Review- Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics Vol. 6

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE MARVEL COMICS VOL. 6 (Marvel, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Marvel Mystery Comics Nos. 21-24 (cover dates July- October, 1941)

Writers: Ray Gill, Stan Lee, and other uncredited, unidentified writers

Artists: Carl Burgos, Bill Everett, Alan Mandel, Ben Thompson, Al Avison, Joe Simon, Paul Gustavson, Bob Oksner, Jack Kirby, Al Gabriele, Chu Hing, Frank Frollo, and Sid Greene, as well as other unidentified artists/assistants

Those of us following this line of books are familiar with the creators and characters by now, but for those of you 'viewing at home' who are not familiar with this title, I'll give you a brief recap.

This was Timely's (Marvel's name at the time) flagship title, and was an anthology series. The Human Torch & Toro were the title's headliners, followed by Bill Everett's brilliant Sub-Mariner. This strip is worth the price of admission alone. The Patriot is an also-ran, sort of a dollar store Captain America, relegated to 4 and 5 page stories of no importance and little value. Ka-Zar the Great is fun as usual, and always seems to stagger into some unknown section of the jungle which he is supposedly in charge of. Terry Vance, the Schoolboy Sleuth is a charming slice of Americana. 

The Vision has fast become a favorite of mine, largely because of the dream team of Simon and Kirby, who put their trademark punch into the proceedings. The Angel seems to lose some steam after Issue 21, as Gustavson no longer handles the creator duties on the strip. It was a bummer to see the quality dip after such a tremendous run, but Al Avison is no slouch in the artwork department, either. It's the writing that really took a hit after Gustavson jumped ship.

Volume 7 is due out this year, and I look forward to the continuation of this line of books. With any luck, we will see the entire run collected in hardcover someday. That would really be something, wouldn't it?

The OCD zone- If loving Marvel Masterworks is wrong, then I don't want to be right! High quality artwork and color restoration, high quality paper and sewn binding...these books are things of beauty. My OCD glows as I read these books. Worse still, I can't help but take a big whiff of the toxic Chinese ink after I crack the cellophane on these books. It's like a coke-head snorting a line. Most people will unfortunately never know the joy of inhaling those wonderfully toxic Chinese ink fumes.

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Review: Marvel Masterworks- Golden Age Marvel Comics Vol. 5

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE MARVEL COMICS VOL. 5 (Marvel, 2010; Hardcover)

Collects Marvel Mystery Comics Nos. 17-20 (cover dates March- June, 1941)

This is the cream of the Timely Comics crop. All of the greats are helming their original creations since they haven't been drafted by Uncle Sam to serve in World War II yet. The Nazis are recurring antagonists across the strips, which is interesting considering that all of these issues were published well before we entered World War II. Every 64-page issue was divided up among the following strips:

The Angel by Paul Gustavson- The Angel is the pulp hero throwback of the title, and has the best continuity out of all of the strips in the title. This feels like an old movie serial cliffhanger, with each issue ending with a seeming disaster that our hero could not possibly survive. The Angel is arguably the most violent of the characters here, engaging in rough and tumble fisticuffs at the drop of a hat. 

The Vision by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby- The concept is pure cheese, but what delicious cheese it is! The Vision enters our dimension through smoke? And decides to fight evil?? No further explanation is ever given, and honestly, none is needed. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby are great, and this bursts with all of the energy that you would expect from the pair. 

The Sub-Mariner by Bill Everett- The cream of the Timely crop, Everett's Prince Namor is a hot headed, egotistical prick...a characteristic that is employed to this day. Everett's artwork is a joy, and I am looking forward to the upcoming Bill Everett Archives from Fantagraphics Books.

The Human Torch by Carl Burgos- I am not as enamored with the Torch and Toro as I was once was. I own, and have read, all of the Golden Age Marvel Masterworks, so I am well versed in their exploits. Burgos is a less capable storyteller than his peers, and his artwork is often crude by comparison. I enjoy them, but like the other strips much more. The thing that grinds my nerves is that Burgos established the Torch as an android early on and then ret-conned him into being a human. I am sorry, but I have a real hard time with this.

Ka-Zar the Great by Ben Thompson- Fast paced and far out jungle fun. There is always some unkown section that the Lord of the Jungle doesn't know about, with giants and Lizard-People or whatnot. Too funny.

Electro, The Marvel of the Age by Steve Dahlman- This “Iron-Man” is a ridiculous and often tedious read. The lettering (by Dahlman?) is horrible, with huge swaths of ugly lettering obscuring the artwork, not that this is a huge problem. Dahlman has not gone down in history as one of the greats of the Golden Age for a reason. Professor Zog is becoming more combative, no longer being content with merely controlling the robot by remote. Now he uses a gun and caps criminals.

Terry Vance, the Schoolboy Sleuth by Ray Gill and Bill Oksner- A product of the time, this is an okay read. Some of these concepts could be retooled for modern comics, but not this one. It has its charms for sure.

Kudos to Marvel for preserving these issues, as they originals are too obscure and too expensive for any but the most affluent collectors to afford to read. While these Golden Age Masterworks are pricey ($64.99 MSRP), they are far cheaper than a beater reader copy of even one issue, which would be several hundred dollars.

The OCD zone- The paper, the binding, the color and linework restoration are all wonderful. Two thumbs up. I would give it more, but I only have two thumbs.  

The Resurrection of Junk Food For Thought

STAR TREK- ROMULANS: PAWNS OF WAR (IDW, 2010)

Collects Star Trek: Alien Spotlight: Romulans, Star Trek: Romulans: The Hollow Crown Nos. 1, 2 and Star Trek: Romulans: Schism Nos. 1-3 (cover dates September, 2008- November, 2009)

Good solid stuff by John Byrne. I am not a huge Star Trek fan but know enough about the series to be able to follow what is going on. There are probably 'Easter Eggs' for the diehard Trekkies, but I was still able to follow this with ease. 

STRANGE SUSPENSE: THE STEVE DITKO ARCHIVES VOL. 1 (Fantagraphics, 2009)

Collects material from Black Magic Nos. 27, 28, Blazing Western No. 1, Crime and Justice No. 18, Daring Love No. 1, Fantastic Fears No. 4, From Here To Insanity No. 10, Rocket Squad In Action Nos. 11, 12, Space Adventures Nos. 10-12, Strange Suspense Stories Nos. 18-20, 22, The Thing Nos. 12-15, 17 and This Magazine Is Haunted Nos. 16-19, 21 (cover dates January/February, 1954- June, 1955)

This is another beautiful hardcover by Fantagraphics, who excel at doing comprehensive collections like this. This volume focuses primarily on Ditko's early Charlton stuff. I have been a huge Ditko fan ever since I discovered his pencils in Marvel Tales #163 in 1983, which reprinted Amazing Spider-Man #9 from 1963. The stories in this book are extremely text-laden and are best digested slowly, no more than 2 or 3 per sitting. Any more, and your eyes get heavy and you nod off. Either that, or the wonderfully toxic aroma of overseas ink knocks you out. Maybe they put chloroform in the ink to keep costs down...who knows?

X-MEN: PRELUDE TO ONSLAUGHT- BOOK 0 (Marvel, 2010)

Collects Cable Nos. 32, 33, Uncanny X-Men No. 333, X-Man Nos. 15-17 and X-Men No. 50 (cover dates March- July, 1996)

X-Men, like most Marvel Comics, sucked pretty hard in the '90s. Not every issue or every arc, mind you, but there was enough suckiness in sidebar titles like Cable and X-Man to wash away any good that may have occurred elsewhere in the X-Universe. The idea behind Onslaught wasn't that bad, merely the long-winded execution of it.

THE SAGA OF SOLOMON KANE (Dark Horse, 2009)

Collects Marvel Preview No. 19 and material from Conan Saga No. 50, Dracula Lives! No. 3, Kull and the Barbarians Nos. 2, 3, Monsters Unleashed No. 1 and The Savage Sword of Conan Nos. 13, 14, 18-20, 22, 25, 26, 33, 34, 37, 39, 41, 53, 54, 62, 83, 162, 171, 219, 220 (cover dates August, 1973- April, 1994)

Robert E. Howard's other, non-barbarian creation, Solomon Kane is a puritan adventurer on a mission from God. What that essentially means is that he fights supernatural enemies like vampires, zombies, etc. Good stuff.

SPIDER-MAN: THE COMPLETE CLONE SAGA EPIC BOOK 1 (Marvel, 2010)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man No. 394, The Spectacular Spider-Man No. 217, Spider-Man Nos. 51-53, Spider-Man Unlimited No. 7, Spider-Man: The Lost Years Nos. 1-3 and Web of Spider-Man Nos. 117-119 (cover dates October, 1994- October, 1995)

Blame it on the French, because much like Jerry Lewis, they got a Clone Saga collection first. David Gabriel, a head sales department type guy at Marvel, used to post at a message board that I go to, and used to do Q+As. These were glorified wishlists from us to him/Marvel. I brought up that France got an Omnibus, why not us? This was like 2 or 3 years ago. Fast forward, and Marvel put out a 'Real' Clone Saga mini-series, where they published the story as it was supposedly originally intended. Marvel has a lot of synergy between their trade department and other departments, so that when something like that comes out, they will issue a collection like this. Or for a movie, etc. So, either thanks to my question (doubtful) or the new mini-series, we are getting a series of nice, fat, chunky trades. I will say this, though. Several of the other requests that I made (i.e. Power Pack Classic, Complete Onslaught) back then have since become a reality, so who knows? Then again, I also requested that they reprint Shogun Warriors, Planet of the Apes, and Man From Atlantis collections, and they are nowhere in sight.

I have to admit that I expected this to suck like most '90s Marvel Comics, but this was a terrific read. Kudos to my message board homeskillet Jeph York for doing the research and sequencing of the book. While my completist OCD dictates that things be collected in order of publication, he put The Lost Years mini-series and several back-up features first because that is where they occurred in continuity. My OCD twitched at this prospect, but I'll be d***ed if it didn't make for a seamless read.

Mark Bagley's love-it-or-hate-it artwork is featured throughout the book, as is J.M. DeMatties' writing. Like I said, this was an extremely enjoyable read, and I as of yet cannot see why this is so loathed among fandom. I have never read any of these issues before, and while I know the general outcome of this saga, I don't know the path that has already been laid out.

I remember hearing about this circa 1996, while I was on sabbatical from the hobby. It made me angry, like 'there's no way the clone won'. I had the floppies to the original clone saga, and I hunted down the Clone Genesis trade which collected it after I returned to comics in 2003. Upon re-reading, I determined that there is a grey area as to who really won the battle. Ross Andru routinely did 'camera angle' flips between panels, and I wondered 'what if he did one during the battle'? There was truly no way of telling them apart, and since the clone had been implanted with Peter Parker's memories and both believed themselves to be the real Spider-Man, it was plausible. Of course, it is also easier for me to enjoy this than readers of the monthly series at the time for a couple of reasons: 1. Hindsight. It is much easier to digest something knowing the overall outcome, and that things return to a status quo later on. 2. The fact that current Amazing Spider-Man doesn't suck.

One thing about Marvel at this time that sticks in my craw is that they expected fans to buy all four or five monthly Spider-titles, as there would be 4 part arcs every month that ran across all of the titles. That is completely unfair and likely discouraged new readers. Imagine some 9 or 10 year old kid who bought a Spider-Man comic book at this time trying to follow it, or someone who lived in a rural area who relied on subscriptions. It is insulting to expect, almost demand, that someone buy every single title that you put out in order to get a full story from one series. At least current Marvel, while still putting out umpteen crossovers, makes each title a stand alone read. You could pick up only one title month after month and not be lost. I also enjoy the way that many of the recent crossovers, i.e. Civil War, Secret Invasion, etc., have had a stand alone mini-series, and the crossovers merely fleshed out concepts that were touched upon in the main series. 

SHOWCASE PRESENTS SECRETS OF SINISTER HOUSE (DC, 2010)

Collects  The Sinister House of Love Nos. 1-4 and Secrets of Sinister House Nos. 5-18 (cover dates November, 1971- July, 1974)

This is another winner. Much like its sister titles, House of Mystery and House of Secrets, this was (after Issue 5) an anthology Horror title with great writing and artwork. The first 5 issues were double-sized Gothic Romance stories, if that makes any sense. Vampires, castles, the macabre, true love, etc. At 35-40 pages each, and crammed with text like every other comic book of the day, they offer quite a bit of depth and characterization. The format obviously tanked, and DC tweaked the title and format.

The late Alfredo P. Alcala is one of my all-time favorite comic book artists. The amount of detail that he crams into each panel is stunning, and his artwork looks even better here in black and white. A lot of his fine line work was washed out when they colored these stories in the original single issues.

These black and white phone books are the ultimate for vacation reading. They are cheap (MSRP under $20), light, and plentiful, so if you damage them and your OCD can't handle a dog-eared corner, there is no hunt required to replace them. I plowed through this in 6 days. I read 370 of the 496 pages up north in Caseville, MI, the land that time forgot. I couldn't get my Internet connection on my phone, there were 2 TV channels, and the whole area just seemed detached from the 21st Century, which is as frightening to me as these stories are. It seemed fitting to be detached from the now while reading these stories from the early 1970s which largely took place in the late 1800s.

JOHN BYRNE'S NEXT MEN: THE PREMIERE COLLECTION VOL. 2 (IDW, 2009)

Collects John Byrne’s Next Men Nos. 11-20 (cover dates January- November, 1993)

IDW are a bunch of f**king morons. High end hardcover reprint collections like this appeal only to the most anal-retentive, niche-within-a-niche-hobbyist like myself. So what does IDW do? They make Volume 2 larger and wider than Vol. 1. Like an inch or more in each direction. Morons!! I could feel twitching behind my eye when I first laid eyes on this book.

What's really sad is, this is a nicer presentation than Volume 1. The over-sized trim really makes this book feel luxurious. Nice paper, sewn binding, all of the OCD green lights that hardcover obsessives like myself fetish-ize. A pox upon you, IDW, for forever making my bookshelves be inconsistent within this line!

You know what? This book has STORIES inside of it. Amazing. I read them (again) and this was a terrific read. I originally read these in the phone books that IDW put out a year or two ago, and they work better in color. John Byrne's artwork was beginning to get looser and scratchier here, something that he would stick with a few more years. Not my favorite period of his artwork, but the writing is still solid.

SPIDER-MAN: THE COMPLETE CLONE SAGA EPIC BOOK 2 (Marvel, 2010)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man Nos. 395-399, The Spectacular Spider-Man Nos. 218-221, Spider-Man Nos. 54-56, Spider-Man Unlimited No. 8, Spider-Man: Funeral For An Octopus Nos. 1-3 and Web of Spider-Man Nos. 120-122 (cover dates November, 1994- May, 1995)

This is still good stuff, even if some of the ongoing plot lines are getting a little long-winded. Kaine has been in the shadows for the first two 400+ page trades. For real? Stil, lots of good stuff, lots of classic Spider-Man villains, and the artwork is mostly decent. Bill Sienkewicz is not the man to ink Sal Buscema's pencils, however. What a contrast in style and intent. 

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE MARVEL COMICS VOL. 4 (Marvel, 2009)

Collects Marvel Mystery Comics Nos. 13-16 (cover dates November, 1940- February, 1941)

This one's been on the back burner for a while now. It came out last summer (2009), but it was in the backlog long enough that Golden Age Marvel Comics Omnibus Vol. 1 came out, so I figured that I would (re-)read those issues first in order to get a true sense of continuity and character progression.

Bill Everett's Sub-Mariner is frickin' awesome, and is my favorite out of all of these Timely heroes. I love his 'might makes right' mentality, and how he suddenly decides to involve himself in that "situation over in Europe"...all over a girl. It must be pointed out once again the historical significance of these issues, as their publication pre-dates America's involvement in World War II by a year (cover dates were 2 months ahead back then. At the end of each issue, there is an ad which shows the release date, likely very approximate given the lackluster distribution methods in place in those days.)

Carl Burgos' Human Torch is also great, ditto Electro, the Marvel of the Age. That character started out hokey, and either A) Professor Zog and his robot have become more developed, B) the silliness of these Golden Age stories has dulled my brain, or C) the sweet smelling fumes from the toxic Chinese ink has brainwashed me. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby unleash another great character, the Vision, who comes to, and returns from, our dimension through smoke. Yes, that's right, ordinary smoke. Cigarette smoke, any smoke will do. No matter how hokey the concept might seem in 2010, these are terrific reads.

From a production standpoint, everything here is top notch. Paper, restoration, coloring, binding...everything that even the most anal-retentive OCD-laden comic book fan can complain about is up to snuff here.

SPIDER-MAN: THE COMPLETE CLONE SAGA EPIC BOOK 3 (Marvel, 2010)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man Nos. 400, 401, Amazing Spider-Man Super Special No. 1, The Spectacular Spider-Man Nos. 222-224, The Spectacular Spider-Man Super Special No. 1, Spider-Man Nos. 57, 58, Spider-Man: The Clone Journal, Spider-Man Super Special No. 1, Spider-Man Unlimited No. 9, Web of Spider-Man Nos. 123, 124, Web of Spider-Man Super Special No. 1 and Venom Super Special No. 1 (cover dates March- October, 1995)

Amazing Spider-Man No. 400 is quite touching, and much of its emotional impact would be undone by a ret-con down the road. Even though these issues graced the stands some 15 odd years ago, I try to keep this a no spoiler zone.

Oddly enough, my least favorite material in this book is done by one of my favorite writers, Tom DeFalco. His dialogue for the Jackal is particularly bad. Oh well, everyone has off days, so I will chalk it up as a bad run for him. I know that he gets better later on in Spider-Girl. My only other criticism is that Peter Parker and his personal life is almost non-existent. This is all-action nearly all of the time, which is fine, but Spider-Man has always been at its best when the 'soap opera' aspect is played up and it somehow ties into the overall story or outcome of the action portion.

The Planet of the Symbiotes arc is pretty bad. Did they really need to spread this out across five double-sized issues? Plus, Venom as a hero sucks. Whose brilliant idea was that? He was great as a villain in his first two appearances, but once he got a tongue and sharp teeth, he jumped the shark.

On a more positive note, I absolutely love these big honkin' chunky trades, each being well over 300 pages. There is some real heft to these books, and in the world of trade paperbacks/ collected editions/ graphic novels, bigger truly is better.

An embarrassment of riches

THE WONDER WOMAN CHRONICLES VOL. 1 (DC,2010)

Collects Wonder Woman No. 1 and selections from All-Star Comics No. 8 and Sensation Comics Nos. 1-9 (cover dates December, 1940/ January, 1941- September, 1942)

Outstanding! This is incredibly well-written and well-drawn...heck, it's even well lettered. There is an underlying theme of bondage and dominance/submission, which is downright hilarious when you consider that kids scooped this stuff up by the truckload. It must have been so underground and so far off of 'Middle America's' radar that maybe no one noticed. I'll put it to you this way: Wonder Woman's magic lasso did not force people to tell the truth like it was portrayed to in the '70s TV show. Here it forced people to submit to whatever Wonder Woman ordered them to. Again, this made me chuckle as I read it.

I also had to laugh at the ret-cons in Wonder Woman #1, where they alter and insert different points into her origin. The Internet would be lit up with raging nerds over such a thing these days, but no one likely noticed circa 1942. Unlike Batman, Wonder Woman's primary enemy is the Nazi party, with several of these stories' publication date pre-dating America's involvement in World War II. I find it odd that Batman avoided politics in his title(s), but Wonder Woman is primarily a political title at this time.

All in all, a great read, and I am looking forward to the continuation of this line of trades.

IRON MAN: ARMOR WARS PROLOGUE (Marvel, 2010)

Collects Iron Man Nos. 215-224 (cover dates February- November, 1987)

David Michelinie and Bob Layton (with Mark Bright) are simply amazing. I had never read any of these issues before I bought this trade, and I am kicking myself for having missed much of this era of Iron Man on a monthly basis. I bought issues 189-192 off of the spinner racks at 7-11 circa 1984, and the odd issue here and again, but for some reason or another this title never grabbed my younger self. Pity. I think the main reason why I was so put off by Iron Man as a lad was because he didn't have any powers, he had a suit. Anybody could wear a suit and be powerful, so it didn't work for me. Fast forward to 2010, and the world is a much different place. Technology is in everything. My phone could outperform 1987 desktop computers, for chrissakes! This makes Iron Man much more believable, almost realistic. I choose to use the word realistic sparingly when referring to comic books, because quite frankly, there is nothing realistic about guys gearing up and fighting each other. In reality, everyone would get their rockstar paycheck and cash out. Of course I now realize that Tony Stark's "superpower" is his intellect.

I absolutely love the whole Justin Hammer thing, as corporations are evil, right? We all say so, yet we all choose to work for the biggest fish possible. On a simpler level, I like to think of companies as evil, hiring villains like Blacklash, Blizzard, and the Beetle to tangle with their competitor's bodyguard (Iron Man). 

THE AVENGERS: STANDOFF (Marvel, 2010)

Collects Avengers Nos. 62-64, Iron Man No. 64 and Thor No. 58 (cover dates February- April, 2003)

Marvel has been reissuing the long out of print Geoff Johns Avengers trade paperbacks as hardcovers. This particular arc was never collected during that initial run. I wish that Marvel's trade paperback program was as comprehensive back then as it is now, as those 5 trades would've made more sense had I read these issues. This is good, solid stuff overall.

Time Bomb #1 (Radical, cover date July, 2010)

Free works! So does steeply discounted introductory priced comics, like those $1.00 comics put out by DC, Dynamite, etc. This title was one of the ones featured in this year's Free Comic Book Day sampler by Radical, where they featured an 8 page preview of several upcoming titles. I likely would have not considered this title blind, but once I got a taste, I was in. I normally don't buy floppies/ single issues, but I went on one of my random guerrilla-style comic store stops, where I go and pick out 3 or 4 comic books (not trades) that I have never read before, just to see what I am missing. The presentation is nice, basically a 'prestige-format' comic. That means that it is glued into a cardstock cover instead of stapled. This title is a tremendous value, with some 50+ pages of story for $4.99 MSRP, much better than 22 or so pages for $3.99 from Marvel or DC.

I won't give anything away, but let's just say that Nazis and time machines are a can't miss scenario. The only thing missing are werewolves. There are two more issues, so let's hope that we see some form of lupine before all is said and done (kidding). I will trade-wait for the rest of the series, but am 100% on board.

NEW MUTANTS CLASSIC VOL. 5 (Marvel, 2010)

Collects New Mutants Nos. 35-40, New Mutants Special Edition and Uncanny X-Men Annual No. 9 (cover dates Annual 1985- June, 1986)

Chris Claremont, in his prime, was a writing force to be reckoned with. Character development? Ongoing subplots? Thought-provoking metaphor? Like Ragu, it's in there. These are such well-written comic books and are sadly overlooked by today's comic book fans. I didn't 'get' this series back when these issues were originally released. It was too far beyond my scope of what I wanted in a comic book at the time. Arthur Adams, the artist on the UXM Annual and the NMSE, is not my cup of tea. I didn't like his artwork back then, and I don't like his old artwork now. His current output is worlds better than this stuff.

This trade paperback also shows how much current X-Men offshoots blow. Read this and then pick any X-title published today... you'll mourn for this once-great franchise the way that I do.

HAUNT VOL. 1 (Image, 2010)

Collects Haunt Nos. 1-5 (cover dates October, 2009- February, 2010)

My friend loaned me the floppy of Issue 1, and I liked it well enough to pick up this trade paperback. While I was sad to see writer/ co-creator Robert Kirkman axe The Astounding Wolf-Man, this is a nice consolation prize. Inker/ co-creator Todd McFarlane is finally back where he belongs: behind the boards! While the day-to-day business of running a comic book company is surely something he must love, the fans just want to see him draw. McFarlane is pretty much the only one of the original Image guys whose work that I enjoy. Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, etc.? No thanks.

While the "hero" of the series, Haunt, reminds me of Spider-Man enemy Carnage in appearance and powers, the premise of this series is different enough for me to give it a fair shake. Super violent and super fun, this is definitely not intended for children. I am on board for Vol. 2, and will come along for the ride as long as the quality is maintained at this level. 

CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN (Marvel, 2010)

Collects Captain America Reborn Nos. 1-6 and Captain America Reborn Prelude (cover dates September, 2009- March, 2010)

The life of a trade waiter is one without surprises. No matter how hard one tries to avoid spoilers, if you go on any comic site you are bound to get snippets of information. While the bulk of a story arc will be unrevealed, you'll get the gist of key events before the issues are collected in hardcover (or trade paperback). This was very enjoyable in spite of the fact that I sort of knew the outcome going in. The Red Skull still rocks, and I hope to ________ (deity of your choice) that they don't mess him up in the forthcoming Cap movie.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: TWO AMERICAS (Marvel, 2010)

Collects Captain America Nos. 602-605 and Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield? (cover dates February- June, 2010)

Ed Brubaker continues to kick out the jams and further cements his run on the title in the upper echelon. How could anyone not like this title? Do they not like comic books? I don't know what else one could ask for. 

Driver For The Dead #1 (Radical, cover date July, 2010)

I picked this up for the same reasons as the aforementioned Time Bomb. This title has the same high quality presentation as Time Bomb, with superb writing by John Heffernan and artwork by Leonardo Manco. The coloring by Jerry Choo and Kinsun Loh has a nice muted appearance that makes every panel look like a painting. I will wait for the trade paperback for the rest of this series but recommend picking this up in whatever format you prefer.

GOLDEN AGE MARVEL COMICS OMNIBUS VOL. 1 (Marvel, 2009)

Collects Marvel Comics No. 1 and Marvel Mystery Comics Nos. 2-12 (cover dates October, 1939- October, 1940).

I rarely double dip for the sake of an upgrade, but this was the exception to the rule. The 12 issues that this hardcover comprises were collected in 3 Masterworks hardcovers. Volume 1 had the poorest reproduction ever for a Masterwork, being almost as bad as an IDW G.I. Joe Classic trade. Volume 2 had glued mousetrap binding. So, when they announced this book, I sold my masterworks on eBay and pooled that money into buying this book. Let me tell you, the upgrade was absolutely worth it. The first four issues were remastered from microfiche for the Masterwork. Here, they actually spent a small fortune tracking down the original issues and scanned them to work from for the restoration. The difference is night and day. If the issues from Vol. 2 were remastered or not, I can't say. Possibly. Vol. 3 looked perfect when it came out, so there is no upgrade for issues 9-12. The extras in this book are breathtaking, with so much behind the scenes stuff and essays on the history of these issues. Combine that with the nice paper and sewn binding, and you have every reason to upgrade (or buy it for the first time if you are so inclined).

Issues 1-4 were the first Golden Age comic books that I ever read, only 5-6 years ago. In that time, between the Masterworks and other companies' reprint efforts, I have amassed a sizable collection of books that I previously would have never been able to own or read. Truly, this is an embarrassment of riches. Golden Age stories can either bleed charm or be a chore to read, depending on my mood or how tired I am. I am as interested in the historical significance of these issues as I am the characters.

The characters! Bill Everett's Sub-Mariner is the star of the show, in my opinion. Great stuff, truly groundbreaking. Aquaman was ripped off from ol' Namor. My second favorite character in these issues is Carl Burgos' Human Torch. I like how he was originally an android who caught on fire whenever exposed to oxygen, and then wound up being able to control his flame, and later still became human. I'm not kidding, they sort of just stopped mentioning that he was an artificial man. The Angel, by Paul Gustavson, is highly entertaining. He has Superman's red and blue caped image down pat, and somehow begins flying later on. Continuity sort of exists in these early comic books, but in more of a movie or radio serial format. Details are omitted, things are swept under the rug and forgotten about, and I am sure that no one was any the wiser. Ka-Zar, a holdover from the pulp era and a blatant rip-off of Tarzan of the Apes, is fun. The Masked Raider, your prerequisite Lone Ranger ripoff, is just plain dull at worst, and plain silly at best. I guess that a 10 year old kid crica 1939-1940 would hear stories of the Old West from their grandparents or whatnot, so they were still relevant. To me, cowboys and Native Americans are painfully dull. The other recurring feature in this anthology title is Electro, the Marvel of the Age! This 'Iron-Man', as he is routinely called, is a red, yellow, and green robot controlled by Professor Zog, and an obvious precursor to Iron Man. Good stuff, with faulty science and 'futuristic' technology that seems primitive by today's standards. The rest of the features are largely forgettable.

Since I owned all of these issues in the Masterworks, this was a pure re-reading. I've got to tell you, this stuff can be quite a chore at times the second time around. I picked this book up and put it back down several times. It took me three and a half months to get through the 840-odd pages. The trick is to read no more than 2 or 3 stories in a row, as I believe that this can cause mental retardation in small children and nausea/ headaches in everyone else. Kidding aside, this is fun and charming in its own way and well worth owning.

Originally posted on my myspace blog on 11/25/2008

THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST VOL. 2: THE SEVEN CAPITAL CITIES OF HEAVEN (Marvel, 2008; Hardcover)

Collects The Immortal Iron Fist Nos. 8-14 and The Immortal Iron Fist Annual No.1 (cover dates October, 2007- June, 2008).

This is a really good series by Ed Brubaker and company. I love old Iron Fist from the '70s, and this adds new layers to the mythos. The only thing that concerns me is that there is the potential to over complicate things which could turn Iron Fist into a crapfest. We'll have to wait and see, right?

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE MARVEL COMICS VOL. 3 (Marvel, 2008; Hardcover)

Collects Marvel Mystery Comics Nos. 9-12 (cover dates July- October, 1940)

After a two plus year wait, we finally get Volume 3 of this series! Lots of cheesy Golden Age fun with Electro, the Marvel of the Age, an "Iron-Man" robot, The Sub-Mariner by Bill Everett, the Human Torch by Carl Burgos, the Angel, Ka-Zar, the Masked Raider, and others. I have to be in the mood for most of this stuff, but when I am, these are fun reads. The Sub-Mariner is worlds better than the rest of the stuff here and worth the price of admission alone.

X-MEN: THE COMPLETE ONSLAUGHT EPIC BOOK 2 (Marvel, 2008)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man No. 415, Excalibur (Vol. 1) No. 100 (partial), Green Goblin No. 12, Punisher (Vol. 3) No. 11, Sensational Spider-Man No. 8, Spider-Man No. 72, Wolverine (Vol. 2) No. 104, X-Factor (Vol. 1) Nos. 125, 126, X-Force (Vol. 1) No. 57 and X-Man No. 18 (cover dates August- September, 1996).

This one falls under the category of 'careful what you wish for'. The Onslaught trades from the '90s are incredibly rare and expensive. After years of wishing and hoping that Marvel would re-issue them, I now have the first three of four chunky trades collecting this crapfest in all of its garish glory. It's hard to tell what sucks more, the '90s ComiCraft fonts, the fact that every hero is ridiculously muscular and has new costumes, overly-written scripts, the fact that Cable and X-Man are all the most powerful mutants EVER, the crappy artwork, the *boxes in every single panel…my God, I am glad that I missed this decade! I don't know how people kept the faith in Marvel during those times. I'm not sure that I could have! I hate all of the Liefield creations with nonsensical names like Random, Domino, Shatterstar, etc. I also hate how Cable, X-Man, and all of the aforementioned have some sort of marking over their left eye, and how many of them have "face paint" ala Paul Stanley. Horrible. Coincidentally, the latest CBG also has an article about the "eye" thing. I also hate the current trend in these X-trades where they feature part of an issue. That reminds of those horrible hack job trades that Marvel put out in the '90s. I prefer to have the entire issue collected.

EXCALIBUR CLASSIC VOL. 5 (Marvel, 2008)

Collects Excalibur (Vol. 1) Nos. 29-34 and Excalibur: Weird War III (cover dates Late September, 1990- February, 1991).

Good stuff despite a few rough patches, i.e. multiple creative teams, lackluster artwork and lettering, and being overly British. I know that this is supposed to be a British series, but man does Claremont lay it on thick! Simon Furman and Alan Moore don't try to write that British, and they actually live there! There are spots where the dialogue needs subtitles. 

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 11 (Marvel, 2008)

Collects Fantastic Four (Vol. 1) Nos. 105-116 (cover dates December, 1970- November, 1971)

This is the first run of FF post-Kirby. John Romita, Sr. and then John Buscema more than capably handle the artwork in "the King's" absence. Stan Lee exits towards the end of the book to be replaced by Archie Goodwin. The Bronze Age is on!

WONDER WOMAN VOL. 2: CHALLENGE OF THE GODS (DC, 2004)

Collects Wonder Woman (Vol. 2) Nos. 8-14 (cover dates September, 1987- March, 1988)

George Perez is one of my favorite artists, and this is part of his (so far) great run on this title. I have never read these issues before, so bear with me. I wouldn't have dreamed of crossing the "party line" when these issues originally came out in the '80s, but with age comes wisdom, yadda-yadda. I appreciate how much detail Perez puts into each panel, especially when showing the Greek mythology stuff. My only complaint about this package is that DC uses chinsy paper in their trades. It's not like this book sold at a lower price point because of the cheaper paper stock.