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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  General Discussion  |  Comics  |  Topic: What are the best Marvel Trades? 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
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Author Topic: What are the best Marvel Trades?  (Read 10029 times)
BobtheSomething
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on: April 30, 2018, 11:16:19 PM

I'm looking to read some trade paperback omnibuses, but I don't want to get burnt out too quickly.   I'm planning to get some of the X-Men trades from the Claremont years (I loved X-Tinction Agenda), and Infinity Gauntlet.  I would love to read more classic X-Men or cosmic Marvel stories, but don't know where to start.  Is the Rise and Fall of the Shiar Empire worth reading?  How about Infinity War?  Which X-Men stories are actually good?  Please load me up on recommendations.
Raguel
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Reply #1 on: April 30, 2018, 11:33:22 PM

The only XMen stories that I know are good are the Claremont/Byrne ones and a bit further to about issue 200 or so.

John Byrne's Fantastic Four run was excellent. Hickman's FF isn't bad either.

If you're going to read Infinity War/Gauntlet/Crusade make sure you pick up Thanos Quest first, as that's the story that probably holds up the most.

Crossover events are usually overhyped, but I recommend Annihilation and Annihilation:Conquest, which leads into DnA's run on Guardians of the Galaxy.
BobtheSomething
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Reply #2 on: May 01, 2018, 12:01:26 AM

The only XMen stories that I know are good are the Claremont/Byrne ones and a bit further to about issue 200 or so.

John Byrne's Fantastic Four run was excellent. Hickman's FF isn't bad either.

If you're going to read Infinity War/Gauntlet/Crusade make sure you pick up Thanos Quest first, as that's the story that probably holds up the most.

Crossover events are usually overhyped, but I recommend Annihilation and Annihilation:Conquest, which leads into DnA's run on Guardians of the Galaxy.

Would those X-Men books be Inferno, Mutant Massacre and the like?  Are there any FF standalone omnibuses you recommend?

Annihilation and A:C sound interesting.  What does DNA stand for, and what are their best stories? 

Thanks for the tip on Thanos Quest.
HaemishM
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Reply #3 on: May 01, 2018, 07:15:55 AM

Do not read the Infinity War books - they are fucking awful. Just watch the movie.  why so serious?

Grant Morrison's New X-Men run is fucking fantastic and would have served as a good end to the X-Men in general. Matt Fraction's run (right up until Schism) is good, as well as Jason Aaron's Wolverine and the X-Men.

Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America was excellent - the whole Winter Soldier storyline, as well as Bucky taking over for Cap.

Hickman's run on Fantastic Four isn't one I'd recommend, though it does lead into his run on Avengers, which led into Infinity, and then led to the Secret Wars crossover. It's a decent epic event but he's fucking awful at characterizations.

The Annihilation and any of the Guardians of the Galaxy books are good right up until the end of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's run. So if you see "Written by Brian Michael Bendis" run away.

Khaldun
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Reply #4 on: May 01, 2018, 11:41:33 AM

Warren Ellis, Nextwave. THE BEST.

Also Ellis' short but memorable run on Thunderbolts is great, you don't need to know the rest of the Civil War crapola to get what's going on.

Annihilation and everything Abnett and Lanning did to follow it with the Guardians and various Marvel "cosmic" characters are just great.

Avengers: Under Siege is a great old-school trade dealing with a big battle between the Avengers and the Masters of Evil.

Kurt Busiek and George Perez' arc on the Avengers, I think sold under the trade title Avengers Assemble, was great old-school comic-book work. (1998-2002)

John Byrne's Fantastic Four run is very good, with a few rocky spots. Still holds up.

Walt Simonson's Thor run is fantastic in its entirety, worth picking up the trades of if you can find them.

Claremont's New X-Men, by the way, can be picked up as the quite-cheap black and white Essentials. The old Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four are in that format too and they're very good.

If you've never read Frank Miller's classic Daredevil work, that's worth doing; the short arc where the Kingpin finds out Daredevil's identity that followed a bit later is extraordinary.



Raguel
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Reply #5 on: May 01, 2018, 12:30:16 PM

The only XMen stories that I know are good are the Claremont/Byrne ones and a bit further to about issue 200 or so.

John Byrne's Fantastic Four run was excellent. Hickman's FF isn't bad either.

If you're going to read Infinity War/Gauntlet/Crusade make sure you pick up Thanos Quest first, as that's the story that probably holds up the most.

Crossover events are usually overhyped, but I recommend Annihilation and Annihilation:Conquest, which leads into DnA's run on Guardians of the Galaxy.

Would those X-Men books be Inferno, Mutant Massacre and the like?  Are there any FF standalone omnibuses you recommend?

Annihilation and A:C sound interesting.  What does DNA stand for, and what are their best stories? 

Thanks for the tip on Thanos Quest.

Those Xmen comics I *think* were written by Claremont but IMO they weren't as good as the stuff that preceded it. I don't know the trade paperback title names so I'll have to get back to you on that front.

DnA is what people call the Abnett/Lanning duo. Their best stuff that I know about are the Guardians and Nova stuff. They had earlier work that I enjoyed, I think it was called Pendragon or something like that.
jgsugden
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Reply #6 on: May 01, 2018, 01:04:03 PM

Also, unless you really like holding paper, it is much cheaper to subscribe to their digital options and read them that way. 

2020 will be the year I gave up all hope.
BobtheSomething
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Reply #7 on: May 01, 2018, 08:20:00 PM


What is the subscription service?  Does it give access to everything, like all the runs you've recommended?  Do the comics still look good on the screen?  How expensive is the service?

Also, unless you really like holding paper, it is much cheaper to subscribe to their digital options and read them that way. 

I like holding paper.  I've tried reading a number of eBooks, and I just couldn't get into them the same way I'd get into a real book.  But if the difference in price is right...


Ard
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Reply #8 on: May 01, 2018, 08:46:50 PM

It's pretty cheap, here:  http://marvel.com/comics/unlimited

I mostly used it on my phone for bus rides commuting to work and it seemed pretty decent.  The subscription was worth it for the cosmic run that Khaldun mentioned above alone.  This is the reading list I used and they had almost all of it online when I subbed back then.  If you read it, stop when you get to Annihilators, that's when it falls off a cliff bad, but the Rocket side story in it is pretty funny.

https://www.comicbookherald.com/marvel-cosmic-reading-order/
HaemishM
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Reply #9 on: May 02, 2018, 09:40:03 AM

I can recommend the Marvel Unlimited - it's basically every Marvel comic published over the last 15 years (though 6 months behind on the current paper stuff) and then for older comics, it's maybe not every issue but there are whole runs of series going way back and they constantly add stuff. For $10 a month, if you want to read a ton, there's no better value. I read it on my tablet and the only trouble I have is double page spreads, which just requires me to turn my tablet sideways.

BobtheSomething
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Reply #10 on: May 02, 2018, 10:11:01 AM

It looks like they have an introductory offer of one month for $5, too.  I'll get that.  Especially if it has the old Claremont/Lee X-Men run and all the Cosmic/Guardians stuff.  Does it have the 2099 comics as well?
HaemishM
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Reply #11 on: May 02, 2018, 10:35:11 AM

I don't think it has all the 2099 stuff but it does have a decent bit of Spider-Man 2099.

BobtheSomething
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Reply #12 on: May 02, 2018, 10:39:23 AM

I don't think it has all the 2099 stuff but it does have a decent bit of Spider-Man 2099.

So, only the good stuff then?  Thanks.
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