Most Helpful Customer Reviews
79 of 84 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Attn: Collectors: There are 7 different first editions of this book, November 2, 2010
This is not a review of the contents of the graphic novel. Instead my goal is to shed light on the complex number of editions of this book to aid potential readers and collectors in making sense of the situation.
For some reason the publishers decided to publish at least 7 different "first editions" of this Graphic Novel. Each has a different ISBN number, but not different contents, and in most cases the covers are not substantially changed. You can use the ISBN numbers to search Amazon for copies of each book. At the time of this review, 4 of the 7 editions have Amazon pages, which I have linked to.
The numbers are sequential, beginning with # 1934220000 Cowboys & Aliens, called the "Retail Edition" - Each edition after this changes the last 2 numbers of the sequence, replacing the last 2 zeros.
#...19 Cowboys & Aliens is "Retailer Variant A Edition" and because I have a copy, I know that the retailer is Midtown Comics from NYC. Other than a Midtown logo on the back cover, and the different ISBN number, I believe that this is the same as edition #00. The indicia states "First Edition" and the cover price is $4.99, which is low for a book of this size and quality. Similar books from Marvel and DC usually retail for about $19.95
ISBN#'s 27 Cowboys & Aliens, 1934220035, and 1934220043 are "Retailer Variant" B C and D. Presumably these are like #...19 and were made exclusively for large comics retailers with their logo on the back cover.
ISBN #1934220051 is the "gold edition." - I believe this book is the same except for having a gold foil logo and back cover. The publishers must have used this ISBN # twice because if you search Amazon for it you get their other book " Watchdogs." But there is a page for the gold edition on Amazon; Search for the ASIN string B003G84ZW2 and you'll find: " Cowboys & Aliens - Gold Foil Edition" - from the excellent pictures uploaded there we can see that this "GOLD EDITION" was also under-priced at $4.99 and has a gold-tinted back cover in addition to the foil logo.
ISBN ..6X is the "Classic Edition" - Unfortunately, searching Amazon (And Google!) for the ISBN# 193422006X returns 0 matches. I'm not sure what the Classic Edition entails, if in fact it was published. Perhaps the publishers decided to stop after 6 first editions?
A second edition, or perhaps 8th edition depending on you counting, is scheduled for a May 2011 release to coincide with the release of the movie adaptation. The ISBN# is 0061646652. Cowboys and Aliens
I realize this isn't a standard review but hopefully it will be of assistance to some shoppers. At the very least, you can now look up each edition to find the lowest priced copy, content in the knowledge that each version isn't substantially different than any other... And at the very most you could collect them all!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cowboys & Aliens, March 11, 2007
This review is from: Cowboys & Aliens (Paperback)
Howdy. Welcome to Silver City, Arizona--the time is a few minutes to alien invasion, 1873. That's right...alien invasion. And the cavalry won't be coming; the garrison at Fort Larrabie has already been obliterated by a small army of huge, armored, scaly, horned marauding extraterrestrials packin' heat like the Old West has never seen. Commander Dar of the House of Dar has crash-landed on Earth, and never one to let an opportunity slip by, he's decided to turn the crash-landing into a first-strike on a planet ripe for the picking.
What these aliens don't count on is an ad-hoc cavalry of sorts forming to stop them from signaling an entire armada of House Of Dar warships to come sunder and plunder (=Bad. Humans not slaughtered would obviously become slaves to the invaders since they already have slaves of conquered races helping them). The story is all action as a group of cowboys, led by partners in adventure Zeke and Miss Verity, make an uncomfortable alliance with some Apaches, most notably War Hawk and plucky young No-Name. Well, not all action. There's romance too, as Zeke starts to fall for an emerald-skinned viper-eyed female alien named Kai, former slave of mighty Dar who decides to defect to Earth and aid Zeke and co.s hopeless-seeming resistance. And War Hawk soon has a bit of a thing for Verity, verily, and I plum reckon she's of a mind to reciprocate.
The humans pull some really cool tricks to throw off Dar's plans to summon immanent subjugation of all things Terrestrial, including using some of the aliens' advanced technology against them--although that's not a weapon Zeke keeps trying to use, it's actually a repair tool. But hey, whatever works in a clinch. And can you think of a better action scene than angry Apaches attacking over-confident aliens?
But Zeke's clever plan to claim Silver City back from the otherworldly marauders begins to fall apart when a weaselly little scoundrel of a human decides to switch sides to save his own skin, and tip Commander Dar off.
I enjoyed this SF/Western mishmash, though the art veers from eye-catching to flat throughout. The denouement involving cowboys and Apaches talking about future cooperation doesn't exactly remind me of the real world, but other than that this was a bit of a hoot--believable dialogue, likeable heroes, villains you just want to kick off the planet, and some lively action scenes that got me cheering for the guys in the white hats and the feathers.
Very entertaining.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cowboys, Indians and aliens, November 20, 2010
Cowboys... and aliens. It sounds like a really, really stupid movie pitch.
But instead Scott Mitchell Rosenberg "Cowboys & Aliens" is a pretty fun graphic novel -- it has a simple but entertaining premise, lots of glowy splotchy action scenes, and some likable characters (on the human side). Its main downside is that it slaps you in the face with a hamhanded "evil aliens = European settlers" message that knocks you sideways.
The year is 1873, and there's a battle going on between the Apache warriors and a pair of hired guns protecting a wagon train. Then... suddenly a vast spaceship crashes nearby, and the aliens inside kill the Apaches who try to greet them. The cruel Commander Dar decides to conquer this world for himself, and quickly takes over the nearest Army fort.
So now the settlers, the cowboys and the Indians are being attacked by technologically advanced aliens who already outnumber them. Now these former enemies have to join forces to defeat Dar and his soldiers, or ALL of humanity will be in danger (especially when that space fleet shows up to finish the job!).
Yeah, "Cowboys and Aliens" sounds like a really terrible movie blockbuster. In fact, I think they're making it into a movie, which may or may not be insanely awesome (it's Jon Favreau, so it could be either). But as a graphic novel, it's pretty fun as a story -- lots of splashy action scenes (with glowy green weapons and flying death chariots!), and a wildly complex climax that belies its simple concept. T
Problem? The first five pages beat us over the head with "Evil Invading Aliens = Evil Invading Settlers"... which is kind of sabotaged since we see that most of the settlers (like that poor priest) don't have any "divine providence" delusions.
In fact, the characters are all (except for Dar and his thugs) pretty likable. In between fight scenes, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg reminds us that the HUMAN ex-enemies are not that different, as they pray for Apaches and cowboys alike to succeed, and a cowgirl even has a cute little romance brewing with an Apache warrior. Awwww, true love among the alien invasions.
"Cowboys and Aliens" sounds silly, but handles itself so smoothly that you never really have a chance to go, "Wait, what?" Fun, action-packed and thoroughly enjoyable.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
