Limited Collectors' Edition is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1972 to 1978. It usually featured reprints of previously published stories but a few issues contained new material. The series was published in an oversized 10â³ x 14â³ tabloid (or "treasury") format.
Limited Collectors' Edition was launched with a collection of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer stories which went on sale October 24, 1972. DC Comics vice president Sol Harrison had suggested the format stating that "we could create a tabloid size comic that would stand out on the newsstand". Limited Collectors' Edition shared its numbering with two other treasury format series, Famous First Edition and All-New Collectors' Edition. The final issues of the latter two series were tie-ins to the release of Superman: The Movie. DC later published treasuries as part of DC Special Series in 1981 and as a number of one-shots from 1999 to 2003 primarily produced by Paul Dini and Alex Ross.
In 2020, DC put out a new Famous First Edition, C-63, which reprinted in hardcover the first issue of New Fun Comics, which launched the company that became DC.
In 2025, DC released a new treasury edition as part of their âÂÂSummer of Supermanâ publishing initiative.
Several planned features for Limited Collectors' Edition were never published. These include several projects by writer/artist Sheldon Mayer. Mayer had been working on an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz but DC's then-publisher Carmine Infantino canceled the project upon learning of a similar adaptation by Marvel Comics. The two companies published the project jointly and the adaptation was crafted by Marvel's Roy Thomas and John Buscema instead. Mayer also worked on a follow-up to "The Bible" issue of Limited Collectors' Edition titled "The Story of Jesus" as well as "Rudolph's Easter Parade", an Easter-themed Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer issue. Neither project was published. "The Legend of King Arthur" by writer Gerry Conway and artist Nestor Redondo was a four-issue storyline which was advertised as "Coming Soon" in DC comic books dated September 1975, but the series was never published. A second volume of "The Best of DC" would have included stories reprinted from The Brave and the Bold #42; All-Star Western #11; Superman #247; and Green Lantern #75 but was canceled as part of the DC Implosion.
Famous First Edition was a series of oversized reprints of original Golden Age comics. All but two (#FâÂÂ7, All-Star Comics #3 and #FâÂÂ8, Flash Comics #1) included full-size glossy cover-stock reprints of the front and back covers in addition to the usual cardstock outer covers. Famous First Edition reprinted the comics in their entirety, including any paid advertising and other features that appeared in the original. Several issues of Famous First Edition were also published in hardcover editions by Lyle Stuart, Inc. The Grand Comics Database only lists hardcover versions for issues #CâÂÂ26 (Action Comics #1), #CâÂÂ28 (Detective Comics #27), #CâÂÂ30 (Sensation Comics #1), #FâÂÂ4 (Whiz Comics #2), and #FâÂÂ6 (Wonder Woman #1) while the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide includes a listing for a hardcover version of #FâÂÂ5 (Batman #1) with a notation of "exists?" The reprint of New Fun #1 published in 2020 was released in a hardcover edition only.
Three features originally intended for All-New Collectors' Edition were published elsewhere due to the title's cancellation as part of the DC Implosion. "Superman's Life Story" by Martin Pasko and Curt Swan was published in Action Comics #500 (October 1979). The planned 1978 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer tabloid's material appeared in The Best of DC #4 (MarchâÂÂApril 1980). A Justice League story by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler saw print in Justice League of America #210âÂÂ212 (January 1983âÂÂMarch 1983).