Comic Book Resources

I highly, HIGHLY recommend this series. It’s not just dry continuity reciting, it actually makes for a fun narrative to read. It’s good stuff. I don’t buy uncolored versions of comics meant to be printed in color, but if I did I’d start with this one.

I have such a soft spot for Marvel Saga. Marvel Saga 16 was my first comic.

Ever.

I still have a beat up copy somewhere. I still have an unnatural affection for Wonder Man as a character because of it.

But I went back and got the rest of them and I just don’t know if I can afford to double dip right now. I’m already going to be doing that with the Starman Omnibus

Bought it the day it came out.

Mind you, I buy every Essential volume the day it comes out.

Aww, Marvel Saga. You were so cute back in the day.

can anything with the dude from alpha flight on the front truly be deemed essential?

When I heard this thing was coming out in black and white I went to a local comic shop and found most of the 25 or so issue run. I bought it for, I don’t know, $12 or something. So as much as I want to support buying the trade, why not spend the same amount on the color versions?
I have a soft spot for this too. It was not only one of my first comics but one of my first exposures to Silver Age artwork by Kirby and Ditko. As a kid that first issue piqued my interest in the history of the Marvel Universe itself and in those early comic books.

The main reason I’d buy this in a cheap trade instead of cheap back issues is portability and ease of storage. Even if I don’t bag and board (which I don’t) getting at stuff in longboxes is kind of a pain, especially when you live in a household, as I do, where space is at a premium and longboxes have to be stacked on top of each other. Ever start looking for a comic and realize it’s at the bottom back box of a stack four high and two deep? Bookshelves are nicer.

And as for portability…I read the entire ‘Essential Marvel Saga’ at work and in restaurants. That’s a lot easier to do with one book than it is with 12 floppies.

And, as a third bonus reason, if you are buying it for research purposes, it’s easier to flip through one or two books to find what you’re looking for than it is to page through 12 or 25 comics to find what you’re looking for.

So remember, ‘Essential Marvel Saga’. Ask for it by name.

When I first started buying comics, this (and the Marvel Handbook) were being published, so these comics were helpful in my getting _really_ interested in comics (Miller/Mazzuchelli on DD, CLaremont/JRjr on X-men and De Falco/Frenz & David/Buckler on the Spidey titles did most of the heavy lifting, though) and loving the rich back stories.

I’m curious if the issue devoted solely to Spidey’s marriage will mysteriously vanish from the run if a second volume is published. “12 in the first volume, 12 in the second, telling one linear story! No breaks!”