For years, the Marvel Omnibus has been one of my favorite ways to purchase comics. Despite whatever is going on this month on the stands, regardless of whether the current event is Civil War great or Fear Itself 'meh,' the greatest Marvel comics from every era get collected with gorgeous binding, remastered art, brilliant creative teams and the best story lines, produced in sequential order. The Marvel Omnibus, in short, is the criterion DVD box set collection of comics.

With Disney's John Carter coming to movie screens soon, now is a great time to read up on Marvel's John Carter, Warlord of Mars stories, so that you can understand the epic awesomeness of Edgar Rice Burroughs and his Barsoom novels.

The John Carter, Warlord of Mars omnibus will be released February 22 and is available for order now from Amazon.

Marvel's top talents of the 1970s take on Edgar Rice Burroughs' savage swordsman of Barsoom! John Carter, a hunted soldier on the Western frontier, is transported to an alien world filled with six-armed aliens, sinister super-science and the love of his life, the incomparable Dejah Thoris! A must-have science-fiction epic in the Mighty Marvel Manner! Collecting JOHN CARTER, WARLORD OF MARS #1-28 and ANNUAL #1-3.

Marvel Comics deluxe Omnibus trade editions are my favorite way to read some of they best story lines of all time. From Journey into Mystery to Bendis' Alias, to the epic Walt Simonson Thor Omnibus, I'm a big fan of the format and I often compare it to watching a couple of box sets of your favorite show on DVD. You absorb a lot of story, in real time, and get to appreciate things like foreshadowing and theme that aren't as easily absorbed when you're just reading the comic as one of many from this week's buy pile.Grant Morrison's groundbreaking run on New X-Men was one of the most important tenures a creator has had on the title. Together with artists Frank Quitely, Ethan Van Sciver and Lenil Francis Yu he brought us the U-Men, Dust, Angel Salvadore and Beak, Cyclops' dicky new personality, and Quentin Quire. Despite my enormous love for Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's run on Astonishing X-Men, they'd be the first to admit that they were riding the wave set in motion by Morrison on New X-Men. To that end, I tell anyone interested in my cockamamie theories that there have essentially been three major X-Men eras:

1) Stan Lee/Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas/Neal Adams, the period of creative highs and lows that was ultimately unsustainable when it came to sales.

2) Chris Claremont and artists from Dave Cockrum to Jim Lee during his over two decades redefining not only what the X-Men were but just how great comics could be. A period, I might add, which featured consistently groundbreaking lettering from the excellent Tom Ozechowski. Claremont's reign extended into tertiary series like New Mutants, and included the input of wonderful writers like Louise Simonson and more artists than I can begin to list.

3) The Morrison era. We're still in that one. With Phoenix apparently maybe coming back and Scott and Wolverine at odds with each other, and Fantomex and Quentin Quire running around getting their snark on, Morrison's fingerprints are everywhere in the Marvel mutant universe. And that's great.

To see where it all started, and to indulge in a fantastic fun read, pick up the New X-Men Omnibus when it hits stores August 15.

The wildly innovative, Eisner Award-Nominated Grant Morrison X-Men saga, collected in its entirety in a single volume! See it all in the complete New X-Men - featuring the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, the X-Corporation, Quicksilver, Fantomex and more!

COLLECTING: NEW X-MEN 114-154, NEW X-MEN 2001