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Post by rom on Sept 15, 2016 8:42:03 GMT -5
there was also her original appearance in Legion of Super-Heroes #258, and a DC Comics Presents issue. #298. Issue 258 was cover dated Dec. 1979, several years before Amethyst would debut. I remember that issue ridiculously well, because it was the last issue if the original Superboy title. The next issue saw Superboy leave the Legion and the official title changed to Legion of Super-Heroes.
I stand corrected - Thanks.
The main reason I had 0 interest in getting the Amethyst b&w Showcase volume was because of the lack of color. This was a comic in which color was extremely critical to the story, i.e. the various colored gemstones, the sword and sorcery aspect, etc. Reading these issues in b&w would severely take away from the effectiveness of the story. I feel the same way about most of the DC Showcase & Marvel Essential volumes. (Conversely, reprints like the b&w SSOC DH Trades are great, since they are reprinting comics that were originally in b&w - so you're not losing anything re: the original appearance of the comics).
If the Classic Amethyst series were ever to be reprinted, I would want all 3 series & Amethyst's other appearances as well. I'm a completest, and don't think they should skip any of these issues.
Though a HC Omnibus is unlikely due to the obscurity of the character, I don't see why DC can't give us a thick color Trade, or maybe even 2 Trades. This was an amazing & underrated title, and should be made available again.
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Post by rom on Sept 14, 2016 14:45:21 GMT -5
As a young teen growing up in the '80's, I was somewhat intrigued by DC's sword & sorcery title Amethyst - I paged through a couple of issues at the time, but never collected or read the series - probably because I felt it was too "girly". However, from what I remember about this it was an amazing series, with fantastic art & great color, etc. 30+ years later, I really want to see these classic issues reprinted - in color. The b&w Showcase volume several years ago was O.K., but color was such an integral part of the series that it was never worth it to me to get this. From doing some research, there were actually three series: Volume 1 ran for 12 issues & 1 Annual; Volume 2 ran for 16 issues & 1 Special; and Volume 3 appeared to be a 4-issue mini series. So, 34 issues there. Plus, there was also her original appearance in Legion of Super-Heroes #258, and a DC Comics Presents issue. So, there were a total of 36 issues (two having a larger page count than normal, presumably). I think this would make for a nice thick color Trade, or even an Omni. Now that Amethyst is part of the "new 52", I think that could possibly justify these reprints (I think her new 52 title got cancelled, but at least it was around for a while). Here's a cover gallery: dc.wikia.com/wiki/Amethyst/Covers
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Post by rom on Sept 14, 2016 8:02:42 GMT -5
Think Francesco Francavilla would make a spectacular Thundarr comic for us to enjoy. Bring back Steve Englehart to do his thing and make the stories fun and i am there immediately for every issue! I'd definitely be onboard for a new Thundarr comic. The show didn't last for that long & so wasn't able to delve too much into the post apocalyptic world. Obviously, there's a whole planet for Thundarr, Ookla, and Ariel to explore & weird aliens/mutants for them to encounter. So, a comic series - if done properly - would be fantastic. If this is ever done, it would be great if the art would be similar to the animation from the series.
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Post by rom on Sept 13, 2016 20:59:08 GMT -5
It's interesting to speculate on what Day would have produced if he had lived; I feel his art would have improved as time went on - which is saying a lot since those MOKF issues were superb to begin with. Apparently, before he suddenly passed he was scheduled to work on a Batman story - which would have been amazing. Hell, if he had taken care of himself he may still be working today. Very tragic. Gene Day would indeed have been amazing on Batman. The closest we got was Detective Comics #527 (cover dated June 1983), which featured a cover by Gene and a story written by Doug Moench and drawn by Gene's brother Dan in a similar style. Jason Todd was shown to have a Shang-Chi poster on his wall in one panel. Agreed - GD would have been incredible on Batman - what could have been.... Here's a link to that great Batman cover: dc.wikia.com/wiki/Detective_Comics_Vol_1_527
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Post by rom on Sept 13, 2016 15:58:58 GMT -5
OK, the short-lived Constantine TV series from several years ago was amazing - one of my all-time favorite DC TV series. Excellent combination of horror elements & just the right dose of humor. This series is quite faithful to the comic; the actor who plays Constantine could have stepped out of the pages of the Vertigo series - perfect casting.
Without going into an overview of each episode, some observations:
Since the character smoked in the comic, it was great how Constantine also smoked in this series.
The 3rd episode was especially fantastic. Quite creepy, and I'm a big fan of both blues & rock music- the scene where Constantine was playing Anarchy in the U.K. by the S#x Pistols (in order to drown out the demon record) was great, especially since I always thought Constantine looked kind of like Johnny Rotten...Also, the bluesman who "sold his soul to the devil" in the episode was obviously an homage to the legendary musician Robert Johnson, who has also been referenced in film before - notably the Coen Brother's excellent O Brother Where Art Thou? film (2000), and an interesting '80's flick called Crossroads...
I thought Episode 4 was the best one; extremely grotesque scenes with the bugs coming out of people's mouths, leaving their dessicated bodies behind; this reminded me somewhat of that one story in the first Creepshow film. Also, the Constantine who would sacrifice one of his friends (for the greater good, of course) is a lot more like the character in the comics than what we've seen earlier in the show...
The dead spirits in the New Orleans, LA episode were amazing; extremely creepy, especially the scenes with Papa Midnight. IMHO, one of the major themes in this episode was of letting go after the passing of a loved one, no matter how much you may miss them - very poignant.
The episode with the exorcism effects re: the demon who possessed Constantine were amazing, and some of the best I've ever seen in cinema. As far as I'm concerned, the quality of this show is so good each episode may as well be a 1-hour mini horror flick...I was amused that the actor who played Julio in this episode (the little guy who betrayed Constantine @ the jail, and then later grudgingly helped him) was the same guy who played Pedro in the hilarious & now iconic Napoleon Dynamite (2004).
And, this show makes up for the P.O.S. Constantine film (starring Keanu Reeves, who looks & talks nothing like Constantine from the comic) that came out about back in the 200X's - that was not only the worst comic book adaptation I've ever seen, but one of the worst films I've ever seen, period.
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Post by rom on Sept 13, 2016 15:43:47 GMT -5
Camelot 3000 was an amazing maxi-series back in the day; superb art by BB & great story. I collected several of the floppies when they were originally out, but don't remember having all of them. It was a very original idea, i.e. taking the King Arthur mythology & setting it up so that the characters existed in a futuristic society w/an alien invasion, etc.
I got a Trade of this series a while back; still need to re-read this, but it's on the top of my long list.
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Post by rom on Sept 13, 2016 15:21:26 GMT -5
I only started collecting comics (to a limited extent) in the late '70's, and don't remember any reprint titles other than Marvel Tales - which reprinted older Amazing Spider-man stories. There were probably other reprints around at the time, but it wasn't obvious to me.
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Post by rom on Sept 13, 2016 15:14:19 GMT -5
Thanks for your mention of Wizard - even though I wasn't collecting any Marvel comics during the '90's, IIRC I did pick up that mag. a couple of times, mainly because of the cool covers and inserts (cards, etc.).
I also ended up buying a couple of X-men card sets in the early-mid '90's as well. Great artwork; even though I wasn't collecting any of the X-men comics at the time, these cards were fantastic.
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Post by rom on Sept 13, 2016 12:39:28 GMT -5
As a comic collector off & on since I was a little kid in the very late '70's, I would have to say that DC started to eclipse Marvel re: content (though not necessarily in sales) in the early '80's, around the time the direct market comic stores started to get popular.
DC's '80's output was, overall, incredibly good: The superb maxi series Crisis on Infinite Earths; Camelot 3000; Gene Colan's run on Batman (among other great Batman artist/writer runs); Jemm Son of Saturn; Omega Men; Warlord (started in the '70's, but continued well into the '80's); Atari Force; Arak Son of Thunder; the Spanner's Galaxy mini; This Barren Earth mini-series; Nathaniel Dusk mini-series; Night Force; re-vamped Wonder Woman by Perez; Firestorm the Nuclear Man; Green Arrow: the Longbow Hunters mini; New Teen Titans by Perez & Wolfman; Arion Lord of Atlantis; Amethyst; Byrne's Superman; Batman: Year one; Batman: The Dark Knight Returns; Ronin; Watchmen; all of their various graphic novels, etc. I could go on, but you get the picture.
Over at Marvel, they had some great stuff as well: Frank Miller's DD & even many of the subsequent DD writers/artists, Moon Knight by Sienciewicz & Moench; the Gene Day drawn-issues of Master of Kung Fu in the early '80's; Uncanny X-men; The sci-fi/fantasy "Crossroads" storyline in Incredible Hulk; Walt Simonson's Thor; John Byrne's Fantastic Four. And, some of their licensed material was excellent, and even better than their original super-hero comics in some cases - i.e. ROM, Micronauts, Star Wars, etc.
However, I didn't like the Secret Wars maxi-series (weak), and also didn't like the subsequent black costume storylines in Spider-man. I didn't like the "Intelligent" Hulk storyline, either.
And, overall I felt DC's comics (especially the new series that came out with within that decade) were much more original & innovative than Marvel's output during that same time period.
In the '90's, DC continued their great output with the various Vertigo series (Sandman, Preacher, Black Orchid, etc.) and their revamping of Superman (Death & life of Superman) and Batman (Knightfall; Knightsquest; Knightsend).
Conversely, I completely ignored Marvel comics in the '90's. I felt their re-vamping of X-men/ Spider-Man & the accompanying variant covers to be a gimmick & cash-grab, and that turned me off to collecting any of these issues.
I have bought very few new Marvel or DC comics since the '90's, since all I buy these days are primarily collected editions. So, I can't speak to the post-1990's Marvel/DC series.
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Post by rom on Sept 13, 2016 10:46:17 GMT -5
Great topic! Now that Halloween is right around the corner, I'm in the mood to read - or at least re-read - some horror comics.
I do agree the '70's was the heyday for horror comics. Horror is one of my favorite genres (in both film & literature), so I do have fond memories of these comics - notably DC's horror anthology titles, i.e. Tales of the Unexpected, Witching Hour, House of Mystery, Ghosts, Weird War Tales, etc. I know some of these titles were reprinted in DC's b&w Showcase volumes, but I would really like to see these reprinted in the original color.
I enjoyed DC produced better horror comics in the '70's than Marvel; Marvel's horror seemed to be more series based, i.e. Tomb of Dracula, Ghost Rider, Man Thing, Werewolf by Night, etc. - which was fine, but to me the stories weren't as scary/creepy as anthology stories. IIRC Marvel also had some horror anthology titles, but I don't remember much about these.
I didn't read much of Creepy & Eerie b&w mags. back in the day, but in more recent years have read DH's great HC reprints (via the local library). Unfortunately, the prices for these are a little too rich for my blood (IIRC, they're about $50 for a HC reprinting 5 issues), so have passed on collecting these.
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Post by rom on Sept 13, 2016 8:44:34 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. re: Gene Day's art in Marvel's The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones. I do remember that issue, but had forgotten that Day drew part of this.
It's worth mentioning that the underrated TFAOIJ series was reprinted by Dark Horse circa 2008/2009-ish in three Omnibuses. These are smaller than average comic size (to cut down on costs, presumably), but are worth getting if you don't already have the original floppies. Though the whole series was well-done, the first two issues with John Byrne art are especially impressive.
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Post by rom on Sept 13, 2016 6:58:08 GMT -5
Good to know re: Red Sonja. However, my point is still valid: I.e., the licensing issues involving the RS character prevented DH from reprinting these specific CTB issues with RS appearances - resulting in an incomplete reprint collection. That being said, it wasn't that much of a loss since these early DH CTB Trades didn't include any of the original covers, just the comics themselves. Very sub-par reprints.
It would be nice if a company other than DH (Marvel maybe, if they ever get the CTB license back) reprints CTB in it's entirety, with all of the covers & all of the issues, including the RS appearances. A series of large Omnis would be great, but that's probably too much to hope for.
Thanks for the info. re: the short Man-Thing origin story from Savage Tales. IIRC, that may also have been reprinted in the excellent Man Thing Omnibus several years ago. I have this, but haven't looked it over in a while (I don't have the Essential MT volumes anymore).
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Post by rom on Sept 12, 2016 21:43:22 GMT -5
Oh yeah, those terrible licensing problems are always an issue when it comes to many reprints.
I remember when DH first started reprinting the classic Conan the Barbarian comics back in the 200X's (in a series of Trades). Many of the earlier issues that co-starred Red Sonja couldn't be reprinted because, at the time, RS was owned by Dynamite (who was doing reprints and an original series) - despite the fact that RS was part of the Conan universe.
Licensing issues are what's still holding up reprints of Micronauts, ROM, and other older series that really deserve to be reprinted.
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Post by rom on Sept 12, 2016 15:55:29 GMT -5
It's a huge tragedy that Day passed at the young age of 32 - at the prime of his career. Regrettably, I wasn't reading MoKF at the time Day was doing his seminal work, but I was awed by his incomparable inks in Marvel Two-In-One and The Avengers. He brought a polished, dazzling flare to everything he touched. Experiencing his MoKF for the first time recently was a real treat, and since I've yet to complete the series, it's still delivering! I'm collecting all of the MOKF Omnibuses (the 2nd one is scheduled to come later this month). And, I am really looking forward to Omnibus #4, which should focus on many/most of the Gene Day issues. These will look truly extraordinary on high quality paper & remastered printing/color.
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Post by rom on Sept 12, 2016 15:52:17 GMT -5
Ah, Thundarr. One of my favorite cartoons as a kid. I've been toying with the idea of recreating an idealized Saturday morning cartoon experience (delicious and bad for you candy cereal included) and Thundarr would be at the top of my lineup. I'm tempted to buy that Amazon DVD set now... This is a great idea. I'm actually limiting my viewings of my Thundarr DVD's to certain Saturday mornings (when possible) to recreate my early '80's memories/nostalgia re: this show.
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