Want to talk about a labor of love?  How about trying to catalog and document all of Marvel Comics’ graphic novels, trade paperbacks, prose novels, and children’s books ever published?  That’s exactly what Rob Weiner does in this thoroughly exhaustive reference book.  Over five years in the making, Weiner gives Marvel fans a one-stop shopping place for information on all of these books published through 2005.

As I paged through the book I was simply blown away by the amount of information inside.  I had no idea that there were so many books out there.  But of course, in the past decade, we’ve seen this trend towards preprinting story arcs of varying numbers of issue into book format.  Comic fans are no longer merely collectors and some are not collectors at all.  They still want to keep up with their favorite characters and buying one book every six months versus having to run to the comic store monthly is simply more desirable for a lot of people and for those people especially, this is a fantastic tool.

What I love about Weiner’s layout is that he didn’t just decide to list books in alphabetical order but instead he grouped the sections by subject matter or characters.  For example there is a section for Marvel’s Superheroes with subsections for individual heroes or groups of heroes such as The Avengers, Conan/Kull, Hulk and She-Hulk, Thor, X-Men/Mutants, Wolverine, etc…

Next is the section for special volumes and series like the Marvel Masterworks and Essentials lines and Epic Comics graphic novels, followed by sections for Children’s books, Prose novels, Marvel/DC crossovers, guidebook and indexes and more.  Nearly 400 page in all and it’s all backed up by a comprehensive index or indexes I should say as there are three of them:  one for title, one for artist/author, and one for subject making it easy to pickup and find exactly what book you are looking for.  There are even three appendices including one for all of the Marvel Superheroes game books and modules published by TSR.

Now if this were just a list that might be good enough but it isn’t.  Once you look up a book, Weiner provides the artist, writer, year of publication, ISBN#, the issues the book reprints if applicable and a comprehensive summary of the plot.  Now I don’t know if Mr. Weiner actually read all of these books but it doesn’t really matter…there is a wealth of information here that is indispensable for Marvel fans.   Extraordinarily researched and meticulously laid out, the book is well worth the $49.95 price tag.

Check out this new article from Lucas and me at Newsarama.

Building on work that Lucas did in two previous installments, I take a look at the current picture of the Marvel Universe via Secret Invasion. Drop by and contribute some of your own theories!

Well, at a certain someone’s behest, I caught up on GA/BC today. I hadn’t read since the same plot device used at the end of the wedding was used at the end of issue #3, and 3 issues in we’d already had a Mia “I HAVE AIDS!!!!!” tirade.

Nevertheless, I decided to go ahead and catch up, reading four issues in a row, ending with last week’s issue #7. I’ll be honest, #4 to a lesser extent, but I somewhat enjoyed 4-6. The broody Ollie is not as fun as the carefree Ollie, of course, but the characters still mostly acted like themselves, and some of the bits were pretty heartwarming. The do-over wedding in particular was nice; my wife and I had a small, intimate wedding, and we’ve also dressed as GA and BC for a Halloween. I digress. After feeling somewhat ok about this book all of a sudden, I then opened up #7.

It started off ok, with a decent little chase/action scene. A comedic beat followed, featuring Hal Jordan. Then, Team Arrow used the threat of sodomy by overweight shirtless clown, old lady in bikini and bunny ears, and a sheep as interrogation tools. Go ahead, re-read that sentence. I couldn’t possibly make this stuff up, folks, that’s what REALLY happens in the book.

Overseas in London, England, Team Arrow meets/tussles with/then decides fighting is silly (where have I seen that before? Oh, every team up. Ever. Forever.) with Gambit. Er…some kind of British Gambit wannabe who throws a mace instead of cards. He even has the two-toned spandex under a trench coat, a tussle to his hair, and a cavalier attitude. He’s a thief that’s made some bad moves, but everyone just can’t help but like him. So, like I said, they meet Gambit. He leads them to the big reveal…

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Last week, I reviewed the new Titans #1 from DC. I didn’t like it.

What’s of interest is less the review, which I think is pretty straight-forward, and more the reaction to it. I’m not going to talk about the threads at Newsarama or Comic Book Resources; I just wanted to point out a couple of interesting spin-off discussions.

Valerie D’Orozio of Occasional Superheroine uses the issue as springboard to talk about moderated forums and civility.

Heidi MacDonald at The Beat takes a view at the bigger post-fest, complete with a couple of links.

I will address one recurring point in the Newsarama thread. Do I have an agenda? Yes. I want to read good comics. There you have it.

Best Shots Extra
Secret Invasion #1
From: Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Art: Leinil Francis Yu and Mark Morales
Color: Laura Martin
Lettering: Chris Eliopoulos
Review by Troy Brownfield

It basically goes without saying that the stakes for Secret Invasion are rather high. That doesn’t just go for the characters of the Marvel Universe, many of whom are left in precarious situations by the end of the first issue. It goes for Marvel itself. The book isn’t exactly a make-or-break proposition for the entire company, but myriads of groundwork, time, and effort have gone into building this particular event.

It’s also no secret (no pun intended) that we live in an era where people are somewhat skeptical of major events and crossovers. The term “event fatigue” has even been coined to address this. There are even some out there that feel (and they’ll no doubt start another thread about it) that any time that someone (me) gives a positive review of any kind of event, that they’re attempting to toe some invisible company line.

Here’s the basic truth: Marvel’s had a good run with contained events as of late. Messiah Complex worked. World War Hulk worked. Annihilation worked. And if the first issue is any indication, Secret Invasion is going to work.

Read the rest here.

Check out our latest Best Shots Extra here.

This week in Best Shots @ Newsarama.com, the crew covers the following . . .

Feature Reviews:
Wonder Woman #18 (review by Brian Andersen)
Last Defenders #1 (by Corey Henson)
Spider-Man Family Untold Team-Ups (by J. Caleb Mozzocco)
Three Shadows (by Michael C. Lorah)
Daddy’s Girl (by Michael C. Lorah)
The Lone Ranger & Tonto #1 (by Richard Renteria)
Dead of Night #2 (Richard Renteria)
Atomic Robo #6 (by Tim Janson)
Sequential Suicide 2008 TPB Slop (by Jeff Marsick)

Pellet Reviews:
Superman #674 (Review by THE Rev. O.J. Flow)
The Mighty Avengers #10 (by Caleb )
Avengers The Initiative #10 (by Caleb)
Fantastic Four #555 (by Andersen)
Tiny Titans #2 (by Andersen)
The Walking Dead #47 (by Troy Brownfield)
Green Arrow and Black Canary #6 (by Troy)
Booster Gold (and Blue Beetle) #7 (by Troy)
Suicide Squad #7 (by Troy)
Serenity Better Days #1 (by Troy)
Red Sonja #31 (by Troy)
Thunderbolts #119 (by Richard)

In Case You Missed It . . .
Army@Love vol. 1 The Hot Zone Club (by Michael)

Enjoy!

This week in our Best Shots column at Newsarama, we cover the following . . .

Feature Reviews:

Justice League: The New Frontier Special; review by The Rev. OJ Flow

Logan #1; review by Corey Henson

Cable #1; review by Jeff Marsick

DC Special: Raven #1; review by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Young Liars #1; review by Richard Renteria

Penance: Relentless #5; review by Richard Renteria

La Perdida; review by Michael C. Lorah

Tonoharu Vol. 1; review by Michael C. Lorah

North World Vol. 1; review by Troy Brownfield

Justice League: The Lightning Saga hardcover; review by Tim Janson

Plus, Pellet Reviews: Grimm Fairy Tales #22 (by Jeff); Justice League Unlimited #43 (by Caleb); Supergirl #27 (by Brian Andersen); Atom Eve #2 (by Brian); Dan Dare #2 (by Troy); Uncanny X-Men #496 (by Troy); Buffy the Vampire Slayer #12 (by Troy); Green Lantern #28 (by Troy); and Gravel #1 (by Troy).

By the way . . . No Vlog this week, but the Siegels shall return soon.

The All-Star Companion Vol.3
From: TwoMorrows Publishing, edited by Roy Thomas

As recounted in previous reviews in our Best Shots @ Newsarama column, I really enjoy the “Companion” series by TwoMorrows. Each volume comes complete with great (occasionally recently discovered art), yards of anecdotes, and miles of history. A highlight of the effort includes as many attempts to get primary-source interviews as possible. Frequently, they go that one better, getting the actual writers and artists involved to write their own remembrances. Thomas, in particular, is all over this volume; really, who else would you want to discuss the evolution of the Young All-Stars title?

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