marvel essentials

[johnnystorm]

I've often wondered where the rights stand today as far as the old Jerry Lewis comics and stuff like Bob Hope and Sgt. Bilko.

I've wondered that myself. I'd guess the rights for Sgt. Bilko are owned by CBS or whomever bought the series. I'd think Bob Hope's estate owns his likeness, ditto Jerry Lewis owning his rights. I'm guessing another company besides DC could purchase the rights and produce a collected edition, so long as they do not use DC characters or logos without permission. Dark Horse has done this with the Savage Sword of Conan, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones books originally released by Marvel...ditto Image releasing Marvel's GI Joe comics, and Dynamic doing Red Sonja collections of Marvel Comics. Those are licensed characters so the rights were available on reprints. That would leave the bulk of the Bob & Jerry tales available, with the obvious exceptions of the issues where Jerry met Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, & the Flash. And I guess they would redraw or white out any time one of the DC characters showed up in a background cameo or gag. The early Martin & Lewis books might prove difficult with the two families involved as well. Maybe Dark Horse would consider an Archive book.

I'd suspect Bilko is probably too dated a character, even Bob Hope. Jerry, of course would sell well in France. The funny animal stuff should be readily available, same with Scooter, Binky, Debbi, etc. I know these books get a lot of interest on the DC message boards, it's probably a matter of the reprint editor thinking this stuff is moldy oldies no one cares about anymore.

Just like they consider Mad magazine. Hard to push gore & violence in a humor mag.

[The Toyroom]

The funny animal stuff should be readily available, same with Scooter, Binky, Debbi, etc. I know these books get a lot of interest on the DC message boards, it's probably a matter of the reprint editor thinking this stuff is moldy oldies no one cares about anymore.

This stuff always sold well when they were featured in the DC digests back in the day....it should be a no-brainer to re-release these in some format....color preferably. I'd rather plunk down money for reprints instead of some of the current dreck I'm buying.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

I smell a revival! Dark, gritty "Sugar and Spike" anyone?

....anyone....?

Don C.

[bobws]

i haven't bought any from DC or Marvel as i prefer to buy color trades. i wish they would make then about half the size but in color. i have been getting some of the Archives from a seller on ebay for about 60% of RSP and have been enjoying those.

[johnnystorm]

i haven't bought any from DC or Marvel as i prefer to buy color trades. i wish they would make then about half the size but in color. i have been getting some of the Archives from a seller on ebay for about 60% of RSP and have been enjoying those.

Something along the lines of the Dark Horse Omnibus books? I have the Indiana Jones ones, full color, something like 20+ issues for$25.00? And I picked up mine at Borders with a 30% off membership coupon, probably could find it cheaper on Ebay too.

[kingdom warrior]

the ff covered alot of ground in their first 80 issues so it no surprize they rehash the same stories.

It's Pretty much what everyone uses for other medias Stan and Jack did the definitive and most loved version of the FF. I collected these too love that it's in B&W i can see the art Better.

[MysteryWho]

I've picked up about a dozen and I've enjoyed them.
DC Showcase as well as Marvel essentials.
I just couldn't afford the Masterworks or DC Archives.
The back issues I could afford were in terrible shape
and I was better off reading the 'phone books'.
For me, whether I get full pleasure depends on the artist.
For example, Gene Colan I find, translates well into B/W
A lot of the art he did in the seventies was in Marvel's magazines.
Ditko's Dr. Strange, not so much.
Now there are these Omnibus editions.
I could be wrong but I get the feeling they are basically
cheaper and more comprehensive than the Masterworks.
I totally intend to duplicate some of my essentials with these
new books.
But take something like Tales of the Zombie.
It was originally a B/W magazine anyway, right?
It's not as good as the original, but it will suffice.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's kind of an individual choice.
If you want to read something, but you aren't a huge fan, buy the phone book.
Or buy reader copies you can afford.

[goldenryan]

yeah ditko's artwork doesn't look good in b&w.

[Steeler80]

I've got the early Claremont/Byrne X-men classics in Essentials and the Tomb of Dracula. This and the showcase editions are good ways to read these classics.

[Boris71]

I love these books and have loads of them, trouble is they release so many that I end up stock piling them while I go through my currant titles then have a blitz. I aggree about the b&w too Just love B&W comics, I think tales of the zombie frankenstien and dracula work well in B&W, the spidey stuff not so much, and power is not great either, I think that a lot of the marvel artist relyed on colur for definition of characters though (IMO), but over all 20 issues or so for £10.99 aint bad

Hmmmm....

I love these! Not just 'cos I can read the stories at less than collector rates; BUT it also shows that the companies are taking the attitude that people are READING these things and not just hoarding them.

It'd be interesting to know if these are gonna affect continuity in any way. Now the OLD stories are available, so would that make it harder to redo/revise/retcon the characters?

Don C.

I was reading the volume 2 essential of cap where the red skull was after the cosmic cube, only to discover that in the current run vol 3 I think just after heroes return, to find lo and behold cap against the red skull who was after the cosmic cube so I guess marvel don't care, then again atleast it was better than the whole civil war secret in vasion drivle of late

[thunderbolt]

just got the Demon hardback from DC. The entire run for 49.99 They used thinner papaer to get it in the same size and price as a Archives. Kirby stuff really needs to be seen full color.

[ctc]

>I think that a lot of the marvel artist relyed on colur for definition of characters though

Very true; unfortunately the colouring process used back in the day was pretty cheap and limited. I think that's why a lot of the older stuff looks so good in B&W; the muddied colours don't block the art. 'Course, THAT'S pretty dependant on who did the inking. You can REALLY see it in some of the Essentials, when they switch inkers.

>I guess marvel don't care

Well, I dunno if they didn't care; but there's only so many stories you can do (especially if you're hamstrung by not being able to change the setup too much) and back then the guys at Marvel were REALLY pumping out the books. (At a rate that'd make a Japanese cartoonist woozy.) So it's understandable if there's some repetition.

Don C.

[johnnystorm]

> Well, I dunno if they didn't care; but there's only so many stories you can do (especially if you're hamstrung by not being able to change the setup too much) and back then the guys at Marvel were REALLY pumping out the books. (At a rate that'd make a Japanese cartoonist woozy.) So it's understandable if there's some repetition.

Don C.

Plus they never expected that these books would be saved, and reprinted, and discussed 30+ years later. especially, as you say in the mid-70s, when Marvel was able to expand distribution. Martin Goodman's business model was to flood the stand with product in an effort to choke out the smaller publishers. And today, Marvel still follows the same plan, as witness the never-ending X-Men limited series.
The difference then was the diversity of titles: westerns, horror, sci-fi, romance. Granted, many of the 70s books were recycled reprint material from the 40s & 50s with some touched up artwork...books like Marvels Greatest, Wyatt Earp, Tex Dawson, Our Love, Chamber of Chills, Where Monsters Dwell.

Still there were original oddball gems throughout like Night Nurse & the CAT, Worlds Unknown, Werewolf By Night, Howard the Duck, It the Living Colossus, The Living Mummy, Morbius, Western Team-Up, Mighty Marvel Western, Gunhawks, Red Wolf, and more...all in genres Joe Quesada would never dream of trying in today's market. And even the reprints had great covers by Steranko or John Romita, or Gil Kane!


As far as the B/W vs. Color goes, I prefer to see the books reprinted as they appeared, in color. I think that could be accomplished on the newsprint paper and it would look a lot like the originals, with not a great increase in price. No one at any company seems to want to try this- redone color seems to be this perk they offer to make a reprint series seem better. It would be interesting to see Dark Horse try it on say, one of the the Gold Key series they are Archiving- maybe on something like Doctor Spektor, just to see how it works out. As far as the super hero stuff goes, I think it really depends on the artist. As mentioned, I also think Steve Ditko is not that great in B&W, his approach is greatly enhanced by the coloring. Kirby inked by Colleta, heck ANYBODY inked by Colleta looks bad in B&W. Gene Colan, Gil Kane, Wally Wood, Bill Everett all look great in B&W.

Recently read the Savage Sword of Conan Vol #1 and was impressed by it, enough to say I will be picking up the next volumes. Of course, that was originally done for B&W printing, so it's not an issue there.

No one has mentioned either that when Marvel reprinted some horror stuff that originally was printed in the 70s b&W magazines in the Essential line, they censored some nude scenes by adding clothing. Funny how that was ok in the 1970s but not in today's world? Thank you, Janet Jackson!

[madmarva]

I love the Essentials and Showcases as well as the Archives and Masterworks.

I sold off the majority of my old comics when I got out of college for the space and cash in the early 1990s. I wish I still had them now, but all the great reprints that are out today at least allows me to re-read the stories or just pour over the art once again.

I wish DC would publish more of its bronze age material. I'd love to revisit DC Comics Presents, Secret Society of Super Villains, The Joker, The issues of Batman and Detective drawn by Ernie Chau, Don Newton and of course Jim Aparo in the 1970s.

[ctc]

>many of the 70s books were recycled reprint material from the 40s & 50s with some touched up artwork

Yeah, but even doing THAT showed a lot more diversity than you get nowadays. And I remember most of them oddball books you mentioned. You don't see that either. Probably 'cos the books are too expensive to try something unproven. (Again witness the neverending parade of X-books....)

>I prefer to see the books reprinted as they appeared, in color.

It's funny you mention this, since the old books were cheapie process 4-colour, and the new stuff is all laserscanned full colour.... I'm wondering if they COULD print cheapie colour any more, or (ironicly) the old stuff would have to be scanned and printed the same as the new; meaning the cleanups and effort to make it LOOK like process colour would be a lot more work than colouring a NEW page..... so the old cruddy stuff would end up being MORE expensive than the new.

Weird.

Don C.