Fantastic Four 153

FF #153 from Dec. 1974.  "Worlds in Collision" by Tony Isabella and Rich Buckler.

Mahkizmo: master of the perfect pick-up lines.

Fantastic Four 152

FF #152 from Nov. 1974.  "A World of Madness Made" by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler.

Can Thundra be hurt by a dude with a just a plain normal whip? Maybe. But knowing her, she might be enjoying this.

Fantastic Four 151

FF #151 from Oct. 1974.  "Thundra and Lightning" by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler.

He's hot!
He's hunky!
He's dead sexy!

He's.....Mahkizmo!

Fantastic Four 150

FF #150 from Sept. 1974.  "Ultron-7: He'll Rule the World" by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler.

Reed and Sue are back together as of this issue.

Fantastic Four 149

FF #149 from August 1974.  "To Love, Honor, and Destroy" by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler.

How does Reed feel about the Sub-Mariner?

Fantastic Four 148

FF #148 from July 1974.  "War on the Thirty-Sixth Floor" by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler.

Paste Pot Pete sneaks into the Baxter Building

Fantastic Four 147

FF #147 from June 1974.  "The Sub-Mariner Strikes" by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler.
 

 We learn that Reed implanted a monitoring device in the costume he created for Namor.  Well, that's kinda paranoid.

Fantastic Four 146

FF #146 from May 1974.  "Doomsday: 200° Below" by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru.

Were we really not to supposed to know who this person in shadows is?

Fantastic Four 145

FF #145 from April 1975.  "Nightmare in the Snow" by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru.

Medusa, you're in the snow in the Himalayas.  Put some pants on lady.

Fantastic Four 144

FF #144 from March 1974.  "Attack" by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler.

Not a day goes by where I don't say the same thing to my henchmen...

Fantastic Four 143

FF 143 from Feb. 1974.  "The Terrible Triumph of Dr. Doom" by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler.

While sharing a jail cell, Johnny keeps his flames up, just to keep Wyatt from getting "too close".

Fantastic Four 142

FF 142 from Jan. 1974. "No Friend Beside Him" by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler.

This guy can't tell the difference between Sue Richards and Medusa.  Is he blind?!

Top Ten favorites of 2011 - part three

Here are my three favorite collected editions from 2011:

3.  Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth Omnibus Vol. 1

Reprinting Kamandi 1-20, written and drawn by Jack Kirby.   What seems at basic rip-off of Planet of the Apes turns out to be Jack Kirby at his craziest most imaginative.  I don't smoke pot, but if I did, this is the book I'd want to read when high.

2.  Thor by Walt Simonson Omnibus

A giant-sized volume reprinting Walt Simonson's entire classic run on the Mighty Thor, one of the best, right up there with the work of Lee and Kirby.  Beautifully recolored for this collection, these comics look fantastic.  I was tempted to make this my number one pick, but...we also have...

1.  The Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus Vol.1

I do a podcast based on the Fantastic Four, so how could this not be number one.   Byrne, like Simonson on Thor, also created a classic run that rivals that of Lee and Kirby. Unlike the Thor Omnibus, theses issue aren't recolored, but who cares.   Reprinted in this high-qualify volume, these stories look so much better than they do in my tattered old collection of FF comics.  I'm ready for Vol. 2.

Top Ten favorites of 2011 - part two

Here's the next few entries on the list of my favorite collected editions from 2011.

6. The Amazing Spider-Man by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane Omnibus

As a teenager, I loved these old issues of Amazing Spider-Man that appear in this volume.  One of the best Spider-Man runs ever.  I still can't believe these issues have been wiped out of continuity.

5.  Fantastic Four: The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

A hardcover collecting a 12 issues mini-series from the early 2000s.  Eric Larson's (and a slew of other talented creators) love letter to the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby issues.  These stories take place during the last year of the Lee/Kirby run, and are better than the final twelve issues by Lee & Kirby.

4.  Marvel Masterworks 155 (Amazing Spider-Man 121-131)

While I slag on Gerry Conway for his run of terrible issues on the Fantastic Four, his run on Spider-Man was pretty darn good.  This collection includes two of my all-time favorite comics: "the Death of Gwen Stacy"

Top Ten favorites of 2011- part one

Most of the comics I buy now days are in the form of collected editions, mostly hardcovers. So here's my list of my favorite collected editions that I purchased in 2011.

10. Hellboy Library Edition 4

I love the Hellboy character and this series of Library Edition hardcovers is excellent.  This collection reprints Hellboy: The Troll Witch and Hellboy: The Crooked Man.   I liked it better in the earlier volumes when Mignola was doing the art himself, it still looks great and is a lot of fun to read.

9. Avengers Prime

I'm not a big fan of Brian Michael Bendis' Avengers work over the last ten years. In fact, I think most of his stuff sucks. But this collection of the five part limited series by Bendis and the fantastic Alan Davis really hits it out of the park.  It's nice to read an avengers story without the overexposed Spider-Man and Wolverine.

8.  B.P.R.D: Plague of Frogs Vol. 2 (hardcover)

Prior to this year, I had never read BPRD before, thinking it probably wasn't going to be as good as Hellboy. Turns out, I was wrong.  This is a nice thick book reprinting BPRD: The Dead, BPRD: The Black Flame, and BPRD: War on Frogs.

7.  B.P.R.D: Plague of Frogs Vol. 1 (hardcover)

Both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 came out in 2011 and I loved them both, almost equally.  This book contains BPRD stories Hollow Earth, Soul of Venice, and Plague of Frogs.

Fantastic Four 141

FF #141 from Dec. 1973.  "The End of the Fantastic Four" by Gerry Conway and John Buscema.

Reed turns his son into a mindless vegetable.