It’s the end of the year 2024 and, as far as Marvel Comics goes, the publication of new omnibus collected editions was aplenty and varied. As every comic book collector knows, those big books are not published in large quantities. That’s why Marvel also re-printed a good selection of them this year as new subsequent volumes are published.
It may be hard to follow what is announced and when a book is coming out, and that’s why we have a page dedicated to the release schedule of the Marvel Omnibuses (and for the DC Omnibuses too). We are updating it once a month as Marvel announced from time to time a new batch of future releases.
It’s a continuing flow of new comic books and you may have missed something during the last 12 months. That’s why it’s time to take a look back with a complete listing of all the omnibuses published (or republished) in 2024 by Marvel Comics.
As 2024 concludes, it is time to reflect on the last 12 months of collected omnibus editions published by DC Comics. Unlike the continuous flow of new releases and reprints of omnibus coming from Marvel Comics, DC Comics was still lagging far behind during the year’s first half. But after almost two years of slow releases, things are picking up.
DC Comics launched new collections, the popular DC Compact Comics and its version of the Epic Collection, DC Finest. And of course, the publication of new omnibuses became a lot more regular, with some welcome reprints added to the schedule.
Nevertheless, new comic books are still hitting the shelves every week and you may have missed something during the last 12 months (if you didn’t follow our page–updated once a month!–dedicated to the release schedule of DC Omnibuses). That’s why it’s time to take a look back with a complete listing of all the omnibuses published (or republished) in 2024 by DC Comics.
Created by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko in 1960, Captain Atom first appeared in Space Adventures #33 published by Charlton Comics, a publishing company later acquired by DC Comics. Back then, the character was named Allen Adam, a technician who was trapped in a rocket that exploded. He should have died but instead became a superpowered atomic hero. His series continued for a few years (until December 1967). Back then, he had a red and yellow outfit and pretty generic powers.
In 1983, DC Comics acquired Charlton Comics’ action heroes and asked Alan Moore to do something with them. That’s how Captain Atom became Doctor Manhattan in Watchmen. Moore’s take on the characters was not what DC’s editors had in mind for them and the British writer had to rewrite some of them to create his own version while the publisher introduced Charlton’s super-heroes (like Blue Beetle) in its Post-Crisis universe. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was established that they were on Earth-4. After that, they found their way into the main continuity.
Captain Atom was then reinvented as Nathaniel Christopher Adam, a United States Air Force officer and Vietnam War veteran. Framed and condemned for a crime he didn’t commit, his only option to survive was to join the military experiment called ‘Project: Captain Atom‘ during which he was placed in an alien craft positioned next to an atomic bomb. The goal was to test the resistance of the ship, but the result was ultimately the creation of a superhero. During the explosion, Nathaniel was disintegrated, but he mysteriously reappeared 18 years later, now bonded with the alien metal that has the ability to tap into the “Quantum Field”. Captain Atom can absorb energy to a certain point (beyond that, he jumps in time).
In 1986, as Captain Atom just reappeared, the military forced him to work for them. He eventually joined the Justice League and later became the leader of Justice League Europe. Through the years, he joined other teams, fought his enemy through times, and became a villain before returning to normal.
In 1992, Tundra Publishing had a large lineup of comic book series by independent creators. One of them was Madman by Mike Allred who quickly gathered a few nominations for prestigious awards (it won the Harvey for Best New Series). It was a superhero comic with a unique vision and an atypic aesthetic for the time, as Allred’s Pop Art style certainly made the book immediately distinguish itself from the rest.
From its initial success, Madman Adventures moved to Dark Horse Comics–when Denis Kitchen bought Tundra–where it gained even more popularity and colors (by Laura Allred). As the Madmanverse developed new characters were introduced and spin-off series were created. Madman himself made some appearances in other books, even from other publishers.
The story follows the adventures of Frank Einstein, a man who was revived by two scientists, Dr. Egon Boiffard and Dr. Gillespie Flem. With no memory of his past, he took the name “Frank Einstein” after his creators’ heroes, Frank Sinatra and Albert Einstein. Now reborn with enhanced abilities—superhuman agility, reflexes, and a touch of precognition—Frank remembers little of his past life. His identity as “Madman” is inspired by his childhood comic hero, Mr. Excitement. Despite his Frankenstein-like appearance, including blue skin and scars, he has a girlfriend, Joe Lombard, and is joined by allies like the alien Mott, invisible scientist Gale, and robotic companions Astroman and Machina.
The publication history of Madman is not the simplest as the book changed publishers multiple times. It started at Tundra in the Grafik Muzik anthology before getting a solo book titled Madman Adventures, went to Dark Horses where it evolved to become Madman Comics for a few years, then Allred established his own publishing company, AAA Pop Comics, where he continued Madman’s story with The Atomics–a new comic book series focused on Frank’s superhero team, the Atomics. It stopped in 2001, but Frank Einstein returned in Madman Atomic Comics launched at Image Comics in 2007.
The Madmaniverse is a superhero universe like no other, the colorful vision of one independent cartoonist who developed a cult favorite. Below, you’ll find a guide to reading everything.
Patsy Walker is an old character. She came from the Golden Age of Comics, at a time when Marvel Comics wasn’t called Marvel Comics yet–but it turns out that Patsy Walker #95 was the first (with Journey into Mystery #69) to be labeled a “Marvel Comics” on its cover. Created in 1944 by Stuart Little and Ruth Atkinson in Miss America Magazine #2, Patsy Walker was not a superhero. She was the star of a teen romantic-comedy series–up until 1967.
This version of Patsy entered briefly the world of Superheroes with a cameo in Fantastic Four Annual #3 in 1965, but this had no consequences on who she became. It turns out that–with the help of a retcon–those Patsy Walker comics were the work of Dorothy Walker who used her daughters and her friends (notably Hedy) as an inspiration for this fictional series that exists in the Marvel Universe.
In 1972, Steve Engleheart who remembered that FF cameo and was familiar with the Patsy comics thought it would be a fun idea to make her a real character in the Marvel Universe. With artist George Pérez, he did just that in the feature he was doing in the anthology book Amazing Adventures #13. She only appeared in three issues (and was not “Hellcat” yet), but came back two years later for a few issues of The Avengers, and officially took the name of “Hellcat” and the costume of another hero, Greer Grant Nelson’s The Cat. In 1977, she joined The Defenders and met (in issue #92) Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan. They got married and went on to do some supernatural investigations. Eventually, like all of Marvel’s heroes at some point, she died (in the mid-1990s).
Hellcat was resurrected in 2000 and got her first miniseries. More would come as she’s still active today, mostly working alongside her friend She-Hulk.
With the DC Versus Marvel Omnibus coming out, we are reminded that comic intercompany crossovers, when heroes from different publishing houses meet, are a popular yet rare occurrence. Maybe not that rare as it is a profitable endeavor after all. In fact, DC’s own Batman has met a lot of heroes from other comic book universes, he even catches criminals on a monthly basis with Scooby-Doo‘s Mystery Team nowadays!
Some of the Dark Knight’s adventures side by side or even against other non-regular DC Comics characters have become the stuff of legend when others have been forgotten. One thing most of them (not all) have in common though, is that they are totally out-of-continuity stories. But some are quite interesting to discover for curious fans who want to know how Batman would fare against Aliens and/or a Predator, or what would look like a team-up with Tarzan, Spider-Man, Danger Girl, or Spawn.
Yes, some of those intercompany crossovers seem to be (and are) oddities. Here is our guide to those crazy and unpredictable comic book meetings.
When Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern, made his debut in All-American Comics #16 (1940), created by Bill Finger and Martin Nodell, his powers came from a mystical green flame contained within a lantern, which he used to craft a ring. This power ring was magical. Those who followed were not.
With the Silver Age came test pilot Hal Jordan who became the official new Green Lantern in John Broome and Gil Kane’s comics Showcase #22 (1959). Like Alan, Hal got a ring, but this one was given to him by Abin Sur, a Green Lantern who crash-landed on Earth. This alien was a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic police force created by the Guardians of the Universe, immortal beings who watched over the cosmos from the planet Oa.
This new Power Ring was powered by the Central Power Battery that was installed on Oa by the Guardians of the Universe, immortal beings who watched over the cosmos. Each ring is charged by a personal lantern-shaped Power Battery–which is connected to the Central Power Battery—and allows those who, like Hal Jordan, were chosen to were one, to tap into the emotional spectrum, specifically the green light of willpower.
Created for the magazine publishers Street & Smith, the character of The Shadow started in 1930 on the Detective Story Hour radio show as a mysterious host before moving to print the following year. He would stay on the air for a few years, but this original incarnation would be forgotten and replaced by the one created by writer Walter B. Gibson (under the pen name of Maxwell Grant).
Gibson was tasked to write stories about “The Shadow” and, inspired by classic literary works and the French character Judex, he composed a character that would eventually become the prototype of the American Superhero. Through the years, The Shadow prospered in the pulps, on the radio, and even got a comic strip in the early 1940s.
The Shadow was a former World War I aviator named Kent Allard who faked his death and became a crime-fighter. Upon returning to the United States, he adopted several different identities to aid him in his war on crime. The most famous one is Lamont Cranston, a wealthy socialite who went abroad and Allard stole his identity, impersonating him to gain access to the rich and powerful of the world.
Introduced for the first time in 1972 in the comics All-Star Western #10, Jonah Hex is a creation by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga. A bad-tempered brutal bounty hunter, Hex emerged at a time when the Western genre was deconstructed and the character contributed to that with his two-face. Looking at him from one side, he looked like the handsome cowboy, but from the other side, with half of his face disfigured, he was a terrifying killer.
The comics introduced him like this: “He was a hero for some, a villain to others… and wherever he rode people spoke his name in whispers. He had no friends, this Jonah Hex, but he did have two companions: one was death itself… the other, the acrid smell of gunsmoke…” Enough said!
At a time when the Comic Code regulations started to loosen up, the violent Jonah Hex became popular in the pages of the Weird Western Tales comics (DeZuniga drew the character for years, but Albano only wrote the first ten adventures of Hex), and after a few years, he finally got his own book. The Crisis on Infinite Earths event put an end to his regular adventures and, since then, he has made multiple comebacks.
Created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, and John Totleben in 1984 in The Saga of Swamp Thing series, John Constantine is an arrogant foul-mouthed working-class occult detective and con man from London. Originally a supporting character, he continued to appear in the series before getting his own ongoing in 1988, Hellblazer.
As Alan Moore was too busy (or didn’t want to) do it, DC Comics recruited another British writer, Jamie Delano, to develop the Hellblazer comics in which John Constantine was faced with much horror, demons, and others in Great Britain. This quickly cemented him as the antihero of the DC universe. Not loved by many, he still found people to join him during his fight against vile creatures, and they are often the ones who have to pay the harsher price.
Known for his cynicism, his deadpan snarking, his ruthless cunning, and his constant chain-smoking, John Constantine wants to help save lives, but his technique can be deadly if it’s for the greater good. Being his friend can be as dangerous as being his enemy.
The long-running Hellblazer comic book series was part of the Vertigo line and lasted 300 issues. After that, John Constantine was made a little more respectable as he joined the other magic heroes of the DC main universe. He joined teams and helped save the world, the universe, and reality.
