Crushing Krisis

Avengers West Coast by Thomas & Thomas – The #40 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

May 24, 2017 by krisis

Completionism is a a crazy impulse. There are hundreds of Avengers issues unrepresented by oversized volumes, but omnibus collectors are super-focused on getting the relatively unheralded back third of Avengers West Coast into an oversize volume to complete their bookshelves.

The funny thing is, I’m not sure all of the voters realize just how strong and cohesive this Roy & Dann Thomas run on Avengers really is.

The Avengers West Coast by Thomas and Thomas Omnibus is the #40 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017 on Tigereyes’s Secret Ballot. Visit the Marvel Masterworks Message Board to view the original posting of results by Tigereyes and head to the Guide to Avengers West Coast to see how you can read this run right now.

Past Ranking: This volume leaps up five spots from #45 in the 2016 survey.

Probable Contents: Avengers West Coast (1989) #63-100, 102, & Annual 5-8, Avengers Annual 19, Darkhawk Annual 1, and Iron Man Annual 13,

That’s 43 issues, which means the book could also include the full Bloodties crossover: Avengers West Coast (1989) #101, The Avengers (1963) #368-369, Uncanny X-Men (1963) #307, & X-Men (1991) #26.

However, that would leave behind 20 issues of five related miniseries – U.S. Agent #1-4 (after #95 & Annual 8), Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective #1-4 (after #97), Spider-Woman #1-4 (after #101), Scarlet Witch #1-4 (after #101), and Hawkeye #1-4 (after #102).

What to do? More on how to reconcile that, below.

Creators: Written by Roy Thomas and Dann Thomas with pencils by Paul Ryan and Dave Ross with Tom Morgan, George Freeman, Herb Trimpe, and Andrew Currie.

Can you read it right now? Mostly. Issue #76-79 and #83-88 remain uncollected (as is the U.S. Agent mini-series), but everything else has been captured. Visit Guide to Avengers West Coast for the full details. Unfortunately, most of this run is not on Marvel Unlimited.

The Details:

Avengers West Coast had gone for years as a forgotten era of Avengers as far as reprints were concerned until Marvel’s Cinematic Universe began focusing strongly on its core cast of Iron Man and Hawkeye, and later Scarlet Witch and Vision.

Suddenly, West Coast reprints were abounding – a set of Marvel Premier Classic hardcovers, corresponding paperback reprints, two omnibuses, half of an Avengers by John Byrne volume, and a handful of trades covering the latter run of the series. The only remaining gaps are #76-79 and #83-88, two stories split by the massive “Galactic Storm” crossover.

Comic books fans are nothing if not obsessive completists, so that makes a final omnibus edition of Avenger West Coast sorely tempting – especially since it’s all co-written by comic book royalty Roy Thomas along with his wife Dann (who was the first woman to ever script an issue of Wonder Woman!) mostly to illustration by a pair of strong pencillers – Paul Ryan through #69 and Dave Ross from #71 through the end of the series. [Read more…] about Avengers West Coast by Thomas & Thomas – The #40 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

Black Panther by Christopher Priest, Vol. 1 – The #41 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

May 23, 2017 by krisis

For a character about to be starring in his own Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Black Panther has relatively few long-running series, and even fewer enduring classic stories.

Christopher Priest’s 60-plus issue run beginning in 1998 is both. It’s a fun, funny, challenging read that makes the most of the comic medium and T’Challa’s status as super hero and sovereign.

Black Panther by Christopher Priest, Vol. 1 is the #41 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017 on Tigereyes’s Secret Ballot. Visit the Marvel Masterworks Message Board to view the original posting of results by Tigereyes. To collect these issues (and more), visit the Guide to Black Panther.

Past Ranking: This volume has slid seven spots from #34 in 2016.

Probable Contents: Black Panther (1998) #1-35 & Deadpool (1997) #44

Creators: Written by Christopher Priest.

Priest launched with Joe Quesada co-writing #1-4 with art from Mark Texeira. After that, Priest was joined by an army of pencilers – with over half of the issues by Sal Velluto and others including Vince Evans (#5), Joe Jusko (#6-8), Amanda Conner (#8), Mike Manley (#9-10), Mark “Doc” Bright (#11-12 & 24), Kyle Hotz (#18), Norm Keith Breyfogle (#30), & Jim Calafiore (#34-35)

Can you read it right now? Yes, in just two books – Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection Volume 1 and Volume 2. For more details (and the following volumes), see the Guide to Black Panther. Plus, it’s available in-full on Marvel Unlimited.

The Details:

The 80s and 90s diminished Black Panther from a leading man and Avenger to a minor character practically in exile aside from a pair of mini-series and a run of quarter-issue stories in Marvel Comics Presents.

That’s part of why Christopher Priest’s 62-issue run on 1998’s Black Panther is such a revelation – Panther simply hadn’t been seen or used at length in nearly two decades. Also, Priest marked the first time a black author scripted T’Challa (though he had long been associated with black artists, from Billy Graham on his original run to Denys Cowan and Dwayne Turner pencilling him in those 1988 and 1991 mini-series, respectively).

It’s also very good comics. [Read more…] about Black Panther by Christopher Priest, Vol. 1 – The #41 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

The Punisher by Rucka & Checchetto – The #42 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

May 22, 2017 by krisis

It makes perfect sense that Greg Rucka would be the author to turn in the most-memorable in-continuity Punisher story in recent memory and the one with the best-developed female characters. After all, he’s not only known for stellar super-hero runs on titles like Wonder Woman, but also beat-cops drama on DC’s Gotham Central.

However, if Rucka’s success in this story makes perfect sense, the big surprise is the superstar turn from artist Marco Checchetto on his first lengthy run.

The Punisher by Rucka & Checchetto is the #42 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017 on Tigereyes’s Secret Ballot. Visit the Marvel Masterworks Message Board to view the original posting of results by Tigereyes. And, check out Guide to Punisher for details on how to collect this and every other Punisher run, ever.

Past Ranking: A 2017 debut!

Probable Contents: Punisher (2011) #1-16 & Punisher: War Zone #1-5, a crossover with Daredevil #11 and Avenging Spider-Man #6, and material from Spider-Island: I Love New York City (maybe adding the non-Rucka Punisher: The Trial Of The Punisher (2013) #1-2)

Creators: Written by Greg Rucka.

Line art on The Punisher (2011) by Marco Checchetto (with Matthew Southworth, Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano, Mirko Colak, and Mico Suayan). Line art on Punisher: War Zone (2012) by Carmine Di Giandomenico. Color art on both series by Matt Hollingsworth.

Can you read it right now? Yes, but the four paperbacks collecting the 23 core issues of this run have become exorbitantly expensive to track down, which is part of the reason this omnibus is such an attractive prospect. Find the details in the Guide to Punisher.

Marvel Unlimited includes both The Punisher (2011) and Punisher War Zone (2012) in full.

The Details:

It’s hard to separate the quality of Rucka’s run from fans’ sense relief and delight that Punisher was back to basics and back to the streets of New York City after less-than-beloved runs from Matt Fraction and Rick Remender. This 2011 iteration of Punisher finds Frank Castle back in New York with little explanation. It’s simply where he ought to be.

(For the record, Remender’s is good but fucking weird.)
[Read more…] about The Punisher by Rucka & Checchetto – The #42 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

Superior Spider-Man – The #43 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

May 21, 2017 by krisis

At the end of 2017 Dan Slott will have been writing Peter Parker as Spider-Man for ten years, but his most-memorable Spider-Man story will probably go down as Superior Spider-Man – the one where he wrote Spider-Man not as Peter Parker … or, maybe more accurately, Peter Parker not as himself.

Superior Spider-Man is the #43 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017 on Tigereyes’s Secret Ballot. Visit the Marvel Masterworks Message Board to view the original posting of results by Tigereyes. And, check out the Definitive Guide to Spider-Man to track down every single issue.

Past Ranking: A 2017 debut!

Probable Contents: Collects Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #698-700, Superior Spider-Man (2013) #1-31, & Annual 1-2.

I could see Marvel also including Amazing Spider-Man (2014) #1-6, which adds a bit of resolution to the relatively abrupt ending of this run and butts up nicely to Spider-Verse on the other side.

It could also include some (but probably not all) of Avenging Spider-Man #15.1 & 16-22 and Superior Spider-Man Team-Up (2013) #1-12 & Special, All-New X-Men (2013) Special, and Indestructible Hulk (2013) Special.

(Note that Superior Spider-Man #32-33 were published later as part of Spider-Verse.)

Creators: Written by Dan Slott with Christos Gage with pencils by the rotating team of Giuseppe Camuncoli, Ryan Stegman, and Humberto Ramos (along with one-offs from Marcos Martin, Javier Rodriguez, Phil Briones, and Will Sliney).

Inks by the pencillers along with John Dell III, Victor Olazaba, Cam Smith, Terry Pallot, John Livesay, and Álvaro López. Colors by Edgar Delgado and Antonio Fabela.

Can you read it right now? Yes! This run is perfectly covered in paperbacks and oversized hardcovers as described in the Guide to Spider-Man and is entirely available on Marvel Unlimited.

The Details:

Superior Spider-Man is a spider-story that anyone can appreciate, and truly one of the best Spider-Man runs of all time despite not quite starring Spider-Man.

To explain the why and how of that will involve some major spoilers. [Read more…] about Superior Spider-Man – The #43 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

Runaways by Brian K. Vaughan – The #44 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

May 20, 2017 by krisis

Before Saga and Ex Machina (and early in Y: The Last Man), Brian K. Vaughan’s Runaways was a blast of pure, bright imagination (still with sinister undertones) in 2003, as Marvel was succeeding with imaginative reboots and Mature Readers updates. The initial, self-contained run about a group of teens thrust together as they flee a deadly secret is a perfect book to introduce new fans to reading comics.

Runaways by Brian K. Vaughan is the #44 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017 on Tigereyes’s Secret Ballot. Visit the Marvel Masterworks Message Board to view the original posting of results by Tigereyes. And, check out the Guide to the Runaways to track down every single issue.

Past Ranking: A 2017 debut!

Probable Contents: Collects Runaways (2003) #1-18 & Runways (2005) #1-24.

A second volume would be “Runaways by Joss Whedon, Terry Moore, & Kathryn Immonen” – check out 12 Must-Read Marvel Runs (that ought to be an omnibus) – 1998 to 2008 to see my predicted contents.

Creators: Writer Brian K. Vaughan and penciller Adrian Alphona created the team, with Alphona alternating art duties with Takeshi Miyazawa (????) with inkers David Newbold and Craig S. Yeung.

(If those pencillers sound familiar, it’s because they are also the team on G. Willow Wilson’s ultra-popular Ms Marvel.)

Both pencillers are initially colored by Brian Reber, with Christina Strain taking over from issue #8 and remaining with the team across all of their runs.

Can you read it right now? Yes!

Runaways might be Marvel’s most thoroughly-reprinted series of the modern era outside of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men! You can get it in original hardcovers and paperbacks, oversize hardcover, pocket-sized digests, and hefty Complete Collection paperbacks – all as described in the Guide to the Runaways to track down every single issue. It’s also available in full on Marvel Unlimited!

The Details:

Runaways is about a group of unwitting teen heroes finding their powers and themselves amidst an unravelling mystery about their families.

Notice I didn’t call them a “team.”

Brian K. Vaughan and artist Adrian Alphona created a cast who were teenagers first and superheroes second. Or third. Or maybe not at all. [Read more…] about Runaways by Brian K. Vaughan – The #44 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017