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   Captain America : Fighting Chance vol. 1 Denial by Mark Gruenwald and Dave Hoover collects Captain America 425-430. Why I Bought This: I enjoyed most of Mark Gruenwald’s 10-year Cap run, but I can admit he probably overstayed his welcome by about 2-3 years. Gruenwald himself seemed to realize the dip in quality, and thus crafted this story as his last hurrah on the title. I remember thinking at the time it was a big improvement over the prior two years, although not up to level of his best stuff.   When this was released in trade to coincide with the Cap movie, I figured I’d pick it up sooner or later just to see how it reads in a vacuum, especially because on paper the concept is good. The Plot: Cap learns the super soldier serum is breaking down and will eventually render him infirm and then kill him. As he deals with his illness he also encounters a series of new patriotic-themed characters.

Waiting for the Trade Captain America : The Captain by Mark Grunewald, Kieron Dwyer and Tom Morgan collects Captain America 332 – 350 and Iron Man 228. Why I Bought This: For my money this is the single greatest Captain America story ever told. When the Cap movie came out Marvel finally put this in trade, I waited a year for the price to come down on Amazon and here we are. The Plot: The government forces Steve Rogers to give back the Captain America identity and appoints John Walker as his replacement. We then get a good slow build alternating between Rogers operating as a vigilante and Walker ’s first missions as Cap before the two have the big throw down.