COVERS: I recently threw a few possible nominations for “Best Cover” into the ol’ Cappies memory box, but with Alex Ross doing a whole series of Marvel 75th anniversary covers there are likely to be more in the future.
MARVEL FIRSTS: THE 80s: Vol. 2: I posted about this elsewhere, too, but as supportive as I have been of the previous decodes in the series, I found the first volume of the “me decade” to be a pretty big disappointment, comprising first issues of limited series mainly. Even the chronological record wasn’t all that noteworthy.
GALACTUS: DEVOURER: We had a real good discussion of this series back on the old board, but I never did manage to find a back issue of #6 at a reasonable price. Is the trade worth the price just to get that last issue (and have it all under a single cover)? We shall see. (But I didn’t pre-order it.)
FLESH AND STEEL: THE ART OF RUSS HEATH: I’ve pretty much sworn off art books, but this one looks tempting.
MARVEL MASTERWORK VOL. 209: RARITIES: I don’t usually make too big of a deal out of a common MMW edition, but this is a rather uncommon one, featuring solo series of The Watcher and Doctor Doom. Some of the Doc Doom stories feature Wally Wood artwork. More on him later.
AVENGERS TPBS (THANOS and JUDGEMENT DAY: Always one of my favorite titles, Avengers really clicked under Roger Stern and John Buscema. The “Thanos” tpb features the beginning of their run together. Judgement Day features regular Avengers continuity, plus the Avengers vs. X-Men limited series, plus the titular graphic novel. I traded away my Avengers vs. X-Men limited series; didn’t care much for it at the time. I was willing to give it a second chance during the recent AvX crossover hype, but I couldn’t find a copy of the earlier collected edition. And I never did buy the graphic novel. These are on my “maybe if it’s a light week” list.
GASOLINE ALLEY SUNDAYS V2: I’m almost finished reading volume one. At this rate, the Sundays are soon going to overtake the dailies.
TWO-FISTED TALES V3: It’s always good news when another EC archive is released.
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: GREAT DISASTER: This was solicited a couple of years ago, then taken off the schedule. Pre-order it now! Show your support!
WALLY WOOD’S THUNDER AGENTS: Tower Comics get an “A” in concept, but only a “C” in execution. My favorite features are the ones by Wally Wood, and here they are in one convenient volume!
WALLY WOOD’S WITZEND: Steve Ditko, Al Williamson, Frank Frazetta, Archie Goodwin, Reed Crandal, Angelo Torres, Bill Elder, Harvey Kurtzman. Need I say more? Art Spiegelman, Vaughn Bode, Jeff Jones, Bernie Wrightson, Howard Chaykin, Jim Steranko, Need I say more? No CCA. ‘Nuff said. And I hope you all saw the collection of Wally Wood’s Cannon that shipped yesterday. Now we need a comprehensive Wood/Kirby Star Masters.
LOAC BUNGLE FAMILY: Love the format!
FRANK BELLAMY’S HEROS THE SPARTAN: The standard version is $179.00. (Why do they do this to me?) If you want the slip-cased edition, that runs into bucks. (395 of them to be precise.)
WEIRD LOVE: Solicited as “the most sexy, bizarre, sick, twisted, politically incorrect, kinky ‘romance’ comics of the 1950s and beyond” and featuring stories with titles such as “Love of a Lunatic,” “I Fell for a Commie,” “The Taming of the Brute,” “You Also Snore, Darling” and edited by Craig Yoe. How can anyone pass this up?
OTHER HONORABLE MENTIONS: ARCHIE DAILIES (1963—1965), another volume in the CARL BARKS LIBRARY, a second edition of DELL COMICS POGO (but don’t expect it anytime soon; the first volume just shipped, months late), a third volume of JOHNNY HAZARD, a third volume of Charton’s PHANTOM, and CAPTAIN FLASH from PS Artbooks.
Replies
Ah, what luck! I just finished writing up mine last night.
Jeff said:
I did, and that was my impulse buy at the shop.
GALLERY EDITIONS: I’ve seen the “gallery edition” of Simonson’s Alien adaptation, but I have little interest in Robocop vs. Terminator. As much as I like the Terminator franchise, I’ve seen the Robocop movies only once each, and that was years after the fact on VHS. I read the Robocop vs. Terminator mini when it first came out, and although I still own it (and know exactly where it is), I’ve yet to read it a second time.
WHO SHOT THE WATCHER?: Best thing to come out of this is that MMW “Rareties” edition.
THANOS ANNUAL: I’m not too interested in anything Marvel is doing with the character these days, but this one is written by Jim Starlin and Drawn by Ron Lim so I’ll be giving it a look.
CANNON: If anyone is interested in the 1990-something six-issue comic book series (Eros?) which reprinted Cannon, let me know.
CYCLOPS: basically it's "young" Scott learning about the secrets of his past that "old" Scott and the readers already know!
DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU: a definitely maybe!
DEVIL DINOSAUR BY JACK KIRBY: Amazing that it took this long AND that Marvel can deny the King his due yet still exploit his work!
FANTASTIC FOUR: Now it's Johnny's turn to lose his powers!
FUTURE'S END: Will this end the DCnU or make it worse?
MADAME FRANKENSTEIN: "Build-a-Bride"! That will work out well!