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Marvel Masterpiece or Omnibus?

Started by Masamune69,

23 posts in this topic

Masamune69

Masamune69

Posted
Posted

Marvel has quite a large library of masterpiece HC now. But they also have omnibus. FF, Spidey...

 

I do love the DC achieves and I recently bought the omnibus GL and was very happy of the printing quality.

 

I don't like the masterpiece TPB of Marvel, I think the coloring is too shiny and the paper too glossy. Far from the quality of the DC archives.

 

So what do you think about the masterpiece HC and the omnibus? Do they use the same papers and same coloring?

Does the masterpiece HC have better paper than the masterpiece TPB?

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aardvark88

aardvark88

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I agree with you that the Marvel Masterworks h/c paper is too glossy but that series of early SA Marvel reprints seems to be greatly discounted from Diamond Distributors now. A couple of LCS have the early FF, Avengers, TTA/Hulk/Ant-man, etc at greater than 1/2 off :applause: the Cdn retail price. Buy what is on sale.

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theVisitor

theVisitor

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The Marvel Masterworks Softcover books represent the best restoration that Marvel has offered to date. I am considering getting rid of the hardcover volumes in which softcovers have already been issued.

 

Not sure about the paper, It seems to vary from book to book.

 

This site is a great resource for both Marvel Masterworks and DC Archives - Collected Editions Forum

 

Phil

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theVisitor

theVisitor

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Yea - I've seen that article before. While it might cause others pain and anguish, it doesn't mean much to me. They are doing there best to produce the highest quality product. What other recourse do they have ?

 

I will agree that the original artists (or their estate) should get a cut of any original art sold.

 

Phil

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rodan57

rodan57

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Posted
Yea - I've seen that article before. While it might cause others pain and anguish, it doesn't mean much to me. They are doing there best to produce the highest quality product. What other recourse do they have ?

 

I will agree that the original artists (or their estate) should get a cut of any original art sold.

 

Phil

 

They could tell you that it's not the original art that's being reproduced -- that it's not the original "masterpiece".

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theVisitor

theVisitor

Posted
Posted
Yea - I've seen that article before. While it might cause others pain and anguish, it doesn't mean much to me. They are doing there best to produce the highest quality product. What other recourse do they have ?

 

I will agree that the original artists (or their estate) should get a cut of any original art sold.

 

Phil

 

They could tell you that it's not the original art that's being reproduced -- that it's not the original "masterpiece".

 

Agreed.... They do mention art reconstruction, but being being more specific would certainly be helpful in making a purchasing decision.

 

Phil

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theVisitor

theVisitor

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Can you give an executive summary of the article? I can't access it from work for some reason.

 

In some cases, missing covers, pages and I believe in at least one instance (I may be wrong here), an entire story was recreated by house artists as Marvel was missing source material to properly reproduce the reprinted Masterwork. They have not been particularly open about this practice.

 

Phil

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Reno McCoy

Reno McCoy

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Can you give an executive summary of the article? I can't access it from work for some reason.

 

In some cases, missing covers, pages and I believe in at least one instance (I may be wrong here), an entire story was recreated by house artists as Marvel was missing source material to properly reproduce the reprinted Masterwork. They have not been particularly open about this practice.

 

Phil

 

hm

 

That's interesting. It makes sense that they'd need to do that for some missing panels or whatnot, but redoing an entire story without making that known? Seems dishonest.

 

 

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rodan57

rodan57

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Can you give an executive summary of the article? I can't access it from work for some reason.

 

I hope that Daniel Best won't take offence at this extended quoting of his work. It is well worth visiting the site for this article and many others.

 

"Original Art Stories: Marvel Masterworks Non-Original Artists"

June 24, 2008

 

"When is a reprint not a reprint? There appears to be a very easy answer to that - when the reprint is produced by Marvel Comics. For a very long time now Marvel has been producing what they've titled Marvel Masterworks

 

... These are the be all and end all of the reprint lines and the material contained within are often clear and pristine. More often than not they source the original material, if not then they opt for high quality stats or the best quality published books, retouched to make them as good as possible ...

 

... you're not buying what you've been told you're buying. Not even close. In some cases you're buying all new material recreated by artists who probably weren't even alive when the original comic books came out.

 

...features original art by artist Michael Kelleher that has been authorized, commissioned, approved by Marvel Comics, and published in their Silver Age Marvel Masterworks anthologies. These are exact recreations of the original works created by legendary artists Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, John Buscema and many others.

 

... reprint editor, Jeff Youngquist ... 'Even if we don't have the film, we can still produce the book by reconstructing the pages from an actual copy of the comic ...'

 

... in this case 'reconstructed' simply means getting in an otherwise unknown artist to trace the original stories off for inclusion into the books. Not an entirely ethical practice, especially when you consider that the company then promotes the highly expensive reprints as being taken from the original titles.

 

In the case of the Spider-Man Omnibus .... according to the artist rep's site, the following pages and covers were commissions and recreated:

 

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1: Page 1

Amazing Spider-Man #29: entire 20 page story

Fantastic Four Annual #1: pages 48 to 53 inclusive

Strange Tales Annual #2: pages 1, 2 13 & 14

 

... yet it all bears the signature of one Steve Ditko.

 

The same applies for the aforementioned Marvel Masterworks Vol 4. From that volume the following pages were commissioned and recreated by Marvel:

 

Iron Man #1: pages 18, 19 & 20

Tales of Suspense #88: page 9

Tales of Suspense #94: page 1 and pages 4 to 9 inclusive

Tales of Suspense #96: pages 1 to 12 inclusive

Tales of Suspense #98: pages 1 to 11 inclusive

 

... reprint editor, Cory Sedlmeier has publicly stated, 'I couldn't give a direct percentage across the Masterworks. It's something that varies widely. The Golden Age books are all fully reconstructed from copies of the original books because none of that material exists in Marvel's archives any longer. ... For the Marvel Age, it varies. Some volumes require no full reconstruction. Others require two or three pages, and others, say where a complete story is missing, 20 plus pages. Earlier material tends to be in poorer condition.' "

 

 

 

 

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sufunk

sufunk

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I got the ASM Omnibus for Christmas and LOVED reading it. I usually get the Essentials but they are in black and white which is kind of a bummer.

 

There was only one problem with the Spidey Omnibus. It went from issue 1-38. The Spiderman Essential volume 2 goes from Spidey like 23-43 and volume 3 starts at 44. So now, i either have to buy the Spidey essential volume 2 just for the 5 issues that arent in the Omnibus or just skip those 5 issues and start with Essential volume 3 and issue #44.

 

Not a fan of either of those options! :pullhair:

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drewincanada

drewincanada

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I got the ASM Omnibus for Christmas and LOVED reading it. I usually get the Essentials but they are in black and white which is kind of a bummer.

 

There was only one problem with the Spidey Omnibus. It went from issue 1-38. The Spiderman Essential volume 2 goes from Spidey like 23-43 and volume 3 starts at 44. So now, i either have to buy the Spidey essential volume 2 just for the 5 issues that arent in the Omnibus or just skip those 5 issues and start with Essential volume 3 and issue #44.

 

Not a fan of either of those options! :pullhair:

 

Or wait for ASM Omnibus Vol 2. Not that I have a clue when it will be released...

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theVisitor

theVisitor

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I got the ASM Omnibus for Christmas and LOVED reading it. I usually get the Essentials but they are in black and white which is kind of a bummer.

 

There was only one problem with the Spidey Omnibus. It went from issue 1-38. The Spiderman Essential volume 2 goes from Spidey like 23-43 and volume 3 starts at 44. So now, i either have to buy the Spidey essential volume 2 just for the 5 issues that arent in the Omnibus or just skip those 5 issues and start with Essential volume 3 and issue #44.

 

Not a fan of either of those options! :pullhair:

 

Or wait for ASM Omnibus Vol 2. Not that I have a clue when it will be released...

 

They tend to release them when a movie appears. So hopefully sometime in 2012.

 

Phil

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Marvelfangirl

Marvelfangirl

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I got the ASM Omnibus for Christmas and LOVED reading it. I usually get the Essentials but they are in black and white which is kind of a bummer.

 

There was only one problem with the Spidey Omnibus. It went from issue 1-38. The Spiderman Essential volume 2 goes from Spidey like 23-43 and volume 3 starts at 44. So now, i either have to buy the Spidey essential volume 2 just for the 5 issues that arent in the Omnibus or just skip those 5 issues and start with Essential volume 3 and issue #44.

 

Not a fan of either of those options! :pullhair:

 

Or wait for ASM Omnibus Vol 2. Not that I have a clue when it will be released...

 

They tend to release them when a movie appears. So hopefully sometime in 2012.

 

Phil

:wishluck:
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