Matthew McCallum wrote:
nakamachi wrote:
Matthew McCallum wrote:
I remain a proud Marvel Masterworks Zombie Completist, with my beautiful marble editions 1 through 205 now overflowing into a second bookshelf. As long as Marvel keeps making them, I'll keep buying them.

Yeah, but you love them all don't you Matthew? Are there even any volumes of MMW or Archives that you don't like, or hate?

With over 400 total volumes of Masterworks and Archives released, not all of them can be home runs, and so there are many that I prefer over others. Nevertheless, there is something of interest to be found in every volume, and having read these titles has broadened my understanding for the comics artform itself, discovering new-to-me artists, enjoying old favourites in different settings, and gaining a new appreciation for genres and artists whose work I never much cared for in my active collecting days.
My collection isn't nearly as big as yours, but it's big enough I think. I've experienced the same thing, especially from the archives. But I think I've developed a greater appreciation for artist I might not have cared for as much back in the 70's like Gene Colan and Carmine Infantino who I came to admire much more after seeing their work in high quality printing. Also reading some of the older stuff more broadly as a whole does paint a different picture of what comics were like then. That's why I'm really more excited about Masterworks and Archives than anything else coming from Marvel or DC right now.

Another thing I'd have to say too, is that of the titles I buy, I feel less of a need to critically evaluate them in terms of story and art quality in the same way that I look at comics from the 1980s onward. To me everything that came out before I started collecting in 1975 is something I look at as more of an historical whole, some of which is strong and some weak, but all entertaining to a degree. It's not until about 77 or 78 that I start to get a little more picky about what I choose to read. And after Secret Wars, a lot of what I'm interested in has more to do with the creators involved and is much more here and there.

Last Edited By: nakamachi May 12 14 6:42 PM. Edited 2 times.