Since about 80-90% of my comics collection is made up of TPBs, why the hell shouldn't I make a list listing them all? No particular order here.
I also own the Invincible Compendium, Volume One, but no one has added that to the Vine yet :/
The very first comic book I EVER got! My mum bought this for me when she went overseas, since I liked comics at the time but had no idea where to buy any (and couldn't have afforded to anyway). Really, this was a great choice, as it sort of eased me into the Marvel Universe. I still remember spending almost an entire 10-hour plane trip reading this for the very first time...ah, memories.
It wasn't until about five or so months after I got Essential Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 that I was able to get my hands on this volume! By then, I'd read the first one so many times that I was able to tell you what happened in every single issue in it, and so I decided to continue the tradition with this one. Yep, I can tell you what happens in every single issue of every single Essential Spider-Man off of the top of my head!
I got this volume a few months after Essential Spider-Man Vol.2, and I was quite pleased with it. I think that the quality of Amazing Spider-Man issues wavers around a bit between this volume and Essential Vol.5, but it's still worth a read!
I got both this volume, and volume five, for my birthday back in '07 (when I was turning 14). And boy, was I happy! I remember I spent the next two days or so just reading these volumes over and over and over and over....
Out of all of the Essential Spider-Man's that I have, this is probably my least favourite. For a start, I have the edition which simply has Spider-Man swinging, which looks a bit boring next to the Green Goblin one. Secondly, I think that other than the stories mentioned on the blurb/solicit, there's not too much to write home about here. Still, I am glad I have this and the stories in it which are considered good are worth reading.
I had a bit of a dilemma: the end of Essential Amazing Spider-Man Vol.5 ended on a cliffhanger, presenting us Hammerhead without explaining who he was. I think I bought this about a month or so after Vol.5, I was that eager to read it and find out who Hammerhead was! This volume also contains the Death of Gwen Stacy, and I was so pumped to read that, that I stayed up to about 10 or 11 that night reading this to find that issue! (Remember, I was 14 at the time). The next day, I even took this volume to school to read on the bus, I was enjoying it that much! This is definitely one of the better volumes of Essential Spider-Man.
I've gotta say, I owe my older sister big for this one. One day after she went on a date with her then-boyfriend in the city (we lived about two hours away from it at the time), she came home and surprised me by giving me this volume! Needless to say, I was extremely grateful, and I couldn't appreciate this gift enough!
I bought this volume about a week after I got Vol.7. I remember going into the city, buying it, then making my way back to my dad's house (who lived just a bit outside the city), and lying on the couch and devouring it. After my mum came to take me (and my sister) home, I spent the entire trip reading it, and finished it by the time we got home... it was that good! Unfortunately, I found out shortly afterwards that this was the most recent volume of Essential Spider-Man (at the time), which led to me waiting for the ninth volume.... for two years!
As I said with my Vol.8 note, I had to wait two years before this volume came out! I remember I had been on work experience in the city at the time (Melbourne, for those of you interested), and one day after work I took a quick detour home via the comic book shop! And man, it was almost worth the two year wait for this volume!
One morning I was looking at an online comic book shop for the week's newest trades, so that I knew what was coming out when to my shock, I found that this volume was coming out! I immediately decided to order my comics then and there (I used to buy my comics online since I didn't live near a shop), and included this volume in my order! I normally got pretty excited when I opened a comics parcel... but I think that this was the most excited I ever had been!
This was my very first non-Spider-Man Essential. I'm not entirely sure what made me want to buy it, I think that it was just because I was starting to get into X-Men at the time. I remember reading a few of the early stories in here, like Night of the Demon, and thinking "Oh dear... this isn't what I expected at all..."... but in the end, patience paid out and this turned out to be worth the money!
I think that I bought this volume between Essential Spider-Man Vols 8-9 (which I had a two-year wait between). And boy, is this volume great! When I first read the Dark Phoenix Saga, which was here, I didn't know of the ending, and was completely blown away by it. Same thing with Days of Future Past, which I hadn't read or heard of prior to this. If you want these two classic stories cheaply, I would strongly recommend buying this volume, although buying the first can't hurt either.
I don't know why, but for some reason I don't read this volume as much as I do the others. I think that it might be something to do with Dave Cockrum's art, which I'm not the biggest fan of. Still, there are some decent stories in here.
I got this volume along with Vol.3 as a Christmas present, the day that we moved to our new house! So I'll always associate this volume (and the previous) with those first few days of the excitement of being in a new house. I haven't gotten any more Essential X-Men's past this volume, even though I really should. I know this is going to sound kind of weird, but in a way, I don't want to read the issues which are "too far ahead" of the Amazing Spider-Man issues I have collected in Essential Spider-man... if that makes sense...
I think that I bought this volume because I was still waiting between Essential Spider-Man Volumes #8-9. And I must say, whilst I really do like this and recommend it, you can see that Stan and Jack were still trying to find their feet in these issues, and so we do get a bit of early installment weirdness. Not a bad volume, though.
I'm not entirely sure when I bought this, but I can remember lying on my bed at my dad's house reading it. This volume isn't too bad, but I think that some of the stories (i.e. Infant Terrible) are a bit mediocre and weird.
I remember I had to convince my mum to buy this for me when we were in Melbourne, since I think that she had promised to buy me a comic book... or something. This is probably the best volume of Fantastic Four I've read so far, with everything from the Inhumans, to the Galactus Trilogy, to Doom stealing the Silver Surfer's power!
This is the last volume of Essential Fantastic Four I have. I know that I really should buy some more, but I was running out of room on my bookshelf at the time, so I couldn't afford to buy any more. And the reason I haven't bought any more is the same as always: every time I go to the comic book shop, there always seems to be something much better for sale....
And now it's Essential Avengers time! I remember that I bought this because my copy of Essential Iron Man Vol.1 kept referencing things that happened in Avengers, and after a while I got curious enough to buy this. And here we are!
Much as I like the Avengers, and the Silver Age, I have to say that this is probably one of the worst Essentials I have. I'm not sure whether it's due to a printing error or not, but half the issues have some blurry art, and the plots get a bit silly in some places here. I remember reading one issue where the team goes to another country, and the text was so vague about the fact that they were going there, that it wasn't until halfway through the issue that I realised they were there! Out of all of the Essentials I have, this is the only one I'd recommend thinking about skipping.
Well, now that we're past that slight blight of Essential Avengers Vol.2, I can get onto talking about Vol.3! I remember I bought this volume during my first (and at time of writing, only) trip to Sydney. This volume is much more enjoyable than the last one, and what's more, it introduced me to a comic book shop where I continued to buy my comics from (online) for over two years!
Mmm, Essential Avengers Vol.4! I think that what I like most about this volume is that it has the first appearances of the Squadron Sinister and Squadron Supreme! Yeah, the villain for the Supreme team-up is forgettable, but so what?! It's still a great issue! Oh, and this volume also contains the Kree-Skrull war, so that's always worth it.
I first bought this when a friend of mine and I went down to the city on a day we had off from school. I remember that the Iron Man movie had recently come out at the time, which I had enjoyed, and so I smartly chose to pick this up over something else (I think it was another Essential Fantastic Four). Like with the early Fantastic Four stories, you can see the writers trying to find Tony's place in the world in the early issues here, but after the first six or so issues, it's nothing but goodness!
Even though I wanted this volume for quite a while, it took me forever to get it because the comic book shop never seemed to have it in stock (I think it might have been out of print). Nevertheless, this is a really enjoyable volume, and I think that it's much better than the first.
This was (another) Essential I was given as a birthday present, because my sister didn't know what else to get me. Even though this is the only volume I have, I'm still really pleased with it and really enjoy it.
Oh, man! I picked this volume up because I had started getting into Nova's 2007-2010 series, and was really enjoying it. I wanted to see the sort of classic villains he faced, and how he was different to today. There's quite a lot of differences, but that's not necessarily a bad thing! I'm pleased that I picked this up, I just wish that Nova's original series had lasted more than 25 issues.
The reason I chose to buy this TPB is because the Essential Amazing Spider-Man's kept referencing things which happened in this volume, and eventually I got curious enough to buy this. The stories here aren't really that different from Amazing Spider-Man, but they're still worth a read, particularly the last six-odd issues featuring Carrion.
I read the first few volumes of Nova (his 2007 series) prior to picking this up, and I got curious enough about Annihilation that I decided to pick it up, seeing as how it had launched the whole series. Even though I had to pick up three (fairly pricy) trades, I think that it was worth it!
I knew of Nova from a crossover with Spider-Man, and even though I was interested in this series, I kept putting it off and putting it off before finally buying this. And now my only regret is that I took so long to buy it.
I enjoyed the first Nova TPB so much that I bought this literally two days later, because I was that eager to find out what happened after the previous volume. Even though this is probably the best of the series, I'm still glad that I stuck to the series after this volume, as the rest is pretty decent.
I (naturally) continued reading Nova TPBs after how much I liked the first two, so I ended up getting the whole TPB series. Now I just need to get the Thanos Imperative...
Even though they've been C-Listers at best, I've always liked the Slingers, if only for their awesome costumes and differing personalities. So naturally I decided that I wanted to pick up the Spider-Man arc which started it all with this: Identity Crisis!
Even though I'd heard some negative stuff about this, I was still curious enough to pick it up, and you know what? I genuinely enjoyed this TPB! Which just goes to show that you should stick by your own opinion!
I'd heard around the time it was coming out that Shadowland was pretty decent, so I decided to do the lazy thing and pick up the trade. If nothing else, I needed to work out where things fit into continuity with Shadowland: Moon Knight.
I'd heard that Liss's run on Black Panther was pretty good, and considering how cheap this trade was, I figured it was worth a go. Whilst I did enjoy this, I'm not sure whether I can be bothered to pick up the next one (Fear Itself: Black Panther).
When I first started getting into comics seriously, Secret Invasion was the event on everyone's lips. Unfortunately, even though I was trying to find out as much as I could from the internet, I couldn't afford any monthly comics! So I decided to pick this up in trade and see what I had missed. The answer? Not much.
I've mentioned before that I like the Slingers, and seeing as how I enjoyed this team in Runaways, that gave me two reasons to pick up this trade. Even though some people say there are lots of continuity problems and some bad writing here, I ultimately enjoyed this trade.
When I felt in the mood for another Iron Man TPB, I decided to pick this up, since it's gotten a lot of decent reviews. Even though it's kinda short, I do think that it's worth buying, if not reading.
I picked this up for two reasons: Firstly, because some of the events of the Scourge of the Underworld TPB occurred here, and I wanted to know more about them. Secondly, this is obviously a well-crafted story by the man whom I consider to be the greatest Captain America writer, Mark Gruenwald. Every single issue here is enjoyable, and I highly recommend this.
I can't remember what I wanted to buy, but there was some TPB which I wanted but couldn't find in the comic book shop. When I spotted this, I decided to pick it up instead. Even though you need to read The Captain TPB to get the full story on some of the characters here, it's ultimately well-crafted.
I found this TPB fairly cheaply, so I decided to buy it on that simple basis. And hey, it's Mark Gruenwald writing Cap, so you know it can't be that bad!
I've wanted to read Faith in Monsters and Caged Angels for a while, but hadn't been able to find them anywhere. Fortunately, Marvel thought to put this out instead, and so I quite happily bought it!
Again, I bought this because I couldn't find whatever the hell else it was I wanted to buy in the comic book shop. I had always been curious in the early Thunderbolts stories though, so I was hardly reluctant to buy it. And when I realised that Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley were the creators... well, just try and stop me from buying it!
I've always liked the idea of the New Warriors; namely that they're a group of teenage superheroes. Since the first volume looks to be the best of what's come so far, I decided to pick this TPB series up, and haven't regretted it for a moment!
I found out about Generation X through Uncannyxmen.net's Spotlight On... feature on Chamber. I found a few issues here and there, and I decided that I liked the rest of the team. Hence why I picked this volume up!
I'd heard that X-Force was really good, so when I was in the comic book shop I picked this up, deciding to give the series a try. Even though I hadn't read Messiah CompleX at the time, I still enjoyed it, and bought the rest of the trades!
I was a bit annoyed to find out that this book comes in the middle of the third X-Force trade (Not Forgotten), so I kinda had to pick it up to fill in the blanks.
Since I couldn't find a trade of X-Force which just collected the Necrosha issues (which is coming out this week at time of writing), I picked up this instead. I guess it's kinda okay, since I got the whole arc, but I'd rather had gotten just the X-Force issues, if only to save on money.
At time of writing I don't have X-Men: Second Coming, but I'm glad because it gave me time to get this! When I do get Second Coming, I'll have all of the third volume of X-Force, plus the entire Messiah Trilogy. Yeow!
Spider-Man is my favourite character ever, full stop, so I decided to start collecting Amazing Spider-Man in TPB form from Brand New Day, Vol 1 (even though there's A LOT of trades following). Since I prefer getting trades to hardcovers, it means I'll always be a bit behind, but WTF, right?
Continuing my quest to get all Amazing Spider-Man TPBs post-Brand New Day, I finally ended up buying the TPB format of this! And it's awesome!
Mwuhaha, I'm finally catching up on my Amazing Spider-Man collection! Since I've gotten this, at time of writing the only other Amazing Spider-Man TPB currently out is The Fantastic Spider-Man... considering how many damn Amazing Spider-Man TPBs there are, I'm pretty pleased that I'm finally catching up!
Ever since I heard about Mark Gruenwald's Squadron Supreme series, I really, really wanted it. When this Omnibus came out, I fortunately managed to convince my dad to buy it for me (as it was a little out of my price range). I haven't regretted it since I got it. To confirm this - and take note that the next statement is my personal opinion only - I find that it deconstructs the superhero genre better and more enjoyably than Watchmen ever did.
Since I'm half-German, I've been over to Germany from time to time. One time when I was there, I found this in a train station, and decided to buy it for the hell of it (even though it was in German, which I'm only semi-fluent in).
Another one I picked up in Germany (different trip though). Even though I really did enjoy this, I might pick it up in English, because I probably missed more of it than I realised.
I've said before that I prefer trade paperbacks to hardcovers, mostly due to the pricing difference. Still, since I couldn't find Spider-Man: Torment in anything but hardcover, I reluctantly picked it up anyway.
When I first saw Iron Man (the movie, that is), I was disappointed with Obadiah Stane. To me, I was hoping to see a villain other than the powered-armour type, such as Mandarin or Whiplash. Still, I decided to pick this up, and I found out exactly how foolish I was to think that Obadiah Stane wasn't a decent villain...
When I heard about the basic idea of Under Siege, I immediately wanted this. Earth's Mightiest defeated?! The concept is worked so well and executed flawlessly, and I am glad that I picked this up.
I don't know what it is about Moon Knight, but something about him really draws me to him. I'd heard that this was good and was interested in picking up some of Moon Knight's early stuff, so here I am!
Back in the day, I was quite a Venom fan (which is surprising, considering that I didn't read comics in the '90s!). My sister (yes, her again) saw me eyeing this in the comic book shop one day, and so when my back was turned, bought the hardcover for me as a gift! I really do owe her...
After reading one of Scott McCloud's books (I think it was Making Comics), I saw that he had many references to his comic Zot! I found this at my local library, and picked it up out of interest. Holy cow. My mind was blown. As you can tell by the rest of this list, I'm a big Marvelite, but this comic would easily be in my Top 3 of all time, if not my Number 1.
Okay, so it's not really a TPB since it doesn't collect previously published material, but it's close enough, right? Anyway, I found the first five volumes of Scott Pilgrim in my school library, borrowed them, loved them, and so went on to buy the entire series.
I really like Kurt Busiek's works, if only for his brilliant use of continuity, and so I picked this up, since it's supposed to be some of his best work. Whilst I didn't like this as much as I thought that I would (I don't find Immortus to be that cool a villain), I'm still glad I bought it!
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