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A trade paperback (or TPB); it's a book that collects multiple issues of a comic (or sometimes, as mentioned above, multiple different comics) into a single volume.
For instance this TPB:
https://www.amazon.com/Sandman-Vol-Preludes-Nocturnes-Anniversary/dp/1401284779/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=sandman&link_code=qs&qid=1626922985&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-2
collects the first 8 issues of The Sandman (which comprise a single story arc) into a single book.
I'm sorry for your loss and everything you're going through, OP.
My recommendation is to check out Bone. It's a wonderful epic fantasy story with humor, excitement, and really great characters. Kind of like a kid's version of Lord of the Rings, but great for adults too. There's a large Compendium that's in black and white, or individual tpbs that are colored.
If you haven't, do yourself a favor. The whole thing is stupid cheap to read now https://www.amazon.com/Bone-Complete-Cartoon-Epic-One/dp/188896314X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2NAGQHCAN1U8N&keywords=bone+complete+cartoon+epic+in+one+volume&qid=1571269829&sprefix=bone+comp%2Caps%2C206&sr=8-1
The other two are alive, yes. When we the players fought C'thun way back in Ahn'qiraj, we fought what amounted to the tip of a finger. When we defeated Yogg in Ulduar, we had the help of a half dozen Titanic Keepers, some of the most powerful beings the Titans left behind. Neither Old God is dead, and even if they were I don't know that it would significantly reduce their threat. After all, Y'shaarj has been dead for millennia and we spent a whole expansion fighting what was basically a few drops of his blood (the Sha in Pandaria).
Most of our Old God lore can be found centralized in Chronicle Volume 1. You could also check out Wowpedia if you want to get trapped for hours.
Most of what we know about the Old Gods happened many thousands of years before the events of the Warcraft games, so a lot of it comes from sources like these.
Edit: Swapped the WoWWiki link for a link to Wowpedia instead. After looking at both, it seems that WoWWiki is pretty out of date.
I've found Maus, which you might've heard of, to be an effective gateway drug. It's standalone and doesn't require any previous intimacy with the medium to be enjoyed.
If you are looking for something on the lighter side of things, Bone is a fantastic comedy/action adventure. I recommend the ridiculously priceworthy 1300 pages all-in-one edition ($23!).
It's in the sub's recommended reading section, its books are near 5 stars, and just in general it is one of the most acclaimed comic runs out there. I think it is safe to say a sub dedicated to DC comics is largely going to consider this book good.
The Amory Wars: The Second Stage Turbine Blade https://www.amazon.com/dp/1684151120/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Ht1JCbVZXCAHM
This should be the entirety of the SSTB run of comics in a single book. There is also one for In Keeping Secrets, as well.
The reprinted paperback collections are on amazon and very likely at your FLCS (8-10 issues each and bound in an order that makes sense this time, they've tried this before). Not all of the volumes are out yet, a new one comes out every month or so, but they're almost through the whole series I think.
World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 https://www.amazon.de/dp/1616558458/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_nvVZAbA5PHH1Q
World of Warcraft: Chroniken Bd. 1 https://www.amazon.de/dp/3833232641/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_EwVZAbHJB67EP
It is on Amazon in German and in english
Bone, by Jeff Smith
"After being run out of Boneville, the three Bone cousins, Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone are separated and lost in a vast uncharted desert. One by one they find their way into a deep forested valley filled with wonderful and terrifying creatures. It will be the longest - but funniest - year of their lives."
It's Sweet, hilariously funny, and filled with adventure.
Honestly, whilst Nobbels videos are the best way to go in depth on a specific subject, you might find it hard to understand the world and overarching storyline still.
Blizzard are releasing books that compile the lore together, This is chapter one: Amazon
I'm looking forward to chapter 3 coming in a month. These are a fantastic source for beginners with lore, they keep it all in order and don't overwelm you. Then if you want to know more in depth, go to Nobbel.
The original Hellblazer series that started in the 80s is the definitive John Constantine book. Reprinted in trades it's titled John Constantine, Hellblazer for some of its volumes.
Don't confuse this with Constantine: The Hellblazer, a 13 issue series from 2015 or The Hellblazer, the current series that kicked off during Rebirth, you want the old Vertigo run.
I really liked the Chronicles. There are three of them out now I believe, although I only have the first two. They go really deep into the story of the game and all that, complete with maps and atlases and really cool art. Also a great looking coffee table book. Here's the Amazon link!
For some reason your comment made me think that the book had limited availability and thus a steep price tag. Happy to learn that is not the case.
Found it on Amazon for $26.96
Pick up the WoW Chronicle Vol 1, it's a great (relatively) short account of the origins of everything in the game; it tells the story right up to Medivh, in full with just the right amount of detail.
From there, you can fill in a lot of the blanks with gameplay info and wiki pages; and you can further compress it (but you'll lose stuff) for your friend.
edit: [Amazon link] I'm 100% sure you can find a free PDF or something similar, but I'm not looking for that.
Amazon It's back up to $80CAD now, but CamelCamelCamel shows it at $60 for a couple years. Just gotta hope for a sale now.
Okay I just found this on Amazon! I placed my order for it and the total was $43.89. Release date says August 15th, 2017.
Also, Boom Studios updated their listing and it now says "Awaiting new printing. Actual release date to be determined.".
The listed price is about half of the price on Amazon but you can't buy yet. I am definitely making this a bookmark and checking every day.
You'd want to start with this. That's Volume 1 of the original comics. There are 6 out right now, 7 is coming next year. 1-5 are pretty much the meat of what you want, 6 is more random one-shots from the early comics (they had other writers and artists come in pretty early on as Eastman and Laird dealt with creating the Turtle empire and their focus shifted from writing comics to running the business). It looks like they've been releasing these in paperback versions now too. There are also other versions called "The Works" which provide colorized versions of these same issues.
Edit: Volumes 1-5 collect "essential" comics and are not a complete run, some are skipped to focus on the better issues and main storylines. End edit.
As another option, or after consuming the originals, this is what you want from the new run of comics. The IDW Collection books very nicely combine all of the different series (main line and side micro series) into chronological order. There are other collections and TPBs of this current run of comics, but you have to look up reading orders and jump around, so that's why I recommend this book, despite them being more "premium" hardcovers. They also go in and out of print pretty frequently, so don't let yourself get price gouged, they will come back in stock eventually. Of course, they are all available digitally as well (and again, go for this IDW Collection, not the others. I did because I got them as they came out, before they released these and am frustrated that I couldn't convert into this chronological order. I also own the physical copies in original TPBs and bought the hardcovers finally because it's such a pain jumping around).
So yeah, maybe more info than you were looking for, but I can always share more should you want it, haha.
Amazon or somewhere similiar would a sure bet.
They're fairly long, written like encyclopedias rather than novels. They chronicle (heh) the lore from the creation of the universe to around Cataclysm which is where the old world leveling zones are time-wise. That should give you enough context to do any zone you want.
Things get a bit murky after that but you can play through the post Cataclysm expansions in order if you want. That is Pandaria, WoD, Legion and BfA which is where we are now. They got a lot better with making the main story quests obvious so there shouldn't be too much of a problem (This will take you months and you'll massively massively outlevel everything you do but hey.)
IF you want the Tl;Dr version of lore: Read the 3 chronicles, read the overview of Pandaria and WoD on the wiki and start with Legion because the current expansion is pretty much a sequel to that.
Those thirty volumes or so are being replaced by ones that have the trade title "John Constantine: Hellblazer vol #." They are up to 19 thicker volumes released, with 229 issues recollected. /u/ohnoampz , if you want to read the original Hellblazer this wikipedia page is actually very good. It tells you the names and contents of the newer released trades, as well as the unnumbered ones that haven't been recollected.
Keep in mind that some names from both sets of volumes are the same, so be sure to grab the ones with the newer covers and the "John Constantine" name in front of it (for example, the first volume of both sets was called "Original Sins," but the newer one contains very important issues of Swamp Thing that were skipped before).
If you wish to start without the Alan Moore Swamp Thing issues, this would be the first one. I first read it without reading Swamp Thing, and everything made sense.
Look for the books (NOT the volumes). They're generally cheaper but good quality and should last a good while through normal wear and tear.
Link to book 1: https://www.amazon.com/Sandman-Book-One/dp/1779515170/ref=asc_df_1779515170/
(I believe there are four total)
These new books in Dragonflight establish that 1.) the Titans and their servants knew about the First Ones and 2.) Odyn ordered that the Black Empire be made to sound as bad as possible.
If Chronicle is still valid lore from the Titans' perspective (and to be clear, this is complete bullshit from the get go), then that means they would have had to knowingly lie about the origins of the cosmos, and Odyn's dialogue implies they lied about the Black Empire too.
And, again, Chronicle is still being sold as a **definitive* lorebook*:
"This definitive tome of Warcraft history..."
Which is a lie.
If you just want the main story, then the newer 4 "Book" editions contain the same as the first ten volumes, and should be much easier to come by
https://www.amazon.com/Sandman-Book-One/dp/1779515170
Then just buy the additional volumes (Endless Nights, Dream Hunters, Overture) separately once you've read the main story
The box set has actually been sold out for quite a while, and I've been waiting for it to come back into print for months. It looks like it's actually finally back on sale on amazon if you can buy it there https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401294707/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Not a bad price for the amount of content you're getting (it was actually $168.16 when I bought it this morning, now $173, still a good price $12 a book for the complete story).
Here’s Book One, Im Scottish, so its gonna come up on the UK version of Amazon apologies if this is unhelpful
So the complete set can be found on Amazon like this https://www.amazon.com/Sandman-Box-Set-Neil-Gaiman/dp/1401294707
When I collected the comics the first time I just bought the sets one by one until I got them all, but honestly a collection, or an omnibus would probably be the least expensive way for you to get them all.
Either way though, I wish you happy reading. This is legit one of my favorite series, and the way it's been brought to screen is just so good!!!
I was wondering the same question. I was trying to figure out if this one was missing anything: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1779515170
From what I can tell, it's 4 volumes to get to issue #75, has the Netflix logo on the front, so assume it's a new reprint, but no idea if this is Deluxe, Absolute, something else.
Here's a link to book one and what it looks like, buy it from your local bookshop if you can!