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

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!

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 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!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Grootrise
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302951207 / digital)
See Guide to Guardians of the Galaxy. This collects the second half of the Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly series that concluded last year. We haven’t seen the Guardians assembled since then, which is a pretty wild state of affairs – they’re one of Marvel’s most-popular teams, even if their MCU property is currently concluded. I’m intrigued to see how long Marvel waits to bring them back for more.

The Magnificent Ms. Marvel by Saladin Ahmed
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302953492 / digital)
See Guide to Ms. Marvel – Kamala Khan. A single, Epic Collection sized book containing all of Ahmed’s run on Ms. Marvel. I thought this run was slightly mild, and somewhat derailed by the pandemic pause and how it affected Kamala’s larger story in the Marvel Universe.

Mini-Marvels: Spidey-Sense
(2024 digest-size paperback, ISBN 978-1302954499 / digital)
A book of all-ages Spidey stories illustrated by Chris Giarrusso. I’m not sure what content in this is original and what is a reprint! I know it collects a number of “BULLPEN BITS” shorts that previously appeared as Spidey and the Mini Marvels (2003) #1. Giarrusso has done a lot of material for Marvel since then (both full issues and brief strips) so I’m not sure what else this includes.

Silver Surfer Rebirth: Legacy
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302947910 / digital)
See Guide to Silver Surfer. A retcon series set in past continuity by 90s Surfer superstar creates Ron Marz & Ron Lim

Spine-Tingling Spider-Man
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302954208 / digital)
See Guide to Spider-Man – Peter Parker (2018 – Present). This collection gathers all of the creepy 2021 Saladin Ahmed & Juan Ferreyra digital comic, plus their follow-up 2023 physical series. I really enjoy when people spin-off from the main Spider-Man title and vibe for darker stories like this one.

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Vol. 7 – Dark Droids
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302948047 / digital)
See Guide to Star Wars Expanded Universe comics. This marks the end of the Alyssa Wong Doctor Aphra ongoing series, which also means it is the first time Aphra has been without a title since 2017!

X-Men Epic Collection: Fatal Attractions
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302956851 / digital)
See Guide to Uncanny X-Men – The Crossover Era (1991 – 2001) or Guide to X-Men Vol. 2 (1991 – 2001). Sometimes I think we underestimate just how good Marvel is at planning synergy with their collected edition releases. This collection has Rogue and Gambit kissing on the front cover drawn by Andy Kubert from the iconic X-Men (1991) #24, and it features Gambit’s first solo mini-series plus the apparent death of Magneto in Fatal Attractions. I don’t think there could be any better of a tie-in to the recent episodes of X-Men ’97 than this!!!

Read on for a summary of all of the Marvel Comics April 24 2024 single issue and digital releases!

Marvel Comics April 24 2024 Physical Comic Releases

The Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #48 – See Guide to Spider-Man – Peter Parker (2018 – Present). Last issue Zeb Wells started his pivot into the third act of this book in full, pulling in an older Betty Brant plot thread and tying it into Chasm and Hallow’s Eve in the present day to bring back two of the most fun characters in his run.

I think I have a sense of where this is headed and I doubt many fans are going to be thrilled about it. Dunk on Dan Slott’s run all you want (for MANY valid reasons), but Slott knew how to have Spidey swing around New York being funny while also thinking up some big plot beats for him. Wells feels like he has been stuck in neutral ever since the end of Dark Web, which is 24 issues work of “just okay” Spider-Man.

I’m a big fan of Wells, but I think we’re all looking forward to whatever will come next.

Avengers (2023) #13 – See Guide to Avengers flagship titles (2010 – Present). Last issue saw The Avengers pulled into the fray of the Fall of X, having been told to hold off by Tony Stark despite Captain Marvel chomping at the bit to aid her past mutant allies.

With Tony letting the team off the chain (in a particularly well-coordinated turn of events with Duggan’s half of the X-books), suddenly Jed MacKay turned out one of the best Fall of X issues so far! It was incredibly satisfying to see the Avengers take apart Orchis brick by brick, and all the more exciting because we know MacKay is about to take over writing duties on the relaunch of Uncanny X-Men! I think if you’re an X-fan looking to sample his Avengers, issue #12 is a great place to begin – but, I’ve loved this book from the start.

Blade (2023) #10 – See Guide to Blade. This is the final issue of this Bryan Edward Hill series, and now we’re left with the tough question: did BEH fail to generate buzz on this title, or will Blade simply never be popular enough to push past two arcs?

I’m not sure Hill was the right author to break Blade’s sales curse, even with Eisner-Winner Elena Casagrande on board. The world-ending plot of this series was big and cool, but it completely lacked the fun of seeing Blade being a vampire hunter. I think that’s what everyone wants out of Blade – a badass, slick character who makes the hard choices. Building his book up to be a huge world-shattering event wasn’t the stakes people were looking for.

Compare that to Jed MacKay’s recent hit runs on characters like Black Cat and Moon Knight, or Steve Orlando’s similar run on Scarlet Witch that got much more acclaim. They all kept things small and personal to build up fan support, but BEH swings at everything like it has to be a full-length film – and, for his Blade, I think we needed something more like a season of TV episodes.

Daredevil (2024) #8 – Guide to Daredevil. I need y’all to get on board with this Saladin Ahmed run, folks! It’s Daredevil fighting against his sins in a literal, physical form. I think issue #7 was a bit of a “pick me, pick me” issue with Daredevil in a new white uniform fighting Wolverine to draw in the attention of speculators and fans, but that also meant it was the most sparse in terms of plot. However, the final page tickler sets this issue up to be more complex.

I really like the structure Ahmed is building here, with an arc of introduction, an arc to resolve these fights, and then very likely an arc to push farther into what’s behind them. I just hope the book finds its fandom and can keep running after that.

G.O.D.S. (2023) #7 – See Guide to Doctor Strange. Strap in, y’all, because you are about to read about me truly despising every since aspect of a comic book with every fiber of my being.

Last issue was a truly awful comic book issue – definitely the worst I’ve read from Marvel so far this year. And, I’m into hundreds at this point – I’m all caught up on all of Marvel’s in-continuity comics! It was really THAT BAD.

The problem with this series all along has been that it isn’t about anything. Sure, Hickman is adding some minor definition to the relationships between Marvel’s cosmic powers. But, there’s no plot. There’s nothing to speculate on. There’s no major conflict. Things just keep happening, but them happening does nothing to delineate or define the heady cosmic world of Marvel Comics. Al Ewing did more for these universal entities in his run on Ultimates.

The problem with last issue in specific is that in a series about nothing, you can’t get away with a whole issue of allegory with no real plot stakes. Hickman sets up a perilous journey towards judgment, but the entire issue just becomes a decompressed and repetitive bit about “tough tradeoffs.” Hickman repeats the bit over and over until it comes to a predictable end. There is nothing satisfying, no story progression, no character growth, and no expansion of the world Hickman claims to be defining. One character suffers for her hubris in a way that is set up early in the issue. That’s all that happens.

I can sometimes stomach bad writing if a comic book is pretty. This one is not. Marte Gracia’s colors have grown from slightly indulgent to fully horrible. I find them impossible to look at. They literally make me queasy. All of Gracia’s little ticks in how he handles light sources and reflections have spiraled out of control to completely taken over any kind of vivid or exciting color look. All of the human characters are a mottled, shiny grey  no matter their skin color. All you can see when looking at a page are the shiny reflective surfaces, many of which make no sense based on the texture of that surface or the supposed source of light. It’s destroying Schiti’s beautiful line art.

Everyone was worried that this book would flop because of the high cover price of issue #1 or because it explored a new section of the Marvel Universe. It’s actually flopping because it’s a perfect example of the excess of a superstar creative team who have been left unchecked as they indulge all of their worst instincts in working together. We’re about to see a finale to this series, and there’s nothing about it to anticipate or conclude. It will be just one more issue of random, vaguely epic events with no connection to an ongoing plot.

Jackpot and Black Cat (2024) #2 – See Guide to Black Cat. Y’all, I hate Mary Jane as a superhero. I hate it even more than she has random slot machine powers. I hate it so much. If there was ever one Marvel character who I just want to see as a regular human being reacting in a super world (and occasionally being heroic in her own way!) it’s Mary Jane.

That said, writer Celeste Bronfman has to play the hand she was dealt here. I think it’s close-to-impossible to get MJ’s hero voice right without making her sound generic, because her charm is in her humanity! Bronfman wisely leaned into MJ’s budding friendship with Black Cat to alleviate that problem. And, I always appreciate a writer who remembers Felicia Hardy is bisexual!

However, between MJ’s powers and shoehorning Hardy in a serious relationship we’ve yet to see and then shoehorning a “deadly app” story on top of that when we’ve just had several of those at Marvel, I truly don’t understand who approved this book for print.

Night Thrasher (2024) #3 – See Guide to New Warriors. This book got a little stronger and more certain with issue #2, which didn’t have to pack in as much backstory (which was necessary!) and could just focus on the neighborhood conflict between Night Thrasher and Rage.

I think that gives this book a strong reason to exist. It’s not just a random observation of what Night Thrasher is up to – it’s a situation where it makes sense that only he would be at the center of it. However, I’m not sure if that conflict really has the legs for a whole mini-series of content without going a little deeper than “there are some kid thugs in this neighborhood.”

Predator: The Last Hunt (2024) #3 – More Ed Brisson Predator comics. It’s wild that this is the only book Brisson is writing for Marvel these days! He had some heavy years there where he was omnipresent in the X-Office and always had at least one other book ongoing. I often wonder to what extent Marvel has data that tells them “Brisson’s name doesn’t sell a book but Percy’s does” when they’ve been on a lot of equivalent titles in similar offices.

Rise of the Powers of X (2024) #4 – See Guide t0 X-Men – The Age of Krakoa. Now, close to the endgame, the full shape of the final stages of the Fall of X are becoming clear – and I’ve just updated the guide to reflect that! It is formed by two distinct halves, which seem that they will only fully intersect in their final issues as they head into Uncanny X-Men #700 as a grand finale.

There’s the Duggan half – comprised of Fall of the House of X (2024), X-Men (2021), and Invincible Iron Man (2022), with an input from Ewing’s Resurrection of Magneto (2024). They all run concurrently. By most accounts (mine included), this half is horrible. X-Twitter has been tearing it to shreds for weeks.

Then, there is the Gillen half – Rise of the Powers of X (2024), informed by Foxe’s Dead X-Men (2024) in the first half and expanded by Gillen’s X-Men Forever (2024) in the second. This is the half that is fulfilling the abandoned plot threads from Hickman’s run on X-Men, from his Powers of X through Inferno. Dead X-Men was a bit messy and ultimately possibly unnecessary, but it seems that this X-Men Forever series will be all of the important continuity and plot errata that there’s just no time to have RB Silva draw in Rise of the Powers of X.

Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver (2024) #3 – See Guide to Scarlet Witch. I LOVE THIS BOOK. LOOOOOVE IT. It turns out that a cast of two characters plus a signature villain is the perfect amount for Steve Orlando to focus on without getting repetitive or confusing. We should’ve known this based on how beloved his run on Midnighter (with Apollo) was back in the day.

Also, Lorenzo Tammetta & Frank William are absolutely crushing it on art. I’ve read a few issues drawn by Tammetta before, but they didn’t stick with me like this does – he does so much facial acting with the characters, and it really sells the dialog. Also, I’m totally into William’s color style – it’s bold and saturated with color, but surprisingly flat and not obsessed with reflections, highlights, and light sources. I think it’s the perfect way to update classic coloring styles for the modern day.

Spider-Punk: Arms Race (2024) #3 – See Guide to Spider-Man – Peter Parker (2018 – Present). I liked issue #2 of this sequel Spider-Punk series a lot better than issue #1.

I think the key is that I went into issue #1 expecting Spider-Punk! Heaven only knows why I’d have that expectation! 😂 But, this is really an alternate universe team-up book of minority characters on a Spider-team, no different than Age of Apocalypse book for X-Men. Now that I understand that, it makes more sense.

I still think Ziglar has one or two too many characters in the mix – but Justin Mason & Morry Hollowell’s art looks pretty cool – it’s cartoonish but it also has a sense of grit and dimensionality that fits Hobie Brown and his world. However, I am not a fan of the lettering in this book AT ALL and I think Ziglar really needs to do intro chyrons for each character. There is one person whose name I still don’t know!

Star Wars: Darth Maul – Black, White & Red (2024) #1 – See Guide to Star Wars Expanded Universe comics. I think there’s something magical and cool about Darth Maul, the first Sith apprentice we met in live action after a two-decade love affair with Darth Vader. Killing him in the first prequel (spoilers!) is one of the biggest unforced errors committed in the pre-Disney era of Star Wars.

I think it’s smart that as Marvel presses closer and closer to Darth Vader’s impending death in the modern continuity of Star Wars that they re-establish some other villain comics. I wouldn’t be shocked if this bloody anthology is a backdoor pilot for a Darth Maul ongoing series.

Star Wars: Jango Fett (2024) #2 – See Guide to Star Wars Expanded Universe comics. Writer Ethan Sacks pivots from the recently concluded Star Wars: Bounty Hunters (2020) ongoing to another Bounty Hunter more than twenty years prior – Jango Fett, the original clone model for the stormtroopers (and Boba Fett).

This book seems like it’s just going to be a MacGuffin Quest for Fett rather than something intrinsically motivated, but that comes with Luke Ross art with Nolan Woodard colors that is absolutely delectable. My eyes lingered on every damn panel. If you’re going to do a MacGuffin plot, at least have it look this good.

Superior Spider-Man (2023) #6 – See Guide to Spider-Man – Peter Parker (2018 – Present). I was surprised to see that this series is rolling on past issues when it felt like an obvious mini-series to start. I still think it’s an odd choice to call it “Superior Spider-Man” when really it’s just “Spidey & Ock Team-Up,” but last issue was really good. Edgar Delgado’s colors on Mark Bagley’s art really drew out the texture of his linework (with inker John Dell), and Cristos Gage co-writing on Dan Slott always feels like it makes things a bit tighter and less decompressed.

I still puzzle over what this series is doing and why it is being marketed under this title if it’s not actually going to put Doc Ock back in play as Superior Spider-Man, but it’s a fun read.

Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) #4 – See Guide to Ultimate Marvel. Issue #3 continued the trend of utterly beautiful artwork from Marc Checchetto while Jonathan Hickman engages his long-atrophied skills of writing a warm, funny, personable comic.

As Hickman warms up and gets back to writing family moments instead of oblique monologue it’s really starting feel like the Hickman I used to love circa his run of Future Foundation – before his Avengers made him such an indisputable fan favorite (and frequent bore).

If there’s one critique to make of this series, I’d say it’s that the book is incredibly decompressed. Especially as we’re getting into our first Spidey-action in this series, Hickman is giving Checchetto & Matt Wilson lots of huge panels and the plot isn’t really moving. Yet, it does feel like we’re starting to get a feel for who this older Peter Parker actually is.

Wolverine (2020) #48 – See Guide to Wolverine – Logan. We’re just three issues away from the end of the Ben Percy era of Wolverine. (I hope). This Sabretooth War arc was  built up to be a definitive conflict between Logan and Creed, but I’m not sure it will even rank at the bottom of their list of greatest hits when all is said and done. The idea of Creed heading up a multiversal squad of variant Sabretooths had a lot of potential, but that’s never come to fruition in this arc.

Last issue gave us some nice moments for Laura, but not enough of them to make it worth working through this ultra-violent dud of a story that doesn’t fit at all with the Fall of X.

Wolverine: Madripoor Knights (2024) #3 – See Guide to Wolverine – Logan. This is Claremont’s retcon of an additional Madripoor adventure in the present day to follow the events of Uncanny X-Men (1963) #268.

I thought issue #1 was incredibly strong and issue #2 was just okay. The difference was that issue #1 had Logan appearing with Jubilee and Betsy Braddock, both of whom Claremont created and writes well, and issue #2 paired him exclusively with Captain America and Black Widow, for whom Claremont doesn’t especially have a voice.

I still think this is a cut above a lot of the other retcon insert series from Marvel these past few years, in part because it’s so specifically rooted to a specific era and to a specific existing story. Read this if you worship Uncanny #268 (or, Claremont’s early Madripoor material for Wolverine).

X-Men: Forever (2024) #2 – See Guide t0 X-Men – The Age of Krakoa. The first issue of X-Men Forever (2024) included so much critical connective tissue for Rise! I wish they had simply been merged into one series, because I don’t know if any of these revelations really paid off better for being revealed a week or two after the face.

I suspect this will continue to have important side plots to help broaden the story of Gillen’s half of Fall of X, which makes it a real pity Marvel refuses to collect this material together.

Intriguingly, Marvel has just solicited this as “Immortal X-Men, Vol. 5” – which is an interesting way to contextualize it. Maybe they should’ve just let Immortal X-Men keep running after all!

Marvel Comics April 24 2024 Digital-First Comic Releases

This is a list of projected Marvel Comics April 24 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.

• Avengers United Infinity Comic (2023) #29 – See Guide to Avengers (2010-Present).
• Infinity Paws Infinity Comic (2024) #4
• Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic (2022) #98
• Spider-Man Unlimited Infinity Comic (2023) #34 – Guide to Spider-Man – Peter Parker (2018-Present)
• X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic (2021) #136– See Guide to X-Men, The Age of Krakoa