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   Fantastic Four vol. 5: Forever by Jonathan Hickman, Steve Epting and Barry Kitson collects Fantastic Four 600-604.   Why I Bought This: It promises the return of the Annihilation Wave and I loved Annihilation . It also features the resurrection of the Human Torch, and Hickman’s run in general has been getting rave reviews: although the only other volume of his I’ve read was the Death of the Torch trade, which was indeed excellent. The Plot:   The Kree send an armada to destroy the Earth while Annihilus makes plans to use the FF’s Negative Zone portal to relaunch the Annihilation Wave and an even larger cosmic threat gathers on the horizon. Plus the Human Torch returns from the dead.

Waiting for the Trade By Bill Miller Fantastic Four: Into the Breach by Carlos Pacheco & Jeph Loeb. Collects Fantastic Four (vol. 3) 40 – 45. Why I Bought This: It’s a Negative Zone story, which always grabs my attention. Plus the back cover promises Torch gets to form and lead a new version of the team, which is something I always wanted to see as both Ben and Sue have had their turn in the past. Also it was in the discount bin for $7 and on Free Comic Book Day I could take an extra 20-percent off. The Plot: Your non-spoiler version is as follows: An evil corporation has constructed its own portal into the Negative Zone to raid it of exotic energy sources. Reed tries to tell them this is a very bad idea and ultimately he, Sue and Thing get stranded in the Zone; leaving Johnny to form a new team to mount a rescue attempt. Johnny picks Namorita (of the New Warriors) as well as former members She-Hulk and Ant-Man 2 (Scott Lang), and then we get parallel stories ...

Waiting for the Trade By Bill Miller Fantastic Four Visionaries vol. 2 by John Byrne. Collects Fantastic Four 241 – 250. Why I Bought This: This was actually the last of my recent library rentals. In this case I picked the cover promises a famous fight between the FF and Gladiator (a character clearly designed as a stand-in for Superman) that I’ve wanted to read since the Marvel Handbooks in the late 80s talked about it. In fact a couple years ago I purchased The Trial of Galactus trade knowing it involved the FF and the Shi'ar and was disappointed the Gladiator fight was not part of it.