Around the Store in 31 Days: Day Eleven

Yeah, looks like "daily" is starting to peter out, what with having to retour schools and stuff thanks to the incredibly screwed up results of the SFUSD system for placing elementary schools...

Since I did a DC superhero comic last time, let's go with "Equal Time" and do a Marvel one this go round.

Find out what it is after the jump!

So, the real problem with a Marvel GN is that they don't exactly have their shit together in terms of keeping things in print, or at least in a format that I especially want to recommend -- I'm a little so-so on something like the MILLER BY DAREDEVIL COMPANION HC, when I'd rather tell you to buy DAREDEVIL BORN AGAIN or ELEKTRA: ASSASSIN. But you can't GET them separately, foo.

I thought for a moment about recommending ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, but that strikes me as far too obvious (even though, actually, super-terrific), but find something semi-obscure that is ALSO available is proving really fuckin' hard.

But, after thinking about it a while I found a good one -- and, oddly, one that I personally believe is only still in print because of Trade Dress.

See, when Marvel started their post-marvelcution TP program, they began with the premise that the characters were far more important than the contents or the creators, and they designed their spines accordingly.

My recommendation for today is the badly titled WOLVERINE LEGENDS v 2: HAVOK AND WOLVERINE: MELTDOWN written by Walt and Louise Simonson with art by John J. Muth and Kent Williams.

Nowhere on the cover does it say any of that, and all the spine says is "Wolverine Legends v2", which is sorta problematic if you want to sell the thing.

(v1 of the series is the Sam Kieth WOLVERINE/HULK, which is decent, but v3 is a Frank Tieri story, v4 is that awful Bruce Jones X-isle story, so it's not like "Wolverine Legends" as a brand name is a big mark of quality, in and of itself!)

This entry, however, is really swell stuff, from that late post-Dark Knight 80s period when Epic was alive, and Marvel was actually willing to experiment in form and function, and they were willing to put out fully painted abstract looking books.

This is just a big pile of spiffiness from page 1 to book's end, and is one of the best looking things that Marvel ever released.

Go. Find yourself a copy. You will not be disappointed.

-B