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This week in comic book collected editions & graphic novels – April 5, 2017

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Welcome to another wild week in new releases of graphic novels and comic collected editions!

You’d think seeing a list of what comics are out this week along with what they collect and what’s come before would be an easy thing to do since comic book publishers want you to buy comics, right?

Well, they don’t. At least, they don’t without you going through the arcane process of pre-ordering books three months ahead of time from a physical comic shop with no guarantee that the books will come out on time or at all.

When it comes to promoting books to the mass book market (which is exponentially larger than the comic market) on the week of release, most companies do nothing.

Oh, and all of their books come out in the mass market at different delayed intervals from the direct market!

If you’re anything like me, you think that’s a short-sighted bunch of malarky. Well, until we convince comics publishers of the same, I’ll do the heavy lifting for you.

Here’s what’s out this week from all the major publishers and many of the indies, frequently with context on the book and preceding or related collections.

Publishers:

What are the must-read books this week?

Green Arrow was one of my favorite Rebirth one-shots, but my review came with some caveats – I wasn’t sure if the excellent dynamic with Black Canary would continue with her also in Batgirl & The Birds of Prey, and I only wanted to keep reading if I could consume more of the delectable art from Otto Schmidt. His panels look like single cells of animation from a Green Arrow cartoon in the style of the classic Batman: The Animated Series.

Well, last week I caught up with the first trade of Green Arrow, Volume 1: The Death and Life Of Oliver Queen, and it easily took care of both of my caveats. It’s a nice blend of DC’s classic, more mature Arrow with a hint of the romance and adventure of his TV show. This week, the second edition is out – Green Arrow Vol. 2: Island Of Scars – still with art by Schmidt.

This guy is a must-see, must-buy artist and Arrow is so far one of DC’s stronger books. Don’t sleep on this.

Also out this week: Lumberjanes, Vol 06: Sink or Swim! Our house is finally caught up through the end of Vol. 5. More on this treasure of a series, along with everything else out this week, below.

[Read more…] about This week in comic book collected editions & graphic novels – April 5, 2017

Marvel’s Most-Wanted Omnibuses – What’s been printed and what’s gone missing?

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Omnibus on ShelfAlright eager readers – like modern-day Marvel with their absurd .1 issues, I have one more interstitial installment of extra material about Marvel’s Most Wanted Omnibuses to share with you before I recap the final two spots of this year’s secret ballot tomorrow.

For this installment, I want to take a look at the books that have been printed and the ones that have mysteriously gone missing from the survey – and why that might be!

Not counting a few newly-revealed omnibuses for early 2017, the 83 books voted on in the first three years of the survey have yielded 20 Marvel Omnibus volumes. Whether you look at the survey as a guessing game or information that Marvel actually considers, seeing one out of every four books get printed is not such a bad ratio!

There have also been 21 books previously voted on that haven’t hit omnibus and aren’t represented this year, plus a few more than dropped off the survey and came back. If they didn’t get printed, why did we lose track of them?

Allow me to explain… [Read more…] about Marvel’s Most-Wanted Omnibuses – What’s been printed and what’s gone missing?

Collecting Marvel Universe Events as graphic novels

A comprehensive guide to line-wide Marvel Events – including story overviews, characters, issue lists, and how they can be read via omnibuses, hardcovers, and trade paperbacks. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated November 2018 with titles scheduled for release through February 2019.

Marvel Events HandbookSecret Wars. Inferno. Age of Apocalypse. Civil War. Secret Invasion. Avengers vs. X-Men. When it comes to epic-sized comic book events, Marvel Comics is the all-time champion.

These line-wide Marvel Events are overarching stories that can involve dozens of Marvel heroes – if not all of them, all at once! Events occur as either or both of  direct crossovers between ongoing titles and special limited-series.

That can make them hard to keep track of, especially at the current rate of one or more events each year. It’s also hard to track down every issue or graphic novel. It’s easy to miss issues or buy the same comic in overlapping collections.

That’s why I created this page – it includes summaries, issue lists, and collection info for every major Marvel event, ever.

Click the links below to leap down the page to the corresponding section. I have omitted most line-specific crossovers with only one or two cross-line spinoffs, such as X-Men’s Mutant Massacre and Fall of the Hulks. [Read more…] about Collecting Marvel Universe Events as graphic novels