Waiting for the Trade’s Cosmic Countdown   So today Guardians of the Galaxy hits theaters and I cannot wait to see it. I have been giddy for this movie since it was announced two years ago. I love cosmic marvel in general and I greatly enjoyed DnA’s run on the Guardians a couple years ago. So in honor of the film I present a countdown of Marvel’s best cosmic trade paperbacks and because the Guardians are such an unusual team I am doing a top 15 rather than a top 10. Furthermore in honor of the obscurity of the Guardians since many of the stories in the countdown are super famous already I will recommend a second story in the same vein of each primary pick throughout the countdown. So without further ado click below.  

Waiting for the Trade by Bill Miller   Heroes for Hire: Fear Itself By Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning collects Heroes for Hire 6-12   Why I Bought This: As I said in a few reviews now, a few months ago I decided to break my no event story policy for Fear Itself because it was allegedly Cap-centric. Of all the crossover trades this was the one I was most interested in just because it’s by DnA and their work on Guardians of the Galaxy a few years back earned them a ton of goodwill.   The Plot: Basically two separate stories. First, Spider-man team up with Paladin and Misty Knight to stop a smuggling ring. Then, the HforH heroes attempt deal with collateral damage from Fear Itself .

Waiting for the Trade by Bill Miller   Villains For Hire: Knight Takes King By Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning Collects Villains for Hire 0-4.   Why I Bought This: It showed up the discount bin of my favorite local comic shop. I tend to like the occasional limited series from the villains’ perspective anyway, and this one is written by DnA, who earned a lot of points with me for their work on Guardians of the Galaxy.   The Plot: When Misty Knight learns the Purple Man is putting together a crew of super-villains in a bid for underworld dominance she decides to secretly put together a rival crew of villains to muddy the waters and foil his plan.  

Waiting for the Trade By Bill Miller Annihilators: Earthfall by Dan Abnet and Andy Lanning; art by Tae Eng Huat & Timothy Green II Collects Annihilators Earthfall 1 - 4 Why I Bought This – By now everyone should know that I love me some cosmic Marvel and especially Quasar, who is featured prominently on the cover. I also loved DnA’s writing on Guardians of the Galaxy which this book grew out of. It also stars the Avengers so I was all over this. The Plot: The Annihilators sense a cosmic threat is about to manifest on Earth and head our way to stop it, leading to the usual superhero misunderstanding fight and team-up formula. Also in a series of backup stories Rocket Raccoon and Groot are kidnapped by Mojo. Spoilers ahead.

Waiting for the Trade By Bill Miller Annihilators by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning Collects Annihilators 1 – 4. Why I bought this: I love cosmic Marvel and my two favorites of Marvel’s cosmic heroes Quasar and Silver Surfer are both featured prominently. This was also written by DnA, who in my view are the best writers currently employed by Marvel. So when Free Comic Book Day rolled around and one of my shops was selling everything in the store at 25-percent off this was the very first item I picked up. The Plot – In the wake of events of Realm of Kings and Thanos Imperative, the Guardians of the Galaxy are disbanded/mostly dead, leading Marvel’s most powerful cosmic heroes to decide that a new team is needed to deal with future cosmic level crises. The members of that team are Quasar, Silver Surfer, Beta Ray Bill, Gladiator and Ronan the Accuser. The idea is they will not have the usual team trappings of headquarters, meetings etc. They will only come together w...