Marvel Teams Omnibus Mapping for the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 12th Annual Secret Ballot

Until April 5, I’ll be loosely mapping missing and most-wanted Marvel omnibus volumes every day! Today I’ll be looking at all of the omnibuses that don’t yet exist for Marvel’s teams outside of Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men. That includes Defenders, Guardians of the Galaxy, Inhumans, and more!

This post explains titles and potential Marvel Teams Omnibus Mapping for entries on the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 12th Annual Secret Ballot. You can vote right now (until 5 April 2024 @ midnight US ET) or watch our mega-length announcement stream reviewing every single voting option.

Below I cover all the non-existing omnibuses for Agents of Atlas, Alpha Flight, Champions, Clandestine, Damage Control Defenders, Eternals, Guardians of the Galaxy, Heroes for Hire, Inhumans, Invaders, New Warriors, Nextwave, Nicky Fury & SHIELD, Power Pack, Runaways, Squadron Supreme, Thunderbolts, and Warlock and the Infinity Watch!

If you’re not sure of what to vote for, stick around for my explanations. Or, if you’ve already voted, learn why the team behind the poll decided on these books and titles – including some of my mistakes and regrets as one of the editors of the options on the final poll.

Or… just find some great comics to read!

Remember: These mappings are just my suggestion of how Marvel could assemble these books. They are meant to help you decide on your votes and build your personal reading list, but your vote on the poll is NOT an endorsement of my specific map. It’s a vote in favor of Marvel creating a book with that title or covering that period.

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Alpha Flight Omnibus Mapping

Alpha Flight has just one current omnibus – the Alpha Flight by John Byrne book, which was just reprinted last year. That only covers through Alpha Flight #29 and there are over 100 more issues of Alpha Flight just in that first volume of the title alone – which means three omnibuses! What other omnibuses would we need to cover all of Alpha Flight’s comics? Let’s took a look! All of the comics that these books would contain are covered in my Guide to Alpha Flight.

Alpha Flight Vol. 2 (AKA by Bill Mantlo) (1985 – 1988)
Bill Mantlo wrote Alpha Flight from issue #29 (the final issue in the Byrne omnibus) to #66, as well as writing Annual 1-2. During that period, the team only makes a handful of other significant appearances – in a crossover from #39 to Avengers (1963) #272, in a full team story in Marvel Fanfare (1982) #28, and Shaman appears in Strange Tales (1987) #14.

That’s it! 41 issues, which is the perfect size for a mid-80s omnibus. It doesn’t make sense to push any further, because issue #67 begins a new arc, and James Hudnall writes from there to #86 – too much to add to this omnibus.

Krisis Regrets: We should have called this “and Jim Lee,” as it has Lee’s earliest Marvel pencils in it!

Alpha Flight Vol. 3
This book would pick up from James Hudnall taking over on issue #67. How far could it go? Sadly, not all the way to the end of the series with issue #127. I think there’s a good argument for it running to #101, which acts as an epilogue to a big story.

I think we’d also include Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #51-53, and maybe even Puck’s classic Wolverine appearance in Puck in Wolverine (1988) #35-37 since it’s one of the few times any Alpha Flight character guest-starred during the run of the book.

That leaves issues #102-130 and Northstar (1994) #1-4 for a Vol. 4 (and maybe also Death Metal (1994) #1-2, which is pretty obscure but features almost the entire team).

Alpha Flight, Modern Era (1997 – 2012)
This is one of our broad book labels that can mean anything you want it to mean!

What it definitely includes is Alpha Flight (1997) #-1, 1-20, & Alpha Flight / Inhumans ’98 Annual. It could also any or all of Alpha Flight (2004) #1-12, New Avengers (2005) #16-20, Omega Flight (2007) #1-5, the Weapon Omega stories from Marvel Comics Presents (2007) #1-12, Chaos War: Alpha Flight (2010) #1, Alpha Flight (2011) #.1 & is 1-8, and appearances in and significant guest star appearances from this period.

That’s 64 issues, which would be a BIG HONKING OMNIBUS. The Marvel Comics Presents stories are only partial issues, but a few other issues are double-sized, so it works out the same. But… what would you leave out!? I don’t know that’s why this is a poll based on titles and not maps.

Champions Omnibus Mapping

There have been two completely separate incarnations of The Champions – the original “Los Angeles Champions” from the late 70s, and Mark Waids’ “Teen Champions” from Marvel Legacy in 2017. Each group needs one omnibus to capture their entire runs. The existing collections of all of these issues are covered in my Guide to Champions.

Champions: The Early Years
This would mirror the existing Champions Marvel Masterworks, which is pretty big at 450 pages – already omni-sized!

That book contained Champions (1975) #1-17; Iron Man (1968) Annual (1970) #4; Avengers (1963) #163; Super-Villain Team-Up (1975) #14; Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #17-18, Hulk (1968) Annual 7. To that, we’d add X-Force / Champions Annual 1998, Gambit and the Champions: From The Marvel Vault (2011) #1, and a story in Giant-Size Hulk (2006) #1.

It would be neat if it could include Godzilla (1977) #3, but even with a Godzilla omnibus coming I don’t think that means Marvel can use the big lizard in their own reprints.

Krisis Regrets: We should have included a year range on this book for clarity.

Champions by Waid, Zub, & Ewing (2017 – 2020)
This straight-forward volume would collect Champions (2016) #1-27, Annual 1, & 1.MU, Infinity Countdown: The Champions (2018) #1-2, Champions (2019) #1-10, Outlawed (2020) #1, & Champions (2020) #1-10.

That’s 51 issues that contain the team’s complete journey apart from some of the Secret Empire tie-ins and one-shots which are tonally a bad match for the rest of the material.

The Defenders Omnibus Mapping

We already have two existing classic Defenders omnibuses, but we need the keep the ball rolling to get through the rest of their original 1972 run – as well as cover a further nearly 40 years of Defenders comics! See my Guide to Defenders for the existing collections of all of these issues.

Defenders Vol. 3
The current Defenders classic line ends perfectly with Masterworks Vol. 5. I think it’s likely this next volume would contain most of Masterworks Volumes 6-8, because they are all over 300 pages each!

That means this would include most of Defenders (1972) #42-91 and material from Foom (1973) #19, Marvel Treasury Edition (1974) #16, and Tales to Astonish (1979) #13.

Then, a Volume 4 would include the remainder of issues through #125, along with Marvel Team-Up (1972) #101, Captain America (1968) #268, and Avengers (1963) Annual 11.

(Just for fun, Volume 4 it could also include “The Return of The Defenders” 1992 annual crossover from Incredible Hulk (1968) Annual 18, Namor the Sub-Mariner (1990) Annual 2, Silver Surfer (1988) Annual 5, and Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme (1988) Annual 2. It makes more sense to place that here than in the following volume since none of the original Defenders team appears in the next volume.)

Defenders: New Defenders
This would collect the final run of “New Defenders” issues from Defenders (1972) #126-152, Iceman (1984) #1-4, and Beauty and the Beast (1984) #1-4, and Gargoyle (1985) #1-4, which is exactly how they have been collected in a pair of Epic Collections.

It should definitely add Strange Tales (1987) #5-6 and Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme (1988) #3-4, which is significant for the non-X-Factor team members of this team and resolves their stories.

It could also add some Cloud and Gargoyle stories from Solo Avengers (1987) – but, they’re likely to appear elsewhere in other omnibuses.

Secret Defenders (1993 – 1995)
Marvel already mapped this perfectly for us in a pair of paperbacks which collect Secret Defenders (1993) #1-25. Boom! That’s it.

Commenter Red1116 points out this could collect Dr. Strange Sorcerer Supreme (1988) #50 and Fantastic Four (1961) #374 for added context, which I think is a fine idea.

Defenders Marvel Knights (Dixon/Bendis/Bunn)
This is not the Defenders as we traditionally know them in the comics, but the Netflix Defenders who are more commonly known as “Marvel Knights.”

This book would effectively be all of a Marvel Knights Omnibus containing Marvel Knights (2000) #1-15, Marvel Knights (2002) #1-6, and maybe also Marvel Knights Double Shot (2002) #1-4 & (2003) #1-4. Then, it would add Defenders (2010) #1-10 by Brian Bendis.

I personally think that’s a clumsy book. The Knights material works on its own and the Bendis series should be included with his Jessica Jones. But, I know some voters want this!

(I’m not sure where Cullen Bunn comes into this. That might have been a goof on our part.)

Defenders by Kurt Busiek & Erik Larsen
This would be a brief book – the only material to collect is The Defenders (2001) #1-12, The Order (2002) #1-6 [AKA #13-18], & The Defenders: From the Marvel Vault (2011) #1.

Defenders by J. M. Dematteis
This title was a straight-up mistake on our part! It should have read “Defenders, 2005 – 2012 (includes Dematteis through Fraction)” to leave it up to interpretation.

We were thinking it would include a minimum of J. M. Dematteis’s Defenders (2005) #1-5, Joe Casey’s The Last Defenders (2008) #1-5, Fear Itself: The Deep (2011) #1-4, and Matt Fraction’s The Defenders (2012) #1-12. That’s 26 issues, to which you could add Casey’s Vengeance (2011) #1-5 (a vague sequel to his Defenders) or Kathryn Immonen’s Heralds (2010) #1-5 (which has a very Defenders-y cast).

Valkyrie, Fearless Defender by Cullen Bunn (2011 – 2014)
This volume would follow Valkyrie into and out of Fear Itself in 2011 into Cullen Bunn’s Fearless Defenders series.

This should first collect some non-Bunn historic Valkyrie material from Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #168 (4th story), Valkyrie (1997) #1, Valkyrie (2010) #1, She-Hulk: Cosmic Collision (2009) #1, Heralds (2010) #1-5, and Secret Avengers (2010) #14.

Then, it would collect Bunn’s run from Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) #0-12 and Fearless Defenders (2013) #1-12.

Some would argue it should also include Bunn’s Asgardians of the Galaxy (2018) #1-10. I wouldn’t say you are wrong, but I think that’s better placed in an Angela omnibus, since it has more of an Asgard vibe than a Defenders vibe.

Defenders by Al Ewing
This slim book would include The “Best Defense” one-shots (Hulk: Defenders #1, Namor: Defenders #1, Doctor Strange: Defenders #1, and Silver Surfer: Defenders #1, and Defenders #1), Defenders (2021) #1-5, and Defenders: Beyond (2022) #1-5.

Eternals Omnibus Mapping

The Eternals already have one very kick-ass, comprehensive omnibus that perfectly collects their material through the year 2000 – The Eternals: The Complete Saga Omnibus. What would come next? My Guide to Eternals explains how all of these issues have already been collected.

Eternals by Neil Gaiman et al (2006 – 2012)
This slim book would collect Gaiman’s Eternals (2006) #1-7 and the subsequent Eternals (2008) #1-9 & Annual 1. It could also add Thor: The Deviants Saga (2012) #1-5.

That’s slim, but it will have Gaiman’s name on it, so… $$$

Eternals by Kieron Gillen
I am incredibly angry for Marvel releasing an Eternals by Gillen paperback instead of going straight to oversize hardcover, but that’s okay – I’ve come up with an even better map for when they’re ready to release an omnibus!

This would include Aaron’s Avengers (2018) #1-6 (which sets up Gillen’s run), Eternals (2021) #1-12, Eternals: Thanos Rises, Eternals: Celestia, & Eternals: The Heretic, and also the random Eternals Forever (2021) #1 (which isn’t a part of this run at all)

That’s 22 issues, several of which are double-length.

If we really wanted to get wild, we’d also double dip another 17 issuesfrom the Judgment Day omnibus to pick up A.X.E.: Judgment Day (2022) #1-6, A.X.E.: Avengers (2022) #1, A.X.E.: X-Men (2022) #1, A.X.E.: Eternals (2022) #1, A.X.E.: Eve of Judgment (2022) #1, A.X.E.: Judgment Day Omega (2022) #1, A.X.E.: Death to the Mutants (2022) #1-3, and A.X.E.: Starfox (2022) #1 – which truly represent the final arc of Gillen’s Eternals story.

Guardians of the Galaxy Omnibus Mapping

The Guardians of the Galaxy are already impressively well-mapped thanks to their massive popularity and three blockbuster films. What else could we collect? Check out the Guide to Guardians of the Galaxy for these individual issues and their existing collections.

Guardians of the Galaxy by Michael Gallagher (1992 – 1995)
This would collect the “Guardians of the Year 3000” run that finishes out Guardians of the Galaxy (1990) after the end of the Jim Valentino omnibus. It would collect Guardians of the Galaxy (1990) #30-62 & Annual 3-4 and Galactic Guardians #1-4.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Star-Lord (2008 – 2021)
While this book title was meant to suggest it would collect only Star-Lord’s solo material from after Annihilation through close to the present day, I think it just as easily collect all of his original Earth-791 material that is explicitly not in canon.

If we stick just to modern material, this would include Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #0.1, Star-Lord (2015) #1-5 (which was published later but fits here in story order), Legendary Star-Lord (2014) #1-12, Star-Lord (2015) #6-8, and Star-Lord (2016) #1-6 & Annual 1.

That’s a slim 28 issues. We could add Thanos (2003) #7-12 and Annihilation: Conquest – Starlord (2007) #1-4 onto that as a prologue. And, if you really want that out-of-continuity material, it’s just another 292 pages, which cold absolutely fit.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket & Groot (2011 – 2017)
This would collect all of the Rocket & Groot material from after the formation of the Guardians.

It would include Annihilators (2011) #1-4 (back-ups), Annihilators Earthfall (2011) #1-4, Rocket Raccoon (2014) #1-11 by Skottie Young, Groot (2015) #1-6 by Jeff Loveness & Declan Shalvey, Rocket Raccoon and Groot (2016) #1-10 by Skottie Young & Filipe Andrade, Rocket Raccoon (2017) #1-5 by Matthew Robinson, Rocket (2017) #1-6 by Al Ewing, and I Am Groot (2017) #1-5 by Christopher Hastings and Flaviano.

Holy crap, that is 51 issues of Rocket & Groot (although we can subtract 6 from that number, because those two sets of back-ups equal just one actual-length issue each.

Guardians of the Galaxy by Cates, Ewing, Lanzing & Kelly Omnibus (2018-2024)
This is a catch-all title. Would the first two of these mega-popular runs really get lumped together into an omnibus? Probably not, but if we split each of these into their own books and tried to justify their mapping it would just split votes.

This could contain Guardians of the Galaxy (2019) #1-12 & Annual 1, Guardians of the Galaxy (2020) #1-18 & Annual 1, Guardians of the Galaxy (2023) #1-10 & Annual 1, and the continuity-lite one-shot Guardians of the Galaxy: Bane of Blastaar (2023) #1. (And, optionally “Last Annihilation” issues Cable: Reloaded (2021) #1, The Last Annihilation: Wiccan & Hulking (2021) #1, The Last Annihilation: Wakanda (2021), and S.W.O.R.D. (2020) #7).

That’s 43 issues, or +4 with the Last Annihilation material – which I think is the best justification that this would be a fine all-in-one omnibus. Alternately, we could sneak in Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout (2017) #1, Guardians of the Galaxy: Dream On (2017) #1 & Mother Entropy (2017) #1-5, which were abandoned by the Guardians omnibus line since they are not by Brian Bendis.

Heroes for Hire Omnibus Mapping

Who are Heroes for Hire? It used to be a moniker of Power Man & Iron Fist, though it was later adopted by Misty Knight. See my Guide to Iron Fist, Guide to Power Man, and Guide for Heroes for Hire for these original runs and their collect editions.

Power Man & Iron Fist Vol. 1 (1977 – 1983)
Power Man & Iron Fist Vol. 2 (1983 – 1986)
Both Luke Cage and Danny Rand have had their series that precede this team-up title completely collect, so it’s time to knock this out in a pair of omnibuses! The only issue is that Marvel might be holding out for it to be presented first in Masterworks – since the Masterworks line is already past the start of this volume.

It would collect Power Man (1974) #48-49, Power Man and Iron Fist (1978) #50-125 (but not issue #73, because of ROM), and Daredevil (1964) #178.

Heroes for Hire (1997 – 1999)
Marvel has already mapped this return of the Cage/Rand duo for us in a pair of paperbacks! It would collect Heroes for Hire (1996) #1-19, Luke’s preceding appearances in Spider-Man Unlimited #13 and Marvel Fanfare (1996) #6, and Siege of Wundagore crossover issues Quicksilver (1997) #11-12 and Heroes For Hire/Quicksilver Annual 1998.

Heroes for Hire (2006 – 2012)
Misty Knight leads this time through an enjoyable run through Heroes for Hire (2006) #1-15, Heroes For Hire (2011) #1-12, Spider-Island: Heroes For Hire (2011) #1, and Villains For Hire (2011) #.1 & 1-4.

That’s a very healthy 33 issues – no need to pad it at all! But… we could sneak in Power Man and Iron Fist (2010) #1-5, which might get lost otherwise.

We Missed It: All-New, All-Different Power Man & Iron Fist
This could collect Power Man & Iron Fist (2016) #1-15 and both character’s subsequent All-New All-Different and Legacy-Era solo series. Iron Fist’s series could fit into a post- Immortal Iron Fist omnibus, but Luke doesn’t have enough of his own material to qualify for a separate omnibus.

Inhumans Omnibus Mapping

The Inhumans never managed to score an omnibus while Marvel was pushing them from 2014 to 2018, unless we count their participation in the trio of War of Kings ominbuses. Have we missed our chance? I hope not, because I think their entire publishing history maps perfectly into just five volumes – all of which are pretty good reads! Want to see all the issues I reviewed to map these books? They’re all in my Guide to Inhumans.

Inhumans, The Early Years, Vol. 1 (1965 – 1977)
This first of two books would collect the first thirty years of Inhumans, similar to the massive Eternals tome I mentioned above. I tried the math a few different ways, and trying to make this work in a single book means giving up strong material no matter how you map it.

First, this would include the material from a paperback called “The Inhumans: The Origin of the Inhumans,” which has all of the earliest Inhumans appearances from Fantastic Four (1961) #36, #38, #41-47, #54, #62-65 &d Annual 5 as well as excerpts from #48, 50, 51, & 55-61, as well as material from Not Brand Echh (1967) #6 and backup origin stories from Thor (1966) #146-152.

Then, it would move on to contents of the first Inhumans Masterwork as well as surrounding material included in a paperback called “Inhumans: Beware the Inhumans,” which is Marvel Super-Heroes (1967) #15; Incredible Hulk Annual (1968) 1; Fantastic Four (1961) #81-83, 99; Amazing Adventures (1970) #1-10; Avengers (1963) #95 and material from Fantastic Four (1961) #95 & 105, and Not Brand Echh (1967) #12.

That’s about 800 pages, and it leaves us a strong set of material to kick off a second book.

Inhumans, The Early Years, Vol. 2 (1977 – 1997)
The second Inhumans volume would include all of the second volume of Inhumans Masterworks – Inhumans (1975) #1-12, What If? (1977) #29-30 (back-ups), Captain Marvel (1968) #52-53.

To that it would add Marvel Team-Up (1972) #11, Fantastic Four (1961) #150, Marvel Two-in-One (1974) #4, 8, 71-72, & Annual 4, Marvel Fanfare (1982) #14, Bizarre Adventures (Magazine) (1981) #28 (4th story), Marvel Graphic Novel #39: The Inhumans (1988), Inhumans: Untold Saga (1990) OGN, Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #28 (4th story), 68 (4th story), & 168, The Inhumans: The Great Refuge (1995) #1, and supporting material from throughout Fantastic Four (1961) and other titles (including some of the Atlantis Rising story in Fantastic Four (1961) #401-402).

That’s 31 core issues (though some of them are partial issue stories from anthology titles), plus the supporting stories from Fantastic Four – another great read!

Inhumans by Jenkins & McKeever (1998 – 2003)
Everyone wants the Paul Jenkins & Jae Lee Inhumans series in an omnibus, but this book would actually combine four key early-00s Inhumans runs.

It would collect Inhumans (1998) #1-12, Inhumans (2000) #1-4, Fantastic Four (1998) #51-54, and Inhumans (2003) #1-12 AKA Young Inhumans.

That’s 32 issues – another perfect omnibus!

Inhumans: Inhumanity & ResurrXion Vol. 1 (2014 – 2017) (AKA by Soule, Asmus et al)
Inhumans vs. X-Men (2017 Event)
Inhumans: Inhumanity & ResurrXion Vol. 2 (2014 – 2017) (AKA by Soule, Ewing, Ahmed et al)
At a basic level, all you need to know is that there are 110 issues to collect in this period. You could vote for the two Inhumans-only volumes and hope for it to be split perfectly between them, or take some of the pressure off of those two massive books and plug the middle of them with the Inhumans vs. X-Men (2017 Event) omnibus.

Strap in, y’all.

The first volume here would pick up directly after Hickman’s Infinity Saga and collect all of the Inhumans material from the final two years of Marvel Now. It would include only four issues from the Inhumanity oversize hardcover – Inhumanity (2014) #1-2 and Inhumanity: The Awakening (2014) #1-2. Then it would add Inhuman #1-14 & Annual 1 and Amazing Spider-Man / Inhumans / All-New Captain America: Inhuman Error.

(The remaining contents of the Inhumanity hardcover are all related to the Inhumans, but none of them are particularly critical. They are Avengers A.I. (2013) #7, Avengers Assemble (2012) #21-25, Indestructible Hulk (2013) #17-20, Inhumanity: Superior Spider-Man (2014) #1, Iron Man (2013) #20.INH, Mighty Avengers (2013) #4-5, New Avengers (2013) #13, and Uncanny X-Men (2013) #15. .)

That’s just 22 issues, so I think that book could press on into more material shepherded by Charles Soule in All-New, All-Different Marvel – maybe collecting all of Inhumans up to the start of Inhumans vs. X-Men. That would be another 35 issues – Uncanny Inhumans (2015) #1-17, All-New Inhumans (2016) #1-9, Karnak #1-6, and Mosiac #1-5.

That would be a pretty hefty book at 57 issues, but it would include all of Charles Soule’s direction for the Inhumans. Perhaps it could cut off a few issues earlier in Uncanny Inhumans, shifting it into an IvX book or a subsequent volume.

Then, we’d break for an Inhumans vs. X-Men Event book, as I outlined earlier this week in the Events Omnibus Mapping post. It would include 24 issues – Death of X (2016) #1-4, Inhumans Vs. X-Men (2016) #0-6, All-New X-Men (2016) #17-18, Deadpool & the Mercs for Money (2016B) #7-8, Extraordinary X-Men (2016) #17-19, Uncanny Inhumans (2015) #18-20, and Uncanny X-Men (2016) #16-18

Then, the second volume would wrap up by collecting all 39 issues of the post-Resurrection material – Inhumans: Once and Future Kings #1-5, Inhumans Prime #1, Royals #1-12, Black Bolt #1-12, Lockjaw (2018) #1-4, and Death of the Inhumans (2018) #1-5. It could optionally add all of Secret Warriors (2017) #1-12, which was partially an Inhumans title.

Could the second volume absorb all of the IvX volume? Probably not, but if we left out the X-Men tie-ins it absolutely could.

Nick Fury & SHIELD Omnibus Mapping

We already have a gorgeous omnibus covering all of the iconic Nicky Fury & SHIELD material from the late 60s and early 70s, but that leaves a lot more of Fury and SHIELD to collect!

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, Vol. 1 (1963 – 1967)
This series ran for #120 issues of original material and another 47 issues of reprints. I think the best we can hope for would be wrapping it up in a trio of 40-issue omnibuses. This first omnibus would collect to somewhere around issue #40.

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Vol. 1 (1969 – 1988)
Someone submitted a brilliant map for this book in a past poll response, covering all of Fury’s critical appearances prior to his next ongoing series – plus adding some later OGNs for good measure. I think it would be a great read, so I picked it up for this poll option (something I didn’t do very option, because a lot of these imaginary volumes don’t have a tangible map attached that could include more than 400 pages).

This would collect Defenders (1972) #48-50 (and material from #51 & 54); Marvel Two-in-One (1974) #26-27 & 51; material from Hulk Comic UK (1979) #1-19; Marvel Team-Up (1972) #82-85 & 139; Nick Fury Vs Shield (1988) #1-6, Nick Fury: Agent of Shield (1989) #1-6, Wolverine/Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection (1989) OGN, Wolverine/Nick Fury: Scorpio Rising (1994) OGN, Fury (1994) #1, and Fury/Black Widow: Death Duty (1995) OGN.

I kept the title of the volume ending at 1988 to make clear this wouldn’t push into the next ongoing series, but this does include some 90s material from after that (partly because it’s set earlier).

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Vol. 2 (1989 – 1993)
This would collect Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (1989) #1-47. It could potentially fit the three 90s OGNs and Fury (1994) #1, but I think it could be better to just let it be it’s own self-contained story and include those in the other book.

But… I stayed quiet on mapping in the book titles to make the voting simpler.

S.H.I.E.L.D. by Jonathan Hickman
This would collect Hickman & Weaver’s S.H.I.E.L.D. (2010) #1-6 & #1 Director’s Cut, S.H.I.E.L.D. (2011) #0 AKA ∞, S.H.I.E.L.D. (2011) #1-4 & 5-6 (AKA S.H.I.E.L.D. by Hickman & Weaver #5-6). That would be under 400 pages, but it has Hickman’s name on it. There could be some supporting contextual material to add from his run on Fantastic Four.

Krisis Regrets: We should have included Dustin Weaver’s name in this title.

S.H.I.E.L.D: Agents of SHIELD by Waid & Guggenheim (2014 – 2016)
This would collect SHIELD (2014) #1-12 and Agents of SHIELD (2016) #1-10.

That’s a pretty short book, so I think adding Nick Fury (2017) #1-6 is a gimme. We could also add the contemporaneous 2015 S.H.I.E.L.D. 50th Anniversary issues: Agent Carter, Agent May, Fury, Mockingbird, & Quake.

That brings us to a very respectable 33 issues. But, if we’re being cheeky, we could add Battle Scars (2011) #1-6, which introduced Nick Fury Jr, and Waid’s Invisible Woman (2019) #1-5, which is kinda also a SHIELD book.

Runaways Omnibus Mapping

The Runaways have just one omnibus, collecting their critically acclaimed debut run by Brian K. Vaughan. We’d need just two more books to collect every Runaways issue, ever! Let’s go! To see how these individual issues have already been collected, head to the Guide to Runaways.

Runaways, Vol. 2 (2007 – 2011)
The first Runaways omnibus ends with Runaways (2005) #24. There’s nearly 40 more issues of Runaways material left outside of oversize format from there until Marvel Now.

We’d pick up from there with Runaways (2005) #25-30, Runaways/Young Avengers Civil War (2006) #1-4, The Loners (2007) #1-6, Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #1-3 (2008), Mystic Arcana: Sister Grimm, Runaways (2008) #1-14, Daken: Dark Wolverine (2010) #17-19, and material from Runaways Saga (2007) #1, Breaking Into Comics The Marvel Way, and What if the Runaways became the Young Avengers?

Runaways by Rainbow Rowell (2017 – 2021)
This would collect Rowell, Anka & Wilson, & Genolet & Cunniff”s brilliant and charming Runaways (2017) #1-38.

Thunderbolts Omnibus Mapping

Can you believe we’re just one omnibus away from a complete run of Thunderbolts in omnibus format? Or is it two? Hmm. This turned out to be one of the most-controversial title choices in the entire poll, because it specifically violated our mantra of “this is a titles poll, not a mapping poll.” If you want to see the material these volumes would collect, check out my Guide to Thunderbolts.

Thunderbolts by Ellis & Gage (AKA Vol. 4)
This would collect a minimum of Thunderbolts (1997) #110-121 by Warren Ellis & Mike Deodato, Thunderbolts: Desperate Measures (2007) #1 by Paul Jenkins, and finally Christos Gage’s Thunderbolts (1997) #122-125, Thunderbolts: Breaking Point (2007) #1, Thunderbolts: International Incident (2008) #1, and Thunderbolts: Reason in Madness (2008) #1.

That’s just 20 issues – 16 Thunderbolts issues and the four one-shots. Why not push on to the rest of this run!

Well… you could. But, I’d argue this also should include Penance: Relentless (2007) #1-5, because he is a member of the team at the time. Also, I feel strongly that it ought to include Moon Knight (2006) #21-25, because the entire Thunderbolts cast of this period appears there in perfect continuity with this run.

Suddenly, this 20 issue book has become a 30 issue book. But, could we still fit the remaining Andy Diggle material to create one volume?

Krisis Regrets: I should have called this Thunderbolts Vol. 4 (includes by Ellis & Gage)

Thunderbolts by Andy Diggle (AKA Vol. 5)
This would collect a minimum of Thunderbolts (1997) #126-143 and crossover into Deadpool (2008) #8-9 and Secret Warriors (2009) #7-9.

That’s 22 issues. We could mash it onto the prior 30 issues and have one book, right? RIGHT?!

Well… first, that’s a really big book. Marvel doesn’t love to push books over 50 issues when they don’t need to be that long. And, they could sell the prior volume on Ellis’s name (even if it’s not in the title).

Also, is it really just 22 issues? That depends entirely on what a potential Dark Avengers omnibus would include. If you think a Dark Avengers omnibus would contain a slew of villainous Dark Reign mini-series that were not written by Brian Bendis, then I think you could add these 22 issues to the prior book and call it a day. But, if you take the perspective that Dark Avengers would be a Bendis-centric book, I think a few of those Dark Reign mini-series could wind up in this book since their characters are fundamentally still Thunderbolts.

Krisis Regrets: I should have left this off the poll and let votes centralize on the prior book. However, in my defense, I doubt anyone will vote for this book instead of the prior book – so it’s not like we’re going to miss any votes.

Other Marvel Teams Omnibus Mapping

The Marvel Universe includes many other teams without an “X” in their name, but how many of them have at least one omnibus worth material? Let’s take a look!

Agents of Atlas
A pair of Complete Collections have mapped this as Agents of Atlas (2006) #1-6, X-Men: First Class #8, Wolverine: Agent of Atlas (2008) #1-3, Agents of Atlas (2009) #1-11, X-Men vs Agents of Atlas (2009) #1-2, Avengers vs. Atlas (2010) #1-4, Thunderbolts (1997) #139-140, Atlas (2010) #1-5 (and material from Incredible Hercules #138-141), Hercules: Fall of An Avenger #1-2, Marvel Boy: The Uranian (2010) #1-3, Gorilla Man (2010) #1-3, and material from Spider-Man Family #4, Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust?, Dark Reign: New Nation #1, Assault on Olympus Prologue #1, and Enter The Heroic Age (2010) #1.

Plus, historic debut material from Marvel Mystery Comics #82, Venus #1, Marvel Boy #1, Men’s Adventures #26, Menace #11, Yellow Claw #1.

That’s 42 whole issues, plus all the excerpted material.

Some voters might also like to see this include the “New Agents of Atlas” material from just prior to and during King in Black. I’d argue that it’s too separate from that original material and it that will push this book to be too big. Plus, I’d map that in it’s own book with the solo series of the various Pan-Asian heroes in the cast. But, we didn’t specify a year range in the title of this poll option, so go nuts!

Clandestine
A book collecting every major appearance of Alan Davis’s Clandestine – which is 20 issues of material

That would include ClanDestine Preview (1994) #1, Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #158, ClanDestine (1994) #1-8, X-Men/ClanDestine (1996) #1-2, ClanDestine (2008) #1-5, Thor: Truth of History (2008) #1, and the three ClanDestine annuals (Fantastic Four (1961) Annual 33, Daredevil (2011) Annual 1, and Wolverine (2013) Annual 1.

Damage Control
A 2015 paperback included Damage Control (1989A) #1-4, Damage Control (1989B) #1-4, Damage Control (1991) #1-4, WWH Aftersmash: Damage Control #1-3; and material from Marvel Age Annual 4, Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #19, and Iron Man (1968) Annual 11.

That was just a hair over 300 pages, so there’s room for more! Now we can add another 128 pages of Damage Control (2022) #1-5. That brings us to 20 entire issues, plus the “material from” issues, which is a viable omnibus!

Invaders (1998 – 2015) (includes All-New Invaders by Robinson)
The Invaders already have an omnibus of their complete 1970s series as well as a 1993 mini-series. Would would this omnibus contain?

This would collect Marvel Universe (1998) #1-3, New Invaders (2004) #0-9, Avengers/Invaders (2008) #1-12, Invaders Now! (2010) #1-5, and All-New Invaders (2013) #1-15 (and material from All-New Marvel Now Point One).

That’s 45 issues! And, the only titled Invaders material other than what appears in the first omnibus and this volume is Invaders (2019) #1-12, which already has its own oversize hardcover volume.

New Warriors (1999 – 2009)
See Guide to New Warriors. We’re very lucky to have the entire original run of New Warriors from 1989 to 1996 now collected in omnibus!

This could press onward to collect Ultra Girl (1996) #1-3, New Warriors (1999) #0-10 (and optionally Nova (1999) #1-7, which tied closely with this title), New Warriors (2005) #1-6, Civil War (2006) #1, and New Warriors (2007) #1-20, and Firestar (2010) #1.

That’s already 42 issues (or 49, with Nova), so we probably don’t have room for the delightful New Warriors (2014) #1-12, which is why this title’s year range ends at 2009.

Nextwave by Ellis & Immonen
See Guide to Monica Rambeau.

Officially, Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. (2006) only runs for 12 issues. That’s it!

Could you pad this with Elsa Bloodstone’s debut or other contemporaneous (and silly) Monica Rambeau appearances meant to feel like Nextwave? Or maybe a later Al Ewing Mighty Avengers story revisiting the Beyond Corporation? Sure, but I’m not sure you get anything from that.

Power Pack by Gurihiru (2005 – 2010)
See Guide to Power Pack. This would collect a long-running series of all-ages mini-series that exist outside of main Marvel continuity.

This book would include all 44 issues from 11 miniseries: Power Pack (2005) #1-4, X-Men and Power Pack (2005) #1-4, Avengers and Power Pack Assemble! (2006) #1-4, Spider-Man and Power Pack (2007) #1-4, Hulk and Power Pack (2007) #1-4, Fantastic Four and Power Pack (2007) #1-4, Iron Man and Power Pack (2008) #1-4, Power Pack: Day One (2008) #1-4, Skrulls vs. Power Pack (2008) #1-4, Wolverine and Power Pack (2009) #1-4, and Thor and the Warriors Four (2010)#1-4.

Squadron Supreme (2013 – 2017)
This book would primarily collect Squadron Supreme (2015) #1-15. I think there’s an argument to be made for it to collect some of the Hyperion material from Hickman’s Avengers, but it shouldn’t include any of the alternate reality MAX comics from the 00s.

Warlock and the Infinity Watch
See Guide to Adam Warlock. A one-and-done volume collecting Warlock and the Infinity Watch (1992) #1-42, Silver Surfer / Warlock: Resurrection (1993) #1-4, and Blood & Thunder crossover material (Thor #468-471, Silver Surfer #86-88, & Warlock Chronicles #6-8)

Comments

Red1116 says

April 6, 2024 at 2:43 pm

Well I finally voted in the poll yesterday, on the last day. I was trying to read through all of your posts before voting, but I just didn’t find the time. (It didn’t help that I didn’t realize you were posting these until a week ago.) I can only imagine how long it took to write them all! I’m grateful that you did, I’m enjoying them, so I’m going to keep reading through these as I’m able. And even though it may not make a ton of sense to comment now that the poll is over, I’m going to anyway. :)

Just a quick comment on the Secret Defenders…if Marvel does an omni, I think adding Dr. Strange Sorcerer Supreme 50 and Fantastic Four 374 would be nice.

- krisis says
  
  April 6, 2024 at 3:06 pm
  
  Sweet, I’ll add that note to the post!
  .
  About finding the time to read all the posts, I understand – I’d say that this is Version 0.9 of how to release and organize all of the notes on poll options. I’m hoping to refine this a bit for the upcoming DC poll – including releasing further ahead, and also organizing things a bit better so you can find the titles you want without reading every single post.
  .
  Any suggestions are appreciated!
  
  - Red1116 says
    
    April 7, 2024 at 12:14 am
    
    I didn’t mean to sound like your posts were too long or not organized. There’s just so many potential omnibuses that people want to see! You covered an amazing amount of ground. I can’t believe you’re planning to tackle DC too, but I’m really looking forward to the DC poll!
    
    - krisis says
      
      April 7, 2024 at 7:27 pm
      
      Don’t worry, Red – I didn’t take it that way at all! I just think it was A LOT OF POSTS and there wasn’t a way to search for a book you want across the posts. I think I might add a “index of titles” after the fact once I have time later this week.
      
James V says

April 10, 2024 at 6:11 pm

Hi Peter,
For the modern Alpha Flight, I’d suggest including Sunfire and Big Hero 6 (1998) #1-3, as Sunfire’s story continues from AF #1 to #14, then straight into this Big Hero 6 (it’s like including Daydreamers in Generation X maps).
There’s also a good few Wolverine issues set in Canada, with relevant AF guests to flesh out a book.

2004 series would be better to start the next volume, followed by New Avengers, Omega Flight and MCP material, etc.

- krisis says
  
  April 10, 2024 at 9:26 pm
  
  Even though Disney owns Marvel now, I believe the independent ownership of Big Hero 6 would prevent that from being collected alongside Marvel material in the same way as ROM or Godzilla. I unpacked it a bit more in my final post on Star Wars & Marvel Licensing.