Avengers Inc.

New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – April 24 2024

April 19, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 17th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics April 24 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics April 17 2024 new releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: excellent X-Men ’97 synergy, uncollected Avengers West Coast, all of Ahmed’s Ms. Marvel, Blade & GODS both end, Gillen’s X-Men endgame, Darth Maul strikes back, and more!

This list includes every comic and digital comic out from Marvel this week, plus collected editions in omnibus, hardcover, paperback, and digest-sized formats. I recap and review every new single issue. Plus, for every new release, I’ll point you to the right guide within my Crushing Comics Guide to Marvel Comics to find out how to collect each character in full – and, if a guide is linked from this post, that means it is updated through the present day!

Marvel Comics April 24 2024 Collected Editions

Avengers Inc.: Action, Mystery, Adventure
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302953393 / digital)
See Guide to Avengers flagship titles (2010 – Present). I’ll always be a bit miffed about how this Al Ewing Avengers series rolled out. It was simply a second arc of his brilliant run on Janet van Dyne as Wasp from earlier in 2023, but with a noir spin. But, a drab noir look does not work on Janet at all – she needs to pop off of every page in bold color. (The book does not look as stylish on the interior as it does on the cover.)

As a result, we got a curiously sombre detective comic without an Avengers team that didn’t make great use of its feature character. It’s actually a fun read, but if you didn’t read (and enjoy) the Wasp series that preceded it I can’t recommend it on its own.

Avengers West Coast Epic Collection Vol. 7: Ultron Unbound
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302956448 / digital)
See Guide to Avengers West Coast. This is a long-awaited Epic Collection, because it finally collects the issues in the #83-91 range of Avengers West Coast! Even if we’re still awaiting a final epic to take us from issue #96 through the end of the title in #102, we’ve had that material in paperback several times over – this book represents our last true collecting gap and means that all of this series will now be present on Marvel Unlimited.

Also, this presses far enough that a final volume can collect the seven issues of #96-102 plus all of the mini-series and errata that ought to be joined with the end of this series, which has always been a collection challenge. In addition to those seven issues there are more than 20 other issues that fully cover the end of this team, and Epic Collections usually top out in the 20-22 issue range. It could include U.S. Agent (1993) #1-4, Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective (1993) #1-4 (which has USAgent and War Machine), all of Blood Ties (Avengers #368-369, X-Men #26, & Uncanny X-Men #307), Spider-Woman (1993) #1-4, Scarlet Witch (1994) #1-4, material from Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #143-144, and possibly also Hawkeye (1994) #1-4 (though this will be in the Hawkeye Epic Line).

I think that leaves us with an interesting question of whether Volume 8 really will conclude this Epic Line (and necessarily skip some of that material – likely Terminatrix Objective and Hawkeye to get down to 23 issues), or if it will simply end with issue #100, with another volume pushing beyond that and onward into the team’s relaunch as Force Works!

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – January 31, 2024

January 30, 2024 by krisis

It’s the fifth new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics January 31 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics January 24 2024 new releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: Danny Rand’s early Iron years, Sabretooth post-exile, late-breaking mutant resurrections, Secret Wars that should’ve stayed secret, and more!

This list includes every comic and digital comic out from Marvel this week, plus collected editions in omnibus, hardcover, paperback, and digest-sized formats. For each new release, I’ll point you to the right guide within my Crushing Comics Guide to Marvel Comics to find out how to collect each character in full – and, if a guide is linked from this post, that means it is updated through the present day!

Marvel Comics January 31 2024 Collected Editions

Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302950750 / digital)
See Guide to Captain Britain. By the start of 2023 Betsy had held the Captain Britain title for over three years of comics, but this was her first solo title. Unfortunately, it also marked the end of her exploits as a leading lady in the Age of Krakoa. I wasn’t always on Tini Howard’s side as an author of Betsy, but I think this was one of her tighter arcs with the character.

If you were waiting for more of the focus Howard showed on the Malice material from the end of Excalibur (2019), this feels closer to that. Plus, it has the historically bisexual Betsy actually dating a woman (who happens to be one of my favorites characters)!

Daredevil: Born Again Gallery Edition
(2024 “Gallery Edition” oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302953041)
See Guide to Daredevil. This oversize Gallery Edition hardcover collects all of Frank Millers return alongside David Mazzucchelli for the all-time classic “Born Again” story in issues #226-233.

Dark Avengers Modern Era Epic Collection: Osborn’s Reign
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302952709 / digital)
See Guide to Thunderbolts & Dark Avengers. It’s funny to me that this is an “Epic Collection” when really it’s just a more complete “Complete Collection” since it doesn’t skip over the Dark Avengers / Uncanny X-Men crossover material like the previous Complete did.

The fact that a one-off run like this is getting an Epic Collection just goes to prove how “all-in” Marvel has gone on moving all of their classic paperback reprints into Epic format. This is my favorite Brian Bendis comic and you really don’t need to know these characters from Thunderbolts to appreciate how awful (in a good way) they are as Norman Osborn’s Avengers.

Iron Fist – Danny Rand: The Early Years
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302954857 / digital)
See Guide to Iron Fist. This is a much-needed omnibus edition that combines the contents of the single Iron Fist Marvel Masterworks with all of his Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu magazine material. This marries up neatly with the run of Power Man & Iron Fist on the other side.

However, like all of his other collections, it still puzzlingly excludes Marvel Team-Up (1972) #31 – one of his major starring appearances in this period! I guess that’s an oversight that will never be corrected, at this point. Even without that issue, this is a terrific read – largely written by Chris Claremont. [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – January 31, 2024

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – September 13, 2023

September 12, 2023 by krisis

It’s time to take a look at what’s out from Marvel Comics this week! This post covers Marvel Comics September 13 2023 releases.

Plus, I’m getting close to caught up on reading all of the Marvel Universe – so I have some commentary on some of the single issues and new collections.

Marvel Comics September 13 2023 Collected Editions

Bishop: War College (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302948054 / digital)
See Guide to X-Men – The Age of Krakoa. I read the first issue of this book back when it was released, and it’s an odd bird. A book about Bishop training young X-Men in the defense of Krakoa would’ve been a solid hit, but what we actually got was Bishop dealing with an inane alternate universe side quest while the X-kids got cornered by a villain in their own subplot. If I’m being honest, this pitch never should’ve received a green light.

Captain America: Cold War (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302952389 / digital)
See Guide to Captain America – Steve Rogers. This collects the crossover intersection between the Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson Cap titles. There’s only another three issues of both titles combined after this, which makes it odd that they didn’t simply close out the runs in this volume, but there will be a separate “Finale” volume in a few months with Sentinel of Liberty #14, Cap #750, and a Finale issue.

Captain America by Ed Brubaker: Captain America Lives! Omnibus [AKA Vol. 3] (2023 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302954468 / digital)
See Guide to Captain America – Steve Rogers. This omnibus reprint tracks the return of Steve Rogers at the end of the period where Winter Soldier was serving as the primary Captain America. This book doesn’t stand so well on its own – you probably want to first read Brubaker Omnibus, Vol. 2: The Death of Captain America (2009 hardcover, ISBN 978-0785138068 / 2021 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302929619) to understand the story.

Captain Marvel: Game On (2023 digest-sized paperback, ISBN 978-1302951153)
See Guide to Captain Marvel – Carol Danvers. In a totally brilliant move by Marvel, this is a recollection of the all-ages Marvel Action Captain Marvel (2019) #1-6 and Marvel Action Captain Marvel (2021) #1-5. Both the kid and I absolutely loved these books – they’re very close to actual Marvel continuity and Sam Maggs’s writing for Carol is spot on. Highly recommended for Captain Marvel fans of truly any age!

Captain Marvel: The Saga of Monica Rambeau (2023 “Saga of” paperback, ISBN 978-1302950996 / digital)
See Guide to… Monica Rambeau? Hmm, I should probably have one of those… maybe you should check back in a week or two 😉. In the meantime, Monica’s comics appear in Guide to Captain Marvel – Carol Danvers. If you want Monica’s early comics history, this is a fairly complete collection of her greatest hits and solo stories of the 80s and 90s reprinted from a 2019 Direct-Market-only volume.

Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness: The Art of the Movie (2023 hardcover, ISBN 978-1302945879)
See Guide to Doctor Strange.

Marvel-Verse: Kraven The Hunter (2023 digest-sized paperback, ISBN 978-1302950644 / digital)
In a relief to me specifically, this “kids and libraries” targeted digest-size collection does not collect any in-continuity Spidey stories, so it is not covered by any of my guides! It collects Collects Marvel Action Spider-Man (2018) #5-6, Marvel Adventures Spider-Man (2005) #7, Marvel Adventures Super Heroes (2010) #4, Spidey (2015) #9.

Moon Knight Vol. 4: Road to Ruin (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302947354 / digital)
See Guide to Moon Knight. This is more of Jed MacKay’s spectacular Moon Knight run, one of of my favorite books at Marvel! While I think this series is worth reading from the start, this story does pick up from a solid jumping-on point for the big antagonist in the past year of this run.

Star Wars: Sana Starros – Family Matters (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302933074 / digital)
See Guide to Star Wars Expanded Universe Comics (2015-Present).

Venom Epic Collection: The Madness (Vol. 3) (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302953874 / digital)
See Guide to Venom. This is the the third Epic Collection volume in the Venom line, but it’s actually the first that is fully collecting Venom’s own mini-series, rather than mostly his appearances in Amazing Spider-Man. While his landmark first mini Lethal Protector is in the prior volume, this collects his mini-series from 1993 and 1994.

Wolverine Omnibus Vol. 4 (2023 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302953997 / digital)
See Guide to Wolverine – Logan. This collects the year of stories leading up to Logan losing his adamantium in issue #75 in 1993, which is the final issue in this collection – as well as the original graphic novels and Marvel Comics Presents issues released at the same time.

X-Men Epic Collection: Proteus (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302950538 / digital)
See Guide to Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont (1975-1991). If it’s helpful to you to think about this another way, we could call this Epic Collection “Phoenix Saga Prologue.” It covers the break-up and reunion of the team after their throwdown with Magneto in his volcano base, plus the debuts of Alpha Flight, Arcade, and Proteus! That’s a lot of major X-Men history packed all into one book. If you enjoy Phoenix Saga, this is a natural extension for you. However, if you only enjoy later 80s X-Men, it might not be a total slam dunk – Claremont is still getting his feet under him at this point, and his character voices don’t quite meet the standard of his amazing plots just yet.

Read on for a summary of all of the Marvel Comics September 13 2023 single issue and digital releases! [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – September 13, 2023