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Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand
I’m back with another new comic guide from the very creepy spooky ooky Patrons of CK, who picked this serial-killing symbiote in a tie for their most-wanted Marvel Guide in their last Patrons’ Choice poll. That’s right, after many weeks of promises in my Marvel New Releases posts as I review his series, I’m finally done my Guide to Carnage!
This guide covers every Cletus Kasaday appearance from his debut to last week, plus all of the major mischief that the Carnage symbiote has gotten up to without its psychopath host. It’s all in perfect reading order, complete with suggestions on where to start, a “greatest hits” list of only the best and most-relevant stories, an easy reference for building a uniform bookshelf of Omnibuses or Epic Collections, and links read every series on Marvel Unlimited!
That means I just did a lot of Carnage reading. So, having just seen his every page and word balloon, what’s the true story of Marvel’s cruelest symbiote?
[Read more…] about Guide to Carnage – Cletus Kasaday (New for Patrons!)
It’s the 15th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics April 10 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics April 3 2024 new releases.
This week in Marvel Comics: Modern Black Widow Epics, actually classic Daredevil, Carnage’s identity struggle, Star-Spider, X marks the Stark, Ms. Marvel vs. Mojo, 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!
Black Widow Modern Era Epic Collection Vol. 3: Chaos
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302956431 / digital)
See Guide to Black Widow. This collects all of Nathan Edmonson & Phil Noto’s 2014 Black Widow series. I enjoyed it. It often played Widow as someone whose plans were constantly ruined, but that came across less as a character flaw and more as the theme of the series – “chaos”!
This being “Vol. 3” has interesting implications for what two volumes before it will contain! While Vol. 2 could wind up being a verbatim reprint of Widowmaker (2020 paperback, ISBN 978-1302921446 / digital), which collects all of her 2009-2010 material, I wonder if perhaps they would shift the first series in that book – Black Widow: Deadly Origin (2009) #1-4 – out of that and into Vol. 1 to make room for Captain America & Black Widow (2012) #636-640 even though it is part of Cap’s line and not Natasha’s.
Daredevil Omnibus Vol. 3
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302955182 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil. This collects what I consider to be the first truly great run of Daredevil – his entire San Francisco period, including Black Widow as his co-star (and her solo stories from Amazing Adventures (1970) #1-8). If you really want to read classic Silver and Bronze Age Daredevil, I’d just skip the first two omnibuses and start with this one!
Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk Vol. 1 (Re-Masterworks)
2024 “Re-Masterworks” hardcover, ISBN 978-1302951382 / digital)
See Guide to Hulk – Bruce Banner. Marvel hasn’t reprinted Masterworks volumes since prior to 2010 with some of the big lines like X-Men and Spider-Man, but their new Re-Masterworks program is giving them an excuse to both revise and expand the contents of these early Masterworks volumes by upgrading the artwork throughout.
I’ve just ordered my first of these re-issues, so I’ll be able to comment on the art restoration soon. From what I’ve seen online, it’s mostly just cleaner, thinner, more-defined ink lines – so, if you’re not the kind of person who would notice that sort of thing, there’s no reason to rush to buy these if you have the original Masterworks or the omnibus that was reprinted in 2022. [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – April 10 2024
Until April 5, I’ll be loosely mapping missing and most-wanted Marvel omnibus volumes every day! Now that we’ve mapped Peter Parker himself, it’s time to map the Spider-Man Family of Amazing Friends – and one very venomous enemy!
This post explains titles and potential Spider-Man Family & Venom 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.
This post covers Venom – both Eddie Brock & Flash Thompson, Carnage, Green Goblin, Jessica Drew as Spider-Woman, Mayday Parker as Spider-Girl, Spider-Ham, Silk, Doc Ock as Superior Spider-Man, and more!
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.
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.
It’s the 12th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics March 20 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics March 13 2024 new releases.
This week in Marvel Comics: Franklin Richards’ secret revealed, Gillen’s final X-book, Spider-Woman old and new, repackaged collected editions, 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!
Astonishing X-Men Modern Era Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Gifted
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302957971 / digital)
See Guide to Astonishing X-Men. On one hand, I’m all for any recollection of the brilliant first two arcs of this title, which should always been easily accessible to new readers. On the other hand, this is an exact copy of a prior Ultimate/Complete collection, which bums me out because it would be cool to see an Epic line of this title include some or all of Kitty Pryde: Shadow & Flame, Phoenix: Endsong, or Phoenix: Warsong – which were all extensions of this title. (For that matter, so was House of M).Shadow and Flame would have fit perfectly as another five issues in this collection.
Captain America Omnibus Vol. 4
(2024 “Vol. 4” oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302955137 / digital)
See Guide to Captain America. This is a reprint of “Captain America by Jack Kirby” simply rebranded to fit seamlessly into the omnibus line. That means it’s actually totally fine to buy as a standalone book – that’s how it’s been sold for well over a decade! If you want to read the beautiful madness that is Kirby drawing and writing Cap, it’s all here.
Carnage Epic Collection Vol. 3: The Monster Inside
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302956363 / digital)
I’m working on this Carnage Guide right now, I swear! It’s been a busy month. This is a third (and likely last) “Classic” Carnage collection, picking up in 1998 and cruising all the way through 2009 to pick up some of his modern mini-series.
Doctor Strange by Jed MacKay Vol. 2: The War-Hound of Vishanti
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302951177 / digital)
See Guide to Doctor Strange. I wouldn’t recommend picking up this book as a standalone, as it’s all payoff for the mystery that was set up expertly in the first volume by MacKay. That said, this is immensely enjoyable. It shows off just how good modern Strange comics can be. There’s a way to build off of old magical continuity and established foes without being slavishly devoted to it in a way that is dull or alienating to new fans. MacKay is the author to perfectly walk that tightrope, and it yields a fascinating puzzle box of plot for our Doctor. [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – March 20 2024