The essential Conan is a collection of the first 25 issues of the Conan the Barbarian comics released by Marvel back in the early seventies. Although this book is in black and white, a format which seems to have gone out of style, this book often manages to capture the spirit of the original Conan stories. The plots aren't usually too dumb, and as the book advances the comics go from a bunch of individual stories to big story-arcs, making it more readable and giving it more of a sense of continuity.

While this book doesn't always stick to the Conan stories continuity-wise, for the most part it fits in, filling little gaps in between those stories. Also, several of howard's better stories are adapted to comic format here; Tower of the Elephant, Frost Giant's Daughter, and Rogues in the House to name a few. We get the first comics' appearance of Red Sonja as well.

Overall, this is a fun, quick read, and although it's only in B&W, for the sheer amount of materiel included herein it's definitely worth the cover price.

I remember when Barry Smith drew his first comic for Marvel Comics. It was an issue of the X-Men that we all thought was THE WORST DRAWN COMIC BOOK IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. It turned out that Smith, newly arrived from England, drew the issue on park benches in NYC. When the first issue of Conan the Barbarian arrived it was clear he was not that bad. By the time his run as artist on "Conan" ended it was even more clear he was something special and the fact that the illustrative style that had evolved in those two-year span was not feasible within the demands of producing monthly issues of a comic book was a depressing irony.

Barry Windsor-Smith has long been my favorite "comic book artist," and this collection traces his evolution as such quite admirably. Indeed, not other collection could better serve that purpose. A simple comparison of the covers from Conan #1 and Smith's swansong issue #24 ("The Song of Red Sonja") evidences the transformation from artist to illustrator. For that matter you can also consider Smith intermediary style (e.g., #13 "Web of the Spider-God"). This transformation is as impressive because of how quickly in took place while he was drawing Conan as it is for the artistic growth. But even in his work today you can see how it is grounded in the style he developed while working on this comic.

These reprinted stories are presented in black and white, which is certainly better than nothing, but I look forward to Smith's work being presented in color as it originally appeared. I notice this most particularly in the Epilogue to Conan #20, "The Black Hound of Vengeance," which was originally presented in muted tones of gray, blue and brown. Smith abandoned panels in an interesting change of pace that underscored the emotional impact of the sequence. Without color that impact is most decidedly lost. One of the things that is still discernable is the increase in the number of panels per page from issue to issue through Smith's tenure as he became more comfortable with using art rather than dialogue to advance parts of the story. The best example of this is the hanging sequence on page 14 of Conan #10.

From a writing stand point it should be noted that there is a nice balance between stories adapted from Robert E. Howard's Conan work and original stories by Roy Thomas. For the former "The Tower of the Elephant" (#4) is usually considered the high point. The appearance of Michael Moorcock's Elric in issues #14-15 seems a bit forced, while the Fafnir character (original a quick tribute to Fritz Leiber's famous pair of thieves) becomes a wonderfully integrated character into an ongoing story line.

Of the 25 issues included in this collection not all are drawn by Smith. Several issues are drawn by Gil Kane because Smith had missed a deadline or took a hiatus from working on Conan. Thomas' ability as a storyteller capable of crafting bigger and longer storylines would continue to grow, and while John Buscema's artwork on Conan was quite excellent (especially when inked by Ernie Chan), Barry Smith's work will always stand on a plateau. Jim Steranko cracked open the door on stylized illustration in color comics, but Barry Smith was the one who gets credit for busting all the way through.

I bought this translation after I bought Wolfgang Sawallisch's excellent live Ring on EMI-- which, obviously, did not include a libretto. I did not realize until I read the introduction that Andrew Porter's translation was for an English version of The Ring staged some years back. I would only want to hear The Ring in the original German, but I must say Porter does a fabulous job in capturing both the sense and the rhythms of Wagner's language. He is forced to give up some of the alliterative quality in order to be more literal, but what makes this book so intriguing is that one can follow along with the music and practically hear the English text in each note, syllable by syllable. That's because Porter did the impossible by pretty much matching the meaning of each word (and each part of a word) with the intended note, setting it apart from those clumsy German translations of Mozart's Da Ponte operas, and so forth. However, I did feel like I was missing out on some of Wagner's meaning, and so I sought out a more literal (and less poetic) translation. I found that in Barry Millington's text-- in hardcover, and therefore more expensive, but with excellent notes and a few essays (as well as photos of older productions). So, unless one wants to know how Wagner might sound in English (and the Chandos cycle on CD does just that), I suggest finding another translation for listening purposes.

Andrew Porter's English translation of the 'Ring' was written to be sung. It has been used in performances of the 'Ring' cycle at English National Opera and elsewhere. When reading this translation, and perhaps using it to follow a recording or broadcast of any of these operas in the original German, you should keep in mind that it is not a *literal* translation. Porter has taken some liberties with the meaning of the original text, in order to match the rhythms of his English as closely as possible to those of Wagner's archaic German. The translator has also attempted to capture some of the alliteration that is characteristic of Wagner's *stabreim*.

It is clear that Andrew Porter understands the text of the 'Ring' well enough that he was able to make this "poetic" translation without distorting the meaning of the original text. For a literal, accurate translation, the only one currently available is by Stewart Spencer (Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung: The full German text with a new translation and commentaries, Thames and Hudson, 1993). You might also be able to find in a library or for sale used, the William Mann translation (Centurion Press Ltd, 1964).

If you collect audio "Ring" CDs, throw out all the libretti that may have come with your CDs and buy porter's book! The nice thing about this translation is that it (a) is understandable, and (b) is easy to follow along to an audio performance because it matches the singing syllable to syllable. Care was also taken in the translation so that the english words occur in the appropriate places where the motif occurs in the music. Also, proper names match up one for one with the German. So, for example when someone refers to "Siegmund", on a recording, the English text at that point is "Siegmund"! Awesome synchronization!

The 2nd print is very close, but no cigar. After the computer coloring hack job of the first print, Marvel redid some of the issues, as there were originally printed 30 years ago. Unfortunately, there are still some pages, here and there, that still have this bad coloring work. On top of it, I now see some colored pages from the 80's special edition reprints making it an inconsistent mess.
Hopefully by the time Marvel releases the 3rd print, ALL of the coloring for this collection will be brought back to its former glory.

Just as the Original X-Men's run was hampered by ridiculously low sales, Marvel tried to salvage the title by conscripting two greats -- Roy Thomas and Neal Adams -- to come up with some butt-kicking tales. And this they did! Adams can tell a story by himself, really, with his spectacular pencils. His sense of perspective, lighting and presence is truly phenomenal. Unfortunately, even he and Thomas couldn't prevent X-Men from lowering into the depths of reprints, despite their herculean effort.

In these collected tales you'll witness the Living Monolith, Havoc, the Sentinels, Sauron, Ka-Zar and the civilization-destroying Z'Nox. Overall, this is well worth the $$.

A Great Collection of Unccany X-Men issues! Neal Adams was a popular comic book artist during the early 1970s. Uncanny X-men#57-65 was his first professional work for Marvel comics. He inspired many of the later artist like John Byrne, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Lee to draw the X-men. Many people do not remember him because he was popular during the Silver Age of X-men. During that time, Many popular characters like Wolerine, Storm, Rouge,Gambit, and Nightcrawler, did not even exits. The X-men's roster was the original team, Cyclops, Jeany Grey, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Havok and Polaris. Buy this book if you were a fan of the X-Men and Neal Adams during the early 1970's! Buy it! Neal Adams inspired many of today's artist like John Byrne and Jim Lee to become the popular comic book artists they are today!

Archie Goodwin's plots were great, but the art that accompanies these stories are sometimes painful to look at. The square-jawed, super-muscled look doesn't really match our on-screen versions of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. The idealized voluptiousness of Leia isn't exactly a dead ringer for Carrie Fisher, either. And if you're looking for Jabba the Hutt, this isn't the place to see him unless you remember him as a yellow, seal-faced humanoid.

Despite the cosmetic differences though, the characters are decently expanded and given interesting things to do. Luke's adventures on a water planet 20 years before Attack of the Clones make us wonder why we didn't see Jango and Obi-Wan riding the serpents in their modern version. The blind, vengeful Baron Tagge provides an interesting side to the Jedi mythology as he seeks to destroy Darth Vader, the man who robbed him of his sight. And assorted background characters like The Starkiller Kid and Valance the Hunter bring some fresh perspective to the events of the galaxy. These were the first looks at Luke and friends from outside the eyes of Rebellion or Empire, decades before the "Tales from the..." anthologies were published.

I was 6 when Star Wars was first unleashed on the public, and I was lucky enough to have a Mom that supported her young son's comic-book reading habit; The biggest problem of any comic reader in those long-forgotten days was spotty newsstand distribution- It was almost impossible to collect EVERY issue of your favorite comic.....for almost 25 years I've been wondering how Luke and company managed to get off of that Water Planet in Star Wars #14....

THANK GOD FOR DARK HORSE! My wondering days are over! Doomworld collects issues 1-20 of Marvel's original Star Wars series in glorious full-color, on beautiful paper with great production values. The book opens with an incredibly faithful adaptation of the movie, then goes off into some surprising territory: Han and Chewie star in an outer-space "Magnificent Seven", where they team with a giant green Rabbit and an old man named "Don-Wan Kihotay" to face off against "Serji-X Arrogantus", a thinly disguised version of Mad Magazine cartoonist Sergio Aragones; Luke and the Droids crash on a Waterworld years before Kevin Costner made that awful movie; Han squares off against a "Gaily" attired pirate and his man-hating female crony; and everyone ends up in the deep-space Las Vegas for the big cliffhanger. The stories are a bit removed from what the films delivered, but I took a bit of umbrage at the back-cover copy which calls the Marvel stories "Kitschy"; Dark Horse has published a few duds themselves ("Union", anyone...?); At least these stories are entertaining!

As a kid, I hated the artists that worked on these stories. As an adult, I can appreciate the draftsmanship and storytelling ability that they brought to the series. Howard Chaykin, Carmine Infantino, Tom Palmer, Terry Austin, Herb Trimpe, Al Milgrom...They're all legends, and with good reason. (The only gaffe, artwise, is the pairing of Chaykin and Frank Springer in chapter seven. Springer's inks are atrocious!) The art looks better than ever, thanks to the vibrant colors and slick paper. And aside from Roy Thomas' propensity for making Han say (OVER and OVER again!) "WELL then there now!", the characters STAY in character. Lucasfilm may have decided that the stories are no longer canonical, but that doesn't mean they're not fun! And the price just can't be beat! Give Doomworld a try if you're looking for something a little bit different. WELL then there now!

If you grew up loving Marvel's "Star Wars Comics" you'll find this books Force irresistable-it contains the FIRST 20ISSUES OF THE SERIES!!They're better than before:the colors are mor vibrant.there are no ads so you can read the stories mor easily.This is the BEST collection of "Star Wars Comics ever!Its 370 pages will give you LOTS of reading pleasure.This is a must for any "Star Wars" fanatic!

rRST

The Sept 1, 1963 X-Men #1 starts this book off and goes through issue #24. Featuring Angel, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Cyclops, and a very human looking Beast.

I bought all of these to back track and read the previous things that had happened within the comic. This serves the purpose but was disapointed that they were not in color.

I bought all of these to back track and read the previous things that had happened within the comic. This serves the purpose but was disapointed that they were not in color.

While this Psycholgy book does have some good points and interesting approaches, if you use this book in a class setting you will be dissapointed. The questions that the proffesor will use for test and quizes are elementary. But so elementary that they are completly subjective.

I used this book in my intro psych class last fall and that it was rather interesting, as far as intro books go. I especially liked how each chapter highlighted a specific experiment done recently on the topic the chapter is discussing. It also had many good graphics and charts, many of which the professor took to use in her power point presentations. The only fault I had with the book is that it seemed a bit too much on a high school level even though it was billed as a college text. But other than that, I thought this was a well-written, and well-executed textbook, though I would be more inclined to use it in a high school psychology course and not a college level one.

I don't know if this is going to reflect on the quality of the psychology book, or the caliber of books I have read and reviewed, but I must say, this introductory psychology book is one of the best I've ever seen. The examples capture the reader and are used in an intelligent way to demonstrate the major points of each chapter. And I was never bored once with this book, which is a big plus. A great book for an intro to psych class!

Writer Roy Thomas & artist Werner Roth had a tough act to follow when they became the regular creative team on X-MEN in the mid-60's (following Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and-- at times-- Chic Stone). These early stories may come as a shock to anyone used to the overly-complex, darkly angst-ridden nightmare world that the ever-growing number of X-books have become over the last 25 years. They tend to finish in 1 or 2 issues, and Roth's art is almost refreshingly "clean", light and upbeat! With most of Marvel's books getting more visually "spectacular", X-MEN may have seemed an "outsider" to the rest of the line at the time. (Next to art by Jack Kirby on FANTASTIC FOUR, THOR & CAPTAIN AMERICA, Gene Colan on IRON MAN and DAREDEVIL, John Romita on SPIDER-MAN and Jim Steranko on S.H.I.E.L.D., these X-MEN stories have a Saturday-morning cartoon look by comparison!)

Between X-MEN and THE AVENGERS, Roy was learning how to write comics on-the-job! His dialogue is something I can only take in small doses here, as he tries to cram every available space with word balloons, whether it's called for or not. Without Stan's sense of humor, Roy's plots have to stand on their own-- at times it feels like someone imitating a Marvel Comic more than an actual one. Roy improved over time, as his later work on this series with Neal Adams proved.

A strange thought hit me by the end of the volume-- many of the featured villains were "borrowed" from other heroes' series! This is evident in my favorite story here, the 2-parter with Count Nefaria and a group of hired super-villains. You've got The Plantman and The Eel (Human Torch baddies from STRANGE TALES), The Scarecrow & The Unicorn (Iron Man foes from SUSPENSE) and The Porcupine (an Ant-Man & Wasp villain from ASTONISH, for cryin' out loud!). They're all pretty much 2nd-stringers, yet it's fun seeing them almost act like a "team"!

One story has Jack Sparling art in such a different style it looks really odd in here-- all the rest are by Werner Roth. Judging from some of the "off-duty" scenes it appears Roth may have been more comfortable with romance than superheroics (a trait he shared with Iron Man artist Don Heck). One thing caught my attention reading this book-- Werner Roth's version of Jean Grey (Marvel Girl) bears an UNCANNY resemblance to actress Famke Janssen, who played the character in the recent X-MEN movie! It was as though he'd used her for his model-- I wonder if the producers used Roth's art as reference while casting the film?

Just so it's clear to people what they are buying with this book, Uncanny X-Men Masterworks Vol. 3 reprints issues #22-31 of the 1960's series. These are ten issues of comics from July 1966 to April 1967, printed in a hardcover book with dust jacket, on full-color pages. ...

The DL series was a huge leap forward for TSR - these modules featured a new emphasis on drama and storytelling that made the gaming MUCH more fun and involved for the PCs and the DM. Of course, at heart, being TSR modules from the 80s, they're still dungeon crawls! In this chapter, the heroes (trailed by hundreds of very angry dragonlord minions!) must flee into the Kharolis Peaks, seeking the legendary dwarven city of Thorbardin. As they are the PCs'only hope, it's rather grim to think that the place is probably a fairytale, and even if it does exist, no one knows where... a dark adventure for levels 6-8.

This volume (Volume 1 of Essential Marvel Team-up) holds special meaning for me as issue 14, with the savage Sub-Mariner was the first (and last) comic book I stole from a corner store. I had to have this issue with these two stars. That was the true appeal of the first couple of years of this series, anticipating the wonderful match-ups and catching a first glimpse of those wonderful covers with two heroes in full-throated action, such as the wonderful sight of Spider-Man battling the Werewolf (by night) on a bridge in San Fransicso. Many of the stories do not live up to the promise and it was hard to develop more complicated stories in this format. In fact, the most developed storyline (extending over three issues and involving Spider-Man, the Human Torch, the Avengers, and the Inhumans) was the weakest. The writing improved with the addition of Len Wein and the art was generally quite good, particularly as done by Gil Kane (see his wonderful work with Captain America, Spider-Man and the Gray Gargoyle, one of the best stories in the series). The stars tend to be the more famous characters of the Marvel universe, with Human Torch hogging too much of the spotlight (thankfully in the case of the classic Human Torch/Iceman dust-up) but there are occasional appearance by such rarely seen characters as Brother Voodoo. All in all, this is a wonderful volume and a delightful trip down memory lane. Where else could one see Spider-Man and the Ghost Rider (he of the flaming head) battle a villian whose head is one giant eye, the Orb.

While the highly underrated (and uneven) 'Marvel Premiere' was Marvel Comics best showcase of new talent in the 70's, 'Marvel Team-Up' allowed mostly established heroes to interact for an issue or two without messingup continuity. 'Essential Marvel Team-Up' reprints issues #1-24 in the "Essential" series format (black and white pages; low price).

For a Spider-Man fan, 'Marvel Team-Up' was heaven. Unlike the awful 'Marvel Two-in-One' starring the Thing, the stories in 'Team-up' were often pretty good and gave Spidey a chance to play with 'capes' who normally turned their noses up at him. It wasn't always as good as his regular comic, but sometimes it was even better (especially once the Claremont & Byrne team came aboard). The first 24 issues were not the best the series had to offer (there is more than enough of the Human Torch to last one lifetime), but I still highly recommend it. Things really got going around issue #53 (when John Byrne began drawing), #57 (when Chris Claremont began writing) and #59 (when they brought some of the magic they later used to propel the X-men out of the stratosphere). Hopefully, the popularity of the Spidey movies will get more volumes published.

Here is the guest stars/villains of each story:
1. Human Torch/Sandman 2. Human Torch/Frightful Four
3. Human Torch/Morbius 4. Original X-men/Morbius
5. Vision 6. Thing 7. Thor 8. The Cat 9. Iron Man/Kang
10. Human Torch/Kang 11. Inhumans/Kang 12. Werewolf
13. Cpt. America 14. Sub-Mariner 15. Ghost Rider
16. Cpt. Marvel 17. Mr. Fantastic/Mole Man
18. Human Torch & Hulk 19. Ka-Zar/Stegron
20. Black Panther/Stegron 21. Dr. Strange 22. Hawkeye
23. Human Torch & Ice Man 24. Brother Voodoo

Also recommeded: "The Very Best of Spider-Man"; "Death of Gwen Stacey"; "Spider-Man:The Wedding" (not yet released).

On the face of it, Marvel Team-Up hardly seems worthy of an Essential collection when a number of other Marvel titles -- Daredevil comes immediately to mind -- have not yet garnered such attention.

But I bought Essential Team-Up the first time I laid eyes on it and found it to be worth ever penny.

I'm a big fan of non-hero titles -- Love and Rockets, Eightball, just about anything from Drawn & Quarterly -- but there is an undeniable charm to these stories, especially coming to them post-"Watchmen," "The Dark Knight Returns," and every other attempt to modernize or legitimize men running around in tights.

One gripe: the Human Torch appears in far too much of it -- I'm assuming the writers (Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway among them) enjoyed the bickering he and Spider-Man participated in. More variety in guest-stars would probably up the fun quotient for me. As is, how can you go wrong with something like Spider-Man and Brother Voodoo in "Moondog is Another Name for Murder!"?

I'm hoping for a Volume 2 in this series. Hopefully, we'll see it in a reasonable period of time. (For obvious reasons, it seems only "Spider-Man," "The Fantastic Four," and "The Avengers" Essential series warrant any timely release cycles.)

And since Marvel is already producing other off-the-beaten-path Essentials ("Ant Man" and "Howard the Duck"), how about "Master of Kung Fu," "Iron Fist" (for the early John Byrne) and "Marvel Premiere?"

Essential Marvel Team-Up is a blast. Enjoy.

I'm afraid the reviewer below is overly generous. The late Kane was an artist of extraordinary talent and intellect who unfortunately rarely showed his full potential. Thomas, too, is a fine writer, especially when one considers that he was a protoge of Stan "The Man" Lee. I don't know how the two of them came to collaborate on this project, but, whereas one might think they would have really gone to town (being freed from the absurd constraints of the technicolor long-johns genre), Kane's art is only pretty-good at best, and downright shoddy at worst. Thomas, too, seems to lose steam halfway through, and the excellent writing of the first issues gives way to writing which is merely adequate. Most disturbing in the art is the Barbie-and-Ken-type depiction of the gods and goddesses. The "monsters" seem drawn with much more passion and care. Perhaps Kane intended this ironically, since the gods and goddesses are largely contemptible, whereas the monsters have a certain sympathetic appeal. Having said all that, I still think this is far better than the huge majority of comics, and it is a must-have for anyone who is an admirer of either Kane or Thomas.

Unfortunately, one of the negative aftershocks that usually accompanies a towering, controversial work-of-art is the sheer amount of pretentious [stuff] written about it. Considering that Der Ring des Nibelungen is quite possibly the most stupendous artistic achievement ever devised by one single individual, please feel free to multiply the previous statement by twelve.

Here, however, we something refreshingly straightforward. The Ring's four operas are well-represented by Thomas' & Kane's comic-book format. The graphics are mostly well-done and the writing appropriately archaic-sounding.

Alberich, Mime, Fasolt & Fafner (giant version) are all drawn to be exceedingly gross, yet strangely sympathetic (this is especially true of Mime). Wotan looks like the most convincing 80-year-old bodybuilder you've ever seen, while Hagen & Hunding look truly menacing. Donner is a hybrid of Hercules & Thor, the Rhinemaidens seem to have lost their clothing somewhere downstream, and Brunnhilde is exquisite. Siegmund & Siegfried are regrettably a little too "Masters of the Universe," but Fafner (dragon version) is brilliant!

There's also an introduction written by the editor of "Opera News" basically giving the intellectual "all clear" for enjoying this format. Aside from the graphics, the book's primary appeal is making the somewhat convoluted story of the Ring accessible in one gulp. Therein lies the value of this volume: instead of daunting the reader with hundreds of pages of musical analysis & the presumed hidden meanings of the Ring, it unassumingly invites the reader to experience one of the greatest journeys in Western music.

In a major departure of theme, Comix Art God, Gil Kane took on no less than The Ring Cycle from Alberecht's theft of the Ring of Power all the way through The Immolation and downfall of The Gods. Only an artist as confident as Kane could have ever gotten away with such a gutsy move. He is aided by a fairly tight and concise rendering of the story by Roy Thomas, no slouch himself. The magic of this pairing is that Thomas clearly knows when to leave certain elements of the story to Kane and his visual mastery. Every panel is kinetic with movement and the art is far more mature as it ought to be. Below there are reviews with silly warnings about the nudity in these books as if you would give your five year old a story about a Hero (sigfried)having passionate relations with his sister(brunhilde)! Laughable. The Ring Cycle is a very adult story by nature and Kane/Thomas treat it with the respect that a story for thinking individuals deserves. If you were expecting GOODNIGHT MOON, you are on the wrong page pal. However, I think any kid old enough to watch Discovery Channel unsupervised could be trusted with this material. In fact, this rendering of the RING is far more comprehensible than a Cliff Notes version they will inevitably buy in Highschool and far more entertaining.

Sadly, with Kane's death a year ago, we will not be treated to any more of his insightful and original treatments of timeless material. If you only know his Superhero stuff, you really need this book and you must also track down a used copy of the now out of print BLACKMARK. Kane's THE RING is simply a treasure for the art, the way the art tells the story and the succinct summary of a complex and lengthy Literature Classic. Too bad he couldn't have also done WAR & PEACE since his version would have been much more interesting.