It’s the fifth new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics January 31 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics January 24 2024 new releases.
This week in Marvel Comics: Danny Rand’s early Iron years, Sabretooth post-exile, late-breaking mutant resurrections, Secret Wars that should’ve stayed secret, 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 January 31 2024 Collected Editions
Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302950750 / digital)
See Guide to Captain Britain. By the start of 2023 Betsy had held the Captain Britain title for over three years of comics, but this was her first solo title. Unfortunately, it also marked the end of her exploits as a leading lady in the Age of Krakoa. I wasn’t always on Tini Howard’s side as an author of Betsy, but I think this was one of her tighter arcs with the character.
If you were waiting for more of the focus Howard showed on the Malice material from the end of Excalibur (2019), this feels closer to that. Plus, it has the historically bisexual Betsy actually dating a woman (who happens to be one of my favorites characters)!
Daredevil: Born Again Gallery Edition
(2024 “Gallery Edition” oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302953041)
See Guide to Daredevil. This oversize Gallery Edition hardcover collects all of Frank Millers return alongside David Mazzucchelli for the all-time classic “Born Again” story in issues #226-233.
Dark Avengers Modern Era Epic Collection: Osborn’s Reign
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302952709 / digital)
See Guide to Thunderbolts & Dark Avengers. It’s funny to me that this is an “Epic Collection” when really it’s just a more complete “Complete Collection” since it doesn’t skip over the Dark Avengers / Uncanny X-Men crossover material like the previous Complete did.
The fact that a one-off run like this is getting an Epic Collection just goes to prove how “all-in” Marvel has gone on moving all of their classic paperback reprints into Epic format. This is my favorite Brian Bendis comic and you really don’t need to know these characters from Thunderbolts to appreciate how awful (in a good way) they are as Norman Osborn’s Avengers.
Iron Fist – Danny Rand: The Early Years
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302954857 / digital)
See Guide to Iron Fist. This is a much-needed omnibus edition that combines the contents of the single Iron Fist Marvel Masterworks with all of his Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu magazine material. This marries up neatly with the run of Power Man & Iron Fist on the other side.
However, like all of his other collections, it still puzzlingly excludes Marvel Team-Up (1972) #31 – one of his major starring appearances in this period! I guess that’s an oversight that will never be corrected, at this point. Even without that issue, this is a terrific read – largely written by Chris Claremont.
Sabretooth & The Exiles
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302948368 / digital)
See Guide to Sabretooth. I’m a fan of both Victor LaValle and Leonard Kirk, but I found their first Sabretooth series from 2022 to be a bit of a dud. All of X-Twitter raved about how it was an examination of Krakoa as a carceral state, but I thought it was a kinda dull and mostly imaginary journey through the guts of the island. This series hit much better for me.
This features Sabretooth and the former prisoners of Krakoa out in the world and trying to chart their own path, but still getting sucked into the unresolved conflicts of their former home. To me, that was a much starker critique of the supposed paradise of Krakoa than the prior series, and this one features much snappier action along the way. It also has a truly wild ending that sets up Sabretooth’s appearances as Wolverine’s antagonists in 2024.
Spider-Man: Clone Saga Omnibus, Vol. 1
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302952952 / digital)
See Guide to Spider-Man – Peter Parker (1963-2018). The “Disney Vault” approach to Marvel’s major collected editions continues, with them hewing pretty closely to a 7-9yr reprint rhythm just as Disney has often done with their home video releases so there is a new release ready for the eager hands of each new generation of consumers. It used to be that we could expect some major CLONE STUFF across Marvel media this year for a reprint like this one to pop up. Now, it’s just time to meet the continued demand from new and old collectors alike.
If you’re looking for one long, involved Spider-Man story to dig into, this series of Omnibuses are certainly one of his biggest and longest tales – if you can enjoy the 90s excesses along the way. Note that this is also now being covered by Epic Collection, but those will focus just on Amazing Spider-Man while this covers the entire line.
Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: Rise of the Sith Vol. 1
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302957803 / digital)
See Guide to Star Wars Legends (Old Expanded Universe). Another example of Marvel adopting Disney’s reprint strategy is them going back to print on their earliest Star Wars Epic Collections in 2024. This collection is part of the “Legends” line, which is effectively the old, pre-Disney Expanded Universe. “Rise of the Sith” is the label applied to all material from just prior to the prequels up until Clone Wars. This collection actually occurs prior to the first prequel film, so if the new expanded universe has left you wishing for more Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan stories this is the exact volume you’ve been waiting for.
Venom – Lethal Protector: Life and Deaths
(2024 paperback ISBN 978-1302951498 / digital)
See Guide to Venom. This is the second volume of Venom retcon stories from David Michelinie. We all know by now that I’m not in love with these retroactive stories in most cases. What is the point of them?! But, for Venom – whose 90s comics history was a patchwork of disconnected mini-series, the concept really works. There was the feeling that we only got his BIG stories with none of the connective tissue between them that would come from him having a single ongoing. From that perspective, I think retcon series work much better for Venom than for the majority of other characters Marvel has focused on recently.
Read on for a summary of all of the Marvel Comics January 31 2024 single issue and digital releases!
Marvel Comics January 31 2024 Physical Comic Releases
Avengers Inc. (2023) #5 – See Guide to Avengers Flagships (2010-Present). This Al Ewing mystery title is more or less a second arc to his Wasp (2023) mini-series, which I think is what hampered it with fans. It was marketed as if it’s about an Avengers investigations agency, but it’s really just one Avenger investigating several one-shot mysteries while trying to crack a bigger one. While I enjoy Ewing’s “life finds a way” approach to figuring out how to keep telling the stories he’s started, I think this was mistitled and it probably hurt its reception a bit.
Avengers: Twilight (2024) #2 – See Guide to Avengers Flagships (2010-Present). Chip Zdarsky continues his “end of the Avengers” future tale.
Carnage (2023) #3 – I’m not the hugest Carnage fan, but a Torunn Grønbekk & Pere Perez series was an instant appointment for me! This brings Carnage back down to earth (literally and metaphorically) after an epic trip through 2023 as a potential god, but it still continues that story. Grønbekk loves to get super grim and that’s definitely true so far in this series, and I’m worried that Pere Perez’s art might trend a little too cute for the vibe. As for what guide to check for this series, I have good news and bad news. Good news: My Patrons voted this as their Patron’s Choice character for February! Bad news: it’s not February yet. A Guide to Carnage coming very soon…
Dead X-Men (2024) #1 – See Guide to X-Men – The Age of Krakoa. The final leg of the Krakoan finale, this series finds Steve Foxe piloting several previously dead X-Men through the Fall of X. I just caught up on Foxe’s Dark X-Men (2023) last week and I thought he absolutely killed it on character voices and plot, so I’m incredibly excited to see him back for a significant piece of this Krakoan finale. I’m hoping he’ll stick around in the revamped X-Office with Brevoort in the editor’s seat, so I want to show my support for his series now while they’re happening!!!
Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu: Gang War (2023) #2 – See Guide to Shang-Chi. It’s Greg Pak on Shang-Chi! This one slipped under my radar in the initial press of Gang War tie-ins. Issue #1 was fine but not good. It felt like Pak had to do a phenomenal amount of lifting to catch up up on where Gene Luen Yang last left Shang-Chi, because heaven forfend we could have a single ongoing series with a change of authors to continue the same story. As a result, the story in #1 came across as extremely simplistic and All-Ages, not through any fault of Pak’s but because the whole thing had to re-explain the past few years of plot. I have hopes that this issue will be a little more fun.
The Incredible Hulk (2023) #8 – See Guide to Hulk – Bruce Banner. As we’ve established, this looks great but I’m not a fan of the author. This one isn’t on my pull list.
Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars: Battleworld (2023) #3 – See Guide to Marvel Universe Events – Secret Wars. Classic Marvel creators Tom Defalco & Pat Olliffe insert a retcon story into the original 1984 Secret Wars series. On one hand, I do think the scope of the original Secret Wars was grand enough that there were probably plenty of unseen plots happening off to the side of it. On the other hand… this is so incredibly dull so far. It literally follows Spidey off-panel when he goes to get a snack only to find him waylaid by another group of Beyonders to fight another group of villain who were also conveniently kidnapped at the same time but conveniently have no recollection of it. I was actively angry while reading issue #2.
Marvel’s Voices: Legends (2024) #1 – I have finally figured out how I’ll be covering these anthology issues in a guide, but it’s going to take a while to get it up and running. This issue focuses on black characters and creators, which you’d never know from the “Legends” title. It’s headlined by Sam Wilson as Captain America and Misty Knight – two characters I love!
Miguel O’Hara: Spider-Man 2099 (2024) #5 – See Guide to Spider-Man 2099. The final issue of Steve Orlando’s romp through reviving some of Marvel’s creepiest characters in the world of 2099 – this time focusing on Man-Thing.
Spider-Boy (2023) #3 – See Guide to Spider-Man – Peter Parker (2018-Present). Dan Slott & Mark Bagley continue spinning off Spider-Boy into his own adventures. If you’ve missed the story so far, when the Spider-Gang fought off one more takeover attempt on the Web of Life back in Slott & Bagley’s 2022 adjectiveless Spider-Man series it almost made them forget one of their allies existed, but when they fixed things they also brought Spider-Boy into continuity (even though no one remembers him). It’s a cute gimmick, but I can’t help but be amused by the fact that Marvel aged up Miles Morales so now they need another kid Spider to take his place. Slott has always been good at the pure joy aspect of Spidey, and that has come through in the first two issues, but he whiffed entirely on writing Squirrel Girl in a team-up back-up story.
Spine-Tingling Spider-Man (2023) #4 – See Guide to Spider-Man – Peter Parker (2018-Present). The final issue of the horror-tinged Spider-Man story from Saladin Ahmed & Juan Ferreyra.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra (2020) #40 – See Guide to Star Wars Expanded Universe Comics. I just want to point out something: Marvel’s Star Wars comics have relatively little buzz within comics, yet they’ve now continued four titles into their fourth year of publishing without a relaunch, including Aphra who isn’t even a film character. Star Wars media sells.
Wolverine (2020) #42 – See Guide to Wolverine. The second issue of the Sabretooth War, co-written by Benjamin Percy & Victore LaValle.
Marvel Comics January 31 2024 Digital-First Comic Releases
This is a list of projected Marvel Comics January 31 2024 Digital-First releases based on the recent digital release schedule. Actual releases are not confirmed until they show up on the Marvel Unlimited app.
These releases have not been quick to be released in print, though we’ve now see print versions of a few of these series trickle out a year or more after they were released.
- Alligator Loki Infinity Comic (2022) #33 – See Guide to Loki
- Avengers United Infinity Comic (2023) #17 – See Guide to Avengers (2010-Present)
- Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic (2022) #88 – A Dazzler story! I promise, I’m working on a solution for tracking these Voices anthologies. Give me a few weeks to cook.
- Spider-Man Unlimited Infinity Comic (2023) #22 – Guide to Spider-Man – Peter Parker (2018-Present)
- X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic (2021) #124 – See Guide to X-Men, The Age of Krakoa