Garth Ennis

New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – January 1 2025

December 26, 2024 by krisis

Next week is the 1st new comic book day of the new year, and that means I’m back to cover Marvel’s new releases! This post covers Marvel Comics January 1 2025 releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: Ultimate Guardians of the Galaxy, Zdarsky & Checchetto’s dual Daredevils in Omnibus, Pak’s Darth Vader finale, Jed MacKay’s Moon Knight Vengeance, Black Cat vs. The Avengers, Sam Wilson vs. Red Hulk, debuts for Cable & Deadpool, and more!

I was so proud of keeping up with these posts for an entire half a year at the start of 2024. Unfortunately, life conspired to get in the way in June and July. After that, rather than leap right back to the weekly posts, I took five months to update every Marvel Comics guide on Crushing Comics. Every. Single. One.

Even small guides. Even Patrons-only guides. They’re all updated with comics and collections released through the end of 2024 and into 2025. This is the first time all of Marvel has been updated at the same time since 2024! Now that I’m feeling confident about how all of the guides look, it’s time to get back to tracking all of Marvel’s new releases.

The Krisis Pick of the Week: The Ultimates (2024) #8! Denis Camp has been on fire on this Ultimate Universe team book throughout 2024, and his choices of which 616 heroes to adapt keep getting more and more surprising.

This post includes every comic out from Marvel this week, plus collected editions in omnibus, hardcover, paperback, and digest-sized formats. This isn’t the typical comic releases post you can find on other sites. Why? I explain each collection and review every series with a new issue out this week. Plus, for every new release, I’ll point you to a personally-curated guide within the Crushing Comics Guide to Marvel Comics to find out how to collect that title in full! There’s no other website on the internet that can claim that.

And now, onto Marvel Comics January 1 2025 new releases!

Marvel Comics January 1 2025 Collected Editions

Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky [& Marco Checchetto] Omnibus Vol. 2
(2025 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302956264 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil. This collects the back half of the outstanding Zdarsky/Checchetoo run co-starring Daredevil and Elektra. That includes final arc of Zdarsky & Checchetto’s Daredevil (2019) series, the main Devil’s Reign (2021) event series as well as the supporting Elektra series Daredevil: Woman Without Fear (2022) #1-3, and all of the subsequent Daredevil (2022).

I could not recommend this run any more highly. It is fantastically written and voiced with spectacular artwork. This is peak Daredevil, even among the many peaks the character has enjoyed across the past 25 years of publishing.

Two things to note: First, the solicit for this series has never included Elektra #100, which is an odd omission since it contains Zdarsky content that fits into this era’s story. We’ll see if it turns up in the actual book.

Second, for the full story of the post-Devil’s-Reign plot, you’ll also want to read Jason Aaron’s Punisher (2022) #1-12. It’s an amazing series, which is not something you’ll often hear me say about Aaron or Punisher! See my Guide to Punisher for collection details.

Get Fury
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302912543 / digital)
See Guide to Punisher. Yes, really! Because Get Fury (2024) #1-6 extend the story of the Punisher MAX universe with this Vietnam-era prequel as written by Garth Ennis. That means this book is NOT in Marvel-616 continuity.

Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Team-Up Vol. 8
(2024 hardcover, ISBN 978-1302955571 / digital)
See Guide to Spider-Man – Peter Parker (1963-2018). Marvel Team-Up (1972) was almost entirely Spider-Man title, with Human Torch occasionally swapping in for a team-up. This volume is notable as much for what it contains (stories by Chris Claremont & Sal Buscema) as for what it doesn’t (it skips issue #79, a team-up with Red Sonja).

Micronauts: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 3
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302957254 / digital)
Collects Micronauts (1979) #55-59 and Micronauts: The New Voyages (1984) #1-20.

Micronauts was a short-lived MEGO toy property whose continuity was vastly expanded by Marvel. The Marvel comics long outlived the toys and Marvel fully integrated the Micronauts in their 616 Universe just as they did with ROM (see Guide to ROM – Spaceknight for more on that!). Today the Micronauts are owned by Hasbro.

This omnibus completes Marvel’s recollection of the entirety of their two main ongoing Micronauts series. However, it controversially skips over the beloved The X-Men and the Micronauts (1984) mini-series by Chris Claremont, Bill Mantlo, & Butch Guice. Marvel gave no hints as to why they skipped that material while collecting similar material in their ROM omnibus line.

Will Marvel announce the mini as a standalone oversize hardcover to please both X-Men fans and Micronauts fans? It feels like a pipe-dream, but stranger things have happened with Marvel’s collections in 2024!

Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302957537 / digital)
See Guide to Spider-Man – Peter Parker (2018 – Present), although this J.M. DeMatteis & Michael Sta. Maria retcon series actually fits within the first year of Amazing Spider-Man (1963) with a story of the Osborn family from shortly before Norman is the Green Goblin.

You may be surprised to learn that that was one of my favorite comic books of 2024! I’m a little surprised about it myself. J.M. DeMatteis’s writing for Spidey is as impeccable as it was over 30 years ago. Plus, this retcon story feels substantial and connects several disparate plot threads from decades of existing comics, rather than shoe-horning in something unnecessary and new. Highly recommended for fans of classic Spider-Man comics! [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – January 1 2025

New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – May 1 2024

April 25, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 18th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics May 1 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics April 24 2024 new releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: Blood Hunt begins, Captain America de-iced, Daredevil Unmasked, the improbable X-Men 2099, Deadpool & Wolverine go to war, Iron Man & Magneto team up, 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 May 1 2024 Collected Editions

Captain America Omnibus Vol. 1
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302957995 / digital)
See Guide to Captain America. This omnibus collects the start of Cap’s Silver Age return – though, since it is based on the Masterworks mapping, it omits his actual return in Avengers (1963) #4.

We go straight from him despairing over a photo of Bucky in Tales of Suspense (1959) #59 to fighting Baron Zemo in Tales of Suspense (1959) #60. Even if Lee & Kirby lean on action-oriented plots, there are still those moments of Steve being a man out of time trying to absorb the modern day and its new challenges.

Carnage Vol. 1: Born Again
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302955014 / digital)
See Guide to Carnage. This is the very creepy kickoff of Torunn Grønbekk’s 2023 Carnage series, which finds the Carnage symbiote getting back to Earth after nearly attaining godhood and deciding to return to what it knows best – serial killing, one victim at a time.

Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – The Art of the Movie
(2024 hardcover, ISBN 978-1302956592)
See Guide to Ant-Man.

Mighty Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil Vol. 3: Unmasked
(2024 digest-size paperback, ISBN 978-1302954284 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil. Marvel’s digest-sized Silver Age collection presses on to the third year of early Daredevil comics. I’m somewhat surprised Marvel extended the Mighty Masterworks line to Daredevil, as his early stories aren’t considered to be particularly significant.

She-Hulk by Rainbow Rowell Vol. 4: Jen-Sational
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302957117 / digital)
See Guide to She-Hulk. This is labeled “Volume 4” despite being the first collection of Sensation She-Hulk (2023) because it picks up directly from the end ofRowell & Company’s 2022 She-Hulk series. While you could pick this up and easily follow it with no preamble, the 15 issues of the prior series are absolutely delightful slice-of-life romance stuff with a just-right amount of punching. [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – May 1 2024

Marvel’s Most-Wanted Omnibuses of 2016 – #15, 14, and 13

June 13, 2016 by krisis

Omnibus on Shelf Welcome to week two of my journey through the Top 50 Most-Wanted Omnibuses from Marvel, per an annual secret ballot conducted by major fan TigerEyes. I covered #20-16 in the last installment.

The books ranked from 15 to 1 are some of the most-consistently demanded Marvel material, although two thirds of it is already readily available in color. Particularly, this group of books shows how important cinematic depictions of the Marvel Universe have become even to long-time fans – every book corresponds to a specific screen property.

If you have any extra intelligence to add about the probable runs or opinions about the comics therein, please leave a comment! Even when it comes to X-Men, I’m far from a prohibitive expert on these books. I’d love to hear your perspective.

Want to learn more about the Marvel Omnibus editions that already exist and the issues they cover? My Marvel Omnibus & Oversized Hardcover Guide is the most comprehensive tool on the web for tracking Marvel’s hugest releases – it features every book, plus release dates, contents, and even breakdowns of $/page and what movies the books were released to support. [Read more…] about Marvel’s Most-Wanted Omnibuses of 2016 – #15, 14, and 13

Punisher – Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

Updated Mar 22, 2025! The definitive issue-by-issue comic book collecting guide and trade reading order for Marvel’s Punisher, Frank Castle comic books in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated March 2025 with titles scheduled for release through June 2025.

Collecting Punisher

Pun00 - 0001 promo Few characters chart the changing trends of the Marvel Universe as well as Frank Castle, The Punisher.

Punisher was initially introduced in 1974 as a vigilante foil to the rule-abiding Spider-Man. Punisher was a former marine who felt that any killer deserved death themselves, and that he would mete it out regardless of the progress of the justice system. Of course, Spider-Man did not remain in his sights for long, but Punisher was a quandary for the wallcrawler – was this man a hero he could team up with or a villain he had to stop?

The question was consistent with Marvel’s mid-70s output, which had begun to diversify its heroes and ask more challenging questions of them. However, that was the only space the Punisher could hold at the time – being a challenging question. There was no room for him as a star.

One of his prominent early-80s appearances was in Frank Miller’s Daredevil, who at the time was himself seen as a boundary-pushing vigilante. However, by contrast to the Punisher, his actions still seemed heroic. While he sometimes acted as a judge and even a jury, he never cast himself as an executioner.

By the mid-80s, violent heroes were on the rise at Marvel, and Punisher finally earned his own mini-series in 1986. That was quickly followed by one ongoing series, then two, then three – plus a regular flow of graphic novels and seasonal specials. By the height of his popularity and of comic speculation in 1992-93, Marvel releasing nearly as many pages of Punisher as they were Spider-Man. Yet, the later 90s were not kind to Frank Castle. The entire Marvel line had shifted towards the more extreme as well as massive game-changing gimmicks. Punisher’s edgy relaunch in 1995 (literally branded as part of the “Over the Edge” line) didn’t fare as well, and a pivot to having him be a supernatural avenger is one of the most reviled comic stories of the late 1990s. It seemed that Punisher had finally become irrelevant.

Frank Castle’s great savior was Marvel’s movement toward realism in the early 2000s, which was partially aligned with the leather-clad heroes in Fox’s first X-Men film. The Punisher drafted off this movement with “Welcome Back Frank,” which found Castle more grounded than ever in the hands of Preacher creators Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. This gritty no-superheroes take on Punisher grew so popular that it spun off into it’s own out-of-continuity Punisher MAX series, which finally felt like the right format for the violent hero. He still had a role to serve in the main Marvel Universe, acting as a major instigator in the landmark Civil War, which mirrored Punisher’s own origin with heroes taking the law into their own hands.

Punisher now represents less of a shocking thread of violence and more the chance for Marvel to publish a comic in a different genre from its capes and spandex fare. Rick Remender found a way to make Frank Castle both more horrific and more lighthearted (if you can imagine), while Greg Rucka turned him into a on-the-streets mob book that could withstand an occasional intersection with Spider-Man. He even joined a team for the first time with the 2013 reinvention of Thunderbolts.

Punisher spawned a pair of films in 2004 and 2008, but he joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2016 with Netflix’s Daredevil. With his exposure to the wider (and voracious) Marvel viewing public, he will likely remain a prominent feature in Marvel’s publishing line. [Read more…] about Punisher – Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order