Marvel Collected Editions

[grahamgg]

BTW a lot of people are worried that can't post like normal. The below post(courtesy of grahamgg) is fine in either thread:

Dang, man. I posted it in the other thread instead of here on purpose and you copied it over. LOL
So anyways, what was the deal with CGN having the UXM v2 DM cover variant still available at half off? I thought that one had sold out months ago. Maybe the found a box in the back that had never been opened full of the Byrne cover variants.

So a couple weeks ago I started reading the Hickman FF Omni v2. Honestly, I stopped about 2/3 of the way thru. After the climax with the four cities and Inhumans/Galactus/Kree/Celestials war, I felt like most everything after was a bit of a letdown. I was really enjoying it up until that point and I find it odd that Hickman crafted his story such that climax occured so early and not closer to the end. As a result, the reader is left feeling a bit let down by the last third of the book. Post-climax you get a done-in-one follow up with Doom which shows how he survived the battle, a fairly hilarious one-shot with Pete & Johnny as roommates, then a few boring issues of the team in Wakanda with the Black Panther becoming the kind of the dead (or something). There's really not a lot going on to hold my interest. I've tried to pick it back up a couple times but haven't gotten back into it. I think I have 3-4 issues left in the book + the extras. Anyone else feel this way about this volume?

[Rimmer]

So a couple weeks ago I started reading the Hickman FF Omni v2. Honestly, I stopped about 2/3 of the way thru. After the climax with the four cities and Inhumans/Galactus/Kree/Celestials war, I felt like most everything after was a bit of a letdown. I was really enjoying it up until that point and I find it odd that Hickman crafted his story such that climax occured so early and not closer to the end. As a result, the reader is left feeling a bit let down by the last third of the book. Post-climax you get a done-in-one follow up with Doom which shows how he survived the battle, a fairly hilarious one-shot with Pete & Johnny as roommates, then a few boring issues of the team in Wakanda with the Black Panther becoming the kind of the dead (or something). There's really not a lot going on to hold my interest. I've tried to pick it back up a couple times but haven't gotten back into it. I think I have 3-4 issues left in the book + the extras. Anyone else feel this way about this volume?

I know what you mean. When you have a cliffhanger/ending THAT big and THAT good, anything else just seems blah. I kinda compare it to the movie version of Return of the King. (Not bothering with spoilers as if you haven't read/seen ROtK by now, well...) But I compare it to when Gollum gets the ring and essentially destroys it, that's the big epic finale, but then the movie goes on and on and on for another seemingly 45 minutes after. Just kinda takes the sails out of things. But still, I love the FF run by Hickman. Just great stuff IMO.

EDIT: Please keep St Louis in your prayers. Last night was pretty devastating (although expected, unfortunately). I have several close friends who are firefighters, the greater STL area was/is prepared, but it's still scary. Firefighters wearing bullet proof vests, etc... Everyone's been on edge for awhile now, I guess it's good to have that band-aid ripped off now... Peace.

[zaboraviti]

oops, wrong thread

[krisis]

So a couple weeks ago I started reading the Hickman FF Omni v2. Honestly, I stopped about 2/3 of the way thru. After the climax with the four cities and Inhumans/Galactus/Kree/Celestials war, I felt like most everything after was a bit of a letdown. I was really enjoying it up until that point and I find it odd that Hickman crafted his story such that climax occured so early and not closer to the end

My head canon of this is that Hickman had plotted that far before he found out about Marvel Now, so he had no choice but to just wind down the clock, but that his actual intention was to play out his New Avengers incursion plots in Fantastic Four - just without the Avengers World aspect of it in the foreground. (And, in fact, many of the general early beats of Avengers World would have probably worked just fine in FF).

This is also how I rationalize Fraction taking the family off-world for the next series - that Hickman effectively gave up F4/FF on the condition that the FF family would not be physically around on Earth while Reed was Illuminati-ing during the beginning of his New Avengers plot since he wouldn't get to right Susan's half of the story.

[Peter Parker]

Add Superior Foes to that list. It definitely needs to be OSHC, at least!

A man can dream!

[Peter Parker]

Dang, man. I posted it in the other thread instead of here on purpose and you copied it over. LOL
So anyways, what was the deal with CGN having the UXM v2 DM cover variant still available at half off? I thought that one had sold out months ago. Maybe the found a box in the back that had never been opened full of the Byrne cover variants.

So a couple weeks ago I started reading the Hickman FF Omni v2. Honestly, I stopped about 2/3 of the way thru. After the climax with the four cities and Inhumans/Galactus/Kree/Celestials war, I felt like most everything after was a bit of a letdown. I was really enjoying it up until that point and I find it odd that Hickman crafted his story such that climax occured so early and not closer to the end. As a result, the reader is left feeling a bit let down by the last third of the book. Post-climax you get a done-in-one follow up with Doom which shows how he survived the battle, a fairly hilarious one-shot with Pete & Johnny as roommates, then a few boring issues of the team in Wakanda with the Black Panther becoming the kind of the dead (or something). There's really not a lot going on to hold my interest. I've tried to pick it back up a couple times but haven't gotten back into it. I think I have 3-4 issues left in the book + the extras. Anyone else feel this way about this volume?

Yep I feel the same way, plus the art on some of those Future Foundation issues is wretched. There are things like the Galactus Seed that has yet to be handled. Likewise my impression is that Hickman had grander plans which he has folded into the Incursions storyline. Really I sort of think of Hickman's marvel work as one big storyline starting with the Shield stuff. I have not re-read Secret Warriors recently but would not be surprised to find clues in there too.

I really hope Hickman sticks the landing.

[grahamgg]

My head canon of this is that Hickman had plotted that far before he found out about Marvel Now, so he had no choice but to just wind down the clock, but that his actual intention was to play out his New Avengers incursion plots in Fantastic Four - just without the Avengers World aspect of it in the foreground. (And, in fact, many of the general early beats of Avengers World would have probably worked just fine in FF).

This is also how I rationalize Fraction taking the family off-world for the next series - that Hickman effectively gave up F4/FF on the condition that the FF family would not be physically around on Earth while Reed was Illuminati-ing during the beginning of his New Avengers plot since he wouldn't get to right Susan's half of the story.

Yep I feel the same way, plus the art on some of those Future Foundation issues is wretched. There are things like the Galactus Seed that has yet to be handled. Likewise my impression is that Hickman had grander plans which he has folded into the Incursions storyline. Really I sort of think of Hickman's marvel work as one big storyline starting with the Shield stuff. I have not re-read Secret Warriors recently but would not be surprised to find clues in there too.

I really hope Hickman sticks the landing.

Maybe this is part of my problem. I haven't read any of his Avengers stuff post-FF/F4.

[Peter Parker]

Maybe this is part of my problem. I haven't read any of his Avengers stuff post-FF/F4.

Its shaping up to be one of the greatest runs ever, or a huge disaster, depending on the finish. Its been two years of the Avengers stuff alone. The amount of contortion he has had to do to weave in and out of all the other events has been impressive. At the same time there are issues and issues where nothing seems to move forward. We will see how it reads collected.

[grahamgg]

Its shaping up to be one of the greatest runs ever, or a huge disaster, depending on the finish. Its been two years of the Avengers stuff alone. The amount of contortion he has had to do to weave in and out of all the other events has been impressive. At the same time there are issues and issues where nothing seems to move forward. We will see how it reads collected.

This. It's my biggest gripe about modern comics and why I haven't read any single issues in years, especially by Bendis or Hickman.

[TomSlick]

Well, against my better judgement I picked up Original Sin from CGN. I figured at $30 it's less than $2 an issue. I also grabbed Ultimate Doomsday OHC for $6. Great read, super price. Finally, grabbed JSA vol. 2 at 50 percent off. There were two books I had in my cart but removed. I had Wolverine Origin for $10 and All New X-Men Deluxe vol. 1 for $13. Great deals, but quite frankly, I've read them several times and I started to think that I wanted them more for the shelf than anything.

Also, there's a lot of people complaining about the CGN sale, but, really, they're offering some great stuff. Personally, I have most of what I want, so I'm probably not going to be able to dig in. But for those who don't have Fear Agent or some of those Hellboy Library editions? Or Absolute Promethea? Damn good deals! Also, if you're just looking for great stories and don't care about the format, then there's some really great tpbs on the cheap.

[dbngaa]

Krisis, you always cost me money with your reviews! But I end up having more great comics to read, so I'm okay with that. Off to add more items to my cart!

Alright, I've teased a few times, so here's my most-recent Marvel Now review roundup.

All-New Ghost Rider, Vol. 1: 4.5/5. I now understand why so many Marvel editors have been pushing this book so hard for so long. To enjoy it, first accept that (a) this is an all-new Ghost Rider with NO COMMENT to make on any past iteration, (b) this is very nearly an all-ages book, and certainly a teen-oriented one, and (c) the insanely angular cover art is much more round and dynamic in the interiors. I loved this to death and would put it nearly on-par with Ms. Marvel. It's such a likeable, grounded presentation of a teen hero dealing with newfound powers. Oh, and the possibility that he's actually dead.

Avengers, Vol. 6: 2/5. I believe I am in the minority in disliking this Original Sin tale of time travel. Yu's artwork is about five miles past phenomenal, but I'm just too tired of these cryptic alt-time, alt-dimension stories from Hickman - even when they're super-connected to the main plot. Does it give Cap and Widow great moments? Sure. But its just not what I'm seeking from the main Avengers title, and it's annoying to me that Hickman has fundamentally given up on writing Avengers stories for this many consecutive issues of hint-dropping.

Avengers Undercover, Vol. 2: 4/5. For a book rushed to an untimely conclusion, there's hardly anything to dislike here. A few characters get a bit short-shrift, and some of the biggest action feels a bit rushed, but it's a solid and respectful final chapter to Hopeless's incredibly entertaining riff on how Hunger Games would play out in the Marvel U. He really reaches for all of the possible outcomes, from PTSD to doubting one's own morality, and actually finds some new shades to his core characters (especially the women) along the way.

Elektra, Vol. 1: 4.5/5. Marvel clearly brought on William Blackman, introduced him to Mike Del Mundo, and said, "get as close to the Batwoman all splash-pages, heavy narration feel as you can." And they did. And it's awesome. By far the best Elektra solo story I've read. Gorgeous, violent, funny. So great. I cannot believe this book is going to be cancelled, but there's word that the Blackman/DelMundo team is already being assembled for another book.

Hulk, Vol. 1: 1.5/5. I'm not sure what's going on with Waid here other than that I'm happy he decided to cede this title. Maybe it's the Bagley art, but this feels like a very 90s story - a poorly-conceived plot that's going to have to be quickly reversed with lots of EXTREMELY SERIOUS SITUATIONS, DUDE - all of which get neatly resolved. Not anything like the incredibly high-quality run that came before.

Iron Man, Vol. 5: 2/5. Gillen's verve for this series is clearly worn thin here, as this scramble to possess and exploit Mandarin's rings is a total snooze. There are pages of virtual rings "talking" to each other in a virtual reality environment. I am not lying to you. Still, it's assembled serviceably and has some decent Malekith action.

Magneto, Vol. 1: 3/5. Cullen Bunn may have finally hit his mark at Marvel, and it's super-weird. This Magneto is pretty much a traveling hobo - a well-dressed deadly mutant terrorist traveling hobo trying to make some small rights in a county of wrongs. Even with some hyper-violence, the book feels very subtle - in no small part due to Walta's indie-flavored art. However, a one-off issue about hunting Marauder clones ranks as perhaps the best X story all year, and has some frightening implications for Magneto's mission. I'm definitely hooked.

New Avengers, Vol. 4: 3.5/5. Weirdly, this is the fascinating good stuff I'm seeking from Avengers right now and I would have happily swapped it with the run in Avengers above. We get to really FEEL the awful horror of having to decide how to save a world, and we see heroes make some truly awful choices because they have no other option. This is the most interesting the incursions have been for me so far, and the book looked terrific. Slightly graded down for a few talking-head scenes that seemed a bit excessive, but otherwise I loved it.

Nightcrawler, Vol. 2: 2.5/5. It is entirely possible some of this score is pure Claremont nostalgia, and I'm fine with that. The X-Man is in his prime of over-narrating, reintroducing, huge dialog balloons, repetitive speech tics, and everything else you love to hate to love about him. Weirdly, the result is a PERFECT all-ages X-Men comic. None of that "Look at me being whacky!" crap from Aaron's efforts at the same. Just a likeable, easy-to-understand comic book story with standard comic book art. Not everything has to be world-changing.

Secret Avengers, Vol. 1: 4.5/5. Please do not be put off by the weirdly-blocky cover art that makes this out to be a cartoonish series. I utterly devoured this trade. Kot picks up the baton from both Spencer's Secret and DeConnick's Assemble in presenting a movie-esque Avengers team being Whedon levels of amusing while defending the world from danger. Actually, it feels more like Fraction's Hawkeye in its madcap tone, but while maintaining a wider scope and Kot's base level of subversiveness and depravity. Witness: MODOK is a key supporting character who enjoys coffee on the Hellicarier veranda with Maria Hill! It's like the Avengers version of Superior Foes.

Silver Surfer, Vol. 1: 5/5. This book is perfect. The first story could not be any better-crafted or more amusing. The second one is a pure delight. There's this interesting thing that happens for me where I feel like all writers write well for Allred in this amusing late-60s pastiche, but what's really happening is that Allred draws well for all writers and finds the humanity in their stories to imply a late-60s pastiche. Maybe not palatable to hard-core Surfer fans, but highly recommended, especially for people who loved Hickman or Fraction's FF but wished each was more about the grown-ups.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man, Vol. 2: 4/5. Spencer is so, so good on just about everything, and this volume continues to be no exception - elevated further by Lieber/Rosenberg delivering Aja/Hollingsworth-quality artwork. Who would have ever guessed I'd be oohing over the origin of the New Beetle, but that's just one of the great one-shot stories here that each manage to move the plot forward. A pair of fill-in issues interrupts the flow but actually does well maintaining the tone and quality (I'd expect no less from Asmus).

Bonus Non-Marvel Quickies: Soule's Letter 44 (4/5) brilliant launch though I have doubts he can keep up the intrigue. Parker's Meteor Men (3/5) a quick, enjoyable horror-tinged version of ET. Gillen's Wicked + Divine (1.5/5) a hipsterish flatline that's getting by on hype and pedigree. Tynion's Woods Vol. 1 (3.5/5) a Buffy-descendant horror that actually has well-rounded characters to go with its tropes. Failkov's Bunker Vol. 1 (2/5) a strongly-constructed snooze that has super-flat characters to prop up its tropes. Luna's Alex and Ada Vol. 1 (5/5) a half-android odd couple with plenty of hints of a broader story beyond.

Krisis: Reading Marvel Now so you don't have to (unless you really feel like it).

Next up? New Warriors, Deadly Hands, Deadpool v. Carnage and X-Force, Iron Patriot, Avengers World, Wolverine & The X-Men, X-Iron Nova specials, the much-maligned Infinity Revelation, a dying Wolverine, and a ton of Original Sin!

[Joshua]

Grabbed Uncanny X-Men omni 2 from the CGN sale and a couple of non Marvel HCs I needed to plug some holes. Very excited for this. Not sure if I will do anything with Barnes and Noble's sale. Howard The Duck and Hickman's second FF omni are the only ones I really want right now.

I think deals do belong in a separrate thread. We have a whole forum dedicated to collected editions(and classic issues) and this thread gets so far from talking about Marvel books all the time. It isn't the end of the world.

[Captain Planet]

Personally, my stance is that all Companions get clearanced eventually, so unless they include otherwise uncollected issues from an ongoing I buy (as Inhumanity Companion did) I will abstain until they get cheap and I discuss them in the other thread

When the AvX companion was so heavily discounted I figured I adopt the same policy - wait for companions to drop in price. Sadly, Infinity Companion hasn't budged. I'm hoping we get some discounts in the next month.

[aquitaine]

So a couple weeks ago I started reading the Hickman FF Omni v2. Honestly, I stopped about 2/3 of the way thru. After the climax with the four cities and Inhumans/Galactus/Kree/Celestials war, I felt like most everything after was a bit of a letdown. I was really enjoying it up until that point and I find it odd that Hickman crafted his story such that climax occured so early and not closer to the end. As a result, the reader is left feeling a bit let down by the last third of the book. Post-climax you get a done-in-one follow up with Doom which shows how he survived the battle, a fairly hilarious one-shot with Pete & Johnny as roommates, then a few boring issues of the team in Wakanda with the Black Panther becoming the kind of the dead (or something). There's really not a lot going on to hold my interest. I've tried to pick it back up a couple times but haven't gotten back into it. I think I have 3-4 issues left in the book + the extras. Anyone else feel this way about this volume?

Amazon.ca won't deliver my pre-order until tomorrow (no way to get it quicker in Canada as far as I can tell) but I read the issues back when they were coming out.

I think I agree with krisis, that Hickman pretty clearly wanted to do the current Avengers stuff in the pages of the Fantastic Four but he needed to wind down the book for his transition during Marvel Now. There are a lot of hints toward the current Avengers storyline in Hickman's FF and in a lot of ways it really feels like his Avengers run is simply the next chapter in Hickman's grand story. The last 2/3 of his FF sets up some things for his Avengers run, like the aforementioned Black Panther issues which are very relevant to the New Avengers issues of his current storyline.

I think the only thing I didn't like about the last third of the second half of Hickman's FF was the ever-changing art, most notably some very sloppy art on the later FF books, but I think the storytelling was consistently good, even if the drama was ratcheted WAY down after the climax.

[joesephed]

I just read Original Sin in a single sitting last night and I really enjoyed it! I'm sure as I think about it I could find a few little things to nit-pick but I thought it delivered on its premise with out tipping its hand too heavily.
I'm looking forward to reading Original Sins tonight and the companion when it comes out.

I would have to say that this event has the best "elevator pitch" for a Marvel Event since maybe ever. Especially with reagards to the tie-ins- I loved the idea behind them. Excited to see if the execution lives up to the idea.