THE UNBOXING: 2024

One more bit of business before we wrap things up. Back when I had the time and motivation*, I used to do a regular monthly feature here where I went through the assorted trade paperbacks and hardcovers (and later, digital comics as well) that I acquired. Then I stopped, in large part because Marvel and DC drastically scaled back releasing things I was interested in, but also because I essentially ceased buying trades, preferring hardcovers whenever possible. However, I did start working The Unboxing into my annual "Happy New Year!" posts, going through notable items I had picked up over the prior year. But since next week's "Happy New Year!" will also double as my farewell, I don't really want to clog up the proceedings shilling a bunch of books. However, I did pick up some great things over the past year and would like to share them here for those interested. So, let's go for it right now, shall we?

(Note: The following will include, in addition to the afore-mentioned books I own, books I have pre-ordered for the coming months as well, given it's unlikely I'll be doing another of these posts next year!)

We'll start off, as always, with the most prolific publisher on my bookshelves, Marvel. From January through to today, I've grabbed the following volumes from the House of Ideas:

• AMAZING SPIDER-MAN OMNIBUS Vol. 6: I'll keep buying these numbered AMAZING SPIDER-MAN OMNIBUS volumes for at least one more installment. This book collects Marv Wolfman's run on Marvel's flagship here from the late seventies, and so the next book should cover Denny O'Neil's run, and will hopefully line up with the SPIDER-MAN BY ROGER STERN OMNIBUS Marvel published many years ago.
• CAPTAIN AMERICA BY MARK GRUENWALD OMNIBUS Vol. 1
• CAPTAIN AMERICA BY MARK GRUENWALD OMNIBUS Vol. 2: After years of publishing Mark Gruenwald's long CAP run via the Epic Collection trade paperbacks, Marvel has finally seen fit to give this material the Omnibus treatment. Gruenwald is the definitive CAP for me, so I'm in for all the books in this series, which should be three in total (though I will admit that I would've preferred it be split into a set of four, as the first book, which I already have, is extremely thick, and I so I expect the second, coming this summer to be equally cumbersome.
• IRON FIST: DANNY RAND: THE EARLY YEARS OMNIBUS: I have no idea why it took Marvel so long to get this material into an Omnibus! They published it in an ESSENTIAL volume many years ago, and then in two MARVEL MASTERWORKS well over a decade ago at this point. After that came an Epic Collection in 2016 -- but finally, in 2024, we have received a proper oversized hardcover collecting this classic material by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, among others.
• NEW WARRIORS CLASSIC OMNIBUS Vol. 3: Not a lot to say about this one, other than that it's nice to see the series finally finished! Marvel published volume 1 some time back, then... nothing. Until they reprinted it in 2023, then published volume 2 this year, followed by the final installment in the coming year.
• SPIDER-MAN BY DAVID MICHELINIE AND MARK BAGLEY OMNIBUS Vol. 1
• SPIDER-MAN BY DAVID MICHELINIE AND MARK BAGLEY OMNIBUS Vol. 2: I love Spider-Man by Stan Lee and John Romita. I love Spider-Man by Roger Stern and his various collaborators, chiefly John Romita, Jr. But Spider-Man by David Michelinie and Mark Bagley -- this is my Spider-Man. This was the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN I read every month in middle school and early high school, my "Personal Golden Age". So when Marvel announced this two-volume series, there was no doubt I was going to pick them up. Volume 1 came out this year, and volume 2 is coming in 2025.
• WOLVERINE/GAMBIT: VICTIMS GALLERY EDITION: Last year I noted that I had picked up (or was planning to pick up) the Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale Gallery Editions of SPIDER-MAN: BLUE and DAREDEVIL: YELLOW. I passed on HULK: GRAY and DAREDEVIL: YELLOW, because I'm not as big a fan of those two. But WOLVERINE/GAMBIT: VICTIMS, the duo's very first work at Marvel from the mid-90s, has been a favorite of mine since it was published when I was in high school, and I'll be very happy to own it in this gigantic format when it releases in 2025.
• X-MEN 2099 OMNIBUS: I read three series in Marvel's 2099 universe in the nineties -- SPIDER-MAN, DOOM, and X-MEN. Marvel published the first of those in Omnibus format a couple years ago, and now we have the third. My recollection is that X-MEN 2099 was my favorite of the three series, so this is one I'm quite happy to own and look forward to reading. (As for DOOM; that's getting an Omnibus release as well, in 2025! I just haven't decided if I want it. While I liked the early issues by John Francis Moore and Pat Broderick, eventually Moore left the series and Warren Ellis took over, and I strongly disliked his run -- so I'm not certain I want to bother with this one.)
• X-MEN: MUTANT MASSACRE PRELUDE OMNIBUS: This book, reprinting a bunch of UNCANNY X-MEN, NEW MUTANTS, and X-FACTOR issues, among varius mini-series, annuals, etc. from the mid eighties. is ginormous. Like, way, way, too big. But it fills an important hole in the X-Men Omnibus collection, so I had to get it. I may sprain a wrist whenever I finally read it, but at least I have it.
• X-MEN: ROAD TO ONSLAUGHT OMNIBUS Vol. 1: Years ago, I opined that the year between "Age of Apocalypse" and "Onslaught" was one of my favorite periods for the X-Men. I can't quite explain it; I just really enjoyed that period. I bought the three ROAD TO ONSLAUGHT trade paperbacks Marvel published around that time, but we've now reached a point where they're upgrading the material to an Omnibus, so yes, I'm buying it. It'll take two hardcovers to encompass the contents of those three trades (with a few things added that the trades skipped), and I'll be extremely pleased when I have them both on my X-shelf!
• X-MEN: THE HIDDEN YEARS OMNIBUS: I loved John Byrne's HIDDEN YEARS series. I know it has its detractors, but for my money, it was the best X-title coming out at the time. Certainly it was the one I looked forward to reading most every month, So, even though I owned this series in two trade paperbacks, I was more than happy to "double-dip" on the Omnibus this year.
• X-MEN: X-TINCTION AGENDA OMNIBUS: A long time ago, Marvel released an X-TINCTION AGENDA hardcover. It collected that event, and nothing else, and it fit neatly between the two X-MEN BY CHRIS CLAREMONT AND JIM LEE Omnibuses. But now, Marvel has expanded the contents of that book to include several odds and ends from that era, including some annuals and limited series, so naturally, in order to ensure my hardcover X-Collection is as complete as possible, I had to pick this up.

Then, from the Distinguished Competition, a smaller handful of books:

• DC/MARVEL: THE AMALGAM AGE OMNIBUS
• DC VS. MARVEL OMNIBUS: I don't think anyone imagined these two books would ever happen. When George Pérez was dying and Marvel and DC wanted to honor him by rereleasing JLA/AVENGERS, it took small armies of lawyers on both side to make it happen; and even then the result was a simple trade paperback with a microscopic print run. But something obviously changed, because here we are in the year 2024 (soon to be 2025), with nearly all of the Marvel/DC crossovers issued or about to be issued in Omnibus format!
• SPY VS. SPY OMNIBUS: I read MAD magazine sporadically as a child, and my favorite feature was always the Spy vs. Spy strip by Antonio Prohías (though I didn't know his name back then). So, on a lark when DC reissued this Omnibus recently, I picked it up.
• SUPERMAN: THE TRIANGLE ERA OMNIBUS Vol. 1: Having read the initial Post-CRISIS Superman material some years ago, I've had an interest in continuing with it. At one point, DC had released a hardcover called THE EXILE, which picked up immediately after John Byrne's run ended, but I passed on that volume (though it did get a reissue this year). But recently, DC released this ostenisble first book in a series collecting the so-called "Triangle" period of Superman (called such due to the fact that every issue of the Super-titles featured a little triangle on its cover telling readers where it fit into the year's reading order). At some point, I will read this and decide if I want to keep going with it.

And as always, I have a few titles from a couple of indepenent publishers, Clover Press and Fantagraphics, respectively:

• TERRY AND THE PIRATES MASTER COLLECTION Vol. 7
• TERRY AND THE PIRATES MASTER COLLECTION Vol. 8
• TERRY AND THE PIRATES MASTER COLLECTION Vol. 9
• TERRY AND THE PIRATES MASTER COLLECTION Vol. 10: I mentioned last year that I'd started grabbing these books reprinting Milton Caniff's magnum opus newspaper strip, TERRY AND THE PIRATES. Throughout the past year, I've acquired (or will be acquiring in coming months) four more volumes in the series. I believe after volume 10, which is due out in March, there will be only two more books to finish the series.
• CARL BARKS DISNEY LIBRARY Vol. 1: PIRATE GOLD
• CARL BARKS DISNEY LIBRARY Vol. 2: FROZEN GOLD
• CARL BARKS DISNEY LIBRARY Vol. 3: MYSTERY OF THE SWAMP: As always, I continue to pick up Fantagraphics' Carl Barks books, which have finally, thirteen years after the series started, moved backward to collect Barks' earliest Duck stories!

But that's not all! After all the above, I've saved possibly the best for last: from IDW, we have a doozy: the JOHN ROMITA'S AMAZING SPIDER-MAN DAILY STRIPS ARTISTS'S EDITION. I found about this volume under some sad circumstances; in 2023, the day John Romita Jr. announced his father had passed away, I was reading tributes to the senior Romita online and stumbled across the fact that this book was forthcoming, and I immediately pre-ordered it. I've mentioned more than once on this blog that John Romita is by far my absolute favorite of all the Silver Age Marvel artists. Above Kirby, above Ditko, above Buscema, in my pantheon, there sits Romita. (And Romita's inks made all his peers in the 60s Bullpen look a million times better, too!) I wanted to publish a post here when Romita died, but I had already praised him at length in my look back at the Spider-Man newspaper strip, among other posts here, and frankly, I was too dismayed by his death to prepare any sort of coherent post about it.

But the fact remains that I have long considered the Spider-Man newspaper strip to be the pinnacle of Romita's work with the character. It's breathtakingly beautiful, and to own so much of the "original art" in a massive tome liked this is something I had dreamed of but was never sure could actually happen. The fact that it did, and that I own it, is still a little hard to believe. This volume is one of the crown jewels of my comic collection.

And that's it; the final Unboxing is in the bag. Come back next week for my final Hail and Farewell post.

---

*That's "motivation", not "interest". I have always had interest in doing The Unboxing. I just never actually feel like doing it.

THE END...?

I think I've known this day was coming for a while now, but I had trouble admitting it to myself. However, I've reached a point where I havd no choice but to "rip off the Band-Aid" and just come out and say it -- "Not A Hoax!" is coming to end.

I suggested things were going this way in a comment on BATMAN #357 a couple weeks ago, and today I'm confirming it. But for those who are curious as to how and why, I figured I might as well throw a few more words out there onto the web before I call it a day (or a decade, as the case may be).

For many years, whenever time permitted, I have worked pretty far ahead of schedule on this blog. There was a period, shortly after the birth of my son, where that wasn't possible, and I was stringing together posts basically the night before they were to be published for a while. But eventually I corrected course (partly due to scaling back my output from two days a week to one; a schedule which had itself been reduced from a whopping three days a week when the blog first started), and got back to a point where I was way ahead of schedule again. All those posts on AVENGERS by Bob Harras and Steve Epting? Every single one was written before the first one even went up here. And the same held true for Gerry Conway's Batman. I had all the posts written somewhere around the fall of 2023 -- and as such, I decided, as I often did when I found myself with a large enough cushion, to take a brief break before moving on.

The problem is, the break never ended! I was going to get back in the saddle at the beginning of 2024 to start whatever my next project might be, but when January rolled around, I wasn't ready yet. But I figured it was no biggie; I was still a full year ahead of schedule, so I'd take a few more months off. Then before I knew it, it was spring and then summer, and I still wasn't ready to start! But again, I knew I still had half a year left, plenty of time. Yet I still just never did anything.

And so, as of last week, I exhausted my full cushion and have nothing to follow it. And while the above may sound like procrastination, I don't think that's the right word to describe it. I still want to do this. I have any number of series and runs that I would love to read and write about! I spent much of the past year thinking about what to do next, bouncing around between two or three ideas, and fully intending to commit to and start one of them. But the issue is less that I've been putting the work off and more that I just don't have, I dunno, the will to do it. I absolutely and unequivocally want to do one of those handul of ideas I was bandying about -- I just don't feel like doing it.

I think maybe I'm just burnt out on the whole process... the reading, the writing, and the work that goes into gathering and uploading screencaps. (And yes, I'm saying this with a straight face after mocking up that fake Spider-Man cover you see above. If nothing else, I do want to go out with a bang -- and doing that took far less time than it might have taken to read and prepare a full post about the same issue!)

But -- I did stick that question mark in my post title up top. Is this really the end? I don't know. Maybe it's just an extended hiatus. Maybe I'll find that motivation I've been missing, and want to get back into this in another six months or a year or whatever. Or maybe I retool my format and do something else with this blog. But if it is over, eleven-plus years, looking at many long runs and countless short ones, across multiple titles and publishers, seems like a pretty good body of work. I've never considered myself a particularly scholarly or professional reviewer, and I have always worn my heart on my sleeve with regards to the stuff I love (and for that matter, the stuff I hate), so there is absolutely bias of some sort in nearly every post you'll find here. But people seemed to like what I did, and I had a lot of fun doing it (until I finally ran out of steam).

All that said, I've got one post left. I have always begun each year with a "Happy New Year!" post that functioned as sort of a combination year in review and look forward, and I see no reason not to do the same this year, as a way to cap things off. So I'll be back in two weeks, on December 30th, to do just that. Let's save our tearful goodbyes until then, okay?!

DETECTIVE COMICS #526

Presenting: the 500th appearance of the Batman in the pages of DETECTIVE COMICS.

"ALL MY ENEMIES AGAINST ME!"
An ending -- and a beginning, presented by:
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Alfredo Alcala
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: Penguin arrives at a meeting of Batman's enemies called by the Joker. Joker explains that Killer Croc is out to kill Batman, and wants to beat him to it. Catwoman, present but hiding, leaves to warn Batman. Talia, in attendance, voices her objection and the villains turn on her, but she escapes by using Captain Stingaree as a shield when Mister Freeze tries to blast her. Talia and Catwoman both soon show up at the Batcave to warn Batman, though the Caped Crusader needs to separate them from fighting each other first.

Meanwile, Dick Grayson is on his way home from the Circus when Waldo the Clown and Jason Todd catch up with him. Waldo tells Dick he has the license plate of Croc's right-hand man, Slick, so Dick has Waldo and Jason come back to Wayne Manor with him. Meanwhile, Commissioner Gordon arrives at the theater where Joker's meeting was held, with his daughter, Barbara, tagging along. They're shocked to find Captain Stingaree frozen inside. Barbara finds a cigarette on the ground and leaves to change into Batgirl. Dick, Waldo, and Jason arrive at Wayne Manor, where Alfred tells Dick that Batman just left with Talia and Catwoman. Batgirl then appears and shows Dick the cigarette, which she believes belongs to the Pengin. Robin and Batgirl head out on their motorcycles, asking Commissioner Gordon to put out an APB on Slick's car.

Batman, Catwoman, and Talia arrive at an abandoned train station leased by the Riddler, and find him inside along with the Cavalier, the Mad Hatter, and the Scarcrow. The heroes defeat the four villains easily, though the Hatter vanishes. Meanwhile, Jason Todd finds the entrance to the Batcave and figures out that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Out in the city, a mocked-up Bat-Signal summons Batman, Catwoman, and Talia to Gotham Park, where Signalman, the Spook, Mister Freeze, and Black Spider are waiting for them. The trio makes quick work of the villains, and Batman finds a piece of a city map in Signalman's pouch.

The police have found Slick's car at the Gotham Zoo, where Robin and Batgirl arrive to join them. Gordon leads them into the reptile house, revealing that Croc has fed Joe and Trina Todd to the crocodiles. Robin leaps into the pen and swats the reptiles away, dragging the Todds' bodies away from them. Meanwhile, Joker visits Croc at the Gotham Men's Club and tells him that the other villains are trying to kill Batman before he can. In the Batcave, Jason finds an old Robin-esque costume and puts it on. Just then, Batman, Talia, and Catwoman return to analyze the map. Jason sneaks into the Batmobile's trunk while the Batcomputer informs Batman and friends what part of Gotham the map depicts. The trio heads out again.

BATMAN #359

"HUNT"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Dan Jurgens & Dick Giordano
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: Batman invades the Gotham Tobbacconists' club and questions its head, Filbert Hughes III, regarding Killer Croc. Meanwhile, Croc has summoned all of Gotham's gang bosses to his hideout at the zoo, where he announces his intention to take control of the mobs. But the men are unimpressed, telling Croc that they still follow orders from the incarcerated Tony Falco. Batman drops off Hughes and his bodyguards with Commissioner Gordon, while Croc sneaks into Gotham Jail and murders Falco. Guards spot Croc and try to stop him, and the alarm is raised. Batman responds and battles Croc, but is again defeated by him.

The following night, at the Sloan Circus, Trina and Joe Todd spot Croc's associate, Slick, pocketing extorted protection money. When Slick leaves, the Todds follow -- but Slick realizes they are after him. Meanwhile, Batman meets with Commissioner Gordon, who fills him in on Croc's history. Elsewhere, Dick Grayson arrives at the circus, but is informed by Jason Todd and Waldo the Clown that Jason's parents left in pursuit of Slick. Panicked, Dick leaves. At that moment, the Todds follow Slick into the zoo and to the reptile house, where they find Croc and a roomful of mobsters waiting for them. Croc declares that he will show them what fate he has in store for Batman.

Continuity Notes: I still think Curt Swan accidentally looked at reference Rupert Thorne when drawing Filbert Hughes, because the resemblance is uncanny. And now Dan Jurgens is following Swan's model, so the Thorne Clone lives on!

DETECTIVE COMICS #525

"CONFRONTATION"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Dan Jurgens & Dick Giordano
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: Batman emerges from the river where Killer Croc vanished, and informs Robin and Commissioner Gordon that there is no sign of the villain. But as Batman climbs out of the water, he is secretly observed from the shadows by Croc himself. Later, following a date with Vicki Vale, Bruce Wayne wanders Gotham's waterfront and suddenly realizes that he noticed Croc but didn't register it at the time. He changes back to Batman and hads for the river, then tracks Croc into the sewer. But Croc gets the drop on the Masked Manhunter, nearly drowning him and then vanishing again. Batman searches for Croc and is ambushed again, then Croc disappears once more. Then, when Croc attacks from hiding a third time, Batman forces them both toward a large storm drain, which gives way and allows Batman to escape into the river. Batman emerges from the water in a riverside park, and vows that next time they meet, he will take Croc down.

Continuity Notes: The issue opens with some footnotes, as we're first given a brief summary of DETECTIVE COMICS #524 and BATMAN #358 when Batman describes to Robin how Croc killed the Squid and how Batman tracked him to his home. A page later, Batman tells Robin and Gordon about Croc letting him escape from the Squid's mob, again in DETECTIVE 524.

Bruce meets Vicki for a date and when she observes that he seems distracted, he tells her that he's thinking about Selina Kyle's obsession with him. He tells Vicki that Selina "needed" him to much, and he doesn't want to be needed by anyone -- which is what he likes about his casual relationship with Vicki. This naturally leads Vicki to bawl him out and then storm off.

BATMAN #358

"DON'T MESS WITH KILLER CROC!"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Curt Swan & Rodin Rodriguez
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: Killer Croc busts into the Gotham Tobbaconists' Club and demands to be recognized as the new gang leader of Gotham City. Meanwhile, Batman and Commissioner Gordon observe the Squid's autopsy and Batman traces the bullet used in the mobster's assassination to a unique experimental rifle, only two of which still exist, both in Gotham. Batman visits an underworld gunsmith named Specs, who uses one of the rifles in an attempt to kill the Caped Crusader -- but Batman evades him and captures Specs, taking him to the Batcave. There, Batman and Robin interrogate Specs and get the name of the other rifle's owner: Croc.

Later, the men of the Tobbacconists' Club order Croc to steal an experimental Air Force computer from S.T.A.R. Labs in order to test his skill. Meanwhile, Batman scours the city in search of Croc. At S.T.A.R., Croc infiltrates the facility, takes out several scientists and Air Force soldiers, and absconds with the computer. Elsewhere, Batman beats up a street gang and learns that Croc lives in a section of Gotham called Hell's Point.

Croc delivers the computer to the Tobbacconists, who give their blessing for him to operate in Gotham on a "provisional basis." Later, Croc returns home to find Batman lurking in his apartment. Infuriated that Batman would invade his home, Croc blows the place up and makes his escape into a nearby river.

DETECTIVE COMICS #524

"DEATHGRIP"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Dick Giordano
Letters: Todd Klein | Colors: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: Batman is dumped in the Squid's squid tank, but manages to escape by kicking the squid and sending it into a frenzy that distracts the Squid and his assembled mobsters. Upon realizing Batman has escaped, Squid sends his men to find the Caped Crusader. But one man refuses -- Killer Croc, who leaves instead, but not before the Squid sees his face and threatens him. Outside, Croc notices the wounded Batman lurking by a chimney up above, but walks away rather than raise the alarm.

Later that night, the Squid gives a speech to his assembled men, while Croc walks up to a nearyby rooftop and assembles a sniper rifle. As the Squid talks, Croc aims and fires. The bullet pierces the squid tank and wings the Squid, then Batman bursts into the room. The Squid challenges the Dark Knight one-on-one and beats him, then draws a revolver and kills him. Then, suddenly, the Squid realizes his fight with Batman was a hallucination, and that he is actually lying on the floor, dying from Croc's bullet. Croc packs up his rifle and departs. The next morning, Batman and Commissioner Gordon watch as the Squid's corpse is taken away, and Batman presents Gordon with the bullet that killed the criminal, telling the commissioner that when they find the high-powered rifle that fired it, they will find the Squid's killer.