Okay, I've got a problem, and no one seems to have the same problem as I. I own the Forever People series, from DC. Jolly Jack Kirby, doing some terrific design and drawing. I mean TERRIFIC!


And I tried this, just as a test:


However, its in black-and-white. I know, I know! Its "too expensive" to print in colour!" "Too few people would be able to afford it!"
I can't handle it. The absence of the memories of the colour half of my brain cannot be tolerated! The information doesn't get into my head in the same way!
Does anyone else have the same problem? Its not "elitism", as I readily replace tattered, or missing comix in my stuff, with TPBs or whatever version is most readily available. Its nice to have the ones that smell the same as the ones I grew up with, but others (New Gods, Warlock, Doctor Strange) that have been replaced over the years, don't annoy me in their consumption. Of course, they are in colour....

I think I know where you're coming from. I miss the ads (whether they are for toys, TV shows, other comics, movies, whatever) and lettercolumns when I read TPBs. I like the quasi-time travel effect of reading the originals, as well as the smell.

As for the color--what is this colour you speak of? --it depends on the book. I've been enjoying Ditko's Spider-Man stuff in B&W, but I don't see it working with the 4th World stuff.

i usually don't mind seeing stuff in B&W(as an artist!) as color can
be a distraction to the artwork. However, i do see your point and
think for Kirby's 4th World material a full-color TPB is essential...

I have to agree with Daddio. I just can't get into those reprint
books, the "Essential" volumns, etc. I love the format, but not
the B&W. Don't get me wrong, I own many B&W comics, some
characters work very well that way (I've got about 6 of those
Lone Wolf & Club digests), but for me, the big-name superheroes
just look best in color.

And I'm wondering if some of the books might be okay for me. I have some wonderful Captain Atom reprints from England that are terrific! I get to really see the artwork, without Charlton's cereal box presses and colours moshing around in Ditko's work!
I think I spoiled myself on all the old Marvels; the bad thing is, some of these books will never see a Masterworks treatment (Super-Villain Team-Up, for example).

I'd certainly prefer to see them in color.

I think the Kirby New Gods and Mister Miracle trades were done in a set of gray tones that didn't really look bad at all (IMHO).

For me, it's the genre, and the artist. First off, you go back in time and "4-colour" was one of the descriptors for superhero comics. It's got to be there. Forever People is about as far out as it goes, but if you stretch the superhero definition, it fits. I also don't like Jack's newer Art when it's done in black and white (pauses for collective gasp...)

However, I think noir (duh), horror, and everything drawn by Gene Colan, Barry Windsor Smith, and Frank Miller work really well in black and white, and I can't even conceive of reading manga in colour. War books work either way.

I wish I could like the Essentials. The Masterworks are much more expensive.

J.

This one is done the same way. DC lets you know the content of the book, by giving the back cover over to greyscale, or colour (Jimmy Olsen). I thought that was a good idea.

Byrne's OMAC was perfect in black and white. Gorgeous stuff!!

Oh, KB, no one speaks more highly of OMAC, than I. BUT, this was meant to be in colour, whereas OMAC (by Byrne) was meant to be in tones. Had I first encountered The Forever People in black and white....

Actually, I agree with you. It was just a little touch of thread drift.

Ha ha ha! Well OMAC is always a welcome thread drift! Any other black-and-white gems? Mr. A would qualify, I suppose. Now that I've mentioned Ditko, Avenging World is more visually powerful, imho.

It's the way the word is spelled in every country but one...

I agree with y'all on Byrne's OMAC miniseries. Great stuff, even in
B&W. But that's not strictly superhero stuff (although I guess technically
niether is New Gods). I've also got some great early Alan Moore stuff that's
in B&W, among other things. But superheroes, to me, just belong in color.
Especially if the stories were originally printed that way. Maybe some
characters, like Batman, work good in B&W, but characters like
Superman, Spider-Man, & Captain America just aren't quite the same
if they're not in color.

Yep, that's right. In the whole entire world we're the only
ones who know how to spell it correctly!

I don't know that they're everyone's cup o' tea, but I liked the stuff in the BW magazines of the mid/late 70's.

<I>Howard the Duck</I>

<I>Conan</I>

<I>Bizarre Adventures</I> ( rotating art teams made for different looks ... <I>Paradox</I> was nice. )

Some stuff in <I>Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu</I>, like Starlin's <I>Shang-Chi</I> or I think Perez's <I>White Tiger</I>. ( I may not be accurate on that last one ... I saw a black-and-white of a White Tiger intro by Perez, but it may have been appeared in a color publication. )

Jim Lawless

Great offering, Jim! I do love those black and white Marvel mags! You gave some great examples; Warren also did some good stuff, and Seaboard even squeaked a couple out, with some great talents behind them, before imploding.

The problem with these Essential B&W books is that the art wasn't meant to be seen in B&W. There is a way to draw for something that is going to be printed in Black and White and a way to draw for something that is meant to be colored.

And for the same reason that colorized B&W films don't work, colorized B&W art doesn't work, and Vice Versa.

I am a big fan of B&W comics - from the old Marvel Mags to the mid-80s indy comics and beyond. But not B&W comics that orginally were printed in color. Give me the whole experience, please.

Yer all nertz, the lot o' ya! The Essentials are BEEE-YOOO-TI-FUL!!!! In most cases it's like owning the original art for an entire issue (I say almost cause some of the issues were shot from the actual comics and they're all muddy looking). I would particularly recommend the FF Essentials (Kirby/Ayers, Kirby/Stone, Kirby/Sinnott) and the first couple of Spider-Man Essentials and the Dr. Strange Essentials (glorious Ditko art!) and the recently released Iron Fist Essentials (JB in B&W, mmmmm-mmmmm) One of my new year's resolutions for this next year is to give up buying all of the Masterworks and Archives in order to afford more back issues (I'd rather own the originals), but I'm gonna keep buying the Essentials because they're just so gorgeous!

.....Give up......buying .......Masterworks? Lemme get this straight, and yell at me if I'm in error; I put you in the same kind of economic class as myself; someone who can afford either Masterworks, originals or Essentials on most of this stuff (exceptionally expensive stuff excluded).
You would prefer Essentials to Masterworks?
I am in total agreement with Mike N; I miss some of the experience, the enjoyment when i read this greyscale stuff. The Essentials are okay, but 9 times out of 9, I'd rather ramp up and buy the Masterworks. Or the originals, or a decent reprint.
Starlin's Warlock issues (and connected issues) were so scattered and weedy, I simply gave up and bought both sets of Special Edition reprints. I have both, in some cases (Doctor Strange and New Gods).

First just let me say: I will always prefer the originals.

The Masterworks offer better paper and printing to be sure, but they're still in color, and if I'm gonna read 'em in color, I'd rather read the originals. The Essentials offer me something I can't get in the originals: A chance to see the artwork in something approximating it's original form, that's definitely a plus in my book! And just for the record, I have avoided the NEW GODS sets from DC because of the grayscale used. I don't want that, I want to see the straight black and white art!

I can live with that. Yer allowed to remain in my domain for another day, citizen.


I USED to prefer the originals, but some of my New Gods are getting so dog-eared from age......much like their owner.