Marvel Solo Heroes Omnibus Mapping (N-Z) for the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 12th Annual Secret Ballot

Until April 5, I’ll be loosely mapping missing and most-wanted Marvel omnibus volumes every day! Today you’re in for a LOT of mapping, because this post covers every non-mutant, non-Spider solo hero I have yet to cover! That’s more than 100 maps of potential omnibuses for dozens of amazing Marvel characters between the last post and this one!

This post explains titles and potential Omnibus Mapping for entries on the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 12th Annual Secret Ballot. You can vote right now (until 5 April 2024 @ midnight US ET) or watch our mega-length announcement stream reviewing every single voting option.

In the previous post, I covered heroes from A-M. In this post I cover Namor, Night Thrasher, Nomad, Nova, Punisher, Quasar, Red Skull, Red Wolf, Scarlet Witch, Sentry, Shang-Chi, Shanna The She-Devil, Silver Sable, Silver Surfer, Sleepwalker, Speedball, Taskmaster, Terror Inc, Thanos, Tigra, USAgent, War Machine, Wasp (Janet & Nadia), Werewolf by Night, & Wonder Man.

We don’t have many options left to explore, but one of them is THE BIGGEST category of books on the pool: mutants! Stay tuned this week for a massive amount of X-Men mapping!

If you’re not sure of what to vote for, stick around for my explanations. Or, if you’ve already voted, learn why the team behind the poll decided on these books and titles – including some of my mistakes and regrets as one of the editors of the options on the final poll.

Or… just find some great comics to read!

Remember: These mappings are just my suggestion of how Marvel could assemble these books. They are meant to help you decide on your votes and build your personal reading list, but your vote on the poll is NOT an endorsement of my specific map. It’s a vote in favor of Marvel creating a book with that title or covering that period.

Over-the-top comics posts like this one are made possible via the support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis. For less than the cost of a single comic issue a month you can fuel my in-depth comics coverage, plus gain access to dozens of exclusive collecting guides & reading orders – including all of the Crushing Comics Guide to Marvel Comics.

Namor, The Sub-Mariner Omnibus Mapping

Namor, The Sub-Mariner – The Golden Age, Vol. 1
See Guide to Namor – The Sub-Mariner. Namor has a pair of Golden Age omnibuses, but they don’t continuously collect all of the material in his Golden Age Masterworks – just the key Sub-Mariner material. This would be a different omnibus line that matches the Golden Age Masterworks line, collecting full issues.

Namor, The Sub-Mariner – The Atlas Era
See Guide to Namor – The Sub-Mariner. Namor doesn’t actually have enough material of his own for an omnibus of this era. This is actually shorthand for a omnibus of “Atlas Era Heroes” that would collect three Masterworks of the same title.

That would include Marvel Boy (1950) #1-2, Astonishing (1951) #3-6, and Young Men (1950) #24-28 (starring Namor!), Men’s Adventures (1950) #27-28 (includes Namor!), Captain America (1941) #76-78, Human Torch (1940) #36-38 (with Namor backups), and Sub-Mariner Comics (1941) #33-42.

Krisis Regrets: I should have made this clearer by titling it “AKA Atlas Era Heroes”

Namor, The Sub-Mariner – The Silver Age, Vol. 1
Namor, The Sub-Mariner – The Silver Age, Vol. 2
See Guide to Namor – The Sub-Mariner. Now that this Masterworks line is complete and we’re into an Epic Collection line, it’s time we also get an omnibus!

I’d have my fingers crossed for this to start with the double-dipped material from Epic Collection Vol. 1, because it forms a complete and surprisingly compelling arc to bring Namor into the Silver Age. That includes (in this order) Fantastic Four (1961) #4, 6, & 9, Strange Tales (1951) #107, Fantastic Four #14 & Annual 1, Avengers (1963) #3-4, Fantastic Four #27, X-Men (1963) #6, Fantastic Four #33, and Daredevil (1964) #7.

After that, we’re into the actual material from Namor’s series – his stories in Tales To Astonish (1959) #70-101, Iron Man and Sub-Mariner #1, and Namor The Sub-Mariner (1968) #1-72, plus Ka-Zar #1.

However, that’s eight Masterworks of material, and the Epic Collection is like a ninth volume. Even if we ignore that lead-in material, no classic Silver Age omnibus has ever been that big. Plus, I’d argue this omnibus line should ABSOLUTELY end with the contents of The Complete Super-Villain Team-Up, because that book entirely belonged to Namor save for three issues! Those contents are Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up (1975) #1-2; Super-Villain Team-Up #1-17; and tie-in material in Avengers (1963) #154-156 and Champions #16.

So, yes, this is actually a three omnibus line, and you have the ability to vote for the first two volumes here because a third volume could be branded differently – like “Namor & Doom” – to reflect the contents of Super-Villain Team-Up.

Namor, The Sub-Mariner by Kaminski & Herdling (1992 – 1995)
See Guide to Namor – The Sub-Mariner. This is effectively a vote for “Volume 2” to the the 2021 Namor the Sub-Mariner by John Byrne and Jae Lee Omnibus.

It would collect Collects Namor The Sub-Mariner (1990) #41-62 & Annual 3, Wolverine: Global Jeopardy (1993) #1, Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #149 (4th story), and material from Marvel Super-Heroes (1990) #8 & 10, as well as some of the relevant issues of the Starblast from the final few issues of this series and his epilogue in Atlantis Rising (Fantastic Four: Atlantis Rising (1995) #1, Fantastic Four (1961) #401-402, & Fantastic Four: Atlantis Rising (1995) #2)

While we could also pick up some other issues of Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four Unlimited, and Fantastic Four Unplugged, I think they’re better left to the Fantastic Four line so we don’t overcomplicate this book.

We Missed It: Namor, The Modern Years
We should have mapped a modern Namor omnibus of his post-2000 series through his joining the mutant cause and his Namor: The First Mutant (2010) series. We’ll add it next year!

Night Thrasher Omnibus Mapping

Night Thrasher
See Guide to New Warriors. This would collect Night Thrasher: Four Control (1992) #1-4 and Night Thrasher (1993) #1-21, as well as “Time and Time Again” crossover issues with New Warriors (1990) #47-50 and Nova (1994) #6-7.

Nomad Omnibus Mapping

Nomad (1990 – 1994)
This would collect all of Jack Monroe’s appearances after his time as Captain America.

The core of this book would be Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #14 (4th story), Captain America (1968) Annual 9 (3rd story), Nomad (1990) #1-4, Captain America (1968) Annual 10 (5th story), and Nomad Vol. 2 (1992) #1-25 (as well as the Dead Man’s Hand crossover with Daredevil (1964) #307-309 & Punisher War Journal (1988) #45-47 and a shared storyline with Captain America (1968) #420-421). It should also add his brief stint in Secret Defenders (1993) #1-3.

If you argue that this should include a little bit of Monroe’s origin in Captain America I wouldn’t say you were wrong! That just adds a lot of additional scope onto a self-contained omnibus that’s already 40 issues long.

Nova Omnibus Mapping

Nova: Richard Rider, Vol. 2 (1994 – 1999)
See Guide to Nova. A vote for this is a vote for a straight-forward collection of Nova’s material outside of New Warriors in Nova (1994) #1-1-18 and Nova (1999) #1-7, and maybe also Amazing Spider-Man: Friends & Enemies (1995) #1-4.

Realistically, there are some New Warriors issues you just have to include in this book even if you make a point to avoid recollecting entire omnibuses of their material. I think you could minimize that down to their parts of “Time and Again” in New Warriors #47-50 (because Nova doesn’t appear in the Night Thrasher issues of the crossover) and New Warriors #59-60, which wrap around the final issue of his 1994 series.

Nova: Richard Rider, Vol. 3 (AKA by Abnett & Lanning) (2007 -2010)
See Guide to Nova. This outstanding run has been collected entirely across the War of Kings omnibus line, but never on its own!

A vote for this book is a vote to collect Annihilation: Nova (2006) #1-4, Nova (2007) #1-35 & Annual 1, material from Nova: The Origin of Richard Rider (2009) #1 and I Am An Avenger (2010) #3.

I think there’s a strong argument to also include The Thanos Imperative (2010): Ignition, #1-6, & Devastation, since that concludes Richard Rider’s storyline for many years to come.

Nova: Sam Alexander (2013 – 2017)
See Guide to Nova. This would be a super-fun, light-hearted omnibus of all of Sam Alexander’s solo run as Nova.

It could collect Nova (2013) #1-31 & Annual 1, material from Point One (2011), Nova Special: No End in Sight (but NOT the other two one-shot specials, he barely appears in them), a few issues of the “Black Vortex” crossover (but NOT all of it, it’s just not relevant), Nova (2016) #1-11, and Nova (2017) #1-7.

That’s a big omnibus, and it’s of Sam’s material outside of Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers, and Champions!

Punisher Omnibus Mapping

Punisher Circle of Blood (Grant/Baron/Dixon)
See Guide to Punisher. If you want to break ground on collecting classic, in-continuity Punisher in omnibus, this should be your vote! This would pick up from Punisher (1986) #1-5, continue to Punisher (1987) #1, and keep going from there.

Would this following the map of his Epic Collections or integrate all three of the major Punisher series into one omnibus line? If you suspect Marvel will do the former, then you might also want to vote for the next two books.

Punisher War Journal
See Guide to Punisher. If you don’t trust Marvel to integrate Punisher’s main 1987 series with his supporting titles (or if you just prefer them as separate books), you’ll want to vote for this collection of Punisher War Journal (1988). The series ran for 80 issues plus some crossovers, so we’d need a minimum of two omnibuses to cover this.

Punisher War Zone
See Guide to Punisher. Same story as above. The Punisher: War Zone (1992) ran for 41 issues, so even with a handful of crossover issues you can probably get it all into one omnibus!

We Missed It: Punisher – Marvel Knights
We missed out on mapping this series, which would collect the content of the trades Marvel Knights Punisher by Golden, Sniegoski, & Wrightson: Purgatory Marvel Knights Punisher by Peyer & Gutierrez: Taxi Wars.

That includes Punisher (1998) #1-4, Wolverine/Punisher: Revelation #1-4, the “missing arc” of the Ennis omnibus with Punisher (2001) #8-12, then Punisher X-Mas Special (2006) #1, Spider-Man Vs. Punisher #1 and material From Marvel Knights Double-Shot #4.

We could also add Wolverine/Punisher #1-5, Punisher: Silent Night #1, Punisher: Red X-Mas #1, Daredevil vs. Punisher #1-6, Punisher vs. Bullseye #1-5, and Punisher: Bloody Valentine #1 to fill this out and complete the coverage of this period. It could also add Punisher War Zone (2009) #1-6, which is more Ennis material that follows the Matt Fraction run but doesn’t fit in with its tone.

Punisher by Matt Fraction
See Guide to Punisher. This would collect Punisher War Journal (2007) #1-26 & Annual 1-2, which leads to Remender’s “Franken-Castle” run.

Punisher by Greg Rucka
See Guide to Punisher. A hotly-demanded omnibus of Rucka’s run on The Punisher (2011) #1-6 and Punisher: War Zone (2012) #1-5, plus material from Spider-Island: I Love New York City and a crossover with Daredevil #11 and Avenging Spider-Man #6.

We Missed It: Punisher by Edmonson
See Guide to Punisher. This would collect Punisher (2014) #1-20 and Black Widow (2014) #9.

Punisher By Cloonan, Rosenberg & Kudranski
See Guide to Punisher. This would collect a pair of complete series, The Punisher (2016) #1-17 (by Cloonan), it’s extension into Marvel Legacy with #218-228 (by Rosenberg), and The Punisher (2018) #1-16 (by Rosenberg).

While the Cloonan material is tonally different than Rosenberg’s, I don’t think it makes sense to split them into two books – on soom level, Rosenberg’s run is a reaction to Cloonan’s run.

Punisher Companion (Max)
See Guide to Punisher. This would pick up the issues lost between the pair of Ennis Max omnis and the Aaron omnibus.

That includes PunisherMAX Annual 1, Punisher Max: Butterfly, Punisher Max: Get Castle, Punisher Max: Naked Kill, The Punisher: Frank Castle MAX #61-74, Punisher MAX Special: Little Black Book (2008) One-Shot, Punisher MAX: Force of Nature (2008) #1, Punisher: Happy Ending, Punisher: Hot Rods Of Death, Punisher: Tiny Ugly World, and Untold Tales Of Punisher Max #1-5.

I think that’s it! It’s hard to keep track of all of those various one-shots.

Punisher MAX Annual 1 / 2007, Punisher MAX #61-75, Punisher MAX Force of Nature (2008) #1, Punisher MAX Special: Little Black Book (2008) #1, Punisher MAX Naked Kill (2008) #1: Naked Kills, Punisher MAX Get Castle (2010) #1, Punisher MAX Butterfly (2010) #1, Punisher MAX Happy Ending (2010) #1, Punisher MAX Hot Rods of Death (2010) #1, Punisher MAX Tiny Ugly World (2010) #1, and Untold Tales of Punisher MAX #1-4.

I think I caught everything! That’s a lot of one-shots!

Quasar Omnibus Mapping

Quasar Vol. 1
This would collect the first hunk of Quasar’s series, likely Quasar (1989) #1-40.

Would it start with some of his pre-Quasar appearances as “Marvel Man” as a prologue? They were in Captain America (1968) #218, Defenders (1972) #62-64, Captain America (1968) #228-230, and Incredible Hulk (1968) #232-234, though they’re not all incredibly significant.

There’s also his run in Marvel Two-In-One (1974) #53-58, and some other Two-in-One and Team-Up appearances (as well as appearances in Fantastic Four and Avengers), but that might really crowd the material from his ongoing series as the focus of this book.

Plus, let’s not forget – we have 60 issues of Quasar +10 crossover issues to get through, so these books each start with a minimum of 35 issues in them! We can’t stuff too much more in or they’ll be too big to be practical.

(For the record, his Quasar Classic paperback line only added Avengers (1963) Annual #18 and Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #29 to his regular series issues.)

Quasar Vol. 2 (AKA Star-Blast Omnibus)
Starblast is the forgotten mid-90s cosmic event that crossed through Quasar, Fantastic Four, Sub-Mariner, and Secret Defenders. Maybe it’s forgotten because it mostly centered on the events at the end of the run of Quasar – a title whose hero disappeared for a long time (and has no MCU counterpart).

Rather than map this little-known event on its own, we decided for the purposes of the poll would just be encompassed by the second Quasar omnibus. The first omnibus would likely run to somewhere around issue Quasar (1989) #40.

This second omnibus would include Quasar (1989) #41-60 plus another 10 issues from the full crossover through Starblast (1994) #1, Quasar (1989) #54, Secret Defenders (1993) #11, Namor the Sub-Mariner (1990) #46-47, Fantastic Four (1961) #385, Namor the Sub-Mariner (1990) #48, Fantastic Four (1961) #386, Starblast (1994) #2, Quasar (1989) #55, Starblast (1994) #3, Quasar (1989) #56, Starblast (1994) #4.

It could also extend to pick up a few Quasar appearances from after his series ends, like Star Masters (1995) #1-3 (which feels like a backdoor pilot for something that never materialized) and Cosmic Powers Unlimited (1995) #4-5

Red Skull Omnibus Mapping

Red Skull Vol. 1
I won’t even attempt to enumerate what this volume would contain. Would it start in the Golden Age? The Silver? Red Skull makes nearly 200 appearances just by the mid-80s. As with all villain-centric volumes, you’d have to do an incredibly close reading to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Red Wolf Omnibus Mapping

Red Wolf
Mapping this omnibus is complicated by the fact that there are several different “Red Wolf” characters in the Marvel Universe.

However, I think most people would be looking for this to collect Marvel Spotlight (1971) #1, Red Wolf (1972) #1-9, Rawhide Kid (2010) #2-4, Blaze of Glory (2000) #1-4 (does not appear in #1), 1872 (2015) #1-4, and Red Wolf (2015) #1-6. It could also optionally include Occupy Avengers (2016) #1-8, which co-stars Red Wolf.

Scarlet Witch Omnibus Mapping

Scarlet Witch, The Early Years, Vol. 1 (Silver / Bronze)
Scarlet Witch, The Early Years, Vol. 2 (80s / 90s)
See Guide to Scarlet Witch. If you want to see my mapping for this (alongside Scarlet Witch MEGAFAN Ødfel), you should watch our Map My X: Scarlet Witch Omnibus show on Near Mint Condition! Wanda has so many iconic stories from her debut in X-Men, through her joining the Avengers, her two series with Vision in the early 90s, her Darker Than Scarlet run in Avengers West Coast, and her own early-00s mini-series!

There’s definitely enough to fill two volumes, even if you are being incredibly choosy! Plus, Wanda is a mega-popular character both for comics fans and the general public. We mashed it down into one volume on the show, but it involved a lot of brutal cutting. So, register your vote here to show which set of material you’d like to see more comprehensively collected – the pre-1982 material or the post-1982 material… or, if you really love Wanda, all of it!

(For the record, that map was Uncanny X-Men (1963) #4-5, Strange Tales #128, Avengers (1963) #16, 76, 128, 185-187, 234 (and material from #181-182), Giant-Size Avengers #1 & 4, Vision & Scarlet Witch (1982) #1-4, Marvel Team-Up (1972) #125 (2nd story), Marvel Two-in-One (1974) #66, Marvel Fanfare (1972) #6 & 58 (2nd story), Vision & Scarlet Witch (1985) #1-12, West Coast Avengers (1985) #2 & 42-45 (and material from #46), Marvel Super-Heroes (1990) #10 (1st story), Solo Avengers #5 (2nd story), Marvel Comics Presents #60-63, Avengers West Coast #47-57 & 60-62, Darkhold: Pages From the Book of Sins #3-7, and Scarlet Witch (1994) #1-4.)

Krisis Regrets: Adding both of these titles to the poll was a case of over-tuning and it probably confused folks and split votes. Next year we’ll just go with a Vol. 1

Scarlet Witch, The Modern Era (2009 – 2017) (includes by Robinson)
See Guide to Scarlet Witch. This book would collect Wanda’s return in Children’s Crusade through her James Robinson ongoing series.

I think that means this would collect Avengers: The Children’s Crusade (2009) #1-9 (which is all about Wanda, even if she’s not in every issue), Avengers vs X-Men #0, Scarlet Witch (2016) #1-14, and Doctor Strange (2015) #6-10.

You could argue to include some of her Uncanny Avengers material in this as well, but I don’t know that she has any one standout issue that’s fully focused on her.

Sentry (2000 – 2010) Omnibus Mapping

Sentry (2000 – 2010)
See Guide to Sentry. This vote is for a straight-forward run of all of Sentry’s original material from conception to his seeming dissolution.

It would include Sentry (2000) #1-5 and the five accompanying Sentry specials (which should be read in this order): Sentry/Fantastic Four, Sentry/Hulk, Sentry/Spider-Man, Sentry/X-Men, and Sentry/Void, then New Avengers (2005) #2 & 7-10 (plus material from 1 & 3), Sentry (2005) #1-8, New Thunderbolts (2005) #14, material from Civil War: Return (2007) One-Shot, New Avengers (2005) #24, Mighty Avengers (2007) #10, Age of the Sentry (2008) #1-6, Hulk (2008) #8-9, Mighty Avengers (2007) #14, some sub-plot pages from Dark Avengers (2008) (especially #12-13) and Siege (2010), and Sentry: Fallen Sun (2010) #1.

Usually I say, “You don’t have to agree with my map,” but from friend to friend: in this instance you should definitely defer to my map.

Trust me when I say I have read all of Sentry’s material from this decade, and these are the issues where his story actually progresses! All of those New Avengers and Mighty Avengers issues focus primarily on Bendis’s ongoing plot for Sentry, and the New Thunderbolts and Hulk issues have him acting with specific motivation that informs subsequent stories.

Shang-Chi Omnibus Mapping

Shang-Chi, The Modern Years (2002 – 2023) (includes all of Gene Luen Yang)
See Guide to Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu. At first I was annoyed with the fact that Marvel recently released announced a 560-page Shang-Chi by Gene Luen Yang paperback. Why isn’t that an omnibus?!

Voting for this can just be grabbing an omnibus of that material, if you’d like. However, I see an opportunity! Because, we can perfectly collect all of Shang-Chi’s material from after the end of his un-reprintable omnibus line (due to Fu Manchu material that Marvel doesn’t continually license) through his Gene Luen Yang material.

I know this poll option says it would begin in 2002 (after Marvel Knights), but let’s just do an experiment to see what would happen if we started a decade earlier.

If we began in the 90s, we’d start with Marc Spector: Moon Knight Special #1 (1992) (for which is is a cover star) and Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #156-158, then add the 90s contents of his Earth’s Mightiest Martial Artist paperback (X-Men (1991) #62-64 and Heroes For Hire (1997) #18-19), plus his issues of Journey Into Mystery (1952) #514-516.

That’s 9 regular issues and about +1 issue of material from the Marvel Comics Presents installments.

Then, the 00s consist of Hickman’s Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu One-Shot (B&W) (2009) #1, a starring turn in Secret Avengers (2010) #6-10, the rest of the contents of the contents of his Earth’s Mightiest Martial Artist paperback (Shadowland: Spider-Man (2010) #1, Secret Avengers (2010) #18, and Avengers (2012) #11), Deadly Hands of Kung Fu (2014) #1-4, and Master of Kung-Fu (2017) #126.

That’s 14 more issues of material.

Now we’ve cover every major appearance he makes in the 90s and 00s except for his run in Marvel Knights and issues spent as a member of Misty Knight’s Heroes for Hire. Every issue is very focused on him, and they’re largely good comics.

Then we’d get to the nearly 600 pages of Yang’s material on Shang-Chi (2020) #1-5, Shang-Chi (2021) #1-12, Marvel’s Voices: Identity (2021) #1 (Shang-Chi story), Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings (2022) #1-6, and Shang-Chi: Master of the Ten Rings (2023) #1

Also, we’d add Alyssa Wong’s The Legend of Shang-Chi (2021) #1 and Shang-Chi Infinity Comic (2021) #1-4, which were a lot of fun!

BAM! This is an absolutely killer omnibus, whether or not you assume it would reach back for the 10 issues from the 90s.

Shanna The She-Devil Omnibus Mapping

Shanna The She-Devil
A tricky thing about voting for this omnibus is it not duplicating the content of a slew of Ka-Zar issues that would be at home in his own omnibus line, since Shanna is in nearly every issue of most of his series.

However, Shanna does have plenty of her own material – just spread across many years.

Without even getting into her guest-starring and team-up turns, this could include Shanna The She-Devil (1972) #1-5, Shanna, the She-Devil (2005) #1-7, and Shanna, the She-Devil: Survival of the Fittest (2007) #1-4, plus anthology stories from Marvel Fanfare (1982) #56-59 and Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #13 & 68-77.

That alone would be a solid omnibus spanning decades of material, to which we could add a guest-run in Daredevil (1964) #109-113, material from Savage Tales (1971) #8-10, editorial material from Rampaging Hulk (1977) #9, Frank Cho’s arc of Savage Wolverine (2013) #1-5, and much more!

Silver Sable and the Wild Pack Omnibus Mapping

Silver Sable and the Wild Pack
A vote for this book is a vote to collect all of Silver Sable & The Wild Pack (1992).

That would include Silver Sable & The Wild Pack (1992) #1-35, crossovers with Terror, Inc. (1992) #11-12 and Cage (1992) #15-16, and material from Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #53

That’s already a big book, so I think we could skip including her debut in Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #265 and appearances in 279-281 and Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #128-129, although I could see the argument for collecting a Wild Pack appearances in Solo Avengers (1987) #3-7

However, I do see the merits of pushing onward to grab Spider-Man Unlimited (1993) #16 and Marvel Team-Up (1997) #3. A trickier prospect is if you forge ahead another 10 years to pick up Sable & Fortune (2006) #1-4 – but, if not here, where would it be printed?

That’s a problem for if this omnibus hits the Top 50 of the poll, so get to voting!

Silver Surfer Omnibus Mapping

Silver Surfer by Jack Kirby (AKA Vol. 0)
We got a 300+ Epic Collection of all of Surfer’s earliest appearances prior to his 1968 series collected in the Volume 1 omnibus. It is nearly a 100% double dip on Fantastic Four omnibuses, but it collects that material all in one place.

That collected Fantastic Four (1961) #48-50, 55, 56 (excerpts), #57-60, 61 (excerpts), Tales to Astonish (1959) #92-93, Fantastic Four Annual 5 (3rd story; excerpts), & Fantastic Four #72, 74-77

If you want to see that turned into an Omnibus (maybe alongside some additional Kirby Surfer errata we mentioned on the announcement stream), vote for this book!

Silver Surfer by Steve Englehart (AKA Vol. 2)
This would collect the start of the 1987 Surfer series, written by Englehart through issue #31. However, it wouldn’t have to exclusively collect Englehart, so it could pick up the accompanying material presented in Epic Collections 3-4, including things like Marvel Graphic Novel: Silver Surfer (1988) OGN AKA Judgment Day, Silver Surfer (1988) #1-2 AKA Parable, and Silver Surfer: The Enslavers (1990) OGN.

Your vote doesn’t have to be in favor of all of that, but it exists as a possibility to make this a complete omnibus (though runs through issue #33) rather than just a creator-centric one.

Silver Surfer by Jim Starlin (AKA Vol. 3)
Much of Jim Starlin’s Surfer material has already been collected in the Infinity Gauntlet omnibus. He wrote Silver Surfer (1987) #34-50, with some gaps.

However, the Infinity Gauntlet omnibus skips issues #30 & 41-43. It also doesn’t collect the annuals from this run and a handful of Marvel Comics Presents (1988) stories in the Epic Collection line.

A vote for this book is a vote to collect that all in one place. Don’t get too hung up on the mapping. Heck, it could even include Infinity Gauntlet (1991) if you really think it’s essential to Surfer’s narrative! Personally, I think this would probably extend past the end of Starlin’s run to push into Marz’s run just to collect a satisfying amount of material, stopping at #60 or 66.

Silver Surfer by Ron Marz (AKA Vol. 4)
Ron Marz’s run on Surfer immediately follows Starlin’s. Marz wrote Silver Surfer (1987) #51-102. A vote for this book is to start collecting that in omnibus, without needing to settle on a map right now.

Part of why we can’t settle on a map right now is that this is highly dependent on the map of Vol. 3. If we include annuals, crossovers, and anthology stories, Marz’s run is probably too long for one omnibus! But, we’ve already established that a Vol. 3 AKA Starlin omnibus would likely push 10-16 issues into this run. If that’s the case, it seems much more possible for this to exist.

Silver Surfer by J. M. Dematteis
Since the exact mapping of this line is already on shaky ground by the end of a potential Marz omnibus, we decided to not try to estimate what the following volume of Silver Surfer (1987) could be named or contain. However, everyone knows what thefinal volume would contain – J. M. Dematteis’s run from Silver Surfer (1987) #123-145 (and a final issue, #146, by Tom DeFalco).

This would surely also contain #-1, Annual ’97, 1/2, and Silver Surfer/Thor Annual 1998.

The Epic Collections press onward to collect Galactus the Devourer (1999) #1-6 and Silver Surfer: Loftier Than Mortals (1999) #1-2, but all of those could make more sense in the following volume.

Silver Surfer (1999 – 2011)
Silver Surfer didn’t have a single, consistent ongoing series from the late 90s to Marvel Now – but he had many brief runs. This omnibus would pull all of that material together into one place. That’s what you’re voting for – not for a specific map.

This could begin with Galactus the Devourer (1999) #1-6 and Silver Surfer: Loftier Than Mortals (1999) #1-2 if they aren’t in the previous volume.

Then, it would likely skip Defenders (2001) #1-12 and The Order (2002) #1-6 (which would fit better in a Defenders omnibus) and move on to collect Silver Surfer (2003) #1-14, Silver Surfer: Requiem (2007) #1-4, Silver Surfer: In Thy Name (2008) #1-4, Silver Surfer (2011) #1-5. It could also optionally collect Annihilation: Silver Surfer (2006) #1-4 and other Annihilation/Annihilators content specific to Surfer.

That’s a solid book that easily collects more than 30 issues, pulling together a lot of material that is long out-of-print (or, in the case of the back half 0f his 2003 series, never collected!)

Sleepwalker Omnibus Mapping

Sleepwalker
Let’s get unconcious, baby! This could collect Sleepwalker (1991) #1-33 and Darkhawk (1991) #19-20, plus some sub-plot pages from Infinity War. I am all about these one-and-done complete series omnibuses from the 80s and 90s. This would be a very fun read!

Speedball Omnibus Mapping

Speedball
See Guide to New Warriors. A Speedball omnibus? Yes, really!

Speedball has an existing trade called Speedball: The Masked Marvel that collects his early and solo material from Speedball (1988) #1-10 plus material from Amazing Spider-Man (1963) Annual 22, Marvel Age (1985) Annul 4, Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #14 & 56, and Marvel Super-Heroes (1990) #1-2 & 5-6.

That’s already 300+ pages of Speedball, and he has plenty of other guest appearances outside of New Warriors to fill out this book – plus solo back-up stories in New Warriors annuals and his stories in Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #85, 96, 122, & 159-163 and Marvel Holiday Special (1991) 1992.

Taskmaster Omnibus Mapping

Taskmaster
I love Taskmaster, and so does a lot of the comic-loving internet! There’s something at once both surly and charming about this skull-masked copycat.

Marvel released a 300+ page collection of his greatest hits, appropriately called “Anything You Can Do.” It collected Avengers (1963) #195-196 & 223; Marvel Team-Up (1972) #103 & 146; Thing (1983) #26; Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #308; Iron Man (1968) #254; Daredevil (1964) #292-293; Deadpool (1997) #2; Hawkeye: Earth’s Mightiest Marksman (1998) #1; Avengers (1998) #26; Captain America (1998) #44; and material from Captain America (1968) Annual 11.

We can (and should) search for some more greatest hits material, but can also press on from there to his pair of mini-series collected in a 216pg book called “The Right Price,” which included Taskmaster (2002) #1-4, Taskmaster (2010) #1-4, and material from Marvel Comics Presents (2007) #2 and Age of Heroes (2010) #3.

That already brings us to a respectable omnibus that’s near the 600 page mark. With a few of Taskmaster’s significant issues from the 2000s through 2012 (I can think of one in Avengers Academy!) I think we have ourselves a solid book.

Terror Inc. Omnibus Mapping

Terror Inc. (1992 – 1993)
This is potentially a very interesting omnibus for a very little-known character.

Terror Inc. (1992) #1-13 don’t sound like much to collect on their own, even including a direct crossover from his book with Cage (1992) #15-16 and Silver Sable & The Wild Pack (1992) #13-14

To those 17 issues we could add contemporaneous appearances in Wolverine (1988) #58-59, Daredevil (1964) #305 & 308-309, and Nick Fury, Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (1989) #46 (plus a sub-plot page of Punisher/Captain America: Blood & Glory #3 prior to his series).

That’s a fine, tidy little omnibus we could have if anyone out there actually voted for it! However, what makes this book interesting is that Terror didn’t originate in the Marvel Universe. He originated in the Marvel Shadowline, part of their Epic Comics imprint. To capture his true origins, we’d need to collect issues from St. George (1988), Doctor Zero (1988) #5, and Critical Mass (1989).

Do I think that getting a Terror Inc. omnibus is a way to backdoor into getting a Shadowline omnibus? No, nor do I think Terror will ever be a popular enough character to make that a reality. However, it certainly creates an interesting mapping question for this book!

Thanos Omnibus Mapping

Thanos Road to Annihilation
See Guide to Thanos. Thanos is very well collected through the mid-90s, because all of his appearances were essentially under the pen of Jim Starlin in Warlock, Captain Marvel, and the Infinity Trilogy. However, to track him from there to his role in the mid-00s space saga we’d hit a long run of inconsistently-collected issues – including both guest spots and his own series.

A vote for this book is a vote to get all of that material onto your bookshelf in a single omnibus!

If we picked up directly after the Infinity Trilogy, this would begin with an unlikely team-up in Secret Defenders (1993) #11-13. From there, it could include Quasar (1989) #59, Cosmic Powers (1994) #1-6, Cosmic Powers Unlimited (1995) #1, material from Ka-Zar (1997) Annual ’97 and #6-11, X-Man/Incredible Hulk Annual 1998, Thor (1998) #21-25 & Annual 2000, and Captain Marvel (1999) #17-19.

Those are all meaty appearances that skip past brief cameos. After that, we get to the heavy-hitting stuff – Infinity Abyss (2002) #1-6 and Thanos (2003) #1-12 (plus She-Hulk (2005) #12-13).

That’s all of Thanos’s significant material from 1993 to 2006! You could argue with my map a bit (especially due to revelations in Infinity Abyss), but I think the core of Cosmic Powers, Infinity Abyss, and Thanos (2003) is what you’re really voting for here.

Thanos by Jeff Lemire
See Guide to Thanos. Jeff Lemire wrote an intriguing run on Thanos (2016) #1-12 in the wake of Civil War II before Donny Cates took over and turned it into a blockbuster by introducing Cosmic Ghost Rider.

Clearly 12 issues isn’t really enough for an omnibus. On one hand, we could reach back for some Thanos material from Marvel Now. On the other hand, we could just collect the rest of the Donny Cates portion of this series to double-dip his entire tiny 312 page omnibus.

Or, we could do both!

But, what you are primarily voting to collect here is that Lemire material, which has never been recollected in oversize format.

Tigra Omnibus Mapping

Tigra
Marvel has offered an existing 400+ page Complete Collection of key Tigra material, which we could pad out with some greatest hits of her Avengers membership and solo anthology stories to create a full omnibus that takes us through Avengers Disassembled.

That collection included The Cat (1972) #1-4; Marvel Team-Up (1972) #8; Giant-Size Creatures (1974) #1; Marvel Chillers #3-7; Marvel Two-In-One (1974) #19; Marvel Team-Up (1972) #67; Marvel Premiere (1972) #42; Tigra (2002) #1-4; and material from Monsters Unleashed (1973) #10 and Marvel Team-Up (1972) #125.

To that we can add solo stories from Marvel Super-Heroes (1990) #2 (5th story) and Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #162-165, which amount to another 2 issues of content.

However, she also has an early arc with Fantastic Four (1961) as she explores the wider Marvel Universe, her issues joining The Avengers and, later, the West Coast Avengers – in which she is a member for many years.

Altogether, I think it makes for a solid book, though it’s a bit front-loaded with character development before Tigra becomes mostly an ensemble member.

U.S.Agent Omnibus Mapping

U.S.Agent
Sorry, y’all – I am no U.S.Agent expert! This has been a vote on past polls but I don’t have a map for it. I know it would include Jon Walker’s debut and early material from Captain America (1968) in the 320s and 330s, and some of his confrontational moments from Avengers West Coast, plus several solo stories from Avengers Spotlight and his U.S.Agent (1993) #1-4 mini-series.

However, I’m not sure how much more material would make it into this “best of” style collection. If he’s your favorite character, vote for him! If this book makes the Top 60, I’ll have to put a little more effort into mapping it for our results show!

War Machine Omnibus Mapping

War Machine (1994 – 1996)
While some War Machine fans might love an “Early Years” omnibus for him, the reality is that it would just collect a huge hunk of Iron Man and West Coast Avengers issues. If you want that, write it in as a suggestion for next year’s poll!

Instead, we thought the most logical first vote for War Machine would be a book that collects Rhodey’s longest-running solo title – War Machine (1994) #1-25 & Ashcan Edition. Despite releasing smack in the middle of the extreme 90s, this title has a strong creative pedigree, with Len Kaminski and Dan Abnett on writing duties and some pencils from Sandu Florea and Gabriel Hardman. Even if it didn’t include the full “Hands of the Mandarin” crossover, this book could still pull in a few issues of Iron Man and Force Works to fill out its story (it definitely needs Iron Man (1968) #317).

War Machine (2001 – 2010) (includes War Machine by Greg Pak)
War Machine makes many appearances in this decade, including a pair of some of the most-maligned Marvel series I know – penned by Chuck Austen!

I’m not going to tell you a vote for this book is a vote for collecting those series. This would primarily focus on War Machine (2008) #1-12 by Greg Pak.

But… if it has the room… and we wanted to get that Austen stuff collected… I mean… why not?

Wasp Omnibus Mapping

Wasp: Janet Van Dyne (1963 and on)
See Guide to Wasp – Janet Van Dyne. Janet Van Dyne is one of the original women of Marvel, and she has had a lot of complex material over the years! Despite her having just a handful of solo stories between her debut in 1963 and 2023, I think there’s a really good omnibus of material to assemble! I read all of this material when I was working on my guide.

Your vote doesn’t have to be a vote for my map, but here’s where I think this could include

Tales To Astonish (1959) #44-47, 52, 57, 61, 63, 65-69, her solo Tales To Astonish (1959) #51-58 (back-up stories), Avengers (1963) #1-2, 10, 12, & 16, Tales To Astonish (1959 #77-78, Avengers (1963) #26, 28-29, 33-34, 43, 45-46, 57-60, 74-75, 83, Marvel Feature (1971) #6-10, Captain Marvel (1968) #35, Avengers (1963) #137 & 161-162, Marvel Team-Up (1972) #59-60, Avengers (1963) Annual 8, Defenders (1972) #76-77, Avengers (1963) #194-196, 201-202, 206, and Avengers (1963) #212-214, 217-222. & 223-226

That takes us through where Wasp becomes the leader of the Avengers. It’s also more than 50 issues, so we’d have to make some cuts! Generally, I don’t think I’d argue to hard for all of that Avengers material, especially because I’d love it if we could make room to push on to her period as a reserve Avengers, where we get some good solo tales in Solo Avengers (1987) #15 (2nd story), Avengers Spotlight (1989) #28 (2nd story), Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #48 (3rd story), Marvel Super-Heroes (1990) #3 (2nd story), and Avengers West Coast (1989) Annual 6 (3rd story).

Bottom line: There’s plenty of good material to draw from for Janet, and it tells a complete story of her growing independence and eventual leadership of Marvel’s Mightiest Heroes!

Unstoppable Wasp, Vol. 1
See Guide to Unstoppable Wasp. I love my girl Nadia Pym Van Dyne, and a vote for this book would be a vote for one of the best YA titles Marvel has released in the past decade!

This would primarily collect Nadia’s own series, but a possible fuller map would include Free Comic Book Day 2016: Civil War II #1, All-New, All-Different Avengers (2016) #9 & 14, Avengers (2016) #1-6, Unstoppable Wasp (2017) #1-8, Avengers (2016) #7-8, Ant-Man & The Wasp (2018) #1-5, Unstoppable Wasp (2018) #1-10, and Ironheart (2018) #7-8.

That captures Nadia’s debut, her biggest moments with the Avengers, and a few of her key guest-starring turns. I don’t feel any of her appearances with The Champions are especially significant. I left out Wasp (2023) #1-4 because it is primarily a Janet story and should be collected with her material.

Werewolf by Night Omnibus Mapping

Werewolf by Night Vol. 2 (1978 – 2007)
See Guide to Werewolf by Night. There’s a problem with the existing Werewolf by Night omnibus that should make you really crave this one: It doesn’t actually finish his story! At that time, Marvel was more dogmatic about sticking to a single series in their Bronze Age omnibuses, so it didn’t capture a continuation of Jack Russell’s arc in another title (an issue corrected by his Complete Collections).

This would start with the “lost final arc” with material from Werewolf by Night’s Complete Collection Vol. 3: Spider-Woman (1978) #6, 19 & 32, Marvel Team-Up (1972) #93, Ghost Rider (1973) #55, Moon Knight (1980) #29 (A-Story) & #30, and material from Marvel Premiere (1972) #59.

From there, it could push onward to many different maps. Personally, I would suggest Iron Man (1968) #209, Incredible Hulk (1968) #362, Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #54-59 (2nd stories), Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme (1988) #26-27, Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #98 (2nd story), 107-111 (3rd story), 112 (1st story), & 113 (4th story), Marc Spector: Moon Knight (1989) #50 & 52-53, Midnight Sons Unlimited (1993) #5 (1st story) & #7 (3rd story), Shadows & Light (1998) #3 (2nd story), Werewolf by Night (1998) #1-6, & Strange Tales (1998) #1-2, and Legion of Monsters: Werewolf by Night (2007) #1.

That’s just 24 full issues, plus 17 installments of anthology issues that likely amount to fewer than 10 issues of actual material.

Anything after Legion of Monsters: Werewolf by Night (2007) #1 is when Jack Russell shifts to more of a comedy character as a result of Marvel Zombies. This represents his most-dramatic and horrific material. Some other mappers might want more from the Midnight Sons period in there, but Jack is usually playing second fiddle to Ghost Rider or Morbius in that period.

Wonder Man Omnibus Mapping

Wonder Man (1985 – 2007)
This omnibus would be a direct sequel to the Wonder Man: The Early Years omnibus. Unlike that book, which was mostly scattered team appearances, this has a significant amount of solo material to focus on!

This book would likely be anchored by Wonder Man (1991) #1-29 & Annual 1-2, material from the System Bytes 1992 Annuals Crossover, Tales of the Marvels: Wonder Years (1995) #1-2, key developments in Avengers (1998) #3-4 & 10-12, Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast (2000) #1-3, and Wonder Man (2006) #1-5.

Suddenly, we’re getting close to 50 issues – and that’s without excerpting any greatest hits from his guest appearances and team books! Obviously there is plenty of material for this omnibus. Plus, that 1991 series is almost entirely uncollected!

Comments

KingBurger says

April 3, 2024 at 12:33 am

Really enjoying the maps. Makes me want to have more than 10 votes.
Do you think a Thanos: Road to Annihilation could also include:
Marvel Universe: The End (2003) #1-6, Warlock (1998) 1-4, Captain Marvel (1999) #11, material from Marvel Universe: Millennial Visions #1 (“Infinity Watch: Wish Upon a Star”)

- krisis says
  
  April 3, 2024 at 2:47 pm
  
  I think these maps can expand or contract however folks think would be best! Personally, I tend to be very focused on in-continuity material and significant issues, since that’s what I track in my guide, so I’ll almost always miss mapping issues with briefer appearances or alternate futures.