|
Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 27, 2018 20:14:29 GMT -5
I got the Epic Collection of Master of Kung Fu as soon as it came out and am going through it right now... Oh, wow, how great that series still is!
Sure many details are now dated, from the ridiculous way Chinese characters are colored (their skin is bright yellow!) to the politics of the day, with a Maoist China and a continuing cold war, by way of the silly way martial arts are depicted. But Shang Chi’s philosophical musings have not taken one wrinkle.
Using the Fu Manchu mythos as a background was a brilliant idea, bringing a lot of added weight to what was already a solid concept. As far as I’m concerned, the modern attempts by Marvel to circumvent copyright issues when it comes to Shang Chi, attempts mostly consisting of pretending Fu Manchu is someone else, are very ill-advised and doomed to failure. It’s as if Marvel had the rights to Korak but not Tarzan, and decided to pretend that Korak was Ka-Zar’s son... It’s just not working. Shang Chi is Fu Manchu’s son, the son of the most formidable “yellow menace” archetype ever... Accept no substitute! If copyright is truly an issue, just go the Black Panther way, and never actually use the name “Fu Manchu”. Call him “your father”, “devil doctor”, “master” or whatever. But don’t pretend his name is Yellow Claw or Zheng Zhu or Murgatroyd Featherstonehaugh.
I had most of the issues of the book in one form of the other, but it’s nice to have them under one cover. I’ll say this, though: just as with Gene Colan, Paul Gulacy’s work looks much better in black and white than in color. I wish this could have been an Essential volume.
|
|
Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,058
|
Post by Confessor on Apr 29, 2018 21:33:22 GMT -5
Been re-reading some Rip Kirby newspaper strips this evening. Specifically, I read the first and second adventures: "The Chip Faraday Murder" and "The Hicks Formula". Great Alex Raymond art (of course) and highly readable whodunnit detective yarns. Great stuff.
|
|
|
Post by Batflunkie on Apr 30, 2018 6:32:14 GMT -5
I had most of the issues of the book in one form of the other, but it’s nice to have them under one cover. I’ll say this, though: just as with Gene Colan, Paul Gulacy’s work looks much better in black and white than in color. I wish this could have been an Essential volume. I got so used to my American Judge Dredd reprints growing up that it was incredibly hard going from color to black & white for a long time but seeing Brian Bolland's artwork totally unhindered by excessive color is something else. One of the things that I really liked about my old Howard The Duck Essentials was the black and white Gene Colan artwork, was really sublime looking and almost gave the book a noir-esque quality that I really liked. That's kind of why I wanted to get the HTD Epic Collections, but trying to justify fourty bucks just to get Gerber's entire run versus the incredibly discounted 2nd print Omnibus made little sense. Was pleasantly surprised when the coloring wasn't garishly bright, as they're often lacking the subtleties of more subdued hues. Could have done with Mantlo's run on the character though I'm also kind of ashamed to admit that as much as I like the idea of Master Of Kung Fu, the book itself never particularly interested me. Do remember coming across Charlton's knock-off Yang/House Of Yang at some point though. Really liked the cover art, can't recall ever reading it
|
|
|
Post by MDG on Apr 30, 2018 8:29:56 GMT -5
Been re-reading some Rip Kirby newspaper strips this evening. Specifically, I read the first and second adventures: "The Chip Faraday Murder" and "The Hicks Formula". Great Alex Raymond art (of course) and highly readable whodunnit detective yarns. Great stuff. How are you re-reading them? That is, what edition/collection (unless you have clipped strips). I'd love to read more strips, but collections tend to be either huge and pricey or inexpensive but poorly-reproduced.
|
|
|
Post by Batflunkie on Apr 30, 2018 10:15:50 GMT -5
Been re-reading some Rip Kirby newspaper strips this evening. Specifically, I read the first and second adventures: "The Chip Faraday Murder" and "The Hicks Formula". Great Alex Raymond art (of course) and highly readable whodunnit detective yarns. Great stuff. How are you re-reading them? That is, what edition/collection (unless you have clipped strips). I'd love to read more strips, but collections tend to be either huge and pricey or inexpensive but poorly-reproduced. Yeah, the Daily Star Judge Dredd collections are a little bit too pricey. I have no clue why they just couldn't do a oversized paperback for all of them like they do with the complete case files
|
|
|
Post by sabongero on Apr 30, 2018 10:28:44 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 30, 2018 10:48:05 GMT -5
Been re-reading some Rip Kirby newspaper strips this evening. Specifically, I read the first and second adventures: "The Chip Faraday Murder" and "The Hicks Formula". Great Alex Raymond art (of course) and highly readable whodunnit detective yarns. Great stuff. How are you re-reading them? That is, what edition/collection (unless you have clipped strips). I'd love to read more strips, but collections tend to be either huge and pricey or inexpensive but poorly-reproduced. I buy quite a few strip reprints. I don't read as many as I buy, but that's another issue. IDW and Fantagraphics are probably the gold standard for quality vs. price right now. And yeah they can be pricey. There's actually a sweet spot about 6-8 months after a book comes out where it hits peak discount through the Amazon marketplace and you can get them for a pretty reasonable price. It can be hard to gauge though. Strike too early and you'll pay too much. Wait to long and it goes out of print and the price skyrockets. I actually find it kind of fun.
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on Apr 30, 2018 10:56:55 GMT -5
How are you re-reading them? That is, what edition/collection (unless you have clipped strips). I'd love to read more strips, but collections tend to be either huge and pricey or inexpensive but poorly-reproduced. I buy quite a few strip reprints. I don't read as many as I buy, but that's another issue. IDW and Fantagraphics are probably the gold standard for quality vs. price right now. And yeah they can be pricey. There's actually a sweet spot about 6-8 months after a book comes out where it hits peak discount through the Amazon marketplace and you can get them for a pretty reasonable price. It can be hard to gauge though. Strike too early and you'll pay too much. Wait to long and it goes out of print and the price skyrockets. I actually find it kind of fun. I have Rip Kirby on my watch list along with other classic series like Secret Agent Corrigan, Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Johnny Hazard, Prince Valiant, Steve Canyon, the Phantom and Mandrake. I go to check Amazon weekly in hopes of finding ANY markdown pricing for the Kirby series. Sadly as it is such a quality series it remains in the upward $30-45 range. But one day....one day....
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on Apr 30, 2018 14:37:11 GMT -5
I read Naza (Dell) #2 over the weekend. A totally random, out of the long box read. The only reason I bought this thing, nearly 4 decades ago, was because it was cheap and was, at the time, my oldest comic, being from 1964. I don't even remember if I read it or not before now. However, having read it, it was pretty good. The writing was quite good, I thought, and the art was so-so.
|
|
Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,058
|
Post by Confessor on Apr 30, 2018 17:19:29 GMT -5
Been re-reading some Rip Kirby newspaper strips this evening. Specifically, I read the first and second adventures: "The Chip Faraday Murder" and "The Hicks Formula". Great Alex Raymond art (of course) and highly readable whodunnit detective yarns. Great stuff. How are you re-reading them? That is, what edition/collection (unless you have clipped strips). I'd love to read more strips, but collections tend to be either huge and pricey or inexpensive but poorly-reproduced. I'm reading them in the IDW hardcover volume 1. I got it for cheap a few years back from my LCS because -- get this -- the owner ordered it from Diamond thinking it was a tribute to Jack Kirby. As in, R.I.P. Kirby. I kid you not. Anyway, he didn't think he could shift it for cover price, so he offered it to me for a good discount because he knew I liked weird, off the wall old stuff like that (I'm quoting him here). The IDW volumes are well worth the money though, even at full price. The reproduction, paper stock and general presentation is fantastic. I also have the first IDW volume of the Star Wars newspaper strip, which features the Russ Manning era and it's a thing of beauty. I know what you mean about the quality of some newspaper reprints though. I initially discovered Rip Kirby in the £1 comic box at Mega City Comics in London, when I picked up all six issues of the late '80s Pioneer Comics reprints (which were titled The Official Rip Kirby). The stories gripped me straight away but man, oh man, the artwork reproduction looked like s**t. The IDW hardcover is infinitely better.
|
|
|
Post by MDG on May 1, 2018 8:08:52 GMT -5
This is about all I have now--newsprint repros of newspaper clips.
|
|
|
Post by chromehead on May 1, 2018 17:41:14 GMT -5
I picked up the Claremont / Byrne Marvel Team Up trade (MTU #59-70, #75) that was recently part of Marvel's digital fire sale on Amazon, for a buck.
I was surprised by how many of these issues I remember reading reprinted in Marvel Tales as a kid: part one of the Wasp/Yellowjacket/Equinox arc, part one of the Spidey/Captain Britain in Arcade's Murderworld, part two of the Spidey / Ms. Marvel vs The Super Skrull, and the one shot with Spidey fighting Tigra who's being mind-controlled by Kraven.
And those IMO are the best of the lot here (good to finally read parts one or two of those issues as I never knew how some of them turned out). There's a pretty decent two-parter with Iron Fist, Steel Serpent, Colleen Wing & Misty Night.
Great thing about these issues is, you get pretty much right to the fights after just a bit of setup. Claremont writes just enough without overdoing it here (or cramming every panel with packed word balloons like his later X-Men work). Bryne dazzles as well on art, though his artwork is best when he's inking it, as in the early issues.
The collection does get a bit wonky in some of the later issues: the Man-Thing / D'Spayre one shot is a bit of a dud IMO, as is the two-parter with The Living Monolith siphoning Havoc's powers and threatening New York, where Thor has to show up to lend a hand. Through every issue, Peter as Spidey is more than game to kick ass, and doesn't give up or try to dodge a fight. He'll do everything in his power to stop the bad guy of the month.
Solid and entertaining reading, and quite a steal for the price. Easily the best MTU I've ever read. Grade: B
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on May 2, 2018 12:56:30 GMT -5
Great thing about these issues is, you get pretty much right to the fights after just a bit of setup. Claremont writes just enough without overdoing it here (or cramming every panel with packed word balloons like his later X-Men work). Bryne dazzles as well on art, though his artwork is best when he's inking it, as in the early issues.
That may be true for Byrne's early work but for his work on the FF, I think the art got better when somebody else took over the inking duties.
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on May 2, 2018 13:01:29 GMT -5
I read Strange Tales #130. The first story has the Human Torch and the Thing take their girls to a Beatles concert, and miss the concert as they have to chase some guys who robbed the gate money. They had quite a bit of trouble with some common robbers! Normally I dislike these Human Torch stories, but I liked this story, due to the humor and the presence of Ben Grimm. The second story has Dormammu, unbeknownst to Dr Strange, give Baron Mordo a lot of power, so that he's now more powerful than Doc Strange. Mordo and his cronies then attack the Ancient One & Strange. The Ancient one is badly injured, but Strange manages to get him to safety, but Dr Strange is now on the run against the suddenly powerful Mordo. To be continued!
|
|
|
Post by Rob Allen on May 2, 2018 14:50:13 GMT -5
I read Strange Tales #130. The first story has the Human Torch and the Thing take their girls to a Beatles concert, and miss the concert as they have to chase some guys who robbed the gate money. They had quite a bit of trouble with some common robbers! Normally I dislike these Human Torch stories, but I liked this story, due to the humor and the presence of Ben Grimm. The second story has Dormammu, unbeknownst to Dr Strange, give Baron Mordo a lot of power, so that he's now more powerful than Doc Strange. Mordo and his cronies then attack the Ancient One & Strange. The Ancient one is badly injured, but Strange manages to get him to safety, but Dr Strange is now on the run against the suddenly powerful Mordo. To be continued! I bought that issue when it came out. That's the one with Ben & Johnny in Beatle wigs on the cover, right? Guys were wearing Beatle wigs instead of just making their hair look like the Beatles' because no American male at that time had hair that long. At that point, Ben was a permanent co-star; it was the "Torch & Thing" series. And this was the first T&T story drawn by Bob Powell, who did a pretty good job on the last five T&T stories here and the last five Giant-Man stories in Tales to Astonish. If he hadn't gotten sick and died in 1967, he could have had a long career at Marvel. He was only a year older than Jack Kirby, and could write as well as draw. This Dr. Strange story is the beginning of a long, wonderful saga. The GCD says it's Part 1 of 17. A real magnum opus by Ditko. I hope you have the next 16 issues so you can read the whole thing!
|
|