New Teen Titans Vol 5

I've ticked off another NTT trade. Vol 5 this time.

This series is ticking along. It's OK but not exceptional other than for Perez art. I've already got Vol 6 so I'll continue but I am waiting to see why it's just so highly regarded.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

My son and I saw this the other week at the newly refurbished Showcase in Coventry. It's expensive going to the cinema these days but I did like the new comfy seats and the arrangement which guaranteed a great view.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to entertain. This was definitely on a par with Vol 1. Bit of a silly plot but the characters and action sequences were great.

More Silver Age DC Omnibus editions

I'm still keen on the DC omnibus editions and a couple have arrived this week.

The JLA is Vol 2 (I've not got Vol 1 yet as I've not seen it for a good price) and it's massive. It's 1056 pages and collects #31-#76 and Mystery In Space #75

World's Finest Vol 1. is a bit thinner at only 626 pages and collects Superman #75 and World's Finest #71- #116. It was only recently that I realised that this comic was the Superman-Batman team-up book. They first teamed-up in Superman #75 and that was so well received that DC decided to change the lead story in WF to be Superman and Batman each issue.

I'm loving finding out about all this early DC history.

Catching-up on what I've read

It's been a while since I blogged about what I've read and that's because for the most part I've been reading this monster-sized Omnibus. It's a 1200+ pages!

After buying a few Omnibus editions recently I thought I ought to read some of my older ones and I'd had this one on my shelf since March 2014

For the most part I enjoyed it and certainly in the first 2/3 of the book the rotating team and their refreshing agenda for fame and fortune made for interesting reading. Perhaps I got a little jaded towards the end and that's even with fitting in the following two collections to give me a little rest.

These were recent acquisitions and were great.

Although some of stories in the Bronze-Age Superman collection were  a bit silly, I think that is part of the charm of that period of DC. It's also only something I've recently begun to appreciate.

One thing I really liked about this edition was the reproduction. The colouring style meant you still felt like you were reading a 1970's comic but it was clear and neat. Difficult to describe but it felt just right.

The Vision story was very modern and very well done. I'll have to get part 2 very soon.

"The Vision: Little Worse than a Man" for my birthday

It was my birthday this week and my team managed to get hold of my Amazon wish-list and bought me this present (it was a significant birthday!)

Nice one team!

I was actually considering getting the Over-size hardback edition when it eventually comes out but this will allow me to judge if it's worth it.

Double-dip on the X-Men

So in the last couple of weeks I've purchased these two collections. They reprint almost the same material - so why the double-dip?

The first one I bought was the Epic Collection which reprints GIANT-SIZE X-MEN (1975) 1, X-MEN (1963) 94-110, MARVEL TEAM-UP (1972) 53, 69-70, ANNUAL (1976) 1, IRON FIST (1975) 14-15, MATERIAL FROM FOOM (1973) 10. 

It's a nice collection which includes lots of issues but as it's reprinting some of my favourite comics I was looking at it a bit more critically than some of the other Epics I own and was disappointed in the small gutter on the spine edge which meant it wasn't quite as easy to read as it should have been.

Therefore, because I've been on the Masterworks site looking a discussions regarding Omnibus editions reminded me that I was previously coveting the UnCanny X-men omnibus edition.

This reprints slightly different material (X-Men(1963) 94-131, Giant-Size X-Men 1, Annual 3) plus letters pages and other extras.

The great thing about the Omnibus editions is the oversize format and the reproduction is brilliant. So this will be my copy and I'll persuade Luke to read the Epic. I do own some of the original comics (issue 111 upwards) but I'm still a happy customer!

Oh yes, my old 1st print masterworks will be put away too. These original editions are not as good as later formats with inferior colouring, binding etc.