RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books X-MEN in Masterworks volumes: the digitally remastered stereo-surround sound version

I previously got the first 10 issues of X-MEN, the Lee/Kirby 1963 run, in hardcover many years ago (as well as most of the other initial Marvel runs by Lee, Kirby and Ditko), and these are in their presentation far more enjoyable than the original issues. And on FF and THOR I have many of the original issues to make the comparison.
The only part I wish they included in the Masterworks (to be more EC Library-like) are the house ads, Bullpen Bulletins, and lettercolumns. But hey, you can't have everything.


In the last month, I've bought the Claremont/Byrne/Austin X-MEN run (volumes 3, 4 and 5). And these likewise gain quite a bit in the updated offset printing.

Part of it is just being able to read it in continuously in a single volume.

But the greatest benefit is the increased print quality and sharper colors. I dug out the issues to compare, and I'd almost forgotten the newsprint dots of the original issues.
And even the previous 1984 "Dark Phoenix" trade I have reprints them with the dots as they were in the original issues. The 1984 trade also is on heavier-stock paper that's harder to flip through, and the cheap binding on that edition began to crack on it back the first time I read it.

And I've thought that with how essential Marvel's continuity is to their brand, Marvel as a whole gains quite a bit from having their entire Lee-dominated first 10 years in collected volumes.
And where these volumes used to be very expensive $50 hardcovers (as I bought many, you can have most of these now (as I got the Claremont/Byrne issues) in less expensive trades with the exact same quality at a much lower price. (I frankly can't imagine why anyone would go for the black-and-white "Essential" volumes, when they can have color for almost the same price.)

And it's to Marvel's benefit to make this material as affordable as possible. Because the more accessible their earliest continuity, the greater the marketablility of their later continuity built on it.

And needless to say where X-MEN is concerned, the Claremont/Byrne/Austin issues are the gold standard, that everything after it is built on.
It's interesting to read it over 30 years later, to see how it holds up, and how it's in some ways dated. My favorite parts were appearances of Jimmy Carter and Geraldo Rivera. A different world then, to be sure.

One of great extras with vol 3 was inclusion of X-MEN ANNUAL 3 by Claremont/Perez/Austin.
And for the first time, the Miller/Rubinstein cover as it was meant to be printed.



There was a color overlay that in error was not included, so Arkon had only an army of one to back him up. The rest of the army was lost in the missing overlay.

And here's how it was supposed to look, as it appears in the collected edition for the first time, in both b & w and color versions:

I've been meaning to pick up the Omnibus that was just reprinted, reprinting the Giant Sized, and the onset of the Claremont issues. That was always my favorite era. It's the only reason I ever loved the X-men.

I'm not a fan of the Masterworks volumes. I have a few here and there, but I'm much more keen on the Omnibus volumes. The recolouring in the Materworks irks me a bit.

That's my complaint with many of the DC hardcovers, particularly the Neal Adams reprints.

I like Marvel's Omnibus versions of several series. I'd already gotten the Masterworks of the Lee/Kirby FF, but I would have preferred the omnibus if I didn't already have them. I think Marvel gives you a lot more for your money than DC does.

In some ways I prefer the Masterworks, because it's 10 issues per volume, and so less bulky to heft around. I worry about the binding coming apart under its own weight on the larger Omnibus volumes.


I've picked up X-MEN Masterworks of 1-5 now, and have "Days of Future Past"(issues 141-142)in another 2-issue trade, so I may not go for vol 6 later. That's the Byrne run, except for issue 143. And I like having them in inexpensive trades that I don't have to worry about. I spent 12 to 13 bucks per volume.

My biggest complaint with the X-Men Masterworks is they have a giant full-page "X" between each story, and I fail to see the point. I'd prefer just a blank page, that doesn't draw attention away from the stories.

I assume the "X" is the publisher 's way of making sure that no one thinks the blank page is a misprint.

That makes plausible sense.


I wish in all these trades and hardcovers (at bothMarvel and DC) on the two-page spread, the cover would always appear on the right page, giving the effect of a stack of comics bound in a hardcover.

It really bugs me when the cover appears on the left side of a 2-page spread. It makes the book look carelessly slapped together.

And I've thought of taking comics of some of my favorite series to a book-binder and having them actually bind collected volumes of comics in this way.
NEW GODS and the rest of the Fourth World series in particular, ones that they've screwed up repeatedly in collected editions. I'd like to see an EC Library-like boxed set of volumes of Kirby's FOREVER PEOPLE, NEW GODS, MISTER MIRACLE and JIMMY OLSEN, each in a separate volume.
(HUNGER DOGS for me is apocryphal, but they could either have it as a similarly formatted hardcover, or as a thin separate hardcover in the set. )
But I think DC considers the 4-volume KIRBY'S FOURTH WORLD hardcovers the definitive version of the series. But needless to say, I disagree.

Someday, I'll get around to making my own homegrown definitive Fourth World hardcover set.

I've periodically seen others who have had custom-bound hardcovers of their favorite series, such as the Barry Smith CONAN THE BARBARIAN series, that they eventually sold on e-bay.

I have the issues --extra copies even. It's just a matter of finding a book binder I'd trust with my babies.