Pages

Monday, December 19, 2011

BAB Wish Lists

Karen: Here we are once again, the holiday season, and there's so many goodies out there! I'm sure you all have your eyes on a few special things you'd love to receive as a gift. Doug and I are continuing our tradition (hey, this will be our third year in a row) of pointing out some cool and geeky stuff that we'd like to find under our respective Christmas trees.

Karen: I'm cheating on this first one, because I already bought it for myself as an early gift! I couldn't resist, it was going half-price. John Landis (yes, THAT John Landis) has put together a very nice, big book chock full of monsters. Monsters in the Movies is primarily a book to ogle for all the excellent photographs from hundreds (thousands?) of monsters that have appeared on film in the last century. Landis divides things up based on the type of monster -vampires, werewolves, giant monsters, ghosts, etc. Sometimes his commentary accompanying the photos is straightforward. Other times he makes some witty observations or critical remarks -he's not shy about telling you if he thinks a film stank! There are also eight interviews sprinkled throughout, featuring people like Christopher Lee and Ray Harryhausen. I don't know that I'd want to dish out the $40 cover price, but it is a lot of fun and if you can get it cheaper I'd say go for it -it's very entertaining.

Doug: Many of you were a part of my fantasy wish list a few weeks ago when I ran the Bronze Age books post. I did ask for several of those books, but the thing I asked for that I really hope I get is the Batman: Year One DVD. I enjoyed Frank Miller's four-part story that ran in Batman #'s 401-404, and I understand this adaptation is very faithful to the source material. I'd add, however, that as I've "grown up" and reverted to the love for the era from which I came, much of the adoration I had for some of the mid-'80's reboots has certainly faded. That stuff doesn't stick for me as much anymore.

Karen: There are a number of Marvel Masterworks that I would love to get, but if I could only pick two I would go for the Iron Fist volume 1 and Defenders volume 2 editions. The Iron Fist volume features the early appearances of the character in Marvel Premiere. At one time, I had most of these, but during my move from California to Arizona, the long box that held them "disappeared." So getting this book would help to replace them. My collection of Defenders is spotty from about 3-20, but I have volume 1 of this Masterworks series, so getting volume two would pretty much fill it in. These issues feature Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema, a team I loved from Captain America. I'm looking forward to getting this and reading some Bronze age goodness I've never seen before.

Doug: I saw a nifty book on Amazon last week while searching for some other stuff -- I immediately added this to "the list". I hope I wasn't too late! Many of our blog-mates frequently run posts featuring old advertisements. Mail-Order Mysteries: Real Stuff From Old Comic Book Ads! looks like a real hoot. Near as I can tell, the author got his hands on the X-ray specs and whatnot, and writes a review of what the buyer actually received. Not only that, but how the stuff "worked"! As an owner of Sea Monkeys, I'm really looking forward to this expose'!

Karen: This year my unobtainable, Holy Grail sort of item would be Sideshow's 12" Mu
mmy figure. I believe this figure was originally produced back in 2003. Of course, it's from Sideshow, and that means quality. It's an excellent face sculpt, a very good likeness of Karloff. Some nice accessories too. I have all the 'original' Universal Monsters (2 Frankenstein Monsters, Dracula, Wolfman) and the Creature from the Black Lagoon in the 12" format, so having the Mummy is high on my list. Unfortunately, he's very hard to find and very pricey -typically around $250 on the secondary market! That's a little too much for me to justify spending, but I sure would love to get a hold of him some day.

Doug: You may have noticed on our sidebar that we'll be looking at a few of the totally-awesome Claremont/Byrne Marvel Team-Ups. This does, however, hinge on my reception of the recently-released tpb of those stories! Yep, Spider-Man: Marvel Team-Up by Claremont and Byrne came out just a couple of weeks ago. Here's to keeping my fingers crossed. I also requested Legends of the Dark Knight: Marshall Rogers, as well as some of the slew of superhero tree ornaments offered by Hallmark this season.





Doug: We'll let you know how we made out, in about a week!




Doug: We received a note yesterday from our friend Scott Edelman about a post he was running on his own blog. We'd invite you to check it out, and join in the lengthy conversation going on from Scott's audience. It's a worthwhile, very thought-provoking read!

14 comments:

  1. Karen:

    Glad to see the early Defenders are gettin' mentioned here. I love the early ones with Sal Buscema art and am targeting both volumes of the Defenders Masterworks now as well. I just started my hardcover Masterworks collection last week with Avengers Vol 6, for only $25 on eBay, so the Defenders are definitely next. Sure beats spending $40 per book at my local comic book stores.

    In fact, I've been so busy of late, I just decided to wrap it and pop it under the tree for myself (as my wife rolls her eyes..).

    I just came across 'The Cat and the Bat' trade by Fabian Nicieza and Kevin Maguire, which looks like a fun (and cheesy) chase between Batgirl and Catwoman. Loved Maguire and his expressions on JLA in the '80s, and he seems to do the same here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here's my Christmas wishlist:

    1) Marvel Firsts: The 1960s (I did some research and found out that this is all in color)

    2) Marvel Team-Up by Claremont & Byrne (trade paperback)

    3) Alpha Flight Volume 2 by Byrne (they finally released this trade after almost 2 years since it was first announced)

    4) Origin of the Hobgoblin (trade)

    5) Star Wars on Blu Ray

    6) Uncharted 3 video game

    7) Arkham City Robin action figure

    That's pretty much it. I'd like to get that Marshall Rogers Batman book as well, but I'll probably just wait and pick it up after the holidays.

    Also, February and March of next year they are releasing "Marvel Firsts: The 1970s Volumes 1 and 2. And since they are each the size of a phonebook and are in color and only cost $19.19 each on Amazon, I want those more than just about anything else I can think of ever in the history of things.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unlike everyone else (it feels like!) I’m not such a fan of TPB’s. I do love them, and nothing feels ‘proper’ like a comic book in hardback, but there is something you get from owning the originals, and from handling the ‘artefact itself’ esp. really old silver age stuff. Ever read FF#1? Try holding that in your hands and see how you feel.

    I hoping Santa brings me the Cap film. I missed it in the cinema and heard good things.

    Whatever happens, Merry Christmas to all the BAB’s and huge thanks to Doug & Karen for providing a site that gives so much: I can’t wait to log in in the mornings and see what random tangent we’re off on today, I love the responses that people make, some clever, some hilarious, some shockingly erudite (you know who you are). I am always surprised that I can never quite gauge where my fellow regular posters are coming from in the same way that I have learnt to with Doug & Karen. Such a diverse and interesting bunch! I also find this site enhances my enjoyment of reading comics enormously, makes me think about them in ways I never did before, fills in my education about their creators and is providing me a renewed reading list for life! So thanks to everyone.

    Have a great Christmas, one and all,

    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  4. Karen: that Iron First Masterworks would be nice, but really, I'd happily settle for the Essential Iron Fist, which collects all of the pre-Power Man/Iron Fist material in a single volume (for that, I'll tolerate the lack of color). However, it looks like that one is actually getting a bit hard to find inexpensively. Another Masterworks I'd really, really like is the Deathlok volume. I also wouldn't mind getting the Doc Savage Showcase and Doc Savage Man of Bronze books, collecting all Marvel's Doc Savage material from the '70s - published by DC (which seems a tad obscene...).
    Doug: since you mentioned that Mail-Order Mysteries book (which I wouldn't mind having myself), I have to recommend a great post on the "His Name is Studd" blog from about a month again, which recounts the adventure of a young Bronze Ager who goes on a journey to procure those tantalizing X-ray specs. Here's the link: http://studdblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/x-ray-specs.html.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Forgot to say – Karen, I so envy you reading those Defenders for the first time. The last 100 issues of the Defenders were mostly pretty poor, but the first 40 – 50 were superb. I couldn’t really choose between Englehart and Gerber, but in Englehart’s time, you’re looking at the Attuma story that guest stars Hawkeye, the Avengers /Defenders war, a strange but fun outing to the Middle Ages to find out what happened to the Black Knight, the first appearance of Nebulon and the Squadron Supreme ( Sinister? Supreme? Who knows?) and a let’s-keep-the-Xmen-alive ruck with Magneto.

    What I love about Englehart’s Defenders is this: his Avengers run is so clearly trying to sync in with 10 years (well, 35 years) of Marvel history. The Defenders was a comic book designed to maintain characters who had lost their own books plus the Hulk and was therefore steeped in history and back-story, so you would expect Englehart to be trying to tie all that background up like he was doing in the Avengers. But he just doesn’t. It was all very fresh & new and stand alone. Versatile writer, our Stevie!

    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've had a bunch of these things on my wish list too. I often do so because I feel like it's important to "vote with dollars" and tell Marvel & DC we want more Bronze Age color tpbs, hcs, Masterworks,etc.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Richard: Thanks for your kind remarks on the blog. It really is nice how it has evolved into a group of folks, with Doug and I sort of getting the ball rolling each day and you all running with it! As for those Defenders stories, I have read the issues with the Avengers-Defenders clash but otherwise few between issues 10-20. Any time I can get my hands on Bronze Age Marvels I've never read before I'm excited!

    William: I will have to get those Marvel Firsts - so cheap considering they're in color.

    Edo: I just can't read the Essentials. I know I' save money but I need color!!

    Karen

    ReplyDelete
  8. Karen, you'll love those early Defenders, Englehart's run often gets shoved aside in favour of Gerber's, but they're both great, and Our Pal Sal was never better.

    By the way, I already got Secret Santa'd with The Worst Comic Book Ever! Yep, a work colleague thought it'd be amusing to buy me 'Kate Middleton: A Very Private Princess'
    Not only is it the very worst idea to do a comic about our future Queen, the script & artwork plumb hitherto unplumbed depths of ineptitude & awfulness.Still I also got a 1979 Starsky & Hutch annual, so it wasn't all bad.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Karen, I fully understand the need for color, and generally I almost insist on color reprints, but for me two factors are in play: economy and space. I live in Europe now, and much of the time have to order comics from the US, so once postage is factored in, I like to get things as cheaply as possible - and Essentials, esp. used, usually are. As for space, both my SO & I are avid readers and have tons of books but relatively limited living space, and as you know, floppies (especially) and even tpbs and HCs quickly start to take up lots of space. So sometimes Essentials are just the best choice for me. Even so, with reference to Iron Fist specifically, I have to admit I would really would prefer to have at least the stories drawn by Byrne in color.
    By the way, since Defenders was brought up, I'll just say I agree with the view that about the first 50 or so issues (plus the Giant Sizes and Annual #1) are absolutely the best of that series. Also, I think David Anthony Kraft deserves some props as well for that awesome Scorpio story that started a few issues after Gerber left the series.
    ...and sorry for the long-winded comment...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, TOTALLY FORGOT this gem of an offer..:

    For those of you who LOVE the Steranko FOOM poster, I found a site that sells them at various sizes in your choice of uber-quality paper stock (including canvas..).

    Check it out at http://www.imagekind.com/FOOM_art?IMID=0f637c0b-b1e5-4cdc-87cd-817af40a6d86

    For those of you (like me..) who have painstakenly tried to preserve your vintage poster, this is an awesome value. I QUICKLY plucked down my $50 for a 16x20 print.

    They also have a few other Marvel rarities, like the '75 Con cover, as well as some Silver gems like Green Hornet covers and Batman ads.

    Now THAT is a stocking stuffer..!?!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I was blessed enough to already get two books I've wanted for a long time for Christmas. A good friend of mine got me two of the Plastic Man Archive collections! I think Jack Cole is one of the unsung heroes of the Golden Age. These books are pricey at $50 a pop, but he found them at a comic con for what he termed "an excellent price". All I know is I'm enjoying the heck out of these. You can really see Cole's talent developing as you read each issue. Great stories, great artwork.

    ReplyDelete
  12. david b --

    Wow! Thanks for that link. I definitely have my eye on the '75 Buscema con poster. And how about all of the Third Eye prints? Great site!

    Thanks,

    Doug

    ReplyDelete
  13. No problem. I TOTALLY forgot to mention it until last night. I have a friend who knows what paper stock can be put against glass and still last forever, so she gave me some helpful hints on selecting the right stock after I initially ordered wrong.

    When I shipped my first poster back for refund, the company reps were VERY helpful; without even confirming they had my return,they wanted to credit my account. Very friendly customer service and simply AWESOME selections. Love the Marvelmania selections, much cheaper than buying originals.

    HIGHLY recommend..!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yesterday I was given a $10 Barnes & Noble gift card by a student. I got a back-up plan now!

    Doug

    ReplyDelete