Are there any keys here?

[slym2none]

are these really "key" books? I know they have some value, but none of these characters can maintain their own ongoing series.

 

I agree on the others.

 

The fact that a book can’t mantain an ongoing presence is not the only factor in defining its value.

There are (for example) certain Power Pack or Strange Tales runs in the copper age that are infinitely more significant than books considered keys (like New Mutants #87).

 

Wait, what?

 

You're saying there are Power Pack issues more significant than NM87?

 

You just have to explain this one.

 

Pass the popcorn...

 

 

 

 

-slym

[Bosco685]

It is amazing what makes the Top 20 Census list from Greg Holland. And what an incredible count difference between the top two and the rest of the Top 20 books.

 

 

I can't believe Spawn #1 is in the top 20.

 

Also, interesting that the youngest book in the census is from 2001, and there are two from that year in the top 20.

 

 

 

-slym

 

I felt the same way with Spawn 1. But then thinking about how many folks posted when someone started a Spawn 1 fan club here - and how sharp that cover art is - I'm not surprised.

 

Web of Spider-Man 1 is another where the cover is just incredible. But I never would have imagined it made the Top 20 for most submitted.

[vaillant]

are these really "key" books? I know they have some value, but none of these characters can maintain their own ongoing series.

 

I agree on the others.

 

The fact that a book can’t mantain an ongoing presence is not the only factor in defining its value.

There are (for example) certain Power Pack or Strange Tales runs in the copper age that are infinitely more significant than books considered keys (like New Mutants #87).

 

Wait, what?

 

You're saying there are Power Pack issues more significant than NM87?

 

You just have to explain this one.

 

Why? I would not esitate to say most of the better Power Pack stories are better than New Mutants #87. New Mutants #87 and what followed are what prompted me to drop the title, which turned unrecognizable (in two or three issues Cannonball and Rictor no longer felt like the same characters). Besides this, the writer, up to some point, was the same (Louise Simonson), so why are you so surprised by my suggestion?

 

Have you ever read Power Pack without any kind of preconception?

 

I think the biggest, underlying problem of Power Pack was that most US Marvel readers looked at it from the start as a "children book" (June Brigman art probably did not help, as it wasn’t so great in the first issues), while the Simonsons conjured a little masterpiece for all ages: the perspective of actually having super-powers if you were a kid – not much different than imagining to have them as a 16-years old (Spidey, the Human Torch). I read them when I was 20 and totally loved them.

Many issues are little labors of love, especially when Jon Bogdanove had the right inker, and put the uttermost care in conveying all the gamut of children’s expressions. The drug smuggling storyline, or the Apocalypse tie-ins of Fall of the Mutants are awesome. The Inferno issue is disturbing and full of anguish.

 

And there is a frequent presence of cross-over storylines with other titles, where characters are explored in an insightful way (Typhoid Mary, for example).

[Boboset]

I like Power Pack, always have.

 

The reason I questioned your statement was that you said "more significant". Clearly that's not what you meant, you just like Power Pack more. I get that.