Comics Greatest World - Issue List

Quick access to the checklists for each of the Dead Universes that have been compiled.

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Chiclo
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Comics Greatest World - Issue List

Post by Chiclo »

CGW Issue List UPDATED, 21 Sep 2015
Knightt wrote: I didn't notice this great list until now. So, I will make it a sticky. GREAT work on the list !!!!
Comics Greatest World is often lost in the shuffle. This imprint of Dark Horse Comics is often suspected of just being Dark Horse' attempt to cash in on the super hero comics craze of the early 90s, but the foundation of the universe was solid and well thought out. Those suspicions were not without merit, though, given that Dark Horse was especially known for rarely releasing an issue 5, mostly content to release mini-series especially with the premium on no. 1 issues of that era. Some of the properties like Mecha pre-dated the establishment of the CGW, but most were created for and within that universe. At least one property was spun into a movie, Barb Wire, despite there being little connection between the movie and the comic. Comics Greatest World was launched with a 16 issue eponymous mini-series with several covers by Frank Miller (that dude was everywhere back then), which was divided into four four-issue strands. Those strands would be very important at the beginning of the universe but faded in importance as CGW merged with the Dark Horse Heroes imprint.

Issue list -

Comics Greatest World 16 issue mini-series:

Comics' Greatest World: Sourcebook
Arcadia Week 1: X(cover by Frank Miller)
Arcadia Week 2: Pit Bulls
Arcadia Week 3: Ghost(Cover by Dave Dorman)
Arcadia Week 4: Monster
Golden City Week 1: Rebel
Golden City Week 2: Mecha
Golden City Week 3: Titan
Golden City Week 4: Catalyst: Agents of Change
Steel Harbor Week 1: Barb Wire
Steel Harbor Week 2: The Machine
Steel Harbor Week 3: Wolf Gang(Cover by Chris Warner)
Steel Harbor Week 4: Motorhead
Vortex Week 1: Division 13
Vortex Week 2: Hero Zero
Vortex Week 3: King Tiger(Cover by Geoff Darrow)
Vortex Week 4: Out of the Vortex(Cover by Frank Miller)

Premium Issues:
Comics Greatest World Source Book Platinum
Arcadia Week 1 - X (foil cover, Capital City Distribution) *possibly redundant*
Arcadia Week 1 - X (black, orange and white cover, Special Limited Edition *AKA Ultra-Pro Variant* exclusive to Diamond Distribution)
Arcadia Week 1 - X (Black and white interior, Press Proof Edition, limited 1,500 copies)
Arcadia Week 1 - X (silver foil cover, Special Limited Edition *AKA Ultra-Pro Variant* exclusive to Comics Unlimited and American Distribution)
Arcadia Week 1 - X (silver foil diamond cover)
Golden City Week 1 - Rebel (gold cover)
Golden City Week 1 - Rebel (gold diamond cover)
Golden City Week 1 - Rebel Special Limited Edition *AKA Ultra-Pro Variant*
Steel Harbor Week 1 - Barb Wire (platinum cover, Special Limited Edition exclusive to Comics Unlimited and American Distribution)
Steel Harbor Week 1 - Barb Wire (platinum diamond cover)
Steel Harbor Week 1 - Barb Wire Special Edition (missing $1 price)*AKA Ultra-Pro Variant*
Vortex Week 1 - Division 13 (foil cover) *possibly redundant*
Vortex Week 1 - Division 13 (Special Limited Edition *AKA Ultra-Pro Variant* - purple)
Vortex Week 1 - Division 13 (gold foil cover, Special Limited Edition exclusive to Comics Unlimited and American Distribution)
Vortex Week 1 - Division 13 (special limited edition - gold diamond)
Arcadia TPB
Golden City TPB
Steel Harbor TPB
Vortex (Cinnabar Flats) TPB
Out of the Vortex 1 - Gold Holofoil cover Special Limited Edition
X #1 (regular series) B&W cover with red foil
X #1 (regular series) signed Dynamic Forces edition

Regular issues:

Agents of Law 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Barb Wire 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Barb Wire TPB 1st Print, 2nd Print, UK Titan Edition, UK Boxtree Edition
Barb Wire Movie Special
Barb Wire Movie Special Dynamic Forces S&N edition
Barb Wire Movie Special Oversized B&W Magazine
Barb Wire: Ace of Spades 1, 2, 3, 4
Catalyst: Agents of Change 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Dark Horse 20 Years [which is just a pin-up book including a new Ghost pin-up]
Dark Horse Heroes: Revelations
Dark Horse Comics #8, 9, 10, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Dark Horse Extra 19, 20, 21, 22 (four-part Ghost story), 28, 29, 30, 31 (four-part X story)
Dark Horse Presents 144, 145, 146, 147, 1999 Annual, 2000 Annual
Dark Horse Insider 18, 19, 20, 21
Decade of Dark Horse 2
Division 13 1, 2, 3, 4
Ghost vol. 1 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36
Ghost vol. 2 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
Ghost Special 1, 2, 3
Ghost/Hellboy 1, 2, Ashcan
Ghost/Batgirl 1, 2, 3, 4
Ghost/the Shadow 1-shot
Ghost Handbook
Ghost Ashcan (included with Ghost action figure) [Indicia title is Dark Horse Action Figure Comics #1 (#2 was Martha Washington Goes to War) - courtesy SwiftMann]
Ghost TPBs - Ghost Stories (first and second print), Painful Music, Exhuming Elisa, Black October, Nocturnes, No World So Dark, Ghost/Hellboy and Ghost/Batgirl Resurrection Engine
Godzilla vs. Hero Zero
Hero Zero #0
King Tiger & Motorhead 1, 2
The Machine 1, 2, 3, 4
The Mask: World Tour 1, 2, 3, 4
Mecha Special
Mecha 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (printed 1987 - pre CGW)
Motorhead 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Motorhead Special
Out of the Vortex 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
San Diego Comic Con Comics 3 (Barb Wire story), 4 (lead-in story to the Motorhead series)
Titan Special
Will to Power 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
X 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
X Special (Hero Illustrated?) 1, 2 [The indicia title is X/Hero Illustrated Special. #1 was bagged with Hero #13. #2 was sold on shelves a couple weeks later. - per SwiftMann]
X: One Shot (to the Head)

Assorted others:

Collector's Portfolio: Arcadia (Diamond)
Collector's Portfolio: Steel Harbor (Diamond)
Collector's Portfolio: Golden City (Diamond)
Collector's Portfolio: Vortex (Diamond)
Collector's Portfolio: Arcadia (Capital City)
Collector's Portfolio: Steel Harbor (Capital City)
Collector's Portfolio: Golden City (Capital City)
Collector's Portfolio: Vortex (Capital City)
Ghost Action Figures - there are at least three, a regular, a silver and a glow in the dark
In 2010, Dark Horse and Triad Toys released Ghost and Barb Wire action figures. Retail price on Ghost was $100 and Barb Wire was $120.
Dark Horse has also released Ghost as part of their Classic Comic Book Character line of 5 inch statues.

Card Sets:

Comics Greatest World - 100 card base set. There was a holographic etched-foil chase set, 6 cards. There was a 6 card holographic etched-foil box topper set that mirrored the chase set but measure 5" by 7". There were 5 promotional cards - Barb Wire, Rebel, X, Division 13 and the Machine as well as an uncut sheet of promo cards. Topps distributed 9 promo cards at the '94 SDCC, numbers 101 to 109. The backs of these cards forms an image.

Ghost - 72 card base set. 6 chromium card subset, C1 to C6. There was an Eric Luke autograph card, randomly inserted and a meager print run of 500. 2 promo cards.

Ghost TPB information

Ghost Stories - Comics Greatest World Arcadia Week 3, Ghost Special (1), X 8
Ghost Nocturnes - Ghost Vol. 1 #s 1, 2, 3 and 5
Ghost Black October - Ghost vol. 1 #s 6, 7, 8, 9, 26 and 27
Ghost Exhuming Elisa - Ghost vol. 1 #s 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25
Ghost Painful Music - Ghost vol. 1 #s 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32
Ghost No World So Dark - Ghost vol 2 #s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Ghost/Hellboy - Ghost/Hellboy 1 and 2
Ghost/Batgirl Resurrection Engine - Ghost/Batgirl 1, 2, 3 and 4

Omnibus information

Dark Horse Heroes Omnibus - collects all 16 parts of the Comics Greatest World maxi-series and the 12 part Will to Power series.
X Omnibus volume 1 includes X 1 to 11, X One-Shot to the Head, "Welcome to the Jungle" from Dark Horse Comics #19 and 20 and X: Hero Illustrated Specials 1 and 2.
X Omnibus volume 2 includes X 12 to 25 and "Someone to Watch Over Me" from Dark Horse Extra 28 to 31.
Ghost Omnibus volume 1 includes Ghost Special 1, Ghost v1 1 to 12, and "Sweet Things" from Decade of Dark Horse #2.
Ghost Omnibus volume 2 includes Ghost v1 13 to 26
Ghost Omnibus volume 3 includes Ghost v1 27 to 36, Ghost Specials 2 and 3 and "Woes from a Sinful Bachelor" from Dark Horse Presents 145, 146 and 147
Barb Wire Omnibus includes Barb Wire 1 to 9 and Barb Wire: Ace of Spades 1 to 4

Collector's Portfolio Information:
BruceReville wrote:The portfolio collections came out in 2 versions of each - released by Capital and Diamond. They come with prints/bookmarks/and the limited foil comics so technically if you have just the foil comics you have an incomplete set. The foil comics if you notice in the upper right circle either have a diamond or the city logo on them. The diamonds go with the Diamond portfolios and the ones with the city logos go with the Capital portfolios.
Ghost Reboot 2012
In 2012, Dark Horse rebooted Ghost. The character does not appear to continue in the continuity of the previous two series and does not seem connected to any other CGW title. This is only listed here for completeness.

Dark Horse Presents (2012) 13 Ghost cover, 13 Occultist cover, 14, 15
Ghost 0, 1 Noto cover, 1 Ross cover
Last edited by Chiclo on Mon Sep 21, 2015 10:01:48 am, edited 30 times in total.

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Brother J
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Post by Brother J »

Should the Mask: World Tour comic really be included? I don't think he was actually part of any comic universe.

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Post by Chiclo »

According to Wikipedia (the unimpeachable and unalterable temple of truth that I used as a base for that list) each of the four issues visits a different location in the CGW.

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Post by Brother J »

Chiclo wrote:According to Wikipedia (the unimpeachable and unalterable temple of truth that I used as a base for that list) each of the four issues visits a different location in the CGW.
interesting, I have the series, but never read it, might have to see what it's all about.

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Post by Brother J »

Well, here's all the ones I found that are X variants:


Arcadia Week 1 - X (Black and white interior, Press Proof Edition)
Arcadia Week 1 - X (silver foil cover)
Arcadia Week 1 - X (holofoil cover) (this two are different, hard to describe the difference, but you can see it if you have both of them
Arcadia Week 1 - X (black, red and white cover) (Diamond exclusive)

X #1 (regular series) B&W cover with red foil
X #1 (regular series) signed Dynamic Forces edition

X Special #1, 2... I assume this is the same as the Hero Illustrated Special #1, 2.

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Post by Chiclo »

Added and updated! :thumb:

Puts me that much further away from a complete run for the moment. :mad:

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Post by tictuck »

Sheesh , gotta add the Mask World Tour books to the needs list now :!: Thanks for the info though :thumb:

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Post by tictuck »

Does anyone need Will To Power series everything but #2 , if so P.M. me if interested? :thumb:
Willing to trade if interested or can work out something $ wise
Heres my want list
Dark Horse (CGW) Acadia TPB, Steel Harbor /Cinnabar TPB, Golden City TPB, Vortex TPB
Barb Wire - Ace of Spades- 1, 3, 4
Catalyst Agent of Change – 7
Mask World Tour – 1, 2, 3, 4
Motorhead #1, 5
Ghost (Ser 1) #2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, Ghost Handbook
Ghost (Ser 2) #1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21
Dark Horse Comics #19, 20 (X Story), 21, 22(Mecha Story), 23, 24(Machine Story)

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Post by Chiclo »

I added the Motorhead Special to the list and have seen mention of a Ghost/Hellboy ashcan.

Could anyone confirm that?

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Post by Brother J »

Chiclo wrote:I added the Motorhead Special to the list and have seen mention of a Ghost/Hellboy ashcan.

Could anyone confirm that?
Mile High has it listed in stock but no picture.

Lone Star has a (small) picture, but not in stock.

Here's the picture:

Image

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Post by Brother J »

Another thing I found were "Collector's Portfolios" for Arcadia, Golden City, Steel Harbor and Vortex. Since these are portfolios and not comics, not sure if you want to add them, but I threw it out there.

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Post by Brother J »

Here's another mystery. For Steel Harbor: Barb Wire, there is the regular edition and a silver foil edition. There is also one that looks exactly like the regular edition, but says Special Limited Edition and doesn't have the price or Week on the cover. Otherwise, I can't see a difference. Anyone have any info on this one?

EDIT: Ok, I think I figured some things out. There are at least FOUR versions of Steel Harbor: Barb Wire.

There's the regular edition, there's a silver foil edition with the chain in the upper right corner. There's a "platinum" version very similiar to the silver version, but it has a diamond (for Diamond Comics dist) where the chain was. There's the version that looks like the regular edition, but says Special Limited Edition and doesn't have the price or Week 1 on the cover. This one was apparently packed with Ultra Pro pages, kind of like HARD Corps #5. Here's pictures of all the different versions:

ImageImage

ImageImage
Last edited by Brother J on Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:10:19 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by Chiclo »

Brother J wrote:Here's another mystery. For Steel Harbor: Barb Wire, there is the regular edition and a silver foil edition. There is also one that looks exactly like the regular edition, but says Special Limited Edition and doesn't have the price or Week on the cover. Otherwise, I can't see a difference. Anyone have any info on this one?
I've seen that one on eBay too.

I didn't bid because I didn't notice anything different other than the "special limited edition" at the top of the comic.

I'll add it and the portfolios. I saw a lot of Golden City or Steel Harbor portfolios not too long ago on eBay.

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Post by Chiclo »

Added the Barb Wire Special Edition (disappointingly similar cover), Collector's Portfolios and the Ghost action figure.

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Post by Brother J »

Chiclo wrote:Added the Barb Wire Special Edition (disappointingly similar cover), Collector's Portfolios and the Ghost action figure.
I did notice another difference once I posted them side by side. Look at Barb Wire's costume. The one has a lot less detail than the other.

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Post by Brother J »

Out of the Vortex #1 holofoil

Image
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Post by Brother J »

ok, here's my last update.

Barb Wire Movie Special Dynamic Forces S&N edition
Barb Wire TPB (add the 2nd print and a UK edition)
Ghost/Batgirl Resurrection Engine TPB
Ghost Stories TPB (and 2nd print) (instead of just "Ghost TPB")
Ghost No World So Dark TPB
Hero Zero #0 (instead of "one shot")
Mecha #1-6 (1987, pre-CGW, but why not add it? :wink: )

EDIT: Add these, too:

Dark Horse Comics #8, 9, 10, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24

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Post by Chiclo »

I recently picked up number 1 from that 1987 Mecha series. Is that the only one printed that pre-dates CGW?

I updated the list and added all those mentioned into the checklist and re-worded the "disappointingly similar" cover description for the Barb Wire Comics Greatest World special edition.

Thanks again for this veritable treasure trove of information, Brother J! :thumb:

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Post by Brother J »

Chiclo wrote:I recently picked up number 1 from that 1987 Mecha series. Is that the only one printed that pre-dates CGW?

I updated the list and added all those mentioned into the checklist and re-worded the "disappointingly similar" cover description for the Barb Wire Comics Greatest World special edition.

Thanks again for this veritable treasure trove of information, Brother J! :thumb:
I think Mecha is the only one that was out before the idea of the CGW came out. The first appearances of X (Dark Horse Comics #8-10) might have been before CGW, not sure.

No problem, it was fun. I don't actively collect these, but I might think twice about it, looks like they have a lot of good books.

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Post by Chiclo »

I think once all my auctions that I've won come in I'll have a full reading set.

I'll have to sit down and iron out what premiums I need and check what issues of Dark Horse Comics I have.

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Post by Knightt »

Anyone have anything close to a complete list yet ?

I LOVE these books and would like to get something posted soon.

I also have the card set.... pretty snazzy but could have been done better.

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Post by Chiclo »

Knightt wrote:I also have the card set....
Please elaborate.

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Post by xodacia81 »

There was a set called "Comics Greatest Cards", I think. Seems CGW/DHH is a larger universe than suspected. I love this type of stuff. As for the list, I've been meaning to do it, but between school and my new child, I've not had time to really sit down for something like that. Besides, my VALIANT addiction takes priority over this:thumb:

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Post by Knightt »

Chiclo wrote:
Knightt wrote:I also have the card set....
Please elaborate.
I could have sworn that I replied to this in detail... where is my post ?

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Post by Chiclo »

Now that you say that, I remember that discussion.

Next Men? Was it in the Next Men thread?


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