I’ve got a whole bunch of Pre-Crisis books that I’ve just added to the RRO tonight. They’ll show up on all the DC Comics lists now!
The Green Lantern Chronicles Vol. 2
The Green Lantern Chronicles Vol. 3
DC Comics Classics Library: Batman: The Annuals Vol. 1
DC Comics Classics Library: Batman: The Annuals Vol. 2
DC Comics Classics Library: Legion Of Super-Heroes: The Life And Death of Ferro Lad
DC Comics Classics Library: The Flash: The Flash of Two Worlds
Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 1
Batman From The 30s To The 70s
Superman From The 30s To The 70s
Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 2
Jimmy Olsen: Adventures By Jack Kirby Vol. 1
DC Comics Classics Library: Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore
Jimmy Olsen: Adventures By Jack Kirby Vol. 2
Jack Kirby’s The Forever People
Secret Origins of the Super DC Heroes
DC Universe Illustrated By Neal Adams Vol. 1
Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 3
Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Featuring: Mister Miracle
DC Comics Classics Library: Roots Of The Swamp Thing
Jack Kirby’s OMAC: One Man Army Corps Omnibus
Shazam! From The 40s To The 70s
Superman From The 30s To The 80s
DC Comics Classics Library: The Justice League Of America by George Perez Vol. 1
DC Comics Classics Library: The Justice League Of America by George Perez Vol. 2
Time to hit the sack. More tomorrow – I’ve still got around 250 books left Unplaced.
Awesome! I actually just started reading Roots of the Swamp Thing, so I’m glad to see it on the list now.
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I’ve gotta get my hands on that one myself. Swamp Thing is 100% my absolute favorite character of all time – even though I already own the softcover Dark Genesis but those extra 3 issues are worth it for me.. Though I’m waiting on a good price.
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There’s a really great introduction at the beginning of Roots by Len Wein about how Swamp Thing came to be and what those first stories meant to the original creators. I’m guessing the intro might be in Dark Genesis too, since it says it was written in 1991, but if not you should definitely find a way to give it a read since you’re such a big fan of the character.
On a related note, I hope DC will eventually collect the remainder of Swamp Thing’s original series, as well as the pre-Moore issues from the second series. They may not be as good as what’s been collected, but I’m still really interested in reading them.
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I think I remember reading something like that – I’ll have to check to see if it’s the same one after I get my hands on the new book. I love introductions. It’s the only reason I’m gonna buy archives for the silver age eventually, honestly – so much more important to me than color for some reason.
Likewise, I’d kill for swamp thing to be collected comprehensively. Like I said, it’s my favorite.
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By the way, I’m adding in some new review authors today.
I’d like to extend the invitation to you, if you would like to do guest reviews following our format (the stuff at the bottom, making sure it’s spoiler free). You have your own site, so I wouldn’t expect it to be an all the time thing, but if you wanted to do one for me every once in a while – focusing on any book in my dc timeline (you could post it on your site too), I’d put it up with a big link back to your site and be super proud to have it.
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Thanks, Ian! I’d love to do a review at some point…I have a few DC Archives waiting to be read which I think could fit the bill. I’ll let you know!
I hear you on the Archive introductions, they’re fantastic. Same goes for the introductions to the Marvel Masterworks. I’ll admit that the coloring is a big issue for me, although it wasn’t always that way. I used to buy tons of Marvel Essentials because Masterworks were the only alternative, and they were just too expensive for me.
But then Marvel started releasing the Omnibuses, which include roughly four Masterworks, all of their introductions, plus even more extras on bigger, thicker pages — all for the same price as two Masterworks. And once I got a taste of classic comics in color, I just couldn’t go back. That’s why I’m really pleased with Marvel’s recent efforts at re-releasing the Masterworks in softcover, and with the various Chronicles series at DC. It makes the whole business of reading older comics the way they were meant to be read a lot easier and less expensive.
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Awesome Marc. I’ve sent you an email about how to submit guest reviews.
I’m really having trouble with the color in the Spectre archive I’m reading. I can’t tell if it looks wrong to me because I’m used to seeing faded comics on crappy paper (like the background of this site) or if they actually colored it weird. I feel like it might be a combination of both – the work was originally designed for newsprint and maybe it just feels weird on nice glossy stock. The linework looks like it was redone as well, and seems like it might be just a little too sharp or cleared up.
I really want to take a look at those Starman archives that everyone complains about, now, I have a feeling I might like them better!
I’m definitely going to get some softcover masterworks at some point. I have the Howard the Duck Omnibus – amazing collection – but a huge unweildy tome. I kind of prefer small volumes sometimes. They cost more to collect, but I can actually HOLD them. I’m no conan.
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I have Howard the Duck as well and it looks great, although I haven’t read it yet. But I know what you mean…now that they’re releasing the Masterworks in softcover, I’m going to be dialing off the Omnibuses a bit (I have about a dozen!). I bought them because they were the most inexpensive way to get classic comics in color, not because I was particularly fond of trying to read such a huge book.
Recolorization is a huge, ongoing controversy right now, and the simple matter of it is that sometimes it’s okay, and sometimes it’s not – it all depends on how it’s done. It’s great in the first volume of Chronicles of Conan, for example, but in the second it’s abysmal. I actually typed up half a post on the subject for my blog since I reviewed the first volume, but I never got around to finishing and posting it. Maybe I’ll post it alongside my review of the second volume when I get to it.
The fact is that I don’t think Marvel or DC will ever release archival material in the manner it was originally printed (the way Dark Horse does with its excellent Archives series) – they’re too self-conscious about their premier characters looking “good,” no matter how old the material. That’s sort of a shame on the one hand, but as I mentioned a while ago in my review of the Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus on my blog, while the recoloring is obvious at some points it’s not necessarily bad. It’s not like they’re outright changing the colors. Most of the time, anyway…the B&N Masterwork softcovers were infamous for doing just that, and I think that’s what happened with the second Starman Archive.
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Yeah, I love the chronicles, that you mentioned above, for that size reason. They seem like the porridge that’s just right.
I heard that starman (maybe it was another book) looked like it was just scanned from old pages. I’ve got this Bat-Manga book that was put together like that because all the issues were just found for sale (no one has the originals of this 60s batman manga). I kind of like it. It has personality.
But I’m that kind of person, that kind of collector, and that kind of artist. I can understand the suits at marvel or dc never being able to approve that kind of thing.
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Bat-Manga is a wonderful book. Did you hear that a second one is in the planning stages? The writer mentioned it a few weeks ago, and I really hope it gets made.
Yeah, the second Golden Age Starman is the one that everyone complained about. The first one was done in the same style as every other Archive (and I say this with complete confidence, since it’s in my lap right now!). I’ve heard varying descriptions of the second one (some say it looks scanned, others say it looks like a bad, smeary Photoshop job), and I don’t think I’ll be able to tell for sure until I see it myself. Problem is, I don’t really want to buy it because of all the bad things I’ve heard!
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I did hear that! And I’ll be sure to snatch it up when it shows up. The only thing I don’t like about that book is that it sticks out so far on my shelf, haha.
If anything, I want to buy that starman more because I’ve heard so many weird things about it. Hopefully it keeps the price down on ebay. haha
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