Review- MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE X-MEN VOL. 6

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE X-MEN VOL. 6 (Marvel, First Printing, 2014; Softcover)

Collects The X-Men # 54-66 (cover dates March, 1969- March, 1970)

Writers: Roy Thomas, Arnold Drake (#54), Linda Fite (#57), and Denny O'Neil (#65)

Artists: Neal Adams, Don Heck, Werner Roth, and Sal Buscema with Inking by Tom Palmer, Vince Colletta, and Sam Grainger

How many times can one person buy the same material? Let us count the ways. My first exposure was the X-Men Visionaries: Neal Adams trade paperback. While the stories blew my mind, the unfaithful coloring made me ill. I dumped it to buy the first upgrade, which was...

Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men Vol. 6, a nice book marred by wretched glued mousetrap binding. The awful tight binding made the next dip more palatable.

The X-Men Omnibus Vol. 2 not only boasted sewn binding, but was remastered again, even over the Masterworks! Wow, where do I sign, or so I thought at the time.

I then bought this book, which boasted the state of the art restoration, albeit it in softcover. I've also dipped again with the second X-Men Epic, although that was to get the remaining issues I lost when I dumped the second Omnibus. Clear as mud?

In any case, this is top shelf stuff and is eclipsed only by the Claremont and Byrne run. I am done with all of these endless dips for this material. This version is nice enough. At least Marvel cares enough about their material to revisit it every time superior source material appears. DC does restoration once and leaves it, which is unfortunate since they never try to fix subpar restoration.

The OCD zone- This is the part where I go into tactile sensations and materials used in physical media. Those with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or women who are pregnant should exit my blog at their earliest convenience, as their safety cannot be guaranteed beyond this point.

I loved the softcover Masterworks line, as the books are wider than a standard trade paperback. Marvel since went the Epic route, but I would have been happy buying softcover Masterworks.

Linework and Color restoration: This is the same upgraded linework and color restoration found in the second Omnibus.

Paper stock: Matte coated stock. This is my favorite of all of the paper stocks, as it feels high end yet looks like a comic book.

Binding: Perfect bound.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover.