All New Marvel Collected Editions

[kdjac0434]

Hey guys, I've taken a break from Marvel since the end of Secret Wars and I'd like to catch back up. What's essential since then? I picked up Jessica Jones and I realized that I have missed quite a bit. I generally avoid reading any spoilers so I am pretty unfamiliar with any new storylines outside of a bunch of new kid heroes and some passing knowledge of Captain Americas new direction.

[OldManBrian]

Hey guys, I've taken a break from Marvel since the end of Secret Wars and I'd like to catch back up. What's essential since then? I picked up Jessica Jones and I realized that I have missed quite a bit. I generally avoid reading any spoilers so I am pretty unfamiliar with any new storylines outside of a bunch of new kid heroes and some passing knowledge of Captain Americas new direction.

You asked so take my opinion with a large grain of salt. The bigger "mainstream" titles and overall Marvel universe has tanked since Secret Wars. I don't think there is much to call essential to recommend. Maybe the Captain America books if you're interested in the current Secret Empire event. I have not read much in single issues the last two years, but below is opinion on a few of the fringe books I stuck with.

Daredevil: nowhere near as good as many of the past runs on the character, but it does continue to improve as it goes along.
Black Widow: good book but not great, was very overhyped when it started.
Power Man and Iron Fist: very good and under appreciated, with a big caveat. Check some preview art to see if it's for you. I didn't care for it at first, but it works for the book once you adjust.
Ant-Man: pretty good heart felt Scott Lang story with a humorous slant. Not as good as Superior Foes.
Superior Foes of Spider-Man: Amazing! Hysterical and cleverly written, drawn, and plotted book. Definite read if you have a funny bone.
Vision: Phenomenal! The gem of the past decade. Read it!

I'm sure there are some other books that are not bad, but I haven't read them all.

[TomSlick]

OK, so I didn't vote. I know, I know...What a dick....I wrote down a list (in no particular order) that I was going to sort out. It came down to 20 or so books. When it was all said and down I noticed that I had a number of picks that didn't make the Top 60.

So, here were my pics - no particular order - and I'll bold the ones I don't believe made the Top 60.

DD by O;Neil
SS Shadow Land
Hulk by David Vool. 1
Uncanny X-Men vol. 4
X-Factor by David vol. 1
Amazing Spider-Man that would close the gap between the Stern and Michelinie/McFarlane collections
ASM by Dan Slott Vol. 1
Black Panther (Marvel Knights) vol. 1
Iron Man by O'Neil
Moon Knight (1-36)
Iron Fist Bronze Age
Spider-Man 2099 by David
Captain Marvel by David vol. 1
Cap America by Gruenwalk vol. 1
Thing by Byrne
She Hulk by Byrne
Namor by Byrne
Pulse first volume by Bendis

[TomSlick]

What did I learn in this group? First, that a lot of Marvel's seemingly impossible What If scenarios have come true! Also, that the House of M omnibus is a little more feasible than I initially thought, that Peter David's Captain Marvel is much funnier than I realized, just how many people died in X-Force, and that Namor's Silver Age material might be stronger than some of his more-popular peers..

The first volume of CM was very funny and a great continuation of his Hulk or at least the minor/semi-major characters as it picked right up where he left off.
Volume 2 was much darker as I recall. Also at the time, David and (I believe it was) Bill Jemas got into a contest to see whether Issue 1 of vol. 2 could sell better than some other comics at the time. If I'm not mistaken David won.

[FlashingSabre]

You asked so take my opinion with a large grain of salt. The bigger "mainstream" titles and overall Marvel universe has tanked since Secret Wars. I don't think there is much to call essential to recommend. Maybe the Captain America books if you're interested in the current Secret Empire event. I have not read much in single issues the last two years, but below is opinion on a few of the fringe books I stuck with.

Daredevil: nowhere near as good as many of the past runs on the character, but it does continue to improve as it goes along.
Black Widow: good book but not great, was very overhyped when it started.
Power Man and Iron Fist: very good and under appreciated, with a big caveat. Check some preview art to see if it's for you. I didn't care for it at first, but it works for the book once you adjust.
Ant-Man: pretty good heart felt Scott Lang story with a humorous slant. Not as good as Superior Foes.
Superior Foes of Spider-Man: Amazing! Hysterical and cleverly written, drawn, and plotted book. Definite read if you have a funny bone.
Vision: Phenomenal! The gem of the past decade. Read it!

I'm sure there are some other books that are not bad, but I haven't read them all.

I completely agree with all of this.

[FlashingSabre]

The first volume of CM was very funny and a great continuation of his Hulk or at least the minor/semi-major characters as it picked right up where he left off.
Volume 2 was much darker as I recall. Also at the time, David and (I believe it was) Bill Jemas got into a contest to see whether Issue 1 of vol. 2 could sell better than some other comics at the time. If I'm not mistaken David won.

Yeah, the bet was against Jemas' Marville. Which is quite possibly the worst thing Marvel has ever published.

[Peter Parker]

Hey guys, I've taken a break from Marvel since the end of Secret Wars and I'd like to catch back up. What's essential since then? I picked up Jessica Jones and I realized that I have missed quite a bit. I generally avoid reading any spoilers so I am pretty unfamiliar with any new storylines outside of a bunch of new kid heroes and some passing knowledge of Captain Americas new direction.

It's not been great. Vision is the glaring exception. Marvel went really hard in the direction of replacing the traditional characters with gender/age/race alternate versions: everybody has a Miles Morales now. Too much too quick, not much organic development. The rampant #1's, Events, etc have gotten worse not better. Floppy prices are starting to slide upward again $3.99 as the base with many books finding reasons to cost more.

I lasted till Civil War 2. It was so disappointing, as is the general state of whatever the 616 is called now, that I have retreated into older collections for the time being.

[PLEDGE]

^Yeah too much too quick is definitely the problem...not so much the race and gender diversity per se. Marvel forgot to keep the core fans happy and essentially made their entire universe an elseworld/what if? scenario.

[mrjohnnykid]

It's not been great. Vision is the glaring exception. Marvel went really hard in the direction of replacing the traditional characters with gender/age/race alternate versions: everybody has a Miles Morales now. Too much too quick, not much organic development. The rampant #1's, Events, etc have gotten worse not better. Floppy prices are starting to slide upward again $3.99 as the base with many books finding reasons to cost more.

I lasted till Civil War 2. It was so disappointing, as is the general state of whatever the 616 is called now, that I have retreated into older collections for the time being.

I agree with this

[Pachamac]

Hey all! Does anyone know what this is? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162496134496 As far as I'm aware, a Brian Reed Ms.Marvel omnibus has never been made but here this is? I even did a quick doublecheck on the italian panini omnibus versions to see if it was one of those, but I couldn't see a listing for that either, and the photos for the book interiors show the language to be english, which afaik is not the case for the italian editions. It could be a knock off copy, but it looks a bit too good for that, and the seller's feedback looks up to scratch as well. Any help?

So I took a punt on this book, figuring it it was a scam I could get a refund and if it was legit then I'd come out with a cool omnibus book for a solid price, and the results were delightfully pleasing! The book definitely is a custom, but it's the most fascinating custom I've ever come across. I've done some custom binding of my own and bought some others in the past, but they woukd always have been regular comic and tpb trade size. This one however is fully ohc sized, and so had to have been custom printed too since iirc there isn't any Ms.Marvel ohcs to utilise? The printing quality is fantastic, and the binding is exceptional, and the paper quality is actually better then Marvel's recent efforts too as well! If I didn't know better I would have thought it was the real thing!

IMG_20170515_141927_hdr.jpg
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IMG_20170515_141947_hdr.jpg

[Captain Craig]

I'm breaking down the Most-Wanted results book by book on my blog as I did last year, although I'm going into much greater depth on each volume. I'm not only discussing more of the plot and art, but I'm also choosing a handful of omnis on which I do some number-crushing - like how many What Ifs came true and how many people died in X-Force.

Here's the first five.

#60 – What If? Classic Omnibus, Vol. 1
#59 – House of M Omnibus
#58 – Captain Marvel by Peter David, Vol. 1
#57 – X-Force by Kyle & Yost
#56 – Namor, The Sub-Mariner, Vol. 1

What did I learn in this group? First, that a lot of Marvel's seemingly impossible What If scenarios have come true! Also, that the House of M omnibus is a little more feasible than I initially thought, that Peter David's Captain Marvel is much funnier than I realized, just how many people died in X-Force, and that Namor's Silver Age material might be stronger than some of his more-popular peers.

I don't know if I'll have the stamina or time to keep up this level of coverage for another 55 books (plus ties!), which would take me through the end of June to complete, but I'm definitely learning a lot about the comics I love in the process! I encourage you to comment on CK if you're reading along.

I'll probably continue to ping the thread every five books or so with links to my write-ups, as long as that doesn't start to feel like spamming.

Out of these 5 my only day of release purchase would be the Namor book. Largely cause the bulk of the material is unknown to me. I've enjoyed the GA Captain America as well as DC's GA, Supes/Bats/WW volumes (even though I'm a bit behind on them). As someone who likes history I find myself trying to place myself in the mood and atmosphere of the time in which they were written.

My two-cents is that if you continue to post these in blocks of 5 that it's not spamming. It's posts that encourage conversation, new conversation at that, about what we all just took part in. I don't recall the boards specific definition of spamming but I feel strongly you're in the clear. I see spamming as repetitive non-constructive posting on an issue and that is not what these 5-part posts would be.

[grahamgg]

OK, so I posted this over on the MMW MB but thought I'd drop it here as well for anyone interested. My take on the recent Excalibur Epic Collection.

---
Finished the Excalibur Epic last week. As a kid I'd only read one or two scattered issues, mostly X-crossovers like the Inferno issue or Fatal Attractions, etc, so I never really got into this series for whatever reason. At the time of their original publication I was mostly into kids comics (GI Joe, Transformers, etc) and the Marvel books I read were ASM, Avengers, FF & Hulk. So I was going into this material cold, although over the years I'd become somewhat well versed in the X-universe continuity from this era with the exception of Excalibur. Below are some of my takeaways.

GOOD
Claremont! You can tell the X-characters talk and act like they're supposed to, especially Kurt & Kitty. The pain they feel about the X-Men's "death" in FOTM feels real and the character interactions about how they have to move on from that difficult part of their life are handled excellently.
Follow up to the Inferno destruction of the X-Mansion was handled well. Kitty running the danger room to put Captain Britain thru the paces, etc. Kitty hanging out with the New Mutants for half an issue was a real treat and closed the door on her past adventures with that team.
Alan Davis! Davis' artwork is slick and polished and a real treat to see.
The Mojo Mayhem one-shot. Even though I always HATED Mojo as a character this issue was really well done in the same vein as the Art Adams illustrated X-Men annuals & New Mutants specials from this late 1980s era. This book almost seemed like it should have been another X-Men annual drawn by Art during this time period but was changed into an Excalibur one-shot. The story is basically Kitty & the X-babies, front & center, with the remainder of the Excalibur team only showing up at the end for a couple pages. Claremont's handling of Kitty's interactions with the X-babies, and realizing how much she missed the regular X-Men was perfect.

BAD
The Marshall Rogers illustrated issues were a drastic artistic change from the Alan Davis issues. Not sure why Rogers had changed his style by this point, but it pales in comparison to other artists work during this era and is a shadow of his former work a decade earlier on Batman, which was amazing. Rogers draws almost in sketches, with little detail. Honestly these issues were kind of a chore to plow thru compared to earlier chapters.
Not sure where Captain Britain had been prior to Excalibur, during this time, but he's handled mostly like a jerk. I didn't like his characterization at all. I see based on some of the bonus issues he was created back in the 1970s by Claremont but I didn't like his take on the character at all. He was the only one that really didn't "gel" with the others in my opinion.
Body/mind swapping ... ugh. This plot device grates on me to no end and was in use a couple of issues. Lazy writing? Either way I don't like it.
Mojo and Arcade were headlines as villains in this collection and in my opinion they're just kind of silly characters. Not my favorites.
The MCP issues where the team fights the Looney Tunes stand ins was terrible (and also not written by Claremont). The art by Erik Laresn is good, but I skimmed these issues.

ASSORTED MUSINGS / OTHER QUESTIONS
These are a few things I wondered about after finishing the book and I'm sure some of our other posters more well versed on X-history (like Krisis!) might know the answers to them.
When exactly did Phoenix leave the X-Men? I realize she was missing during Mutant Massacre and FOTM, was this her reappearance from that time? She was missing to the rest of the team as this volume began. Had she been gone since the fall out after Secret Wars II when her and Wolverine got into it?
Phoenix went to see baby Nate after Inferno, but Jean or X-Factor never saw her. Apparently during this time period the X-Men were thought dead to the world at large, but X-Factor knew they were alive (after Inferno). When did the Excalibur team find out the rest of the X-Men were alive? I'd like to read that interaction. Was it handled by Claremont as well?
When was the X-Mansion rebuilt? I know it happened prior to the launch of X-Men (1991) by Claremont/Jim Lee, but did we ever see it on-panel?

[evilomar]

So I took a punt on this book, figuring it it was a scam I could get a refund and if it was legit then I'd come out with a cool omnibus book for a solid price, and the results were delightfully pleasing! The book definitely is a custom, but it's the most fascinating custom I've ever come across. I've done some custom binding of my own and bought some others in the past, but they woukd always have been regular comic and tpb trade size. This one however is fully ohc sized, and so had to have been custom printed too since iirc there isn't any Ms.Marvel ohcs to utilise? The printing quality is fantastic, and the binding is exceptional, and the paper quality is actually better then Marvel's recent efforts too as well! If I didn't know better I would have thought it was the real thing!

IMG_20170515_141927_hdr.jpg
IMG_20170515_141718_hdr.jpg
IMG_20170515_141947_hdr.jpg

I'm still wondering how this was even possible. Unless each page was scanned then printed out. Regardless, looks gorgeous.

[legion_quest]

So I took a punt on this book, figuring it it was a scam I could get a refund and if it was legit then I'd come out with a cool omnibus book for a solid price, and the results were delightfully pleasing! The book definitely is a custom, but it's the most fascinating custom I've ever come across. I've done some custom binding of my own and bought some others in the past, but they woukd always have been regular comic and tpb trade size. This one however is fully ohc sized, and so had to have been custom printed too since iirc there isn't any Ms.Marvel ohcs to utilise? The printing quality is fantastic, and the binding is exceptional, and the paper quality is actually better then Marvel's recent efforts too as well! If I didn't know better I would have thought it was the real thing!

IMG_20170515_141927_hdr.jpg
IMG_20170515_141718_hdr.jpg
IMG_20170515_141947_hdr.jpg

Well.....that just looks amazing!

[Balakin]

So I took a punt on this book, figuring it it was a scam I could get a refund and if it was legit then I'd come out with a cool omnibus book for a solid price, and the results were delightfully pleasing! The book definitely is a custom, but it's the most fascinating custom I've ever come across. I've done some custom binding of my own and bought some others in the past, but they woukd always have been regular comic and tpb trade size. This one however is fully ohc sized, and so had to have been custom printed too since iirc there isn't any Ms.Marvel ohcs to utilise? The printing quality is fantastic, and the binding is exceptional, and the paper quality is actually better then Marvel's recent efforts too as well! If I didn't know better I would have thought it was the real thing!

IMG_20170515_141927_hdr.jpg
IMG_20170515_141718_hdr.jpg
IMG_20170515_141947_hdr.jpg

wow! And the images are sharp too? No blurring or maybe cut down page edges?