  7. Definitely! But someone’s still got to draw all those pages, no matter how you divvy up the count. :)

  8. [...] they publish. Those have been growing in number while manga declined. Combined with the move to manga omnibus editions, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a continued cutback in the titles they publish, [...]

  9. [...] about their plans for the format. And they’re mostly single books, too, with only one of the omnibus combined editions they’ve been putting out recently. (That one finishes off the Rave Master series (SEP10 0981, [...]

  10. Yeah, 3-in-1 is great, but I’m still skeptical as to Del Rey publishing any more volumes AFTER that. If it was just to regain some losses on production costs with no intention on continuing it, than what’s the point? The only continuing omnibus format now is Samurai Deeper Kyo, but they had to because they rescued it.

    There are no future volumes announced for any series with a listed omnibus release. Perhaps it’s a once-a-year kind of deal? It’s more like a not-at-all kind of deal. If I were Kodansha, I would have kept the licenses with Tokyopop who released all their manga in a timely fashion and got great sales. Either something is wrong with Kodansha, or there’s something wrong with Del Rey. My guess? A bit of both.

  11. [...] Moyasimon, which was highly anticipated but delayed two months, they switched this year to mostly omnibus releases. During the summer, much loved marketing manager Ali Kokmen was laid off, leading to less [...]

  12. [...] some of the series previously published by Del Rey Manga are now appearing on JManga.com, including School Rumble, if you don’t mind reading [...]

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