Marvel Comics

Debating our Evergreen X-Men Omnibus List – LIVE on Near Mint Condition

March 21, 2024 by krisis

Are you ready to rumble? Today, I’m live with Near Mint Condition to share my Evergreen X-Men Omnibus List – that means the X-Men books should never go out of print!

Omar of Near Mint Condition, Jess the Omnidog, Lars of Mad Norwegian Press, cosplayer and X-Men mega-fan Ødfel, GLAAD-Award Winning author Joe Glass, and more distinguished panelists will share their lists, too… and then we’ll fight tooth and nail over our officially endorsed Evergreen X-Men Omnibus List of 10 books. Plus, viewers on the live stream will get to have their say to correct our mistakes!

It’s the show that is half serious recommendations, half a cut-throat game show of all of us trying to block other people’s recommendations so that all of our own make the list. Will we allow Omar to get Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 on the Evergreen X-Men Omnibus List, or will we blockade him with votes for Phoenix Vol. 1? Will side books like X-Factor and X-Force make the cut, or will we just stick to Uncanny X-Men and X-Men? And, what about Wolverine!?

Tune in to Near Mint Condition on YouTube to find out!

New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – March 27 2024

March 21, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 13th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics March 27 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics March 20 2024 new releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: Inferno Masterworks, Wonder Man’s modern saga, Daredevil’s theological deep-dive, a new Black Cat & MJ team-up, an official X-Men ’97 tie-in, 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 March 27 2024 Collected Editions

Daredevil By Ed Brubaker & Michael Lark Omnibus Vol. 2 HC 2024 Printing
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302957575 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil. This book completes the four-omnibus run of relatively-grounded Daredevil before things get fanciful in Andy Diggle’s Shadowland run. Yet, the seeds of that run are planted here, as Matt descends to perhaps his darkest point to date. I really enjoy this run better than Bendis’s, personally.

Ghost Rider Vol. 4: Rite of Passage
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302952358 / digital)
See Guide to Ghost Rider. This is the last of Benjamin Percy’s 2022 ongoing, though he is rolling into a new series called “Ghost Rider: Final Vengeance” with a new rider.

Immortal X-Men by Kieron Gillen Vol. 4
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302953423 / digital)
See Guide to X-Men – The Age of Krakoa. I wish I could tell you this was an all-time great finish to Gillen’s spectacular run on Immortal X-Men, but it ends in a bit of a fizzle. Gillen is deep into his “plots within plots within plots” bullshit, which can be satisfying when it pays off.

Unfortunately, none of it pays off here, because he’s playing for time prior to the Fall of X mini-series that will wrap up this era. Definitely read this if you’ve been reading all along – or, take this opportunity to start Immortal X-Men (2022) from the beginning to catch up with the Fall of Krakoa.

Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale: Hulk Gallery Edition
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302953072 / digital)
See Guide to Hulk – Bruce Banner. This is one of the famous “Color Books” by Loeb & Sale (which Marvel tried to call “Marvel Spectrum,” though it never particularly caught on), which interweaves an origin-era story with present day framing material. Sale’s art will always be eye-catching, and though this story is simplistic it brings a certain emotionality to Hulk that’s different than the original Lee comics. [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – March 27 2024

New: Guide to X-Men: From The Ashes

March 20, 2024 by krisis

Last week Marvel announced the creators and titles that will kick off the new era of X-Men comic books starting this July with X-Men: From The Ashes! And, a new era of comics means a new comic book guide – supported by Patrons of CK but available to all readers: Guide to X-Men: From the Ashes (2024 – Present).

Right now all we know about the nine incoming new X-Men titles are the creative teams and casts of the three flagship books – X-Men (2024), Uncanny X-Men (2024), and Exception X-Men (2024). This new guide will track every issue of the new era as they are announced, and explain the best way to read it and collect them all.

Guide to X-Men: From the Ashes (2024 – Present)

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have two episodes of X-Men ’97 to rewatch for the fourth time!

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – March 20 2024

March 14, 2024 by krisis

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!

Marvel Comics March 20 2024 Collected Editions

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

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – March 13 2024

March 7, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 11th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics March 13 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics March 6 2024 new releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: Thor’s most-titanic stories yet, a collected hunk of multi-versal Deadpool, Black Widow & Hawkeye team up, Carnage crosses over with Venom, Ghost Rider’s Final Vengeance, and more!

Marvel Comics March 13 2024 Collected Editions

Deadpool-Verse: Deadpool Corps
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302958527 / digital)
See Guide to Deadpool. Don’t confuse this collection with the “Marvel-Verse” digest-size books collecting scattershot all-ages stories for their focus character like the Wonder Man volume below. This is actually a very chunky standard-size paperback collecting all of the Deadpool Corps material from the Prelude mini-series and the 12-issue main series.

This is one of the main “Deadpool in the multi-verse” sorts of stories, which tracks well with the themes of the Deadpool & Wolverine film from what we’ve seen in the marketing material.

Immortal Thor by Al Ewing Vol. 1: All Weather Turns To Storm
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302954185 / digital)
See Guide to Thor – Odinson. This run is a massive blockbuster that somehow manages to tell a Thor story even bigger than the two runs that came before. However, if you like Thor throwing his hammer at a clearly-defined villain, this one’s not for you. It’s about the concept of Thor, of godhood, and of stories. Also, it looks absolutely gorgeous. More on this run below in the single issue section!

Marvel-Verse: Wonder Man
(2024 digest-size paperback, ISBN 978-1302954543 / digital)
Hmm, I don’t have a guide to Wonder Man, but with Marvel pumping out collections in anticipation of his debut in the MCU maybe I need to move him up the priority list! This digest-size intro to the character collects Avengers (1963) #9, Marvel Two-in-One (1974) #78, Wonder Man (1986) #1, and Avengers (1998) #14.

Moon Knight Vol. 5: The Last Days of Moon Knight
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302950910 / digital)
See Guide to Moon Knight. Jed MacKay brings his 30-issue Moon Knight series to a spectacular conclusion. Normally I’d say, “don’t start with the final volume!” However, this opens with a truly outstanding issue in the giant-sized #25, and I think you could read this brisk conclusion in order to catch up to the new Vengeance of Moon Knight (2023) title and be left hungry to catch up on the four volumes that came before. [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – March 13 2024