B) New Golden Age Masterworks
Marvel surprised everyone a few years ago by starting up a Golden Age Masterworks program that was designed to cover much of their material from the 1940s.
After a few growing pains for the line, it now seems to be back on the right track. As of the last Masterworks survey, there were only seven volumes released, but that number is now up to 12, with news of the 13th just breaking a few weeks ago.
Since there are only a very limited number of potential Golden Age lines, the survey blended together the questions of extending already started lines with the creation of new lines. Here are the results, which features the same winner as last year:
PLEASE NOTE: Some Masterworks mockups and content maps may be in need of updating, but they're "in the ballpark" so to speak.
#1) Captain America Vol. 2
76% ballot representation
1627 total power points
176 first place votes.
(Click on image for "What If?" pop-up page.)
Golden Age Captain America Vol. 2 takes the top spot for the third year in a row! The numbers above probably represent the biggest victory for any single volume in any category (Golden Age, Atlas Era, Marvel Age continuations, or Marvel Age new lines) that we'll ever see!
Well, the masses have spoken, and Marvel has responded, since they've finally tracked down the issues they needed for this volume.
Just a few weeks after the completion of the survey, we announced right here on this website that GA Cap Vol 2 was finally going to be released as Volume 99 in the Masterworks line! Less than three months from now, we'll finally all have another volume featuring 4 more issues of Simon/Kirby goodness sitting on our bookshelves. Then we can all look forward to the third volume, which may turn out to be almost as anticipated, since it will include issues that haven't previously been collected.
For a look at the preview page for GA Cap Vol 2, click here.
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#2) Golden Age Marvel Comics Vol. 3
53% ballot representation
858 total power points
39 first place votes.
(Click on image for "What If?" pop-up page.)
Golden Age Marvel Comics moved up one spot from the last survey. It has now been over two years since the last volume, and some fans may be getting a little anxious waiting for a follow-up volume for a title that many expected would get frequent releases.
Golden Age Marvel Comics Vol. 3 will reprint the extremely rare (as has now become obvious by the wait for the volume) issue #9, featuring the last half of the legendary two-part Subby/Torch throwdown, plus more Ka-Zar, Electro and Angel. This book would reprint Marvel Mystery Comics #9-12.
UPDATE!!! Marvel's most recent solicits featured Golden Age Marvel Comics Vol. 3 on the August schedule, only one month after Golden Age Captain America Vol. 2! Two of the most coveted GA Masterworks in back-to-back months.
For a look at the preview page for GA Marvel Vol. 3, click here.
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#3) Sub-Mariner Vol. 3
50% ballot representation
810 total power points
27 first place votes.
(Click on image for "What If?" pop-up page.)
Sub-Mariner is the first title on the survey that actually had a volume released last year, so taking that into consideration, this represents a very strong showing for Bill Everett's enduring (though not always endearing) anti-hero, despite dropping down a spot. A third volume would reprint Sub-Mariner #9-12, and get us halfway through Namor's Golden Age adventures.
Getting to the halfway point for one of the longer GA titles like Sub-Mariner would be a great milestone for the Masterworks program to reach.
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#4) All-Winners Vol. 3
47% ballot representation
733 total power points
29 first place votes.
(Click on image for "What If?" pop-up page.)
Moving up one spot from the last survey, All-Winners is a title that a number of fans have been pushing heavily since the beginning, since it includes a large number of the popular GA characters and is a title that should actually be completable. With only four possible All-Winners volumes, a third book would be the penultimate volume! This would reprint issues #9-13 of All-Winners Comics, reprinting more WWII-era stories featuring Timely's Big Three: Captain America, Human Torch and Sub-Mariner.
The cream of the lesser-known Timely characters are also represented, with stories featuring The Destroyer and The Whizzer. (Keep an eye out for original text stories from legendary crime writer Mickey Spillane.) With word that Marvel is publishing a new Destroyer series, Marvel may see an opportunity to tie this volume into their current-day plans.
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#5) Human Torch Vol. 3
43% ballot representation
669 total power points
11 first place votes.
(Click on image for "What If?" pop-up page.)
Human Torch dropped down a place from last time, but that's fine, since he managed to get a second volume published last year. A third volume of GA Human Torch would include issues #9-12, and besides the title character, would also feature
a very healthy dose of Sub-Mariner, with the two doing all they could to help in the war effort against Hitler and his minions. If you're a Hitler-loving fascist, this probably isn't the book for you! For the rest of us though, we could all look forward to more adventures from the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner.
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tie-#6) GA Marvel/Timely Rarities Vol. 1
41% ballot representation
611 total power points
29 first place votes.
(Click on image for "What If?" pop-up page.)
A collection of Timely rarities gets the call as part of a sixth place tie. It's still unclear what the makeup of this potential hodgepodge would include, but some anchor titles would include Red Raven #1, a one-shot full of features starring the Human Top, the Eternal Brain, Mercury and, of course, the legendary title character. Amazing Comics #1 would also be a shoo-in, an anthology featuring Destroyer, the Young Allies, and the Whizzer. Of course, the challenge facing Marvel with a book like this is getting their hands on these ultra-rare comics for reference. Anyone have these laying around to loan?!?!
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tie-#6) Young Allies Vol. 1
41% ballot representation
607 total power points
32 first place votes.
(Click on image for "What If?" pop-up page.)
Despite "falling" into a sixth-place tie, Young Allies actually managed to get a pretty decent increase in votes from last survey.
At that point in time, many people would have guessed that this was the next most likely Volume 1, but the releases of USA Comics and Daring Mystery caught everybody off guard.
Perhaps some people decided that it's time for them to show more support for this volume, to try to help its chances of getting published. The next most likely (?) Vol. 1 is this collection of WWII's super-team of super-sidekicks! Bucky and Toro led this rabblerousing collection of kid gang personalities. This volume would reprint the first four issues of the series, including nearly all of the issues from 1941 and 1942.
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Here's the rest of the Golden Age Masterworks voting:
08: 32%....All-Select Vol. 1 (442 points, 12 first place votes)
09: 31%....Mystic Vol. 1 (500 points, 32 first place votes)
10: 29%....Blonde Phantom Vol. 1 (480 points, 29 first place votes)
11: 24%....USA Comics Vol. 2 (281 points, 5 first place votes)
12: 19%....Daring Mystery Vol. 2 (266 points, 9 first place votes)
13: 6%....Kid Comics Vol. 1 (84 points, 1 first place vote)
14: 5%....Joker Comics Vol. 1 (77 points, 3 first place votes
15: 5%....Comedy Comics Vol. 1 (66 points, 1 first place vote)
All-Select and Mystic stay in the same spots as last time, though Mystic picks up some impressive votes, including hitting the 500 power points barrier. This appears to be a sign that it's creeping higher on a lot of people's lists.
Daring Mystery dropped down two places, though that was surely due to the fact that Daring Mystery Vol 1 was published just a few weeks prior to this survey, as the history of this survey shows that recently published volumes usually drop down, as people feel that different titles should now get a turn.
Now that we know that titles like USA Comics and Daring Mystery can be published, who knows how much more we'll see from the bottom part of this survey!
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