What are you reading?

[JCBoney]

Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Over the last couple of years I've read my way through the first 122 issues of Amazing Spider-Man (+Amazing Fantasy and some annuals). While I'm not finished with Omnibus 4, I feel like I reached a milestone in recently reading issues 121 and 122:

The death of Gwen Stacy in 121 and the death of the Green Goblin in 122

The series is remarkable in many ways: the art, the relatability, the ability to stay fresh over a10 year+ span, an often timeless quality, and its daring to execute on something like issues 121-122, a drug issue that didn't get the comics approval code, etc. I'd say better than 9/10 issues, so far, have been of a high quality. I knew I would enjoy this and had high expectations. I'd say it has actually exceeding expectations.

In going through it, I also read all the published letters (often taking longer than reading the book). Marvel truly had something special going with its readers and its refreshing to hear from a different type of scifi/fantasy/comic book fandom. One such letter really moved me. It was sent from a soldier from Vietnam and Marvel responded promising some freebies. In the letter section a few months later, we learn he was killed in action. Very sad.

I learned to appreciate Marvel Comics in the late 70s... mainly because of Star Wars... but I never got into Spider Man for some reason.

Yeah, the letters section was always great... got one printed myself in a ROM comic, IIRC.

[Joe Mohr]

Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Here's the cover of Omnibus #4:


Over the last couple of years I've read my way through the first 122 issues of Amazing Spider-Man (+Amazing Fantasy and some annuals). While I'm not finished with Omnibus 4, I feel like I reached a milestone in recently reading issues 121 and 122:

The death of Gwen Stacy in 121 and the death of the Green Goblin in 122

The series is remarkable in many ways: the art, the relatability, the ability to stay fresh over a10 year+ span, an often timeless quality, and its daring to execute on something like issues 121-122, a drug issue that didn't get the comics approval code, etc. I'd say better than 9/10 issues, so far, have been of a high quality. I knew I would enjoy this and had high expectations. I'd say it has actually exceeding expectations.

In going through it, I also read all the published letters (often taking longer than reading the book). Marvel truly had something special going with its readers and its refreshing to hear from a different type of scifi/fantasy/comic book fandom. One such letter really moved me. It was sent from a soldier from Vietnam and Marvel responded promising some freebies. In the letter section a few months later, we learn he was killed in action. Very sad.

Back in the mid 70s I read a ton of Marvel comix....especially Spider Man and the Hulk. But I also read Thor, Captain America and even a few DC comics. I wish I still had all those comics because I suspect they are worth quite a bit now. I had a lot of those double sided books (Spidey on one side and Thor on the reverse or something along those lines). Back in the mid 70s my family would take a driving vacation every year. We lived in Houston but each year we would go on the road for two or three weeks in the Summer and drive all over the US. Places like Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Mount Rushmore and others were the focus of the trip and we camped along the way. I read a ton of those comics on those trips and bought new ones at every Stuckeys along the way.

[Terrex]

Yeah, the letters section was always great... got one printed myself in a ROM comic, IIRC.

Cool. I remember seeing ROM in the early 80s, but never checked it out.

...each year we would go on the road for two or three weeks in the Summer and drive all over the US. Places like Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Mount Rushmore and others were the focus of the trip and we camped along the way. I read a ton of those comics on those trips and bought new ones at every Stuckeys along the way.

That's All-American.

[benjoshua]

I learned to appreciate Marvel Comics in the late 70s... mainly because of Star Wars... but I never got into Spider Man for some reason.

Yeah, the letters section was always great... got one printed myself in a ROM comic, IIRC.

Marvel Comics were also my favorites, but it was primarily due to the Fantastic Four. In second place were the Uncanny X-Men. I still have long runs of both bagged and boarded. I also enjoyed the letter sections and the advertisements. It's amazing what all you could get for $1.00!

I sold my complete set of Marvel Star Wars comics for $480.00!

[JCBoney]

Yeah, the letters section was always great... got one printed myself in a ROM comic, IIRC.

Cool. I remember seeing ROM in the early 80s, but never checked it out.

It was beyond cool for the first 20 issues or so. The first 12-ish were drawn by Sal Buscema... little brother of John Buscema.

[benjoshua]

Continuing my war reading theme a little longer, I read All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque. It's considered one of the best books on war ever written, and I can see why. The reflections by the protagonist on life, war, friendship and family are profound. One minute you are reading something funny and the next pages relate revolting horror. This twenty year-old soldier wavers between becoming a man while trying not to become a monster or a maniac. It was a perfect follow-up to The Guns of August.

[Joe Mohr]

Continuing my war reading theme a little longer, I read All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque. It's considered one of the best books on war ever written, and I can see why. The reflections by the protagonist on life, war, friendship and family are profound. One minute you are reading something funny and the next pages relate revolting horror. This twenty year-old soldier wavers between becoming a man while trying not to become a monster or a maniac. It was a perfect follow-up to The Guns of August.

If you get the chance see the "Original" film version of it from 1930 (not the later version starring John Boy from the Waltons). It was well done (for the time) and does a very good job of showing the horror of that particular war.

[squeen]

Were any of the comic readers here a fan on the "All New" X-men by John Byrne and Chris Claremont?
If so, I have a surprise...

[benjoshua]

Were any of the comic readers here a fan on the "All New" X-men by John Byrne and Chris Claremont?
If so, I have a surprise...

Oh yeah! My personal X-Men collection runs from issue #94 to #448. As you know, issue #94 was the first in this run to feature the "All New, All Different" X-Men. I'm interested in what the surprise might be.

[JCBoney]

Financial Vipers of Venice by Joseph P. Farrell.

[squeen]

Were any of the comic readers here a fan on the "All New" X-men by John Byrne and Chris Claremont?
If so, I have a surprise...

Oh yeah! My personal X-Men collection runs from issue #94 to #448. As you know, issue #94 was the first in this run to feature the "All New, All Different" X-Men. I'm interested in what the surprise might be.

Sorry for the delay. Busy end of week.

I had enough around X-men 200. But the Byrne run was pure gold---even if the series gained popularity (and lost quality IMO) after he left. It set the stage for everything that followed.

The surprise is that he (John Byrne) is 17 issues into posting a-page-a-day of his alternative version of the X-men (called X-Men ELSEWHEN). It picks up right after the (original) Death of Phoenix. It's some of his best work, and I'm LOVING it. Pencils only -- no inker or colorist. He also answers fan's questions daily in the the forum.

Here's the link to the first issue: http://m.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_ ... otPosts=35

Let me know if you have trouble with it.

It's like stepping through a time-warp and having one of your dreams come true. Blows my mind sometimes that it's real. There are a lot of guest appearence by other Marvel characters---all sort of yanked out of the Silver Age time stream without all the weird corruptions to their characters that occurred over that last 35 years. Everything seems so pure and genuine again---it's like having your dead friends suddenly brought back to life (whole and intact, just as your remember them).

It's Fan Fiction by John Byrne...so it's free (and legal). His artistic skill has not degraded in the least.

[GammaLogic]

Nostalgia bug has hit me hard recently.

Going to work my way through Moorcock's Hawkmoon (and Count Brass by extension), Corum, and Elric.

After that I may go back and read the early Dragonlance stuff, with my old friends Raistlin and the gang.

[benjoshua]

I finished the book, Kim, by Rudyard Kipling today, and it was an interesting adventure. This is as much a story about India as it is about a boy growing up. India's culture is bizarre, so anyone who can navigate both India and European culture, religions, and languages is priceless and Kim can do just that. He becomes employed as a spy and danger ensues. Along the way, he discovers himself. It's not the easiest read, but it's great writing. Anyone looking to create a strange setting could get inspiration from this novel.

[Joe Mohr]

I finished the book, Kim, by Rudyard Kipling today, and it was an interesting adventure. This is as much a story about India as it is about a boy growing up. India's culture is bizarre, so anyone who can navigate both India and European culture, religions, and languages is priceless and Kim can do just that. He becomes employed as a spy and danger ensues. Along the way, he discovers himself. It's not the easiest read, but it's great writing. Anyone looking to create a strange setting could get inspiration from this novel.

I loved some of those Kipling books. The Man Who Would Be King was my favorite. The movie version was excellent as well.

[Steve]

Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus 1, 2, 3, and 4.

...

The series is remarkable in many ways: the art, the relatability, the ability to stay fresh over a10 year+ span, an often timeless quality, and its daring to execute on something like issues 121-122, a drug issue that didn't get the comics approval code, etc. I'd say better than 9/10 issues, so far, have been of a high quality. I knew I would enjoy this and had high expectations. I'd say it has actually exceeding expectations.

In going through it, I also read all the published letters (often taking longer than reading the book). Marvel truly had something special going with its readers and its refreshing to hear from a different type of scifi/fantasy/comic book fandom. One such letter really moved me. It was sent from a soldier from Vietnam and Marvel responded promising some freebies. In the letter section a few months later, we learn he was killed in action. Very sad.

I read (using funny voices for all the different characters) the Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus 1 to my kids a few years back. We all enjoyed it. We didn't read the letters, as that would be a LOT of reading.

I would have liked to have gotten the 2nd Omnibus, but it was a bit pricey at the time. Besides, we decided to take a break from Spider-Man and moved on to some other classic Marvel collections, such as the early Hulk and Thor. (I have also read early collections of Iron Man, Captain America, the original X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Super Man, and Batman.) Spider-Man was the best by far. Hulk was unreadable, the absolute worst. The rest were merely OK to mediocre.

But as much as I love old Spider-Man and Marvel, Fletcher Hanks is still the best/worst comic book writer/artist/creator of all time.