Big Books

I own two Marvel Omnibuses: The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus (collects Uncanny X-Men #94-131, Annual #3, Giant-Size X-Men #1) and The X-Men Omnibus (collects X-Men # 1-31). Prior to buying them I thought they were a great idea. I was fixated on three advantages that I perceived when comparing Omnibuses to Marvel Masterworks:

1. The cost per page, each Omnibus contains the equivalent of 3 or 4 Marvel Masterworks, for the cost of 2 or less.
2. The page size is a little bigger so the images are a little bigger than they are in a Masterworks.
3. The Omnibuses include the letters pages and other other bonus materials that the Masterworks do not.
   

I love the content (both regular and bonus: I never realized there were so many female X-Men fans back in the day) but I have a little trouble with the size. They aren't as portable as I would like them to be. They are too bulky and too heavy for me to read while I'm standing up on the Metro. In order to read them I need to be sitting with the book on a flat surface or my lap. Of course this didn't really sink in until after I bought a couple of them.

There are a couple other classic Marvel series that I want to read that have been released as part of the Masterworks series: Amazing Spider-Man and Thor. There is a Spider-Man Omnibus (possibly two) and I've been toying with the idea of getting it but now I'm leaning much more heavily (no pun intended) toward buying the Masterworks instead, one volume at a time. There is no Thor Omnibus, as of yet, and I was holding out for one but now I don't think that I will bother; I'll get the Masterworks instead.

What I Read - Feb 13, 2010

Powers v12 - Well, I'm finally all caught up on Powers, more or less. I've now read all the stories that have ben collected. All that remains are the few issues of the current series that will presumably be collected some time in the near future. It might be a good idea to give it a rest and read something else instead. That said, I still say that this is an awesome series. This, the final chapter of season/series #2 was no exception and it certainly leaves me wanting for more stories about Walker and Pilgrim.

Sleeper: Season One - I've now read 4 of 12 chapters in this collection. I can't deny that I like it but I'm not ready to call it a classic just yet. Maybe that's because I had extremely high expectations going, possibly due to all the praise this series gets. Maybe that's because when I compare it to other so-called classics that I've read in the past year it doesn't measure up to the best of them (Watchmen, Batman: The Dark Knights Returns) even though it does surpass at least one of them (Kingdom Come). Maybe that's because I'm not as enamored by Sean Phillips artwork as some are. It works but I'm just not crazy about it and I'm still getting used to it. Maybe I'll grow to appreciate it like how I eventually grew to appreciate Michael Lark's artwork on Daredevil during Ed Brubaker's stint writing that book. But maybe not, after all my recollection is that I appreciated Lark's artwork from the get go and just developed a deeper appreciation for it as the series progressed. By comparison, Phillips's artwork on Sleeper seems muddy but that maybe the colorist's doing. Then again maybe my head is so into following the story that I haven't the time or desire to focus on the artwork or give it the attention it deserves. I am enjoying the story. It's keeping me guessing and isn't predictable in the least bit, or at least not so far. I like the way Ed Brubaker is layering in back stories, a little here and a little there.

Library Binding: Wants and Needs

I'm trying to put together some runs to send to Library Binding. I've got a number that are more or less ready to go. I think the first two will be Dreadstar 1-12 and Spectre 1-12 or maybe Breach 1-11.

Lately I got it in my head to get Batman and the Outsiders (1983) bound. I've got the first 8 issues but I'm missing a couple of crucial extras:

• Brave and the Bold #200 - which contains the preview
• New Teen Titans #37 - which contains part 1 of the story that concludes in BatO #5

There's a small con next week. I'll look there. I want those issues and won't get the collection bound without them, but I also don't want to spend more than a couple bucks a piece for them, preferably less.

What I Read - Jan 18, 2010

Ooku: The Inner Chambers v1 - I'm not sure exactly how that title is supposed to be pronounced. I know what I like and I liked this story. The series looks like it will be a series of stories from different points in history.

What's it about? In the world this story takes place, at the beginning of the 17 century, most (75%) of the men of Japan have been killed by a plague that only affects men. Introduced halfway through the book, the Shogun, Yoshimune, is a woman. The first three of four chapters in this volume are about Mizuno, a young man who joins the Shogun's Ooku, which is essentially a harem. The last chapter seems to set a framing convention for telling more stories.

For more about this volume I recommend reading this review.

Stuff I Wanna Read (Dec 2009 - Part II)

I went to my LCS yesterday looking for the books I wrote about. I didn't walk away empty-handed but I didn't buy any collections from any of the three series I wrote about, even though they had some of them.

Today, reading through CSBG's Top 100 Comic Book Storylines thread.It occurs to me that I haven't read much in the way of Spider-Man comics books. He is one of the best known superheroes. I really need to read some.

There are two story lines that stand out:

Kraven's Last Hunt - wikipedia - isbn.nu
The Death of Gwen Stacy - wikipedia - isbn.nu

I think I read the Death of Gwen Stacy back in the day, before there were trade paperbacks. I know that there's more Spider-man stories worth reading. Somehow, someday I want to read Steve Ditko's run on the book.

Stuff I Wanna Read (Dec 2009)

Sometimes you feel an itch and you should scratch it. There are certain books that I read about, hear about, from time to time, and think about trying but have yet to take the plunge on. Here are three from DC that have been on my mind from time to time. I may have even mentioned them in this blog before. I really need to get my LCS to order me v1 of each of these series if they don't have them in stock.

Jonah Hex - I listened to the recently John Siuntres' re-released interview of Jonah Hex writer Jimmy Palmiotti. He talked about more than Hex in the interview but that irrelevant. What matters is that it got me thinking about reading this series again.

Secret Six - This looks like one of those offbeat series that kinda breaks the mold or at least doesn't conform to the typical superhero team script. I want to at least try it.

Booster Gold - Time travel. I don't have to say anything else. Time Travel is more than enough to get me interested. But maybe I'll press my luck and say that the little blurb's that DC puts out when it solicits each issue also has be salivating. It sounds like a really cool little book. I could be way off base and way wrong here but my gut is talking and I think I should listen.

What I Bought - Nov 27, 2009

I went to a Black Friday comic book sale today at Cards Comics & Collectibles in Reisterstown, MD. It was a bit of a drive. It took me an hour to get there and another hour to get back, but the traffic wasn't bad at all and the discounts made it worth my while, even if I didn't spend as much as some of the other customers; the guy in line in front of me spent about $240. Me? I spent just $28.60.

The Good - I found some manga volumes that I've been wanting to read but that they don't carry at Barbarian. The discount on manga, trades, and hardcovers (for this weekend) is 50%.

The Bad - The selection of back issues wasn't bad but the prices seemed high. Even with a 70% discount it wasn't like you could get many comics for $10 or $20. There were no quarter, fifty-cent, or dollar bins. I wasn't too wild about the layout of the store. It is very boxy, spartan, utilitarian and didn't seem to have much character.

What I bought...

Ooku v1 - link - been wanting to try this for a while. I asked the guys at Barbarian to order it for me but they seem to have trouble getting manga after it is initially released. They told me to try elsewhere so I was very happy to find it today.

What's it about? From what I understand the series in set in Japan 400 years in the past, but an alternate past. A plague has wiped out 75% of the men in Japan. Women have taken over the leadership roles. That's about all I know at this point. I think the main character is a man who is part of the ooku, or the shogun's harem.

Ikigami v2 - link - I liked the first volume enough (it wasn't perfect) but there was enough there for me to give the second one a try.

What's it about? In order to instill fear in the population the Japanese government institute a policy of randomly killing off a very small number of people. The chosen ones are killed by a time-released poison which the victims were injected with when they were much younger. All citizens receive the injections but only a select few contain the poison. Sometime between the ages of 18 and 25 the people who have received the poisons will die. The process is regulated to the degree that the government knows exactly when people will succumb to the poison (which stops the heart instantaneously) and provide them with 24 hours notice. Each volume in this series contains two stories, each one about a victim both before and after they learn they are about to die. I'm not sure how exactly to classify the series but it certainly has elements of sciece fiction and psychological horror.

Oishinbo: Ramen & Gyoza - link - first food manga I've bought in a long while. I don't think that they are planning on translating the entirety of this series. It began in 1983 and is still running today. It also looks like they aren't going to try to number the volumes that they are translating. I couldn't tell which was the first one so I just grabbed this one since I am interested in learning more about ramen.

What's it about? According to the blurb on the jacket it is about the quest for the ultimate meal. Cooks going all out to perfect their craft, I guess.

Pax Romana - link - This mini-series has a cool sounding premise. I'm eager to see how it pans out. This book doesn't look or feel like most comic books but the idea behind it (which involves time travel) is something that one often finds in comic books.

What's it about? The Pope and/or the Vatican send(s) troops back in time (312 CE) to change the present.