MARVEL TREASURY EDITIONS SELECTED COVER GALLERY... (Updated)

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

I bought at least the first dozen of these titles as they came out, but I didn't always keep the previous one(s) until the next one, so I have only three actual issues of my original MARVEL TREASURY EDITIONs from the time of purchase back in the '70s.  However, I replaced some of them around 30-35 years ago, and others maybe around ten years after that, so not only have I had the replacements longer than I had their originals, but also longer than I didn't have them (if you catch my drift).

One of them I obtained only recently (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY), and I'm currently waiting for #4, CONAN The BARBARIAN, arriving anytime soon.  (Update: Now received and added.)  Then I'll get #5 (HULK), #6 (Dr. STRANGE), #7 (The AVENGERS), #9 (GIANT SUPERHERO TEAM-UP), and #10 (THOR), which will restore to me the first 12 numbered issues again.  (Incidentally, the friend to whom I gave my original copy of #9 (many, many years ago), says that he should still have it somewhere and that I can have it back if I want should he ever find it.)  (Update: #s 5, 6, 7, 9 & 10 now added.)  

There were also one-shots, like the first GIANT SUPERHERO HOLIDAY GRAB-BAG (1974), which was labelled as a Marvel Treasury SPECIAL rather than an 'Edition', as was the Space Odyssey and CAPTAIN AMERICA BICENTENNIAL BATTLES issues.  I probably also bought an occasional later TE if the contents appealed to me, but the first 12 will suffice to complete my collection.  Truth to tell, I don't even need them as I already have the stories in other reprint collections, but I get a feeling of immense satisfaction from plugging gaps in a series.

One thing about the Treasury Editions that irked me was that the pages were routinely resized and, sometimes, even abridged by having pages edited out.  (FF #4 in TE #2 is one such example).  Although larger than a standard comicbook, the TEs weren't of the same proportions, so in order to fit the different dimensions, tiers of panels were cropped in places so that there wasn't too large a margin around the top, bottom, or sides.  This sometimes resulted in uneven-sized gutters between tiers, and cropped panels occasionally had no bottom borders.  (Exactly like what was done in early issues of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL and SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY UK periodicals.)

I'll update this post as I re-acquire the missing editions (now done), but in the meantime, feel free to share your memories (if any) of these over-sized publications with your fellow Crivvies.  Did you like them, or did you prefer the regular monthly issues?  'Fess up now, while I start scanning my DC COMICS equivalents - coming soon in an upcoming post.    

Although not numbered on the front cover, the interior indicia reveals it to be #8

The soldiers with the flag on Cap's right were drawn by JOHN ROMITA

Although the mag below is also included in our DC post, I've added it here as it's actually a Marvel Treasury Edition (#28).

And although the following 'Book' isn't quite a Treasury Edition, I thought you'd all like to see it anyway, so here it is.

The MTEs were revived a couple of years back, so here are the front and back covers from a couple of them just in case you missed them at the time.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1000...

Copyright DC COMICS

As everyone and their granny will know, DETECTIVE COMICS reached its 1000th issue recently, celebrating 80 years of The BATMAN.  I ordered the BERNIE WRIGHTSON variant cover, but I was unaware until now that ALEX ROSS had also illustrated one, a homage to BOB KANE's cover to the mag's 27th issue in which Batman first appeared.  It's currently demanding huge prices on eBay, the highest I've seen so far being £381.98, but I don't think I'll bother.  I'll wait until the hardcover deluxe version which will include all the variant covers (33 I think) comes out and buy that instead.  I haven't yet read there'll be such a release, but they did it with the 1000th issue of ACTION COMICS so there's bound to be one (I hope).

Did you buy this ish, Criv-ites?  If so, what cover did you plump for - and why?

  

And below is my Wrightson issue, which arrived this morning.  Great, innit?