Captain Marvel

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – February 21 2024

February 15, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 8th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics February 21 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics February 14 2024 new releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: Fall of X collections, an Alien anthology, an unexpected Sentry, a major Spider-Woman cliffhanger, 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 February 21 2024 Collected Editions

Black Panther by Christopher Priest Omnibus Vol. 2
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302953683 / digital)
See Guide to Black Panther. This was one of the most-requested Marvel Omnibuses for a long while, so it’s amazing to see it finally completed with a second volume! This run has the distinction of establishing tons of familiar modern Black Panther lore (including Okoye and the the Dora Milaje) but also being batshit crazy, as all Christopher Priest comics are. If you’ve never read it before, Fariha and I covered the first half of this run (the entire first omnibus) in our Black Panther Reading Club six years ago this month back in 2018!

Blade Vol. 1: Mother of Evil
Vol. 1: Mother of Evil (2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302952105 / digital)
See Guide to Blade. I just caught up on this Bryan E. Hill series this week. This first arc is about Blade coming up against an ancient evil much bigger than anything he is used to fighting. That sounds mega-fun, but it’s told through Bryan E. Hill’s authorial filter – which is all about expository two-person dialog. Y’all remember Fallen Angels (2019), right? While this book isn’t the catastrophe that one was, this arc is a lot more about talking about what might happen than it is about character moments or coherent action. I think that made this arc slightly unsatisfying, but the book does pick up afterward with some shorter, tighter stories.

Children of the Vault
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302952464 / digital)
See Guide to X-Men – The Age of Krakoa. First things first: This Fall of X book should be titled “Cable & Bishop.” While the Children of the Vault are the featured foe, if you go in expecting to spend quality time getting to understand them in a way that pays off what Carey and Hickman created you’ll be sorely disappointed. Instead, go in assuming you’re in for some guerrilla warfare from a pair of X-Men who traveled through centuries as sworn enemies. I think this sputters at the end, but Deniz Camp shows a flair for terse sci-fi that makes me excited to read more from him at Marvel.

Daredevil Epic Collection: A Woman Called Widow
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302957933 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil. Despite the title, this reprint of an existing Epic actually collects the period just prior to Black Widow taking over as the titled co-star of Daredevil (1964). [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – February 21 2024

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – February 14 2024

February 8, 2024 by krisis

It’s the seventh new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics February 14 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics February 7 2024 new releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: a true Jessica Drew, lots more Gang War, the return of Night Thrasher, Pet Avengers for the win, and more!

Marvel Comics February 14 2024 Collected Editions

Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302951214 / digital)
See Guide to Captain Marvel – Carol Danvers. Ann Nocenti writes this bridging series between the concluded Kelly Thompson run and the impending Alyssa Wong run. I saw some internet fans come down hard on Carol being voiced badly, but I didn’t feel that way at all. This is a solid arc that makes good use of both Spider-Woman as a supporting player and various civilians to give Carol someone other than superheroes to bounce off of. I do think Nocenti tends to treat some groups of characters as a Greek Chorus rather than developing them individually, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Not an all-time-best arc, but worth reading if you collect all of Captain marvel.

Edge of Spider-Verse: Across the Multiverse
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302957339 / digital)
See Guide to Spider-Man – Peter Parker (2018 – Present). This is an anthology of anthologies – collecting the three different “Edge of Spider-Verse” mini-series from 2014, 2022, and 2023. Each issue introduces new alternate-reality Spider-folks or revisits past one. The first series famously included the first appearance of Spider-Gwen. This isn’t a particularly satisfying read on its own, especially since most of the stories are written to subtly dovetail into the Spider-Verse events that followed. But, if you love Spider-Verse stuff in general and can’t get enough of alternate spiders, this one is for you!

Luke Cage Epic Collection Volume 2: The Fire This Time
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302955069 / digital)
See Guide to Luke Cage. This collects the second half of Luke’s original series from when it was titled “Power Man,” stopping prior to the first two issues he shares with Iron Fist before the indicia changes to “Power Man and Iron Fist” with issue #50. It’s really wild how we went from this series not being collected at all in color in 2014 to it being fully collected in Masterworks, Omnibus, and now Epic over the course of a decade. It’s one of the prime examples of how hard the Marvel Collected Editions department has worked to cover their 1970s series. (Of course, the Netflix shows helped!)

Marvel Unleashed
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302931124 / digital)
See Guide to… um… I’m not sure, honestly, because this delightful story primarily stars Redwing, Chewie, and Bats the Dog, among other Marvel super-pets. If that sounds like a dull kiddie book to you, boy have you got a surprise in store! I read this a few weeks ago and it is consistently hilarious, beautifully drawn, and made me cry at the end. If you want to read a great Avengers adventure without any human Avengers, this is the book for you.

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – January 10, 2024

January 9, 2024 by krisis

It’s the second new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics January 10 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel’s January 3 2024 releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: Hickman & Checchetto launch Ultimate Spider-Man, Zdarsky & Checchetto’s Devil’s Reign omnibus, and the Rise of the Powers of X (not drawn by Marco Checchetto)!

Marvel Comics January 10 2024 Collected Editions

The Avengers by Jed MacKay, Vol. 1: The Impossible City
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302947699 / digital)
See Guide to Avengers Flagship Titles (2018-Present). This is the first collection of Jed MacKay’s Avengers relaunch. I’ve heard folks say this has been a bit slow-moving, but that’s often code for “I have no patience,” so I need to read this myself now that the entire first arc is complete!

Deadpool Epic Collection: Drowning Man (Epic Collection Vol. 3)
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302953324 / digital)
See Guide to Deadpool. Continuing Deadpool’s status as Marvel most perfectly-collected character, they are now re-collecting his original 1997 series in Epic Collection after it has already been completely covered in Classic and Omnibus format.

Devil’s Reign Omnibus
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302952921 / digital)
See Guide to Marvel Universe Events. A massive all-in-one collection of all of the tie-ins to the act break in Chip Zdarsky & Marco Checchetto’s Daredevil series. I don’t think any of these mini-series really add all that much to the main story in the event title, so if you’re not desperate to fill an oversize gap in your shelf you could simply pick up the trade paperback verison.

Doctor Strange Epic Collection: I, Dormammu (Epic Collection Vol. 2)
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302953157, digital)
See Guide to Doctor Strange. Doctor Strange was the rare Epic line that didn’t kick off with sequential releases of its earliest volumes interspersed with later volumes, probably due to the fact that Marvel had released a (slim) early omnibus around the same time. Now we’re finally getting the second Epic collection filled in.

Marvel-Verse: Spider-Man & Madame Web
(2024 digest-size paperback, ISBN 978-1302954581 / digital)
Do I need a Madame Web guide now? Anyway, here’s some Amazing Spider-Man issues starring Madame Web, in case you wanted to compare Sony’s new movie to the comics.

Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel & Ms. Marvel – Definitive Collecting Guide & Reading Order

The definitive, chronological, and up-to-date guide and trade reading order on collecting Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel comic books – including everything Carol Danvers – via omnibuses and trade paperback graphic novels. Find every issue and appearance! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated August 2024 with titles scheduled for release through December 2024.

Looking for Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel or Monica Rambeau as Capt. Marvel? They both graduated to their own guides! See Guide to Ms. Marvel – Kamala Khan or Guide to Monica Rambeau – Photon, Spectrum, & Capt. Marvel.

It’s fitting that the title of Captain Marvel has passed through the hands of so many Marvel heroes, since it tacitly implies the holder as a mascot for the entire Marvel Universe just as Captain America stands as a patriotic symbol of America.

Similarly, it makes sense that the title of Ms. Marvel – originally tied to women’s liberation in the 1970s – is now the name of a new generation of Pakastani-American hero.

In reality, adopting the name was a copyright grab by Marvel Comics, who wanted to prevent Fawcett Comics from using it for their own hero, rechristened Shazam (and later purchased by DC Comics) – which explains both the emergence of Ms. Marvel and why Marvel also finds a way to re-use the title for a new hero.

The original Captain Marvel wasn’t even of this planet! Captain Mar-Vell was a Kree Officer that found Stan Lee riffing on Silver Surfer by bringing an alien meant to scout Earth into its protector. However, it was Jim Starlin who made Mar-Vell truly notable when he became a cosmic hero and began to battle Thanos.

Later, a former police officer and frequent Avenger, Monica Rambeau, took on the name in the 1980s. Rambeau is a proven tactician who could transform her body into any kind of energy, including visible light and electricity.

In the late 90s, the title would pass to Mar-Vell’s son Genis-Vell, and after that to his sister Phyla-Vell. In Dark Reign, when many villains took on the mantles of heroes, Grant Morrison creation Noh-Varr AKA Marvel Boy wore the Captain mantle, though that was short-lived.

However, the majority of modern-day fans now know Captain Marvel as the original Ms. Marvel, Carol Danvers. Danvers is one of Marvel’s earliest leading ladies and she’s been through it all – everything from being an Air Force pilot to having her mind and powers stolen in Rogue’s debut to gaining a flaming head and traveling through space with the Starjammers. After a powerful return to her own title in 2006, it felt incredibly fitting when she was promoted to “Captain” in 2012, and it seems that this title will stick for a long while thanks to Marvel adding Carol Danvers as Capt. Marvel to its Cinematic Universe.

With the name “Ms. Marvel” freed up by Danvers, Marvel created a new hero to fit the name. Kamala Khan is a teenage girl, major Carol Danvers fan, and a dormant Inhuman whose shape-changing powers are activated by the aftermath of Infinity. [Read more…] about Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel & Ms. Marvel – Definitive Collecting Guide & Reading Order

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – September 20, 2023

September 19, 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 20 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 20 2023 Collected Editions

The Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection, Vol. 22: Round Robin
(2015 paperback, ISBN 978-0785192688 / 2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302950545 / digital)
See Guide to Spider-Man, Peter Parker (1963-2018). I’ve just updated all of the Amazing Epic Collections on the guide and I was shocked at how many of them have been back to print in the past three lines. Even Epics of relatively insignificant runs! Marvel has truly found a way to create a Manga-Style, well-organized, evergreen line of their entire comics history and we love to see it.

The Avengers Omnibus Vol. 4
(2023 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302953621 / digital)
See the freshly rebuilt Guide to Avengers (1963-1996)! This is the last of the four reprints in addition to a brand new Volume 5 out this month. We love to see this line advancing without new Avengers movies on the big screen, which used to be the only way it got a new volume.

Bloodline: Daughter of Blade
(2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302924423 / digital)
See Guide to Blade. This series has an awkward history – originally it was meant to be launched by Tim Seeley several years ago, and then it was shelved and seemingly lost before it was revived (and revised) by Danny Lore. Unfortunately, this just didn’t hold together for me. It wasn’t Lore’s fault – I think the artist had trouble keeping up with a story that repeatedly mixed casual scenes with action scenes. The discontinuity of storytelling in the art eventually wore me down.

Captain Marvel: The Saga of Carol Danvers
(2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302951818 / digital)
See Guide to Captain Marvel – Carol Danvers. This is a peculiar trade that’s more of a sampler for the movie crowd then a trade for a consistent bookshelf. It collects the opening eights issues of Kelly Sue DeConnick’s 2012 Carol Danvers series (which includes a great pair of issues where she meets up with Monica Rambeau) as well as the origin-redefining The Life of Captain Marvel (2018), which brought her comic origins more in line with the MCU (booo!).