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Cosmic Marvel

Old 06-10-14, 08:31 PM
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Cosmic Marvel

I never read any cosmic Marvel before, but the Guardians of the Galaxy movie makes me want to get into it. I found this reading list:

spoiler for size

Spoiler:


Is all of that necessary to understand the story or is some of it just crappy tie-in junk that can be skipped? That's a lot of comics not exactly wallet-friendly...

Is the first Annihilation storyarc a good starting point? I have read some old 1960s cosmic stories, such as the first Galactus/Silver Surfer story, but I know nothing of modern cosmic Marvel. I never heard of Rocket Raccoon or Groot or Star-Lord until the movie.
Old 06-10-14, 08:39 PM
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Re: Cosmic Marvel

I'd skip all of the modern stuff and go straight to Jim Starlin's classic works. It doesn't get much better than something like The Infinity Gauntlet. Which is coming out in an omnibus next month:

http://amzn.com/078515468X

I don't think the movies care all that much for modern comic book continuity, anyway. If anything these days, Marvel and DC alter their stories to fit the movies.

If an omnibus scares you, get the classic trade: http://amzn.com/0785156593
Old 06-10-14, 08:56 PM
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Re: Cosmic Marvel

Thanks. Yeah, I was planning to get the Infinity Gauntlet too. I know it's generally considered the best cosmic Marvel story. I know the basics of what happens in that story, but I never read it myself. I was wanting something a bit more than just that one story though. I found that reading list above, and it just looks really daunting.
Old 06-10-14, 09:52 PM
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Re: Cosmic Marvel

Pick up the Essential Silver Surfer vol-1 (80's~90's) trade.
Old 06-11-14, 01:41 AM
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Re: Cosmic Marvel

I'm going to be a contrarian and say skip the Infinity Gauntlet. I don't think it's the best of anything Marvel has to offer story-wise and is comically overrated. And I would bet Avengers 3 has nothing in common with this story other than Thanos controlling the gauntlet. The Rebirth of Thanos (the Silver Surfer issues and Thanos Quest) stuff that preceded it was equally as bad, and I've heard the subsequent Infinity-titled Thanos books only decrease in quality. However, if you must get it, there's an Omnibus coming out in early July that will be the most definitive collection thus far.

Yes, modern cosmic Marvel is pretty big.

Start with Annihilation. They just released an Omnibus of the three trades/hardcovers. Then go to Annihilation: Conquest, which is either two trades or two hardcovers.

From there, it's pretty much whatever characters tickle your fancy. Do you like Nova? Then there's 6 volumes of TPBs for Nova's series.

Do you like the Guardians of the Galaxy? Do you want to see the version of the team that will most closely resemble the movie version? Then there's 4 trades worth of the GotG series you can pick up. I think they will be releasing a Complete Collection TPB of this later in the summer.

If you want to be a completist as far as Marvel events go, then yeah, maybe you should read all of Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy. Or if you choose to skip one or both, Wikipedia can fill you in on anything you don't get where those titles crossover with the War of Kings and Realm of Kings events.

From there, the next cosmic event was War of Kings (you can probably skip Road to War of Kings), Realm of Kings then the Thanos Imperative.

I'm pretty sure you can skip all of those "Pre-Annihilators" comics. Especially Silver Surfer: Requiem which I'm certain isn't meant to be in continuity. But that is an amazing book I recommend checking out, but just not as part of this "Marvel modern cosmic event" stuff I'm talking about here.

A lot of people didn't like Annihilators or Annihilators: Earthfall, so you could skip those if you wanted to.

Alternatively, skip all the event books and just read GotG or Nova or whatever you like. Fill in the event gaps with Wikipedia.

Otherwise if you want to go back to old school Marvel cosmic, get something with the first 18 issues of Silver Surfer (from 1968-1970), either in the Essential Silver Surfer Vol 1 or the first two Masterworks or the Omnibus.
Old 06-11-14, 06:43 AM
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Re: Cosmic Marvel

Thanks for the advice. It looks like some of those Annihilation trades are out of print, and third party sellers are jacking the prices up. Has there been any word if they plan on reprinting these? I personally don't care for omnibus. I prefer something that is smaller and easier to hold.
Old 06-11-14, 07:15 AM
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Re: Cosmic Marvel

I never picked up the modern stuff but was a HUGE fan of the Bronze age cosmic stuff (which is actually why I partially defected to DC later in life, that stuff reminded me more of the stuff I liked at Marvel). You can't go wrong with the Jim Starlin classic stuff. I actually really enjoyed the 90s Guardians of the Galaxy stuff as well.
Old 06-11-14, 02:32 PM
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Re: Cosmic Marvel

Originally Posted by ddrknghtrtns
Pick up the Essential Silver Surfer vol-1 (80's~90's) trade.
The first 50 or 60 issues of that run are really good and touches on almost all of the Cosmic players.

Another run from the era that uses a lot of the Cosmic players, though more grounded on Earth, is Quasar. It's not quite as funny as the ha ha Justice League run but it's certainly a lighter take on a Marvel character.
Old 06-11-14, 05:53 PM
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Re: Cosmic Marvel

Originally Posted by PhantomStranger
The first 50 or 60 issues of that run are really good and touches on almost all of the Cosmic players.

Another run from the era that uses a lot of the Cosmic players, though more grounded on Earth, is Quasar. It's not quite as funny as the ha ha Justice League run but it's certainly a lighter take on a Marvel character.
The best part was Galactus's solution to dealing with the Elders.
Old 06-12-14, 10:50 AM
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Re: Cosmic Marvel

I'm a Bronze Age fan of the Starlin stuff and old-school Guardians of the Galaxy, and I'm pretty clueless about the arcs in the OP so thanks for posting those. I might try some, though that era has sometimes left me a bit cold.
Old 06-12-14, 12:27 PM
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Re: Cosmic Marvel

Originally Posted by taffer
Thanks for the advice. It looks like some of those Annihilation trades are out of print, and third party sellers are jacking the prices up. Has there been any word if they plan on reprinting these? I personally don't care for omnibus. I prefer something that is smaller and easier to hold.
I believe they are available digitally, but I'm not sure they're going to reprint the smaller collections now that the omnibus is out.

I've been reading through Starlin's Warlock collection and it's just as good as I remember it as well.
Old 06-13-14, 12:32 AM
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Re: Cosmic Marvel

Originally Posted by taffer
Thanks for the advice. It looks like some of those Annihilation trades are out of print, and third party sellers are jacking the prices up. Has there been any word if they plan on reprinting these? I personally don't care for omnibus. I prefer something that is smaller and easier to hold.
Like fujishig suggested, check digitally. Look into that Marvel Unlimited service to see how much Marvel Cosmic they have. That's going to be your best bet if you don't want to pay a lot but don't want Omnibuses.

A lot of Marvel Cosmic is out of print and other than these Omnibuses (Annihilation and Infinity Gauntlet) and the upcoming GotG Complete Collection, I don't think Marvel is going to be reprinting much else any time soon aside from some smaller Rocket Racoon/Groot/Starlord trade reprints coming out. I think Marvel recently released two TPBs of the original Guardians of the Galaxy from the 1970s, but that doesn't much to do with the modern version in the comics or the movies aside from a couple of characters.

Marvel NOW includes Bendis' current run on Guardians of the Galaxy as well as a new Nova series (with Sam Alexander instead of Richard Rider under the helmet). I don't think many consider them "great" but probably "good" to "mediocre." There's also a new Rocket Racoon ongoing starting soon, written and drawn by Skottie Young. You might give those a try.
Old 06-13-14, 06:50 AM
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Re: Cosmic Marvel

I don't have a tablet, so digital is out. I'm not a particularly big fan of digital media anyway. Call me old, but I will never stop buying DVDs/Blu-rays or printed comics and novels. I hope I die before the day digital completely takes over.

Maybe the prices of the trades will come down since the omnibus is out now. If not, no big deal. I just won't get them.
Old 07-11-14, 09:55 AM
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Re: Cosmic Marvel

Intrigued by the discussion of the Infinity Gauntlet, I decided to go all in and ordered the Omnibus. We'll see if I regret it.
Old 07-11-14, 03:14 PM
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Re: Cosmic Marvel

Infinity Gauntlet was good but I wish George Perez stuck around for the entire mini-series. Infinity War was a decent follow up but once you get to the Infinity Crusade and Infinity Abyss, it starts going downhill.

Haven't read the recent Infinity series yet. I have 'em. Just haven't read them.

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