Thursday, April 24, 2014

What is "CETSE"?

CETSE stands for "Collected Editions That Should Exist."

Here, I'll look at series/stories/characters/sort of related things that (to my knowledge) have never been collected (either properly or at all).

For example (one that I will devote entries to in the future), there has never really been a comprehensive collection of Green Goblin stories. From what I can tell, the only collection dedicated to Green Goblin I (Norman Osborn) is a small TPB from 1995 that only includes a few of his storylines (but not even his 1st appearance!).

So, in a CETSE post, I'll lay out what should be collected, why it should be collected, and how it should be collected.

Suggestions are always welcome.

Collected Editions That Should Exist - Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja

Hey! It's the 25th Anniversary of Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja!

Wait... you don't remember Nth Man? Shame on you! Back in 1989, when comics could still be had for a single $, Larry Hama brought us this crazy book. Hama is, of course, the man behind the legendary 1980's G.I. Joe (A Real American Hero) series. Apparently, Hama felt that all the Hot Ninja Action going on in GIJARAH just wasn't enough to satisfy so he created a comic about the ULTIMATE Ninja.

The premise was that Earth (in this case, Marvel pocket universe designation "Earth-8908") was in the middle of World War III, which was brought about by some insane all-powerful weirdo named Alfie O'Meagan (which, apparently, is a play on "Alpha & Omega"). Alfie actually tried to do a "good" thing and made all of the nuclear weapons on Earth unusable but it backfired badly when the US and USSR decided this was a bad thing and started WWIII.
Now, John Doe, aka NTH MAN: THE ULTIMATE NINJA, has to go take Alfie out of the equation. Plot twist: John and Alfie were childhood buddies!

Lots of crazy stuff happens over the course of the 16 issue series, including Alfie pretending to be Galactus and turning some female character into the Silver Surfer (the Marvel-616 universe exists, as it does in ours, as comic books).
It was supposed to be 24 issues, but Hama got notice it would be cancelled at 16 so he had to use a "flash forward" and essentially recap what would have happened in the additional 8 issues, but at least he did wrap the series up. And let's just say that the ending is pretty nutty!

Suggested collection formats:
1) Two TPBs, each collecting 8 issues
2) One Omnibus style complete collection featuring all 16 issues PLUS the first appearance of John & Alfie in a short story from the anthology Marvel Comics Presents #25 as well as the guest appearance in Excalibur #27
3) Special Edition HC Omnibus featuring all of the above Omnibus material as well as one or both of the Marvel Handbook entries from 2007 and 2009 and maybe even more details from Hama about the material he had to cut due to the cancellation.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

What is "CAICMI"?

CAICMI stands for "Complete As I Can Make It." This means the list will contain everything that I can verify as a published material (so, no web only content or Audio-Video).

I compile these lists by digging through online databases, catalogs, and inventories. I try to verify each entry myself, but in some cases, my sources may conflict or have incorrect data. Any discrepancies will be noted.

For characters, any appearance is counted, no matter how small. Additionally, appearances by the character in a title other than their own are categorized by "Guest Appearance" (the character appears and interacts directly with other characters) and "Cameo" (the character is shown in the background and doesn't interact directly with other characters).