Essential Marvel was a line published by Marvel Comics from 1996–2013 that reprinted vintage comic book material in paperback format. Each black-and-white volume reprints approximately 20–30 issues of a classic Marvel title (mostly from the Silver Age or Bronze Age). Each Essential contains between 450 and 650 pages, printed on coarse, matte-quality paper.
DC Comics had a similar range of black-and-white reprint paperbacks, Showcase Presents (in the same way, the Marvel Masterworks line is the equivalent of DC's DC Archive Editions) that ran from 2005-2016.