Marvel Collected Editions

[grahamgg]

I'm only 26 and I love Spider-Man, I am collecting all the single issues and I have the omnis. You are missing some great stuff in that first omni by stopping at issue 12. The master planner saga is one of the best Spidey stories I have ever read.

Agreed! You have to stick with Stan Lee for a few issues before you get used to his hokey SA style of writing. But there's lots and lots of great stuff in there. The running subplot of MJ meeting Pete (and her face always being obscured to the viewer), the master planner saga as you've mentioned, the intro of the Green Goblin, Pete's first days at college, lots and lots of great material.

I've never been the biggest Fantastic Four fan, I've tried many times but it just never caught me. This year, thanks to some awesome sales, I've picked up some of the OHCs people have told me to read, and the new ones as well. So I've now read the three Silver Age Omnis, the two Byrne omnis, the three Waid OHCs, the two Hickman Omnis, the Fraction Omni and the Robinson stuff that's available on unlimited.

Earlier you guys were talking about different eras of the FF. I've read a large chunk of FF issues over the years and here's my list of favorites:
Byrne at #1, and by far. Yes, it starts very slowly in the issues where he's only doing the artwork but by the time he takes over the writing chores, the book just takes off. Good, good stuff. My favorite arc is the intro of Nova and the trial of Galactus with the "naked She-Hulk pics" issue as a close 2nd. Hilarious! I put together a near complete run of single issues of this run ~15 years ago, sold those on eBay when the visionaries TPs came out years back, then finally upgraded those to the 2 Omnis. This is one of my all time favorite runs in comics. 1980s JB is absolute gold whether you're talking about FF, UXM, WCA or Superman.

For #2, I'll go with the Lee/Kirby run. It falls just short of Byrne IMO. You're basically reading the history of the MU page-by-page as Stan makes everything up! The drawbacks are hokey dialogue, minimization of Sue as a character, and repetitiveness ... seems like they're fighting Namor or Doc Doom every 2nd issue.

For #3, and this is mainly nostalgia driven as to the era I first started picking up comics is the Englehart/Frenz/Sinnott run from just after Byrne's departure until around 1988-1989 or so. I remember picking those books up monthly featuring the Thing during his "pineapple mutated" days, the Crystal/Johnny/Alicia love triangle, and all sorts of cosmic silliness. Glad to see the early part of this run has already made it into Epic format since I sold all my single issues years ago.

For #4 I'm going with Hickman. Tried to read part of this monthly, and then in PHC format but it just wasn't doing it for me. Nothing seemed to happen for months on end. However, reading in Omni form, it flows MUCH MUCH better. The only drawbacks IMO are the plodding, methodical, macro-view style of writing that Hickman uses. Sometimes I found myself just thinking "GET TO THE POINT ALREADY!". It's extremely decompressed. Also the climax of the entire run happens about 2/3 of the way thru the 2nd Omni then kind of meanders along to the finish.

At #5 I'm going with DeFalco/Frenz in the early 1990s. Nostalgic from my early comic buying days at play again here. The artwork by Ryan is kind of pedestrian and lacking in spots and you can tell they were doing their darnedest to make the FF relevant and "1990s KEWL!" Still there were lots of good ideas at play. The "death" of Reed really launched Sue into the leadership role full time, and can be read as an extension of what Byrne was doing to her character. The celestials arc around #400 was pretty good as well. Drawbacks include: Typical 1990s Marvel comics populated with lots of scowls, action poses, open mouth screaming and "deaths" of major characters. Fantastic Force was also a dud and I never liked the teenage version of Franklin or the idea of Nathanial Richards as some mysterious time traveler (although what Hickman did with those 2 concepts is pretty cool).

#6 (tie) Waid/Ringo and JMS. Not much of a fan of either of these. My opinion on Waid/Ringo is that they were just trying too hard. The FF break into Heaven (REALLY!? Shouldn't we all be so lucky to just STAY there Lord willing we make it?!) to revive Ben and God is really Jack Kirby ... yawn. Silliness like that and making Doom a supernatural foe aside, the art by Ringo is top notch. JMS didn't really do anything significant I can remember. In fact the only notable thing I remember about his run was the reintroduction of Thor around the time of Civil War, but didn't that turn out to be a clone or something? Yeah. Like I said, just kind of boring.

#7 Millar/Hitch. Wasted potential. Period. Could have been amazing and instead was nothing special at all.

[Captain Craig]

Haha while I agree with this statement, as another self-proclaimed "Spidey Super-Fan", I think that the Lee / Romita Vol II Omnibus is the material I find myself re-reading over and over again!

Also, I just rearranged my bookshelves so here's a quick pic...

Attachment 25281

These are the Ikea Kallax?
Your collection looks great. I second the hardwood floors love!
Also, my ocd is in a fit seeing that pole lamps cord NOT behind the shelving unit!!!

[Peter Parker]

Also, my ocd is in a fit seeing that pole lamps cord NOT behind the shelving unit!!!

Thank God I am not the only one. This whole thread doubles as an OCD support group.

[legion_quest]

At #5 I'm going with DeFalco/Frenz in the early 1990s. Nostalgic from my early comic buying days at play again here. The artwork by Ryan is kind of pedestrian and lacking in spots and you can tell they were doing their darnedest to make the FF relevant and "1990s KEWL!" Still there were lots of good ideas at play. The "death" of Reed really launched Sue into the leadership role full time, and can be read as an extension of what Byrne was doing to her character. The celestials arc around #400 was pretty good as well. Drawbacks include: Typical 1990s Marvel comics populated with lots of scowls, action poses, open mouth screaming and "deaths" of major characters. Fantastic Force was also a dud and I never liked the teenage version of Franklin or the idea of Nathanial Richards as some mysterious time traveler (although what Hickman did with those 2 concepts is pretty cool).

Haha, the days of Sue having a boob window. Power girl, eat your heart out.

[TomSlick]

#6 (tie) Waid/Ringo and JMS. Not much of a fan of either of these. My opinion on Waid/Ringo is that they were just trying too hard. The FF break into Heaven (REALLY!? Shouldn't we all be so lucky to just STAY there Lord willing we make it?!) to revive Ben and God is really Jack Kirby ... yawn. Silliness like that and making Doom a supernatural foe aside, the art by Ringo is top notch. JMS didn't really do anything significant I can remember. In fact the only notable thing I remember about his run was the reintroduction of Thor around the time of Civil War, but didn't that turn out to be a clone or something? Yeah. Like I said, just kind of boring.

#7 Millar/Hitch. Wasted potential. Period. Could have been amazing and instead was nothing special at all.

Ha ha. This is the part that I loved! I didn't like it the first time around in floppies but I did as an OHC collection. Plus, the way Ben "died" and his thoughts right at the end. Damn. Loved it.

Millar-Hitch. Agreed. They were coming off Ultimates (or at least the first run) and I didn't think they could do any wrong. What a waste. I'm not even sure Millar even finished the run or if someone just used his ideas and ran with it. Same with JMS - loved most of his ASM but his FF is not very memorable.

[Eamo71]

Agreed! You have to stick with Stan Lee for a few issues before you get used to his hokey SA style of writing. But there's lots and lots of great stuff in there. The running subplot of MJ meeting Pete (and her face always being obscured to the viewer), the master planner saga as you've mentioned, the intro of the Green Goblin, Pete's first days at college, lots and lots of great material.



Earlier you guys were talking about different eras of the FF. I've read a large chunk of FF issues over the years and here's my list of favorites:
Byrne at #1, and by far. Yes, it starts very slowly in the issues where he's only doing the artwork but by the time he takes over the writing chores, the book just takes off. Good, good stuff. My favorite arc is the intro of Nova and the trial of Galactus with the "naked She-Hulk pics" issue as a close 2nd. Hilarious! I put together a near complete run of single issues of this run ~15 years ago, sold those on eBay when the visionaries TPs came out years back, then finally upgraded those to the 2 Omnis. This is one of my all time favorite runs in comics. 1980s JB is absolute gold whether you're talking about FF, UXM, WCA or Superman.

For #2, I'll go with the Lee/Kirby run. It falls just short of Byrne IMO. You're basically reading the history of the MU page-by-page as Stan makes everything up! The drawbacks are hokey dialogue, minimization of Sue as a character, and repetitiveness ... seems like they're fighting Namor or Doc Doom every 2nd issue.

For #3, and this is mainly nostalgia driven as to the era I first started picking up comics is the Englehart/Frenz/Sinnott run from just after Byrne's departure until around 1988-1989 or so. I remember picking those books up monthly featuring the Thing during his "pineapple mutated" days, the Crystal/Johnny/Alicia love triangle, and all sorts of cosmic silliness. Glad to see the early part of this run has already made it into Epic format since I sold all my single issues years ago.

For #4 I'm going with Hickman. Tried to read part of this monthly, and then in PHC format but it just wasn't doing it for me. Nothing seemed to happen for months on end. However, reading in Omni form, it flows MUCH MUCH better. The only drawbacks IMO are the plodding, methodical, macro-view style of writing that Hickman uses. Sometimes I found myself just thinking "GET TO THE POINT ALREADY!". It's extremely decompressed. Also the climax of the entire run happens about 2/3 of the way thru the 2nd Omni then kind of meanders along to the finish.

At #5 I'm going with DeFalco/Frenz in the early 1990s. Nostalgic from my early comic buying days at play again here. The artwork by Ryan is kind of pedestrian and lacking in spots and you can tell they were doing their darnedest to make the FF relevant and "1990s KEWL!" Still there were lots of good ideas at play. The "death" of Reed really launched Sue into the leadership role full time, and can be read as an extension of what Byrne was doing to her character. The celestials arc around #400 was pretty good as well. Drawbacks include: Typical 1990s Marvel comics populated with lots of scowls, action poses, open mouth screaming and "deaths" of major characters. Fantastic Force was also a dud and I never liked the teenage version of Franklin or the idea of Nathanial Richards as some mysterious time traveler (although what Hickman did with those 2 concepts is pretty cool).

#6 (tie) Waid/Ringo and JMS. Not much of a fan of either of these. My opinion on Waid/Ringo is that they were just trying too hard. The FF break into Heaven (REALLY!? Shouldn't we all be so lucky to just STAY there Lord willing we make it?!) to revive Ben and God is really Jack Kirby ... yawn. Silliness like that and making Doom a supernatural foe aside, the art by Ringo is top notch. JMS didn't really do anything significant I can remember. In fact the only notable thing I remember about his run was the reintroduction of Thor around the time of Civil War, but didn't that turn out to be a clone or something? Yeah. Like I said, just kind of boring.

#7 Millar/Hitch. Wasted potential. Period. Could have been amazing and instead was nothing special at all.

Without getting into an endless and needless Lee V Kirby derailment I think you just cannot say Stan made this stuff up on his own particularly as Kirby was plotting the book. "let's have doc doom in the next story" is not writing nor is it making and creating the MU. Now back to you regularly scheduled thread.

I wouldn't agree with your order on the FF big hitters but those would all be my favorite runs too... but as I said not in that order. i'd certainly put Hickman higher. And yes Millar/Hitch was a disastrous embarrassment. But, oddly, you'll find it has its defenders.

[Mr`Orange]

Thanks! The hardwood floor you're looking at is original to the house, which was built in the early 1900's. Apparently all the houses on my block have the same / similar floors! South Philly!

That's nice going, love that you have looked after the floor and have it on show, so many people here cover up beautiful original wooden floors with cheap carpet.

[The Whovian]

I've never been the biggest Fantastic Four fan, I've tried many times but it just never caught me. This year, thanks to some awesome sales, I've picked up some of the OHCs people have told me to read, and the new ones as well. So I've now read the three Silver Age Omnis, the two Byrne omnis, the three Waid OHCs, the two Hickman Omnis, the Fraction Omni and the Robinson stuff that's available on unlimited.

I know the Lee stuff is sacred, and I love it a lot (mostly for Kirby) but it really rehashes some stuff too much.
1) Mistaken Identity "Why are the Fantastic Four Fighting Each other?!"
2) Will the Thing be cured!?
These things would be minimized by reading monthly and not all at once like I did, but it got repetitive fast.

Byrnes stuff starts slow, and kinda boring but ended up being the absolute best. I think I read that second Omni in a week. I couldn't get enough. I liked it far better than any other FF run.

Waid is one of my favourite writers, and probably the issues I was most familiar with. And like the first time I tried to read them, they were boring. I didn't like the art style and nothing seemed to matter. I feel like this material left no impression on the FF as a whole.

Hickaman's stuff was a lot more character driven than people led me to believe. I never thought I would like Franklin and Valeria as much as I did. They made the Super Hero School concept more engaging than anything the X-Men have done recently. I liked that some of the story beats were carried over to his larger marvel vision. A really good read and a second the the Byrne stuff for me.

Fractions stuff was okay. I guess. The best mart about it all was Ant Man, and maybe some early comedy moments with Medusa (okay, those were really good). In fact the FF was superior to Fantastic Four in almost every aspect.

Robinson's stuff isn't doing anything for me.

That's basically my take on all of it as well and I'm a big FF fan. Loved Byrne and Hickman's runs. Waid's was okay, but not awesome. What really made me downgrade his run was what he did to Galactus. It was a joke.

Try Simonson's FF, you'll like it

[The Whovian]

Enter John Byrne.
Sue becomes a lot more than what she was.

Definitely! Byrne transformed her from the backseat, young lady who would take crap from Reed into the Invisible Woman with confidence and independence. Byrne was also the first writer to really explore and expand her powers

[TomSlick]

Waid's FF run to me had more of a mad scientist "Wow" factor.
I guess each to their own.

On a side note - and I don't think it's in OHC - I think one of the best FF stories is Grant Morrison's four-issue limited series with Jae Lee. Man, that was awesome. Morrison, superheros and an editor who isn't afraid to tell him no!

[The Whovian]

Waid's FF run to me had more of a mad scientist "Wow" factor.
I guess each to their own.

You have to admit though that what he did with Galactus was ridiculous

[Balltic05]

Is this common knowledge?

Deadpool Classic Omnibus
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/07851967..._-fvUvbVP7VMKR

J.D

[Captain Craig]

Is this common knowledge?

Deadpool Classic Omnibus
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/07851967..._-fvUvbVP7VMKR

J.D

Yes and it picks up after the Joe Kelly Omnibus.
Marvel was either short sighted or is just again showing a lack of concern to their ocd having collectors.
It should've been: Deadpool Classic vol.1 Joe Kelly then Deadpool Classic vol. 2 Priest, Herdling, Palmiotti etc
Cause that would've helped w/the reading order. Now you have to know that this DP Classic is picking up mid run of a title.

[gearsofcrabs]

Yes and it picks up after the Joe Kelly Omnibus.
Marvel was either short sighted or is just again showing a lack of concern to their ocd having collectors.
It should've been: Deadpool Classic vol.1 Joe Kelly then Deadpool Classic vol. 2 Priest, Herdling, Palmiotti etc
Cause that would've helped w/the reading order. Now you have to know that this DP Classic is picking up mid run of a title.

But then it'd be weird because it would still be skipping the stuff that's in the actual first Classic Collection.

[TomSlick]

You have to admit though that what he did with Galactus was ridiculous

Definitely, but that was part of the over-the-top stuff I was kind of referring to. It was ridiculous and fun at the same time (heck, I think it got retconned or just ignored later, didn't it?), but it didn't bother me. I always felt FF should be super over-the-top, since it was Marvel's first first foray into super hero comics and the "world's greatest magazine!"