J. Michael Straczynski

New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – May 8 2024

May 3, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 18th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics May 8 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics May 1 2024 new releases (plus, Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day 2024 issues!)

This week in Marvel Comics: Blood Hunt expands, first trades for Captain America by JMS & Marvel by Wong, a Black Armor flashback, historic Miracleman, Dagger goes solo, Thing & Torch get a job, penultimate Wolverine & X-Men Forever, 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 8 2024 Collected Editions

Captain America by J. Michael Straczynski Vol. 1: Stand
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302955670 / digital)
See Guide to Captain America – Steve Rogers. Even though I’m slightly down on this JMS run on Cap (more on that, below), I think this initial trade does have something special going for it with the flashback scenes to Steve’s pre-Super-Soldier-serum youth in the slums of NYC.

Some of this adventurous plot for the spindly, sickly Steve Rogers might seem slightly apocryphal, but if you love the first 15 minutes of the first Captain America film then this book is for you! I’ve seen a pretty wide consensus that this flashback material to the early days of World War II and Nazi sympathizer rallies being held in the US is strong stuff.

Plus, the present day plot includes some fun material with Doctor Strange (who feels like the hero that JMS really ought to be writing).

Captain Marvel Vol. 1: The Omen
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302957056 / digital)
Guide to Captain Marvel. The start of the 2023 run by Alyssa Wong ties in heavily to the plot of The Marvels, with Carol Danvers swapping places with a mystical thief due to a pair of malfunctioning Nega Bands being hunted by a powerful force from another dimension.

I don’t recommend this run for Carol fans. It simply doesn’t have much to say about her, nor is her voice very specific. Just keep re-reading your Kelly Thompson run!

Contest of Chaos
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302955038 / digital)
See Guide to Scarlet Witch. This Annuals crossover was really a Scarlet Witch & Agatha Harkness mini-event, though most of the stories were of heroes being randomly compelled to fight each other. However, it ended with an intriguing and all-new status quo for Agatha Harkness and for the Darkhold, which now has significance during Blood Hunt. [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – May 8 2024

New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – April 3 2024

March 28, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 14th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics April 3 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics March 27 2024 new releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: new (and old) Deadpool, a hunk of Spider-Man 2099, the earliest X-Men Epic, Avengers join the Fall of X, She-Hulk’s space date, Thor fights his stories, the continuing trial of Lando, 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 April 3 2024 Collected Editions

Alien by Shalvey & Broccardo Vol. 2: Descendant (2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302952303 / digital)
See Guide to Aliens comics. This collects a second Declan Shalvey Alien mini-series, which is a direct sequel to his first earlier in 2023. You don’t have to read the first series to understand this one, but if you don’t it comes off as a very plain “person uses xenomorphs to get revenge” story. Even read together, for me this isn’t must-read Alien material.

Daredevil Epic Collection Vol. 7: The Concrete Jungle
(2024 paperback, ISBN ‎ 978-1302955175 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil. This is the second of two Epic Collections bridging the gap between the Black Widow / San Francisco period of this title and the start of Frank Miller’s run, which will occur a few issues into the next collection.

Deadpool: Badder Blood
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302911232 / digital)
See Guide to Deadpool. This is a continuity-lite (if at all) sequel to Liefeld’s execrable 2023 OGN.

Deadpool: The Saga of Wade Wilson
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302958121 / digital)
See Guide to Deadpool. This is actually a solid primer on 90s-style Deadpool, collecting some key issues of his original 1997 series.

Ghost Rider Omnibus by Jason Aaron
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302957599 / digital)
See Guide to Ghost Rider. I am truly shocked to see this slim, partial collection of Ghost Rider (2006) reprinted verbatim after 14 years. It would have been so easy for Marvel to re-issue this book also containing the first 19 issues of this run, written by Daniel Way. If there was enough demand for an Aaron omnibus, certainly there was equally as much demand for an omnibus twice the length by the both authors.

Spider-Man 2099 Omnibus Vol. 2
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302953836 / digital)
See Guide to Spider-Man 2099. This is a Volume 2 you can pick up and read all on its own! It collects Peter David’s mid-2010s return to Spider-Man 2099, which saw him adventuring both in the present day and back in his future. This is a substantial and self-contained run that is a perfect read for you if you enjoyed Miguel O’Hara in the Spider-Verse movie and want to know more. [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – April 3 2024

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – March 6 2024

February 29, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 10th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics March 6 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics February 28 2024 new releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: a major Moon Knight omnibus, Dark Droids collections, the new arc of MacKay’s Strange, Iman Vellani’s return to Ms. Marvel, and more!

Marvel Comics March 6 2024 Collected Editions

The Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection, Vol. 5: The Secret of the Petrified Tablet [reprint]
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302957810 / digital)
See Guide to Spider-Man – Peter Parker (1963 – 2018). It’s less interesting that Marvel is reprinting this Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection of issues #68-85 & Annual 5 and more interesting that this is when they are reprinting it. The first printing of this book was just four years ago, and it means Marvel has gotten the first five Epics back into print in a three-year span.

I think that’s really interesting, considering they also now have the Mighty Marvel Masterworks in play to cover this Silver Age material. It shows a real commitment to making their most-historic comics evergreen in an affordable format. Take note DC.

Daredevil Modern Era Epic Collection, Vol. 2: Underboss
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302956332 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil. Speaking of interesting Epic Collections, this second volume of Epics covering Daredevil from 1998 to present is the first time issues #20-25 have ever been collected continuously alongside issues #16-19 & 26-30, which are by Bendis.

Plus, it collects Daredevil: Ninja (2000) #1-3! This is what the Modern Epic collections ought to be doing – not just parroting existing mediocre maps of Complete Collections.

Mighty Marvel Masterworks: Captain America Vol. 3: To Be Reborn
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302954321 / digital)
See Guide to Captain America – Steve Rogers. In an unusual twist, this Mighty Masterworks line is now behind what was collected in the original hardcover Masterworks of the same volume number. The two lines aren’t meant to match up with each other, but I’ve been working from the expectation that these books would go slightly more aggressively to cover more material, faster.

Moon Knight: Marc Spector Omnibus Vol. 2
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302956899 / digital)
See Guide to Moon Knight. This is a big deal, y’all! This omnibus collects the end of Moon Knight’s 90s series for the first time, as well as his subsequent 1998 and 1999 mini-series. It also means we have every issue of Moon Knight in oversize format from his debut through the beginning of Marvel Now at the end of 2012. That’s pretty major! It’s amazing what some MCU exposure can do for the collected edition coverage of a Marvel character who hasn’t had a single continuous series from the Silver Age to present day. [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – March 6 2024

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – February 7 2024

February 3, 2024 by krisis

It’s the sixth new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics February 7 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics January 31 2024 new releases.

(No, you haven’t time-travelled to the future – this post is now a few days earlier to give you an earlier heads up on what’s coming next week and to make way for some other planned posts that will occupy the Tuesday slot.)

This week in Marvel Comics: the debut of a new Ultimate Black Panther, an adventure for Bats the Dog, a treat for Liz Allen super-fans, an almost-completed Captain America Epic line, and more!

Marvel Comics February 7 2024 Collected Editions

Captain America Epic Collection Vol. 21: Twilight’s Last Gleaming
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302956349 / digital)
See Guide to Captain America – Steve Rogers. This is the second-to-last Epic Collection covering Cap’s 1968 series. The final one, Man Without a Country, already exists.

However, I think the bigger news about this collect is that it means we now have the entirety of Mark Gruenwald’s landmark run on the title collected in Epic Collections Volume 12-21. That’s not a big shocker, since Marvel is about to kick off a long-awaited omnibus run of Gruenwald’s Cap, so it made sense for them to wrap up the Epics first. This run is to pre-2000 Cap what Brubaker’s is to post-2000 Cap – lengthy, defining, and essential.

We only need TWO more Epics to complete the coverage of Cap’s 1968 title (Vol. 7-8), but we could be waiting for a while since now we know the classic Epic line will continue to cover his titles through 2004 when Brubaker’s run kicks off the “Modern Epic Collection.”

Cult of Carnage: Misery
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302951986 / digital)
See Guide to Carnage (eventually). Are you a Liz Allen super-fan? I’m not sure how many of you are out there, but this book is for you! Despite the “Carnage” wrapper on the title, this book is all about dissecting Liz Allen’s history, her motivations, and her connection to Harry Osborn. Yeah, there’s also some symbiote nonsense involving a sliver of the Carnage symbiote and Carnage’s various progeny, but if you aren’t interested in Allen and her family this is going to fall flat for you. (And, if you don’t even know who I’m talking about, you should skip it).

Magneto: Magneto Was Right
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302954215 / digital)
See Guide to Magneto. One of Marvel’s many retcon flashback series, this 2023 mini is set during the excellent mid-40s of Claremont’s New Mutants – a fertile period for more Magneto stories, as he was certainly up to a lot back then! [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – February 7 2024

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – January 3, 2024

January 2, 2024 by krisis

It’s the first new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics January 3 2024 releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: a hidden X-Men omnibus, two of the best issues of Fantastic Four of all time, a new Venom, and more!

Marvel Comics January 3 2024 Collected Editions

Black Panther by Eve Ewing: Reign at Dusk, Vol. 1
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302948832 / digital)
See Guide to Black Panther. This is the first collection of Ewing’s 2023 Black Panther relaunch. This finds T’Challa stalking the streets of a Wakandan city that is analogous to NYC rather than some future utopia. That allows Ewing to focus on the community and culture of Wakanda more than superhero action. That might prove to be too dense or slow a read for some fans, but for fans of the Ta-Nehisi Coates run who were left wanting to see more of Wakanda outside of the capital, this will hit the spot.

Clobberin’ Time
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302934668 / digital)
The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing has been experiencing a real resurgence the past few years, including this series written and illustrated by Steve Skroce. It feels like Thing spent most of the 2010s being somewhat uncool and under-utilized, only really featured prominently by Brian Bendis in Guardians of the Galaxy. However, he got the most attention of the entire team in Dan Slott’s Fantastic Four run – not a surprise, since Slott has written him in the past. And now he is often the centerpiece of Ryan North’s F4 run, and he gets his own adventure here from Skroce, ho has an outstanding talent for toeing the line between the heartfelt and the profane (as seen in on of my all-time favorites, Maestros).

Daredevil by Mark Waid & Chris Samnee Omnibus, Vol. 2
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302952808 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil. This is a new printing of the tome that collects the back half of the Waid/Samnee run. While the run is delightful overall and this is self-contained enough to be enjoyed without the first volume, I think this second bit isn’t quite as strong as the first bit. You might as well start at the start.

Fantastic Four by Ryan North Vol. 2: Four Stories About Hope
(2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302934927 / digital)
See Guide to Fantastic Four. I just caught up on this run last week for the April solicits show on Near Mint Condition, and issues #10-11 are two of my favorite Fantastic Four issues of all time. Ryan North is turning in an all-time great run on this title in one- and two-issue installments. [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – January 3, 2024