Active Topics | Member List | Search | Help | Register | Login
The John Byrne Forum
Byrne Robotics > The John Byrne Forum << Prev Page of 38 Next >>
Topic: "Marvel Comics, The Untold Story" (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
Author
Message
Greg Nyman
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 17 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 374
Posted: 03 December 2012 at 8:27pm | IP Logged | 1  

Readers of THE WEEK are mostly comic book civilians, so the Masterworks editions are very expensive and very hard to find.
------------------------------------------------------------ -----------------------------
The softcover Masterworks are easily available on Amazon for around $17 each. Not too bad.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Brian Lewis
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 13 August 2012
Posts: 476
Posted: 04 December 2012 at 12:20am | IP Logged | 2  

Barnes and Noble also generally has them in stock.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Tim O Neill
Byrne Robotics Security


Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 10942
Posted: 04 December 2012 at 7:58am | IP Logged | 3  


Thanks, guys - I didn't realize that the paperbacks were available online.  I don't see these in the stores and assumed they had limited print runs.  When Howe referenced X-Men Masterworks 4 & 5, my mind went to the hardbacks as I never see the paperbacks in bookshops.  I thought he was referencing the hardbacks, even though the article clearly lists retail paperback prices!  Duh!

The only Masterworks I see in Barnes & Noble are the early FF and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.  I rarely see the JB X-Men editions.  I agree with Howe's choices of X-Men issues - I like that he included issues #122-131, which I like just as much as "The Dark Phoenix Saga".  But when I saw the Masterworks edition numbers listed, I confess I had to look up what issues he was referencing.  The paperbacks I most often see for JB use the story titles - "The Dark Phoenix Saga" and "Days of Future Past".

I remember when B&N published some Masterworks with a retail price of $12.99, and I thought it was going to be a long series of affordable paperbacks that were good introductions for kids.  And I love the Masterworks editions, so I could benefit as well!  It didn't last long, and they went up to $25.


Back to Top profile | search
 
Legrand Flowers
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 18 August 2012
Posts: 3
Posted: 04 December 2012 at 11:28am | IP Logged | 4  

Greno: Not sure if there's any truth to this, but the book also reports-

Saturday, April 4, John Byrne hosted a party at his house in Connecticut, attended by several Marvel staffers and freelancers. In the backyard, a suit was stuffed with unsold issues of New Universe titles, a picture of Shooter’s face was affixed on the head, and the editor in chief of Marvel Comics was burned in effigy.
---------------
 
Nice. Real classy.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Nathan Greno
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 20 April 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 9154
Posted: 04 December 2012 at 11:32am | IP Logged | 5  

Might not be true, Legrand. The "making faces at Wolfman" thing is not true. 
Back to Top profile | search
 
William Costello
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 30 August 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 755
Posted: 06 December 2012 at 3:54pm | IP Logged | 6  

John Harrison: "This book really just left me depressed.  I think it would scare anyone away from ever pursuing a dream of working at Marvel or DC. "

If you ever want to read a depressing book about Marvel, I would recommend Dan Raviv's Comic Wars. Dan Raviv is a CBS News reporter (I still hear him on CBS News Radio from time to time).
I think the book is getting close to 10 years old by now, but Dan Raviv details how Marvel almost went down after Ron Perleman (not the actor) bought out Marvel through an LBO.
I've read a number of business oriented books ("Too Big to Fail", "The Sellout") and Comic Wars is, in my opinion, one of the better book out there.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Thomas Moudry
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 5060
Posted: 06 December 2012 at 8:45pm | IP Logged | 7  

The old saying about people not needing to know how laws and
sausages are made comes to mind; perhaps comics should be added
to the list.
Back to Top profile | search
 
DW Zomberg
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 12 June 2012
Posts: 444
Posted: 07 December 2012 at 8:18am | IP Logged | 8  

Nice. Real classy.

Because petty, egotistical tyrants deserve better...?

Back to Top profile | search
 
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133563
Posted: 07 December 2012 at 8:26am | IP Logged | 9  

Greno: Not sure if there's any truth to this, but the book also reports-

Saturday, April 4, John Byrne hosted a party at his house in Connecticut, attended by several Marvel staffers and freelancers. In the backyard, a suit was stuffed with unsold issues of New Universe titles, a picture of Shooter’s face was affixed on the head, and the editor in chief of Marvel Comics was burned in effigy.

---------------

Nice. Real classy.

••

As a way for a group of tired, frustrated, creatively stifled and generally depressed people to grab a little bit of fun and even some emotional solace from what seemed an inescapably negative work environment?

Yes.

Back to Top profile | search
 
Michael Penn
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 12 April 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 12767
Posted: 07 December 2012 at 8:42am | IP Logged | 10  

John Byrne hosted a party at his house in Connecticut, attended by several Marvel staffers and freelancers. In the backyard, a suit was stuffed with unsold issues of New Universe titles, a picture of Shooter’s face was affixed on the head, and the editor in chief of Marvel Comics was burned in effigy.

--------------- Nice. Real classy.

***

Not nice, but a good deal of panache!
Back to Top profile | search
 
Shawn Kane
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 04 November 2010
Location: United States
Posts: 3239
Posted: 08 December 2012 at 8:18am | IP Logged | 11  

Based on what I read in the book (and taking it with a grain of salt as I do with any kind of Tell-All), it seemed that all the good that Jim Shooter did at Marvel is balanced by his overlord-like ways and some really bad ideas. I like JB's line of how Shooter and Dick Giordano should have switched between Marvel and DC every few years.

I will admit that, as a 12 year old at the time, the New Universe was pretty cool.

Back to Top profile | search
 
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133563
Posted: 08 December 2012 at 8:22am | IP Logged | 12  

I will admit that, as a 12 year old at the time, the New Universe was pretty cool.

••

Roy Thomas astutely dismissed the New Universe as "TV movies". They were like Marvel comics, but without budgets.

And, as I have noted before, it did not help that there were two sets of rules governing the content. Nothing could appear in the comics that would refute the notion that they were all real, that they took place in "the world outside your window", so writers were forced to try to find stories that were interesting and exciting, but would not end up on the nightly news. Except in STAR BRAND, of course, where Shooter was free to have terrorists use a nuclear device to hijack a cruise ship in the middle of New York harbor. I wonder how NBC, ABC and CBS missed that one?

Back to Top profile | search
 

<< Prev Page of 38 Next >>
  Post ReplyPost New Topic
Printable version Printable version

Forum Jump
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot create polls in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

 Active Topics | Member List | Search | Help | Register | Login