That’s a lot of Man-Thing.

§ April 30th, 2012 § Filed under blogging about blogging is a sin, giant-size man-thing § 14 Comments

So then there was this in the most recent Previews catalog: a 1,200 page Man-Thing Omnibus:


And here is what it contains, cut ‘n’ pasted directly from the solicitation text because I’m not going to retype it:

“Collecting ASTONISHING TALES (1970) #12-13; FEAR #11-18, and material from #10 and #19; MAN-THING (1974) #1-22, GIANT-SIZE MAN-THING #1-3 and material from #4-5, INCREDIBLE HULK (1968) #197-198; MARVEL TEAM-UP (1972) #68; MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #43; MAN-THING (1979) #1-11; DR. STRANGE (1974) #41; and material from SAVAGE TALES (1971) #1, MONSTERS UNLEASHED #5 and #8-9, and RAMPAGING HULK (1977) #7.”

First thought is, as Chris more or less implied in his response to my Twitter post about this book, if anything deserves to be called Giant-Size Man-Thing, it’s this monstrosity. Secondly, it seems odd that they’d pass up Marvel Two-in-One #1 while including Marvel Two-in-One #43, which is also (as I recall) the second part of a two-part story. Plus, there are a couple of other appearances of Manny in this general time period that don’t appear to be part of the contents…but they gotta leave something for Man-Thing Omnibus: The Second Volumening, I guess.

The $125 price tag is a bit dear, but let’s face it…no one is going to pay full retail for this. And it’ll probably cut off circulation to your lower extremities if you keep this book in your lap while reading for too long. But, it would be nice to have good reprints of this material, in color, on white paper. Some of the older comics were printed on…not the best paper available for magazine use, and certain artistic decisions (like printing white text on black backgrounds) can make some of the stories a bit of a challenge to read. I’m interested, of course, but I may just hold out for a more affordable format. (A color format, I should add, since I know Marvel has the black and white Essentials books reprinting a lot of this same work.)

One more note: I could have sworn something like this already came out, but I didn’t see any record of it in our distributor’s stock listings. Maybe I was just imagining things…Man-Things, that is!

…Yeah, sorry.

• • •

A brief site update: I think I am a lot happier with the reduced posting schedule. I’m enjoying working on the posts more, and it feels like I’m actually having something to say rather than having to say something. Even the single-image gag posts are the result of just having come across those images and wanting to share them, rather than scouring books seeking out something to scan.

In addition, the new schedule frees me up to do things like, oh, reread the entire run of The Boys thus far, in preparation for the series wrapping up in the few months. I don’t have a whole lot to say about that, other than noting that the story certainly flowed a lot more smoothly for me reading it over a relatively short period of time, instead of an issue a month for about six years. Easy to lose some of the nuances, and to lose track of some of the set-ups and payoffs, of the plot when you’ve got four weeks between installments.

Anyway, got sidetracked a bit there…what I’m trying to say is that I’m ultimately pleased with having dropped the pace down a bit here at the site, and I hope that comes across in what I’m doing. Thanks for your patience, and for sticking around and reading my nonsense.

14 Responses to “That’s a lot of Man-Thing.”

  • CW says:

    A 1,200 page Man-Thing Omnibus? I know what I’m buying myself for my birthday! :D

  • And of course we may never see the reprint of the Man-Thing appearance in “Micronauts” because of all the legal rights involved.

  • Lawrence Fechtenberger says:

    So, the cover price is only twenty cents? That seems a pretty good deal.

  • Randal says:

    God dammit.
    *Goes to look for a hammer and his son’s piggy bank*

  • Casey says:

    First Sartre, now Plato. I, for one, am happy with the current frequency and quality of posts, good sir.

  • Eric L says:

    I’m sorry to say that phrases like “Man-Thing Omnibus” will never not make me giggle.

  • Roel Torres says:

    Glad the new schedule is working out for you, Mikester! The recent posts have been entertaining, and your blog remains a first-class treat!

  • Mikester says:

    Casey – Holy crow, I did paraphrase Plato, didn’t I? Oops. …Hope he doesn’t sue.

  • Roger Green says:

    The important news is that, by you going to a not every day schedule, I can catch up to you in another 17 months.

    Oh, I want that MTO, but nowhere near $125 worth.

  • Chad says:

    Out of curiosity, is there enough Man-Thing material to generate a second omnibus? Or, more importantly, are there any Steve Gerber Man-Thing stories not included in this one?

  • Chad says:

    Forget my second question: I followed your link to Marvel Two-in-One #1. The fact that it’s a Gerber story makes its omission completely bonkers.

  • RDaggle says:

    “Casey – Holy crow, I did paraphrase Plato, didn’t I? Oops. …Hope he doesn’t sue.”

    This blog is the single intersection point of the Venn diagram of Sluggo and Plato.

  • Snark Shark says:

    “a 1,200 page Man-Thing Omnibus”

    well, talk about a GIANT SIZE MAN-THING!!

  • cristofaro frederic says:

    there not too the hands of shang chi