Marvel Comics: Collected Editions Cavalcade (Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spider-Man & More)

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As many folks around here know, I am predominantly a DC Comics fan, but I do dabble and pick up books from other publishers. My personal collection is dominated by DC, but there are also Valiant Comics, Image Comics, Caliber Press, CrossGen, Dark Horse, Malibu, Boom, Dynamite, IDW, and a lot more. That said, while I have these smattering of non-DC published books, my second highest count of comics and collected editions belong to Marvel Comics. That’s no surprise since they are the most prolific publisher in today’s market and like DC has a long storied history.

Through my visits to brick and mortar comic shoppes, online pourchases, and comics convention sojourns I have picked up most of not all of the DC Comics books on my “want list”. As a student of comics, particularly DC Comics, I know what books I wanted or books that I felt were pivotal to its moment in time whether to the industry writ large or to the DC Universe.

I have written before about what strategies one can use when they get to the end of their “want list”. It seems I may need to again employ some of them again since I have sadly reached that when it comes to DC.

My cross-publisher collection spans over 20 long boxes of comics and one six-shelf bookcase of collected editions plus two shelves on a neighbouring bookcase. This may not seem like a lot to diehards, but every few years I cull my collection to ensure I have what I deem are quality books in the fold, with books I plan to reread or share with any future children I plan to have. As many of you know, there are a lot of books that do NOT stand the test of time.

As comic convention season wraps up for 2011, I am asking that Comics Nexus readers help me out as I plan to round out my collected edition bookcases with more from mighty Marvel. I have pulled a list together below of what I do have from Marvel in collected edition form, but am curious about what else you’d recommend I pick up and why. Thanks for your help!


Outside of actual Marvel comic books in my long boxes, here are the collected editions I’ve already picked up:

Soft Cover Collected Editions

– Alpha Flight Classics: Volume One (John Byrne)
– Avengers: The Kree-Skrull War
– Avengers: West Coast Avengers Vision Quest
– Avengers: Dissassembled
– The Coming of Bishop
– Cable and the New Mutants
– X-Force and Spider-Man: Sabotage
– Captain America: The Captain
– Daredevil: Fallen From Grace
– Daredevil: Man Without Fear
– Daredevil vs. Bullseye
– Excalibur Classics: Volumes One through Four
– Fantastic Four Visionaries: Volume One (John Byrne)
– Hawkeye (Gruenwald/Breeding/Bulanadi)
– Hercules: Prince of Power
– Infinity Guantlet
– Infinity War
– Invaders Classics: Volume One
– Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle
– Iron Man: Armor Wars
– Iron Man: War Machine
– Madrox
– Namor Visionaries: Volume One (John Byrne)
– Nick Fury: Agent of Shield
– The Punisher (Steve Grant/Mike Zeck)
– Secret Wars
– Sensational She-Hulk
– Spider-Man: Birth of Venom
– Spider-Man: Cosmic Adventures
– Spider-Man: Torment
– Squadron Supreme (Gruenwald)
– Mighty Thor Mastworks: Volume One
– Thor Visionaries: Volumes Four and Five (Walter Simonson)
– Avengers Dissassembled: Thor
– Thunderbolts: Justice, Like Lightning
– Road to War of Kings
– War of Kings
– Astonishing X-Men: Volumes One through Four
– Xtreme X-Men: Volumes One through Three
– X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga
– X-Men: Days of Future Past
– X-Men: Mutant Massacre
– X-Men: Inferno
– X:Men: Fall of the Mutants
– X-Men: Days of Future Present
– X-Men: X-tinction Agenda
– X-Men: X-Cutioner’s Song
– X-Men: Legionquest
– X-Men: Deadly Genesis
– X-Men: Emperor Vulcan
– X-Men vs. Avengers/Fantastic Four

Hard Cover Collected Editions

– Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks: Volumes One and Two
– Avengers: West Coast Avengers Assemble
– Avengers: The Contest
– Captan America Winter Soldier: Volumes One and Two
– Spider-Man: Death of the Stacys
– Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt
– Incredible Hercules: Against the World
– Hulk: Red Hulk
– Iron Man: Doomquest
– Thor: Volumes One and Two (JMS)
– X-Factor: Longest Night
– Young Avengers: Volumes One and Two

Black and White “Essentials”

– Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Volumes One through Three
– Mighty Thor: Volume 2


So, that’s my Marvel collected edition… collection. As noted earlier, I am curious about what else you’d recommend I pick up and why. I plan to visit a few of the remaining comic cons of 2011 to perhaps pick up a few more Marvel collected editions. Any suggestions with rationale would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help!

John is a long-time pop culture fan, comics historian, and blogger. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief at Comics Nexus. Prior to being EIC he has produced several column series including DEMYTHIFY, NEAR MINT MEMORIES and the ONE FAN'S TRIALS at the Nexus plus a stint at Bleeding Cool producing the COMICS REALISM column. As BabosScribe, John is active on his twitter account, his facebook page, his instagram feed and welcomes any and all feedback. Bring it on!