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Captain America: Now With 20% More Angst!

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Posts

  • LanglyLangly Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    The Essentials line is a good place to start. If I remember right, they're black and white versions of the original comics put into huge collections. Not as pretty, but you get the classic stories and if you don't like a particular arc you can skip ahead!

    They have Essentials of Cap, Avengers, and X-men, as well as Daredevil and stuff like that.

    Edit: Although Essential X-Men actually starts with the second team, with Giant X-Men #1

    Langly on
  • kingkhankingkhan Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Why would they make them B&W? If they have Essentials for Spidey too, then I know what I need to do.

    kingkhan on
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  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    they make them black and white because it's a lot cheaper

    Balefuego on
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  • kingkhankingkhan Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Makes sense I guess. But remember, as I'm buying them all, I will be sorely disappointed.

    kingkhan on
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  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    They also have Omnibus Editions that are huge, oversized and in color on really nice paper but they are also expensive as fuck and they really only collect the more famous runs in those.

    Balefuego on
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  • kingkhankingkhan Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Couple remaining questions.

    The difference between Civil War: Amazing Spider-man and Civil War: Peter Parker, Spider-man?
    The difference between the Marvel Essentials of Amazing Spider-man and Peter Parker?

    Hm. The Amazing Spider-man Omnibus only has the first 38 issues... Essentials it is!

    kingkhan on
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  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    If you're a real completionist but don't want to spend a lot of money, you can always buy this bad boy. Forty-three years of Spider-Man comics on DVD-ROM.

    Other than that, you'll probably be safe just buying the Best of Spider-Man volumes, some important milestone storylines like Death of the Stacys, Saga of the Alien Costume, the three Todd McFarlane Spider-Man books that introduced Venom, and Kraven's Last Hunt.

    I'm actually not sure whether or not the Best of Spider-Man books have Death of the Stacys, Kraven's Last Hunt, or the McFarlane stuff in them already. The Trade Paperback List is an invaluable resource for this. Other than that, I'd just check out all of the Spider-Man stuff written by J. Michael Straczynski, which is listed on the previously linked Trade Paperback List.

    Unfortunately, following JMS's stories on Spider-Man, the book was canceled and no Spider-Man stories have been published since.

    NONE.

    Also, questions of this nature should probably be forwarded to this thread.

    Munch on
  • kingkhankingkhan Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Will do, but since you've mentioned it, is the only difference between Spider-man Essentials and Best of Spider-man the author?

    And one last bit of confusion towards this Captain America by Brubaker. I noticed it's technically "Captain America Volume 5." Are the previous 4 volumes just the older Captain America comics?

    kingkhan on
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  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Munch stop being silly.

    Brand New Day is better than JMS' dreary melodrama and would be a much better jumping on point for a new reader.

    Balefuego on
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  • kingkhankingkhan Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Quit adding factors into the equation of which series I need to buy.

    kingkhan on
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  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    It's kind of ironic that my favorite thing about JMS's run was the way he wrote Mary Jane and Peter's interactions, with Peter's teaching job running a close second, to the point of me overlooking a lot of the flaws of the run. I know everything else is just kind of forgettable shit about magic and Norman Osborn being a creepy pederast, but it's still a lot easier to stomach than Brand New Day, which I literally can't read without wanting to throw in the trash.

    But yeah, for someone just getting into Spider-Man, Brand New Day would probably be a decent jumping on point.

    Munch on
  • kingkhankingkhan Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Why not use the Essentials as a jumping on point?

    kingkhan on
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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Make sure you read Civil War: Captain America. It is part of Brubaker's run and it leads directly into the death of Steve Rogers. The Cap trades go like this, in order:

    Winter Soldier Vol 1 & 2
    Red Menace Vol 1 & 2
    Civil War: Captain America
    The Death of Captain America
    Death of the Dream vol 1 & 2

    The core Civil War books tie in loosely before the events of Captain America issue #25. Make sure you read that before you continue with the Cap story. And if you are concerned, Captain America plays a very large part in the core Civil War story. You won't be disappointed.

    Lucascraft on
  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    kingkhan wrote: »
    Why not use the Essentials as a jumping on point?

    Because the essentials start with stories from almost 50 years ago and most people don't have the time/patience/interest to read 50 years worth of catch-up

    Balefuego on
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  • kingkhankingkhan Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    And all those are included in the Omnibus, Death Vol 1-3 combo?

    Aside from Civil War of course.

    kingkhan on
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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Oh, and as an afterthought, if you want more Death of Cap material, I thought the 4 part series titled "Fallen Son" was pretty good. Those books are from the perspective of different heroes. Spider-Man, New Avengers, Wolverine, and Ironman.

    Lucascraft on
  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Fallen Son was 5 parts

    Balefuego on
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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Oh? Which character's perspective did I forget?

    Lucascraft on
  • kingkhankingkhan Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Alright then. So why do you say Brand New Day is a good jumping on point?

    kingkhan on
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  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    The 3rd issue was called Fallen Son: Captain America, although it was actually about Clint Barton and was by far the best issue of the series.

    Balefuego on
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  • kingkhankingkhan Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    Winter Soldier Vol 1 & 2
    Red Menace Vol 1 & 2
    Civil War: Captain America
    The Death of Captain America
    Death of the Dream vol 1 & 2

    The Wikipedia page for the omnibuses isn't helping much. Does the Ed Brubaker Captain America Omnibus cover all these?

    kingkhan on
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  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    kingkhan wrote: »
    Alright then. So why do you say Brand New Day is a good jumping on point?

    One of the issues with the nature of serialized comics, especially ones that have been running for 50+ years is they become burnded by past continuity, and writers can feel constrained/limited by story/character choices that were made by people who wrote the characters before they did.

    Oftentimes this is overcome by whats known as a retcon, as in retroactive continuity, where a present story changes something about a past one.

    the Spider-Man series recently underwent a rather huge ret-con that undid Peter's marriage to Mary Jane, and they revamped the entire line from what was once 3 seperate titles to a single title that ships 3x a month, with a stable of writers working concurrently with rotating teams of artists.


    It's a good jumping on point in the sense that it's a completey new direction and status quo, now a lot of people don't like the fact that they undid the marriage, particuarly the way it was done, but despite my distate for the retcon I think Brand New Day is the best the main Spider-Man series has been since at least Erik Larsen was writing the book in the early 90s.

    Balefuego on
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  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Even the Bob Gale issues Bale?

    Munch on
  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    kingkhan wrote: »
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    Winter Soldier Vol 1 & 2
    Red Menace Vol 1 & 2
    Civil War: Captain America
    The Death of Captain America
    Death of the Dream vol 1 & 2

    The Wikipedia page for the omnibuses isn't helping much. Does the Ed Brubaker Captain America Omnibus cover all these?

    The Brubaker Omnibus covers Winter Solider 1+2, Red Menace 1+2, the civil war tie-ins, and then also the first issue of The Death of Captain America

    Balefuego on
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  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Munch wrote: »
    Even the Bob Gale issues Bale?

    The 2 Freak stories he did were awful, but he did a 3-parter with The Enforcers that I rather liked.

    Balefuego on
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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    And yes, the Civil War: Spider-Man arc was good. The Stark Tech spider suit is friggin awesome. I hope they bring it back.

    Lucascraft on
  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    There are some dudes in the Initiative using the Iron Spider suits.

    Munch on
  • kingkhankingkhan Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Haha, so it's proving immeasurably easier to figure out which Captain America series to buy than Spider-Man.

    I think I'll just bite the bullet and get all 8 Spider-man Essentials volumes. I want to get all those awesome stories from back then anyway.

    Wasn't there a main Ultimates series that didn't focus on any one hero? How was that one?

    kingkhan on
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  • ManonvonSuperockManonvonSuperock Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, maybe. It's a good read once you get a few books into USM.

    ManonvonSuperock on
  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    There's "Ultimates" which is like the Ultimate Universe version of the Avengers.

    Ultimates and Ultimates 2 are awesome, Ultimates 3 is a trainwreck.

    Balefuego on
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  • kingkhankingkhan Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Sweet action. I'll add those to the list and then see what the damage is.

    kingkhan on
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  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    I would reccomend rather than splurging on all those essentails, just grab the first couple because those stories are pretty old and are really dated in a lot of ways.

    I like the essentials but I cant read them in huge chunks.

    (You should pick up the first couple Ultimate Spider-Man trades instead of some of the essentials)

    Balefuego on
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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    The Essentials are a lot of fun to read, especially the Lee/Kirby ones, but they are also hard to read like Bale said. The comic medium has evolved a lot since their time and things like thought bubbles, editor's notes, plus the general campiness of it all makes it sometimes hard to read in large doses. Plus one thing you'll find with the Essential stuff, it seems like they had no long-term plans when they were writing it. The stories go issue by issue with very little carry over. There aren't many arcs back in the old days.

    Lucascraft on
  • kingkhankingkhan Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Well, I've got nothing else I want for Christmas so that'll be taking the hit for me.

    I figure, at least from my limited experience, comics read faster than books so the Essentials wouldn't be too horrid, and would be there to go back to every so often.

    Another bit of confusion regarding Cap series here. Lucas listed Death of the Dream as part of the series, but on Amazon it lists Death of Captain America, Vol 1: Death of the Dream. Is this something different? That is to say, is there specifically a Death of the Dream series afterwards?

    kingkhan on
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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    I honestly don't know the exact format past Civil War. I started collecting issues during the Civil War and have been collecting issues since that time.

    Lucascraft on
  • kingkhankingkhan Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Looking at Amazon it looks like that series is actually just a part of Brubaker's Captain America, issues 24+

    kingkhan on
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  • smokmnkysmokmnky Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    kingkhan wrote: »
    Well, I've got nothing else I want for Christmas so that'll be taking the hit for me.

    I figure, at least from my limited experience, comics read faster than books so the Essentials wouldn't be too horrid, and would be there to go back to every so often.

    Another bit of confusion regarding Cap series here. Lucas listed Death of the Dream as part of the series, but on Amazon it lists Death of Captain America, Vol 1: Death of the Dream. Is this something different? That is to say, is there specifically a Death of the Dream series afterwards?

    Death of a Dream is just the story arc after Steve's death and the aftermath of that event. Like everyone said, pick up the Cap Omnibus then get the two new trades that have come out and that should catch you up to almost the current issues.

    smokmnky on
  • ManonvonSuperockManonvonSuperock Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Balefuego wrote: »
    (You should pick up the first couple Ultimate Spider-Man trades instead of some of the essentials)

    seconded.

    The Essentials are great reads for on the crapper, but that's about it.

    ManonvonSuperock on
  • kingkhankingkhan Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    They're up to issue #44 now right? Any news on when the new Death of Captain America Volume comes out?

    Edit:
    Balefuego wrote: »
    (You should pick up the first couple Ultimate Spider-Man trades instead of some of the essentials)

    seconded.

    The Essentials are great reads for on the crapper, but that's about it.

    So there aren't any epic story arcs I'm missing in there?

    kingkhan on
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  • DJ EebsDJ Eebs Moderator, Administrator admin
    edited November 2008
    Take the Spidey discussion to the "New to Comics" sticky or the Spidey thread, guys, this is a Captain America thread!

    DJ Eebs on
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