Gone but not Forgotten: Marvel (Panini UK) Pocket Books
From 2004 - 2017, Panini, who hold the licence to publish Marvel comics in the UK, produced a series of "Pocket Books" reprinting in full colour, several classic tales from Marvels back catalogue with many books running to over 250 pages for between £3-£4.99 each. I never actually saw these advertised in any of the then Panini Marvel monthly comics at the time and only came across (and purchased) my first pocket book “Spider-Man: The end of the Green Goblin” (see below) when visiting the Waterstones book shop in Glasgow. I don’t recall seeing any other Pocket Books again until around 2014 when I picked up the above “ Spider-Man: Countdown to Chaos” book for £1 in a charity shop, since then I have managed to purchase 6 other Pocket Books for only 50p each with my most recent one ("The Night Gwen Stacy Died") being bought last week.
The earlier books seemed to have had a few publishing problems with stiff card covers , pages being printed right up to the spine / gutter making it difficult to read (see above) and some pages printed upside down or out of order. However, the more recent books (after 2011) seem to have sorted these problems out. Below in no particualr order, are the pocket books I have so far managed to pick up:
Above: "To Crush the Kingpin" (2006) - Reprinting: Amazing Spider-Man #68 to #77
Above:"The End of the Green Goblin"(2004) - The first Panini Spider-Man Pocket book -Reprinting - Amazing Spider-Man #39 to #46
Above:Thor: "In the Shadow of Mangog!" (2014) - Reprinting: Thor #189 to #198
Above: Hulk - "The Coming of the Hulk!" (2004) - Reprinting: The Incredible Hulk #1 to #6
Above: "The Origin of Deathlok" (2014) - Reprinting: Astonishing Tales #25 to #28 and #30 to #35
Although Marvel are now publsihing many of their classic tales in more affordable (and smaller sized) trades, the Panini pocket books are a cheap way to check out these earlier comics with some editions appearing online for little money and for even less if you can pick them up in charity shops. I have never seen a full list of the titles soI have no idea how many books they published (at a guess I would say there must be around 50 books) but I do know that there are X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Captain America, Silver Surfer (cover above from ebay) and Dacula Lives books out there.
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I had the FF books as well as the Hulk one, though I later gave them to a pal. By the way, I've always loved the Green Goblin Spidey cover - first saw it on an ish of SMCW back in the '70s. Unfortunately, even though there were better sources to print from at the time, it seems Panini were supplied with inferior proofs used for earlier printings of these tales, which had clumsy 'restoration' and not quite so good reproduction in places. If you just want to read the stories, no problem, but if you hanker after 'archive' quality as close to the original issues as possible, then the Epic Collections are a better bet, as well as back-to-print Masterworks and Omnibus volumes.
ReplyDeleteI have a few of the epic collection books and 3 masterworks all very nice indeed but for me some of them are pretty costly ( I got mine all in the Xmas sales ) I don't plan to collect the Panini pocket books, but if I see them for literally no money then I'll pick them up. I do like the smaller trade reprints that Marvel recently produced at £14.99 each, ideally I would buy the original comics but you need a lottery win for that these days..
ReplyDeleteNot sure if I've seen the smaller trade reprints, McS, what kind of size are they? Had you forgotten you've also got the Dr. Strange Omnibus volume? Is that a cracker or what?! I've got around 20 Marvel Omnibus editions, plus around a dozen DC ones. Masterworks? Don't even ask - too many to count.
DeleteI don't have my smaller reprint book handy Kid so not sure of the size I will look them out after work. Yeah my Dr Strange omnibus is my favourite comic related booj - even my "better half" thinks that its a cracker.
ReplyDeleteNo need to go that bother, McS, I just wondered if they were smaller than normal comicbook/graphic novel/Epic Collection size. Or are they roughly the same size as the Pocket Books?
ReplyDeleteThey arw bigger than pocket books, but a bit smaller than the actual comics
ReplyDeleteAh, right - ta much.
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