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Marvel’s Most-Wanted Omnibuses of 2016 – #15, 14, and 13

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Omnibus on ShelfWelcome to week two of my journey through the Top 50 Most-Wanted Omnibuses from Marvel, per an annual secret ballot conducted by major fan TigerEyes. I covered #20-16 in the last installment.

The books ranked from 15 to 1 are some of the most-consistently demanded Marvel material, although two thirds of it is already readily available in color. Particularly, this group of books shows how important cinematic depictions of the Marvel Universe have become even to long-time fans – every book corresponds to a specific screen property.

If you have any extra intelligence to add about the probable runs or opinions about the comics therein, please leave a comment! Even when it comes to X-Men, I’m far from a prohibitive expert on these books. I’d love to hear your perspective.

Want to learn more about the Marvel Omnibus editions that already exist and the issues they cover? My Marvel Omnibus & Oversized Hardcover Guide is the most comprehensive tool on the web for tracking Marvel’s hugest releases – it features every book, plus release dates, contents, and even breakdowns of $/page and what movies the books were released to support. [Read more…] about Marvel’s Most-Wanted Omnibuses of 2016 – #15, 14, and 13

The Defenders – Collecting Guide & Reading Order

Updated Mar 25, 2025! The definitive, chronological, and up-to-date guide on collecting Defenders comic books via omnibuses, hardcovers, and trade paperback graphic novels. A part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated March 2025 with titles scheduled for release through July 2025.

Who are The Defenders? Or, perhaps the better question is, what are The Defenders?

The Defenders (1972) #1The concept of this unofficial team of heroes originated with the cancellation of Dr. Strange’s 1968 series, itself an outgrowth of Strange Tales. When a multi-part story teaming up the Doctor with Namor and Hulk was slotted to begin in what turned out to be his final issue (#183), the remaining chapters wound up running in Sub-Mariner (1968) #22 and Incredible Hulk (1968) #126.

Later, the Namor/Hulk team-up added Silver Surfer to the mix in Sub-Mariner (1968) #34-35 as “Titans Three.” Then, the entire founding foursome of The Defnders assembled in Marvel Feature #1-3 before spinning off into their own title.

This quartet of characters worked so well together because they are all massively powerful loners. Each one of them could single-handedly battle a Silver Age Avengers line-up to a stand-still. Plus, they’d each bristle at trying to remain a member of a team in the long-term.

Together, they kept that curmudgeonly attitude, which made the main draw of The Defenders that it was a team that wasn’t a team – all while battling enemies from other dimensions and outer space. The original quartet was completed with a fifth member – Valkyrie – who debuted in the pages of issue #4.

The book later added other unlikely team members like Luke Cage, Moon Knight, Hellcat, and Daimon Hellstrom.

The original, 1972 Defenders volume has been collected in a variety of formats as a key part of Marvel’s transition from Silver to Bronze age. Over the years the original team has seen many revivals of its title and concepts (both of loners and of protecting our dimension).

In 2017 the title took a left turn as it was co-opted for Marvel’s Netflix team of Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Daredevil, and Jessica Jones – who could have easily been deemed Mighty Avengers based on those characters’ recent publication history.
[Read more…] about The Defenders – Collecting Guide & Reading Order