This Space Reserved - A Mega-Sized Marvel Masterworks Read-Thru

 

First off, Happy Fourth of July! It's America's 249th Birthday, and last night kicked off the "America 250" celebration that will continue throughout the year.  The Red, White, and Blue is back, baby!  I can still remember the excitement for the Bicentennial back in 1976.  It really promises to be a fun time.  So many things are turning around for the good these days (Praise God!).  And if today's music isn't as good as those bygone times, we can just catch an old American Top 40 with Casey Kasem broadcast on iHeart Radio!  I'm listening to one I recorded years ago right now from June 26, 1976!

Is it possible to digress before you even start?  If so, I think I just did ...

I really should have weighed these!

In less than two months, I finished reading all that you see shown above.  I started on May 8th, and finished last night (July 3rd).  And that was after reading the Marvel Masterworks (MMW): Doctor Strange #11 right before that, which was preceded by my first reading of John Wyndham's classic Midwich Cuckoos. My inspiration was the forthcoming (no pun intended) Fantastic Four: First Steps movie coming out in three weeks. Now, I have reservations about this movie.  I don't like Mister Fantastic with a moustache and the female Silver Surfer is S-t-(bad word).  However, I love that it takes place in the 60s, something I always thought should be done.  Anyway, in case the movie flops and fails to generate renewed FF reading interest, I figured I better take advantage of the anticipation, just in case.

FYI - I'm using copious links in this post that can enhance your reading experience. Some refer to the Marvel Fandom site, which will show each MMW's contents.  Thanks for making my life easier guys!

I started with MMW FF #22, which is about a year into John Byrne's epic run.  Longtime readers (Jim) will recall that issue #242 was a milestone for me in terms of collecting comics, which I commemorated with my first Fred Hembeck commission that is currently hanging in my study. (I rotate them periodically.)  I picked up that issue on the stands, after which I started buying my comics at a comic store (early 1982).  I remember these issues well and have reread them numerous times over the (choke) decades.  Classic, classic stuff.  

Now, the interesting thing (to me) is that this volume came out nearly five years ago in August 2020.  And I had kept it sealed (in case the value went up and I decided to resell it) all this time.  This is true for all the tomes mentioned below and the reason behind the post's title.  It takes time to assemble all these.

Next up was MMW FF #23, which came out in January 2022.  This contains the FF's negative zone journey, including Byrne's landmark landscape issue #252. Other highlights consist of the Skrull milk story (Annual #17), and two crossovers, Avengers #233 and The Thing #2.  It's the Avengers crossover that spurred me to crack open (or I should say slice open), MMW Avengers #22 that was released in May 2022.  This one marks the beginning of Roger Stern's five-year run on the title.  I'm pretty sure I bought most of these issues as back issues, but many of the stories I had never read before, which is always fun.  The Al Milgrom art is really enhanced by Joe Sinnott's inks, something I didn't appreciate back in the day (and probably why I wasn't picking the title up).  There's a slight redemption of Hank Pym (Yellowjacket), one of my favorite Avengers, who was nearly ruined for good by the late Jim Shooter (RIP).  Starfox joins the team as well as Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau).  The former has a strange "pleasure" power, but the latter, CM, has some of the coolest powers used very effectively in these stories.  It's a shame she was later relegated to almost parody status as being a member of Nextwave. Oh, and She-Hulk is on the team.

I'm not sure which one I read next (and I don't feel like checking my diary/log), but it was either MMW Avengers #23 (May 2023) or MMW FF #24 (November 2022).  At one point, I was reading both simultaneously to get ready for Secret Wars.  I enjoyed the Avengers volume, but didn't really dig the Spider-Woman series epilogue stories.  The David Letterman appearance (#239) was neat and I probably liked the Hawkeye mini-series the best.  Having Clint marry Mockingbird was such a great change for his character, it's a shame they eventually (spoilers) threw it all away, divorcing them.  Over in the FF, there is more Byrne goodness (man, I miss his comics - "John! John! Come Back!")  We get the Trial of Reed Richards for saving Galactus's life, the death of Doctor Doom, She-Hulk's replacement of the Thing, and the loss of Reed and Sue's second child (#267).  Thanks to the miracle of comics, Valeria got to live nearly 18 years later.

Next up was MMW Avengers #24 (July 2024).  It contains an Eternals (Kirby's most un-enduring creation) storyline and a lackluster villian, Maelstrom, who was being built up as a really big bad, but who was not very credible to me.  More importantly, the Absolute Vision subplot comes to fruition, which has long standing repercussions (where Viz loses all color nearly four years later); and the West Coast Avengers are formed.  Also, Hercules returns to the team. The WCA series features art by Bob Hall, which is quite good and he later takes over the regular title too.

This was followed by MMW FF #25 (August 2023).  It contains the introduction of Terminus, a weird (but enjoyable) time-slide jaunt to meet Reed's father, a catch-up on the Thing's Rocky Grimm Space Ranger saga, the excellent She-Hulk uncovered issue (#275), and the unfinished "Last Galactus" story from Epic Illustrated.  I initially skipped the Galactus story, but after rereading the facsimile editions of FF #48-50, I did go back and read it.  I wish they had finished it, but the forward writer, Michael Higgins, at least reveals two possible endings.

Next, I read MMW FF #26 (August 2024).  The Baxter Building is destroyed (in space), the Invisible Girl becomes a woman, Johnny has a fan's burning admiration (a touching story), and She-Hulk first becomes Sensational under Byrne.  There is also an Avengers/FF Annual crossover.  Now, continuity was really tight back in these post-Secret War days (we're up to 1985 by this point).

MMW Avengers #25 (May 2025) came next.  I choose this order because I needed to read Terminus's first appearance in FF before he showed up here. Big John Buscema returns to the artboard along with Tom Palmer's exquisite finishes, and the book looks amazing!!  Roger's scripting seems much improved, reminding me of his and Byrne's short but memorable Captain America run from #247 thru #255, and his stellar Hulk stories.  I guess the art really does make a difference.  Nebula of MCU fame is introduced and we lose Starfox, just in time for him to get serious.  There are some actually good Secret Wars II Beyonder appearances and Sub-Mariner joins the team. all in time for the return of Jean Grey!  This is a great stand-alone Masterworks and a great jumping on point.  Yeah, it was cool to see all that came before, but I remember picking up Avengers again with #256 myself, and I had no trouble following the story. Stern's run has reached a point of excellence, which will continue until he finishes in the next volume. Oh, and we get some satisfaction with Jan (the Wasp) resuming her chairmanship.  The Vision had simulated Starfox's "pleasure" power to get her to step down when he was seeking to take over the world's computers.

There is one disturbing aspect of this volume, lots of carnage.  The Savage Land is destoyed as well as Xandar.  For what?  Upping the gravitas? When you think of the "actual" lives affected, it's quite extreme, not to mention capping off so many previous storylines (like Ka-Zar's entire 1980's series and Nova).

Finally, I read MMW FF #27.  It came out last week and I got my copy two days ago and I've finished it already!  One of the highlights is some info about John Byrne's departure, which centered around the changes Jim Shooter had made to his "Like a Phoenix" story from issue #286. As an extra bonus, the unaltered original pages are included in the back matter! John's version was better. For more of John's version check out his X-Men Elsewhen series here (and I just found out he retired a year ago). [Thanks for all the great stories, John!]  There's an ingenious explanation to Doom appearing in Secret Wars after he died, Annihilus returns, and FF sort-of take a trip back to 1936. Issue #293 was Bryne's last, an intriguing opening that was to culminate into FF's silver anniversary.  Roger Stern and Jerry Ordway do an admirable job executing his plot, but it just isn't the same.  Then the 25th anniversary issue #296 finishes it off with the return of the Thing.  It's a story plotted by Jim Shooter and scripted by Stan Lee with a slew of artists involved and I have to say, it's just as much of a disappointment as it was 39 years ago.

I don't know if there will even be an MMW FF #28.  We're coming into another John Buscema run that I don't remember that fondly.  Compared to what Byrne was doing, it wasn't as good, but I'll likely give it a shot. And I could always dig out my back issues if I really wanted to, but I think I need a break. I mean it was a lot, but I'm glad I did it. 

I wonder what I'll read next...

I'm using the DC Finest volumes (upside down) as placeholders for future MMWs.

If you see some white vertical spaces, that's where I had to paste in the correct spelling of words.  I guess I do need Grammerly for something as blogger no longer seems to have it's own spellcheck.