Omnibus is Dark Horse Comics' program to release volumes collecting comics that were formerly difficult or near-impossible to find. A Dark Horse publisher's summary states:
- Dark Horse Comics' Star Wars Omnibus Collections were created as a way to showcase actual novel-length stories or series, and to provide homes for "orphaned" series, single-issue stories, and short stories which would otherwise never be collected, or which might fall out of print.
Eventually, there will probably be an Omnibus for every series (or for groups of stories taking place in the same time period). Each Omnibus volume will contain the equivalent of three to five 4-issue trade paperbacks. Dark Horse plans to release two or three per year, resulting in all of the existing trade paperbacks being "omnibussed". Having "omnibussed" all of the existing comic material, the project will become an ongoing program.
Differences between Omnibus and TPB
- The Omnibus releases are smaller in size (6" x 9") than the standard comic book or trade paperback release. This does not, however, affect the layout, coloring or lettering.
- The Omnibus releases do not include a cover gallery for each story arc featured in a release—only one cover is included for each story arc as well as an original piece for the front of the collections themselves. However, Omnibus: Rise of the Sith and Omnibus: Shadows of the Empire do include a partial cover gallery.
- The Omnibus releases specify the time a story takes place in for each story arc.
Behind the scenes
The Omnibus series is not exclusive to Star Wars titles. Dark Horse has also released Omnibi for other series such as Aliens, Alien Vs. Predator, Predator, Terminator, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Indiana Jones. Publishing BB art is known to publish tables and wall calendars for the Czech version of Omnibus.