Showcase Presents vs Marvel Essentials

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The hardest part of most of the Showcase Presents is that it's um, the SAME STORY over and over again, while many of the Marvel Essentials present quite serialized storylines, even though individual episodes can be quite repetitive (hi Hulk!).

― Dr. Superman, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 16:38 (eighteen years ago)

I was a devoted student of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe as a kid, so the Essentials are sorta like catching up on what I've already read about. They're like reading Crime and Punishment after memorizing the Cliffs Notes.

Showcases though are almost always a completely brand new experience for me, and maybe for that reason I'm generally far more excited about them than the Essentials.

Reading Showcases alongside Essentials from like '63 to '69 or so (after the kinks had been worked out and the Mighty Marvel Manner was well established) really hammers home how distinctive and, if not better, then at least more addictive that early Marvel stuff was.

― Garrett Martin, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 16:52 (eighteen years ago)

Has anyone bought the Official Handbook Essentials? WHY MARVEL WHY? (OK I was tempted - that was my Official Handbook)

― Groke, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 17:34 (eighteen years ago)

I have an "Official Handbook Essential"; I used to read some of it every night and go "omg I have to tell my geek friends/ILC about THIS entry!". Then I'd fall asleep and forget.

― Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 13 May 2007 04:29 (eighteen years ago)

I favor the Essentials because they are covering important bits of continuity and read as ongoing stories -- the DC Showcase volumes are good for fun and kitsch, but the Marvel volumes are actually fairly crucial and classic stuff, especially when it comes to the FF, Spidey, and X-Men volumes.

― Mr. Perpetua, Sunday, 13 May 2007 15:49 (eighteen years ago)

I've never read any Spider-man, what's a good Essential to start with? I read the Essential Dr. Strange and wasn't too keen on it, are all 60s Marvel like it? Or should I jump into the 70s stuff?

― James, Monday, 14 May 2007 23:11 (eighteen years ago)

Holy shit James if you've never read any Spider-Man start with Essentials Volume 1 IMMEDIATELY. There's going to be more than a little groovy-baby action going down, but if you can't get with that book, then you can't get with Spidey.

― David R., Tuesday, 15 May 2007 02:10 (eighteen years ago)

Stan Lee's dialogue in his Spidey run is like some kind of wacky bombastic poetry. Ditto his FF.

― Mr. Perpetua, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 04:43 (eighteen years ago)

His captions definitely fit that mold; his dialogue, not so much (even w/ ponderous dudes like the Silver Surfer & Dr. Doom), and especially not in Spider-Man!!!

― David R., Tuesday, 15 May 2007 04:59 (eighteen years ago)

The Thor volumes are vintage.

― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 14:05 (eighteen years ago)

There's a lot of awkwardness to wade through at the beginning of any of the Essentials that cover the early '60's. You generally start hitting the sweet spot when you get a third or halfway through the first volume of whatever series you're reading. They found their footing earlier with FF and Spidey, but it takes a good 200 pages or so before Thor, for instance, becomes good. Once you reach that point with Thor, though, it's pretty much non-stop awesomeness through the end of Volume 3. And although the earliest Dr. Strange comics are just awful, the series eventually becomes perhaps the finest thing Ditko and Lee ever did together. The year-long Eternity storyline is probably my absolute favorite '60's Marvel work.

― Garrett Martin, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 14:24 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, the biggest problem w/ the Essential Dr. Strange collection is the post-Lee/Ditko stuff they include. ROY!!!!!!!!!

― David R., Tuesday, 15 May 2007 14:40 (eighteen years ago)

Correction, ~~Clyde~~ David!

Mary Jane: Petey-O, you're right from GROOVESVILLE! I never thought that a tiger who wore his hair so short could be so dreamy! And you've got a bouncin' bike, too! Dad, you're the END! What say we give the BOOB TUBE a whirl? You can fill me in on your life story during the station breaks!

Peter: It's a deal, Mary Jane!... Tell me about yourself, Mary Jane! How come I've never run into you before? What do you do with yourself when you're not driving helpless males out of their minds?

Mary Jane: Mmmm! You come on STRONG, son! And all this time I was afraid you'd be the SHY type! Anyway, I spend most of my time taking DRAMA lessons!

Peter: Oh! You plan to be an actress?

Mary Jane: Correction, Clyde! I AM an actress! It's just a matter of TIME till this big, blind, bouncy world DISCOVERS that fabulous fact!

― Mr. Perpetua, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 18:55 (eighteen years ago)

If that's bombast, Poindexter, then I'm George "Goober" Lindsey!

― David R., Tuesday, 15 May 2007 18:58 (eighteen years ago)

(NB: I am George "Goober" Lindsey.)

― David R., Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:01 (eighteen years ago)

how can anybody who loves that stuff complain about Spidey3?

― Dr. Superman, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:05 (eighteen years ago)

Depends on which part they're complaining about!

― David R., Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:07 (eighteen years ago)

Well I for one did not complain about Spider-Man 3. Well, aside from feeling that it had too many villains and the final battle was kind of a mess. But I looooved the wacky Dark Peter stuff!

― Mr. Perpetua, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:07 (eighteen years ago)

If that's bombast, Poindexter, then I'm George "Goober" Lindsey!

I thought you were Halle Berry.

― M.V., Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:29 (eighteen years ago)

I'm Batman.

― David R., Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:37 (eighteen years ago)

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