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Marvel "Essentials": List/Review the ones you own!

Big Dick McGee

Big Dick McGee

If you don't know, now ya know
I'll start:

Essential Avengers, Vol. 1: Got through about 10 issues. Just ok, I’ll pick it up again when there’s nothing else in the house to read. Those 60’s issues were pretty crappy.

Essential Avengers, Vol 1: Didn’t even start it yet, can’t get thru #1

Essential FF, Vol 1: Can’t get past issue #4. Again, I’ll pick it up when there’s nothing else to read.

Essential Ghost Rider, Vol 1: VERY dated. The lingo and situations are VERY 1970’s. Read about 5 issues before I had to put it down. One thing of note: there is NO WAY Johnny Blaze could “sell his soul to the devil” in a mainstream comic today, unless it was rated “M”. Have we progressed, or gone backwards?

Essential Godzilla, Vol. 1: Haven’t had a chance to read it, but the Herb Trimpe (rhymes with ‘shrimpy’) art looks positively DREADFUL.

Essential Howard the Duck, Vol 1: Good luck getting this one, it’s OOP. Can’t wait to read this one, it looks GREAT.

Essential Iron Fist, Vol. 1: Pretty good, a bit dated but the John Byrne artwork holds up. One of the best Essential volumes to date.

Essential Luke Cage, Power Man, Vol. 1: The BEST of the Essentials so far. Yes, the “soul brother” lingo is dated, but somehow Cage pulls it off. It’s also very, very gritty right from the get-go. A must-read.

Essential Marvel Team-Up, Vol. 1: Pretty good, especially for Spidey fans. Some really interesting team-ups, but too many with The Human Torch for one volume. I wish they’d bring this title back!

Essential Monster of Frankenstein, Vol 1.: Another one I can’t get pas the first few issues. It’s just not that good!

Essential Moon Knight, Vol. 1: I’m about halfway through this one, and it’s good when you get to the Moench/Sienkowicz issues from the old Hulk Magazine. The first few stories are fairly lousy.

Essential Punisher, Vol. 1: The early issues show how great a character The Punisher was, before he got overexposed. I remember Punny would pop up once, maybe twice a year, and it was something you eagerly looked forward to. The late-80’s Grant/Zeck miniseries was also GREAT. It’s a shame they completely overexposed the character. I mean, for Christ’s sake, they had him turn black for a few issues!


Wow, I have more Essentials than I thought. The thing is, there are like 25 more volumes out there! Yikes!

Anyone else an "Essentials" fan? I know DS is, he has every one, but hasn't read any of them.
 
I haven't bought any of the essentials because, as you pointed out, many of them aren't really essential at all. I probably will get one or two for my son when he starts to appreciate them, because the older stuff is a little more kid friendly as far as reading levels go, but when I rarely feel the urge to pick up a graphic it's one of the newer titles. I really like the Ultimate Avengers stuff.
 
^^The funny thing is, I have every issue of Amazing Spider-Man from #1 to #400-something, when they "ended it" and started Volume 2...yet I still bought the Essentials.

And yeah, the term "essential" is pretty loose there. But for $12 you can't beat 'em.
 
The good thing about collections like that is for guys like you, who have or remembver the originals but don't want to pull them all out just to read a few for nostalgia's sake. This way you can stack some essentials on your shelf and leave the rest boxed up for posterity.
 
^^True. Honestly, most of my earlier Amazing Spider-Man issues are in "fair" to poor shape, 'cause that's the only way I could afford them. Hell, even though #1 was in "good" condition, I still paid like $600 for it. So yeah, I really don't want to be pulling it out to re-read it.

I was never really a big collector until the 80's when I started cutting lawns and stuff and had some real money to buy comics. So the Essentials are a nice way to read the issues that come before the ones I started buying.
 
I collected in a big way all during the seventies and eighties, until I had amassed a pretty impressive and valuable collection (mostly group books like Xmen and Titans). Then one day I came home and found that my dad had hocked them all to get money to gamble.

Never got them back, and the whole experience pretty much soured me on collecting for value. Not to mention putting a pretty severe crack in my relationship with the old man. Funny the shit that breaks the camel's back, huh?
 
Uh, no, your dad STOLE from you to feed his addiction. That would certainly be the last straw for me. It's no different than if he raided your cash jar or bank account or something.
 
Big Dick McGee said:
Uh, no, your dad STOLE from you to feed his addiction. That would certainly be the last straw for me. It's no different than if he raided your cash jar or bank account or something.
Click to expand...
Actually, he did that too. Pop was a helluva guy. If I ever decide to go into therapy, some doctor's gonna buy a yacht just on the recap phase.
 
^^Just out of curiosity, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to: Did Mom stick around, or did she dump his ass?
 
Especially during the 90's when everyone was running around with them brown "leather" jackets.

Gay.
 
The thing for me is this...i love the ESSENTIALS, a great way to introduce yourself to the Marvel Universe. I absolutely FUCKIN' LUV the Fantastic Four, but the story & art is not very good for the first 2 years or so. Kirby's art was lacking in the early issues & i am a BIG fan of the mid to later FF issues... & then also luved the John Byrne revamp issues in the 80's.

Spiderman (in the 60's), although very outdated in story telling by today's standards is still interesting to me from iss #1-on...something classic about that character that is enduring IMO.
 
Donovan said:
the whole experience pretty much soured me on collecting for value.
Click to expand...

"collecting for value" pretty much ruined comics collecting for me. It's a very expensive hobby & when the price of buying new issues went past the $1.50 mark i knew i was finished! It's a cryin' shame & i'm still amazed that the comics industry has survived as long as it has.

And that really SUCKS what yer dad did!
 
Big Dick McGee said:
^^Just out of curiosity, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to: Did Mom stick around, or did she dump his ass?
Click to expand...
They sort of imploded in 1980, after a couple of pre-quake tremors. What followed was a series of mindfucks and dirty tricks by him designed to destroy her, using kids as the weapon of choice. Way too many to go into here, but ugly. Pop was one of those guys who fancied himself a supervillain genius of the first order, and went a long way toward trying to prove his amorality to the world.

Between 1980 and 1986, I saw some interesting shit go down...
 
^^Well, IIRC, you said you ended your own marriage before it got to that point, for your son's sake. BRAVO. You've broken the cycle, now just make sure your ex doesn't bad-mouth you to your son!
 
Everything I lived through directly affected how I dealt with my own divorce. It's important to remember that the kids really do come first, and except for extreme cases no kid should have to choose between parents. The ex is another story, but unfortunately her behavior will only harm her in the long run.

Anyway, this is drifting into attention whore territory. It is what it is. How do you feel about the new ultimate universe stuff compared to the essentials?
 
No chance to read that stuff. I really don't have the money to buy a lot of comics these days. Darthsikle is a buddy of mine, he buys EVERYTHING (seriously, his comic bill is sometimes $150 a week!), but he hasn't been sharing lately. I'm gonna start looking for some pre-owned trades on ebay though.
 
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