Every Missing Fantastic Four & Silver Surfer Omnibus, Mapped | 13th Annual Tigereyes Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for Marvel Omnibus fans – time for the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot! This post explains every Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, & Silver Surfer omnibus that does NOT exist – all of which will appear as options on the 2025 poll.

For the next two weeks, I’ll be covering Marvel’s entire publishing history by mapping missing omnibus volumes to fill in every gap in your Marvel oversize shelf! That’s all leading to the kickoff of the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot on Near Mint Condition on April 28, 2025.

With the MCU Fantastic Four movie arriving in just a few months, Marvel has already been active in their Fantastic Four release schedule. We’ll see a classic Fantastic Four Vol. 6 omnibus in June, followed by the start of a new omnibus line with a Marvel Two-in-One Vol. 1 omnibus a week later. Plus, Silver Surfer finally gets his 1987 series in omnibus (and some key preceding material) in Silver Surfer: Return to the Spaceways this May, followed by a reprint of the Stan Lee Silver Surfer Volume 1 in June! All three books were popular on the 2025 poll, with Vol. 6 and Spaceways both in the Top 60.

That leaves us a dwindling list of Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer comics that have never been printed in omnibus compared to least year’s poll options for the F4 and Silver Surfer. Can the new MCU popularity of the team spur us on to get another three omnibuses crossed off this list in 2026? Perhaps, but it would send a stronger signal to Marvel if you cast your votes for some of them!

If you’re not sure of what to vote for, stick around for a list of books vetted by a gang of the biggest mapping nerds on the internet with explanations from yours truly – keeper of the most-definitive guides to Marvel’s collected editions on the planet.

Or, if you don’t care about omnibuses, just use this post to learn about Marvel’s history and find some great comics to read!

The book titles and mapping in this post were curated with the help of Captain Okona! Captain Okana is a supporter of the charity Vintage Pugs, so if you love this post and have a bit of extra comics cash you can spare consider helping rescue a pug today!

This post covers the following speculated omnibus volumes:

• Human Torch & Thing in the Silver and Bronze Age
  • Fantastic Four: Strange Tales – Human Torch & The Thing (1962 – 1965) [includes material from Marvel Rarities MMW]
  • Marvel Two-in-One Vol. 2 (1977 – 1980) [MMW 4-6]
  • Marvel Two-in-One Vol. 3 (1981 – 1983) [MMW 7-9, fits before Thing omnibus]
• Fantastic Four (1961) in Omnibus
  • Fantastic Four Vol. 7 (1978 – 1981) [MMW 19-21, contains some Byrne]
  • Fantastic Four by Englehart (& Stern) (1986 – 1989) [fits between Byrne & Simonson]
  • Fantastic Four & The Avengers by Walt Simonson (1987 – 1991) [fits between Englehart & DeFalco, includes New Fantastic Four; fits prior to Avengers by Byrne]
  • Fantastic Four by Tom DeFalco Vol. 1 (1991 & on) [follows Simonson, begins with #355]
  • Fantastic Force by Tom Brevoort (1993 – 1996) [AKA F4 by DeFalco Companion, could include F4 Unlimited & Unplugged]
• Fantastic Four in the 00s
  • Fantastic Four: Heroes Return Vol. 1 (1997 – 2000) [AKA by Claremont & Larroca]
  • Fantastic Four: Heroes Return Vol. 2 (2000 – 2002) [fits prior to Waid & Wieringo]
  • Fantastic Four: The Thing & The Human Torch by Slott & Kesel (2000 – 2006) [F4 solo series collection]
  • Fantastic Four: Marvel Knights by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (2004 – 2006) [AKA “4”]
  • Fantastic Four by Kesel, JMS, & McDuffie (2005 – 2008) [fits between Waid/Wieringo & Millar/Hitch; could add MANY minis]
• Fantastic Four in Marvel Now & All-New All-Different Marvel
  • Fantastic Four by James Robinson (2014 – 2015) [fits between Fraction & Secret Wars]
  • Fantastic Four by Dan Slott (2018 – 2022) [includes Reckoning War]
• Doctor Doom in Omnibus
  • Doctor Doom & Namor: Super-Villain Team-Up (1975 – 1984) [effectively Namor Vol. 4; includes his 1984 mini]
  • Doctor Doom: The Modern Years (2006 & on) [Doomwar, Infamous Iron Man, Doom by Cantwell, etc]
• Galactus & Silver Surfer Omnibus
  • Silver Surfer Vol. 0 (1965 – 1968) [AKA Herald of Galactus or By Jack Kirby]
  • Galactus The Devourer Vol. 1 (1965 – 2001)
  • Silver Surfer Vol. 3 (1989 – 1991) [AKA by Jim Starlin, includes issues Infinity Gauntlet omni skips]
  • Silver Surfer by Ron Marz (1991 – 1995) [AKA Vol. 4: Infinity War & Crusade era incl. Herald Ordeal]
  • Silver Surfer by J. M. DeMatteis (1996 – 1998) [final volume of 1987 series]
  • Silver Surfer (1999 – 2011) [material prior to Slott]

Remember: These titles and mappings are a suggestion of how Marvel could assemble these books. They are meant to help you decide on your votes on the Tigereyes poll. Your vote on the poll is a vote in favor of Marvel creating a book with that title or covering that period, NOT an endorsement of a specific map. Maps are presented as a proof of concept and to help you build your personal reading list.

Want to check out all of the other voting options for the 2025 Tigereyes Poll? Check out my 2025 Tigereyes poll options overview page that explains the poll, how to vote, and every title that will appear – including links to all of the posts in this series.

Over-the-top comics posts like this one are made possible via the support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis. For less than the cost of a single comic issue a month you can fuel my in-depth comics coverage, plus gain access to dozens of exclusive collecting guides & reading orders – including all of the Crushing Comics Guide to Marvel Comics.

Fantastic Four Omnibus Mapping: Human Torch & Thing in the Silver and Bronze Age

Fantastic Four: Strange Tales – Human Torch & The Thing (1962 – 1965) [includes material from Marvel Rarities MMW]
The oldest Fantastic Four material in need of an omnibus isn’t actually Fantastic Four material – it’s the early solo adventures of Human Torch and The Thing!

While Johnny Storm mostly anchored half of the anthology Strange Tales (1951) in the early Silver Age, Ben Grimm also appeared. That material has previously been collected in a 520-page Complete Collection – which is already a perfectly viable omnibus size. But, is there anything we can do to sweeten this option?

One major omnibus-mapping omission that remains unaccounted for are the contents of the Marvel Rarities Marvel Masterworks, other than Doctor Doom stories, which are included in his Book of Doom omnibus. However, that Masterworks also included Doctor Droom [AKA Druid] stories that don’t fit elsewhere and the beloved “Tales of the Watcher.”

Personally, I think there’s a stronger argument to include “Tales of the Watcher” in a theoretical Silver Surfer Vol. 0 than in this book, but I also think including the entirety of that Marvel Rarities volume (even the Doctor Doom stories!) here helps Fantastic Four fans complete their shelves without any double-dipping from other Fantastic Four omnibuses.

A vote for this book is a vote to finally collect some of the last remaining Marvel anthology Silver Age stories in omnibus – and they’re all stories connected to Marvel’s First Family!

This would collect Strange Tales (1951) #101-134 and Annual 2.

It would also add some or all of the material from the Marvel Rarities Marvel Masterworks (uncollected Doctor Droom stories from Amazing Adventures (1961) #1-4 & 6, “Tales of The Watcher” stories from Tales of Suspense (1959) #49-58, The Silver Surfer (1968) #1-7, and Marvel Super-Heroes (1967) #23, and stories double-dipped from the Doctor Doom omnibus from Marvel Super-Heroes (1967) #20 and Astonishing Tales (1970) #1-8.)

Marvel recently announced a Marvel Two-in-One Omnibus Vol. 1, which collects the first three years of Marvel Two-in-One (1974) – see Guide to Fantastic Four

Marvel Two-in-One Vol. 2 (1977 – 1980) [MMW 4-6]
The next oldest Fantastic Four material missing in omnibus is still not actual issues of Fantastic Four (1961), but a second volume of the Thing’s solo vehicle, Marvel Two-in-One (1974)! We’ll see our first volume of this long-awaited omni line arrive in June, so why not push to get a second book next year in 2016?

This 100-issue series maps to nine Masterworks volumes, the final two of which have yet to be released. And, the first omnibus perfectly follows the “3 Masterworks” rule! That means we know exactly what Volume 2 would collect.

A vote for this book is a vote to quickly continue the new Two-in-One omnibus line to a second volume, which will also put pressure on Marvel to release the final two Masterworks volumes in 2026 and 2027 so we can get a third and final omnibus.

This would collect Marvel Two-in-One (1974) #37-74 & Annual 2-4 and Avengers (1963) Annual 7.

Marvel Two-in-One Vol. 3 (1981 – 1983) [MMW 7-9, fits before Thing omnibus]
Our convention on this poll is that if an uncollected run maps into two obvious volumes, we’ll include both. And, since Marvel Two-in-One (1974) perfectly follows the “3 Masterworks” rule, we already know exactly what this book would contain. This would collect to the end of the series, which perfectly meets up with The Thing Omnibus that begins in 1983.

A vote for this book is a vote for Marvel to very quickly release the final two Masterworks volumes in this line so we can get to this omnibus… or, they could even break the Masterworks-first rule and push this out while the Fantastic Four are enjoying film popularity.

This would would collect Marvel Two-in-One (1974) #75-100 & Annuals 2-7. Unfortunately, it would likely have to skip issue #99, which is a team-up with ROM – but, that’s collected in the ROM Omnibus line!

After Marvel Two-in-One concludes, Thing moves on to his own 1983 solo series, collect in its entirety in The Thing Omnibus – see Guide to Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four Omnibus Mapping: Fantastic Four (1961) in Omnibus

We have six classic Fantastic Four omnibuses mapped directly from their Marvel Masterworks line plus a pair of volumes by Byrne, but that still leaves us well over 100 issues still to be collected! See Guide to Fantastic Four for collections of this title, including existing omnibuses, plus Marvel Masterworks and Epic Collections including the material that would be collected in these books.

Fantastic Four (1961) #1-203 are covered in a series of six existing classic Fantastic Four omnibuses – see Guide to Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four Vol. 7 (1978 – 1981) [MMW 19-21, contains some Byrne]

The next volume of classic Fantastic Four material comes with some controversy, although we already know exactly how Marvel will handle that based on the Captain America and X-Men classic omnibus lines.

This book would begin with Fantastic Four (1961) #204, which is the next issue of Fantastic Four (1961) not yet collected in omnibus. The classic Fantastic Four omnibus line has always obeyed the “3 Masterworks” rule, so the contents would collect the contents of Masterworks Volumes 19-21, which end with Fantastic Four (1961) #240.

Easy, right? Well… not exactly. That’s because Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus Vol. 1 starts its continuous run of issues with #232, after collecting a handful of Byrne issues prior to that. As a result, you will hear an outcry from some fans that this book ought to end with issue #231 so that it perfectly aligns with the start of the main material in the Byrne Omnibus with minimal double-dipping.

For years, omnibus mappers attempted to obey that rule to avoid double-dipping. However, now that we’ve seen the Captain America and X-Men classic omnibus lines intersect with existing books, we know exactly how Marvel will handle this. If a book can seamlessly fit in with a classic line, like Captain America by Jack Kirby, it will simply be rebranded with a number that fits into the classic line. However, if a book has a different collection strategy than the classic line, like X-Men: Mutant Massacre, the line will simply recollect that material based on Masterworks and/or Epic Collection mapping.

The one concession is that the classic line might try to avoid creating really painful double-dipping, which is why Uncanny X-Men (1963) Annual 10 got moved up into Uncanny X-Men Vol. 5. But, that’s a long story about X-Men and this is a Fantastic Four post!

The point is, it’s unavoidable that the classic line of Fantastic Four omnibuses is about to intersect the pair of Byrne books. And, it just so happens that we can easily get to the end of Byrne with two more classic omnibuses, since there’s exactly six more Masterworks to reach the end of his run.

However, you don’t have to have an opinion on all of that. A vote for this book is a vote that says “keep this line going!” and we can deal with the worst of the Byrne-recollection drama with the next volume.

This would collect a minimum of Fantastic Four (1961) #204-231 & Annuals 14-16 and Fantastic Four Roast (1982) #1, but it will likely collect #232-240 to follow the “3 Masterworks rule” to overlap Fantastic Four by Byrne Vol. 1.

Fantastic Four (1961) #231-295 are covered in a pair of John Byrne omnibuses – see Guide to Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four by Englehart (& Stern) (1986 – 1989) [fits between Byrne & Simonson]

This is the next Fantastic Four omnibus regardless of if you think Byrne’s material should be recollected in the Classic line.

Both routes lead us to a volume that ends with Fantastic Four (1961) #295 or 296 (issue #296 is the first issue not written by Byrne; it’s in Masterworks Vol. 27, which rudely does not cut off at issue #295 like Byrne Omnibus Vol. 2).

That means we know exactly what would come next, even though we don’t have Masterworks for it yet, because this run has already been collected by Epic Collections that break perfectly after Byrne and before Simonson. This run of Fantastic Four (1961) is penned by Steve Englehart starting from issue #304, though Roger Stern pens a few of the initial issues. It famously includes Sharon Ventura as “She-Thing,” Johnny Storm’s problematic marriage, and a brief “Secret Wars III” story.

This would collect Fantastic Four (1961) #296-333 & Annual 20-22, Fantastic Four vs. The X-Men (1987) #1-4, Incredible Hulk (1968) #350, and Marvel Graphic Novel (1982) Hulk/Thing – The Big Change OGN (1987), and maybe also Marvel Graphic Novel (1982) No. 49 – Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment.

Fantastic Four & The Avengers by Walt Simonson (1987 – 1991) [fits between Englehart & DeFalco, includes New Fantastic Four; fits prior to Avengers by Byrne]

Walt Simonson’s 22-issue run is beloved by fans, and not just because it introduced the very X-Treme “New Fantastic Four” comprised of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, & Ghost Rider! Simonson reunited the primary four after years of Thing being replaced with a fill-in member, wrote their family dynamic well, and took the team on adventures in the timestream.

Simonson’s run is just a hair over the length of a single Epic Collection, which makes it slim but not totally unreasonable for an omnibus. However, there’s a chance to fill it out with some other Simonson material from the same period from a year-long run on Avengers (1963) that actually included several Fantastic Four cast members and plot lines that he pays off in his F4 run! And, it just so happens that plugs a potential gap in the Avengers omnibus line after Roger Stern’s run concludes and prior to Avengers by John Byrne

Last year I rolled my eyes at this omnibus as a somewhat clumsy gap-filler, but the more I got to know the content the more sense it made to me. I think each half of this material makes the other stronger.

A vote for this book is a vote to finally have Simonson’s fan-favorite Fantastic Four run collected, paired with Avengers issues that complement it perfectly.

This would collect Fantastic Four (1961) #334-354 & Annual 23, “Days of Future Present” annuals material (from New Mutants (1983) Annual 6, X-Factor (1986) Annual 5, & Uncanny X-Men (1963) Annual 14), and material from Marvel Holiday Special 1991.

Since that is a relatively brief amount of material, this could also add Walt Simonson’s contemporaneous run on Avengers Avengers (1963) #291-299 & Annual 17, which included Fantastic Four cast members! Simonson does not write Avengers (1963) #288-290 & 300-304, but they could easily be included here to fill the gap between the end of Roger Stern’s run on Avengers and the the existing Avengers by John Byrne Omnibus.

Fantastic Four by Tom DeFalco Vol. 1 (1991 & on) [follows Simonson, begins with #355]

Tom DeFalco piloted Fantastic Four (1961) through the mid-90s and the book’s cancellation after Onslaught, when the team moved into the Heroes Reborn pocket universe.

For a long time this run seemed like it got zero love from both fans and collected editions. The Epic Collection line finally changed that, collecting this in its entirety. And, whether it was the result of the Epics or just fans getting nostalgic, the general reception for DeFalco’s work has definitely improved over the past decade.

Personally, I’ve always loved this run. Sure, it existed in the very X-Treme 90s, resulting in the team at one point all packing giant guns and resulting in hot mom Susan Storm donning her regrettable “4” cut-out boob window. But, boob-window-dressing aside, this book mostly resisted the sort of excesses that found their way into the rest of Marvel’s line and stuck with being a satisfying book about Marvel’s first family that honored Stan Lee’s legendary setup on the first 100 issues.

Tom DeFalco’s run is over sixty issues before you even start looking at Annuals, crossovers, and additional content, so this will absolutely be broken up into two volumes. That means the real question becomes if it will absorb even more material than its Epic Collection mapping.

A vote for this book is a vote to collect Tom DeFalco’s lengthy and very satisfying Fantastic Four run in oversize hardcover for the first time!

This would likely begin by collecting a first volume of Fantastic Four (1961) #355-386 and Annual 24-26, Namor, the Sub-Mariner (1990) #47-48, and material from The Adventures of the Thing #3 (2nd story – “Love is a Hurtin’ Thing”).

A second volume would collect Fantastic Four (1961) #387-416 & Annual 27, Fantastic Four Ashcan Edition (1994) #1 [actually released in 1995?], Fantastic Four: Atlantis Rising Collectors’ Preview (1995) #, Fantastic Four: Atlantis Rising (1995) #1-2, Fantastic Force (1994) #7-9, Fantastic Four Unlimited (1993) #11-12, Fantastic Four: The Legend (1996) #1, Onslaught: Marvel Universe (1996) #1, and material from Tales of the Marvel Universe (1996) #1.

These volumes have enough space to incorporate all of Fantastic Four Unlimited (1993) #1-12 and Fantastic Four: Unplugged (1995) #1-6, despite them not being included in the Epic Collection line.

Fantastic Force by Tom Brevoort (1993 – 1996) [AKA F4 by DeFalco Companion, could include F4 Unlimited & Unplugged]

This book may or may not need to exist. It all comes down to how devoted Marvel remains to their Epic Collection mapping of Fantastic Four when they tackle the pair of DeFalco omnibuses, above.

That’s because the Epic Collection line coverage of Fantastic Four skipped out on three supporting series that run alongside the DeFalco period. It makes sense that they didn’t include all of the side-team book Fantastic Force (1994), a team lead by the aged-up Franklin Richards of the future – who launches this book out of Fantastic Four (1961) #392

It makes less sense that the Epic Collection line skipped the six issues of Fantastic Four: Unplugged (1995), and absolutely zero sense that it skipped most of Fantastic Four Unlimited (1993) when the Spider-Man and X-Men lines have always included those quarterly issues in full.

Marvel could absolutely choose to correct the omission of Unlimited and Unplugged in the DeFalco omnibus line, but that would still leave the time-and-reality-traveling Fantastic Force abandoned by the omnibus line.

A vote for this book is a vote to collect the never before fully-collected Fantastic Force (1994) in oversize hardcover, as well as having an option to include the similarly uncollected Fantastic Four Unlimited (1993) and Fantastic Four: Unplugged (1995) #1-6 in omnibus as well – making this more tempting to F4 omni line completionists.

This would collect Fantastic Force (1994) #1-18; Fantastic Four Unlimited (1993) #1-12; Fantastic Four: Unplugged (1995) #1-6. It might potentially add excerpted Franklin Richards appearances from Avengers (1963) #383, Secret Defenders (1993) #25 (1/2 page), Fantastic Four (1961) #400, Fantastic Four: Atlantis Rising (1995) #2.

You could argue that to offer the complete story of Franklin Richards this should begin with Fantastic Four (1963) #387-392 and end with #410-413, which bookend this series.

The final issues of Fantastic Four (1961) are collected in the X-Men/Avengers: Onslaught Omnibus, and their subsequent 1996 series is collected with the Heroes Reborn omnibus. See Guide to Marvel Universe Events.

Fantastic Four Omnibus Mapping: Fantastic Four in the 00s

We have two major hunks of 00s Fantastic Four collected in omnibus – Fantastic Four by Waid & Wieringo collecting 2002-2005 material, and Fantastic Four by Millar & Hitch covering material starting from 2007, which is then wrapped up with a pair of Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman volumes carrying us through to the end of 2012. But, what about 1998 to 2002, and the brief intermission between 2005 – 2007? And, what about solo series? There’s actually a lot of Fantastic Four left to collect from this decade!

Fantastic Four: Heroes Return Vol. 1 (1997 – 2000) [AKA by Claremont & Larroca]

The Fantastic Four returned from the Heroes Reborn pocket universe to be written by none other than Chris Claremont, who took over with issue #4!

Claremont delivered his first multi-year run on a title other than X-Men in over two decades… although, let’s be honest, he made F4 a little bit X-Men-ish by pulling in some of his favorite characters and tropes. Plus, this is where Claremont forged a tight connection with Salvador Larroca, which would continue into their X-Treme X-Men (2001) after this run.

For a long time this was one of Marvel’s most prominent never-collected runs! Finally, in 2019-2020, this material was collected in paperback for the first time. Those two paperbacks would make an outstanding single omnibus, and Claremont’s name tends to be a reliable marketing tool.

The pair of Complete Collections stop with issue #32. Personally, I think it more sense to continue to issue #34, since #33-34 were also by Larroca prior to a new creative team taking over.

A vote for this book is a book to collect the entirety of this run in a single oversize hardcover for the first time

This would collect Fantastic Four (1998) #1-32 (or -34), 1/2, & Annual 1998 [AKA Uncanny X-Men/Fantastic Four Annual], 1999, & 2000, Iron Man (1998) #14, Doom (2000) #1-3, and Fantastic 4th Voyage of Sinbad (2001) #1 (released slightly later, but also by Claremont/Larroca).

It could optionally also include Galactus The Devourer (1999) #1-6 (which is more likely to appear in the Silver Surfer line) and Domination Factor: Fantastic Four (1999) #1-4 & Domination Factor: Avengers (1999) #1-4, an interconnected pair of mini-series. All three runs occur just after issue #23.

Fantastic Four: Heroes Return Vol. 2 (2000 – 2002) [fits prior to Waid & Wieringo]

After Claremont and Larroca wrapped their run on Fantastic Four it was continued by several different authors, including Carlos Pacheco with Rafael Marin, Jeph Loeb, and Karl Kesel (whose run is very well-liked).

This also ran alongside a number of mini-series that would have to be included here lest they be abandoned, since they do not appar in the Waid & Wieringo omnibus on the other side.

This would primarily collect Fantastic Four (1998) #35-59 & Annual 2001, Inhumans (2000) #1-4, and Doom: The Emperor Returns (2002) #1-3.

It could optionally also include some or all of Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Comics Magazine (2001) #1-12 (a retcon series), Fantastic Four: 1 2 3 4 (2001) #1-4. It could also potentially include Thing & She-Hulk: The Long Night (2002) #1 and Thing (2002) [AKA Thing: Freakshow] #1-4, which both fit prior to #60 but might be better placed in an omnibus focused on solo stories. A trio of retcon series were released in this period – Before the Fantastic Four: The Storms (2001) #1-3, Before the Fantastic Four: Reed Richards (2001) #1-3, Before the Fantastic Four: Ben Grimm & Logan (2000) #1-3. And, finally, the F4 guest in B-Sides (2002) #1-3, which is set between #60-61.

Fantastic Four: The Thing & The Human Torch by Slott & Kesel (2000 – 2006) [F4 solo series collection]

The primary goal of this book would be to collect a trio of Torth and Thing solo series from the mid-00s – a Human Torch (2003) solo book by Karl Kesel (who also briefly wrote a beloved F4 team run), and Torch/Spidey team-up and Thing (2005) solo by Dan Slott.

That would yield a 25-issue omnibus all in a similar joyful, funny, friendly tone, so we could just leave it at that.

However, there are some other solo Fantastic Four books in this period that could fit better in this book than elsewhere. If we keep the focus just on these two members, Thing actually has three more series that could fit better here than crammed into a F4 book: Thing & She-Hulk: The Long Night (2002) #1 by Todd Dezago, Thing [AKA Thing: Freakshow] (2002) #1-4 by Geoff Johns, and Hulk & Thing: Hard Knocks (2004) #1-4 by Bruce Jones. Plus, there’s another Torch series later than this period, Torch (2009) #1-8 by Alex Ross and Mike Carey.

There’s a strong chance all of those 17 issues could get abandoned by F4 team books (especially the later and longer Torch (2009)), which have a bad track record of picking up supporting series.

Then we come back to the troublesome nine issues of the “Before the Fantastic Four” mini-series – Before the Fantastic Four: The Storms (2001) #1-3, Before the Fantastic Four: Reed Richards (2001) #1-3, Before the Fantastic Four: Ben Grimm & Logan (2000) #1-3. There’s really no great place to collect them, and if they don’t wind up in either of the the team books above this could be a great place to knock them out.

A vote for this book is a vote to get those Slott & Kesel series all in one book, and maybe also a vote to take care of a pretty big chunk of F4 solo material from the 00s while their popularity is about to hit an all-time peak.

This would primarily collect Human Torch (2003) #1-12; Spider-Man / Human Torch (2005) #1-5; and Thing (2005) #1-8. It could very easily add Thing [AKA Thing: Freakshow] (2002) #1-4 by Geoff Johns, Hulk & Thing: Hard Knocks (2004) #1-4 by Bruce Jones, and Torch (2009) #1-8 by Alex Ross & Mike Carey.

It could also add all three of the “Before the Fantastic Four” series – Fantastic Four: Reed Richards (2001) #1-3, Before the Fantastic Four: Ben Grimm & Logan (2000) #1-3.

Fantastic Four: Marvel Knights by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (2004 – 2006) [AKA “4”]

This offers a chance to collect complete Fantastic Four series by a single author all in one place, which is always a great experience for readers! That series is the team’s Marvel Knights series, sometimes known simply as “4,” written by TV scribe Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (and with a first arc of art by Steve McNiven!)

Marvel Knights series had a more mature tone without being MAX and remained in continuity, and it’s fun to see a slightly more complex run of the team contemporaneous to the beloved back-to-basics approach from Mark Waid on the main title. Also under the Marvel Knights banner was Fantastic Four: 1 2 3 4 (2001) #1-4 by Grant Morrison, so it would be easy to include it here as a bonus under the “Knights” banner.

A vote for this book is a vote in favor of getting this Marvel Knights series collected all in a single omnibus, rather than relying it on it being successfully interspersed with collections of the main F4 run (a ship that has already sailed, thanks to the existing Waid omnibus).

This would collect Marvel Knights 4 (2004) #1-30, possibly adding Fantastic Four: 1 2 3 4 (2001) #1-4.

This is where the existing Fantastic Four by Waid & Wieringo omnibus fits – starting after Heroes Return Vol. 2, above, and ending just prior to this next book – see Guide to Fantastic Four.

Fantastic Four by Kesel, JMS, & McDuffie (2005 – 2008) [fits between Waid/Wieringo & Millar/Hitch; could add MANY minis]

The most surprising thing about Marvel’s 2023 release of Fantastic Four by Millar & Hitch wasn’t that the run merited an omnibus, but that Marvel kept the book so brief at under 800 pages when there was another omnibus of material that could’ve been included to fill the rest of the same gap.

That material was written by three writers in quick succession – fan fav Karl Kessel, Babylon 5 creator and Spider-Totem scapegoat J. Michael Straczynski, & the beloved industry legend Dwayne McDuffie.

Fans are generally positive on all of this material, which crosses Civil War along the way. It’s only 29 issues, but that’s longer than the slim Millar/Hitch book!

Also, there are a ton of F4 team mini-series from this period that really don’t fit well anywhere else. It doesn’t make sense to burden the Marvel Knights book with them, because they aren’t Marvel Knights! So, maybe that slim Millar book was a blessing in disguise – since there’s room for some or all of them here.

This would collect Fantastic Four (1961) #525-553.

It could add some or all of  X-Men/Fantastic Four (2004) [AKA X4] #1-5; Fantastic Four Special (2005) #1; Fantastic Four Wedding Special (2005) #1; Fantastic Four / Iron Man: Big in Japan (2005) #1-4; Fantastic Four: Foes (2005) #1-6; Fantastic Four: Books of Doom (2005) #1-6; Fantastic Four: First Family (2006) #1-6; Fantastic Four: A Death in the Family (2006) #1; Beyond! (2006) #1-6; Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four (2007) #1-4; Fantastic Four: Isla De La Muerte (2008) #1; Fantastic Four: True Story (2008) #1-4.

Fantastic Four Omnibus Mapping: Fantastic Four in Marvel Now & All-New All-Different Marvel

We have a strong start to the 2010s of Fantastic Four, with a pair of Jonathan Hickman omnibuses taking us to the start of Marvel now, followed by a Matt Fraction omnibus to get us to 2014. After that? A vast expanse of nothingness, ready to be filled by these volumes!

Fantastic Four by James Robinson (2014 – 2015) [fits between Fraction & Secret Wars]

The Fantastic Four began Marvel Now hot off of Hickman’s run with a pair of intertwined titles written by Matt Fraction. They failed to catch fire and Fraction made a somewhat abrupt exit from Marvel in early 2014, leaving Marvel to have James Robinson relaunch the team into a book with a very “disassembled” vibe.

It’s a wonder Robinson hadn’t had a swing at F4 before this point. Along with other writers who ascended in the 90s like Mark Waid and Kurt Busiek, Robinson is known for runs that delve deeply into character continuity and unexplored history.

Ultimately, this was a somewhat quiet, contemplative run that had the team on their back foot for most of it. And, in retrospect, it was doing the job of keeping them in a holding pattern while Hickman used Reed Richard as the centerpiece of his New Avengers (2013) leading into Reed being a lead character in Secret Wars (2015).

A vote for this book is a vote for a satisfying (if brief) run with a pair of closely-related appearances from other titles in the run-up to Secret Wars (2015)

This would collect Fantastic Four (2014) #1-14 & Annual and Fantastic Four (1961) #642-645.

It could also include SHIELD (2015) #4 (an Invisible Woman story) and Avengers World (2014) #15-16 (a Valeria/Doom story).

Fantastic Four by Dan Slott (2018 – 2022) [includes Reckoning War]

The Richards clan was MIA from the Marvel Universe after Hickman’s Secret Wars, as they were chaperoning Franklin and Valeria in repopulating the multiverse with worlds. In that time, Human Torch & Thing appeared in Marvel 2-in-One (2017) by Chip Zdarsky, and were eventually gathered back together by Dan Slott for a four year run of Fantastic Four.

I’m not a fan of this run. I think it was clear that Slott loves Torch and Thing and wrote a lot of tremendous plots for them, but he seemed to range from disinterest to animosity to all of the other characters. He aged up Franklin and Valeria, which to me is a sin I’ll never forgive. His Reed went past distracted to come off a bit callous. His Sue was often a meddling annoyance in the lives of her family. Plus, right in the middle of Jonathan Hickman making Franklin Richards a huge plot point in his Age of Krakoa, Slott crushed the plot for seemingly no good reason – nothing really came of the blockade he created.

A vote for this book is a vote to collect a four year swath of Fantastic Four in a single book. FYI, the final two issues were part of Judgment Day and not written by Slott. This book would be nearly 60 issues just with Slott’s material and one-shots either by him or closely-related to his run, so there’s not much room for extras – but there were A LOT of extras in this period! It could be Marvel decides to split this into two, as they did with the similarly-sized Kelly Thompson Captain Marvel run, in which case all of the extras could easily fit into the two volumes.

This would collect Fantastic Four (2018) #1-48; Fantastic Four Wedding Special (2018) #1; Fantastic Four: 4 Yancy Street (2019) #1; Fantastic Four: Negative Zone (2019) #1; Empyre: Fantastic Four (2020) #0; Empyre Fallout: Fantastic Four (2020) #1; Fantastic Four: Road Trip (2020) #1; Fantastic Four: Grimm Noir (2020) #1; Fantastic Four Reckoning War: Alpha (2022) #1; and Reckoning War: The Trial of the Watcher (2022) #1

That’s already a huge book, but there are a handful of other series in this period that could be included – especially if Marvel breaks this book into two: Invisible Woman (2019) #1-5, Future Foundation (2019) #1-5, the three-part Prodigal Sun series of one-shots (Fantastic Four: The Prodigal Sun (2019) #1, Silver Surfer: The Prodigal Sun (2019) #1 and Guardians of the Galaxy: Prodigal Sun (2019) #1), Fantastic Four: Marvels Snapshots (2020) #1, and X-Men/Fantastic Four (2020) #1-4.

It’s too soon to map options for Fantastic Four (2022)! Sure, the series is just about to wrap up, but the team is featured in the still-running One World Under Doom (2025) also by their author Ryan North. And North is about to relaunch the F4 into a new title, Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) to coincide with their film. I think we need to wait at least until September to understand if it’s time to collect his run yet or if it has a long life left in it.

Fantastic Four Omnibus Mapping: Doctor Doom in Omnibus

Doctor Doom became the second Marvel villain to merit his own omnibus full of mostly double-dipped material in 2022, following in Loki’s footsteps. However, that omnibus ended in 2006 and skipped over one major Doom series. That means we have at least two more volumes to collect Marvel’s marquee villain.

The existing Book of Doom omnibus fits here and collects around the proposed Super-Villain Team-Up omnibus.

Doctor Doom & Namor: Super-Villain Team-Up (1975 – 1984) [effectively Namor Vol. 4; includes his 1984 mini]

Doctor Doom got an amazing omnibus in 2022 that collected all of his biggest stories from 1962 to 2006, including all of his “Marvel Masterworks Rarities” stories and two excerpts from longer runs: Super Villain Team-Up and the original Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars.

The excerpts make perfect sense for Secret Wars, where Doom was a player but his main plot didn’t really happen until the final three issues, all included in the omnibus.

However, Super-Villain Team-Ip (1975) was Doom’s own ongoing series! In it, he and Namor conspired with each other and against each other throughout. We don’t have it complete collected in Masterworks or Epic Collection, although it did get a 450-page complete trade paperback edition in 2015. Clearly that was too long to fit in the Book of Doom omnibus, which is why only two issues were excerpted there.

That means it has been a decade since we’ve had this material collected in full and in color!

Not only is it significant for Doom, but it’s effectively Namor’s next adventure after the close of his 1968 series. If Namor received one more Masterworks volume, this would be collected there – and, there’s a chance it is included in his Epic line. That gives us an opportunity to fill the length of this out with more Namor material that takes us up to his 1990 omnibus by John Byrne, since by definition any further significant Doom material is already in his own omnibus.

A vote for this book is a vote to collect Super-Villain Team-Up in full and fill the gap from 1975 to 1990 for Namor so his omnibus line meets perfectly with his John Byrne volume on the other side.

This would collect Giant-Size Super Villain Team-Up (1975) #1-2, Super-Villain Team-Up (1975) #1-14, 15 (cover only), & 16-17, The Avengers (1963) #154-156, and The Champions (1976) #16

Plus, for Namor, it would collect Marvel Spotlight (1971) #27, Daredevil (1964) Annual 4, Marvel Two-in-One (1974) #28, Prince Namor, The Sub-Mariner (1984) #1-4, and covers of reprint issues Tales to Astonish (1979 – 1981) #1-14.

Doctor Doom: The Modern Years (2006 & on) [Doomwar, Infamous Iron Man, Doom by Cantwell, etc]

Doctor Doom is about to have a very big few years as he finally takes a turn as the primary villain of the MCU, so now is the time to finish collecting all of his major stories in omnibus!

His amazing Book of Doom omnibus does a great job of collecting all of his major stories from his debut through 2006 aside from Super-Villain Team-Up (1975). Now we just need to get from 2006 to 2025 and the start of One World Under Doom (2025), which will surely merit its own omnibus when it is through.

This book would collect a core of two Doom mini-series (retcon book Iron Man: Legacy of Doom (2008) #1-4 and Doomwar (2010) #1-6) two ongoing series (Infamous Iron Man (2016) #1-12 and Doctor Doom (2019) #1-10), and two one-shots (King In Black: Iron Man/Doom (2020) #1 and the non-continuity Doom (2024) #1).

That’s already 34 issues – plenty for an omnibus! But, there are so many other big Doom runs from the past 20 years to include! Honestly, this could easily be expanded to two volumes because Doom has so many great stories. Ultimately it’s hard to know exactly what else this would collect. Might it also excerpt from of his biggest moments from ongoing runs? Doom is really the main star of Hickman’s Secret Wars (2015)! Maybe this book would recollect all of it, or maybe it would just except the climax just like Book of Doom does with the original Secret Wars.

We took the approach of listening some of his greatest hits from Thor, Children’s Crusade, X-Men, FF, AXIS, New Avengers, and more, which could easily expand this to two volumes.

A vote for this book is a vote in favor of Marvel continuing a line of Doom’s greatest hits in omnibus… and, a lot of votes could signal this actually ought to be two volumes!

This primarily would primarily collect retcon mini-series Iron Man: Legacy of Doom (2008) #1-4, Doomwar (2010) #1-6 (and the lead-in from Black Panther (2009) #9-12), Infamous Iron Man (2016) #1-12 (and likely material from Iron Man (1968) #594-600), Doctor Doom (2019) #1-10, King In Black: Iron Man/Doom (2020) #1, and the non-continuity Doom (2024) #1.

However, taking a wide view of what this could collect more in line with the contents of his original “Book of Doom,” this could collect all of Doom’s significant appearances from 2006 to the start of One World Under Doom, which could reasonably include: Iron Man: Legacy of Doom (2008) #1-4, Thor (1966) #604-606, Doomwar (2010) #1-6 (and the lead-in from Black Panther (2009) #9-12), material from Avengers: The Children’s Crusade (2010) #1-9, X-Men (2010) #16-19, material from FF (2010) #3-16 (& Fantastic Four (1961) #600), material from Avengers & X-Men: Axis (2014) #6-9, material from New Avengers (2013) #24-33, material from Secret Wars (2015) #0-9, material from Invincible Iron Man (2015) #1-13, Infamous Iron Man (2016) #1-12, material from Marvel 2-in-One (2017) #1-7 & Annual 1, material from Iron Man (1968) #594-600, Doom (2019) #1-10, King In Black: Iron Man/Doom (2020) #1, material from Fantastic Four (2022) (including issue #7), Blood Hunt (2024) #4-5, and the non-continuity Doom (2024) #1.

Fantastic Four Omnibus Mapping: Galactus & Silver Surfer Omnibus

Silver Surfer Vol. 0 (1965 – 1968) [AKA Herald of Galactus or By Jack Kirby]

Let’s be clear: this would be a slim, double-dipping omnibus that exists purely to get all of Surfer’s earliest Silver Age appearances into one place even though they are all already in omnibus!

A vote for this book is a vote mirror Silver Surfer Epic Collection Volume 1 to collect all of his major early appearances – and, there’s no extra material to squeeze in here! What’s in the Epic is exactly what he appeared in prior to his solo material. We could include some whole issues rather than using excerpts, but even then this would still be under 500 pages.

(One idea to expand this would be to simply rename it “Silver Surfer & Galactus” and use it to collect all of Galactus’s earliest appearances, which mostly includes this material.)

This would collect Fantastic Four (1961) #48-50, 55-61, Tales to Astonish (1959) #92-93, Fantastic Four (1961) Annual 5 (3rd story), and Fantastic Four (1961) #72, & 74-77.

Galactus The Devourer Vol. 1 (1965 – 2001)

Galactus is a major force in the Marvel Universe whose appearance can signal some of their most epic stories – especially when he was used in moderation in the 60s, 70s, & 80s.

While this omnibus would certainly double-dip a significant amount of Fantastic Four material, I think there’s a wide enough breadth of appearances and stories to make this interesting to collectors and readers – especially with a comics-accurate version of The Devourer finally coming to the big screen!

A vote for this book is a vote for a relatively comprehensive collection of all of Galactus’s most-significant stories from his 1965 debut through 2001.

Thanks to CK commenter KingBurger and Mapping Mintie BrandXK for their help on this one!

This would collect a minimum of Fantastic Four (1961) #48-50, 74-77, 121-123, 172-175, 208-214, 242-244, & 257-262; Thor (1966) #160-162, 167-169, 225-228; Silver Surfer (1968) #1 & 4; Silver Surfer: The Ultimate Cosmic Experience (1978) #1; Dazzler (1981) #10-11; Super Villians Classic (1983) #1, material from Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars (1984) #1-12; Silver Surfer (1987) #1-10, 17-18; Silver Surfer (1988) #1-2; Excalibur (1988) #61; Galactus: The Devourer (1999) #1-6; and Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Comic Magazine (2001) #10-12.

Silver Surfer Vol. 3 (1989 – 1991) [AKA by Jim Starlin, includes issues Infinity Gauntlet omni skips]

With Marvel releasing the  Silver Surfer: Return to the Spaceways Omnibus next month, we finally have cracked into collecting his 1987 series.

The tricky thing about collecting the next period of it is that it is hugely overlapped by the Infinity Gauntlet omnibus. However, there’s still a reason to vote for this book – as it will collect some abandoned issues like Silver Surfer (1987) #39 & 41-43.

A vote for this book is a vote for the next Silver Surfer omnibus, that at least collects Jim Starlin’s run that ends at issue #50. However, it’s much more likely a vote to collect another 10 issues to bring this flush with the end of Infinity Gauntlet.

This would collect a minimum Silver Surfer (1987) #34-50 & Annual 3. However, it would be VERY LIKELY this would push into Ron Marz’s material to have this reach Silver Surfer (1987) #51-60 & Annual 4. Issue #60 happens concurrently with the the end of Infinity Gauntlet and has been collected alongside it before. If this book collects that far, it might also include Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #69 (4th story).

If this book has Starlin’s name in the title, it would likely also collect Marvel Graphic Novel (1982) #71 – Silver Surfer: Homecoming (1991) and Silver Surfer/Warlock: Resurrection (1993) #1-4. Those don’t happen until after issue #75 – much too far for this omnibus to reach while continuously collecting the main series.

Silver Surfer by Ron Marz (1991 – 1995) [AKA Vol. 4: Infinity War & Crusade era incl. Herald Ordeal]

After Jim Starlin moved on from Silver Surfer (1987) to focus on his Infinity Trilogy, Ron Marz took over the title for over fifty issues!

If we include crossovers and OGNs, that would be 80 issues of material – two omnibuses worth! However, we probably don’t have to do that – because it’s very likely that a volume that comes before this one would knock out the first 10 issues & an annual of Marz’s run to reach issue #60.

A vote for this book is to begin to comprehensively collect the period of Silver Surfer (1987) written by Ron Marz, which might also imply fitting the start of Marz’s run into the prior volume.

This book would begin to collect Silver Surfer (1987) #51-102 & Annuals 4-7, minus whatever was included in the previous volume (possibly #51-60 & Annual 4). To match Epic Collection mapping, it would also include material from Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #69 & 93-97, “Return of the Defenders” crossover material (Incredible Hulk (1968) Annual 18, Namor The Sub-Mariner (1990) Annual 2, Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme (1988) Annual 2), Marvel Graphic Novel (1982) #71 – Silver Surfer: Homecoming (1991), Silver Surfer/Warlock: Resurrection (1993) #1-4, Secret Defenders (1993) #9-10 (and maybe #11-14), Blood & Thunder crossover issues (Thor (1966) #468-471, Warlock Chronicles (1993) #6-8, Warlock & The Infinity Watch (1992) #23-25), and likely material from Starmasters (1995) #1-3 and Cosmic Powers Unlimited (1995) #1-6.

If this book has Marz’s name in the title, it could likely also collect Silver Surfer: Dangerous Artifacts (1996) One-Shot, which fits just after this run even though it was published later. The same is true for retcon series Silver Surfer Rebirth (2022) #1-5 and Silver Surfer Rebirth: Legacy (2023) #1-5, both by Marz and both set during this run.

Silver Surfer by J. M. DeMatteis (1996 – 1998) [final volume of 1987 series]

There is just no way to be sure exactly how many omnis we’d need to get past that massive chunk of Ron Marz material to what comes after, so we have not fully mapped this series into omnibus for the poll.

However, it’s pretty obvious what the final book covering the 1987 series would be, because J. M. Dematteis wrote from issue #123 to the end of the series (with a final issue, #146, by Tom DeFalco).

This would collect Silver Surfer (1987) #123-146, #-1, #1/2, Annual ’97, & Silver Surfer / Thor Annual ’98. Based on the Epic Collections, it would also likely collect Silver Surfer Ashcan (1995) #1, X-Men Unlimited (1993) #13, Spider-Man Team-Up (1995) #2, and material from Marvel Holiday Special 1996.

It might also collect material from Star Masters (1995) #1-3 and Cosmic Powers Unlimited (1995) #1-6. And, finally, the Epic Collection line continued to Galactus the Devourer (1999) #1-6 and Silver Surfer: Loftier Than Mortals (1999) #1-2 – though neither are by DeMatteis.

Silver Surfer (1999 – 2011) [material prior to Slott]

Silver Surfer wasn’t an especially prominent solo in comics in the 2000s, although he did appear with his old Defenders teammates in a few series, factored into the Annihilation event, and was part of the Annihilators that briefly supplants the Guardians of the Galaxy. Along the way, he had a string of short-lived series. One of them, Silver Surfer (2003), existed right on the cusp of Marvel entertaining their “trade era” of collecting everything, so eight of its issues have never been collected!

That gives us a solid omnibus of material to get from the end of Surfer’s 1987 series to his Dan Slott, Mike Allred, & Laura Allred series during Marvel Now – already collected in omnibus!

A vote for this book is to collect all of Surfer’s 00s-era series into a single omnibus (with the exception of Annihilation: Silver Surfer (2006), which doesn’t make sense outside of the context of Annihilation).

This book would collect Galactus the Devourer (1999) #1-6; Silver Surfer: Loftier Than Mortals (1999) #1-2; Silver Surfer (2003) #1-14; Silver Surfer: Requiem (2007) #1-4; Silver Surfer: In Thy Name (2008) #1-4; Silver Surfer (2011) #1-5; Captain Universe/Silver Surfer (2006) #1; Stan Lee Meets Silver Surfer (2007) #1.

Both Galactus the Devourer (1999) and Silver Surfer: Loftier Than Mortals (1999) could be collected at the end of omnibuses covering his 1987 series, as that is the convention of the Epic Collections.

It is possible this could also also collect: Annihilation: Silver Surfer (2006) #1-4 and other Annihilation/Annihilators content specific to Surfer.

Silver Surfer (2014) & (2016) are collected in full in the Silver Surfer by Slott & Allred omnibus. Surfer has had 25 issues since then, but 10 of them were retcon series that fit into earlier continuity, and another three were one-shots that were part of mini-events.