Collected Comics Library Podcast #246
29,397Kb; 31m 05s

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

I’m a sucker for nostalgia, and when old becomes new again – and it gets right – it’s great. You know what I mean: George Clooney as Frank Sinatra’s signature role in Ocean’s 11, throwback sports uniforms like you’ll see on Thanksgiving when the Detroit Lions play in their annual game and Jeff Parker’s Agents Of Atlas, Marvel’s 1950’s super group that never was.

You may know the story: Parker took the concept of a small group of characters that were really created in the 1950’s and from the imaginary teaming up of these characters from What If? #9 (1979), turned them into a current and in continuity band of misfits with a purpose and conviction. The first mini series sold incredible well and subsequently the Hardcover was received as one of the Best of 2007.

Now their back with their second collected edition: Agents Of Atlas: Dark Reign Premiere Hardcover, collecting Agents Of Atlas #1-5, Wolverine: Agent Of Atlas, Giant-Size Marvel Adventures Avengers and material from Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? & Dark Reign: New Nation, $24.99. Although it’s not as comprehensive as the first hardcover, it does come with a full regular and variant cover gallery and a section of pencil sketches. It’s good to see the Agents back and I am really enjoying their appearances all over the Marvel universe.

Also on the show, I talk about what I have in store for the foreseeable future including a rundown of books I’ll be reviewing and who I may be interviewing. If you’re a Steve Ditko fan, you don’t want to miss it.

All this and the New Releases of the Week.

Chris

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

Collected Comics Library Podcast #242
27,178Kb; 28m 55s

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

Since their inception in the pages of Fantastic Four, Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal and the rest of The Inhumans have garnered a special place in the hearts of Marvel Fan-Boys. Today we celebrate the recent release of their first Marvel Masterwork (and their second coming out next year) and we take a look at all of their Collected Editions. We also look at what isn’t collected, particularly the 1988 Inhumans Graphic Novel by Ann Nocenti.

Also on the show, the CE world is being turned upside down by the news from Neal Adams that his 1978 Superman vs. Muhammad Ali will be getting the Deluxe Edition treatment with new coloring and the Green Lantern/Green Arrow: Hard Traveling Heroes storyline may be getting an Absolute edition. On the Marvel side – David Gabriel, Marvel’s Senior VP of Sales, has hinted to Heidi MacDonald that, Later on in the year, we’re going to do an omnibus with full runs from things like Night Nurse, Hellcat, and some other things you really wouldn’t collect anywhere else. Not sure what to make of that, we’ll have to wait and see. I wonder if Tigra or Shanna the She-Devil will be a part of the book.

Chris

All this and the New Releases of the Week.

Links of Note:
Kryptographik Podcast and Blog

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

One thing that has been bothering me as of late is the title to the upcoming X-Men Vs. Fantastic Four Classic Premiere HC (Variant Vol. 36). It collects Fantastic Four Vs. The X-Men #1-4 and Fantastic Four #28 – not X-Men Vs. Fantastic Four #1-4.

It’s obvious that X-Men outsell the FF these days and that’s helped by the fact that there are a gazillion more mutant books on the shelves. It looks as though the Marvel Collected Editions Department agrees. I’m guessing that they have changed the title to promote it to X-Men buyers rather than Fantastic Four buyers. You can plainly see the change compared to the original monthly book on the Variant Dustjacket. Hell, even the name X-Men is in a larger font!

If that’s the case, then I understand why the title change was made, but it doesn’t make it right.

Keep it the way it was originally intended to be, Marvel.

If nothing else, the change makes it all a bit more confusing.

The book is due December 2, 2009; $19.99

Collected Comics Library Podcast #208
28,179Kb; 29m 47s

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

Today on the show, I focus on one of the “super-groups” of the Marvel universe – The Invaders. What’s interesting about this team, consisting of Captain America, Namor: The Sub-Mariner, The Human Torch and Bucky, is that it was created retroactively in 1975, with all their adventures taking place in World War II. Their series lasted 41 issues and they appeared in only a few other titles throughout the years which included two limited series that revived the team. Today in 2009, The Invaders can be found in two series: Avengers/Invaders and in the pages of Captain America. These important characters, whether they are adventuring as individuals or as a team, are the cornerstones of the Marvel Universe, come learn more about them.

Also on the show, I touch a few news items including the Nexus Archives going black and white and digest size and the Creepy Archives going to 26 volumes.

All this and the New Releases of the Week.

Chris

Addendum: I did record audio to talk about Invaders Classic Volume 2 (Invaders #10-21 and Annual #1) and Invaders Classic Volume 3 (Invaders #22-23 and #25-34), but the audio did not come through as I had hoped.

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

The Shipping and Product Changes pages are back up at the Diamond Website and with that comes adjustments to the Variant numbering order to Marvel’s Premiere Classic Library. Here is the updated list, complete with release dates, contents and price.

JANUARY 14 2009
Daredevil: Born Again Premiere Classic HC (Variant Vol. 19)
Collects Daredevil #226-233; $24.99

MARCH 4 2009
Wolverine: Not Dead Yet Premiere Classic HC (Variant Vol. 20)
Collects Wolverine #119-122; $19.99

MARCH 11 2009
X-Men: Proteus Premiere Classic HC (Variant Vol. 21)
Collects X-Men #125-128, and Classic X-Men #32-33 and #36; $19.99

MARCH 25 2009
Avengers: Hawkeye Premiere Classic HC (Variant Vol. 22)
Collects Hawkeye #1-4, Tales Of Suspense #57, Marvel Super Action #1, Avengers #189 and Marvel Team-Up #95, $24.99

APRIL 1 2009
Cloak & Dagger: Child of Darkness, Child of Light Premiere Classic HC (Variant Vol. 23)
Collects Cloak & Dagger #1-4; $19.99

APRIL 1 2009
Guardians of the Galaxy: Earth Shall Overcome Premiere Classic HC (Variant Vol. 24)
Collects Marvel Super-Heroes #18, Marvel Two-In-One #4-5, Giant-Size Defenders #5 and Defenders #26-29; $19.99

JUNE 3 2009
X-Men: Phoenix Premiere Classic HC (Variant Vol. 25)
Collects Avengers #263, Fantastic Four #286, X-Factor #1 and material from Classic X-Men #8 & #43, $19.99

Some other updates include:
Punisher MAX TP Vol. 11: Girls in White Dresses (DEC08 2462, $16.99) will contain Punisher #61-#65, but will no longer contain The Hunted.
Secret Invasion TP: Fantastic Four (NOV08 2461, $16.99) will be 168 pages, not 192, with no change in editorial content.

Collected Comics Library Podcast #180

40,443Kb; 42m 52s

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

For the past few weeks you’ve listened to me go on and on about the Marvel Illustrated books: Who is the core audience? How well do they sell? Why publish them in the first place? Today we get right to the heart of the matter in an interview with comic Legend and Writer of the series, Roy Thomas. I had a wonderful time in talking with Roy and he is very candid and really opens up about the project.

As far as the rest of the show goes, I talk about the new Watchmen (no, not the trailer) Motion Comic on iTunes, what’s happening with the TwoMorrows Publishing, the Tune-In Podcast and San Diego, and my neighbors’ Steve podcast, Airspeed.

No, I have not seen The Dark Knight, yet.

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

Chris

Links of note:
SciFiDig Podcast
Watchmen Motion Comics
Airspeed Podcast
High flying with Steve Tupper (Airspeed)
Discuss this topic on the CCL forum

Collected Comics Library Podcast #175

41,596Kb; 44m 06s

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

On this week’s show, I celebrate all things Hulk. I give a rundown of some of the essential collected editions you should read (or better yet – own). I even talk about the early days of Kirby and Lee, through the Peter David run and right up to Planet Hulk and WWH.

I also catch up on all the news of the past two weeks and if you are going to be at Wizard World Chicago be sure to stop be and see the podcasting panel, which I will be a part of.

Lastly, I rundown The New Releases of the Week and a few from last week, too.

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

Chris

Links of note:
Preview of Titans Companion Volume 2
Library Binding Company – Colored Sheets
Back Issue Spotlight #9 Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD
Discuss this topic on the CCL forum

I’m often asked by e-mail, forum postings and friends what is my most prized collected edition. That is a tuff question to answer. Should I base it on current market value and the rarity of the book? Sentimental value, favorite character or artist or writer? Or even did I get the book signed? All of these factors must be considered. When it comes down to it it’s hard to pick on true favorite, but the book that I find myself picking up and skimming through the most (these days anyway) are the Marvel Essential Handbooks.

Not exactly a storyline, but it does give the progression of the character, both familiar and obscure in the Marvel Universe. I’ve had enough of the Black and white however, and I have now decided to get the original issues bound into a very nice Hardcover. As I have stated in my podcast, the books lack color and therefore you, as the reader, are missing half the book. You NEED to see the color of the uniform, costume and body to get a full understanding of the character designs.

Now hers the kicker, I’ll do the same for the Marvel Deluxe Handbooks (including the Update ’89 series), but I plan of keeping that particular Deluxe Essential because in the back of the book Marvel added the extra pages that were included in the Color Trade Paperback editions. I’ll probably buy the Master Edition Essential, just because the original are so hard to find, not to mention the original binders (although I do have one).

Another few series I plan on having bound are what I like to call the Marvel’s Licensed Properties Handbooks. These include Conan the Barbarian, The Transformers and GI Joe. Conan has the most useful information, having had the luxury of a rich history, while Transformers and GI Joe were relatively new with not only comic book series but also their respective TV cartoon shows.

You may have heard that Marvel is republishing their 2004-2007 series of Handbooks in to the Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe A To Z Premiere Hardcovers. When all is completed this will be a set of 12 books, retailing for $25 and each will be approximately 240 pages. What’s different about this format from the original book is that Marvel will be filing everything in Alphabetical order. This is curious to me because a few characters have been featured in multiple books like Daredevil, Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four. Also the book will have updated information right up to the events of Secret Invasion. I have these original books to and have been mulling over weather or not to get these books bound (if I did I would probably do by year published). I guess I worry about that another day. But in the meantime, I think these new Handbooks will be available for a very long time and would hope that Marvel will release a yearly Handbook updating us all as to various events (including a full checklist) and character biographies.

Then there is DC Comics and their Who’s Who line of books. Yes, I’m getting those bound too, but I’ll save that for another day.