Marvel's "Essential" series: S and D

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So I have the first two Spider-Man ones (which are fabulous, of course) and Fantastic Four 2 and 3. (are they EVER going to put out 4 and 5 and complete the Lee-Kirby run? I know there's always the Marvel Masterworks series but they're about three times as much and don't use the original colors anyway)

Which others are worth checking out?

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 16 July 2004 22:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Search:

Howard the Duck (my favorite non-Spidey one, I think)

Tomb of Dracula (not yet released, says Amazon; no wonder I can't find it; is this vaporware?)

Fantastic Four 1, although 2 and 3 are probably better

X-Men or Uncanny 1-2 or 3. I forget whether it's X or Uncanny X which collects the Claremont era -- get that one. Stan Lee's is good too, but in the Claremont era you're getting the "All-New All-Different" X-Men, the Dark Phoenix stuff, all the stuff responsible for people still reading it today.

Maybe Search:

Possibly Silver Surfer.

Conan, from what I've heard.

Not sure about Destroy, but I haven't read the Essential Captain America more than the once, which at least means I didn't like it as much as the others, which are rereads.

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 16 July 2004 23:38 (twenty-one years ago)

the '60s stuff is Uncanny X-Men, the Claremont stuff is just X-Men - there are 6 volumes out so far! I'm guessing that's clearly their top seller.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 17 July 2004 06:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Some of the early Uncanny issues are fantastic, so search that too. Also, lots of Ant-Man is terrific (really), and the Ditko Doctor Stranges are really beautiful. I like the Cap ones too - some of Kirby's best work in places. There are two Dracula volumes out, and the stories are pretty lame but the Colan art is mostly gorgeous. Thor is magnificent once Kirby is on it all the time. I really like the Avengers too, though many won't. The Kirby FFs and Ditko Spideys are genuinely essential buys, and Howard the Duck is among my all-time favourite series.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 17 July 2004 12:00 (twenty-one years ago)

The Kirby FFs yeah.

I've seen Essential Tomb Of Dracula 'in the flesh'.

Are they planning a volume 4 of FF? Which would include the "Within This Tortured Land" arc? It's frustrating having only 2/3 of the Kirby run collected.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Saturday, 17 July 2004 13:10 (twenty-one years ago)

3/5! I'm told they are, but this seems uncertain at the moment. I really hope so. I also hope they finish the Kirby issues with volume 5, and don't leave the odd issue for a possible 6th volume.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 17 July 2004 15:23 (twenty-one years ago)

last Kirby issue of FF = 102?

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 17 July 2004 22:53 (twenty-one years ago)

! Weird. Amazon lists Essential Tomb of Dracula vol. 1 as "not yet released" (as they've done every time I've checked it over the last year); Marvel says vol. 2 came out in April. I've been able to find neither locally, but now that I know they've definitely come out, I'll have the store order them for me.

I think 102's right for Kirby FF ... surely they've got to complete that run in the Essentials? I can't believe 3 didn't sell well if they're releasing things like Essential Human Torch.

Oh, it was established on another thread that we should Destroy the Essential Punisher. I'd bet that's true of Essential Wolverine, but I don't know what issues/series it covers.

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 17 July 2004 23:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Essential Dr. Strange is... well, essential. It goes on a ways past where Ditko leaves & therefore goes downhill (and if you can afford the Marvel Masterworks version that's three times as much get that instead), but oh me oh my.

― Douglas (Douglas), Sunday, 18 July 2004 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

The Silver Surfer one is good because it doesn't matter so much that it's not in color.

― M.D., Thursday, 29 July 2004 03:04 (twenty-one years ago)

three months pass...

Coming in February:

ESSENTIAL LUKE CAGE VOL. 1 TPB
Written by ROY THOMAS, JOHN ROMITA, ARCHIE GOODWIN,
STEVE ENGLEHART, GERRY CONWAY, TONY ISABELLA & LEN WEIN
Penciled by GEORGE TUSKA & BILLY GRAHAM
Cover by JOHN ROMITA SR.
Look out, world, here he comes - Luke Cage, Hero for Hire - and bullets won't stop him! The early adventures of comics' first and foremost black superstar of the seventies are collected for the first time in one volume as Power Man defends his home turf against the likes of Diamondback, Mace, Black Mariah, Dr. Doom, Senor Suerte, Chemistro, Lionfang, Steeplejack, Cottonmouth and more! Guest-starring the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and Iron Man! Collects HERO FOR HIRE #1-16 and POWER MAN #17-27.
544 PGS./B&W/Marvel PSR …$16.99

Does anyone know if that's worth getting? I haven't read any of the Power Man stuff until the PM/Iron Fist days. That's a looong list of writers there for only 27 issues (less than 4 issues per writer on average!)

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 27 November 2004 22:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I read them at the time, and there is some entertainment value in the attempts at realistic dialogue for a tough black man in Harlem, written by a bunch of white comic book geeks, but I would imagine that wouldn't carry you through 544 pages.

I notice there is no mention on this thread of my Freaky Trigger item on the essential Essentials!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 27 November 2004 23:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I have to say, the only reason I haven't bought any of the Essentials is that while I no problem whatsoever with black & white comics, I'm suspicious of reprinting comics that were originally in color into b&w. It seems like some fun would be missing.

― Jordan (Jordan), Sunday, 28 November 2004 22:39 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, the B&W aspect makes me feel robbed

― H (Heruy), Sunday, 28 November 2004 22:48 (twenty-one years ago)

i'd love to see them all reprinted in their original colors - even if it was just reproduced from a very good copy of the original comic, like in one of those smithsonian collections. but the stories look a lot better in the essentials than in the muddy recoloring jobs in the marvel masterworks series.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 28 November 2004 22:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Color would make the price double at least. I'll take cheap entertainment. If I feel the need to have archive quality copies, I'll fork over money for the Masterworks.

And if DC were smart, they'd reprint some of their stuff in the same format as Marvel's Essential books, but it seems as if they feel their material is too good for it...

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Monday, 29 November 2004 02:47 (twenty-one years ago)

DC's reticence is very odd, especially since it's clear similar collections would sell even (or in DC's case, especially) if they weren't just reprints of first generation stuff: a Jay Garrick or Alan Scott collection might not sell much, but anyone who would pay $15 for 500 pages of Iron Fist would pay it for Barry Allen or Hal Jordan. And I'd argue there's more fan interest in DC's Silver Age than Marvel's, over the past five years or so.

Anyway, the loss varies with the Essentials being black and white -- I was surprised that it didn't detract from the Dr Strange one more, given how much color is part of my memory of Ditko's Strange Tales artwork. It's even arguably an improvement in some cases -- the color seems to be really muddy in reprints of some early 60s Marvel stuff, and I don't know if that's a problem with the reprinting process or the stuff they're copying from or what (I'm specifically thinking of the first Avengers Masterworks here, vs the relative crispness of the first Essentials collection).

For the FF, I'm torn. You get a lot more for your money with the Essentials collection, but if the print quality is nice in the Visionaries collection (what does it reprint besides the Galactus arc?), it's probably worth getting -- it's within a couple dollars price-wise, I assume.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 29 November 2004 02:56 (twenty-one years ago)

It occurs to me that one big gap in the Essentials is the Moench/Gulacy MOKF. I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

― I Am Curious (George) (Rock Hardy), Monday, 29 November 2004 03:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Man, with Iron Fist out and Power Man on the way, that has to be in the wings. Moon Knight, too.

If they get to volume 2 of the Defenders, I suspect they're going to find -- and they may already realize this because of Tomb of Dracula -- that there are a lot of us who would be eager to buy a lot of 70s reprints -- stuff we don't necessarily canonize in the same breath as the X-Men and the Avengers, but owned and lost and want to read and aren't able to track down because it isn't collectible or isn't worth paying per-issue prices for.

I mean, just as a kind of ridiculous example, I'd pick up an Essential Champions (except it wouldn't fill 500 pages, would it?). Essential What If? Essential Marvel Two-in-One? (Okay, MTU was better, how about that instead.)

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 29 November 2004 03:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Briefly in the early 90s, before I understood how much a dollar cost, I had it in my mind to collect every Marvel comic from FF#1 until The End Times (aka when Jim Shooter became Editor-in-Chief). The Essentials books are helping me get at the stuff I really wanted, in great big chunks.

(Still, I did find a bunch of cheap copies of Fantasy Masterpieces and Marvel Collector's Item Classics.)

― I Am Curious (George) (Rock Hardy), Monday, 29 November 2004 03:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Essential Invaders! Frank Robbins!

― I Am Curious (George) (Rock Hardy), Monday, 29 November 2004 03:54 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Essential Moon Knight!

Yesssssssss.

― David N (David N.), Monday, 5 December 2005 01:49 (twenty years ago)

I recently bought Howard the Duck and, whilst it has its excellent moments and is pretty extarodinary for its time (Zen and the Art of Comic Book Writing is superb, basically Morrison's Animal Man twenty years earlier), I wasn't as taken by it as most people seem to be. Too much cod-philosophical dithering, and a slight self-help book feel at times. Gerber was obviously making it up as he went along, and didn't disguise the fact very well.

― chap who would dare to tell uninteresting celeb spotting stories (chap), Monday, 5 December 2005 01:58 (twenty years ago)

I think it's sort of the apotheosis of all those '70s mainstream comic books written by young fans-turned-pro who would have rather been writing literature instead of scripting slugfests. It's a hell of a lot better than Mike Friedrich's JLAs, but in the same vein with the same weaknesses (embarrasing dedications to "soul brother" Harlan Ellison aside). It might have been better if Brunner had stayed longer, but maybe not. (I think his work on it was a lot prettier than Gene Colan's, which was a little too formulaic for my taste.)

― Chris F. (servoret), Monday, 5 December 2005 02:56 (twenty years ago)

They need to come out with a fucking second volume for that!

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Monday, 5 December 2005 11:34 (twenty years ago)

Unless you're talking about a collection of the rest of Gerber's HTD stuff (the She-Hulk storyline, the mini, the MTU issue, and the newspaper strips...which would make for a pretty slim Essentials trade), they totally don't.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Monday, 5 December 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

Did the HTD Essentials include the Howard B&W magazine? (The one with the gratuitous topless panel of Bev, phwoar.)

― I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (Rock Hardy), Monday, 5 December 2005 13:28 (twenty years ago)

the gratuitous topless panel of Bev

This would entirely justify a second volume, no matter how slim.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Monday, 5 December 2005 13:44 (twenty years ago)

I just remember it ended without Howard and Bev getting to reunite. You mean they don't during the rest of the Gerber run? Bummer.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Monday, 5 December 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

The topless Bev issues of HTD the magazine were written by Bill Mantlo, who I usually love to death, but couldn't get behind when he took over HTD.

Though I still have that issue somewhere. I might be persuaded to scan the page in question, if I could find the damn thing.

There's precious little else HTD stuff worth collecting. The series continued past where the essential volume ended, but as I understand it, Gerber wasn't really happy with them (or I seem to remember something to that effect) and what appeared in the essentials volume was "canonical" inasmuch as that can be meaningful for a comicbook character.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Monday, 5 December 2005 19:37 (twenty years ago)

You can generally find the rest of the Gerber issues pretty cheaply - they won't do a second Essential, as I don't think there is nearly enough. We desperately need an Essential Man-Thing, which is where Howard started and has loads more prime Gerber.

Moon Knight advertising slogan: "If you love Neal Adams and being bored, this isn't bad".

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 5 December 2005 20:49 (twenty years ago)

I would be all over a Man-Thing essential volume.

And where's that second Defenders volume? They're doing one, right? The first one was deranged fun, but not all that great as these things go. Second volume should have things moving into high weirdness gear.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Monday, 5 December 2005 23:35 (twenty years ago)

eight months pass...

I'm reading FF5. The opening Doom story is pretty good. I like how Latveria's male citizens dress like 19th C Bavarians and the female citizens dress like 60s glamourpusses.

― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Wednesday, 23 August 2006 22:55 (nineteen years ago)

Finished. The first non-essential FF Essential. Only the Doom and Skrulls stories are much cop, and it's quite a strugle once Kirby goes.

― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Friday, 25 August 2006 14:08 (nineteen years ago)

Ayep.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 August 2006 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

I was hoping that Sub-Mariner + Magneto = FUN FUN FUN, but that was denied.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 August 2006 15:23 (nineteen years ago)

how much of FF5 is kirby material?

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 25 August 2006 17:04 (nineteen years ago)

About 16 issues' worth (plus one issue where Kirby art is scavenged & stuck into another story flashback style). Honestly, the best part of Essential FF5 are the photos of the Marvel Bullpen folks, but it's still pretty keen.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 August 2006 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

The Skrull story has actually stuck in my mind, mainly because of its sheer unhingedness.

― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Friday, 25 August 2006 17:21 (nineteen years ago)

I just got a decent job, so I'm splashing out on that yowsa-colour Claremont X-book (which is here) -- I'm no good with the b/w reprints, I can't concentrate to read them.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Friday, 25 August 2006 19:40 (nineteen years ago)

(This'll be my first time reading these stories, too. My friends had 'em when I was a kid, but I was too mcuh of a DC nerd to pay attention.)

Oh yeah -- so is it worth it?

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Friday, 25 August 2006 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah probably, though it seems to end right in the middle of Dark Phoenix, which is kind of sneaky.

― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Friday, 25 August 2006 22:30 (nineteen years ago)

i would srsly pay double for colour essentials. i'm like chuck, i just can't do the b&w for some reason. i have tried. but when i see like ONE colour panel on a website or something of a comic i've read in an essential it just looks 11929121902819x times better and more exciting.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 25 August 2006 23:07 (nineteen years ago)

i think there's a softback trade you could get for the rest of the Dark Phoenix run, but i haven't read it inover ten years so i could be wrong

― i am not a nugget (stevie), Sunday, 27 August 2006 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

I got Ess Humzong Spidey Vol. 6 or 7 (deathofgwenstacy) before I left (had a giftcertificate had to use or lose that had prev. been saving for Abs NewFront). I like.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Sunday, 27 August 2006 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

have they gotten into the 200s with uncanny x-men yet?

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 28 August 2006 15:16 (nineteen years ago)

I got Ess. Avengers 5 on Saturday. It and Ess. Defenders 1 both reprint the crossover issues from the Avengers-Defenders War, so now I have all that malarkey twice.

Some of the decolorized pages are so, so bad. I could do a hell of a lot better job than whoever is doing it. They look like they've gone through a fax machine.

― Danny Aioli (Rock Hardy), Monday, 28 August 2006 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

Danny Aioli - are you a Whitman College grad? E-mail me, if you're the same Bill Crump I knew back in the '80s. College reunion coming up next month. Tried e-mailing you, but got a bounce.

― lumberingwoodsman (Chris Hill), Monday, 28 August 2006 18:50 (nineteen years ago)

No, I'm a different Wm. Crump. You just missed me at this email address -- I dropped Bellsouth as my ISP last week.

― Danny Aioli (Rock Hardy), Monday, 28 August 2006 22:54 (nineteen years ago)

Curiousity solved, at least. Thanks.

― lumberingwoodsman (Chris Hill), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 13:27 (nineteen years ago)

The Dr Doom/Latveria story from Essential FF 5 is a real fave of mine - Kirby's first (and best) 'Prisoner' trib.

I want the 2nd Luke Cage Essential that's just come out - it's got a great run on the title by Don McGregor, some of his v. best scripting (the Frank Robbins art is gd, too)

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 15:05 (nineteen years ago)

This is totally OTM but I still buy Showcases and Essentials because of ILC/other comic forums Peer Pressure, the thrill of collective interweb geeking-out over stuff like this is not to be underestimated, and it just doesn't happen on the same scale when, say, "Metal Men Archives" gets released. Considering the amount of $$ I fork over for comics on a monthly basis I really don't mind the pricyness of colour reprints, if only they were a bit meatier!

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Wednesday, 30 August 2006 00:22 (nineteen years ago)

yeah i'm still tempted just cuz i get caught up in the collective excitement and all but... pretty unsatisfying.

ILC demands colourful meat NOW!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 30 August 2006 03:09 (nineteen years ago)

Just announced:

ESSENTIAL CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL. 3 TPB
Written by STAN LEE, GARY FRIEDRICH, GERRY CONWAY
& STEVE ENGLEHART
Penciled by GENE COLAN, JOHN ROMITA, GIL KANE & SAL BUSCEMA
Cover by JACK KIRBY
Cap goes up against the usual villainy of AIM, Hydra and the Red Skull ? but could the most familiar enemy face be...Bucky?s!? The Falcon becomes Cap?s full-time crime-fighting partner in the wake of this shocker! Gangsters and gorillas! A mysterious Stranger! Nazis, robots and Nazi robots! Featuring the friends and foes of Spider-Man, and the web-slinger himself! Guest-starring Daredevil and the Avengers! Plus: the secret of the 1950s Captain America and Bucky, foreshadowing the first appearance of the man called Nomad! Collects CAPTAIN AMERICA #127-156.
608 PGS./All Ages ... $16.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2166-8
These ESSENTIAL CAPTAIN AMERICA TRADE PAPERBACKS STILL AVAILABLE!
ESSENTIAL CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL. 1...$14.95 (ISBN: 0-7851-0740-1)
ESSENTIAL CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL. 2...$14.95 (ISBN: 0-7851-0827-0)

ESSENTIAL MAN-THING VOL. 1 TPB
Written by ROY THOMAS, GERRY CONWAY, LEN WEIN,
STEVE GERBER, MIKE PLOOG & TONY ISABELLA
Penciled by GRAY MORROW, JOHN BUSCEMA, NEAL ADAMS,
RICH BUCKLER, HOWARD CHAYKIN, JIM STARLIN, VAL MAYERIK, MIKE PLOOG, KLAUS JANSON, TOM SUTTON, ALFREDO ALCALA &
VICENTE ALCAZAR
Cover by FRANK BRUNNER
Whosoever knows fear will see just how much there is to know in this compilation of staggering swamp sagas! Explore the heights of the cosmos and the depths of the soul with the mindless Man-Thing! Guest-starring the Fantastic Four! Ka-Zar! Daredevil! Korrek the Peanut Butter Barbarian! And featuring the first web-footed steps into adventure of Howard the Duck! Collects SAVAGE TALES #1, ASTONISHING TALES #12-13, ADVENTURE INTO FEAR #10-19, MAN-THING #1-14, GIANT-SIZE MAN-THING #1-2, and MONSTERS UNLEASHED #5 and #8-9.
544 PGS./Parental Advisory... $16.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2135-8

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Thursday, 7 September 2006 14:00 (nineteen years ago)

How much Man-Thing did Gerber write? For some reason I thought he was responsible for pretty much the whole damn thing.

― barefoot manthing (Garrett Martin), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:34 (nineteen years ago)

Well, I'm gonna take a guess that he had something to do with Korrek the Peanut Butter Barbarian.

― David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:42 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, it's only the first few issues that aren't by Gerber. Sadly this first volume doesn't include Giant-Size Man-Thing 4, which features 'A Boy's Night Out', poss. Gerber's single greatest story.

The Englehart run on Captain America is v. good, btw, although the best issues (the Nomad saga) will again be in the next vol

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:53 (nineteen years ago)

SEND ME YOUR SHOWCASE AND ESSENTIALS AND I WILL COLOUR THEM FOR A REASONABLE FEE.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 7 September 2006 16:43 (nineteen years ago)

Will you draw in some comical moustaches as well?

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 7 September 2006 19:40 (nineteen years ago)

Hahaha, Cap vs. Batroc, FF vs. Batroc, Dr. Strange vs. Batroc, Thor vs. Batroc...

― Danny Aioli (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 7 September 2006 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

huk: i'll send you $5 and a box of granola bars per book.

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Friday, 8 September 2006 02:04 (nineteen years ago)

Strange that with the Showcases I'm drawn to stuff I remember and with the Essentials I'm most interested in series I somehow missed out on, e.g., Defenders.

― M. V. (M.V.), Friday, 8 September 2006 02:08 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

Friend of mine told me abt this v. useful site:

http://www.marvelmasterworks.com/home.html

sez there's an Essential Defenders Vol. 2 coming in Dec, what the world was waiting for!

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Monday, 25 September 2006 18:25 (nineteen years ago)

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