Comic Book Resources

After a couple of year gap when I was "too old for childish things", it was spotting DC's treasury-sized Tarzan of the Apes at a flea market that got me back into comics. If you think Buscema looks great blown up real big, wait til you see Joe Kubert.

Is The Eye that Ghost Rider villain who slid down the asphalt "on my face!"?

Did Marvel ever do a treasury-sized Conan?

Yeah - that's him. Although I just remembered his name is the Orb.

Oops.

As it happens, jI was looking over my newly acquired copy of MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #20 just last night & luxuriating in the large-format perspective on the Trimpe's & Ayers/Severin's art.

*sigh* COLLECTOR'S EDITION #55 is the only LOSH appearance I don't own, since it tends to go for far more (i.e. in the teens) than I'm willing to pay. I actually won a copy for a pittance on eBay last month, thanks to a very poorly worded listing, but the seller reneged. *deeper sigh*

Yes, there was a treasury size Conan. I have it, as well as every one listed above except for the Astonishing Spider-Man. My favorite will always be the Golden Age Wonder Woman - Golden Age Superman teamup titled "Superman vs Wonder Woman (C-64). It was an all-new story featuring Baron Blitzkreig and based during WW II written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Garcia Lopez. It is a true gem.

The Mutt --

Conan was a pretty popular subject, actually -- TREASURY EDITION #s 4, 15, 19 & 23. Mostly (entirely?) Barry Smith art. I own the first one, but that's it. (I own around half of all of 'em, actually. One -- #10, reprinting the Mangog Saga from THOR -- made my list of 10 favorite comics, period, on the Classic Comics Forum back in 12/05.)

has the LSH ever been reprinted anywhere?

Cheers,

B

Brian

I don't believe it has ever been reprinted. The GCD states that it's in the new Legion: 1,050 Years in the Future trade - but I don't believe that's true - maybe someone can cofirm.

I'd think DC would do well to put together a Legion: Wedding Album together.

re. the Conan Treasuries. I normally like Smith's Conan more than Buscema's - but to me, it loses a bit when it blown up to treasury proportions. Does anyone else get that feeilng.

Brian --

I'm pretty sure it hasn't been. That seems to have been the consensus when it came up on an LOSH thread a few weeks ago in the DC Universe forum. It'll probably show up in, ummm, SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE LEGION vol 12 or something, or maybe Legion DC ARCHIVES vol 18 ...

I'm really digging these articles. I love the treasury editions. I probably have about 20 total between DC and Marvel. Cap's Bicentenial Battles (which I think was recently reprinted) was a really good one. The Shazam and Thor ones are favorites as well.

Superman vs. Shazam was my fave-rave. Wish I still had it somewhere

I've built a pretty good collection of treasury-sized comics over the years. I have both Superman & Spider-Man team-ups, the Batman & Hulk team up, the Super Friends collection, both Superman movie specials, The Amazing World of Superman, Superman's Fortress of Solitude, Superman vs. Shazam!, Superman vs. Wonder Woman, Batman vs. Ra's Al Ghul, Batman's Strangest Cases, the Joe Kubert adaptations of Tarzan of the Apes & The Return of Tarzan. Over Christmas I finally acquired a decently-priced Superman vs. Muhammed Ali.

Great site on treasury comics at: http://www.treasurycomics.com/

Thanks for the kind words, jazzbo.

John - thanks for the link - that site looks phenomenal. It shows you the original Toth face when you scroll over the Super Friends cover.

One Treasury that really intrigues me is the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century movie special. It seems that one version has the Marvel logo (which is a bit odd), while the other has the Whitman logo (which makes sense as it reprints stories from the Western/GoldKey/Whitman series).

Anyone know the story behind that one? I've never see it in person.

Gladstone did some great Disney treasuries back in the '80s. I still have some of them.

However, it seems DC will not do any more Legion Archives for the time being. So, it's unlikely we will see it reprinted anytime soon.

Only one of these I own is the Wizard of Oz one, as well as the original WoO special cross-company team-up. I love these over-sized muthas. Hulk vs Batman was the last of these, yes?

Scott: I have the Buck Rogers movie treasury and it has a Marvel logo on it. I've never seen a treasury size edition with the Whitman logo, however I also have single "regular-size" issues from Whitman based on the movie, starting with issue #2 (dated 1979).

The GCD has the Whitman version.

http://www.comics.org/series.lasso?SeriesID=2497

Hey, the MTE #18 cover looks a lot like the cover of the (Paul McCartney &) Wings album "Band on the Run".

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/Paul_McCartney_%26_Wings-Band_on_the_Run_album_cover.jpg

It was pretty iconic in its day, but it may also have been lifted from a previous comic cover (oer movie) for all I know.

Scott: I had to wonder where they sold those 11,000 copies, as I've never seen any with the Whitman logo before clicking on your link and I've been around for quite a long time.

So...I contacted an old associate who remembered seeing the Whitman version packaged along with some other items in some type of "movie kit". That could very well be, as I remember several properties having such movie kits, that might contain a poster, a plastic cup, glossy photo, a comic or two (and in one case, a Star Wars treasury sized book). Perhaps someone else out there might remember a Buck Rogers Movie Kit?

On the treasury site listed above, in the description for MTE #18 there's a quote from Bob Budiansky, the cover artist, confirming that it was a lift of the Band on the Run album. Good eye, MarkMc.

MarkMc: Yup, as soon as I saw that Astonishing Spider-Man cover, I thought of Band On The Run. It was indeed an iconic album cover as you stated. As I upload music to my Zune theses days, and bought CDs for decades before, I really miss the album covers of old, from the spectacular artwork on Yes, to the fun theme covers like Alice Cooper's School's Out desk and the Billion Dollar Babies wallet, or that funky newspaper cover that was Jethro Tull's Thick As a Brick.

The Thor treasury reprinted the Mangog story by Kirby, which may have been his peak on that book (and quite a few others). The large size made the art6 pop off the page and cemented my love og Kirby's art as a kid. Now, when I read it, I'm even MORE impressed.

Mark - I can't believe I never made that connection before!!

Here's a link to an old blog entry to mine where I discuss the book and have a pic of the back cover (featuring the villain), as well as the Orb's lovely face.

http://seductionoftheindifferent.blogspot.com/2008/03/memoirs-of-bronze-age-baby-marvel.html

I find the Buck Rogers one very interesting - the Marvel Treasury for Star Wars #1 I have has the Whitman logo - but the #2 and the one combining 1 and 2 are both Marvel.

I know of plenty of intances where other company comics were distributed by Western/Whitman and had the Whitman logo, but this is the only time I can think of a Western/Whitman book with a Marvel or DC logo.

Whitman is a topic for another column one day - and I'll also try to tackle those crazy Dynabrite books (I've got 4 or 5 of those).

That Thor/Magog story was grea! In that format it was a real epic.
It was #10 and God only knows how many carppy (post-Kirby) Thor comics I bought until Simonson came along.

I wouldn't describe that Superman painting as "beautiful" so much as "something you would see painted on the side of a van", but this all seems like cool stuff.

How much does this all cost? I like looking at all the old stuff in this blog but it almost always costs into the double digits and I just don't have that kind of budget. How much, for example, would that really cool Marvel Treasury with the people against the wall cost?

Yeah, not only is that Treasury cover a take-off on BAND ON THE RUN, but to bring the matter full circle, one of the famous people in the spotlight on the BOTR cover is none other than Muhammad Ali himself!

Hmm, I see Christopher Lee is on the cover too. He really does show up in everything cool.

I remember flipping through some of my older brother's treasury, or at least treasury-sized editions. One was the classic Flash-Superman, race, which I believe actually included a few different races. Classic JLA era in there. Another Legion treasury he had was, I believe, my first introduction to the series, and included a giant image of all members with the old numbered character-silhouette key included. (Hey, a discussion of how many of those types of group portraits showed up in comics over the years my make for a good article.)

I also recall the giant reprint of Marvel's Star Wars adaptation, which was very cool to me at the time. Of course, as often happens, these books seem to be MIA at the moment...

>>How much does this all cost? I like looking at all the old stuff in this blog but it almost always costs into the double digits and I just don’t have that kind of budget. How much, for example, would that really cool Marvel Treasury with the people against the wall cost?<<

If you're a stickler for really nice conditions, double-digits is probably a good estimate. If you're happy with something in G-VG or thereabouts, as I am ... well, I pick up an average of 3 or 4 of these a year & usually pay around $3.50, maybe, courtesy of Lone Star Comics.

(I popped over there just now -- to Lone Star Comics, that is -- & saw at least a half-dozen Marvel Treasury Editions in G-VG ranging from something like $1.50-$3.50. Considering that the robber barons now in charge of Marvel charge more than that for new comics that can be read in 3 minutes & are pretty much crap anyway, that strikes me as a helluva bargain.)

The 1974 Marvel "Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag" was one I treasured as a yoot. And it's a pretty amazing lineup of stories. First, a reprint of the Christmas-themed Spidey/Torch/Sandman story from Marvel Team-Up #1. And there's a moody, actually kinda depressing, Black Widow Christmas story that I didn't much like as a kid, but appreciate today (Gene Colan-drawn hot Black Widow!) And then.... Not only do you get the amazing two-part story "The Hulk vs. The Thing!"/"The Avengers Take Over!" from FF 25-26, you *also* get that story where a totally outclassed Daredevil takes on the Sub-Mariner!

Those stories have jack-all to do with Christmas, but reading those classics in that oversized formats, it's no wonder I became a comic book fan! (And anyway, in the immortal words of Crow T. Robot, "What, like a good action sequence don't belong in Christmas?")

Those Treasury editions are amazing -- just came across a bunch at a comic shop that were out of my price range!

Two I had when I was younger were the Dr. Strange and Fantastic Four ones. The FF reprinted the Galactus story with the non-Galactus subplots trimmed and Galactus' costume updated, but it was cool to see such a big story in a large-size format, where Galactus truly towered over the FF. The Strange one was even better -- it was just a collection of parts of different Strange stories, but you can't get better than Steve Ditko, Gene Colan and Frank Brunner at treasury size, with creatures like the LIving Tribunal and Shuma-Gortah.

I wish they'd bring these back! They were impossible to store, but so much fun!

Re: the Conan treasuries...

#4 reprints the story Red Nails from Savage Tales #2 and 3; arguably the best work by Barry Smith on Conan. It also contains a reprint of the story Rogues in the House from Conan #11. Both stories are colored by Smith himself, making this treasury a must-have!!! The cover is a new one by Smith, taken from a print called "Lord of the black corsairs" or some such.

#15 is a real treat : It starts with "the song of Red Sonja" (CtB#24), a masterpiece by Smith; it continues with reprints of "Black Colossus" (from Savage sword of Conan #2) and "Night of the Dark God" (from Savage Tales #4). The first has art by Buscema and Alcala, the second by Kane and Neal Adams. It's completed by a few Red Sonja pin-ups by Giordano, Thorne and Maroto. The cover is by Buscema and Chan.

#19 is a reprint of the story "Iron shadows in the moon" (art by Buscema and Alcala, again, from Savage Sword # 4). It also contains "People of the shadows", from SSoC#6, with artwork by Alex Nino. This one is marred by the placement of a double-page spread on an odd and even pages! There are a few pin-ups of Howardian characters... Sonja by Thorne and Cormac Mac Art by Wenzel. (I think it's the only Marvel Corman Mac Art I've seen, too....) Both front and back covers are penciled and inked by Big John.

#23 reprints "A witch shall be born" from SSoC#5, with art by Bucema and DeZuniga (it's the one with the crucifixion scene). It's completed by the reprinting of the first story in the Conan syndicated newspaper daily strip series, penciled and inked by Buscema.

All of these are worth hunting down, and not that outrageously expensive.

Thanks for all that info, Ben - I'm particularly interested in the one with the newspaper strip.

You might also be interested in the reprint mag Conan Saga, then : issues 32-46 reprint the newspaper strip. (Ernie Chan replaced John Buscema early on, though). It's just a few pages at a time, which is a bit unfortunate... I would have liked to see the entire run collected in just a few issues.

Cheers!