Reviews: ANT-MAN/ GIANT-MAN EPIC COLLECTION VOL 1: THE MAN IN THE ANT HILL, WOLVERINE: OLD MAN LOGAN VOL. 10: END OF THE WORLD, CRIME PATROL ANNUAL VOL. 2, FANTASTIC FOUR BY JOHN BYRNE OMNIBUS VOL. 2

There is no longer a void for this blog to fill. Talking about binding, paper, and restoration is now the norm, not the exception. My work is done in that regard. There are endless YouTube reviews, message boards, etc. I will pop in with pellet reviews. Consider this the “how I spent my summer vacation” book report.

ANT-MAN/ GIANT-MAN EPIC COLLECTION VOL. 1: THE MAN IN THE ANT HILL (Marvel, First Printing, 2015; Softcover)

Collects the Ant-Man/Giant-Man stories from Tales To Astonish #27, 35-59 (cover dates January, 1962- September, 1964)

While this is one of the “lesser” titles of the Silver Age, it was still a lot of fun to read. Readers with modern sensibilities will dislike the “you're just a girl, Wasp” vibe to some of the earlier stories, but this was a pre-women's lib era. I have a soft spot for Egghead and The Human Top. Seeing Ant-Man transition into Giant-Man was pretty cool.

WOLVERINE: OLD MAN LOGAN VOL. 10: END OF THE WORLD (Marvel, First Printing, 2018; Softcover)

Note: Book actually released in 2019.

Collects Old Man Logan #46-50 and Old Man Logan Annual #1 (cover dates October-December, 2018)

Good stuff, although it was pointless to end the series here. Rebooted numberings lose readers in the long run.

CRIME PATROL ANNUAL VOL. 2 (Gemstone, 2000; Softcover)

Collects Crime Patrol #12-16 (cover dates June-July, 1949- February-March, 1950)

EC remains the gold standard for comic books, even here in the “Pre-Trend” era collected here. The first steps toward EC becoming a Horror comic company happened here, with the introduction of The Crypt Keeper in a handful of stories until the final issue, which was basically the first issue of The Crypt Of Terror. Within a few issues that title would change into the more familiar Tales From The Crypt.

Gemstone used some pretty kick ass glue. This book is almost 20 years old and doesn't even creak when you open it.

FANTASTIC FOUR BY JOHN BYRNE OMNIBUS VOL. 2 (Marvel, First Printing, 2013; Hardcover)

Collects Fantastic Four #261-295, Fantastic Four Annual #18, 19, Alpha Flight #4, Avengers Annual #14, Thing #10, 19, and material from Epic Illustrated #26-34, Thing #7, What If? #36, and What The--?! #2, 10 (cover dates November, 1983- January, 1991)

1984 and 1985 were the zenith of western civilization. The spinner racks at 7-11 were filled with gold month in and month out. I thought that it would last forever, as children tend to do. Little did 10-11-12 year old me know that this was the second golden age of Marvel, and arguably the last time that every single title was hitting high marks at the same time. John Byrne remains a favorite of mine, and this stuff still holds up decades later. Hard to pinpoint a favorite issue, but #276 was one I read several times on the Christmas break from school in 1984.

Review- THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN OMNIBUS VOL. 2

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN OMNIBUS VOL. 2 (Marvel, First Printing, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects The Amazing Spider-Man #39-67, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3-5, The Spectacular Spider-Man #1, 2, and the Spider-Man stories from Not Brand Echh #2, 6, 11 (cover dates August, 1966- December, 1968)

Writer: Stan Lee

Artists: John Romita, Sr. with Don Heck, Larry Lieber, Jim Mooney, Marie Severin, Mike Esposito, Bill Everett, and Frank Giacoia

While I love Steve Ditko, I prefer the artwork of John Romita, Sr. a whole lot more. I remember teenage me arguing with some nerds at the comic shop circa 1987. This guy said Ditko all the way. I argued that Ditko is great and laid the foundation, but it was John Romita, Sr. who defined the contemporary Spider-Man that we know and love. This was right before Todd McFarlane would do a hard reset and make Ditko the only acceptable reference point for the character for decades to come. Those of us who were Bronze Age children know Romita's version as the one who adorned t-shirts and luncboxes.

This stuff is art of the highest order. There are too many highlights for me to do a blow by blow, but I'll take a shortcut and tell you that if you are not familiar with this run that it is top shelf material and it belongs in everyone's library.

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.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FOLLOWING APPLY TO THE 2012 FIRST PRINTING OF THIS BOOK.

Linework and Color restoration: There are a couple of issues here which look like they could be improved upon if better source material surfaced. I am uncertain if the second printing of this book used any original artwork which may have surfaced since this book was released.

Paper stock: Coated stock with a slight sheen. This is closer to glossy than matte.

Binding: Sewn binding. Like many older Omniboo, this has developed the dreaded Omnibus sag due to gravity and the weight of the book block. Some folks use post it note pads to prop up the block, others store them spines down. I like to live dangerously and store my books vertically.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: Laminated dustjacket. The hardback has faux leather grain and dye foil stamping. The second printing does not have that.

The hardback has ugly creases on it after reading it.

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.

Review- The Owl #1 and 2

The Owl #1 and 2 (Gold Key, cover dates April, 1967- April, 1968)

Writer: Jerry Siegel

Artist: Tom Gill

This was a campy retread of the 1940s Dell series designed to ride the wave of campy Golden Age nostalgia in the wake of the 1966 Batman TV series. I enjoyed the heck out of the complete lack of self awareness combined with absurd, unnecessarily elaborate exploits. Gold Key Comics were always decidedly old fashioned and out of step yet charming, and these are no different. If you were a kid jingling some coins in your hand at the newsstand then this would have been buried by anything Marvel or DC were doing at the time. I guess that it never stood a chance, which is too bad since these were fun reads with solid artwork.

Apparently the character was revived as part of Dynamite's Project Superpowers universe a few years ago. That universe is comprised of public domain Golden Age superheroes who are retooled. There is also a more recent relaunch in inDELLible Comics' All New Popular Comics, another public domain riff.

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.

Old comic books smell great. They should make a candle that smells like rotting pulp paper.

Review- MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 2

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 2 (Marvel, First Printing, 2013; Softcover)

Collects the Doctor Strange stories from Strange Tales #142-168 (cover dates March, 1966- May, 1968)

Writers: Stan Lee, Denny O'Neil, Roy Thomas, Raymond Marias, Jim Lawrence, and Dan Adkins with plots by Steve Ditko (#142-146)

Artists: Steve Ditko, Bill Everett, Marie Severin, and Dan Adkins, with Penciling by George Tuska and Inking by Herb Trimpe

Steve Ditko's legendary run on this title draws to a close in grand fashion four issues into this book, with the Dread Dormammu fighting Eternity. One could end their marathon there (as the recent Doctor Strange Omnibus does), but then you'd be missing out on some real treats. This was my first time reading this material and, dare I say it, the series actually improves once Ditko leaves the fold. All of his original concepts and designs are expanded on.

Bill Everett takes over the art with #147, and this is among his finest work. Everett is a legend who created the Sub-Mariner back in the late 1930s but is largely a footnote to modern comic fans. Kaluu looks like something out his Sub-Mariner run, and the follow up villain, Dormammu's sister Umar, could have come out of his 1950s Atlas Heroes revival.

Marie Severin takes over the art chores with #153, and while she is legendary for being the colorist for EC Comics and that iconic Hulk Annual cover (you know the one...), her artwork leaves me cold. To defeat Umar, Doctor Strange must release Zom, a ridiculous looking, supposedly unstoppable demon whose Achilles heel is embarrassingly easy for Doctor Strange to find. The Living Tribunal arrives at the end of issue 157. Herb Trimpe's inking helps save Severin's artwork beginning with that same issue and running through 160.

158 is where things really get cooking. Roy Thomas has arrived with thesaurus in hand to turn comic books into purple prose Shakespeare. The psychedelic elements are continually ramped up from one issue to the next, and it's easy to see why all of the 'heads loved this series in the '60s. Thomas brings back Baron Mordo, but it's Jim Lawrence who puts a cork in this arc with a battle between The Living Tribunal and yet another cosmic entity, Nebulos.

Dan Adkins arrives with #163, and he has a real wide angle psychedelic lens. Adkins out Ditkos Ditko. +covers face to shield self from stream of rocks and tomatoes+ I love the battle with Yandroth, Scientist Supreme, who uses advanced technology to battle Doctor Strange. I really love his robot, Voltorr (renamed Voltorg one issue later for no reason), because robots rule. And science meets magic resulting in a battle with a robot rules even more.

Since Strange Tales was a split book featuring two headliners, this strip is limited to 10 pages per issue. The shortened page count keeps things moving briskly, albeit in the same dense, meaty fashion that you'd expect from a Silver Age comic book.

Bill Everett rules. 

The entirety of this book has a sort of soap opera element with the Ancient One and Clea. Doctor Strange braves untold dangers across untold dimensions for this bird, and I hope that she's worth it. Doc's spent all 304 pages looking for her for crying out loud!

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Softcover Masterworks are wider than a standard trade paperback. I was all over this line when it came out, buying everything that I had passed over in hardcover. Now the Epic line of books has filled that gap.

Linework and Color restoration: Marvel Masterworks are the Criterion Blu-Rays of collected editions, with top shelf restoration and a color palette faithful to the original comic books. Romanticists yearn for Ben Day dots and off register printing, but these were never artistic considerations, folks. They were charming byproducts of the limits of printing technology of the day. The original art (and by extension, film used on these books) didn't look like that. It's a real philosophical debate amongst collected edition sorts, and it's shaken out like this: If it's Marvel or DC you get full blown restoration. Expensive and time consuming but worth preserving history correctly. Dark Horse was in the game but has gotten out for the most part. Everyone else uses scans with varying degrees of tinkering. I'm done arguing about it. It all boils down to preference, and there are benefits and drawbacks to both presentations. Given the choice I'll stick with full blown restoration though.

Paper stock: Matte coated stock, the paper used in these books (as well as Epics) is my favorite.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover. 

Review- MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 1

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 1 (Marvel, First Printing, 2010; Softcover)

Collects the Doctor Strange stories from Strange Tales #110, 111, 114-141 and the main story from Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 (cover dates July, 1963- February, 1966)

Writers: Stan Lee and Don Rico (#129)

Artists: Steve Ditko with inking by George Roussos (#114, 122-125)

I bought this and read it years ago, but I dumped that copy when it fell out of print and was commanding several times over cover price. I'm not married to my collection and will cash in whenever I get a chance. I then found this copy shortly thereafter out in the wild. I had to read the new copy, which is in and of itself a reread. Marvel has since reissued this in hardcover (which has also fallen out of print). This material is currently available in an Omnibus hardcover.

This was very enjoyable on the re-read. The essence of Doctor Strange's second battle with the Dread Dormamuu was caught in last year's movie, Doctor Strange. I'm not going into much else here, as you can read what I thought of this material a few years ago.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Softcover Masterworks are wider than a standard trade paperback.

Linework and Color restoration: Marvel Masterworks are the Criterion Blu-Rays of collected editions. Top shelf restoration and a color palette faithful to the original comic books.

Paper stock: Matte coated stock, the paper used in these books (as well as Epics) is my favorite.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover. 

Review- THE GREEN LANTERN OMNIBUS VOL. 2

THE GREEN LANTERN OMNIBUS VOL. 2 (DC, First Printing, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Green Lantern #22-45 (cover dates July, 1963- June, 1966)

Writers: Gardner Fox and John Broome

Artists: Gil Kane with Inking by Murphy Anderson, Frank Giacoia, Joe Giella, and Sid Greene

Comic books are a wonderful escape from reality. It doesn't get any more escapist than the absolute good versus evil, white hat versus black hat mentality of Silver Age DC. DC were behind the times. Cross town rivals Marvel Comics were steeped in the zeitgeist, reflecting the changes of the day with their more sophisticated output.

The stories are formulaic and often predictable, but this is said from my armchair fifty years later. Audiences are more sophisticated today, for better and often worse. The artwork is the real draw here though. Gil Kane is a god. His artwork matures here, becoming more refined with each passing month, until he reaches his true voice that fans of his Marvel Comics work know and love. I will go as far as saying that no one except for Kirby was doing it as good as Gil Kane in 1966. *Guards face from rocks and tomatoes*

I enjoyed every single issue in this book, but I will list the ones that really grabbed me. I loved the battle with The Shark in #24. I loved the fight that he and Green Lantern had in the Wein/Gibbons run in the 1980s, and it was great to read his first appearance and his rematch with Green Lantern in #28. We see Gil Kane break the fourth wall in issue 29 for no real reason. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did this over at Marvel a handful of times, so we'll just chalk it up to goofy Silver Age fun and move along.

#35's battle with The Golden Mask was a blast to read. Kane's action sequences really moved by this point. Folks like to throw words like dynamic around to describe Jack Kirby's artwork during this time. Kane was one of Kirby's few peers in 1966, and dare I say that he even gave the King a run for his money. Kane of course lacked Kirby's wild imagination, but for bone-crushing action Kane is right on the money.

Not everything here is timeless fun. Overly sensitive readers will find the portrayal of Hal Jordan/ Green Lantern's friend and confidant, Thomas Kalmaku (or Pieface as he is called) to be, shall we say...not as culturally sensitive as he is portrayed today. It's not a horribly racist caricature, but calling “his Eskimo friend” Pieface isn't something that would fly today.

Aside from that, this is brilliant stuff that was just what the doctor ordered for me. I welcomed the escape from reality that this book provided. DC is going to be reissuing this book as well as the first Omnibus in a hernia-inducing single volume titled Green Lantern: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1, so if you missed out on this one or hate the tight binding (see The OCD zone for more information) on this book I strongly recommend that you grab it. I'm done with endless double dips and upgrades, so I'm sticking with this glued abomination.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- DC's earliest entries into the Omnibus market were filled with missteps. To be fair, so were Marvel's. DC has since rectified the complaints in binding that I have below, so please understand that the complaints are about THIS BOOK, not about their Omnibus program as it currently stands, which is fine aside from not remastering their material.

Linework and Color restoration: The linework is excellent, as DC took very good care of their film. The color palette, while faithfully maintained here, is plagued by awful gradient blends instead of the more abrupt blends found in the original comics. If DC recolored their comics “by hand” on computer they could have rectified this.

Paper stock: Thick matte coated stock. I like the paper used in this book a lot.

Binding: Rage inducing glued mousetrap binding. It is so tight that this book should be kept away from small children. I wouldn't let my son near this book alone because it is a two fisted read. If you let it go it shuts fast. SNAP! He could break his finger or hand that way. This is some serious glue though. This book will never fall apart.

This book inspired me to make a video many moons ago. Bleeding Cool posted it, and it is the reason that many people discovered this here blog. I don't take myself too seriously, but this video is pretty bad. It makes me laugh.

Front cover. You can barely see it but Green Lanrern's power battery is stamped onto the front cover. DC's cheap feeling boards make me a sad panda.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: DC's matte boards feel so cheap. No foil stamping, nothing. The dustjacket has a thick lamination.