New Omnibus Purchases

It's well past time to catch-up on this blog with What I've been buying, reading and watching.

First up are two Marvel Omnibus volumes the second of which is very close to the perfect book for me.

The Savage Sword of Conan Omnibus Vol 1 is a companion to Conan the Barbarian Omnibus I bought early on this year. It's another big book, full of stories that I've never read and a real interesting purchase for me.

John Buscema's art also looks fantastic in black and white.

By the way, I've read about half of the CtB omni. It's good but a little bit "samey" when reading one issue right after another and so after 13-14 issues I felt I needed a little break before resuming.

The second omnibus is Amazing Spider-man volume 4. This is just perfect.

The issues reprinted include my first ever Spider-man purchased story and so many other Bronze-Age classics which captured my imagination and made me a Spidey fan for life.

So even though I've all the originals of these issues (except for #129 1st Punisher) I just felt I had to get this and I absolutely love going through it. I guess it will help keep my originals in better condition.

Complete Two-In-One (plus another Thor! and Nemo!)

I've now completed by collection of Marvel Two-In-One with this purchase of issue 13. As you can see from the cover scan it's not the VFN as advertised but, to be fair, the seller agreed and fully refunded me when I pointed this out. It'll do but I'd have rather have had that VFN copy.

So, just as promised back in Jan, I've now completed 1-75 of 2-in-1 which was my aim.

I also picked-up Thor #256 from a different seller as it was one of the issues missing from the lot I purchased recently. A nice copy at 99p.

And finally I decided to purchase "River of Ghosts" which is the last part of the Nemo trilogy. I didn't like only having 2/3 of the story on the shelf and this was going cheap. Oh, the completist in me can cause me trouble! 

Giant -Size Spider-man 4 & 5

Although the aim was to read the Giant-size issues I'd bought this year, I couldn't resist continuing with the series as these two issues are good reads and issue 4 with the Punisher is a particular favourite of mine. This is because I bought this on a summer holiday in 1979 when I was 12.

I loved it. And it felt more special as it was a surprise purchase and it was a an extra long Spidey story. I think it was also the first time I'd read a reprint of Amazing Fantasy 15.

GSSM #5 is also a good story by the same creative team. It ties in well to what was going on in the main book at the time as it develops the Clone Gwen sub-plot. I personally love that story.

Giant-Size Spider-man No. 2 and 3

These are two comics from 1974 which I'd not read before. The stories are definitely not classics but they were fun. The best part was seeing "new" Ross Andru Spidey art because, as I've said on this blog before, Ross Andru  was my first Spidey artist and as a result his portrayal is one of my favourites.

1974 Giant-size Marvel Comics

 These Giant-size issues were always a bit of a mystery to me growing up in the UK in the 1970s as they were just not available. I never saw one for sale - but I did see plenty of house adds for these extra-long stories.

And when reference was made to events in the regular title ( I remember the Spidey/ Man-Thing team-up in issue 5 being referenced as a "story for another day") was was really curious.

So purchasing and reading these issues is always a bit special, even if the stories themselves are very average if truth be told.

Great covers on both these books and Ross Andru artwork on Giant-Size Spider-man is always a pleasure for me.

I'll be reading these Giant-Size books in-between some New Teen Titans by DC!

More Thor Masterworks

It's not actually been that long since I last bought two volumes of Thor Masterworks but here I am buying two more, And these will be my last ones.

Vol 9 fits the gap between the Thor Epic collection vol 4 which I've had since March 15 and, what was up to then, the earliest Thor Masterwork collection I had which was volume 10.

Volume 15 is the latest volume to be published and it reprints the first US edition Thor comic I ever bought (not that I bought many). That was issue 253 and my copy is getting a bit shabby now. Great Kirby cover on this one!

I've pre-ordered volume 2 of the Thor Epic collection series and so when that arrives I will have the majority of the Silver and Bronze Age runs.

Added to My Collection: Giant-size Spider-man 3

Well, I've gone and bought another Giant-size issue as I'm clearly in the mood for a few back-issues at the moment. Here we have another Gerry Conway/ Ross Andru story. It's not one I've read before so I'm sure this will be a real treat when I get round to reading it.

Bought off a "buy-it-now" on Ebay for £10 incl. P&P.

Added to My collection: Giant-size Spider-man 1

I guess I always knew I would get this comic someday even though I've a reprint of it. But I never wanted to pay £15+ for it.

Anyway, this cost exactly £8 including p&p so I'm very happy with that.

Great cover even though I seem to remember the story is not that great. Still Gerry Conway and Ross Andru Spidey is always going to bring out the fanboy in me. 

Giant-size superheroes number 1

It was not long ago when I thought I'd completed my back-issue collection with the purchase of Fantastic Four #72. And to some extent I still have but I now want to add a few more issues. A bit of gravy if you please.

So some Hulk issues because they are no longer publishing the paperback Masterworks, I've noted that there are a few gaps in my Marvel Two-In-One issues and I also quite fancy picking-up all the Spider-man Giant-Size issues.

So I've started with this one which has a Gerry Conway/ Gil Kane story I've not seen before so quite nice for £8.80.

Two More Masterworks - Cap and X-Men

My Masterwork collection has now spilled onto two shelves of my bookcase. But it's nearly complete.

The Cap Masterworks means I've completed that run and I "need" Vols 1 and 4 to complete the X-Men.

Then it's Daredevil and the first vol of Doc Strange and I'm done. Or at least until the next Hulk (July 2015 by my calculation)

Marvel Masterworks Thor Vol 12

I wan't this but wasn't going to pay £32.50 or more just yet for it as there are were other things (like Christmas) I needed to save my cash for.

But when it came down to £17.45 in the new year that was an opportunity too good to miss! I've no idea what these issues are like as I've never read them but a collection full of John Buscema artwork...I'll take that!

Triumph & Torment

The main story in this trade collection is a reprinting of the Roger Stern / Mike Mignola graphic novel staring Doom and Strange called "Triumph & Torment".

It's a great story and will be worth re-reading one day.

I also really enjoyed the short reprint from an old Amazing Adventures by Conway and Colan featuring ol' Doom using magic to try to free his mum's soul from hell.

I solid and worthwhile acquisition.

More Marvel Masterworks and a Classic Graphic Novel

 Incredible Hulk Masterworks vol 3softcover

 Iron Man Masterworks Vol 8

Dr Strange & Dr Doom Triumph and Torment Graphic Novel

All 3 arrived on the same day courtesy of the Book Depository who are often significantly cheaper than Amazon.

This means I've completed my Iron Man run.

Iron Man Masterworks Vol 7

Another Iron Man Masterworks volume has arrived to add to my collection. This reprints issues 26-38 some of which I do have the originals for.

I am still undecided on whether or not to purchase Volume 8. I have more than half of the originals of that volume but the ones I don't have are rare and expensive so the sensible option would be to purchase it.

Sensible..moi?

Marvel Team-Up #8: Just one more to go!

This particular issue is super scarce in the UK. It rarely comes up on ebay for sale so I was pleased to pick it up for £7 plus £1 p&p for (I reckon) a FN+ copy.

Just issue #23 to get and I have a complete run of 1-100.

Marvel Team-Up #49 was one of the first US comics I ever got back in 1976, so Team-Up has always had a special place in my collection.

Added to My Collection: Bronze Age Bargains

It's happened again, as it seems to have done a few times this year. Lots of parcels in one day. Just like Christmas!

First was a parcel containing multiple ebay wins from one seller. Hulk #190 and Marvel Team-Up #3 both fill gaps in the collection and are in VFN- condition. Both were good prices too! Hulk is quite scare but I picked it up for £1.50 and Team-Up was £5.50 whereas "Buy-it-now" sellers have a £20+ price tag on it.

This issue features art by Ross Andru one of my favourites as his art graced the comics the first time I read Spidey.

I also picked up my final 4 issues of Tomb of Dracula which complete my collection. Issues 64,67,68 & 69 for less that £5 for the lot. Amazing because these don't come up for sale especially in this condition!

A nice way to finish the year with my comic collection.

Added to My collection: Marvel Team-Up 37 from Sept 1974

Just purchased this nice FN/VFN copy of Team-up 37 for £1.95 incl. P&P from ebay. Quite a bargain -esp as it was a buy-it-now!

New Purchases...Thor and Iron Man

Two new collections arrived in the post yesterday.

Iron Man Vol 9 by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca brings me up-to-date with these collections. I've about 4 to read now. :-)

The big purchase at £29.25 is Thor Masterworks vol 11 by Gerry Conway and John Buscema. This reprints issues 195-205 and will do for me regarding Thor reprints. As mentioned in this previous post, I wanted to get some reprints of the Thor issues I read when I first started buying and reading comics myself and those British reprints came from these issues.

This looks a nice collection and I'm excited at the prospect of reading these. I did notice from a quick read of the introduction that Gerry Conway was only 19 when he wrote these issues! Amazing!

Thor Masterworks

Wow. This is a bit of a first for me. A Thor Masterworks! Volume 10 to be exact which reprints issues 184 - 194. Most by Stan Lee and two by Gerry Conway and all illustrated by John Buscema.

These particular issues reprint the Thor stories which were included in Super Spider-man and the Super Heroes # 190 which was the first comic I ever bought and which reprinted various strips. The Thor strip was not an immediate favourite but I did grow to like it escpecially Big John's pencilling. I've long desired to have at least full colour reprints of the original US Marvel comics SSMATSH contained but trying to identify which issues they come from was a challenge! A nice one though. Thanks goodness for the Grand Comics Database which makes things much easier these days.!

This is the cover to the comic cover dated Sept 29 1976. Purchased a WH Smiths by me aged 9.

So far I have identified and purchased

Amazing Spider-man 140
Marvel Team-Up 2
Thor 191

I need

Iron Man 19
Invaders 1