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Published in 1978 and sporting a Frank Brunner cover, this collection of reprints actually takes material from Strange Tales #110-111, #114-#129.\u00a0 Measuring about 4\u00bc x 7 inches, each page bore a photo-reduced facsimile of one of the original pages in published in comic form on a page of about 7\u00be x 10\u00bd inches \u2013 reduction to about 37% the original size.\u00a0 Below is a scan of two facing pages from the Pocket Book reprinting a material from the story \u201cReturn to the Nightmare World\u201d, from Strange Tales #116.<\/p>\n
Despite the reduction, the art is clear, the text readable, and the colors vibrant.<\/p>\n Also, the original material was tersely sourced, with only a brief one page preface by Stan Lee telling the reader that this volume contained the first eighteen stories featuring Doctor Strange. There was no way for an aspiring collector to know that there was a sequence break between issues #111 and #114.<\/p>\n Shortly thereafter, a second edition followed in 1979.<\/p>\n The stories reprinted here picked up immediately after the original run, spanning Strange Tales #130-144, but were of a different character entirely.\u00a0 In the first volume, most stories were self-contained within one issue, with only one run of stories lasting three whole issues.\u00a0 Almost the entirety of the second volume concerns itself with multi-issue confrontation between Doctor Strange and Dormammu, including the first appearance of the entity known as\u00a0Eternity.<\/p>\n About that same time in 1979, the paperback book entitled Star Hawks came out.<\/p>\n This volume reprinted the daily comic strip by Gil Kane and Ron Goulart that ran from October of 1977 through May 1981.\u00a0 Since the original publication was sized and layout for the ordinary newspaper, the staff at Tempo Books choose to layout the panels in landscape rather than portrait mode.<\/p>\n The panels remained at their original size, although their relative orientation changed. One simply read the book \u2018sideways\u2019.\u00a0 Because the original strip was in black-and-white, the reprinted strip was also monochrome.<\/p>\n This approach was a really convenient way to consume a daily strip all at one go, without fear of interruption due to a missed delivery or, as was my case, without access to the original as it wasn\u2019t carried in my local paper.<\/p>\n A companion volume, entitled Star Hawks II, followed in 1981 that brought the reader up to about October of 1978.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Taken together, the two books brought about one year of a really good comic strip to the reader for a total investment of $3.50, which is cheaper than many comics on the market today. (Even adjusting for inflation, the price of about $10 was still a bargain).<\/p>\n In 1982, DC Comics offered a reprint paperback for The New Teen Titans.<\/p>\n This volume picked yet a third way to present the original source material.\u00a0 Like Star Hawks, the staff at Tor Books chose not to photo-reduce the pages.\u00a0 Instead, they rearranged the panels so that they fit on the smaller page.\u00a0 In 226 pages they were able to reproduce only the first three issues of The New Teen Titans.\u00a0 However, they also chose to make the reprint in black-and-white.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n