Marvel Epic Collection

Marvel launched the Epic Collection line of collected comics in 2013. Marvel Senior Vice President of Sales David Gabriel said they were intended to be: "big, fat, color collections at the best price we can maintain."^[1]

Though the books are often published out of order, Gabriel added: "We'll be bouncing around in different eras, getting out stories that we want to see in print and haven't necessarily been in print yet - or long runs that have never been collected together in one volume.^[2]

"When all is said and done, the Epic volumes will fit seamlessly next to one another on readers' bookshelves, presenting a complete and unbroken run of each title."

The format replaced the black-and-white Essential Marvel line.^[3]

September 2013 saw the first book published, with Iron Man volume 10: The Enemy Within. That was followed by October's Thor volume 16: War Of The Pantheons, then Amazing Spider-Man volume 20: Cosmic Adventures.

In May 2023, Marvel launched the Modern Era Epic Collection, focusing on newer runs of comics.

A third line of releases - the Ultimate Epic Collection - was confirmed in October 2024. The new books have their own trade dress, separate from the main Epic Collection, and will collect comics from the Ultimate Universe.

Marvel also publishes Complete Collections, which are similarly thick paperbacks - but with more of a focus on individual creators, or runs.

DC Comics launched a similar line - DC Finest - in 2024, which it described as "affordably priced, large-size paperback collections" providing "a new line of comprehensive collections of the most in-demand periods, genres, and characters from across DC history".^[4]