Near Mint Condition announced a pair of Marvel omnibuses – one that will be slightly earlier than expected in February 2027 and one totally off-the-wall choice for March 2027: Incredible Hulk Omnibus Vol. 4 & What The–?! Omnibus
There’s very little surprising about seeing Incredible Hulk Omnibus Vol. 4 except that we’re seeing it in February! We had Volume 2 in November 2023 and Volume 3 in November 2025. While I was fully expecting to see Volume 4 in 2027, I was also expecting it to be a 4th Quarter release like the last two.
The contents are also unsurprising: they are exactly the contents of Marvel Masterworks Vol. 10-12 with the addition of one piece of supplemental material. Hulk omnis always follow the “3xMMW” rule of having three Masterworks of content each, and we already have enough Masterworks for two more.
Other than the early release date, the only real element of note here is that this contains Wolverine’s first appearances in Incredible Hulk (1968) #180-181, so of course he will be on the DM cover – but, surprisingly, not the main one!
The second announcement in this video is an absolutely wild one. In fact, I’m sure many people might have actually exclaimed “What The–?” when Omar announced it!
What The–?! Omnibus will collect the entire 26 issues of this 1988 parody series. Despite having a similar title to “What If,” these are not similar alternate reality stories. Instead, these issues contained 3 or more silly short stories making fun of heroes, villains, and current Marvel storylines – often with winks and nods to pop culture and to the distinguished competition.
I’m not a big fan of parody funnybooks, and I’ve never found What The–?! (1988) to be a particularly remarkable one. This is a deeply niche release, and I am genuinely surprised Marvel is not using it as a chance to collect other parody material like Not Brand Echh (1967) #1-13 & (2017) #14 and Spoof (1970) #1-5.
Having the considerably more famous Not Brand Echh (1967) in this book (plus, having it span from the Silver Age to the 90s) would have made it attractive to a wider array of fans of classic material and completionists. As just What The–?! (1988), I expect this to have relatively low demand (and a matching low print run).
See the full lineup of Hulk omnis in my Hulk Collecting Guide & Reading Order. I don’t have a guide for What The–?! Omnibus… what guide do you think should include it?
And, did you pick either of these books on your Marvel Omnibus 2027 Fantasy Draft ballot? I had the Hulk book at #27, which means I pick up a solid amount of points for it!
Leave a Reply