Marvel essentials

[milhouse123321]

Hey,
looking to buy a Marvel essential book or two.
I've got the first four X-men ones, and they were pretty good.
Could anybody give me a list of what's available, and what ones are good.
I have to say, I've always been intruiged about Ant Man!
Thanks

[Alistair]

There are (or are about to be) 50 different volumes:

X-Men vols 1-5
Wolverine vols 1-3
Fantastic Four vols 1-3
Avengers vols 1-4
Amazing Spider-Man vols 1-6
Tomb of Dracula vols 1-4
Hulk vols 1-3
Dr Strange vols 1&2
Iron Man vols 1&2
Captain America vols 1&2
Daredevil vols 1&2

And the ones that have only had one volume to date:

Uncanny X-Men
Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man
Punisher
Howard the Duck
Thor
Super-Villain Team-Up
Monster of Frankenstein
Silver Surfer
Iron Fist
Luke Cage, Power Man
Marvel Team-Up
Ant-Man
Human Torch

There was also an Essential Conan but that's out of print now.

As for what ones are good - outside of the Lee/Kirby/Ditko/Romita stuff, there're also some crackers like Howard the Duck, Luke Cage and Spectacular Spider-Man, but it all kind of depends on what characters or creators you're into.

[milhouse123321]

Well I want to try these Essentials because I don't really know many Marvel characters outside of the X-men and Spider-man.
I started reading New Avengers and read Disassembled so I'm interested in those characters.
As for creators, I'm easy.

[The Sword Is Drawn]

If you're going to start reading the X-Men Essential volumes, read Essential X-Men 1-5 first.

Then, if you're a real fanatic, read Essential Uncanny X-Men. But only if you are a total fanatic. The early Stan Lee stories are pretty muich unreadable - and don't really match up with a lot of X-Men continuity (Powers and abilities vary oddly).

[Alistair]

In that case, I'd go for Fantastic Four vol 3 and Avengers vol 4. Both those volumes have some great storylines in them. Thor is also a good read, with some good old (faintly goofy) Silver Age Lee/Kirby stories.

Also, if you got into the Avengers via Disassembled, be aware that the Ant-Man in that is a different guy from the Ant-Man who has an Essential volume.

[matewan1990]

While classic Marvel runs of Captain Marvel, Warlock, Master of Kung Fu, Machine Man, Man-Thing, Werewolf By Night, Moon Knight and many others remain un-Essentialed, there are the oddball volumes with Ant-Man and Human Torch. Even Super-Villain Team-Up was an odd choice for an essential, although I did enjoy rereading those old 1970s stories. There are so many great runs that Marvel ignores. Has anyone ever noticed that the Jim Starlin Warlock has NEVER had a trade paperback collection? Marvel should really consider doing Essentials of Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, Black Panther and the Eternals. In the 1980s, there was Alpha Flight and New Mutants that would make great Essentials. And there is Ghost Rider, who has a movie coming out that Marvel has all but snubbed with its Essentials line ... I mean, Monster of Frankenstein was great with Mike Ploog and Val Mayerik art, but Ghost Rider lasted 81 issues, teamed up with Spider-Man, Daredevil and the Champions and is one of the most visually stunning characters in comics. I'd love to sit in on the Marvel Essentials meetings ... I mean, was there someone at the early meetings that said "Hey, there's going to be a big push on Ant-Man! And the Human Torch! Let's do Essentials for those two!"

[Alistair]

I think that the thinking behind the Ant-Man and Human Torch ones was that they were some of the only remaining Silver Age things not in Essentials (now, I think, the only Silver Age Marvels not in an Essential format are Sgt Fury and the Howling Commandoes, which is a shame, because they were pretty good).

Man-Thing is apparently on schedule for an Essential later this year. I'd also be very surprised if Alpha Flight, Ghost Rider, New Mutants and Moon Knight didn't get the Essential treatment, although Alpha Flight will probably be the last of those four - the current series has just been cancelled, and that might make Marvel think there's not a market for it.

I think, though, that with all the "Volume One"s we've had recently, they'll be going back to some of the older ones to add extra volumes (such as the recent solicitations of new volumes for Doc Strange, Hulk, Thor and the announced but not yet solicited FF vol 4).

Here's a good page for keeping track of what's coming up for the Essentials line: http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/marvelessentials/essentials_news_shipping.html

[Alistair]

And that same page has just been updated with news of a Killraven Essential volume. Excellent!

[Slam_Bradley]

I think that the thinking behind the Ant-Man and Human Torch ones was that they were some of the only remaining Silver Age things not in Essentials (now, I think, the only Silver Age Marvels not in an Essential format are Sgt Fury and the Howling Commandoes, which is a shame, because they were pretty good).


Sgt. Fury, Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD, and Sub-Mariner. I particularly want my Essential Subby, dagnabbit.

[Alistair]

D'oh, my bad. Yep, those other fellas are still lacking an Essential volume - the fact that we've had Namor in ESVTU but not his own volume is a bit weird.

Personally, I'm very much looking forward to the first Defenders volume - here's hoping we get more of them. On the other hand, look how long it's taken to get a second Thor volume...

[Giant Guy]

The Ant-Man Essential was good because he was one of the early Silver Age Stan Lee and Jack Kirby creations. The stories are pretty forgettable though and should only be read for nostalgia purposes.

For really great Essential reads I recomend:
Essental Spider-Man Vols 1-6 - Particularly volumes 2 and 3
Essential X-Men vole 1-5

I recently finished Essential Punisher (mostly Spider-Man reprisnts) and Essential Peter Parker the SPectacular Spider-Man. Good stuff but it does not have the same feel as the X-Men or the Amazing Spider-Man stuff.

I just bought Iron Fist and will be diving into that this weekend. John Byrne and Chris Claremont looks good.

[tricksterpup]

Heck, I would love to see a Golden Age Essentials Now that would rock. A cheap way to see all those golden age Captain Americas, Submariner, and other great books of that time.

[thik_3rd]

essential ka-zar needs to happen.

[Jessica Drew]

I'm still waiting for Essential Peter Porker: The Spectacular Spider-Ham.

[tricksterpup]

essential ka-zar needs to happen.
Yes definatly, I would love to see the 70's series in print along with the 80's series. This guy seems to get a book every 10 years. I hope he gets a new one soon.

[milhouse123321]

Okay, I've got a couple of questions for ya:

1) When were the Marvel team-Up issues printed and who appeared in the first 24 featured in the essential edition?

2) Who's featured in Super Villian Team-Up?

3) Does the Ant-Man, Thor, Captain America and Iron Man Essentials occur before or after the forming of the Avengers?

4) I heard the 1st Doctor Strange Essential book is really big with heaps of stories. Is this true?

Thanks guys.

[milhouse123321]

Also, is the Human Torch featured in Essentials the original or the FF one?

[thik_3rd]

1. not sure
2. mainly doom and namor, also red skull, magneto, and a few other odds and ends. it has the first (i think) appearance of the shroud.
3. some of the earliest issues of ant-man, thor and iron man are pre-avengers, the rest are after. generally, the first year or so's worth of stories are pre. all the caps are post avengers.
4. well theyre all really big with heaps of stories. but with the dr strange one (and a few others, like the hulk for instance), it has an artificially high number of stories. most of the essentials reprint between 25-30 issues worth of material. the dr strange one reprints 50 or so. why so many? because strange didnt have his own book at the time, and was only appearing in stories that took up half an issue of the strange tales series. so you basically get 50-some half issues, so you get just over 25 or whole issues, on par with the other essentials. roughly the same number of pages, but more stories.

5. the ff human torch.

[Slam_Bradley]

Okay, I've got a couple of questions for ya:

1) When were the Marvel team-Up issues printed and who appeared in the first 24 featured in the essential edition?


MTU # 1-24 were cover dated from March 1972 - August 1974. It was bi-monthly for the first 7 issues.

Appearing were;

1-3 Human Torch
4 X-men
5 Vision
6 Thing
7 Thor
8 The Cat
9 Iron Man
10 Human Torch
11 Inhumans
12 Werewolf By Night
13 Capt. America
14 Sub-Mariner
15 Ghost Rider
16 Capt. Marvel
17 Mr. Fantastic
18 Human Torch & Hulk (no Spidey)
19 Ka-Zar
20 Black Widow
21 Dr. Strange
22 Hawkeye
23 Human Torch & Ice Man (no Spidey)
24 Brother Voodoo

At best most of these stories are mediocre.

[Shellhead]

Hey,
looking to buy a Marvel essential book or two.
I've got the first four X-men ones, and they were pretty good.
Could anybody give me a list of what's available, and what ones are good.
I have to say, I've always been intruiged about Ant Man!
Thanks

You should look into the Essential Iron Fist. Claremont and Byrne had a nice run on that title, including a few issues after Iron Fist and Luke Cage joined for the monthly Power Man & Iron Fist title. Byrne's art looks great in black and white, which can't be said for some of the other artists reprinted in these Essential collections. Btw, one Iron Fist issue in that collection has an excellent fight involving the X-Men. Oh, and there's also a two-part Marvel Team-Up reprinted, Iron Fist with Spider-man, also done by Claremont & Byrne.