Dan Slott

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

New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – April 24 2024

April 19, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 17th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics April 24 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics April 17 2024 new releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: excellent X-Men ’97 synergy, uncollected Avengers West Coast, all of Ahmed’s Ms. Marvel, Blade & GODS both end, Gillen’s X-Men endgame, Darth Maul strikes back, and more!

Marvel Comics April 24 2024 Collected Editions

Avengers Inc.: Action, Mystery, Adventure
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302953393 / digital)
See Guide to Avengers flagship titles (2010 – Present). I’ll always be a bit miffed about how this Al Ewing Avengers series rolled out. It was simply a second arc of his brilliant run on Janet van Dyne as Wasp from earlier in 2023, but with a noir spin. But, a drab noir look does not work on Janet at all – she needs to pop off of every page in bold color. (The book does not look as stylish on the interior as it does on the cover.)

As a result, we got a curiously sombre detective comic without an Avengers team that didn’t make great use of its feature character. It’s actually a fun read, but if you didn’t read (and enjoy) the Wasp series that preceded it I can’t recommend it on its own.

Avengers West Coast Epic Collection Vol. 7: Ultron Unbound
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302956448 / digital)
See Guide to Avengers West Coast. This is a long-awaited Epic Collection, because it finally collects the issues in the #83-91 range of Avengers West Coast! Even if we’re still awaiting a final epic to take us from issue #96 through the end of the title in #102, we’ve had that material in paperback several times over – this book represents our last true collecting gap and means that all of this series will now be present on Marvel Unlimited.

Also, this presses far enough that a final volume can collect the seven issues of #96-102 plus all of the mini-series and errata that ought to be joined with the end of this series, which has always been a collection challenge. In addition to those seven issues there are more than 20 other issues that fully cover the end of this team, and Epic Collections usually top out in the 20-22 issue range. It could include U.S. Agent (1993) #1-4, Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective (1993) #1-4 (which has USAgent and War Machine), all of Blood Ties (Avengers #368-369, X-Men #26, & Uncanny X-Men #307), Spider-Woman (1993) #1-4, Scarlet Witch (1994) #1-4, material from Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #143-144, and possibly also Hawkeye (1994) #1-4 (though this will be in the Hawkeye Epic Line).

I think that leaves us with an interesting question of whether Volume 8 really will conclude this Epic Line (and necessarily skip some of that material – likely Terminatrix Objective and Hawkeye to get down to 23 issues), or if it will simply end with issue #100, with another volume pushing beyond that and onward into the team’s relaunch as Force Works!

New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – April 17 2024

April 12, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 16th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics April 17 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics April 10 2024 new releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: the very complete Captain America, hell breaks loose for Daredevil, original Micronauts, Widow vs. Hawkeye, the real fake Thor, Ultimate Black Panther intensifies, an amazing Spider-Boy & Spider-Woman, and more!

Marvel Comics April 17 2024 Collected Editions

Captain America Epic Collection Vol. 6: The Man Who Sold The United States
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302955205 / digital)
See Guide to Captain America – Steve Rogers. This Epic picks up shortly after the original “Secret Empire” storyline and collects into the start of Jack Kirby’s solo run on the title. We’ve had this material collected several times over in other formats at this point, but the exciting part is that we are now just two Epic Collections away from complete coverage of Cap from 1963 to 1996!

Daredevil Vol. 1: Hell Breaks Loose
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302947729 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil. I love love love this Saladin Ahmed take on Matt Murdock. It hasn’t been received with the rapturous response of the past two relaunches from Charles Soule and Chip Zdarsky, and that bugs me. I think there’s a long history of fans balking at supernatural elements in Daredevil – from Ann Nocenti to Diggle’s Shadowland – only for the runs to be reappraised and re-embraced later on.

Could we possibly just skip all of that nonsense and appreciate this run while it is happening? It’s so nuanced both in Murdock’s personal life and his heroic one. Top recommendation from me – and you can start cold with with collection edition.

Marvel Masterworks: Captain America Vol. 16
(2024 hardcover, ISBN 978-1302955212 / digital)
See Guide to Captain America – Steve Rogers. This collects a ten-issue run of J.M. DeMatteis’s Cap from the late 200s, which has already been hit in Epic Collections, and brings us within two years of the start of Mark Gruenwald’s Cap, which is about to be omnibused. It’s wild to see all of the gears of Marvel’s collected edition lines churning at once within a single 10-year range of a single run.

There’s a lot of coordination to appreciate here – how they just reprinted the Kirby Omnibus so they can leave those Epic Collections to last, and how they will have the first Gruenwald omnibus out far enough ahead of the Masterworks hitting in 2027 that they won’t completely cannibalize its sales. [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: Marvel Comics – April 17 2024

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 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