One of my favorite games from last year, Marvel Cosmic Invasion delivers a fun, replayable beat ’em up that mixes newer characters and classic arcade action. Like Tribute Games’ previous title, 2022’s TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, Cosmic Invasion pays homage to elements from all of Marvel’s history.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion plays like the classic Konami X-Men arcade game with the whole Marvel universe to play with. The eclectic character cast includes Spider-Man, a couple Avengers and X-Men, fan favorite Beta Ray Bill instead of Thor, as well as newer heroes like Phyla-Vell and Cosmic Ghost Rider. Living up to its’ title, the story takes the player from Earth to the various planets and locales of Marvel’s cosmic universe. Marvel’s heroes will battle Thanos, Annihilus and Venom’s modern nemesis Knull. There are easter eggs galore, from references to Kingpin, deep-cut mutants and Mary Jane Watson’s soap opera acting career. I love seeing newer characters like Wakanda’s Shuri in classic pixels and bright colors.

There a few ways Cosmic Invasion keeps the side-scrolling action fresh. Each player selects two characters to play as, allowing them to not only tag out but perform team-up attacks to juggle enemies and keep the combos going. Each level has collectibles and challenges and characters gain new passive bonuses as they level up, keeping the fun and replayability going strong.

I’m a huge comic book fan, and these last couple years I have been in a big DC phase, but Cosmic Invasion has got me hooked back on Marvel, especially X-Men. This has inspired me to start an X-Men comic book collection; I have been scouring thrift stores, comic shops, used book stores and FB marketplace to track down classic issues. Some highlights include Jim Lee’s X-Men #1 with the foldout cover, Rob Liefeld’s X-Force #1 in a sealed bag with trading card, Wolverine #50 with the claw-slashed die-cut cover, a 90’s reprint of Giant-Size X-Men #1, a handful of classic Marc Silvestri issues and Captain America #367 where Magneto decides to beat Red Skull’s ass instead of teaming with him. I read most of my comics digitally these days, but the charm of reading old issues complete with their original ads makes them a great addition to my physical media collection.