posted April 04, 2003 10:54 AM            

If so, I think it is a shame, as they were a great way to read otherwise unavailable or highly priced stories...

posted April 04, 2003 11:19 AM               

I would love for them to continue the Essentials at some point, but I'm not counting on seeing them anytime soon.

posted April 04, 2003 11:30 AM               

Although it's specifically aimed at the Marvel Masterworks, the Essentials have been mentioned on Dylanfan's excellent Marvel Masterworks site, http://www.marvelmasterworks.freeservers.com/

posted April 04, 2003 11:36 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Aaron:
I asked Joe Q about it on his message board a while back and he pretty much said the Essential books were on indefinite hold. Take that to mean what you want, but considering they just announced 30-odd new hardback Masterworks at $50 a pop, methinks it has something to do with $$$.

I would love for them to continue the Essentials at some point, but I'm not counting on seeing them anytime soon.

Aaron

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To put a finer point on the above statements, it's 32 Masterworks, not new, but remastered versions of all the old ones. Two new Essentials have been announced, Human Torch and Tomb of Dracula. And yes, it's about money. As it should be....

posted April 04, 2003 02:07 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Carbon Freeze:
...but do we really need Amazing Fantasy 15 and Spider Man 1 - 10 again ??

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posted April 04, 2003 02:44 PM               

Tomb of Dracula and Sgt. Fury were announced over a year ago, and still no sign of them. We had quite a long stretch with no Essentials, then Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and Howard the Duck arrived pretty much all at once. The long-delayed Daredevil followed a couple of months later, but I haven't seen anything since.

Thor and Iron Man are overdue for follow-ups, and the Human Torch in Strange Tales book would be a lot of fun, I'm sure (all that never-reprinted Kirby art...cool). One more Avengers book, bringing us pretty close to the start of the Kree-Skrull War would be great, too. And more Herb Trimpe Hulk...and...sorry. I need to put a little more thought into this before I start to REALLY get incoherent and fanboyish...

posted April 04, 2003 03:51 PM            

The core Marvel books from the sixties and seventies are great to see in Masterworks, but can anyone really afford them all?

I know I can't, sigh...

And those early Uncanny X-Men tales were great...sure wish I could see more...

posted April 04, 2003 04:31 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Faversham:
Well, if the Torch and Dracula volumes get released that will be great, but I'm dying to see a Sgt. Fury volume (wasn't that announced some time ago?), Sub-Mariner, and (wishful thinking) Defenders!

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posted April 04, 2003 05:35 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by majorjoe23:
I want the Fantastic Four through 102 in Essential form.

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I want the Fantastic Four through 102 in Masterworks form.

posted April 04, 2003 06:10 PM               

I too could have sworn that Sgt. Fury was announced ages ago.

posted April 04, 2003 06:35 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Carlo:
My recent Westfield Comics order form had no essentials listed for July...sob!

I too could have sworn that Sgt. Fury was announced ages ago.

Carlo

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Yes, it was announced about a year ago, but abandoned somewhere along the way. Tomb of Dracula actually made it to the solicit stage before the plug was pulled.

And to repeat- Marvel has announced they are prepping a Human Torch and resoliciting Tomb Of Dracula as Essentials.

posted April 04, 2003 09:40 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by NecessaryImpurity:
As often as Marvel has pulled the plug or delayed these Essentials projects, if you'd put the money in the bank when the project was first announced, you'd have earned enough interest by now to afford a Masterworks volume.

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Not with interests rates as low as they are now.

posted April 05, 2003 12:42 AM            

I have about 50% of the Essentials, and probably am not going to buy the ones I don't have. But I would certainly get these "future" volumes....

Spiderman 6
Fantastic Four 4 & 5
Thor 2
Master of Kung Fu 1

posted April 05, 2003 01:53 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by James Friel:
I don't remember Mike Zeck doing Master of Kung Fu.

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posted April 05, 2003 04:03 PM               

Most of the fill-ins interrupted ongoing storylines, meaning if you go back and re-read the series (which I DID once!) it makes more sense to read the fill-ins out-of-sequence, if you can figure out where in the continuity they should really fit. (The same goes for all those DEADLY HANDS episodes of MOKF, I'd hope any future reprinting would take ALL the episodes into consideration and collect them in a sequence where the chronology would make sense.)

Mike Zeck wound up doing more episodes of MOKF than any other artist, AND had the longest unbroken run of issues in there somewhere (between Broderick & Day, no doubt). Much of his run was taken up by a single, MAMMOTH-length epic that went on and on an ON (the lead-in to the 2nd Fu Manchu "epic"). He was never in Gulacy's class, but in a more traditional "comic-book" style, he developed into a damn good artist. I thought his run on CAPTAIN AMERICA may be the height of his art, and I was really sorry when he left that book. (Paul Neary, who'd been a real hotshot sci-fi artist at Warren years earlier, was a serious come-down after Zeck's departure.)

Zeck's SECRET WARS looked like a real rush-job, done for the money, not love of the work. He more recently did a crime book (I forget the title!) and I was surprised as his style had changed so much I couldn't recognize it as being his.