Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Retro Covers For Essential Marvel Collection







7 comments:

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

This isn't your father's Essential Marvel! (Even though it reprints Marvel Comics that were around when your father was reading comics)

I've mentioned many times over my mad love for the Essential Marvel books that helped get me into comics. I like the uniformity of these new volumes, with each series getting their own co-ordinated color for easy recognition, though the X-Men got the short end of the stick with pink. (Its a shame they don't have Jack Kirby's Classic X-Men as part of this set)

They are very much designed to look like TV Seasons which is neat and fitting given Marvel's gradual expanse into a larger media empire.

I'm a bit mixed on the new covers. I miss the original illustrations by today's masters that graced the Essentials covers that I grew up with and would love to see new original covers for this new set, but it does make sense sense to include artwork from the actual stories. However I think the Benday dots, while fittingly retro, feel a bit too on the nose.

All and all, these books are great and I'm pleased as punch that a entirely new generation will have fresh access to these amazing stories!

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

I would love to see the set in some school's library.

Mike D. said...

I'm with EJ all the way.

DrGoat said...

Yeah. I agree with Erik about the covers. I grew up with the 60s illustrations, but those have a quality that fits beautifully. I like them.

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

I do think its unfortunate that none of the books in these new volumes have the original comics own logo in favor more consistent typography.

Also, with Spidey taking the color red, what color is the "Daredevil" series going to have? And for that matter, how is it that titles like Man-Thing and Howard the Duck are part of this set but not classic Thor or Captain America?

Maybe they'll release a second wave of books after this set has time to sell that'll include those missing titles plus Essential Sub Mariner, Silver Surfer and Classic X-Men.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

The Essential volume of all those great monster comics from the early 60s would be great too.

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

It appears DC saw these covers and has produced their own line of retro designs for their archive books.

http://calamityjon.tumblr.com/post/25376985962/several-weeks-back-designer-dylan-todd-mocked-up