The Essential Marvel line of comic book reprints are a collection of black-and-white paperbacks containing about 20-30 issues of silver or bronze age Marvel comic book reprints each. They contain between 500 and 650 pages, and phonebook-style paper is used. With volumes retailing for $14.99 each (now $16.99), they offer a cheaper alternative to the more expensive, but in color, Marvel Masterworks line of reprints. Showcase #4 (September-October 1956), often thought the first appearance of the first Silver Age superhero, the Barry Allen Flash. ... Wolverine, a member of the X-Men, a popular franchise in the Modern Age, and an example of an anti-hero, a popular character type of the Modern Age The Modern Age of Comic Books is an informal name for the period of American comic books generally considered to last... It has been suggested that Felicia (pseudonym) be merged into this article or section. ... Marvel Masterworks are a collection of hardcover comic book reprints published by Marvel Comics that feature their most famous series in chronological order. ...

In the same way that the DC Archive Editions are DC Comics' equivalent of Marvel Masterworks, Showcase presents is their equivalent of the Essential line of reprints. DC Archive Editions, edited by Dale Crain for DC Comics, collect early, sometimes rare, comic books published by DC and other publishers into a permanent hardcover series. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... Marvel Masterworks are a collection of hardcover comic book reprints published by Marvel Comics that feature their most famous series in chronological order. ... Showcase Presents is a DC Comics collection created as DCs own version of Essential Marvel Comics. ...

History

The Essential range launched in March 1997 with the joint release of Esssential X-Men and Essential Spider-Man vol. 1. While Essential Spider-Man started with Spider-Man's first appearance in the Silver Age (IE Amazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Spider-Man #1-20), Marvel controversially decided to skip ahead with the X-Men to the mid-1970s, so as to start with Giant Sized X-Men #1 and Uncanny X-Men #94-119. The decision to skip the original X-Men in favor of starting with the more well known "All-New, All-Different" X-Men was controversial, though Marvel ultimately went back and began a new collection of Essential volumes, titled "Essential Uncanny X-Men", to collect the early X-Men stories.

The current (second) cover design launched with Essential Spider-Man vol. 4 in May 2002 - all the older volumes have been reprinted since then with the new design as well as to correct printing mistakes from previous volumes (such as the fact that both Essential X-Men #1 and 2 both have missing pages from their earlier printings) and to reshuffle content to create a more consistant, continuity-wise, reading experience.

From May 2005, many of the volumes have been reprinted for a third time - this time with the same cover design as the second reprint, but with different cover art.

The series currently has 2 new volumes published every month.

Comparison to Masterworks

Though being widely criticized by some fans for being in black and white, the essential series is also praised by many readers as the sole opportunity to reread or discover comic-books that they would never had the opportunity to read otherwise. The Marvel Masterworks series couldn't be published at such a fast rate: readers just couldn't afford to follow. Also, Marvel has been able to negotiate one-off reprint rights of some licensed comics they used to but no longer have the rights to - namely the Conan and Godzilla volumes.

As a result of this there are more issues collected in Essentials than in Masterworks. Due to the increased number of Essentials compared to Masterworks, the Essential line has even made headway into Bronze Age reprints - something Marvel Masterworks have yet to do. However, there are some issues found in Masterworks but not in Essentials - for example the Fantastic Four Masterworks run goes farther than the Essential Fantastic Four run does. Also, Masterworks horizons are broadening - there are no Golden Age or Atlas Era Essentials, and no Sgt. Fury Essentials either. Wolverine, a member of the X-Men, a popular franchise in the Modern Age, and an example of an anti-hero, a popular character type of the Modern Age The Modern Age of Comic Books is an informal name for the period of American comic books generally considered to last... Superman, the catalyst of the Golden Age, from Superman #14, January-February 1942. ... Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. ... Nick Fury is a fictional army hero and spy, featured in Marvel Comics. ...

Table of Essential Volumes

The following table is work in progress. When the table is complete, this tag will be removed. Feel free to continue the table by filling in missing information.

The International Standard Book Number, or ISBN (sometimes pronounced is-ben), is a unique identifier for books, intended to be used commercially. ...

See also

• The Silver Age of Comic Books - Information on the Silver Age of comics in General, i.e. the late 1950's to the early 1970's.
• The Bronze Age of Comic Books - Information on the Bronze Age of comics in General, i.e. the early 1970's to the early/mid 1980's.
• Marvel Comics
• Marvel Masterworks
• DC Archive Editions

Showcase #4 (September-October 1956), often thought the first appearance of the first Silver Age superhero, the Barry Allen Flash. ... Wolverine, a member of the X-Men, a popular franchise in the Modern Age, and an example of an anti-hero, a popular character type of the Modern Age The Modern Age of Comic Books is an informal name for the period of American comic books generally considered to last... It has been suggested that Felicia (pseudonym) be merged into this article or section. ... Marvel Masterworks are a collection of hardcover comic book reprints published by Marvel Comics that feature their most famous series in chronological order. ... DC Archive Editions, edited by Dale Crain for DC Comics, collect early, sometimes rare, comic books published by DC and other publishers into a permanent hardcover series. ...

External links

• The Marvel Masterworks Resource Home Page Whilst primarily dealing with Masterworks, there is a section for Essentials, and the material reprinted in Masterworks is often reprinted in Essentials, too.
• Essentials FAQ
• Collected Comics Library
• Marvel Essentials and Trade Paperbacks Yahoo! Group