Marvel Collected Editions Solicits - January and February, 2017

I got in from a walk with that toddler to a big surprise – Amazon has listed all of Marvel’s collections for the first two months of 2017! That includes a few huge surprises from the omnibus survey, plus a few other books I’ve been pining for.

I’ve broken out the books below. They don’t yet list their contents, so I’ve made a few educated guesses until we can fill in the final contents. If you pre-order with Amazon, please keep in mind that Amazon releases dates are two weeks later that Direct Market release dates.

Please note: This post will not be updated with corrected dates, titles, or issue ranges for these titles. For the most up-to-date information, visit the accompanying collection guide pages.

Marvel Masterworks

There’s only one of these books released each month, so these are the big bombshells from the announcements.

January: Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man Vol. 10 – Iron Man Guide
Confirmed Contents: Iron Man #68-81.

February: Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Vol. 10 – Uncanny X-Men Guide
Probable Contents: Uncanny X-Men #176-?
And the villages rejoiced! This book could completely plug one of the two final collection gaps in Claremont Uncanny X-Men given the $100 price tag and 456pg count.

That could indicate it will collect #176-188. UXM issues at this time were 22 pages plus a cover – 13 issues x 23 pages is 299 pages, which means we’d have room for another 6 standard-size issues.

That would put the following additional issues into play (though not all could fit):

Magik #1-4 (this was chronologically placed in the Vol. 3 omnibus, which ended before this volume. However, it was released coinciding with UXM #175-179 and MMWs are more strict in what they collected, so it wouldn’t be crazy to see it here.)
X-Men: Beauty & The Beast #1-4 (prior to #184 – not likely, since it’s not Claremont, plus Beast and Dazzler didn’t star in UXM at this point)
Kitty Pryde & Wolverine #1-6 (begins after UXM #183 and ends prior to UXM #189. I think it’s pretty essential, but who knows!)
Marvel Team-Up #150 (after #188 – but we might not get this far)
Iceman #1-4 (somewhere around #188 – he didn’t star in UXM at this point)
Marvel Super-Heroes #2 (Rogue inventory story directly before #189)

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as though we can fit both Magik’s series AND the Kitty series unless the UXM contents are a hair shorter – if it ended at #184-185 it could work. Plus, Kitty penciller Al Milgrom is not on the list of creators.

Oversized Collections

Alpha Flight by John Byrne Omnibus – Alpha Flight Guide
This will definitely include Uncanny X-Men #109, 120-121, 139-140 and Alpha Flight #1-28. It’s the other material in this massive 1248 tome I’m not so sure of, due to a few creators missing from the credits.

I think the realm of tie-ins includes Machine Man #18 (confirmed by Ditko credit), Marvel Two-In-One #83-84, Marvel Team-Up Annual 7, Material from Hulk Annual 8, X-Men/Alpha Flight #1-2, Hulk #272 & 313 + Ann 8, material from Marvel Age #2 and 32. People on the MMW board have suggested material from SWII #4 and I think that makes sense. We could throw in Hulk #180-181 for Wendigo/Wolverine/Canada reasons.

Amazing Spider-Man: Worldwide Vol. 1 – Spider-Man Guide
Probable Contents: Amazing Spider-Man (2015) #1-11, which was the contents of the first two TPBs of this title.

Daredevil Omnibus Vol. 1 – Daredevil Guide
Probable Contents: If the page count of 1088 is to be trusted this will break the rule of 3 MMWs to a Silver Omnibus. That’s not as big of a surprise as it sounds – Spider-Man, Vol. 1 also included four MMWs. That would make the content Daredevil (1964) #1-41 & Annual 1, plus Fantastic Four #73. See my full write-up on the contents of this volume.

Deadpool: Beginnings Omnibus – Deadpool Guide
Well, this is intriguing! It will give us an unbroken oversize run of Deadpool from his inception through the beginning of Daniel Way’s series. Thanks to the Liefeld and Nicieza credits, we know this will hit New Mutants and early X-Force. The lack of Joe Mad in the credits is suspicious, but it’s still early.

It should include some of the following; I’ve underlined the sure things based on the credits the book has listed so far: The New Mutants (1983) #98, X-Force (1991) #2, 4-5, 10-11, Nomad (1992) #4 (due to the Olliffe credit), X-Force (1991) #14-15 + Annual 01 + 21-24, Deadpool: The Circle Chase (1993) #1-4, Silver Sable and the Wild Pack (1992) #23, Secret Defenders (1993) #15-17, Deadpool (1994) #1-4, Silver Sable and the Wild Pack (1992) #30, Wolverine (1988) #88 & Annual ’95, X-Force (1991) #46-47 & 56

Deadpool: World’s Greatest Vol. 1 – Deadpool Guide
The TPBs of this series have been slim so far and this is solicited as 264 pages – more than 10 issues. I think this will hit the first three – #1-12 & 3.1

Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol. 2
Confirmed Contents: Star Wars: Vader Down, Star Wars #13-14, Darth Vader #13-15 + Annual 1 + #16-19. Fans have pointed out that this leaves an awkward gap of Darth Vader #20-25 for a final oversize volume since the series is ending there. I’m sure we’ll have more information to worth with in the next few months.

War of Kings Aftermath: Realm of Kings Omnibus – Marvel Events Guide
Oh boy! You can read my full write-up of this potential book. The contents here are a little tricky to predict because Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning wrote just about everything in this era. The lack of Tan Eng Huat as an illustrator puts the inclusion of Annihilators: Earthfall into question, but I’m not sure how else they can hit the massive page count of 1248 without including almost all of the above.

Let’s see…

Realm of Kings original OHC – 368 pages (includes all RoK titled series
Nova (2007) #29-35 = ~161
Guardians of the Galaxy (2008) #20-24 = ~115
Son of Hulk: Enigma Force (total speculation) should be about 66 pages
Annihilators – 184 (though it would be down some length without backups, which could be reasonably omitted)
Thanos Imperative – 248 pages
Annihilators: Earthfall – 112

That’s 1254 pages – and, considering that I estimated a bit high and there are back-ups that could be left out, that remains my bet.

Wolverine: Old Man Logan – Wolverine Guide
This seems to be a straight reprint of the original Old Man Logan story that is inspiring the next Wolverine movie. That would make the contents #66-72 and Wolverine Giant-Size: Old Man Logan.

Epic Collections

December: Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Clone Wars Vol. 1

December: Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Great Responsibility – Spider-Man Guide
Probable Contents: Amazing Spider-Man 18-40 and Annual 2

January: Incredible Hulk Epic Collection: Future Imperfect – Hulk Guide
Hulk: Future Imperfect (1992) #1-2 occurs between #416-417, which likely makes this Volume 20 to directly follow the prior Epic by including at least #407-417 (through Rick Jones’ wedding) if not also #418-420 alongside the Future Imperfect mini. #421 start a new 3-issue arc.

January: Iron Man Epic Collection: By Force of Arms – Iron Man Guide
This is certainly Epic Vol. 2 and should include Tales of Suspense #73-99, Iron Man and Namor 1, and Tales to Astonish #82.

January: Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Newspaper Strip Vol. 1

January: Wolverine Epic Collection: Shadow of Apocalypse – Wolverine Guide
The title suggests this would be Wolverine Epic Vol. 2, which would include Wolverine’s battle with Apocalypse in Jungle Adventure. However, Joe Casey and Jeff Matsuda are listed as authors, which would place this in the range of #127 – #138. Since #133-145 represents an uncollected gap, I’d say we’re in for something in that neighborhood, that might repeat Black Rio (less likely, since it was just reprinted) or add Wolverine/Cable (both Casey’s writing credits).

February: Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Empire Vol. 3

Pre Premiere TPB Era Material (through 1999)

Cloak and Dagger: Shadows and Light – Cloak & Dagger Guide
432 pages is a hefty collection, so what could this include? Most likely, it’s the original pair of Cloak and Dagger hardcovers with some linking stories from New Mutants.

(I had hoped it would be the following, but the creator list seems to disprove it: Cloak and Dagger (1985) #1-11 would yield something like 264, so it could also pick up their subsequent Strange Tales (1987) split series with Doctor Strange, which would account for slightly less than 240. That leaves us a bit high, but it plugs a fairly obvious gap after a pair of existing Marvel Premiere Hardcovers.)

Ghost Rider/Wolverine/Punisher: Hearts of Darkness – Ghost Rider Guide / Wolverine Guide / Punisher Guide
This was an OGN from the 1990s, but at 112 pages this might be more than a direct reissue.

Luke Cage, Iron Fist & The Secret Defenders – Iron Fist Guide / Luke Cage Guide

Luke Cage, Iron Fist & The Heroes For Hire Vol. 2 – Iron Fist Guide / Luke Cage Guide

Spider-Man: The Complete Clone Saga Epic Book 2 – Spider-Man Guide
Strictly a re-issue.

Venom: Separation Anxiety
by Carl Potts (Author), Howard Mackie (Author), Terry Kavanagh (Author), Liam Sharp (Illustrator), Ron Lim (Illustrator), Steven Butler (Illustrator), Tom Lyle (Illustrator), Ron Randall (Illustrator)

Wolverine: Weapon X Unbound – Wolverine Guide
It’s very peculiar to not see this as an Epic collection, as it’s almost certainly Wolverine #47 to at least #55. Listed credits are Larry Hama (Author), Fabian Nicieza (Author), Marc Silvestri (Illustrator), Gerald DeCaire (Illustrator), Andy Kubert (Illustrator), Darick Robertson (Illustrator)

Premiere TPB Era Material Recollections (from 2000)

Avengers: Endless Wartime
A TPB re-issue of the OGN

Black Panther: Doomwar – Black Panther Guide
This is more than simply a recollection of Doomwar, it might include some of the Panther series that surround it.

Captain Marvel: Earth’s Mightiest Hero Vol. 3 – Ms/Capt Marvel Guide
Will include Captain Marvel (2014) #1-15; this completes collecting the DeConnick era.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Road to Annihilation Vol. 1 – Guardians of the Galaxy Guide
by Tom Lyle (Author), Peter David (Author), Jim Starlin (Author), Dan Slott (Author), Ron Lim (Illustrator), James Fry (Illustrator), ChrisCross ChrisCross (Illustrator), Juan Bobillo (Illustrator)

Purely a rebrand of the prior Annihilation material, now hard to get in TPB – or, something more? Slott and David didn’t write anything there, but they did write preceding Captain Marvel and She-Hulk issues. I need to dig into this creator list a little more.

New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 – New Avengers Guide
by Brian Michael Bendis (Author), David Finch (Illustrator), Steve McNiven (Illustrator), Various Various (Illustrator)

New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: The Complete Collection Vol. 2 – New Avengers Guide
by Brian Michael Bendis (Author), Dan Jurgens (Illustrator), David Finch (Illustrator), Frank Cho (Illustrator), Steve McNiven (Illustrator), Mike Deodato (Illustrator), Olivier Coipel (Illustrator), Leinil Francis Yu (Illustrator)

Punisher Max: The Complete Collection Vol. 5
by Mike Benson (Author), Duane Swierczynski (Author), Victor Gischler (Author), Gregg Hurwitz (Author), Laurence Campbell (Illustrator), Michel Lacombe (Illustrator), Jefte Palo (Illustrator), Goran Parlov (Illustrator)

Runaways Vol. 2: Teenage Wasteland – Runaways Guide

Wolverine by Daniel Way: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 – Wolverine Guide
This recollection of Wolverine: Origins probably starts with Wolverine (2003) #33-35 or #36-40, which were House of M and the issues directly followed the revelations of House of M and were written by by Daniel Way with art by Javier Saltares. Then, Steve Dillon illustrates Wolverine: Origins (2006) #1-15. Amazon also lists John McCrea, Staz Johnson, Bart Sears, and Ken Knudsten, which seems to indicate this will begin with Wolverine (1988) #187-189 (also by Way).

Wolverine: Origin – The Complete Collection – Wolverine Guide
Collects both Origin I and Origin II

Wolverine: Prehistory – Wolverine Guide
The title Prehistory makes it sound as though this would collect post-Origin and pre-Adamantium stories, which jives with creator John Paul Leon, whose sole Wolverine credit is Logan: Shadow Society (1996). Based on that, I started chasing down the creators on other pre-Adamantium stories:

Marvel Comics Presents #93-98
X-Men: Logan – Path of the Warlord
Before the Fantastic Four: Ben Grimm and Logan (2000)
Logan: Shadow Society

The surprise omission for me is Brian K. Vaughn’s Logan, as I’d think Marvel would want to trade in on his name and it fits squarely in with this material.