Thor 262

This back-issue was one of the ones I was missing from the lot I won last year. Only 99p and makes me feel warm inside not having a little gap in the collection.

Great cover too.

Two Movies in a week!

Blade Runner 7/10 but a reasonable, faithful sequel

Thor 9/10 Definitely one of my fave MCU movies. 

DC Bronze Age Omnibus and Marvel Epic Thor

Some big collections have arrived through the post recently,

The Swamp Thing Omnibus has been on pre-order for over a year but due to DC re-solicitations and Amazon confusion I had to re-order it at a slightly higher price to make sure I got it.

This large volume covers all the issues up to the Alan Moore run which I will also buy in this format although I've got some of the original issues.

I've been coveting the Brave and The Bold Bronze Age Omnibus Vol 1 for some time but had been undecided about whether or not to buy it because I had a few issues already in other collections (particularly my Jim Aparo books) I own. However, this is a great format with oversized pages and covers before each issue (unlike the other ones I had) so I finally succumbed. It looks fab.

The Thor Epic collection is volume 3 which means when combined with my other Epics, Masterworks and original comics I currently have all the issues up to issue 267. Which is enough to be going on with.

I've a couple of other DC Bronze Age Omnibus editions on pre-order but things are generally looking pretty good in my collection right about now and I predict that 2018 will be a year I read more than I buy!!

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! 

Added to My Collection: Bronze-Age Thor!

I still occasionally check ebay for bargains and I recently picked-up 11 issues of Thor in two separate lots from the same seller for the total of £3.87.

I got issues 255-267 but #256 and #262 were missing. All in Fine condition too. Still these issues comprise the next Masterworks so I've saved myself some money by buying the originals. I will look out for those two missing issues though.

These issues feature the change in art from John Buscema to Walt Simonson. I haven't got Simonson's later run where he takes over the writing too but a quick glace through these issues I can tell he adopted a similar style to JB for his initial issues.

A nice bargain and I've now achieved my aim to get all the JB issues. Very soon I'll get Vol 3 of the Epic collection which will Mean I've probably got enough to be going on with.

Thor Epic Collection Vol 2. When Titans Clash!

I do like these Epic Collections. Good value.

Now I have volume 2 I'll just have to wait until vol 3 comes out and I'll have a run from Thor right up to issue 253 (Nov 1976) which is collected in Masterworks vol 15 but is also an issue I actually bought on the newsstand.

Marvel seem to be publishing these collections at a reasonable rate even if you can't predict what volume they are going to publish next. So I guess it won't be too long until my collection is complete.

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.

Masterworks Bonaza

For some reason I've had a bit of a splurge and bought 3 new masterworks volumes.

More John Buscema Thor and Gene Colan Daredeveil. Nice.

Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy Purchases

Two new meaty collections to add to my bookshelf.

Both look nice.

The Might Thor Epic Collection Vol 1

This arrived a couple of weeks ago and I forgot to post about it.

Better value than the Masterworks series and good for me to collect for series featuring "secondary" Marvel characters - the Epic line is, well, epic.

These volumes are also coming think and fast and so hopefully I can add to more Cap America, Thor and possibly Doc Strange epic volumes

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!

Marvel Tales by Alan Davis

I bought and read this because it's actually Alan Davis doing a Clandestine story using major Marvel heroes annuals as a vehicle.

Unfortunately, although  the art is the usual Davis superb standard - the story just didn't grab me on first reading. It might if I read this at the end of re-reading the various mini-series featuring the Clandestine characters.

A near miss at the moment though. :-(

More trades this week

A couple of new trades arrived this week. Both collecting relatively new material. The Alan Davies book collects 2012 annuals he did whereas the Terra collects the 2009 mini series by Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner. This is actually the second copy of this book as I returned the first one I received because it had a binding error for about 12 pages which made it awkward to read those. Unfortunately the "new" copy had the same error so I've decided to keep this one as I suspect Amazon had a duff batch and it is difficult to obtain from anywhere else. It's still readable - just not perfect.

Added to my collection: Two x Two-In One

It's funny how last month I was getting Marvel team-Up. Well I've started this month with a couple of 2-in -1s from 1976. The Annual is quite rare and is the middle part of a three parter. No. 22 I got for 60p!

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