though Modern Masters one seems to have had a better dispersal of chase rares (and sadly a shorter print ...
581500
A fair set, though Modern Masters one seems to have had a better dispersal of chase rares (and sadly a shorter print run to go with it).  Really brings a boost to your modern format options.
711496
When I saw that the new Mandrake the Magician dailies were listed as volume 1 in the product description I assumed that it was an error. Nope, this is indeed volume 1. The OTHER volume 1 included the first Mandrake comics featuring illustrator Phil Davis from the mid 1930s. THIS volume 1 features illustrator Fred Fredericks and jumps to the mid 1960s. This is actually the THIRD volume 1 from Titan including the Phil Davis Sunday comics. In April 2018 Titan will be publishing a fourth Mandrake volume and guess what. Its volume 1. That would be the Fredericks Sunday comics. I have no idea why Titan is jumping all around but I find it somewhat annoying particularly since their release rate is pretty slow.

Putting aside my issues with Titan hoping all over the place, is the material here good? The art is a mixed bag. In the introduction Roger Langridge wrote that, [Fred] Fredericks was fast. He had to be. He had to be because he was working on so many projects at the same time. Langridge wrote this as praise but as far as Im concerned Fredericks art looks rushed and uninspired. In the first story, his art looks much cleaner and although I had some issues with how he drew some faces it looked like he put in some effort. It was with the second story that his effort seemed to dip. Regardless of the praise in the introductions I just wasn't impressed by the art. Sorry, Fredericks fans.

Comics have always tried to capitalize on the cultural zeitgeist of the moment. In the 1950s it was all about western comics. In the late 70s everyone jumped on the Star Wars bandwagon. In the mid 1960s James Bond was all the rage and it was during this time that Mandrake the Magician became a secret agent. Mandrake now works with an organization called inter-intel which is his version of MI6 and in three of the stories he fights an organization called The Sign of 8 which would be a surrogate for Specter. In one story called The UFO (which does not feature any aliens) Mandrake never once use any of his hypnotic powers or astral projection. He is essentially a spy in a stage magicians costume except the stories lack the charm of the real James Bond. The final story, The Return of Evil  The Cobra is EASILY the best story in this collection and Mandrake actually acts like Mandrake. Hopefully future stories will be far most like this and less like the other stories.

I am reminded of several other times when comic characters were changed from interesting to boring. In the late 1960s DC decided to try something different with Wonder Woman. They took away her powers and costume and had her fight using martial arts. This change wasn't inspired by James Bond but was instead influence by another British spy franchise, The Avengers, with Wonder Woman acting like superspy Emma Peel. Since you probably never heard of this change you can imagine how successful it was. In the 1940s, Dr. Fate burst on to the scene with the powerful Fate fighting weird, otherworldly foes. However, after a while the writer decided to shift gears, depower Dr. Fate and give him regular old thugs to defeat. And then Fate was put on the shelf for several decades. Why do writers do this? In the second introduction Jon Preddle says the weirdest thing. In comparing Mandrake to Flash Gordon Preddle says, Mandrake was set in the present day, and this allowed for a far more creative canvas on which to work. Seriously? Setting a story in present day allows more creativity? Stealing from James Bond is creative? James Bond at least had some interesting bad guys but the villains here are just dull.

I always appreciate publishers like Titan, Fantagraphics and IDW reprint these classic comics and Mandrake continued for almost 50 years so either this was just a weak period or people actually liked this Mandrake. Im going to assume this was a brief stutter in an otherwise fine series and the return of Cobra is the truer reflection of the quality of the stories. I'm giving a generous four stars because the presentation is great and I always commend the re-presenting of classic comics.
4084898
Celebrating the World War II-era precursors of the Marvel Comics heroes, this book has some terrific stories -- especially the "All Winners" book, which features a great sequel by Karl Kesel ("Captain America: Patriot") to Golden Age issue #21's All Winner Squad team-up, "Menace From the Future World," and Tom DeFalco's use of the entire "cast" of "Marvel (Mystery) Comics" (which includes the best-looking Angel story ever). However, by leaving out all of the Golden Age reprints that accompanied the modern-day versions, this collection loses much of its charm. I'm just grateful I had the 11 original single issues with which to compare this deluxe hardback, and I'm going to stick with them. For those who would just as soon skip the reprints, this oversized volume may be just the right addition to their collection. But, for this fan of the World War II era Timely Comics, half the fun of reading this collection is now missing. The story drawn by Lee Elias in "Sub-Mariner Comics" is a refreshing change from the late 1940s Namor, who was truly grotesque, and the two Marvex The Super Robot tales in "All Select Comics" are either just plain weird or truly brilliant satire.
288371
These seem to vary pretty wildly from seller to seller (mine was from Gaming Etc) and in price (mine was $15.50), but mine turned out pretty well.

Yes, I received a few >4 copies, but the total # of cards (1173) more than covered that.

Of the 1173, 186 were uncommons, which seems nice since, per the description, it could of been all commons.  There was even 1 (very bad) rare.

Cards were mostly from newer sets, with maybe 25 % being Standard legal.  There were also a nice # of older cards with the oldest being from Legends.

Overall, got exactly what I wanted, a large amount of Magic cards on the cheap.
3633610
After hearing about HEX for awhile, I finally bought it.  Buyers should be aware that the 2006 hardcover, 8/5 x 11" size, color plates and end papers edition is out of print.  The latest edition (or printing, since none of the content - that I'm aware of - has changed) is a smaller travel size softcover that's all black and white.

Because playing a tabletop game for the first time with a gaming group can be a daunting task with lots of book passing, I decided to acquire both versions.  The softcover retailing for about $20 while the former hardcover retailed at about $35.

So, finally got to run it for my players.  The session went well.  Even though there's a lot of period information and suggestions, I think GMs will have their work cutout for them if they're trying to emulate films like Big Trouble in Little China, King Kong, and possibly even Indiana Jones.  The rules for creating characters, combat, and just playing the game take up a fair amount of space.  Then there's play examples, a bestiary, some NPC stats, introductory adventure, and list of resources.  Not too much about outside-the-box cinematic storytelling or capturing the feel of your favorite film.

But then HEX is supposed to be rather vague and open-ended.  It's not for telling one particular genre story really well, instead it helps the GM run a bunch of stories with the same general type of setting fairly well.  So, it loses a little something when it tries to stretch itself between Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Time Machine, Jurassic Park, or Lovecraft's "Beneath the Pyramids".  A successful campaign really needs a talented GM with a lot of free time or one of the HEX supplements to aid him.

As for the system, I think Ubiquity is fine.  Combat was super lethal.  A couple of the PCs were a little trigger-happy (which is perfectly understandable when one of the main character archetypes is Big Game Hunter) and NPCs/beasts didn't last more than a single round.

Aesthetically speaking, it looks nice.  Back in 2006, there were very few black and white RPG books with this kind of high quality artwork.  Nowadays, however, it might not seem quite as special.  The 6 x 9" travel size re-print is also nice, but lacks the breadth of artistic vision which the hardcover embodied.

All in all, I'm glad I bought it and look forward to running Hollow Earth Expedition again!

~  Venger Satanis
3794240
I like the new double-sided cards (Legends/Planeswalkers) in this new Core Set, and it provides stories behind 5 of the Planeswalkers and how they got to be.  However, there seems to be a number of older cards that are reprints.  If those work together with the rest of the set and the block, then it's a good thing but there are only 272 cards in the set.
3549785
This book , it must be noted, is one of the later asterix adventures and I would have to say it doesn't hold up to the earlier ones penned by Goscinny (This is written and illustrated by Uderzo). Somehow the plot lacks  sharpness. But the rest of the stuff is there: the punch lines and the  artwork. If you haven't checked out the earlier ones, it may be better to  do that first. Its still a valuable addition to the collection though.
916505
Being a HUGE fan of the original pre-code EC horror comics, I was absolutely thrilled when I discovered that someone had licensed the property and was publishing new material under the "Tales from the Crypt" impremeture.  With the history and importance of the original EC books on pop-culture and the horror genre, it seemed a reasonable assumption that these guys should be able to get some of today's top horror and comic writers and artists to contribute to the worthwhile effort of bringing EC horror to the audiences of today.

However, I was disappointed when I actually received the book.  Yes, the book is small--about the size of a regular paperback--but that doesn't bother me in the slightest.  My problem is with the conceptual presentation and the quality of the material.  In the original EC books, the Ghoulunatics never interacted together, insead hosting their own stories in solo fashion; while they were a bit silly--cracking jokes, making puns, addressing the hapless characters in the stories, and breaking the fouth wall to address the reader--they also managed to maintain a sinsiter and creepy feel to them.  In these new books, they are portrayed a little like the Three Stooges, interacting together in a bumbling, buffoonish manner that doesn't become them.

My biggest issue, however, is with the art.  Somebody mentioned the lack of realism in these books, but that doesn't bother me too terribly much.  I enjoy stylized artwork.  The original EC artists varied from realism (George Evans, Reed Crandall, Al Williamson) to highly stylized (Jack Davis, "Ghastly" Graham Ingles, Bernie Krigstein).  The difference here being that those guys were GOOD!  I don't recognize most, if any, of the artists illustrating these new books and the quality of their art, the inking, and the coloring leaves a LOT to be desired.  For me, the art in these new books ranges from sub-par to downright poor, which is a BIG disservice to the memory of the original EC books and their fans.

The writing is okay.  The stories do have the traditional twist ending, but I miss the admittedly dated 1950's feel of the originals, although I'm not sure that would be a wise thing to adhere to in the 2000's.  Still, the writing is a bit hit-or-miss and being that they are publishing "Tales from the Crypt", I'm sure there would be no shortage of top-notch, well-known horror and comic writers who harbor a great love and understanding of the original EC books who would be quite happy to contribute... probably for a lot less than their going rate.

The hardcover editions of these new books are quality items and are made to hold up.  They make a nice addition to the ol' bookshelf.  As a die-hard fan of EC and their horror titles I will continue to purchase these books in the hope that they will improve over time.  However, if you want to experience the real deal, check out the current EC Archives being published by Gemstone and available right here on Amazon.  They are beautiful hardcover, graphic novel sized volumes that reprint the original books in chronological order and in color.  So far, they've published three volumes of "Tales from the Crypt", one volume of "The Vault of Horror", and the first volume of "The Haunt of Fear" is forthcoming.  They're a bit pricey but they're defintiely worth it for comic book fans/historians, horror fans, and pop-culture buffs.

Also, fans of horror and horror comics and EC should probably check out the Creepy Archives being published by Dark Horse.  These reprint Creepy magazine which began being published not quite 10 years after the demise of the EC horror mags, and while the writing leaves a lot to be desired, the art is handled largely by the EC veteran artists and sport some beuatiful covers by the legendary Frank Frazetta.

Cheers & chills!

Brent
976429
I'm a huge collector and player of Magic the Gathering so when I saw this box of 1000 magic cards plus 25 rares and 5 mythic rares I was quite excited. I bought two boxes one for myself and one for my little brother. My box contained 1,127 cards with a fair range of the five colors. My box however had sets from only the core sets such as Magic 2014, 2013, 2012 so on and so forth with duplicates being abundant. However my brothers box had a huge range of sets and only a few duplicates up to seven was his most duplicated card. The boxes did contain the 25 rares and 5 mythic rares but 15 cards were the exact same in both boxes. which was disappointing. If you are a huge collector or a new player i'd say take your chance on this box, if you're just hoping for amazing rares just buy what you want as a single. I will probably buy another and see if my luck changes. Wish me luck!
3638353
i think i got over 25 copies of three different cards and the rest weren't very good. If i could did it again i would save my money!
3331312
My son loves it but was disappointed with the limited amount of holos and no rares but he still think its good
1730047
In its favor, this Red Collector's edition has the more updated and corrected text.  Despite its original publication in 1974, it is not exactly the same book that was on sale in the 1970's and it is not based on an outdated text version of that year as stated by a previous review.  Doug Anderson's "Note on the Text" is dated Oct. 1986 in the Red Collector's edition that I had seen on sale last year.  The 2002 boxed trilogy with Alan Lee illustrations has a more recent statement by Doug Anderson (dated April 2002), however the text itself is not the most up-to-date and doesn't even correspond with the Anderson note!
Far more serious, however, is the poor quality of the Red Collector's edition as mentioned by several reviews.  Houghton Mifflin should be ashamed of themselves to publish a wonderful classic in such a manner.  It looks like they ran it through the office copy machine--not the nice one you always use, but the one that always seems to be jammed or out of toner.
Better still is HarperCollins' British deluxe version.  It has both the correct text and is nicely printed and bound.  It costs considerably more money, but until Houghton Mifflin gets its act together, it may be the best alternative for die hard Tolkien fans.
4459685
i pretty much summed up my review in my title.  i was excited about getting this book, because with the old 1st edition ad&d i had 3 books of monster, all with great classic artwork in them.  with 3rd edition 3 core rule books the art was great...but the art in this book is not really good, even though i think the book is useful, and i am still glad i bought it.  it seems to me that there are two sets of books, the 3 core rule books, the forgotten realm campaign books, and the forgotten realm accesory books (lords of darkness, magic of faerun, silver marches and monster of faerun) and then there are the other books such as the monster manual ii, epic handbook, the manual of the planes and all of the character accesory books (songs and scilence for example)...of which the later group of books all seem to have had their artwork done rather cheapily in comparison.
4123054
I'm somewhat of a collector and already own the original Chrono Trigger strategy guide from Nintendo printed back in the 90s.  But I decided to buy this one as well since I've purchased six other guides from BlackNes Guy and was pleased with the quality of those books.  However the quality of this book seems to fall a bit short compared to the others.  First-off, contrary to the description of this guide, it actually has a minimal amount of color. The description seems a bit misleading when it states that the book is in "full-color".  Most of the pages are comprised of  black & white charts and text with only a small amount of color added here and there. There are 16 pages of full-color screen shots near the beginning and end of the book but that's about it.  If you are looking for a guide similar to the original in which each page is filled with colorful art and illustrations, then you might be disappointed with this book. There does, however seem to be some useful information for playing the game which might be helpful to first-time players. But here as well, there is room for improvement.  I briefly scanned thru some of the text and immediately discovered numerous spelling and grammar errors.  It doesn't appear too much effort was made to proofread the copy before it went to print.
2005182
I'm a big fan of Charles de Lint and have been breathlessly awaiting the fourth collection of his Newford-based stories, which I then read pretty much in one evening.
Though none of the stories were bad, there was something about them that dissatisfied and I couldn't quite put my finger on it ... the above Publishers Weekly review clarified it for me.  These stories feel rather lazy and passive compared to the previous three collections.  They feel very self-referential, several of them begin by referring to and summing up some previous story from the character's "life" before moving into a new tale that isn't nearly as alive and interesting as the original appearance of the character had been.
I was also disappointed that the last quarter of the book was just a reprint of "Seven Wild Sisters," which was published as its own independent book earlier this year.
Perhaps Newford is becoming tired as a story device; I hate to say it, because I love de Lint's Newford and I always enjoy visiting its streets.  But with a few exceptions, these stories just weren't as alive as the previous ones have been.
I'll still follow de Lint wherever he takes me, though.  A fan's a fan.  :)
4963395
It was exciting to see these classic copies illustrated by Hilary Knight but the books received were the much newer versions with a different illustrator. It made me feel a little sad and disappointed.
3001583
I love the images on these cards.  I have used tarot cards for decades, not so much for divination as for self-examination, and I've recently discovered Lenormand cards.  These strike me as being a bit like both, maybe somewhere in between.  They're specific like Lenormand, but have a feeling of maybe just a bit more story to them, like tarot cards.  The certainly resonate with me.  More than once I've turned up a card and found myself teary-eyed with recognition.  The cards have titles like "Unexpected Visitors", "Sad Embrace", "Golden Palace", "Ride the Wave", and "Rock Bottom".

In the interest of full disclosure, I bought my deck at a brick-and-mortar store, so maybe that's why it does NOT have the gilded edges other have spoken of.  I find the cards themselves physically unpleasant, which is why I'm only giving them four stars instead of five. They're thick and seem kind of sticky, not silky.  They are impossible to shuffle.  I have to pry them apart with my fingers.  The box, while sturdy, has the same problem.  The lid feels sticky and is very hard to get off.

I was also disappointed that I had to go looking for the name of the artist.  As far as I can tell, Baron-Reid is the designer of the deck and the author of the nice little book that comes with the cards.  But in very small print at the the bottom of the back of the box, it says "Cover art and card illustrations: Jena Dellagrottaglia Maldonado".  In the image on the amazon page, the image of the back of the box only credits Maldonado with the cover art, so you wouldn't know she was the artist for the cards at all.  At least I assume that "card illustrations" means that she is the artist.  It reminded me of how for decades the Waite-Smith tarot deck was known as Waite-Rider, and the artist's name was left off.