davidh777

I actually know Phil Foglio because our kids went to the same school but I've never read the GG volume 1 I own nor have I ever talked to him about the series, other than saying hi when he presents at the local con.

rocket1312

Avengers vs. Thanos
Iron Man (1968) 55; Captain Marvel (1968) 25-33; Marvel Feature (1971) 12; Daredevil (1964) 105-107; Avengers (1963) 125; Warlock (1972) 9-11, 15; Avengers Annual (1967) 7; Marvel Two -In-One Annual 2; material from Logan 's Run 6

First of all, Avengers vs. Thanos is a ridiculous title for this book. The Avengers show up from time to time, but they're hardly the main draw. This book is all about Jim Starlin's 70's Captain Marvel/Warlock/Thanos epic. Along with Lee/Kirby FF, it is pretty much the foundation on which Marvel cosmic is built and it would be nice if the book was presented as such. I would be a little more accepting of the blatant marketing at hand if the cover of the book featured any actual Avengers, but alas... The material inside is what's important.

As for said material, it's mostly all great (although some of the non-Starlin tie-ins are sort of mediocre even if they do fill in some gaps). In preparation for this I read the Captain Marvel and Warlock stories that preceded Starlin's take and while I did generally like the older stories (see my previous posts on the subject), there's an immediate jump in quality and interest level once Starlin starts weaving his epic tale. You can see that Starlin is still working out the kinks during the Captain Marvel run. His art is a little rougher, and the story a little more conventional, but it's still generally light years ahead of a lot of what was being put out in the early 70's at least in terms of ambition.

Starlin left after a dispute with Marvel, but came back a few years later to revitalize Warlock and continue his cosmic saga. Unfortunately, because they don't feature Thanos, this trade is missing Strange Tales #'s 178-181 which were the first 4 parts of Starlin's Warlock run. This book picks up the story with Warlock #9, which immediately continues the story found in Strange Tales. If all you really care about is Thanos, then I guess they can be skipped, but in my opinion are just as much an integral part of this story as anything else collected in this book. In some cases even more so. The book also skips Warlock #'s 12-14, although they are not as necessary imo. Overall the Warlock stuff is totally nutty (in a good way) and it's clear just how much Starlin had upped his game creatively since Captain Marvel. It's also amazing just how seemlessly he was able to integrate his ongoing narrative into the title. It can be a little angsty and overwhelmed with cosmic mumbo jumbo, but it's so unlike anything else I've ever read from that era of Marvel.

The Warlock run (like his Captain Marvel run) is ultimately cut short and Starlin's forced to finish the story up in various random annuals. That's not really a problem per se in that the story does have a satisfying conclusion, but it does highlight the one problem I had with this book besides the missing content. Given the epic nature of this story, the era in which it was written, and the fact that it was constantly being bounced around between different titles, we're inundated with endless amounts of recapping. This was undoubtably very helpful for someone reading month to month back in the 70's as there was just so much going on in this story (and it spanned quite a few years), but when collected in one book it gets pretty tiresome. Still, despite it's flaws, anyone interested in Marvel cosmic needs to give this a read.



The Death of Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel (1968) 34, Marvel Spotlight (1979) 1-2 and Marvel Graphic Novel 1: The Death of Captain Marvel

As satisfying as the conclusion to Avengers vs. Thanos is, the story is absolutely not complete without the Death of Captain Marvel. The original graphic novel is great in and of itself, but I'd recommend the trade pictured above (another awful cover btw) as it contains the last issue (#34) of Starlin's Captain Marvel run which ties in directly to the GN. It also contains 2 issues of Marvel Spotlight (non-Starlin) that finish the story from the last issue (#61) of Captain Marvel, which had been canceled. It's frustrating not to have the preceding issues in the story as it does all tie into the Titan saga, but what's there does serve as a nice setup for the GN.

The GN itself is rightly praised. It does start off a little bit like some sort of "so you're dying of cancer..." pamphlet you'd find in a hospital, but by the end, is genuinely touching. I did find it hilarious, however, that Ghost Rider showed up on Titan to pay his respects. I mean how did Ghost Rider even get to Titan? Did he knock on the Fantastic Four's door and ask if he could hitch a ride? Silliness aside, this is a wonderful coda to the epic that preceded it. If this had been the last time anyone ever saw Captain Marvel, Warlock or Thanos, then we would have remembered them fondly. Thankfully, Jim Starlin had more up his sleeve. Tune-in in about 3 years when I finally finish up the Infinity Guantlet omnibus (which is going oop as we speak, so get it now!) and share my thoughts on it.

One additional note: Marvel really should put out an omnibus that includes the above two tpbs, as well as the missing Warlock material from Warlock Masterworks vol.2, which is unfortunately oop and pricey. Most of the Warlock material is also in the Jim Starlin Warlock Complete Collection, but it's missing a key Marvel Team-Up story. As it stands now, no matter how you do it, there's no way to collect all of this material without double dipping on at least some of it. It may seem like a random mish-mash of stuff, but it's all very much of a piece and it deserves to be collected as such.

Trevor

Great rundown rocket. I think I own most of it digitally now, and really look forward to reading it all some day(s).

PhantomStranger

I still remember first reading that Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel and its impact on me. While I had seen comic book characters killed off before, the cancer angle made it seem far more realistic and memorable.

I have to believe that Warlock eventually gets introduced into the Marvel movies and becomes a key character for their cosmic storylines. That Starlin stuff is light years ahead of other contemporary comics from its time in cosmic storytelling.

slop101

Which I own, suckas!
(I actually had no idea it was oop, as I bought it new not that long ago)

rocket1312

Unfortunately, as awesome as Marvel's reprint program is, they've really slashed the run lengths on a lot of this stuff. They're completely justified since no one wants warehouses full of unsold stock, but most of their titles now go oop fairly quickly. Especially reprints of classic material. You really can't dawdle if they release something you want. Someone just getting into Marvel Masterworks now would have to pay a fortune to get their hands on some of the older volumes.

I'm trying to collect all of Chris Claremont's entire X-run in OHC format and unfortunately missed out on the Inferno HC and the Wolverine Omnibus. I had opportunities to buy both and passed, but now they're oop and go for crazy prices. The Inferno HC regularly goes for $300 on ebay. The Wolverine Omnibus is not far behind that. Unless they get reprinted, I'll probably never get them.

rw2516

For the A list titles, all MM material will become available in the Epic Collections. Marvel is reprinting the entire run of these titles. If you are young enough and patient enough you'll get them all. Don't know if lesser characters will be included, Giant-Man, Human Torch, Kazar, Eternals, etc.
Lesser titles I'd pick up right away. Wouldn't sweat over Thor: The Eternals Saga being OOP, It's coming around again.
If you can wait, smaller reprints like Death of The Stacys, Korvac Saga, Kree-Skull War, although still available, will be coming again in the Epic Collections incorporated into a 20 issue or so run of the title.

slop101

I did have the Wolverine Omni that I sold for a decent profit, but not anywhere close to $300 - should've held onto it longer! I do have the Inferno omni, but I ain't selling that - huge sentimental value for me.

rocket1312

I get the impression that the Epic collection is going to be focused on filling in current gaps for at least the near future. Other than a few vol. 1's I don't expect much Masterwork material to get reprinted any time soon. I'm also skeptical that we'll ever reach a point where everything they say is going to be collected will be collected.

Inhumans99

Shaolin Cowboy.

Also, the X-Men Inferno Prologue Omnibus just came out (picked it up), so perhaps Marvel will be reprinting the main Inferno Omnibus soon enough. They did reprint the Howard The Duck Omnibus (picked that up the second time around), so my fingers are crossed.

rocket1312

I hope they reprint Inferno at some point, but only a small handful of Omnibi have ever been reprinted and most of the ones that have been are older volumes of all-time-canon-worthy material with glued bindings. Inferno isn't even technically an Omnibus, and I don't think any of the big non-Omnibus OHCs have ever been reprinted.

rocket1312

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) vols. 1-10, plus tie-ins

I was about 8 or 9 when I was first introduced to the TMNT at the height of the initial craze in the late 80's. I had the action figures, I watched the cartoon, and it all peaked when the live action movie came out in 1990. I didn't, however, read any of the comics. By the time I got into comics a couple of years later, I had pretty much moved on from the turtles. I was vaguely familiar with the original series in that I knew it was darker than the tv series and in b/w. I remember seeing the picture of Shredder getting decapitated at the end of the first story and being intrigued. I had the first issue of the Archie series which was a retelling of the cartoon, but it never went any further than that.

So here I am 25+ years later and I've been trying out the Scribd e-book service. I saw that they had the original Eastman/Laird series available and was excited to read it. However, I had read the first issue of the current IDW series for free on Comixology and since modern comics read a lot quicker, I decided to jump into that one. I'm glad I did.

While I'm not intimately familiar with all of the different iterations of the TMNT, I know that they all kind of put their own twist on the mythology and I'm vaguely aware of some of the more notable differences. From what I can tell, this current series takes elements from all of the various sources and mashes them together with some new twists. I think Tom Waltz and (original co-creator) Kevin Eastman have done a wonderful job, most of all, of finding the right tone for the material. It's more mature than the 80's cartoon, but without sacrificing any of the goofy fun. I think sometimes these reimagined revival properties get too hung up on making things grim and gritty and only targeting a very specific demographic. I've heard that the Image TMNT series from the 90's is guilty of this.

Not only does this series get the tone just about perfect, but it's obvious that the characters are the number one priority. Each of the main characters (and most of the supporting ones) not only have very distinct and well thought-out personalities, but have had equal opportunity to be in the spotlight. This is in large part possible thanks to the myriad of tie-in mini-series that IDW have put out. If you're at all interested in the series, I would implore you not to skip the tie-ins. They are some of the best stories the series has done and they are vital to the on-going narrative (although the Turtles in Time mini was somewhat of a misstep). So much so that on a couple of occasions it causes problems with the reading order if you're reading via trades. The two annuals released so far are also significant but have not been collected in any of the trades. You'll need to track those down separately. Thankfully, IDW is putting out a series of hardcovers which collect all of the issues in the proper chronological order.

So far through 40 issues and a couple dozen tie-ins, I'm also impressed with the plotting. Waltz and Eastman are definitely playing the long game here and letting the various plots simmer for awhile before bringing them to a boil, but I never felt frustrated by the pace. It's maintained a high quality throughout (other than the aformentioned Turtles in Time) and it will be interesting to see where the series goes in the long run. Narratively speaking, the story being told seems like it should end at some point and I hope that they give it a timely and proper conclusion rather than dragging it out.

The only other thing I will say is that because the series is reimagining a story that's been told at least a half-dozen different times already, there is bound to be at least a slight feeling of "been there, done that." While the writers are using a lot of the classic beats in new and different ways, there is only so much they can change. Still, I would guess that for a lot of fans of the franchise, this is as close to a definitive take as there has been up until this point. If you're not familiar with previous incarnations, then even better.

The Bus

The one series I really really enjoy that I urge people to check out is Blacksad, which to me feels like an adult noir version of the Tale Spin TV series. There's three HCs out from Dark Horse.

ytrez

Still 1 more volume to go. Can't get this finished quick enough to suit me but I can't just quit either.

Inhumans99

Girl Genius Volume 12: Agatha Heterodyne and the Siege Of Mechanicsburg Graphic Novel

Trevor

iZombie volume 1 - Really enjoyed this one, think I'll buy the rest of the volumes now.

rocket1312

Locke and Key: vols. 1-6

Over the last week or two I read the entire Lock and Key series. After reading the first issue or two I wasn't sure if it would be my cup of tea. It's pretty disturbing and graphic. However, I kept reading and by the time I got to volume 2 I was hooked. What a wonderful series. I don't want to get too into the specifics of the plot because I think that ruins some of the fun in discovering just what the series is up to, but I will say that it's more fantasy and less horror than I expected (although it can be pretty scary and violent). There is a pretty expansive mythology and the world building is top notch. However, all of that is secondary to the characters. This is one series where you really fall in love with the characters by the end. Because of this, some of the events that transpire are absolutely devastating. Rarely have I had an emotional reaction to a comic the way I did with Locke and Key. There's laughter and tears and excitement and dread. The storytelling is wonderful and the conclusion is pretty satisfying on just about every level (although there was one major plot point that was resolved just a little too neatly for my tastes). I'd say that if you're sick of superheroes (or even if you're not sick of superheroes) and want to read a series with a good blend of horror and fantasy and family drama with a captivating mythology, engaging characters you will grow to love and some beautiful artwork, then this is the series for you. While the tone is often quite different and it's not something I would give to kids, Bone is the series that I kept comparing it to in my mind. Since I absolutely adore Bone, that is high praise coming from me. I give it my highest recommendation.

rocket1312

Daredevil by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson Omnibus

There's not much to say about this that hasn't been said already a million times by a million different people. If you're one of the few who are unfamiliar with this material, I guess I'll just say that Frank Miller + Daredevil = awesome. It's mostly a coincidence that I finished this book off just as the tv show launched, but it was good to re-familiarize myself with the material before I started the show as it had been a few years since I had read it. While it takes a few issues for Miller to really figure out what he was doing, by the time Elektra, Bullseye and the Kingpin enter the fray, it's all pretty uniformly great. I remember liking his second run on the title with David Mazzuczhelli even better, but again, I haven't read it in a few years, so I'll report back after I re-read Born Again.

As an aside, I really wish Marvel would reprint the second Frank Miller omnibus. I thought for sure they would try to take advantage of the Netflix show and cross promote a new printing (or even something new like a Nocenti/JRJR omnibus, but it's been pretty quiet on the Daredevil reprint front lately.

slop101

I'd say that Born Again is one of the best comic book storylines of all time, and easily the best thing Miller has done, including Dark Knight.

rocket1312

World War Hulk + most of the tie-ins

I read through most of this a few weeks back, but Marvel Unlimited updated their web reader recently and all of a sudden I can't read stuff at work (damn you Marvel for forcing me to be productive!). MU is also missing a couple of issues from the Warbound miniseries and one from the Damaga Control series, so I skipped those. I mostly enjoyed these, but WWH was kind of a disappointing follow up to Planet Hulk. I think a big part of that is whereas Planet Hulk was a singular story contained within the Hulk series, World War Hulk was a "Marvel Event!" which I felt diluted the story quite a bit even if some of the tie-ins were ok-ish reads.

Some random thoughts:

- Has Hulk always been this indestructible? I know the rationale here was that his rage made him more powerful that normal, but I have a hard time believing he is the most powerful being in the world and can shrug off just about any physcial or mental attack with relative ease, no matter how severe.

- What was with Marvel during this period and their obsession with all-knowing/all-powerful kid characters? First there was Layla Miller, then Amadeus Cho.

- It was strange seeing Spider-Man, Luke Cage and the other rogue heroes playing nice with Iron Man and company in what seemed like only a couple of weeks if not days since Civil War.

- Just like Civil War, the X-Men tie-in was the most egregious cash-grab tie-in. Unlike Civil War, the WWH: X-Men mini was at least relatively fun if not completely inconsequential to the main story.

- As much as this story seemed like it should be a big deal, I get the impression that it's not going to have much of a lasting effect on the Marvel Universe. It seemed like more of a diversion between Civil War and Secret Invasion and that Hulk will now just slink back into his own little corner of Marvel and go about his business.

Inhumans99

Deadpool: The Ones With Deadpool

PhantomStranger

In Hulk's own stories, he's usually been portrayed as almost infinitely strong and invulnerable when the story called for it. They had to dial that down when the character was made permanently intelligent. It does get ridiculous at times.

Every Marvel crossover seems to blur together since something is always going on.

rocket1312

Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire

The last X-Men comics I bought/read right before I quit cold turkey in 2006 was the Deadly Genesis mini-series by Ed Brubaker. After it was over Brubaker took over the main book and continued the story with this 12 part (ugh) arc. I was not a huge fan of Deadly Genesis due to the excessive (even for X-Men comics) retconning and for once again trotting out the old chestnut that is Xavier being untrustworthy and a jerk. I had heard mixed things about Brubaker's run on Uncanny which disappointed me since the X-Men and Ed Brubaker are two things I generally love. My feelings on this first arc pretty much reflect the general tone of the reviews that I read. Not great, but I've read worse.

The story itself is ok, even if I don't much care for Vulcan, the long teased third Summers brother and villain of this run. It's pure space opera and it takes its cues from the Claremont/Cockrum era of the mid 1970's. That's not a bad thing, but if you're not familar with that material, you may have trouble keeping track of all of the various Shi'ar factions and their loyalties. I'm pretty familiar with that era (although it's been a while since I've read it) and even I had trouble keeping up. Not a lot of time is spent trying to familiarize the readers with the huge cast of characters. That's despite the fact that this story goes on or 12 issues. I know that complaining about decompression in modern comics is like complaining that the sky is blue, but come on. No way is there a year's worth of story here. It was mostly fine reading it all in 2 sittings over the course of 2 or 3 hours, but following this thing monthly must have been excruciating, and not in the good "I'm going crazy with anticipation" way.

What I liked most about this arc is the fact that it presents a pretty self contained story with a very specific purpose aside from all of the other X-Men goings on from that time. The events also seem to matter in the grand scheme of the X-Men/Marvel universe. During this time there were regularly 3 "main" X-Men titles plus all of the ancillary titles. There was always the one flagship "prestige" title (at this time it was Whedon and Cassady's Astonishing X-Men) and then all of the rest. Lip service was often paid to differentiating the other titles and giving them a specific creative mandate and narrative drive, but they always ended up blurring together and characters would wander through one book to the next and in the end it all just felt like killing time until the next re-vamp. Also, Wolverine would appear in ALL of them. The fact that he doesn't appear here at all practically justifies this run by itself.

I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes next even if my main goal is just to fill in the blanks so I can get to Messiah Complex, which I understand to be a relative high point for this era in X-Men history.


X-Force and Cable: The Legend Returns

This was Rob Liefeld's grand return to the title that made him a star after Peter Milligan had co-opted the original series and turned it into something completely different. I'm hardly the world's biggest Liefeld hater (what can I say, Youngblood was my favorite comic when I was 12), but I remember avoiding this mini-series like the plague when it originally came out. Because I was planning on reading Mike Carey's run on X-Men (which ran concurrently with Brubaker's Uncanny) I wanted to get myself up to date on where Cable (who is featured in Carey's run) was at this time. I figured it would be a quick read and at worst it would be a fun dose of nostalgia. It was a quick read, so at least I was half right.

This series is filled to the brim with just about every element that made Liefeld's X-Force what it was. You have Cable's mysterious past and murky intentions, Cannonball for some reason being the key to mutant kind's salvation, twisty revelations, pointless violence, and of course, pouches. Deadpool and Wolverine even both show up, because why wouldn't they. If Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza had approached this series with a "wink-wink," really reveled in the X-Forcey-ness of it all, and gone completely over the top, this might have been fun. Instead it was just a lot of mediocre noise. None of it makes any sense and the story (such as it is) goes nowhere. None of the characters outside of Shatterstar even really do anything. It's almost like Marvel told Liefeld not to mess with any of the characters because they had intentions of using them in books that weren't such blatant cash-grabs. Wikipedia even tells me that some of the art from this series was re-purposed from some other Liefeld project that never saw the light of day. I don't know if that's true, but it sure would explain a lot.

I have a lot of nostalgia for Liefeld's X-Force. Rob Liefeld's art can look ok to me sometimes. I think Cable's a genuinely cool character. I know it's not high-art, but this could have been fun. Instead it was a hot, steaming pile of garbage. It's probably the worst comic I have read in 20 years. But hey, at least it was a quick read.

Trevor

Nice reviews rocket!

Inhumans99

The Superior Foes Of Spider-Man Volume 3 Game Over. This was a fun read. Silvermane's head was a great character, always acting as the instigator.