2019 Update - Lots of Big Books

It's way past time for an update on my recent purchases as I've neglected posting about these items when they arrived. But I blame Brexit and Christmas.

When I say big books I mean BIG BOOKS. That "Ditko is Amazing" is HUGE!

The book is purely an indulgence on my part as I've all the stories in the Amazing Spider-man Omnibus #1 anyway but I just couldn't resist this.

The other Marvel books are two Fantastic Four Omnibus editions. Confusingly, each is a Number One! Of course they contain different stories.

I wanted the "Fantastic Four Omnibus" because its a decent reprint of FF issues 1-30. I'm now all ready for my long delayed re-reading of Marvel history from its early days.

"Fantastic Four by John Byrne Vol 1" reprints some of my favourite stories and after looking through the originals in early December, I just got the urge to splash out on this and have the comics with much improved reproduction.

The other books are both by Alan Moore.

"Absolute Swamp Thing Vol 1" has been on my wants list for ages and I'm so pleased DC have finally got round to publishing this. My previous reprints of these comics were from very old DC trades and left a great deal to be desired. So chuffed to get this and I will read this very soon together with my Swamp Thing Omnibus!

"The Tempest" is a large HC with the last League of Extraordinary Gentlemen story. This series has been a bit hit and miss but I got this for completeness. Hope it's good!

Spider-man: Far from Home

Mysterio!

Awesome movie. I just loved this.

Mysterio in a film. AND done well.

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.

Spider-man Homecoming

Luke and I saw this yesterday and it was great.

As Spidey is my favourite hero I'm always very critical of any portrayal if it doesn't fit into what I consider to be my "Spidey" which, by extension, is the definitive Spider-man.

This does a great job although it was very different to the Conway/Andru series of the 1970s or the Stern/ Romita Jr & DeFalco/Frenz runs later on.

It was a good plot, lots of comedy and action (very important in Spider-man stories) and I really liked how it tied into early MCU movies.

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!

Superior Foes of Spider-man Omnibus

I've not had it long but I was just in the mood to read this 17 issue long collection.

Unfortunately, 2 of the issues are sub-standard fillers but fortunately they were printed at the back of the book so the flow of the main story wasn't interrupted.

The main story was fun with some laugh out loud moments and interesting plot twists.

Superior Foes of Spider-man Omnibus

I've been looking forward to this one for some time.

A nice omnibus edition of a series which has had excellent reviews if not excellent sales.

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.

A Spider-man conclusion

 I was recently browsing my Marvel Comics search on Ebay and spotted these two premiere edition HC which together collect the final issues of Brand New Day. These were published not long after i gave up buying monthly comics and had always planned to get them someday to complete the storyline. Not that it was that good - just for completeness really. As a result I wasn't really wanting to spend too much and prices on Amazon were never keen enough for me and there was always something more interesting to buy.

However, these were half price on Ebay and worth a pop,

I guess I should read all of Brand New Day back-to-back at some point.

Two Massive Marvel Omnibus

Well I've been coveting these two massive collections for some time and finally gave in and treated myself.

I'm pleased I did as they look great.

Spider-man omnibus is 1088 pages (approx 40 issues) reprinting the earliest adventures by Lee and Ditko.

X-Static omnibus is even bigger at 1200 reprinting loads of issues from 10 years ago. But it's the whole run and I'm quickly becoming a fan of Mike Allred's art.

God knows when I'll get stuck into these but when I do, I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

Now considering selling some of my old Lee/ Ditko issues as the omnibus does the stories justice and I'll probably not really "read" the originals again. Oh, what to do!?

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.

Finally...some back issues added to my collection!

But nothing that exciting in this lot of 99p bargains.

The Marvel Tales reprinting Spidey's first ever appearance looks nice but is only FN at best - still it matches my other early Spidey reprints and that's why I got it.

Marvel Team-Up #92 gets me one step closer to completing the 1-100 run on that title.

And I always thought Paladin was cool- will I still think that after reading this issue of Marvel Premiere where the (then) Daredevil nemises strikes out in his own comic?

New Purchases Galore

 I am having to blog more regularly to keep up with my new purchases recently. My goal of buying less than I am reading is well beyond reach at the present time. There are a few factors to blame for this. My trips to London for one and alos CBRs's greatest stories of all time series.

I really value the sites where I find out about cool comics from the past I missed and these features listing stories are a real treat. Of course, as soon as I read about stuff I investigate the net to see if I can get it! This trade of "Generations" from 1999 was the only copy I could find. It was listed as in "good nick" on ebay and I can't disagree. Definitely well read but complete. This particular story was highly placed in both the best Elseworlds stories and the best Superman stories. And it's by John Byrne who was a favourite of mine for a long time.

I did say I was going to look out for more Iron Man Masterworks. Just like the Superman/Batman book above, this hardback edition is quite rare and getting expensive. That's why I plonked down £30 for this copy from Amazon Market place. I will still try and get Vol 5 very soon too.

I haven't forgotten by actual comic collection either despite the number of trades and hardcovers I have bought recently. But there are not that many on my wants list and those that are are hard to get at a good price. These two issues of Team-Up were an exception priced at 99p and £1.04 respectively.

This isn't the end of the spending spree..more stuff on the way. Oh my giddy aunt!

Added to my Collection: Marvel Team-up 73

My complete Team-Up run draws ever closer with this nice VFN- copy of issue 73 for 99p.

Just 4 to get (3, 8, 92 & 97) for the complete run to from 1-100 which is the priority on this title.

A Mixed post bag of New Purchases

Well everything arrives at once!

Marvel Team-Up #11 by Len Wein and Jim Mooney is a hard to get and slightly more expensive early issue . My FN copy was picked up on ebay for £4.70.

The two books are pretty hefty, The Jim Aparo Batman collection is 510 pages and The Rex Mundi Omnibus clocks in at 582 pages. Plenty for me to go at there!!

Just finishing X-Men Masterworks at the moment. Should finish that soon.

Added to my collection: Marvel Team-Up 38

Another Team-up to tick-off. I'm chuffed with picking this up for £2.70 on ebay as buy-it-now price is £9.

Still a few Team-ups to get to complete the 1-100 run...but getting there.