4 out of 5

While the original rating / review of the issues this trade collects still stands, the trade – though being a couple bucks more than cover price – offers enough extras to make it worthwhile and perhaps a better read than one by one.

In your face, you get an amazing battle wraparound cover, painted by Dave Rapoza, and the design (by Kat Larson) adds end pages that encourage the overblown, tongue-in-cheek vibe.  A glowing intro from editor Shawna and a ‘Making of Bad Guy Earth’ afterword by Ethan replace similar blurbs found in the individual issues; by having these frame the story (instead of just after the first issue), it again helps to set the stage for the ridiculousness.  But best of all are the process pages: photos of the toys used for inspiration; lots of sketches and notes.  Books 2 and 3 had photos of fans and a couple of letters, but this process stuff really seals the deal on how much work goes in to making this random stuff into a readable, wild book; it matches with Gore’s note at the start that, while most kids have some crazy imaginings, not everyone has the time and talent to indulge that and flesh it out into something palatable for the rest of us.

As a standalone, maybe this would still rate a 3 (because I’d be considering the actual story content…), but as a comparison to the issues, it’s the preferred experience.