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Crushing Comics S01E27 – Thoughts on being a “comic book fan,” Squadron Supreme, Wolverine’s Origin, & more!

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Are fans of comic book movies still “comic book fans”? I struggle to articulate my answer to the question as I struggle to open what turns out to be a pretty big bundle of books. It starts with Mark Gruenwald’s classic Squadron Supreme and how it represented Marvel being a little more like DC than they normally were back in the 80s. Then we move to a pair of Fantastic Four retcons before winding up with Wolverine’s pair of Origin series.

Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.

Episode 27 features Squadron Supreme by Mark Gruenwald (Amazon), which was later recollected as Squadron Supreme Classic Omnibus (Amazon), Fantastic Four: The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine (Amazon), Spider-Man/Fantastic Four (Amazon), and Wolverine Origin (Amazon) and Origin II (Amazon), recently recollected as Wolverine: Origin – The Complete Collection (Amazon).

Read more about collecting the Fantastic Four and Wolverine!

Captain America by Mark Gruenwald, Vol. 1 – The #45 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

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Captain America’s comic had gotten pretty routine by the time Mark Gruenwald showed up in 1985, which is probably why no one suspected he would turn in a decade-long run that would redefine Cap and his gallery of rogues for years to come!

Captain_America_1968_0332Captain America by Mark Gruenwald, Vol. 1 is the #45 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.

Past Ranking: A 2017 debut!

Creators: Written by Mark Gruenwald with pencils by Paul Neary, Tom Morgan, and Kieron Dwyer.

Probable Contents: Collects Captain America (1968) #307-350 & Annual 8 and Iron Man #228.

Based on the recent Society of Serpents Epic Collection starting from the tail end of Carlin’s run at #302, it’s possible we’d see this volume begin there as well.

That’s a hefty omnibus, and for good reason – it would take two more volumes of similar size to make it through Gruenwald’s entire run of Captain America! See 10 Marvel runs from the 80s that ought to be omnibuses – 1981 to 1989 for more details.

Can you read it right now? Yes! The entirety of this run is covered in a pair of Epic Collections and an older trade. Visit the Guide to Captain America for details. Also, the entirety of this run is on Marvel Unlimited!

The Details:

Mark Gruenwald revitalized Captain America without an ounce of cynicism and irony, and he did it by being true to the character and introducing a parade of compelling new supporting players and villains. Even the biggest gimmick of the first third of his run – Steve Rogers quitting as Cap – doesn’t play as a gimmick because it’s so true to his character.

Writers of today, take note. [Read more…] about Captain America by Mark Gruenwald, Vol. 1 – The #45 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

10 Marvel runs from the 80s that ought to be omnibuses – 1981 to 1989

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It’s the penultimate stop in our trip backwards through time to find all of the Marvel runs most in need of Omnibus treatment.

Why? For fun. For accumulating rainy-day reading. And, to fuel our 2017 Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus Secret Ballot votes!

Marvel in the 1980s is really a tale of two different Marvels. The first half of the decade featured many continuing 70s series, a handful of limited series, and relatively few new ongoing titles – most of which were direct spinoffs of characters from other books.

However, after Secret Wars II in 1986 the line got a serious shake-up, with many titles outside of what I think of as “The Big 9” and their satellite books getting cancelled or rebooted, plus tons of new ongoing and limited series and a whole new line of comics with New Universe!

(“The Big 9” are all of the lines of books that made it from the Silver Age to 2005 while being published continuously, even if that meant being restarted along the way – , Avengers, Captain America, Daredevil, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Spider-Man, Thor, and X-Men. After 2005, Thor went on hiatus, and Fantastic Four has been on hiatus since 2015.)

(In a totally weird turn of events, we can now probably add Deadpool to that list of evergreen lines.)

Marvel released a lot of comics in the 1980s, so what should Marvel prioritize getting into omnibuses? I’ve already covered all of the X-Men runs from this period, and I’m not touching Spider-Man or Fantastic Four mapping at the moment. Plus, many key 80s runs are on the survey already, like Peter David’s Hulk, Iron Man by by Michelinie & Layton Ann Nocenti’s Daredevil – but that still leaves a ton of potential runs to cover! [Read more…] about 10 Marvel runs from the 80s that ought to be omnibuses – 1981 to 1989