The DC Heroes & Villains Collection Extension Issues 101 to 110

I've blogged about the 20-volume extension to the DC Heroes & Villains Collection a couple of times now, and posted repeatedly in the DC Heroes & Villains Collection Facebook group, but those posts have been somewhat piecemeal in nature, and not everyone has the time, patience or, frankly, interest in putting the various pieces together. So I thought a straightforward rundown of the first ten releases in the extension might be of more use, along with a little additional background.

First out of the blocks, and already in some readers' clammy hands, are issues 101 and 102, namely Batman: Universe and Justice League vs. Suicide Squad, both of which I wrote about in this post, along with issues 103 and 104:

The Joker: The Series and Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast, which will be published later this month and early in the new year. Having already blogged about all four of the initial volumes in the extension, I shan't dwell on them here... except to say that as magnificent as Batman: Universe and Justice League vs. Suicide Squad are – and as huge a book as the latter of those two is, at nearly 300 pages – The Joker: The Series and Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast are even more special because they're unique to the DC Heroes & Villains Collection: bespoke volumes collecting, respectively, all of the mid-1970s The Joker series – including the 'lost' 10th issue – plus two key Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Irv Novick issues of Batman, and the first half of Jim Starlin's late-1980s Batman run, including the classic Ten Nights of the Beast. On top of which, both books are chock-full of bonus features.

Speaking of the Joker and bespoke volumes – and indeed big extents – later in January there's issue 106, The Joker: Vengeance. Collecting all 21 chapters of the lead storyline from James Tynion IV, Guillem March and co.'s 2021–2022 15-issue The Joker series – for my money one of the best extended comics storylines of the last five years – it's one long twisty-turny suspense thriller in one unique 328-page graphic novel. Just ahead of that book there's issue 105, the visually spectacular The Man of Steel, featuring showstopping art by, among others, Jim Lee, Jason Fabok, Steve Rude, Ryan Sook, Kevin Maguire and Adam Hughes, and then in February we have releases 107 and 108:

Batman: The Cult and Justice Society Returns! I vividly recall reading both of these on original publication, in 1988 and 1999 respectively, which is true of a good many of the comics in the DC Heroes & Villains Collection, and an indication of how personal the collection is to me (although personal preference obviously wasn't the only criteria for the selection of the stories). Published a couple of years after Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson's The Cult was only the second Batman miniseries to be published in the then-relatively new upmarket Prestige Format, and thus felt like a very different kind of Batman comic when I picked it up off the shelves of Forbidden Planet on Denmark Street: one seemingly set in current continuity, but bearing the influence of the dystopian Dark Knight Returns, as Starlin readily admitted. 

The Cult was a high-profile project for DC at the time, whereas the Justice Society Returns! event flew very much under the radar in 1999, yet was a revelation for me: a terrific introduction to the Justice Society of America (with whom I was only passingly familiar at the time) ahead of the JSA series which launched in its wake, by the architects of that series, James Robinson and David S. Goyer, plus the likes of Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, Ron Marz, Chuck Dixon, Michael Lark, Eduardo Barreto, Peter Snejbjerg, Stephen Sadowski, Chris Weston and Russ Heath. Moreover, the format of the event – two issues of a revived All Star Comics bookending seven resurrected Golden Age titles, with the story reflecting the way JSA stories of the past saw the team splitting up into smaller units – was a really nice idea.

With both Batman: The Cult and Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast in the extension, it's only fitting that the remainder of Jim Starlin's stint as Batman writer be included too, which it will be in March, in the shape of issue 109, Batman: A Death in the Family. Collecting not just that notorious storyline but the issues either side of it, it's another bespoke volume and boasts some terrific bonus content, including Jim Aparo's original art pages for the alternate outcome of Batman #428 alongside their coloured and lettered counterparts, which were only belatedly published this year. A 400-page follow-up volume, Batman: Under the Red Hood, will be published later next year – I'll blog about that book nearer the time – but before then, and rounding out the initial ten releases in the extension, we have issue 110, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Originally published from 2021–2022 as an eight-issue miniseries, Tom King and Bilquis Evely's celebrated sci-fi fable is a story that I suspect a lot of people will be interested in reading, due to the Craig Gillespie/Milly Alcock movie currently in pre-production.

Inside the DC Heroes & Villains Collection Graphic Novel Extension

As promised in my previous post about the 20-volume extension to the DC Heroes & Villains Collection – which, lest we forget (and I mean how could we when I'm forever banging on about it), I'm the editor of – I thought I'd delve a little deeper into the extension than the four volumes thus far announced – or rather five, as subscribers have also been told about the 400-page Batman: Under the Red Hood. That volume's not due to be published until next spring, but it's worth spending a moment on it now because it might help illuminate how both the extension and the collection as a whole developed. 

Way back in the mists of time, or more accurately the tail end of 2019, when I first noted down some thoughts on which stories we could potentially include in the collection, Judd Winick, Doug Mahnke and co.'s Red Hood storyline from Batman was one of those on my initial list. It's a run of comics that I loved when it was first published in the mid-2000s, a twisty-turny Bat-thriller that audaciously brought back a character who had been killed off in the late-1980s, yet kept readers guessing as to the true identity of that character (much as Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting were doing around the same time with their Winter Soldier storyline in Captain America; truly the mid-2000s were a great time to be reading superhero comics).

With a licensed partwork like the DC Heroes & Villains Collection, there's often a bit of give and take in terms of what can and can't be included, and for whatever reason, possibly the storyline's length (I can't actually remember at this point), Under the Red Hood didn't make it onto the final list of 100 volumes. But in common with some other titles that fell by the wayside, I never forgot about it – you should see my various voluminous docs of notes and ideas – and promised myself that should the collection ever be extended I'd revisit it, even though its length would likely mean splitting it across two volumes. 

Incidentally, on the subject of the extension, there's an assumption amongst those familiar with partwork graphic novel collections that they always get extended past their initial run, but I had every reason to believe that the DC Heroes & Villains Collection would end at 100 volumes. Its extension was a genuine surprise to me, albeit a pleasant one, because it represented an opportunity to revisit previously rejected volumes and include new ones.

As discussions about the extension between myself, Hachette and DC developed – over a very short space of time I should add, as confirmation of the extension came quite late in the day – it became clear that not only would we be able to revisit stories that had fallen by the wayside and add in stories only relatively recently published, but include stories that I didn't think we'd ever get agreement on – and furthermore have a number of volumes with greater page counts, including one 400-page one. 

Well hello, Batman: Under the Red Hood.

Once Under the Red Hood came into play – and after a different story dropped out of the extension – I started thinking about another title I intended to include: a volume collecting the first half of Jim Starlin's late-1980s Batman run, including the classic Ten Nights of the Beast. If those comics were on the table alongside the Red Hood storyline, wouldn't it make sense to also include the second half of Starlin's run, in particular the notorious A Death in the Family...?

I shan't spoil the events of those stories for anyone who hasn't read then, but anyone familiar with them will understand the significance of Starlin and Winick's respective Batman runs appearing in sequence in the collection's extension. And the icing on the cake: I'd already determined to try and include Jim Starlin's other significant Bat-story, the 1988 Prestige Format miniseries Batman: The Cult – with art by the great Bernie Wrightson – and so the extension will feature all of the Bat-books written by Starlin, brought together in a unique fashion.

Batman: Ten Night of the Beast has already been announced as the fourth release in the extension, published at the start of 2025, while Batman: The Cult, Batman: A Death in the Family and Batman: Under the Red Hood will be arriving in February, March and April – and of course will be stuffed with extras and bonus content. Before those, however, there are two other volumes set for a January release:

The Man of Steel, which collects the start of Ultimate Spider-Man co-creator Brian Michael Bendis's Superman run from 2018 and features spectacular art by Jim Lee, José Luis García-López, Ivan Reis, Jason Fabok, Evan "Doc" Shaner, Steve Rude, Ryan Sook, Kevin Maguire and Adam Hughes;

and The Joker: Vengeance, which collects the entire 21-chapter lead story from James Tynion IV, Guillem March and co.'s 2021–2022 The Joker series: to my mind one of the most gripping comics storylines of the past five years, in one unique 300-plus-page volume.

As for the other titles to be released early next year, not to mention the remainder of the DC Heroes & Villains Collection extension... more anon.

DC Heroes & Villains Collection – Extended!

As I've noted before on this 'ere blog, for the past few years I've been the editor of, and lead writer for (I write the introductions and a fair number of the bonus features), the DC Heroes & Villains Collection, a fortnightly DC Comics graphic novel partwork. Launched at the beginning of 2021 and building into 100 hardback volumes, the collection brings together the best of the modern DC Universe, from 1980, when Marv Woman and George Pérez's New Teen Titans revolutionised DC, to the Rebirth relaunch of 2016, incorporating everything from big blockbuster events like Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis to more obscure delights like Batman: Nocturna and the Night-Thief and DC Comics Presents: Cosmic Encounters, with plenty of previously uncollected comics and bespoke volumes unique to the collection. 

For a DC devotee like myself, one who's read and collected DC comics since childhood, getting to select and curate 100 volumes of comics, some of which I first read as a 12-year-old, write about them, and see them published in splendid hardback editions has been an absolute joy – something of a dream project in fact. Which is why it's an immense thrill to report that, with the publication of the collection's 100th issue imminent, the DC Heroes & Villains Collection has been extended for another 20 volumes!

Over the past few weeks I've been teasing the long-suffering members of the DC Heroes & Villains Collection Facebook group with info about the initial volumes to be released in the extension, and an announcement has just gone out to subscribers, as follows:

With the first 100 volumes of the DC Heroes & Villains Collection, the aim was to give readers a grounding in the modern DC Universe, from the advent of New Teen Titans in 1980 to the Rebirth relaunch of 2016.

Now, with this 20-volume extension, we get to go even broader and deeper, adding some of the best stories of the Bronze Age, Modern Age and recent years. First out of the blocks will be Brian Michael Bendis and Nick Derington's mind-bending thriller Batman: Universe, followed by Joshua Williamson, Jason Fabok and co.'s blockbuster throwdown Justice League vs. Suicide Squad.

After that, Joker: The Series collects the entirety of Denny O'Neil and co.'s '70s Joker run, including the 'lost' 10th issue and O'Neil and Adams' classic Joker-starring Batman #251. Plus, Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast brings together the first half of Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo's acclaimed '80s Batman run for the first time.

Looking further ahead, fans can expect stories starring Batman, the Joker, the Justice Society and the Justice League by James Tynion IV, Guillem March, Bernie Wrightson, James Robinson, Tom King, Bilquis Evely, Tom Taylor, Scott Snyder, Steve Englehart and many more!

If that wasn't enough, you'll receive a bumper-sized issue 111 with Batman: Under the Red Hood, at a staggering 400 pages long!

That last announcement will be news even to the Facebook group members, but given that I revealed to them that not just the first half but all of Starlin and Aparo's Batman run will be collected as part of the extension, including the notorious storyline that dominates the second half, the penny might drop as to the relationship between those volumes and this huge Batman: Under the Red Hood one. But as enticing a prospect as all that may be – at least, I hope so – to my mind the other volumes in the extension are just as exciting. And I'll be revealing a little more about some of them in my next post.

Marvel Arms and Armour Out Now!

If it seems like all I ever blog about on Existential Ennui these days are books that I've written – or edited – that's because I'm too busy writing – or editing – those books to blog about anything else. For instance, right now I'm in the middle of co-writing a book – on movies for a change, out autumn next year – whilst editing two DC Heroes & Villains Collection volumes and pondering what to write for the two volumes after those. All of which leaves me little time to do anything other than, well, briefly blog about yet another book that I've written:

Marvel Arms and Armour: The Mightiest Weapons and Technology in the Marvel Universe, which is published by DK in the UK today. I posted some spreads from the book back in June, along these lines:

but there's also now a back cover on the Amazon listing, which will give some indication of what the book's about:

My author copies haven't turned up yet, so hopefully when they do I'll be able to find the time to, er, briefly blog about an actual physical copy too.

Batman, Detective Comics, the DC Heroes & Villains Collection, and the Rise of Killer Croc

The earliest DC comics I remember reading as a kid were reprints in various British publications, chiefly 'Superman, You're Dead... Dead... Dead!' from Action Comics #399 (April 1971), a shocking story – to an impressionable lad who was unaware that Superman almost certainly wasn't dead – by Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson which I either read in a secondhand copy of the 1973 Superman Annual No. 1 or in the 1981 Hamlyn edition of Superman: From the 30's to the 70's (or both); and 'The Secret of the Waiting Graves' from Detective Comics #395 (January 1970), Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano's groundbreaking first Batman collaboration, which I probably read in black-and-white in the October 1980 first issue of The Super Heroes Monthly. But the earliest DC comics I remember reading in their original American comic book format are the ones collected in the latest volume of the DC Heroes & Villains Collection: 

Batman: The Rise of Killer Croc, namely Detective Comics #523–526 and Batman #357–359 (February–May 1983). I bought most of these comics in a long-since-vanished newsagent opposite Beckenham Rec, most memorably the double-sized Detective Comics #526 (May 1983), an extra-length all-star villain extravaganza by regular writer Gerry Conway and artists Don Newton and Alfredo Alcala. It's still my favourite Batman comic all these years later, but the whole storyline is great, weaving between Detective and Batman – the two titles tied together so closely by this point that they effectively became one fortnightly series, a Conway innovation – featuring fine work by Don Newton's fellow regular Bat-artist Gene Colan, plus guest artists Curt Swan and Dan Jurgens, and introducing not just the new villain of the DC Heroes & Villains Collection edition title – actually my title; this storyline has never had a proper title, so I gave it one – but a Robin-to-be in the shape of Jason Todd.

When I was first putting together notes and ideas for what would eventually become the DC Heroes & Villains Collection, one of the first storylines – if not the first storyline – I put on the list of potentials was this one (titled simply the 'Killer Croc saga' at that point). It remained on every iteration of the list right through to the finished collection itself; I made damn sure of that. I loved these comics as a kid, and forty years later I got to collect them in a discrete volume for the first time (the storyline has been collected once before in full, as part of Tales of the Batman: Gerry Conway Vol. 3, but not as its own edition) under a title I came up with. Even better – from my perspective if not necessarily the poor readers' – I got to write a 500-word introduction and 6000-word feature on the Conway/Colan/Newton era of Batman.

I would rest on my laurels here, but the DC Heroes & Villains Collection rolls ever onwards, plus I've got a book to write, so there's no rest for the wicked just yet. But now I have a copy of it in my hands – a freshly printed hardback, with its spot-varnish cover and that inky new-book smell – I will take a moment to leaf through and linger over Batman: The Rise of Killer Croc, a book I reckon 12-year-old-me would have been well impressed by.

Meanwhile... in the DC Heroes & Villains Collection: Joker's Dozen and The Untold Legend of the Batman

The next release going out to DC Heroes & Villains Collection subscribers is significant, because not only does it boast one of the volumes I was keenest to include in the collection when I put the whole shebang together, but it comes accompanied by a subscriber-exclusive special edition. 

That special edition is Joker's Dozen, a 432-page bumper collection of some of the best Joker stories of the 1980s – 13 Clown Prince of Crime Classics, as I put it in the subtitle. There was a bit of back-and-forth with DC on the contents, but I think we've arrived at something unique: 13 Joker stories – 20 comics in total – which delineate a decade of change at DC, as the Bronze Age of Comics gave way to the Modern Age. The murderers' row of creative talent on the front cover – Len Wein, Walt Simonson, Gerry Conway, Don Newton, Jim Aparo, José Luis García-López, Doug Moench, Gene Colan and Marv Wolfman – isn't even the half of it, because there are also stories from Paul Levitz, Joe Staton, Martin Pasko, Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn, Paul Kupperberg, Alex Saviuk, Max Allan Collins, Chris Warner, Ross Andru, Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle, many of which have rarely been reprinted since original publication.

On top of that, the book includes October 1986's Batman #400, a 60-page multi-villain extravaganza written by Doug Moench and with art by – among others – John Byrne, Steve Lightle, George Pérez, Bill Sienkiewicz, Arthur Adams, Joe Kubert and Brian Bolland which has only been collected by DC once since its original publication 36 years ago. Plus, it's preceded by September 1986's Detective Comics #566, a Doug Moench and Gene Colan lead-in story to Batman #400 that's never been reprinted – though its cover may be familiar from posters, prints, T-shirts and the like:

As for the volume I was keen to include in the DC Heroes & Villains Collection, that would be our 32nd release, The Untold Legend of the Batman, which features the eponymous 1980 three-issue Len Wein, John Byrne and Jim Aparo miniseries. Only ever collected under its own title as a book once before – by Tor Books in 1982 as a pocket-size black-and-white paperback, long out of print – it's a terrific mystery thriller that expertly weaves together decades of piecemeal Batman continuity, an approach reflected by the four other stories in the volume, each of which I selected for the brilliant way they too embellish the legend of the Batman. (Incidentally, the Untold Legend miniseries was reissued in 1989 as a three-part 'audio theater' edition, each issue comprising a mini-version of the original comic and an audio cassette; you can hear the audio, and its accompanying funky theme tune, on YouTube.)

Speaking of those other stories, one of them is mentioned in a 'Meanwhile...' column I was reading just this morning. For those who don't know, back in the 1980s, DC's Executive Editor, Dick Giordano, wrote an editorial column, 'Meanwhile...', which appeared in most DC titles on a monthly, then later weekly, basis. The 'Meanwhile...' that appeared in comics which went on sale on 3 July, 1986 was an especially notable one, because it announced some epochal changes to come in the Batman corner of the DC Universe over the remainder of that momentous year. It's also pertinent not just to the aforementioned bonus story that appears in the The Untold Legend of the Batman, but to a pair of stories that appear in the DC Heroes & Villains Collection's edition of 1986–87 crossover event Legends, and a sequence of stories that will appear in the DC Heroes & Villains Collection down the line. Click on the column below and see if you can work out which comics I'm referring to.

Testing, Testing... Coming Soon in the DC Heroes & Villains Collection

Further to this post on the graphic novel partwork I'm editing, the DC Heroes & Villains Collection: I've noticed in the Facebook member's group (there's also a public Facebook page) that some subscribers are receiving the sixth volume now, The Flash: Rebirth, which means we're reaching the end of the 'test' volumes. What the dickens are the test volumes, I hear you cry? Allow me to elucidate – and to offer a preview of upcoming volumes into the bargain.

Partworks go through a pretty long process before they go on sale. In the case of the DC Heroes & Villains Collection, I started putting ideas together for it – possible approaches and potential contents – at the tail end of 2019, followed by some firmer ideas for direction and an initial list of titles (which, looking back now, I realise wasn't a million miles from the final list) at the start of 2020. After some back and forth between myself, Hachette and DC and some further refining of the list and contents, we moved on to the test stage. 

This is the stage of a partwork's development where the initial instalments of the proposed collection are released in a particular part of the country to see what the response is. In our case, this entailed myself and the collection's ace designers, Amazing15, putting together the first four volumes, and then Hachette publishing those volumes... somewhere; don't ask me where because I still don't know (and even if I did I wouldn't be able to tell you; the world of partworks is shrouded in mystery and subterfuge). Complicating this – well, besides the pandemic, that is, which has introduced an extra element of complexity throughout – was the fact that alongside the UK test there was a Spanish test, which comprised some different volumes to the UK one.

 

I don't think I'm revealing anything terribly sensitive here by saying that the tests went well: the evidence for that is that the collection proper has now launched. But with The Flash: Rebirth arriving in some folks' hands, we've essentially reached the end of the volumes we assembled for either the UK or Spanish tests. From this point on, nobody (other than myself, Amazing15, Hachette and DC, obviously) will know for sure what lies ahead. So let me give you a flavour of what's coming up in the next few volumes:

Infinite Crisis: The OMAC Project: As part of the DC Heroes & Villains Collection we'll be collecting the entire 2005–2006 Infinite Crisis saga, including miniseries, specials and key tie-in issues – some of which have never been included in previous collected editions – with commentary and behind-the-scenes insights setting it all in context. This is the start of that.

Aquaman: The Trench: A story that was a big inspiration for the 2018 Aquaman movie, and one of the big successes of the 2011 New 52 relaunch – not to mention a taster for what was to come in the 2016 Rebirth initiative...

 

World's Finest: Dave Gibbons and Steve Rude's splendid 1990 Superman/Batman team-up tale, which comes accompanied by an exclusive new interview with Mr Gibbons, plus his original outline, and lots of sketches and designs by Mr Rude.

 

Joker: Last Laugh: Out of print for over a decade, this 2001 miniseries event is finally reissued as part of the DC Heroes & Villains Collection, complete with its essential first chapter, which has never been reprinted since originally appearing in the 2001 Joker: Last Laugh Secret Files and Origins one-shot. In addition, there's a bonus feature exploring Brian Bolland's iconic Joker covers.

 

Beyond those, you can expect more Rebirth volumes (following on from our fifth release, Batman: I Am Gotham), more brand new creator interviews... and a story which has never before been collected in graphic novel form.

Introducing the DC Heroes & Villains Collection: the Ultimate DC Comics Graphic Novel Collection

Here's something I've been working on for well over a year now. The DC Heroes & Villains Collection is a fortnightly partwork comprising 100 hardback graphic novels, collecting comics stories from across the DC Universe. I've been shaping the rationale and approach, putting together the content – including writing many of the editorials and bonus features that will appear in each volume – and generally reworking and refining it all since October 2019, and now the first issue, Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?, is finally on sale in the UK, from WHSmith, newsagents, comic shops, and direct from publishers Hachete Partworks. I'll try and write some more about the collection – the idea behind it, the process of making it (in the midst of a pandemic no less), what's in it – soon, but for now, I'll just say that everyone involved is dead chuffed with how it's turned out so far, and that if you happen to buy it, and like the first few volumes... the best is yet to come.

DC Comics Cover Art by Nick Jones – Out Now!

I'm breaking my blogging silence (blame the pandemic for the lack of blog posts this year – it's as good an excuse as any... and it actually has been a tough year in some respects, as it has for many of us) to note that my new book, DC Comics Cover Art, is available now from all the usual places, published by DK. As the title suggests, it's a showcase of some of the best DC Comics covers of the past 80 or so years, selected by me (largely; a few other folk had input), with commentary also by me. Naturally I stuffed it full of as many of my favourite DC covers as I could, but that's not to say I wasn't also employing my critical faculties. Criteria for selection included bold, striking, or unusual designs; notable issues (i.e. first appearances, deaths and the like); unusual layouts and logo treatments, and of course just knockout art – all arranged under the recognised eras (Golden Age, Silver Age, and so on).

I think it's come together really nicely. I haven't seen a final printed copy yet*, but I did see layouts all the way through, and the juxtaposition of covers on spreads is very pleasing. As for the text, I worked hard to make it as informative and insightful as I could – a lot of research went into how and why covers were created – but how successful I was will, in the end, be determined by the reader. Obviously there are bigger things to worry about at the moment than a book about comic book covers, but maybe this book about comic book covers will bring some pleasure into someone's life. 

Incidentally, I'm working on a couple of other DC-related projects at the moment; still a little early to say anything more about them, but I should be able to share some info soon.

* Update 5/10/20: my author copies arrived today, and I'm delighted to report that the final printed book looks lovely.

Neutron Star and Ringworld: Larry Niven's Known Space I Have Known

Mission accomplished: I've completed my maiden voyage through Larry Niven's Known Space. Actually I reached, and explored, my final destination, Ringworld (1970), a little while ago, but this is the first opportunity I've had to even think about writing anything about it and the book that preceded it on my route, Neutron Star (1968). Of the two, I much preferred Neutron Star, a collection of mid–late-sixties short stories set mostly in the 27th century, half of them starring 'crashlander' Beowulf Shaeffer; I especially liked the title story and "At the Core", which respectively detail Shaeffer's excursions to a neutron star and the galactic centre (the latter a journey also undertaken by Jerome Corbell in 1976 novel A World Out of Time, another favourite of mine from Niven's oeuvre). In fact I liked the collection so much that I wound up with four different editions of it, two of them signed.

The American first edition was published in paperback by Ballantine in 1968, under a cover sporting near-abstract art that's uncredited but reminds me of the work of Richard M. Powers. I bought this pristine copy at the London Pulp and Paperback Fair last year (from Jamie Sturgeon I believe).

The British first edition, published in hardback by Macdonald in 1969, also has an uncredited dust jacket, but the design is the same as other books in the publisher's science fiction line around this period – a large 'SF' outline with an illustration inside it (actually not a bad stab at a Pierson's Puppeteer in this instance), probably all by the same artist; see also the Macdonald editions of Niven's World of Ptavvs and A Gift from Earth, John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar, Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, Piers Anthony's Chthon (a copy of which I own) and many others. I bought this ex-Army Library copy (with very minimal markings) online for a tenner, a pretty good price considering comparable copies are more like fifty quid.

The signed copies are both 1972 second printings of the 1971 Sphere paperback edition... but with different covers, sporting different paintings by Eddie Jones. I can't quite work out why there are two versions of the Sphere second printing. Steve Holland gives the second one an issue date of 1976, but that doesn't match the copyright page of my copy, which definitely states "Reprinted 1972", the same as the other copy. (The Internet Speculative Fiction Database also lists both as 1972 printings.) Answers on a postcard, or in the comments, please. Anyway, each copy has been signed by Niven on the title page (with a "To Brian" in the one with the planetary landscape painting on the cover), and each set me back just a couple of quid.

Incidentally there's a Star Trek connection (isn't there always these days) with Neutron Star, because one of the stories, "The Soft Weapon", was adapted by Niven (at the request of Gene Roddenberry, after D. C. Fontana brought Niven on board) into a Star Trek: The Animated Series story, "The Slaver Weapon". Much of it survives in the episode, including Known Space concepts like Slavers, stasis boxes, and the Kzinti. And there's another Trek connection with these particular editions: Eddie Jones also painted the covers of the final three James Blish Trek novelisations, both of Joe Haldeman's original Trek novels, and the first two volumes of The New Voyages. (Blish has been on my mind of late because there's a big piece on him, featuring an interview with his wife Judy – alias J. A. Lawrence – in the next Star Trek Magazine, out November in the US and December in the UK; I also review Blish's 1970 novel Spock Must Die! in the same issue.)

Another cover that Jones illustrated was the 1973 Sphere edition of Ringworld, i.e. the first British paperback edition – a very nice copy of which I found online dead cheap – and the first to show an image of the Ringworld itself on the cover (the jacket of the Gollancz first edition is typographic). Unfortunately Jones' painting misconstrues the topography of the Ringworld, much as Dean Ellis does on the 1970 US Ballantine first edition: both artists depict the interior at a right angle to the Ringworld's edge. A better representation of the nature of the Ringworld can be found with Donato Giancola's painting on the cover of the mid-1990s Del Rey paperback edition, a copy of which I came across in a charity bookshop in Uckfield.

For anyone minded to try Ringworld, I would recommend reading Neutron Star first, partly for the reasons outlined by Tor.com – doing so affords a better understanding of the concepts and characters and lends depth to the novel's revelations – but also because it's the better book. Ringworld, while terrific in bits – mostly the bits to do with the magnificent scale of the setting and the relationships between the protagonists – for me dragged a little as Louis Wu, Teela Brown, Nessus the Puppeteer and Speaker-to-Animals the Kzin made their way across the landscape. Your mileage may vary, depending on how into world-building you are.

So that's me done with Known Space... although I am thinking of reading the sequel to Ringworld, The Ringworld Engineers (1980), soon. Ahead of that, though, I've started exploring another future history, one commonly referred to as the CoDominium...

Linked in Friday's Forgotten Books, 12/10/18.