"Each super-sized volume in the Epic line presents a heaping helping of Marvel's greatest heroics in one handy, affordable and self-contained package. What's more, each Epic Collection TPB is also a piece of a grand puzzle: When all is said and done, the Epic volumes will fit seamlessly next to one another on readers' bookshelves, presenting a complete and unbroken run of each title!"
Thor Epic Collection: War of the Pantheons
Collects Thor #383-400. 472 pages.
Iron Man Epic Collection: The Enemy Within
Things are looking grim for Tony Stark. A string of battles with Diablo, the Serpent Squad and AIM have worn him out. And when rival industrialist Obadiah Stane targets Stark International for a very hostile takeover, the urge to crawl back into the bottle becomes overwhelming. With Tony in no condition to defend his company, his most loyal friend must step up to bat. That's right: Jim Rhodes takes over as Iron Man! But Rhodey had better figure out how to use Tony's armor fast, because Stane, Magma, Thunderball, Firebrand and more aren't going to give him time to learn the ropes!
Collects Iron Man #158-177 and Iron Man Annual #5. 504 pages. Full Color.
Is this a new branding of the essential collections? I think one of the later volumes of the x-men essentials contained all the necessary inferno issues across the x-books.
ReplyDeleteif so, I can see these selling better. Buyers will be getting a complete story run, rather than just a bunch of sequential issues.
Also helps place/cement certain story runs into pop culture memory. Fandom knows what the Dark Phoenix Saga is, but might be sure what happens in Uncanny X-men #129-138.
Hey Anonymous, I believe they're full colour as opposed to the b/w Marvel essentials.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait! This is great news!!!
ReplyDeleteColor? B&W? Price? Overlap with already issues collections? Those omnibus editions peeved me good as I already had the masterworks so I paid more but got less for my money.
ReplyDeleteHey Matt, I couldn't agree more. I love the Masterworks line, collecting it since back in 1988, wish they would have made these hardcovers and allowed collectors to pick and choose, rather than have to buy all of them to make them look good on a book shelf.
ReplyDeleteI don't follow...why would I need to buy them
Deleteall? That Spidey and Thor are from an era I have no interest in. I need to check whether Iron Man overlaps my Layton-Michelinie omnibus...
Along the spine of each book is a puzzle, that when you shelve them form a combined image.
DeleteGeez what a gimmick! I'll still only buy stories I'm interested in. Surely not stories featuring "the Captain"!
Deletethese could be great! i hope an 80s Daredevil may be in the works, as these are severely under appreciated by the reprint gods.
ReplyDeleteOops! The fact that they're in color didn't register with me. However, the ad is for volume 10 of Iron Man, 16 for Thor, 20 for Spider-Man, and 9 for the Avengers. Why did they choose these volumes for the introducing ad? I'm curious to see if the epic volumes are just isolated story runs or simply a color reprinting of essentials. We'll find out soon enough.
ReplyDeleteThe Spine art is a nice touch. Makes me think of the Dragon Ball/DBZ manga spine art and most recently on the now defunct Shonen Jump monthly issues.
In the end you have to compromise. With the schedule of the Masterworks, you will be old and grey, bevore you complete your collection. When you start now with those Paperbacks you will need 20 years more to complete it. Last month I bought the "Titans and Crusades" TPB, knowing that it might be printed next year as FF Masterworks Vol.16. Surely it does look good on a bookshelf to have all books from one line, but I don´t care. I have FF Vol. 15 followed by the mentioned TPB, followed by the Byrne Omnibus. Doesn´t look good, but I don´t mind as long as I don´t have to pull those issues one by one from my book case and sort and shelve them again after reading. With 14.000 books, sorting isn´t fun anymore, when you want to read a specific issue. Even the Ben Reilly mess makes more fun reading them in an overprized 11 part TPB, than picking over 100 Spidey issues from your storage. The company doesn´t want to make sense with their printing formats, they want to make money and print those first, which promises to make another fortune. Skip the thought of having a good looking book shelf, you will never succeed.
ReplyDelete