Comics UK

I have
all the Superman vol 1 and 2 and Family....all I can say is super..
Justice League of america vol 1....can't wait for vol 2 with the other worlds.....I've loved the silliness of this...
Green Lantern...very clear lines.......love the many different aliens that own the rings..

Elongated man is my new purchase.......I'm enjoying this......love the way the ear and nose can even stretch has well....must read some more....

Best Of The Spirit by Will Eisner. It's new out tthis year, available in all good shops and contains some of the best comic strips ever in the world ever, of all time ever.

Kev F

For quality-the Jonah Hex book cannot be beaten.

For zaniness-Metamorpho-all that was best and worst about 60's DC
See http://the-isb.blogspot.com/2006/01/and ... onsor.html for an amusing article on Rex Mason.

That being said a Metal Man Archives is too pricy and would have benifitted from the Showcase treatment.

The beauty of the Showcase material is the fact that it makes so much material available-Haunted Tank,House of Mystery,even Green Arrow(which after the Kirby stories is pretty much poop)that would not be available otherwise.

DC are canny-its a shame that they never took on the IPC archives properly.

Brisey

kevf wrote:Best Of The Spirit by Will Eisner. It's new out tthis year, available in all good shops and contains some of the best comic strips ever in the world ever, of all time ever.

Kev F

Is this part of that exceedingly expensive series of hard-backs that only the very wealthy can afford (i.e. not me), published by DC?

brisey wrote:even Green Arrow(which after the Kirby stories is pretty much poop)

Have to disagree. What made that book for me wasn't the Kirby material (which I felt was far from his best) but the solid, confident linework of Lee Elias in the stories you call "poop".

I buy all the Showcase books as I was a Marvelite as a kid and so missed most of those sixties/ early seventies classics. Now if only I had time to read those 500 Page Giants!

Lew

Half way through Elongated man......the frames on each page are super........due to his stretching.............its very easy to read and fun.

Lew says

Have to disagree. What made that book for me wasn't the Kirby material (which I felt was far from his best) but the solid, confident linework of Lee Elias in the stories you call "poop".

.

Fair enough this is a discussion board and I agree that Lee Elias art was excellent.But the writing was the problem-mostly Batman retreads

Miss Arrowette-Bat-Girl.
Magic Imp-Bat-Mite
Alias Chief Magic Bow-Batman-Indian Chief.

Kirby even though not credit as scripter did try to move away from this,editorial interference forcing his departure.These are not great stories by any means however.But for a Tenner worth a look

brisey

brisey wrote: Fair enough this is a discussion board and I agree that Lee Elias art was excellent.But the writing was the problem-mostly Batman retreads

Miss Arrowette-Bat-Girl.
Magic Imp-Bat-Mite
Alias Chief Magic Bow-Batman-Indian Chief.

Agreed, although I still admired the skill in banging out those short 5 to 7 pagers. Some of today's writers could learn about clarity of story and tightening the script from those comics.

Lew

I have three so far. House of Mystery, Haunted tank and Jonah Hex. Jonah Hex is the only book that has really stood the test of time mind you. The art is superb and the stories quite readable. Haunted Tank is not fat behind but some of the stories seem to fall apart before they end. Sadly inspite of some occasional cool art by the likes of Neal Adams House of Mystery was a bit of a let down. I have thumbed through the Superman and Green Arrow books but decided they would never be entertaining enough to actually read . They were fine for a 50's - 60's audiance of 8 year olds but don't think they have stood the test of time well at all.

presterjohn wrote:I have thumbed through the Superman and Green Arrow books but decided they would never be entertaining enough to actually read . They were fine for a 50's - 60's audiance of 8 year olds but don't think they have stood the test of time well at all.

Certainly true, if you only judge them on the plots. But surely as comic fans (as opposed to casual readers) they offer us more than that?

Historically speaking they're a great representation of American culture of the period; a world of white picket fences and naive values. (I'm not saying that's an ideal culture, but it's interesting to see it portrayed.) Also, the work that went into those strips should not be so casually dismissed. The talent in writing a 7 page story for children is as much a skill as writing a sprawling "story arc" for today's late teen readership. (In fact it could be argued that it's more of a discipline to write a short story.)

Then of course there's the artwork, and those 1950's comics are hard to beat in regards to artists who understood the craft of drawing and composition.

That said, even if you're only interested in the books as a reader, those classic Superman stories are great fun.

Personally I buy all the Showcase books. Although not all are to my taste (such as the Teen Titans) they help build up a better understanding of the history of comics.

Lew

Lew Stringer wrote: (on the Superman and Green Arrow books) Historically speaking they're a great representation of American culture of the period

Perhaps it's also worth mentioning that the late Lee Elias (who drew the bulk of the Green Arrow volume) was one of the very first British artists to make a name for himself on the other side of the Atlantic - starting out in the 1940s with characters like the Golden Age Flash and Sub-Mariner!

- Phil Rushton

Although not all are to my taste (such as the Teen Titans) Lew

What do you not like about Teen Titan?........I fancy buying it in the future.....is it very different from Justice L of America for example......

Never read a Teen Titan so interested to here your view......is it that you prefer New Teen Titans..

Peter Gray wrote:Although not all are to my taste (such as the Teen Titans) Lew

What do you not like about Teen Titan?........I fancy buying it in the future.....is it very different from Justice L of America for example......

Never read a Teen Titan so interested to here your view......is it that you prefer New Teen Titans..

No I don't like New TT at all. (Enjoyed it when I was younger but can't be bothered to re-reaed those early Wolfman/Perez strips now.) Haven't read all of the Showcase TT yet but the tone is different to JLA, like it's written by an old man trying to be "hip" in the 1960's. Which is worth the cover price alone for a laugh I suppose. I'm sure there's some good stories in there. Nice to have it all the same.


Lew

I love those early Teen Titans (got the complete original run) but more for the art of Nick Cardy, one of the best I reckon. His TT covers are superb compositions.

I'm also a fan of the early days of the Wolfman/Perez series - before it got so popular they decided to keep it going at any cost.

whats metamorpho like?........it looks very strange....