Marvel Omnibus es una línea de novelas gráficas de gran formato, alta calidad, a todo color y de tapa dura publicadas por Marvel Comics . A menudo contienen series completas, ya sea recopilando varios números consecutivos o centrándose en las obras de un escritor o artista en particular.
El primer ómnibus publicado fue Fantastic Four Vol. 1 en junio de 2005. Tenía 848 páginas y recopilaba los primeros 30 números y un Anuario del cómic.
El vicepresidente senior de Marvel, David Gabriel, dijo al New York Times que la idea surgió de “intentar encontrar un producto relacionado con la película Los Cuatro Fantásticos que se estrenaría ese verano, 'algo que entusiasme al coleccionista extremo'”. [1]
El libro “se agotó en pocas semanas” y Kuo-Yu Liang, vicepresidente de Diamond Comic Distributors, dijo que esa tendencia hacia libros más grandes y más caros: “refleja la demografía del consumidor, que es a la vez mayor y más adinerado”. [1]
Después de ese éxito, se lanzaron cuatro ómnibus en 2006: Alias (marzo), Uncanny X-Men Vol.1 (mayo), Eternals (julio) y New X-Men (diciembre). La línea ha experimentado un enorme crecimiento, con 12 ómnibus lanzados en 2009; 19 en 2014; 33 en 2019; y 89 en 2024.
La creación de una edición ómnibus permite a Marvel mejorar su proceso general de lanzamiento de ediciones recopiladas. Gabriel dijo: “Se ha permitido que [el material] salga de imprenta, por ejemplo, Secret Wars , para que podamos crear una Edición ómnibus especial que también nos permite reunir nuevos extras, rehacer archivos que necesitan ser corregidos y obtener la mejor recreación posible disponible para todas las páginas. Este proceso, a su vez, nos permite luego lanzar una mejor versión del libro de bolsillo y mantenerla en stock”. [2]
La práctica de tener múltiples portadas para el mismo cómic ha sido una característica de la industria desde mediados de la década de 1980. [3] Esto aumentó a lo largo de la década de 1990, con las cinco portadas para X-Men #1 de 1991, lo que ayudó a vender un récord de 8,1 millones de copias. [4]
Los cómics de Marvel han utilizado variantes desde el primer lanzamiento de Fantastic Four Vol. 1 en 2005. La portada principal de la "librería" presentaba la obra de arte original de Fantastic Four #1, dibujada por Jack Kirby ; con una versión "variante" de la misma imagen producida por Alex Ross . Las portadas variantes son exclusivas para el mercado directo , lo que significa que solo están disponibles en tiendas de cómics o minoristas especializados.
La práctica es polarizante, y se describe como “opciones interesantes para los lectores que quieren algo diferente de lo que compran”, pero al mismo tiempo lleva a las compañías de cómics a evitar “encontrar nuevos lectores... vendiendo más a los existentes”. [5] [6]
La gran mayoría de los cómics ómnibus de Marvel publicados entre 2005 y septiembre de 2016 tenían una variante. La práctica desapareció en gran medida hasta principios de 2020, aunque, en 2021, todos los nuevos cómics ómnibus de Marvel volvieron a tener más de una portada.
David Gabriel, vicepresidente sénior de ventas y marketing de Marvel, dijo: “Mientras nadie se aproveche de los clientes y los minoristas, creo que [la producción de portadas variantes] seguirá creciendo durante un tiempo”. [7]
Estos libros contienen historias que tienen lugar en el Universo Marvel original . Esta continuidad ficticia suele denominarse Tierra-616 , con un legado que se remonta a 1939. [8]
La interpretación de Jim Starlin de Adam Warlock fue nombrada por Publishers Weekly como una de las 10 joyas ocultas de Marvel. La parte de 1975 a 1977 del ómnibus de Adam Warlock “es una epopeya de ciencia ficción embriagadora y alucinante sobre lo que sucede cuando un 'hombre perfecto' creado en un laboratorio descubre que el malvado mesías de la cruel iglesia intergaláctica contra la que ha estado luchando es, de hecho, su propio yo futuro”. El ómnibus también contiene la introducción de las gemas del infinito y Gamora. [9]
El equipo canadiense de Alpha Flight se presentó por primera vez en Uncanny X-Men #120, escrito por Chris Claremont, junto con John Byrne ; quien también proporcionó arte para el número. El debut condujo a la serie derivada, con Byrne escribiendo los primeros 28 números, todos los cuales se recopilan en el ómnibus Alpha Flight de John Byrne . [10]
El ómnibus Black Cat de Jed MacKay contiene la serie completa. La historia surgió de Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #16, donde el personaje se cruzó con el gremio de ladrones, "lo que la llevó a huir tanto de la orden secreta como de las autoridades".
Ese número está recopilado en Amazing Spider-Man de Nick Spencer Omnibus Vol. 1. [ 11]
Marvel Comics mantuvo los derechos para publicar los cómics de Godzilla durante dos años a partir de 1977. La serie finalizó después de 24 números mensuales, cuando el titular de los derechos de autor, Toho, “solicitó un gran aumento en su tarifa de licencia después del primer año de la serie, y un aumento aún mayor después del segundo año”. [12]
En 2024, “gracias a una nueva y emocionante colaboración con Toho International”, Marvel lanzó la serie completa en un solo ómnibus. [13]
Brian Michael Bendis escribió la totalidad de la serie Alias , que introdujo al personaje de Jessica Jones en el Universo Marvel. El personaje “evita los disfraces, trabaja y juega duro y abre un conjunto de historias de detectives como ninguna otra que los cómics hayan visto antes. Bendis proporcionó un personaje con un corazón real y un punto de vista único, y es uno que ha ampliado los horizontes de Marvel en todos los medios”. [14]
La colección ómnibus de Alias salió en marzo de 2006. Fue la segunda colección ómnibus de Marvel que se lanzó en general, y la tercera reimpresión, en 2021, se retituló Jessica Jones: Alias .
En 2014, la compañía utilizó el formato para celebrar su 75.º aniversario, al permitir que los fans votaran por los mejores cómics que se incluirían en un ómnibus de 1000 páginas. La primera opción fue la historia de Spider-Man La muerte de Gwen Stacy ; seguida de Civil War ( representada por Captain America #25 de la edición de 2005), y luego Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt [15] [16]
Una serie antológica que recopila todos los cómics publicados durante el mes en el que debutó un personaje emblemático.
Basados en una línea de juguetes de Mego Corporation, los cómics Micronauts fueron producidos por Marvel entre 1979 y 1986. Marvel volvió a adquirir los derechos de publicación en 2023. [17]
Miles Morales es un adolescente mitad negro, mitad hispano y fue creado por Brian Michael Bendis. El personaje apareció por primera vez en Ultimate Comics: Fallout #4. [18]
Bendis le dijo a USA Today que se inspiró en parte en la aparición de Donald Glover en la serie de televisión Community vestido como Spider-Man . Bendis dijo: "[Glover] se veía fantástico. Lo vi con el disfraz y pensé: 'Me gustaría leer ese libro'. Así que me alegré de estar escribiendo ese libro". [19]
Marvel's original 1979 comic, Rom: Spaceknight, ran for seven years and was based on a toy line. IDW Publishing produced Rom comics from 2016, before Marvel regained the licence in 2023.[20]
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl omnibus contains the full 58-issue run of the comic, written by Ryan North, with art from Erica Henderson. The series begins with the superheroine starting college, before quickly having to face down planet-wide threats.[21][22]
At the time of publication, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl was the longest non-event Marvel omnibus, at 1,616 pages. Since then, The Immortal Hulk omnibus has been released with the same page count.
Marvel's first major line-wide event was Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars in 1984. The event “capitalized on the success of previous crossovers to make an epic storyline involving most of the Marvel Universe”. It also introduced Spider-Man's black costume - and ultimately the Venom symbiote.[23]
By the mid-2000s, large comics events had become an annual tradition for Marvel, with Avengers Disassembled (2004), House of M (2005) and Civil War (2006-2007) providing enormous sales success.[24]
Marvel have used the omnibus format to collect full events, including the main run of comics, plus all related tie-ins. The breadth of material means the company's largest omnibus is Avengers vs. X-Men, at 1,680 pages. Two more of the top-five longest omnibuses are also events: War of the Realms (1,576) and King in Black (1,568).
As part of the Marvel multiverse, other fictional continuities exist.[8] Books in this section still contain Marvel characters; however, they are alternate versions who don't, or rarely, interact with characters from the mainstream Earth-616 section.
Marvel‘s 2099 universe was a project “intended to explore the future of the Marvel Comics universe”, that was imagined by writer Stan Lee, as something for him to work on with artist John Byrne. The collaboration “fell through”; however, the line was commissioned by Editor Joey Cavalieri. He said the books “offered a chance to create the Marvel Universe all over again. At the very beginning of the Marvel Universe of 2099, there are no superheroes. We start to see them, one by one, just as you did in the ‘60s.”[25] The 2099 universe is designated as Earth-2099.
The Earth X universe was created by Dave Kreuger and Alex Ross, and “showed a possible near future for the Marvel Universe”. The project came from “an article for Wizard Magazine and their reaction to the amazing work Alex had done in reimagining and designing the DCU for Kingdom Come.”[26][27] The Earth X universe is designated as Earth-9997.
After a two-year run on The Incredible Hulk in the 1990s, writer Peter David and artist Dale Keown re-teamed for Hulk: The End, a one-shot showcasing the character's final days. The success of that book led to multiple miniseries in the following six years, chronicling the final days of various Marvel Universe superheroes.[28]
After 12 years with no further material, a further series of one-shots was announced at the 2019 New York Comic Con.[29]
Marvel's The End omnibus contains the full run of all material across 18 years.
The first appearance of Marvel Zombies was in Ultimate Fantastic Four #21, written by Mark Millar. He said: “I had this idea on the plane from Scotland about a superhero arriving from another dimension with a zombie plague and biting the Avengers when they showed up to contain the problem. Everyone hated it. It was so universally loathed and everyone thought I was kidding when I suggested it.”[30]
Despite that, after the first appearance, the concept grew to launch its own series, with Marvel Zombies and Marvel Zombies 2 written by The Walking Dead creator, Robert Kirkman. The initial Zombies universe is designated Earth-2149.[31]
Strikeforce: Morituri is a largely standalone series, created by Peter B. Gillis and Brent Anderson, that was published by Marvel Comics from 1986. It saw “an alien invasion of Earth, countered by a programme that turned humans into superhumans, but would kill them in a year.” There were disputes over the series' ownership up until Gillis's death in June 2024.[32] The Strikeforce: Morituri universe is designated as Earth-1287.
Ultimate Marvel launched in 2000 as a response to "so much backstory that the stories (in the main books) were almost incomprehensible."[33]
Bill Jemas, President of Marvel Enterprises from 2000 to 2004, wrote: “Joe Quesada and I started the Ultimate books because we wanted Marvel to get back in touch with kids. We wanted Marvel's great teen heroes - Spidey and the X-Men - to star in comics for 2001 kids.”[34] The first Ultimate universe is designated as Earth-1610.
After Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men, and The Ultimates, Ultimate Fantastic Four was the final core book to launch in Marvel's new universe. Writers Mark Millar and Brian Michael Bendis worked together with artist Adam Kubert for the first six-issue arc, before Warren Ellis took on the series.
Compared to the main universe counterparts, the new series saw: "The more "superheroic" elements of the series done away with, as the Ultimate Fantastic Four book focused more on science fiction and exploration. Doctor Doom was given a less cartoony characterization than his more well-known mainstream counterpart. Other villains such as Mole Man, Annihilus and even Galactus also received massive makeovers."[35]
The first book in Marvel's Ultimate Universe was Ultimate Spider-Man. The title ran from 2000 until 2012, with a younger version of Peter Parker as the main protagonist. The new iteration was a response to "so much backstory that the stories (in the main books) were almost incomprehensible."[33]
Bill Jemas, President of Marvel Enterprises from 2000 to 2004, wrote: “Joe Quesada and I started the Ultimate books because we wanted Marvel to get back in touch with kids. We wanted Marvel's great teen heroes - Spidey and the X-Men - to star in comics for 2001 kids.”[36]
The title went on to run for more than 150 issues and launched the character of Miles Morales.
Launched by writer Mark Millar, Ultimate X-Men saw "the superheroic side of the franchise pushed a bit to the sidelines. Instead, the prejudice mutants faced on a daily basis took center stage."
Millar was followed by superstar writers Brian Michael Bendis, Brian K Vaughan, and Robert Kirkman, and "the Ultimate X-Men comics quickly became the most popular titles at Marvel Comics, even outselling X-Men books in the mainstream continuity."[37]
The Ultimates portrayed a version of the Avengers outside of the main Marvel continuity that "looked and sounded like a movie in a way that no Marvel story ever had."
Written by Mark Millar, and drawn by Bryan Hitch, the comic blurred the lines of right and wrong, where the heroes "have no idea they are supervillains. They think they’re merely doing what superheroes are supposed to do: defend truth, justice, and the American Way — with an emphasis on the latter."[38] Millar conceded that point, describing the series as a "pro-status quo book" and "kind of a right-wing book, like Rush Limbaugh doing super comics".[39]
Director of Marvel Studio's 2012 The Avengers movie, Joss Whedon, said: “It’s my feeling that Ultimates brought Marvel into the modern age in a way no other book did.”[33]
As well as publishing omnibuses featuring the company's own characters, Marvel also releases books from other franchises. Some of these – like Star Wars – are owned by Marvel's parent company, Disney;[40] others – like Conan or The Dark Tower – are licensed for certain periods of time.
In July 2020, Marvel Comics gained the rights to publish Alien and Predator in the wake of Fox's sale to Disney.[41] Since then, the company has been republishing comics originally produced by Dark Horse comics.
As well as his own series, Conan appeared in Marvel's Savage Avengers series, which ran from 2019.
From 2022 onward, Marvel lost the licence to publish new Conan comics. "The trademark for the name Conan and the names of Robert E. Howard's other principal characters, is maintained by Conan Properties International and licensed to Cabinet Entertainment. This company, or new owners, now wish to publish Conan comic books themselves. And so won't be renewing the Marvel Comics license."[42]
The licence ended up with Titan Publishing.[43]
Crossgen was founded in 1998 and "quickly became one of the largest independent U.S. publishers of comics and graphic novels". By 2004, however, the company was "bought for a reported $1million at a bankruptcy auction by Cal Publishing Inc., a subsidiary of Disney".[44]
When Marvel was also acquired by Disney in 2009, the rights to publish Crossgen titles fell to Marvel. Partly as an effort to maintain copyright, the company have been releasing Crossgen content as omnibuses since 2023.[45]
Marvel held the rights to graphic adaptations of Stephen King's Dark Tower series from 2007.
The company produced five miniseries "detailing (gunslinger) Roland Deschain's early years, then adapted the Dark Tower novels themselves in a series of six books."[46]
In 2018, the rights switched to publisher Gallery 13.[47]
Both The Muppets and Muppet Babies omnibuses are branded as a "Disney Omnibus".
Following Fox's sale to Disney in 2020,[41] Marvel Comics reacquired a series of publishing rights, including Alien, Predator, and Planet of the Apes.
As well as releasing new Planet of the Apes material, Marvel have republished full-color comics first produced by them in 1975.[48]
The Powers series was published by Image Comics between 2000 and 2004, before moving to Marvel's Icon label in 2004.[49]
The omnibus, plus a series of other collected editions, were published between then and 2017, before writer Brian Michael Bendis signed a deal to republish the books with Dark Horse Comics in 2021.[50]
Marvel Comics gained the rights to publish Predator comics from Dark Horse in 2021; however, a dispute with the film's screenwriters led to delays with release of new material.[51]
The company solicited two Predator omnibuses, reprinting comics first published by Dark Horse; however, the second had material removed due to “racial concerns”.[52]
Marvel's first 1977 comic was a six-issue adaptation of the original film. The series ran for 107 issues and three Annuals until 1986, featuring stories set between the original trilogy of films, as well as adaptations of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Rights briefly went to Blackthorne Publishing, before being acquired by Dark Horse Comics. The company produced over 100 Star Wars titles until 2014.
Following the October 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney, it was announced that the Star Wars comics license would return to Marvel Comics in 2015. In April 2014, Lucasfilm rebranded the majority of the Star Wars Expanded Universe as Legends, only keeping the theatrical Skywalker saga and the 2008 Clone Wars film and television series as canon.[53]
Marvel's Senior Vice President of sales and marketing, David Gabriel, said the Star Wars releases would “be bouncing around to different periods of Star Wars history ... constructing one huge tapestry, collecting full unbroken runs of all the greatest Star Wars comics from the past 35 years.”[54]
Outside of books dedicated to certain characters or storylines, Marvel also produces omnibuses for specific writers or artists. Some contain material from company archives; others – like Brian Michael Bendis: Crime Noir – reproduce work owned by the creator themselves.[55]
The DC versus Marvel Omnibus is produced by DC Comics as part of a joint venture with Marvel. There will only ever be one printing.[56]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)