Karen: Geeks love Christmas, because there are so many awesome goodies out there to put on your Christmas list! Without further ado, Doug and I will present some of the items we hope show up under the Christmas tree:
Karen: I'd like to get this amazing looking book, The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. This is a monster of a book (weighing in at nearly 5 lbs!) that chronicles the making of what many consider to be the best film in the Star Wars series. Packed with original design drawings and on set photos, plus a ton of information, it probably has everything you ever wanted to know about Empire.
Karen: Here's another book I'd like to get, Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real. I find Disneyland and Disney World fascinating, and love the stories about how the different attractions were designed and created. The Imagineers are very talented folks. This book looks like it has a wealth of information and a lot of great drawings and photos too.
Karen: My final pick is my unobtainable one: the Alex Ross "Legion of Super-Heroes" print from 1999. Since neither I nor anyone I know has an extra $500 or so sitting around, I'll probably never be able to hang this one up in my sanctum, but boy would I love to have this! It's absolutely beautiful, with all of the Legionnaires flying off into space. The Alex Ross Art folks that tour the convention circuit have sometimes had this art on a gigantic banner over their booths and blown up to gigantic size, it is simply astonishing. There is such detail in the work, but of course that's to be expected of Ross. It's also my era of the Legion, with the characters I hold most fondly, in the costumes I see them wearing in my mind's eye. If you look at the very bottom, you will see that the Legion cruiser is even reflected in Wildfire's visor! What a magnificent print. Sigh.
Doug: Karen, you'll get no argument from me on that Legion print! I've seen the large banner version you mention, while on several forays to the WizardWorld Chicago comicon. It is a breathtaking sight!
Doug: As for my wish list, I actually accomplished (finally) the purchase of a book that's been on my radar since the spring. John Buscema: Michelangelo of Comics from Hermes Press was to have shipped the first week of August; it finally arrived at my LCS on December 15th! I've been reading it, and will write up a BAB Book Review very soon. Interested consumers may want to wait for the review before plunking down their hard-earned cash... And if that cryptic comment doesn't leave you waiting with a small degree of trepidation, I don't know what would!
Doug: As to this year, once again I've put the TwoMorrows tome Mego 8" Super-Heroes - World's Greatest Toys. I've long been fascinated by the Mego line -- truly my favorite toys as a child. All of the accessories, variants, and characters I never had make this book a must-have for me. Who knows? Maybe this will be the year...Doug: Next up on my list is the Marvel Masterworks for the Inhumans, Volume I.
This book contains the back-up stories that ran in Thor, the Amazing Adventures series, Medusa's solo appearance in Marvel Super-Heroes, and Avengers 95 (the midst of the "Kree-Skrull War"). The artists contained in this book are a Silver/Bronze Age hall-of-fame in their own right -- Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, and Neal Adams. I only own a smattering of these books, so this would be a welcome addition to my library.Doug: Lastly, I'd like to get the first box set of ESPN's very fine 30 for 30 series of films. This for the most part has been an outstanding program -- I've not seen all of the films, but the dozen or so that I've been fortunate enough to catch have all been entertaining.
Of note were films about Reggie Miller vs. tje New York Knicks, the Hank Gathers tragedy at Loyola Marymount, the influence of the Los Angeles Raiders on the gangster rap movement that grew out of LA's Compton neighborhood, and the day of the O.J. Simpson "Bronco chase". There are other fine offerings in the series, and I look forward to the second box set collection.
6 comments:
Agree with you on that Inhumans Masterworks, although personally I'd prefer vol. 2, which contains that short-lived Inhumans series from the 1970s. I used to have the entire 12 issue run - which I bought used when I was about 13 yrs old for $3 (like I believe Karen said once: I miss the 70s, or even early 80s as the case may be). Of course, I would also prefer a cheaper TPB edition rather than one of those pricey Masterworks volumes. . .
I have that 'ESB' book on my wishlist. My "Bronze Age" wishes include volume 2 of 'The Defenders' Marvel Masterwork and 'Superman Vs. Muhamad Ali',since I never owned the Treasury-sized comic.
I wasn't aware that they were putting out an Inhumans MM;like you Edo, I'd rather they put it out in a cheaper TPB but if I can get a good deal on it I'd like to have it.
J.A., I have that Defenders MM on my Amazon wish list! But I don't think I'll be getting it this year...
Karen
I haven't seen that Legion print before. That's gorgeous. I don't have $500 looking for something to do either though. Oh well.
See, I got very, very lucky this Christmas. My grandparents, in lieu of gifts, just sent me a check.
Now there was a lot of good Bronze Age stuff I wanted, but nothing moreso than the Jack Kirby Fourth World Omnibuses. As you may know, the second volume is out of print, and sells for upwards of $150 all by itself. However, for kicks and giggles, I did a search on abebooks.com. And what did I find? All four volumes for a little over $100.
Needless to say, thanks to my grandparents, I am now the proud owner of 1800 pages of Kirby goodness. Darkseid is and shall remain one of my favorite villains ever. Plus, Transilvanie, the tiny planet so evil it has devil horns. I trust no further explanation will be needed as to why that's awesome.
Hey, guys --
I saw the Inhumans MM vol. II when I was at the LCS a week ago. I had all of the issues (most anyway) when I was a kid. To me, that series suffered from the same thing the Champions did -- lack of a consistent creative team. It began promisingly enough, with Perez on the art, but the later Gil Kane issues weren't as strong in my opinion. The shop did not have the first volume, or I'd have been severely tempted.
As it was, I got the aforementioned Buscema book at list price ($60), and then picked up The Great Darkness Saga HC and the Thor Premiere Hardcover, If Asgard Should Perish. The latter two were at 30% off. Happy early Christmas to me!
Best to all,
Doug
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