Hey there, TPB collectors!
This is Alex “Uncle Gorby” Jaffe, an old pal you may remember from this site’s early days a few years back.
I’m here to let you know that while Ian is occupied doing real world things on Earth-Prime, I’ll be here every week as the new Editor to keep this Watchtower in orbit.
But first, why not ingratiate myself a little with the natives?
Let’s welcome this bold new era for TRO with a giveaway!
Here’s all you’ve got to do:
Use the comments below to tell me what you believe is the greatest superhero team book of all time, and why.
In one month (February 28th), if you’re the winner, I’ll contact you for your address and send you the thematically appropriate JUSTICE LEAGUE: A NEW BEGINNING, a now quite rare discontinued print which covers the first issues of Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis’ legendary Justice League International series.
Coming up later this week — and, Zod be willing, every week after that — no less than two new trade reviews from our staff or you the readers, and a database update worth writing home about. See you in the comments!
-Alex
Batman Incorporated is, I think, the greatest superhero team book of all time. Comprised of mostly ordinary men doing extraordinary things in the tradition of The Bat himself, this team fights a global threat, Leviathan, that has been recruiting children for its nasty work, which makes this threat that much more raw.
Also in the vein of Batman, most of these heroes have a huge ego, so, by all rights, they shouldn’t even be able to work together. and yet they do.
With Volume 1, the use of different artists, gave a distinct feel to the characters of the team as we move through the story. From a reader perspective, this adds to the greatness of the storytelling, helping to elevate Batman Incorporated to the top of my list as the greatest superhero team book of all time.
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I have to go with the X-men as the greatest super team ever. While they are not the most powerful team, or the oldest, they are the team that I bonded to the most as a reader. They took the Marvel way set down by the Fantastic Four and perfected it under the helm of great writers like Chris Claremont and others. They are all freaks and outsiders from crappy pasts, but together they fight for an ideal bigger then themselves. Through this ideal the individual members reach their highest potential and become heroes. This sets them apart from teams like the JLA. In the JLA all the members are heroes already and most are well respected. However with the X-men the members are just people like you or me. Most of them were beat down and hated for just being who they are. But through devoting themselves to a higher ideal, and using nothing but their natural gifts and abilities, they become more than the world tells them that they can be. They become heroes that are grounded and relatable. They become a family. We have all felt like outsiders at some point in our lives. The X-men show us that we can be more than we think we can be if we just apply ourselves, support one another, and fight for others.
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Great points here! :D
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Since I’ve been on an Xmen kick. I will go with that mutant team. Uncanny or otherwise. But I’m talking about the Claremont years.
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I’m not going for the giveaway, I just wanted to say congrats on being the new editor. I didn’t expect Ian to have someone new that quick!
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I agree, I think it is great that the site has a new editor. Good luck! So far you are doing a great job, its awesome to have some new material on the site again!
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Thanks guys! I will do my best to deliver quality content in a timely manner.
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Uncanny X-Men. The nostalgia factor of watching X-men TAS is a big plus because without watching the show I might not have read the comics. The stories are realistic and really can happen!
Congratulations Gorblax! I’m glad to see the site updating!
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Oh I completely agree! X-men TAS got me into comics and all of my base x-men knowledge comes from that show. Recently I have been watching a bunch of the old episodes on youtube and your right the nostalgia of seeing them again is great. There are so many great little pieces of dialogue in that show that I swear should be put into a classical play! Heck Beast from that show even got me interested in some poetry haha. I also just got a bunch of the Marvel Masterworks collections of the Claremont run on the X-men, so I’m on a bit of an X-men kick right now.
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I’ve only just started reading the Claremont X-Men issues in order (God Loves, Man Kills was the last trade I read) but it’s already obvious why it’s so highly regarded. But, until I finish the run, I’ll go with the B.P.R.D.
Much like the X-Men, the B.P.R.D. are united by their outsider status, but the inspiration the universe draws from folklore and fairy tales makes the potential for unique stories and adversaries virtually limitless. Mike Mignola does an expert job of dropping breadcrumbs throughout the volumes about each character’s backstory, but their personalities are so well-defined that new readers can drop in at any point for a fun and genuinely creepy adventure.
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So who ended up with it?
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You did! Congratulations! Give your mailing address to gorblax@gmail.com, yudansha, and we’ll send it your way.
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Hi Alex! and Welcome and Thanks for taking over!
I hadn’t checked the site int he past few months after the few update posts and saw there are 4 pages of new stuff! Joy!
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