Grendel72 Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Shang-Chi MOKF omnibus - worth buying? I happened to come across the Master of Kung Fu omnibus on amazon. its expensive but I always heard great reviews about it but have never read it. Is it worth buying ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BitterOldMan Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 I bought the early issues off the newstand. I really enjoy Paul Gulacy's artwork. The comic book came out during the height of the martial arts craze in the seventies. Here is Master of Kung Fu #31, page 3. My college room mate said the guard seeing Shang Chi coming in the reflection off his cigarette lighter was ridiculous. I had Paul Gulacy sign this page for me. ComicConnoisseur 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComicConnoisseur Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 1 hour ago, Grendel72 said: Shang-Chi MOKF omnibus - worth buying? I happened to come across the Master of Kung Fu omnibus on amazon. its expensive but I always heard great reviews about it but have never read it. Is it worth buying ? 100 percent yes! If you like the first one,than I would buy the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Pontoon Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 I would just buy reading copies of the originals. I find the reproduction quality of the majority of omnibi and TPBs to be sub-par. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lou_fine Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 1 hour ago, BitterOldMan said: I bought the early issues off the newstand. I really enjoy Paul Gulacy's artwork. The comic book came out during the height of the martial arts craze in the seventies. Here is Master of Kung Fu #31, page 3. My college room mate said the guard seeing Shang Chi coming in the reflection off his cigarette lighter was ridiculous. I had Paul Gulacy sign this page for me. I've always loved the Gulacy artwork, especially with respect to some of his splash pages and his use of reflections. Although many have stated that his artwork is more in line with being an inferior version of Steranko's more original and stylistic artwork. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lou_fine Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 1 hour ago, Pontoon said: I would just buy reading copies of the originals. I find the reproduction quality of the majority of omnibi and TPBs to be sub-par. +1 With the prices being asked for the omnibus reprints, I would also much rather go for nice copies of the originals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Aldred Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 (edited) It's a difficult call for a product like this. Original reading copies aren't expensive, but the later 70s and 80s issues have extremely poor paper and print quality, and it's possible that with decent-but-pricey remastering the Zeck and Day artwork from this period could be markedly improved. Edited March 27, 2017 by Ken Aldred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadroch Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 As my eyes age, I have come to really appreciate the larger copy of the Omnibi. With that said, while I loved MOKF when it came out, I don't think it has aged all that well. I own the first two volumes, and am halfway through the first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foolkiller Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Shad is probably right, it doesn't hold up story wise but the artwork is beautiful to look at. I bought them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComicConnoisseur Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Also it took Marvel years to get the rights to reprint this. Any sales going forward would help encourage Marvel to go look for other comic book series they would need permission to reprint stories for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FineCollector Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 I don't think finding a run of singles is that easy anymore. MOKF used to be a dime a dozen, but I haven't seen many around for a long while. Maybe the Omnibus will send dealers to their basements to find their copies again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCComics Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 8 hours ago, lou_fine said: +1 With the prices being asked for the omnibus reprints, I would also much rather go for nice copies of the originals. I also agree, you probably could get a nice run going in Fine or better condition for about the same price, unless you just want the collected format, I would say yes, worth it either way. Gulacy`s MOKF run is amazing, very underrated IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadroch Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Two Omnibi take up a lot less space than a hundred and ten bagged and boarded comics. The Giant Sized Master of Kung Fu have the bonus of reprinting the 1950s Yellow Claw series . Y.C. was a bad mother shutyourmouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatchaman Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 (edited) I custom bound the full run of Master of Kung Fu and I bought this omnibus Edited March 28, 2017 by Gatchaman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze_rules Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 (edited) I suspect the OP launched this thread in relation to another thread I posted on earlier (about embarrassment from not reading certain comics). Seeing as others might search this thread for insight, I'll repeat it again here. "I don't know that I would really call it an embarrassment. But, I can say that there are always areas that I try to fill in with regards to my favorite era, the bronze age. In particular, I've always heard nothing but very positive feedback about the Shang-Chi MOKF run, but haven't read much of it (as I wasn't as interested in non heroes back then). Now that the omnibuses have been coming out at a furious pace, I decided to pick up the first three. I finished the first, that was maybe the first 30 or so appearances. I'll say that I was really blown away by the 1st appearance story (Marvel Special Edition 15), and really do think it is way undervalued for a first appearance. But, upon reading further issues, I can't really say I was all that blown away with story line so far, there seems to be a lot of the same repeating fluffer themes (mostly uninteresting stooges hired by Dad to take out Shang Chi and the old man). I'm hoping it gets better, but wouldn't put it up there with say Tomb Of Dracula." FWIW, I'm a huge fan of Omnibuses and Archives, and that's mostly what I read and collect now for historical review. Really can't believe I was snobbish and overlooked them for years (could have had TOD, Eternals, and others for super cheap clearance back then). Pluses -- Clean and they are mostly gorgeous to me, Pristine content often at a huge fraction of cost of originals in nice condition, have access to usually gap free runs, and often cost (and smell less), than finding the original runs. Did I say, smell less, then collecting and storing original readers? Cons - some purists don't like anything deviating from the originals (understandable); others find modern re-coloring to be garish (esp. some EC titles), but I don't really don't find significant loss in most of the stuff I've collected.-- and I prefer clean white pages to acidic brown. IMO, the pros far outweigh the cons. I've got a lot of runs that accumulate too much space and would trade/unload in a heart-beat for new omnis. And not only that, but a lot of omnibuses can be had for a song right now, as a lot of publishers are unloading at discounts. I really envy those that can get Werewolf by Night and Guardians of the Galaxy for a song right now -- excellent reads, IMO. Surprised we don't have an archives/omnibus dedicated thread or forum here, but I'm guessing it might be because it doesn't do much to promote CGC and encapsulation. I often have to go to masterworks board to get my fix. Edited March 28, 2017 by bronze_rules Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grendel72 Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 Its true Bronze_rules thread got me thinking about MOKF. I been collecting comics for some time now so I have always been aware of MOKF but didn't know much else. I have always been a fan of Gulacy's art regardless of his Steranko-esque style especially early on. Think he came to his own later on. The I have collected, I could do much worse than get the omnibus based on the feedback here. Think I will get the omnibus thought the price is a shocker. I'm a sucker for spiritual/philosophical stuff especially when it comes to martial arts. Probably MOKF isn't that but what the heck, even if it isn't what I thought it would be, it wont be the last silly thing I do...not by a longshot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
