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Spidey 40-year CD Collection!

Started by Aman619,

27 posts in this topic

Aman619

Aman619

Posted
Posted

So I went out and bought that 11 CD collection of every Spidey comic and thought I write a review for those interested or curious. First things first: YES it contains a scan of every Amazing Spider-man comic book, all 32 interior page plus all 4 covers. That means every ad page, bullpen page, ad page and letter column is all there. SOme others in the store thought it only contained covers. Thats part of the good news. Or maybe thats ALL the good news.

 

But before I say anything that dampens your enthusiasm, just think about it for a sec. EVERY Spidey story, page by page PLUS all the extras! Its the ultimate Spidey Reader's copy! Better tham Milestones as they are in color too! Original color and dialogue too - - -these are not the reworked Masterworks or reprinted versions with updated references. Its a Marvel Time capsule since you see all the contemporary ads for other Marvel titles. I also think that sales warranting, they will do ALL Marvel comics in similar fashion.

 

But now for the caveats. This whole project was put together as they proudly state, in a "scant 60 days from conception to market!" And it shows. Basically they went to Ralph Macchio, whose credit reads "provided all the comics" and proceeded to stuff his Spidey collection into a scanner, scanning 2-page spreads at a time. Ralphs collection is complete, but by no mean pristine, either before or after being squashed flat like this. The pages are all intact, but my issue is that it comes across as reading someone's beat up old comic collection, not exactly like purchasing and perusing the 'ultimate Spidey reader's collection." No effort was apparently made to clean up the scans or color correct yellowed pages etc. or to rotate crooked scans, or to separate and crop each page from an archivist approach. Npe, its jusr pictures of every 2-page spread just as they were plopped into the scanner bed.

 

Of course if you only wanted to spend a few days sitting in a chair (on a laptop) reading every Spidey story from beginning to 40 years later its cool being able to do that. And as readers copies, its pretty realistic this way too. All files are Acrobat files so you can zoom in and actually grab images and export them for Photoshop purposes (which was a surprise. I havenet done it but the documentation says you can) This is another great aspect as it puts it all at your digital fingerprints. I expect to see many pages posted here on the boards from here on out with no fear of anyone having had to destroy their own copies anymore.

 

So for $50 I say go for it! I wish it were a "classier' presentation overall, but it is what it is, and thats pretty cool.

 

675018-load1.jpg.9538b4d87dd1c9afa7fc195f61f18ff5.jpg

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Forbush-Man

Forbush-Man

Posted
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yeah, you're right, .....

 

If they just spent a little time on this, and really tried to to do a good job on it, they would have reached a large group. Oh well, go figure?!? confused-smiley-013.gif

 

Where's the emotioncon that goes "sigh" ?!?

 

Merry Christmas, Aman619! angel.gif

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Aman619

Aman619

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thanx - - you too!! I dont know if they would sell any more initially with better quality since its $50 and all.... but down the road, it wouldnt hurt if it maintained that classic timeless look that a little more polish and care would have accomplished. As it is, it seems to me that if there IS a place in the marketplace for a CD collection of all Spidey issues, the market will consider this only a weak attempt at it. To me, if youre going to do something 'timeless' like this, do it right... To color correct and realign each page would have added a minute to each page...and using batch controls in Photoshop would faciliatate all repetitive tasks ..

 

sigh indeed!!

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tilleycs

tilleycs

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That's too bad. I don't collect Spidey, but I'd love to get something like that to be able to read all the old issues and see the covers. I doubt I'll do it now. Why use modern technology to preserve and produce caRp-quality stuff? Doesn't make any sense. They rushed to get it done in time for the holidays, but they obviously did the rush-job for themselves and not for the fans. It's a shame, really.

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Aman619

Aman619

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Tilley, its Christmas morning and reading your response makes me feel Grinchy! And Grouchy. If you want to read the entire Amazing Spidey run complete with all the extras, go ahead and buy this collection and have a blast. I havent looked at each CD to see just where Macchio's collection turns into VFs, so Iwas a bit harsh in complaining about the quality of the scans of the first 45 issues which, lets face it, would be silly to mash into a scanner if they were HG copies!! As for color quality, well, again, on this morning of good cheer, I admit to Im a bit of a prikky perfectionist in expecting each page to have been cleaned up if it means someone like you who'd really like to read every issue wont buy it.

 

And as for the images not being of pristine archival quality? Well, we've all experienced technological advancements by now in 2004 to realize that any CD or DVD or VHS pr floppy-disk based archive will not remain the be-all and end-all forever. This project will need to be re-done at somepoint, and lets hope, done better like the ideal collection I (we) imagine it should be.

 

As a means to read each comic, complete with all ads and bullpen pages etc at $50 (so that you can relive the month by month Marvel excitement of the good old days) is STILL the cheapest way youd get to do this. And unless some BSD os gonna let you crack open all his Spidey slabs and paw through each page - - lets face it, youre only ever gonna ger to read the early issues in Gs and VGs anyway, riight? So go out and treat yourself and have fun!

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ComicBookGuy

ComicBookGuy

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Aman619, thanks for starting this post. Two of my students gave me the following cd's for Christmas. I'm not sure of the price, but the reproductions of the pages are excellent and "masterworks-level" of quality. It clicks through very quickly, no real wait time between clicks, so I like these a lot. There are no ad pages, letter pages, etc., which I think is a big selling point on the Spidey set and something I wish the masterworks series - and this - would include. Over time I'm sure we will see complete sets of X-Men, Wolverine, FF, etc. if the Spider-man set does well. These two cd's, by the way, contain only the first ten issues of each run. Overall, I prefer the masterworks to reading these on a computer. Happy holidays, everyone!

Joe

 

675456-cd.jpg

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tilleycs

tilleycs

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Nice gifts!.

 

I don't think you were grinchy, aman, I think your criticism is very valid. But you're right, I'd probably only ever read lower grade copies, so if they're on disc, what's the difference. I still think your point regarding the effort they could have made to clean things up is a very good one, though.

 

I may pick it up at some point, but I probably wouldn't be willing to pay $50 for it.

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jeff2004

jeff2004

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Does this collection just cover Amazing Spidey, or does it also collect Peter Parker, Web of Spiderman, etc...I imagine that if it only collects amazing then those crossovers would make for a frustrating read..

 

Unfortunately, it does not include the other Spidey series. This can be frustrating when you can get to the later issues where you start in the middle of a cross over and can't read the next part in one of the other Spidey books.

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FFB

FFB

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Posted
Does this collection just cover Amazing Spidey, or does it also collect Peter Parker, Web of Spiderman, etc...I imagine that if it only collects amazing then those crossovers would make for a frustrating read..

 

Unfortunately, it does not include the other Spidey series. This can be frustrating when you can get to the later issues where you start in the middle of a cross over and can't read the next part in one of the other Spidey books.

 

Or you could just buy those other books from Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man for a quarter each, which is about what they cost. makepoint.gif Do you know what it would cost just to buy crappy reader copies of all of the ASM issues in this set?

 

I can't believe you guys are complaining about this product. foreheadslap.gif Over 500 issues of Spider-Man for $40 (with vintage ads, letters columns, etc.) and you're still not happy? 27_laughing.gif Now I know why guys like Joe Q. don't listen to comic geeks who whine about Marvel's current line. There's just no pleasing some people! screwy.gif

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shrunkenhead

shrunkenhead

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I can't believe you guys are complaining about this product. There's just no pleasing some people! screwy.gif

 

Was I complaining? Funny, I thought I was just asking a question about what was included before I made a purchase. Can somebody hand FFB a Christmas valium?

 

screwy.gif Right back at ya. screwy.gif

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FFB

FFB

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I can't believe you guys are complaining about this product. There's just no pleasing some people! screwy.gif

 

Was I complaining? Funny, I thought I was just asking a question about what was included before I made a purchase. Can somebody hand FFB a Christmas valium?

 

screwy.gif Right back at ya. screwy.gif

 

Unless Jeff2004 is your shill ID, I wasn't talking to you, was I? Unless you were complaining about 500+ issues of ASM for $40, in which case yes, I do think you're screwy.gif

 

yay.gifpoke2.gif

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greggy

greggy

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I can't believe you guys are complaining about this product. There's just no pleasing some people! screwy.gif

 

Was I complaining? Funny, I thought I was just asking a question about what was included before I made a purchase. Can somebody hand FFB a Christmas valium?

 

screwy.gif Right back at ya. screwy.gif

 

Unless Jeff2004 is your shill ID, I wasn't talking to you, was I? Unless you were complaining about 500+ issues of ASM for $40, in which case yes, I do think you're screwy.gif

 

yay.gifpoke2.gif

popcorn.gifpoke2.gif
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goldust40

goldust40

Posted
Posted

 

I can't believe you guys are complaining about this product. There's just no pleasing some people! screwy.gif

 

Was I complaining? Funny, I thought I was just asking a question about what was included before I made a purchase. Can somebody hand FFB a Christmas valium?

 

screwy.gif Right back at ya. screwy.gif

 

Unless Jeff2004 is your shill ID, I wasn't talking to you, was I? Unless you were complaining about 500+ issues of ASM for $40, in which case yes, I do think you're screwy.gif

 

yay.gifpoke2.gif

popcorn.gifpoke2.gif

 

screwy.gif

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