X-MEN: INFERNO CROSSOVERS (Marvel, 2010; Hardcover)
Collects Amazing Spider-Man Nos. 311-313, Avengers Nos. 298-300, Cloak & Dagger No. 4, Daredevil Nos. 262, 263, 265, Excalibur Nos. 6, 7, Fantastic Four Nos. 322-324, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Nos. 146-148, Power Pack No. 40, 42-44 and Web of Spider-Man Nos. 47, 48 (cover dates October, 1988- April, 1989)
Writers: Gerry Conway, Chris Claremont, Steve Englehart, Ann Nocenti, David Micheilinie and others
Artists: Todd McFarlane, Alan Davis, Keith Pollard, John Romita, Jr., John Buscema, Tom Palmer and others
One man's garbage is another man's treasure. This era of comic books is ripe with nostalgia for me, as I bought many of these issues off of the shelf the day that they were released. The Spider-Man issues hold a particular place in my heart. I haven't read The Spectacular Spider-Man or Web of Spider-Man issues since they were released, and I was surprised at how quickly they came back to me. There is a good 184 or so pages of Spider-Man in this 600 page book, which works for me.
In all honesty, there is nothing of any lasting significance that happens in any of the issues collected in this book, which is fine by me. You get competently done stories by many veteran creators, none of which rank among any of said creators' finest work. They are all entertaining and worth a read, however. I am happy to have this deluxe, oversized hardcover in my collection.
The OCD zone- The production values (color and linework) are excellent, although there is a dropped word balloon on Page 294, Panel 6. If it were in, say, Daredevil, I probably wouldn't care, but it was in an issue of Amazing Spider-Man. This is likely due to a pasted over word balloon that fell off of the source material used for this book. The paper and sewn binding are top notch as usual for Marvel.
I should get to this sometime this decade.
ReplyDeleteI read all of these when they came out, and I have no interest in re-reading most of 'em (the Excalibur and Daredevil issues being the exception).
ReplyDeleteGiven that the artwork is larger and on nicer paper, I wouldn't turn down this book if it was under $20, but until that happens I can live without it...
But that missing word balloon would drive me up the wall, too. Did Marvel actually credit the cover artists/colorists for once?
You know, that IS one thing that drives me nuts that I will address in a future posting...the ghettoizing of cover artist credits to a blurb at the end of the table of contents rather than listing it with each issue. Truth be told, there isn't even a table of contents in this book. I think that they didn't want to spring for the extra signature.
ReplyDeleteThe missing word balloon DOES suck, and I need to check my ASM by Michelinie and McFarlane Omnibus to see if it also used the same film source or if they caught it that time.