Marvel's Epic Collections suffered greatly over the first few year since their launch. They've been my main TPB purchases for the last few years, mainly thanks to the first couple of volumes reprinting some material I'd been after for years, and as my hands deteriorate making it harder for me to turn the pages of a physical book I'm increasingly reliant on digital books and comics.
The initial six releases, as detailed in Marvel Announces Epic Collections, For Iron Man, Thor And More and The Next Load Of Marvel Epic Collections are
18th Sep 2013 01 Iron Man v10 The Enemy WithinNone of the first six Epic collections appeared on Comixology when they were released. In fact none of the next six did either, by which point the initial six titles are joined by a seventh, Daredevil:23rd Oct 2013 02 Thor v16 War of the Pantheons
20th Nov 2013 03 Amazing Spider-Man v20 Cosmic Adventures
11th Dec 2013 04 Avengers v9 The Final Threat
15th Jan 2014 05 Fantastic Four v17 All in the Family
19th Feb 2014 06 Captain America v9 Dawn's Early Light
19th Mar 2014 07 Iron Man v16 War GamesBy this time there are 12 Epic Collections missing from Comixology.9th Apr 2014 08 Daredevil v18 Fall From Grace
16th Apr 2014 09 Thor v11 A Kingdom Lost
21st May 2014 10 Amazing Spider-Man v15 Ghosts of the Past
18th Jun 2014 11 Avengers v17 Judgment Day
23rd Jul 2014 12 Fantastic Four v20 Into the Time Stream
Although new comics and trades are released on a Wednesday, both digitally and in print, a few older trades appear digitally every Thursday morning.
On Thursday 31st July 2014 Comixology gained it's first Epic Collection:
31st Jul 2014Which was 223 days after it's print release in comic shops.
10 Amazing Spider-Man v20 Cosmic Adventures
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Amazing-Spider-Man-Epic-Collection-Cosmic-Adventures/digital-comic/126885
On 20th August 2014 Epic 13 Captain America 12 Society of Serpents was published and appeared on Comixology on that date, the first Epic so to do. So at this point 11 of the first 13 are missing.
20th Aug 2014The next Epic, the 14th appears on Comixology the date it's published too:
Captain America v12 Society of Serpents
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Captain-America-Epic-Collection-Society-of-Serpents/digital-comic/131911
10th Sep 2014So at the end of the first year 14 Epic Collections have been physically published but just 3 are available digitally and 11 are missing.
Fantastic Four v1 The World's Greatest Comic Magazine
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Fantastic-Four-Epic-Collection-The-Worlds-Greatest-Comic-Magazine/digital-comic/139796
The next Epic physically published fails to appear on Comixology
24th Sep 2014 15 Amazing Spider-Man v1 Great Power12 out of 15 missing
The next 3 Epics all appear on Comixology the date they're published
1st Oct 2014And then the next 3 don't:
16 Moon Knight v1 Bad Moon Rising
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Moon-Knight-Epic-Collection-Bad-Moon-Rising/digital-comic/14426115th Oct 2014
17 Thor v1 The God of Thunder
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Thor-Epic-Collection-The-God-Of-Thunder/digital-comic/14928029th Oct 2014
18 Iron Man v1 The Golden Avenger
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Iron-Man-Epic-Collection-The-Golden-Avenger/digital-comic/155124
12th Nov 2014 19 Avengers v1 Earth's Mightiest HeroesThere are now 15 Epics out of 21 missing19th Nov 2014 20 Silver Surfer v1 When Calls Galactus
26th Nov 2014 21 Captain America v1 Captain America Lives Again
The next Epic does appear on Comixology the date it's published
10th Dec 2014The Epic after is the last skipped on Comixology so far:
22 Wolverine v1 Madripoor Nights
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Wolverine-Epic-Collection-Madripoor-Nights/digital-comic/169928
24th Dec 2014 23 X-Men v1 Children of the AtomThat made 16 out of 23 missing.
From the next release, and the start of 2015, all Epics appear the date they're published
21st Jan 2015I can however find evidence of other trades, notably big book compilations of material already collected, have been skipped after this date.
24 Iron Man v13 Stark Wars
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Iron-Man-Epic-Collection-Stark-Wars/digital-comic/181671
These are the 16 Epics which were missing at the start of 2015:
01 Iron Man v10 The Enemy WithinThat's not the end of the story though as every so often an older Epic does get released digitally on a Thursday, like Amazing Spider-Man v20 Cosmic Adventures above, but it took till 2016 for the number of missing Epics to change again:02 Thor v16 War of the Pantheons
04 Avengers v9 The Final Threat
05 Fantastic Four v17 All in the Family
06 Captain America v9 Dawn's Early Light
07 Iron Man v16 War Games
08 Daredevil v18 Fall From Grace
09 Thor v11 A Kingdom Lost
10 Amazing Spider-Man v15 Ghosts of the Past
11 Avengers v17 Judgment Day
12 Fantastic Four v20 Into the Time Stream
15 Amazing Spider-Man v1 Great Power
19 Avengers v1 Earth's Mightiest Heroes
20 Silver Surfer v1 When Calls Galactus
21 Captain America v1 Captain America Lives Again
23 X-Men v1 Children of the Atom
28th Apr 2016This is 750 days after it's publication and there are now 15 Epics missing.
Daredevil v18 Fall From Grace
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Daredevil-Elektra-Fall-From-Grace/digital-comic/367616
This volume is slightly odd: it's the only digital Epic Collection without the words Epic Collection in it's title so it won't show up in a search for the words "Epic Collection"!
The next release of an older missing Epic was over a year later and was quite a significant one as the first Epic released in print finally came out on Comixology:
3rd Aug 2017This appeared 1415 days after it's publication and 14 Epics missing
Iron Man v10 The Enemy Within
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Iron-Man-Epic-Collection-The-Enemy-Within/digital-comic/549130
I had known this was missing and it came as a surprise to me when it popped up in a sale at the end of that year which contained several cheap Epic Collections and really pushed me over into buying them digitally. That along with another very cheap trade sale early in 2018, with new volumes for £0.69/$0.99 really brought the question of "Which Epic Collections Are Missing On Comixology?" to mind, as well as making me really aware of the older trades appearing on Comixology on Thursdays so that is the point I started seriously tracking things and worked out what was missing.
But with one older book in 2014, one in 2016 and one in 2017 things weren't moving fast. 2018 was even worse with nothing, and there were times I questioned why I was looking at Comixology's New Releases every Thursday morning. However things changed drastically in 2019:
18th Apr 20191667 days after publication, 13 Epics missing
Amazing Spider-Man v1 Great Power
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Amazing-Spider-Man-Epic-Collection-Great-Power/digital-comic/761109
The next two Epics appeared on the same day!
4th Jul 20191870 days after publication, 12 Epics missing
Amazing Spider-Man v15 Ghosts of the Past
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Amazing-Spider-Man-Epic-Collection-Ghosts-Of-The-Past/digital-comic/786047
4th Jul 20191842 days after publication, 11 Epics missing
Avengers v17 Judgment Day
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Avengers-Epic-Collection-Judgment-Day/digital-comic/786042
And as a bonus the long awaited, by me at least, Spider-Man: The Complete Alien Costume Saga - Book One also appeared!
In July another older Epic was released on Comixology:
18th Jul 20191695 days after publication, 10 Epics missing
21 Captain America v1 Captain America Lives Again
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Captain-America-Epic-Collection-Captain-America-Lives-Again/digital-comic/786097
That's the point that the initial version of this piece was published and I thought 4 older Epics was doing well compared to what had happened the last few years. I hoped for some more, but I don't think I quite anticipated what was to come....
In the first week of October two older Epics were released on Comixology on the same day. This time there was some warning when on the Tuesday before two issues within those Epics, in this case two annuals, appeared on the new release list which for Marvel on Comixology is a sure fire sign a trade containing them is coming!
3rd Oct 20192087 days after publication, 9 Epics missing. Significantly for me, an X-Man fan, this was the first time all of the Days of Future Present crossover had been made available digitally.
05 Fantastic Four 17 All in the Family
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Fantastic-Four-Epic-Collection-All-In-The-Family/digital-comic/804098
3rd Oct 20191898 days after publication, 8 Epics missing
12 Fantastic Four 20 Into the Time Stream
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Fantastic-Four-Epic-Collection-Into-The-Timestream/digital-comic/804103
That left 8 Epic Collections missing from Comixology, half the number missing at the start of 2015.
Just two weeks later the number of Epics missing halved again, when four Epic collections were released on the same day. Again there was some warning of this when on the Tuesday before three issues within, again annuals, appeared on the new release list and warned us two of the books were coming.
17th Oct 20192185 days after publication, 7 Epics missing
02 Thor v16 War of the Pantheons
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Thor-Epic-Collection-War-Of-The-Pantheons/digital-comic/805899
17th Oct 20192136 days after publication, 6 Epics missing
04 Avengers v9 The Final Threat
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Avengers-Epic-Collection-The-Final-Threat/digital-comic/805879
17th Oct 20192066 days after publication, 5 Epics missing
06 Captain America v9 Dawn's Early Light
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Captain-America-Epic-Collection-Dawns-Early-Light/digital-comic/805884
17th Oct 20192010 days after publication, 4 Epics missing.... .... which didn't last long because just 1 week later three of those turned up!
09 Thor v11 A Kingdom Lost
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Thor-Epic-Collection-A-Kingdom-Lost/digital-comic/805894
24th Oct 20191807 days after publication, 3 Epics missing
19 Avengers v1 Earth's Mightiest Heroes
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Avengers-Epic-Collection-Earths-Mightiest-Heroes/digital-comic/805904
24th Oct 20191800 days after publication, 2 Epics missing
20 Silver Surfer v1 When Calls Galactus
https://www.comixology.co.uk/Silver-Surfer-Epic-Collection-When-Calls-Galactus/digital-comic/805914
24th Oct 20191765 days after publication, 1 Epic missing!
23 X-Men v1 Children of the Atom
https://www.comixology.co.uk/X-Men-Epic-Collection-Children-Of-The-Atom/digital-comic/805919
So the last missing Epic Collection is
07 Iron Man v16 War GamesWe monitor Comixology for it's release. They'll be no warning, like with the annuals above, as all the issues in that Epic are already on Comixology so it's a matter of checking Comixology's New Releases every Thursday morning.
