Jack-Off Of All Trades

Welcome to my first posting that doesn't detail a nebulous/philosophical rambling about general comic book matters!  Nope, today I just want to start off a semi-regular series detailing trade paperbacks of personal favoritism that I want to recommend to you lovely readers!  And what better way to start than by bringing on the bad guys...

... Well, you have to admit she COULD be pretty sinister...  Okay, let's get serious, and less b-a-n-a-n-a-s.  (Great, now I'm going to have that song stuck in my head all day.  Thanks, brain, for trying to be funny...)

I'm a hearty advocate of the Marvel Essentials line.  I could turn this entry into a rant about how it's utter crap that Marvel is phasing the program out for the much more pricey "Saga" line.  So if you people know what's good for you, grab as many Essentials as your heart desires while they still exist!  Now, if you remember the GGTMComics podcast I put out last year, you already know my general love for the character of Victor Von Doom... doctorate.  He is, by far, the most iconic Marvel villain in existence.  Tragic past, mixed sense of nobility with revenge, and mastery of science and magic... and an AWESOME suit of armor:

Combine that with the first Marvel anti-hero, Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner.  Lord of the Seven Seas.  The Avenging Son.  Coveter of Reed Richard's wife!  (And wearer of funky-fresh black armor with yellow fin-wings!)

Obviously the characters had their pairings as early as Fantastic Four #6, but Super Villain Team-Up forced the two opposing opinions together again for a series of adventures in seeking mutual conquest and domination over humanity.  With some side trips into vengeance-seeking... and the introduction of the Shroud.  (Yeah, that one's a bit of a wet noodle for me.  I've tended to be iffy about the Marvel characters that feel like HUGE bites off of Batman.  And the Shroud also has the nerve to rip off Daredevil, too!) 

But the best thing about this Essential volume is not only do you have a solid collection of ALL of the SVTU issues, along with the two Giant-Size specials, you also have 10 issues of the Doctor Doom solo feature in "Astonishing Tales", AND a huge story that crosses over into two "Avengers" issues, and one issue of "The Champions"!  Plus it's not just strictly Doctor Doom/Namor pairings.  You also get to see Doctor Doom square off against the Master of Magnetism, Magneto:

You also get Victor jawing with that Ratzi scum, Red Skull:

... Who, in turn, gets to have a supreme Nazi showdown against the Hate-Monger!  All this for less than twenty bucks, cover price?  This is, by far, one of my absolute favorite Essential volumes, and I cannot recommend it enough to people that just have no access to the original series.  I'm also fairly certain that if you know where to look, you can find a used copy of this book for so dirt-cheap, you could probably buy two cups of froofy coffee for that bargain!