THE UNBOXING - OCTOBER 2016

Just one thing this time, continuing the trend of slim pickings in recent months: it's the POWER MAN AND IRON FIST EPIC COLLECTION: REVENGE! from Marvel. I find it interesting that Marvel chose this book to coincide with the debut of LUKE CAGE on Netflix, rather than an Epic Collection dedicated specifically to the original LUKE CAGE, HERO FOR HIRE series -- though I suppose the reasoning may have been not to step on the feet of the HERO FOR HIRE MASTERWORKS series which began last year.

Speaking of last year, the release of this volume weirdly mirrors the release of the first POWER MAN AND IRON FIST Epic Collection, HEROES FOR HIRE, from last summer -- it was also the sole book I received that particular month.

And holy cow, has it really been over a year since then?? I was all set to write a post praising Marvel for fast-tracking the PM&IF Epics with two released in the span of only a few months! Time flies, I guess. But at any rate, I wouldn't be surprised to see a third volume in this series hit the fast track when IRON FIST premieres on NetFlix next March, since the IRON FIST EPIC COLLECTION already came out last year.

Finally, while I'm plugging Marvel trades, I'll mention that on a related, note, the late nineties HEROES FOR HIRE series by John Ostrander and Pascual Ferry is on the way from Marvel in a pair of trade paperbacks due out in quick succession this coming December and January. This fun (and funny!) series was one of my favorite Marvel comics during its all too brief nineteen-issue run and, with the caveat that I haven't actually read it since it was originally released, I highly recommend it: Volume 1 | Volume 2