Like a lot of comic book fans, I've been digging DC Comics' phonebook-sized Showcase Presents collections, which reprint about 500 pages worth of classic comics in black-and-white editions. Most of the material, such as the Superman and Green Lantern omnibuses, comes from the classic Silver Age era of the '50s and '60s, but my favorite so far, a batch of stories starring the antiheroic gunslinger Jonah Hex, covers material from 1970s issues of All-Star Western and Weird Western Tales. I'm not the only one who loves this book with reservations; several fans have asked why the last section of the book abandons Hex in favor of a backup character called "The Outlaw" who isn't nearly as interesting. Comics fan Christopher Elam passes along an explanation from DC's former reprint editor, Bob Greenberger:

"DC pays a royalty based on a percentage of the cover price to writers, pencillers,and inkers to all material published prior to 1976 and after 1997. For the period in between, the vouchers that were in use called for a set reprint fee to be paid. In some cases, the amount of contractually obligated reprint fees makes the budget for a proposed collection unprofitable. In those cases, DC will either scrap the project or ask the talent involved to waive the reprint fee in lieu of the standard royalty arrangement."

And, sure enough, the final Hex story in the Showcase Presents collection is from late 1975.