#marvel epic

[ungoliantschilde]

a Moonshadow HouseAd, by Jon J Muth

[balu8]

New stuff.

[manyworldspress]

Bill Sienkiewicz, splash page from Stray Toasters (Marvel/Epic, 1988).

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[comicpop]

Trouble from Marvel Comics

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

I just wanted to share some thoughts on the recently released ASM Epic Collection book, both to express myself and to inform anyone who may or may not consider buying it.

It reprints Maximum Carnage (obviously) along with the incredibly obscure 1990s one shot  Spider-Man/Punisher/Sabretooth: Designer Genes.*

Unless you are adamantly curious or a completest I wouldn’t recommend the trade just for that, especially if you already own the most recent trade printing of Maximum Carnage prior to this release.

As for the main story itself, if you have a Marvel Unlimited account I’d recommend reading the story on there rather than buying it given how the story is...well not good. It’s famous, in a way historically important and downright defining for Carnage’s character, but if you want to check out the story for Spidey give it a miss and just read ABOUT the events of the story. However for Carnage/symbiote fans I’d recommend checking it out (if you can stomach it) just because it is important to that side of the Marvel universe.

With that in mind, this trade is the best way to experience Maximum Carnage as a story. It not only features the story itself and the original covers for each issue but also quite a lot of sweet bonus features at the back such as the covers for older trades (which had original artwork), forwards and afterwards from those trades, art from posters and trading cards related to the event put out at the time, an article or two related t the event from some magazines. It also features pages from the story that were altered and rewritten to accommodate older printings of the trades.

This trade essentially the Maximum Carnage boxset Blu-ray release, the fullest possible experience for the story.

So if you don’t own it and really want to, don’t be put off by the higher price tag compared to older trades, this gives you everything and then some. But be warned as these epic books can fall out of print and skyrocket in price within a year or two.

I only have 2 major complaints about the trade.

One of them is the fact that it’s so obviously been released to capitalize upon any lingering goodwill or interest from Absolute Carnage, it’s spiritual successor. Let’s put aside the utter mercenary nature of that for the moment.

The release schedule for these Epic Collections means that we only get on average 2 releases per year, and one of those just recollects stuff that the Essentials, Marvel Masterworks and possibly lots of other trades covered as well. Really the trades pertaining to the 80s-90s content is what I, and I believe most people, are most interested in precisely because so much of that stuff either hasn’t been collected before or has been long since out of print.

It was frustrating enough when the Epic Collections for some reason decided to hop scotch backwards and cover KLH-the McFarlane run considering how most of that material (esp KLH) has been collected multiple times before.

But Maximum Carnage’s last trade release was a mere 6 years ago. ASM #364-377 (the majority of issues that will be covered in Epic volumes 23-24) have scarcely ever been reprinted if at all and the latter half of DeFalco/Frenz’ work from the 1980s (Epic Collection volume 16) has just NEVER been reprinted snas one or 2 issues IIRC.

The second, much more significant problem is that this trade omits content. Maximum Carnage Parts 1 and 14 were printed in the anthology books Spider-Man Unlimited #1-2, which had back up stories in addition to Maximum Carnage. Whilst older Epic Collection trades have always included back up stories from annuals (whether they star Spidey or not) this one oddly omits them in favour of an obscure one shot in Designer Genes.

It’s just frustrating, especially since we’ll have to wait a year probably until the next trade that will hopefully give us some rarer content.

*How big exactly is the cross section between Spidey, Punisher and Sabretooth fans?

[theartofthecover]

Trouble #1 (Second Chance Variant) (2003)

Art by: Frank Cho and Richard J. Isanove

[manyworldspress]

Bill Sienkiewicz, original splash page from Stray Toasters (Marvel/Epic, 1988). Mixed media on Bristol board, with two paste-up original art painted panels, 12 x 18 inches.

__________________________________________________ Our shop: https://bookshop.org/shop/manyworldspress

[balu8]

Groo the Wanderer #3 by Mark Evanier,Sergio Aragones, Stan Sakai and Tom Luth

Marvel/Epic