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Post by legios on May 23, 2014 18:04:32 GMT
Been reading a couple of things courtesy of my local library recently:-
"Age of X": Another "altered reality" story, where all the worlds mutants are gathered in one sanctuary fighting against all the humans outside who want to kill them...Except that there is a dark secret at the heart of the sanctuary. Hmm. Not up to much really. One of those stories which doesn't really feel very meaningful to be honest. You never doubt that everything will be put back as it was at the end, and the revised versions of the characters aren't really interesting enough to carry the story in the meantime. The elements of psycho-drama that it is attempting to play with don't really work well for me either.
"47 Ronin": The collected edition of the Dark Horse comics adaptation by Mike Richardson and Stan Sakai. A decent enough telling of the story of 47 retainers of the Lord Asano, who was tricked into drawing his sword in the Shogun's palace by Lord Kira, who seek the head of Lord Kira in revenge - cloaking their plan in feigned lives of dishonour and dissolution until they can strike. A very famous story, based on a historical incident (which is less clear cut than presented here - in truth it is likely that Lord Asano was not as innocent, nor Lord Kira as knowingly villianous). The script by Mike Richardson is quite good, but the thing that really makes this adaptation work is the artwork by Stan Sakai (a rare chance to see him drawing humans instead of anthromorphic animals). Whilst the script is a fairly straight-forward retelling of the story the art is somewhat stylised and mixes a cartoony look with influences from japanese woodblock prints (a cue picked up on well by the colourist as well). The actual book itself is also really well presented - with a striking cover and a central image which has the look of an engraving, and it is a hardcover presentation as well. Really nice production all told.
Karl
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 23, 2014 20:21:58 GMT
Looking forward to Ghosts of the Past from Amazon. Some fine mid 80s trades coming out at the moment.
Enjoyed Age of X when I read it.
Enjoyed Stan Sakai's colouring on Groo for years now.
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 27, 2014 9:36:52 GMT
Worth keeping an eye on some of the US based Amazon sellers.
Noticing a few bargains popping upo there recenetly, a fiver plus lower than the price Amazon are charging even with delivery.
EG: The Miracleman volume has been about £17.50 on my preorder for ages. Got a copy today for £13.50
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Post by The Doctor on May 27, 2014 20:01:07 GMT
Essential Avengers vol 9 has some good gravy in it. The Byrne issues look fab in black and white. Can't go wrong with a Bova appearance either.
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 27, 2014 20:26:34 GMT
With respect we did inform you of this earlier !
<checks contents as he knows Byrne run is split over two volumes>
That issue with the battle on Wundagore Mountain is one of my fave Avengers issues ever. Got it in an issue of Marvel Superheroes from a school fete years ago. Superb
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Post by The Doctor on May 27, 2014 22:34:04 GMT
I only just got it out the library!
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Jun 7, 2014 16:56:40 GMT
Picked up the Miracleman Vol 1: A Dream of Flying today. Bloody gorgeous book. Cheaper in FPG than in Waterstones by a few quid.
Sadly it was instantly made to be the second prettiest book I got as I when I got home the Animation Art of Alex Toth was delivered.
Beautiful stuff!
Andy
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 7, 2014 17:26:36 GMT
Picked up the Miracleman Vol 1: A Dream of Flying today. Bloody gorgeous book. Cheaper in FPG than in Waterstones by a few quid. Mine arrived yesterday. £13.02 from an Amazon Seller |
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 9, 2014 19:55:36 GMT
Wow. The stories in Essential Avengers 9 go hyper-shit after the first couple of Perez-drawn issues! A book of two halves!
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Jun 9, 2014 20:03:27 GMT
Avengers was not much of a good book until Stern takes the reigns.
Andy
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 9, 2014 20:48:47 GMT
I'd argue that Avengers was good from ROUGHLY the point the Beast joined the team/Perez started drawing c140. Definietly from when about 150 when Wonder Man came back and Shooter started writing. The Byrne drawn issues are fabulous, high point for me, but it's downhill a bit from there. I've got a soft spot for the issues in the early 200s because I read them in B&W Marvel UK Vision in Spiderman and his Amazing Friends.
Then you have the Infamous Yellowjacket issues at 212 & 213 and after that the title really takes a nose dive till Stern comes on board (228 iirc)
Sterb run is superb but it's from about 250-275 when he's absoloutely knocking it out of the park. It's never the same post Siege. The he and Gruenwald have their disagreement (I think Stern was right BTW) and the title never recovered.
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Jim
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Post by Jim on Jun 9, 2014 21:07:24 GMT
I find some of the pre-Beast Englehart stuff has its charm, there are shades of his own distinct brand of cosmic comic madness in the Celestial Madonna stuff and it sets up a lot of key Avengers lore. The Avengers / Defenders War is kind of fun, too.
Post-Korvac until the Yellowjacket stuff is a blur in my mind's eye, I must get round to rereading.
(funnily enough I am currently rereading the first Beast issues in HC form)
-Jim
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 9, 2014 21:48:01 GMT
Seek out the Knights of Wundagore and Heart of Stone trades Jim, well worth a read
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Jim
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Post by Jim on Jun 9, 2014 22:30:17 GMT
Pretty sure I still have significant chunks of it in good old fashioned floppy form!
I've been holding off on picking up Avengers trades (heck, Marvel collections generally) lately in anticipation of Epic Collections, but if I find myself desperate to check them out there are Panini Pocketbook collections of those aren't there?
-Jim
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 10, 2014 17:07:26 GMT
Avengers: Legacy of Thanos appears in trade this week.
This should be a day one purchase for all forum members.
Watch as I see it to Burns and Turnbull: It contains issues printed in Marvel UK's Secret Wars II comic.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jun 10, 2014 17:16:52 GMT
Damn this current Marvel trade-buying binge I'm on. I've decided to leave X-Men alone for a bit, having overdone it on Jim Lee / Andy Kubert hardcovers, and move on to Avengers for a bit. Have picked up the three Avengers and two Captain America pocket books, and also "Absolute Vision" Volumes 1 and 2. Enjoying Roger Stern on Cap and look forward to reading him on Avengers.
Today I learn that Captain America had a foe by the name of "Asbestos Lady".
Still, after learning about the existence of "The New Adventures of Hitler" nothing in comics surprises me any more.
Martin
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 10, 2014 20:22:55 GMT
Martin the Legacy of Thanos trade mentioned above leads straight on from the end of Absoloute Vision 2
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 11, 2014 13:42:57 GMT
Having only been reminded of their existence by reading some old posts in this very thread last night, I found a new Bookazine oversized reprint special in WHS Waterloo today: Spider Man New Ways to Die? Looks nice for ten pounds ut got the issues already in the panini title
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 11, 2014 15:08:26 GMT
Just got a Legacy of Thanos off eBay for £20 two weeks before Amazon have it. Result.
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Jun 15, 2014 21:03:17 GMT
Snagged for £3.99 from Oxfam the long out of print Aquaman: Time and Tide by Peter David and Kirk Jarvinen. Great mini and I miss Jarvinen. Would love to see him back in comics again.
Andy
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jun 17, 2014 16:55:41 GMT
Thoroughly enjoying my Marvel pocket books - got a few each of Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man and X-Men. Really also enjoyed the final parts of 'Absolute Vision' - such a refreshing change to have a 'threat' who is neither evil nor mad, and a concluding chapter that is primarily debate between characters rather than a fight against a super-villain. Vision is up there with great characters like Spock, Data and Prowl.
Martin
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 17, 2014 18:17:20 GMT
Absolute Vision is fab.... sadly it's downhill for the character after that. I like the Byrne stories using him in West Coast Avengers but they are sort of a dead end.
Still waiting on Legacy of Thanos!
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 18, 2014 22:16:51 GMT
Just got a Legacy of Thanos off eBay for £20 two weeks before Amazon have it. Result. Arrived today. Just about to settle down in bed with it :-) |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 20, 2014 12:18:31 GMT
I was right: Legacy of Thanos is trade of the year.
Picks straight up from Absolute Vision with the epilogue where the Avengers start to feel the reprecussions of the Vision's actions while catching up with Captain Marvel who's been sent on a fool's erand but has inadvertantly stumbled on something. Then it's my favourite Terminus battle before a certain ex Galactus Herald shows up straight from the recent Spider Man: Ghosts of the Past epic collection before we hop into space for a game changing story with the Skrulls and a superb crossover with that year's Fantastic Four annual and some SWII crossover action.
Superb. Top Avengers line up: Cap, Wasp, Starfox, Captain Marvel, Hercules and the returning Black Knight. Not the most famous and in many cases not the most powerful Avengers ever but this is probably my Avanegers line up. The later part of the book will be familiar to Secret Wars II readers, which is where I first read most of it, but the earlier parts weren't published there, save for some Captain Marvel stripmined from it.
Hat off to Roger Stern now drawn by the returnuing John Buscema who makes an ideal pairing with Tom Palmer.
BUY THIS TRADE.
Gonna have to dig out Once & Future Kang and my Siege HC.
And with this volume EVERY Stern Avenges issue has been collected in trades, with just a few not having been done in softcover.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 20, 2014 13:44:21 GMT
So Gentlemen: The Phil guide to buying Stern Avengers in Trade. His first issue is 228 in Trial of Yellowjacket but the Amazing Spider-Man annual in Absolute Vision 1 occurs before it. |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 20, 2014 19:38:14 GMT
Martin asked Thanks, Phil. I'll bear that in mind when I finish my Marvel pocket books phase. The three Avengers pocket books cover #158-168 and #170-187 (I assume #169 is some crossover) so if they release a couple more it will lead into the start of your list. Could you please tell me which if any of the trades you list have character profiles in the back like Absolute Vision? Martin I, like the idiot I am, edited his post rather than replying it. D'oh. Anyway the answer is: Legacy of Thanos has the Skrulls. That's it. However.... If you go and look for Essential Marvel Universe Deluxe Essential Marvel Universe Update You'll find all the handbooks, albeit in B&W, have been collected together. 3 deluxe volumes, 1 update. There's some nice cheap 2nd hand ones on Amazon There's an ancient set of colour trades of it too which I've got. |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 22, 2014 20:17:45 GMT
So I've dug The Once & Future Kang out for a read. You get the feeling in this volume that the Secret Wars II stuff is getting in the way of the stories that Stern wants to tell here, namely Namor's introduction to the Avengers and it's effects, The Avengers having their launch licence revoked and what they do about it and beginning to set up Under Siege in the 270s. In the middle of this we get to see the new female criminal Yellowjacket, a very underused character and one that I felt showed some potential particularly after her Avengers Annual 17 appearance. And then we get the wonderful Kang story with multiple Kangs fighting each other. Love this. And finally the Avengers Annual 15/WCA Annual 1 crossover..... yes well. Not Stern. So a bit mixed, but the Stern Avengers backbone to the book is great. Under Siege next I think! See also tmukhub.proboards.com/post/149474/thread when I first got the trade. |
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Post by Jim on Jun 25, 2014 22:25:41 GMT
Fresh bounty to be had at the local cheap book shop, first new stock in 6 months I think so might be worth keeping an eye on The Works, etc. Yesterday picked up the Fallen Angels collection for a fiver and the Private War of Doctor Doom HC for £8 (sorry Phil, Bride of Ultron never did show up again). They also had the Hulk from the Marvel UK Vaults collection, but I didn't have the cash and it had gone today  , though I did get both volumes of Fall of the Mutants for £15. -Jim |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 26, 2014 17:17:54 GMT
It's OK, the Bride of Ultron's contents have since shown up in Final Threat
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jun 27, 2014 17:50:32 GMT
Re: Marvel Pocket Books
Really enjoying these. However, as far as I can tell, the ones printed prior to 2010 are really poorly bound, so that the pages don't lie flat and it's very hard to read text balloons close to the inner margin, i.e. the books don't open properly. For me, this means Iron Man Volumes 1-2 ("The Tragedy and the Triumph" / "Unmasked") and X-Men Volumes 9-10 ("Beyond the Farthest Star" / "Scarlet in Glory") are not nice books to read. Fortunately, I didn't think much of the material in Iron Man Volumes 1-2, with Jasper Sitwell and his annoying ways, and incarnations of Whiplash and the Mandarin that are poor - here at least - compared to their cinema equivalents. Iron Man Volumes 3-4 ("Demon in the Bottle" and "Armour Wars") contain much later material and are far superior, and are post-2010 printed and so have decent bindings. The three volumes of Avengers and two of Captain America are also post-2010 and therefore easy to open and read, as are X-Men Volume 11 onwards and the 2014 re-printing of Volume 5 ("Days of Future Past").
Unfortunately, I thought the Brood story in "Beyond the Farthest Star" was very strong and don't like having it in a rubbish binding. You can't go wrong with a random dragon!
Grateful if someone could let me know if the X-Men Brood story arc is available in another TPB at reasonable cost.
Also grateful if anyone could flag up when more pocket books are released! According to Amazon they tend to release them in March and September.
Martin
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, though I did get both volumes of Fall of the Mutants for £15.