Big Marvel Compendia

They seem to be pretty widely loved here on ILX. I'm not a Marvellian, so I wouldn't know, though.

The Essentials collections? They're pretty much all worth the price ($15 American). I'm not crazy about the Human Torch, Iron Man, or Captain America ones, but they'll have their defenders, I think. The Punisher one is probably not worth having.

The FF and Spidey ones are definitely terrific, and there are two sets of X-Men ones -- one beginning from #1, the Lee run, and the other with the "All New All Different" X-Men of the Claremont era.

My "best of" list is probably the first Spidey one, Howard the Duck, both Tomb of Draculas, Dr Strange, and the first two Claremont X-Men -- but like I said, they're really all worth the money.

It's hard to argue with them for the price. I'd throw in a recommendation for the Howard the Duck, Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer and Tomb of Dracula above the others. I'm sure that the Spidey and FF and X-Men are worth the money as well, assuming that you're a fan of 60s/70s Marvel comics, that is.

I'm eagerly anticipating the upcoming Defenders volume, myself.

Early Lee / Kirby X-Men ain't so hot, actually - FF & Spidey is where it's at. Have they Essentialized the Roy Thomas / Neal Adams run? That's fun stuff, if just a smidge melodramatic. (I JUST REALIZED - Neal Adams has a "thing" for drawing humanoid flying creatures. Sauron, Man-Bat, Valeria the She-Bat ... hmm ...)

I will THIRD the Howard the Duck collection (no, really!) and Dr. Strange. I'm reading the Silver Surfer one right now, and while the art is snazzy, the existential surfboard-wringing is harshing my Buscema buzz.

Ha, as the person who offered that Trojan list, I might as well try again:

1. FF#3 - Kirby at his peak, Galactus, Surfer, Panther, Inhumans, and that great fake-Thing story after the cosmic epic.
2. Howard The Duck - some of my favourite comics writing of all time, and one of my favourite issues in 'What Do You Do The Day After You Save The Universe' - see above for FF parallels!
3. Spidey #1&2 - absolutely magnificent Ditko art. The scene where he is trapped under some huge iron machinery with water dribbling down is one of my favourite ever series of panels.
4. FF #1&2 - you'll enjoy 3 more if you read these first, and even the early ones, stupid stories and all, are fabulous.
5. Dr Strange - the stories aren't all very interesting, but no one has ever drawn magic or weird other realms as gorgeously as Ditko.
6. Avengers, especially #1, for some more prime Kirby and the undervalued Don Heck.
7. X-Men #1 (original run) - very variable quality, but a lot of the foundatins of much of the Marvel Universe today is here, and there are a few great issues.
8. Captain America - the old WWII tales are pretty dull, but full of magnificent Kirby. The Red Skull origin, where he has Cap tied up, is some of his best work.
9. Thor - some of Kirby's mightiest and most bombastic art, though warning: quite a lot of 4th rate artists and crap stories early on.
10. Tomb Of Dracula #1&2 - beautiful Colan art, and hilariously wrong UK locations.

I wish I'd had room for Ant-Man too - not one of their top stars, but a lot of this is terrific (including Heck's best ever work, for me), and it's material far less reprinted than FF, Spidey, X-Men and so on. I didn't know there was a Defenders one coming - if they start at the beginning, I'll be buying it mostly in the hope of encouraging a volume 2, which could collect all of the fantastic Gerber run.

The Tomb of Draculas (the third and final one is now out!) are very good indeed, and get better as they go along. But I'm mostly a Ditko guy: can't go wrong with the first two Spider-Man books, and the visuals in the Dr. Strange book are AMAZING. I actually bought the Marvel Masterworks version of the Dr. Strange stuff to have it in color/a showoffable version...

ESSENTIAL Super-Villain Team-Up!

...has some wonderful Wally Wood art and a nice story with the Red Skull and the Hate Monger, but is not that Essential... though A BILLION BILLION TIMES MORE ESSENTIAL THAN:

ESSENTIAL Iron Fist. AKA "Why I Luuuuuuurve Terrorists" by Chris Claremont.

The Gene Colan solo Doom story in SVTU would be one for the ages, if only the dialogue was stripped out... SVTU, fun, but not really essential (and really, it doesn't live up to it's name, being mostly Doom and Submariner in bondage suit team up, not nearly as interesting as it could've been.)

I am a fan of the leather vested underarm-wing'd Sub-Mariner. That is all.

I went in my local shop today and found 'Essential The Monster Of Frankenstein'. Presumably 'Essential It The Living Colossus' will be out next month. Actually, I assume they knocked this one out because Drac was a hit, but it does seem to be stretching the title even further than previously.

If you buy it, it's guaranteed to infuriate you - something it shares with ESSENTIAL IRON FIST. There's been some kind of drop-off in the essentialness lately.

Does anyone know if the Essential Avengers has extended or will extend into the Englehart run?

Nice Ploog art on those early issues of Frankenstein

Yeah, there is some nice art in a few issues. As for the Avengers, I don't think anyone has said. I don't think we've even been promised the rest of the Kirby FFs, which I really want to happen - the idea of being able to buy Jack's entire run on the FF in five volumes (I hope it's five, anyway) for about £55 is wonderful.