Omnibus

Welcome to the epilogue to my epic two-week series of dissecting Marvel’s Most-Wanted Omnibuses.

Really, in comic terms, it’s more of an Aftermath – the messy ensuing action after a lengthy tale.

After weeks of going through a list of books that are largely old and generally already-collected, I found myself wondering if they really were the 59 runs most deserving of oversize treatment from Marvel.

Let’s face it – a lot of comic collecting is focused on recapturing the magic of our youth (or, finally owning the things we couldn’t afford back then – which I suppose is the same thing). The Marvel’s Most-Wanted Secret Ballot is pretty reflective of this. If we were to exclude all of Marvel’s original Big 9 Silver Age 1960s titles (Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men, Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Daredevil, & Spider-Man) and do a recount we’d be down to 37 books; if we excluded everything mostly composed of pre-1991 material, it would be a scant 21 volumes.

What about everything else? What about littler known pre-1991 runs and modern stuff that’s deserving of massive tomes?

That’s the list I bring to you today: For your consideration, 50 major Marvel runs that obviously fit well into an Omnibus edition without relying on the classic runs of those original nine titles and with flipping the ratio of pre-1991 books. Maybe not all of these runs fit into the “most-wanted adjective,” but none of them are duds.

In all seriousness, I’d probably buy every one. To help temper that enthusiasm, I’ve also argued the con side of each potential book – why should this content not be omnibused?

Think of this as your extended ballot for the 2017 survey, or your nearly inexhaustible rainy-day reading list (especially if you have Marvel Unlimited, where many of these runs are available in their entirety). [Read more…] about 50 More Marvel Runs That Deserve An Omnibus