At this year’s Baltimore Comic-Con, I once again bought a mystery box from Third Eye Comics. It was the second time I’d done so and even though I probably didn’t need a box of random comics, I had so much fun going through all the books last year that I had gotten in that mystery box that I went for it again.

Several of the books I got were Marvels and a number were recent; I assume Third Eye over-ordered a few because let’s face it, the whole purpose of the mystery box is to offload overstock. Anyway, I gathered a bunch of them up and read them the other day. I figured it would give me a good look at what Marvel is offering these days, since I don’t tend to read a lot of it (and often find myself flipping through 1980s-era Marvel whenever I’m on unlimited).

Now, I decided to take a different approach to these books when it comes to whether or not I’m going to keep them. Put simply, I’m not. But what I will decide is whether or not I am going to check out other issues of the book on Marvel Unlimited. I guess it’s kind of a “stream or skip” situation. So here we go.

Marvel Comics #1000. This isn’t as recent as the other comics in the pile. It came out in 2019 and was a huge celebraation of 80 years of Marvel. Each page is by a different creative team and marks a different milestone or event over those 80 years, but there’s also a running story involving something called the Etetnity Mask, The Masked Raider, and The Three Xs. I think this was supposed to launch some sort of mystery or event that was going to be published in 2020 and I know there was a Marvel Comics #1001, but beyond that, I don’t know if anything ever came of it (or if it did, if anyone noticed). I had bought this when it came out, so this was a double copy. It was interesting, but if I’m being honest, I prefer the DC Universe Legacies series from a number of years ago, which worked its way through that company’s history but didn’t feel the need to set up an event. As far as seeing where the Masked Raider story went? It’s a skip.

Avengers #15, 16. These two were part of the Blood Hunt event that took place over the course of this past summer. I read the FCBD preview as well as the final issue (which was in this mystery box) and as far as it’s concerned, I’m not that interested in going back and reading the whole thing (although the Doctor Doom event that’s coming up does look interesting). These two isseus take place entirely on a Helicarrier where the Avengers are taking on Baron Blood and an army of vampires. As far as crossover issues go, they’re actually pretty good. I was able to discern enough of what was happening in the main event to not feel lost and there was plenty of action in each issue. I don’t know where it goes from here, to be honest and while I wouldn’t turn down the chance to read this book if it was given to me again, I don’t know how closely I am going to follow it. Skip.

The Sensational She-Hulk #9. There were times when I was on Twitter that I felt like I was probably one of only a few people who really enjoyed the She-Hulk TV show on Disney+. I’ve always liked the character, although re-reading some of the John Byrne-era stuff has proven cringey at times even though I liked the “sensational” concept of the character as opposed to the “savage” one. Here, this series is written by Rainbow Rowell, whose novel Eleanor & Park Stella and I covered years ago, and she seems to be doing a great job with this series. From what I gather, this is an “intermission” episode of sorts, coming after a much bigger storyline, so it’s more character-driven. And Jen Walters is a great character for those types of stories. This issue came out in August, so I’m sure there’s a good amount on Marvel Unlimited and I’m looking forward to checking it out. Stream.

Wolverine Annual #1. This is part of what looks like a crossover event that took place within several annuals called “The Death Stone Saga”. It looks like the Infinity Stones are involved and Wolverine is being chased down by two people who have bonded with two of the stones. The entire issue is a fight scene that’s fun to read and it looks like there’s some sort of closure between Wolverine and the memory of a departed love named Rose. I have so little experience with Wolverine outside of what I’ve read in Uncanny X-Men from the 1980s and 1990s that I didn’t have much context. But at least the issue was exciting to read. Skip.

The Incredible Hulk #13. If I don’t have much experience with Wolverine, I have next to no experience with The Hulk. Well, aside from the 1970s television show. This is a part of a storyline where the Hulk and Bruce Banner are fighting their way through hell in order to retrieve someone’s soul. It’s a solid horror-type of story but because I’m coming to it right in the middle, I’m not getting much out of it. Skip.

Venom: Separation Anxiety #2. I guess the same can be said for Venom, even though I’ve read a number of the character’s early appearances and my kid’s a huge fan. This miniseries is written by Venom creator David Micheline so that’s appealing. The story for this issue is that The Purple Man (of Alias/Jessica Jones) has wound up bonding with a portion of the Venom symbiote, which makes him dangerous, and Eddie Brock is going to have to go after him at some point. Micheline injects a fair amount of humor into the book to make it a little bit like the recent movies, but unlike my kid, I’m not as invested in the character to want to keep going. Skip.

Ultimate Black Panther #2. Okay, so I saved the best of the pile for last here. The Ultimate universe was recently relaunched and I know there’s a whole backstory involving The Maker creating it by his own design (which I headed to Wikipedia to read about instead of going full back issue and it seems that The Maker is the Ultimate Reed Richards, his heel turn took place as the result of what sound like some brutal comics, and this sounds like what would have been if Parallax succeeded in Zero Hour), but I don’t know how much that really matters when it comes to this title. In fact, the only background I think I needed was having seen the movie because that made the characters familiar. Anyway, Bryan Hill does an incredible job with this issue, as T’Challa deals with the fallout of the assassination of his father and a coming war with Konshu and Ra (from Moon Knight), which will center around control of and the future of Africa. After reading this, I immediately went on Marvel Unlimited to read the entire series. It really is incredible. Stream.

There’s more Marvel in the mystery box and I’m sure that I’ll get to more as I dig through the bag that I put all of these in. Of course, I have to also catalogue all of these onto my reading list. But I’m glad that I had these as “samplers” to help me take advantage of the Marvel app.