~Matt Key
So, there was a leak over at Marvel Comics and it is an exciting one!
Following the events of the Secret Wars, currently going on in the comics, we’ve got an entirely new line of comics starting up at #1. Marvel has said that this should not be seen as entirely a reset or a reboot, but with Secret Wars already changing a lot of things about the continuity and history of the characters and their stories, it’s hard to see exactly what it is.
Anyway, the leak that occurred shows us the contents of Marvel’s Previews Magazine to get retailers ready for their orders in October, which is when Secret Wars concludes.
What’s exciting about this is that it shows us where Marvel is taking their characters, where they’re putting their value and possibly reveals bits and pieces of how Secret Wars ends up shaking out.
Here is the list, as well as some of the cover art, for all of the titles.
We’ve got a couple titles involving the Inhumans. This makes total sense with a film coming out in 2019. Marvel very much needs to start getting these relatively obscure characters out there. Interestingly, they’ve given Karnak his own series over Blackbolt or Medusa. Karnak is Inhuman royalty who acts as King Blackbolt’s top advisor. His “power” is that he always knows an object or character’s greatest weakness and can typically shatter them in a single blow because of this.
Uncanny Inhumans #1
–“The silence is broken.”
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Steve McNiven
ROSTER: Blackbolt, Medusa, Reader and Triton. Possibly Beast and Possibly Human Torch (or Inferno)
Karnak #1
— “The flaw in all things”
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Gerardo Zaffino
We’ve got a number of “Spider” titles. With the popularity of the Spider-Verse story, it’s no surprise to see the Web-Warriors in here, which also goes hand in hand with the animated series, Ultimate Spider-Man, which introduced the Web Warriors not too long ago. It’s also no surprise to see that Spider-Gwen got her own series as well. Interestingly, it appears both Miles Morales and Peter Parker are getting their own titles, so the Marvel Universe will now have TWO Spider-Man’s.
Spider-Man #1
— “Welcome to the Marvel Universe, Miles Morales. Hope you survive the experience!”
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Sara Pichelli
Silk #1
–“The Sinister Silk”
Writer: Robbie Thompson
Artist: Stacey Lee CA: Helen Chen
Spider-Gwen #1
–“The Secret History of Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker!”
Writer: Jason Latour
Artist: Robbi Rodriguez
Amazing Spider-Man #1
–“Your friendly neighborhood just got bigger.”
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Giuseppe Camuncoli
NOTE: Spider-Man appears to have a new suit with a glowing spider on his chest and eyes. Also, he’s got the webs back under his arms just like the classic Ditko spidey!
Web Warriors #1
–“Defending the Spider-Verse”
Writer: Mike Costa
Artist: David Baldeon
ROSTER: Spider-girl (Anya Corazon), Spider-UK, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man India, Spider-Ham and Spider-Man Noir.
Spider-Man 2099 #1
–“Smack to the future.”
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Will Sliney
Spider-Woman #1
— “Parent by day. Hero by night.”
Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Javier Rodriguez
NOTE: Yes, Spider-Woman is indeed pregnant.
And let’s put to rest all of those rumors that Marvel is getting rid of their X-Men titles because Marvel Studios doesn’t own the film rights. We’ve got five titles here, so the merry mutants of Marvel are very much still alive here. Also, it’s important to note that we do not have the original Wolverine back, as many people assumed we would. We’ve got an All-New Wolverine with X-23 filling the original Wolverine’s shoes, and then we’ve got the alternate universe Old Man Logan to satisfy fans who miss the original, gruff Logan. If he’s in the same world as everyone else, this could be interesting to see as all of his hero friends are dead in his reality.
All-New X-Men #1
— “On a mission to make their own future”
Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Mark Bagley
ROSTER: The team appears to be a young Beast, Angel, Iceman and Cyclops along with X-23.
Extraordinary X-Men #1
–“Still hated. Still feared. Still standing.”
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Humberto Ramos
ROSTER: Apparently, this team is composed of Storm, Modern Day Iceman, Colossus, Magik, Young Jean Grey, Nightcrawler and Old Man Logan.
Old Man Logan #1
–“Older. Wiser. Sharper.”
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Andrea Sorrentino
All-New Wolverine #1
–“Best there is at what she does”
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: David Lopez
Uncanny X-Men #1
–“Bigger threats require more threatening X-Men.”
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Arist: Greg Land
ROSTER: Apparently, we’ve got a more “sinister” X-Men out there, sort of like what X-Force was. This team consists of Sabretooth, Psylocke, Mystique and Fantomex. The question is, of course, is Magneto on the team or is he a renewed threat?
Then there’s plenty of villain anti-hero titles to play with, which is always fun. Interesting in this line up is that the Howling Commando’s are back, but now they’re teaming up with some ghostly creatures like Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night and a zombie Jasper Sitwell, all lead by Dum Dum Dugan. This hasn’t really been a thing for a while. We saw some of these characters in Daredevil a while back, and they are currently in Deadpool and the Howling Commandos, so it looks like they make it out of the Secret Wars, not only alive, but still a team and on the side of good.
Deadpool #1
— “More Deadpool than you wanted”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Mike Hawthorne
Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1
— “To fight the monsters of the world…We need the monsters of the night!”
Writer: Frank Barbiere
Artist: Brent Schoonover
ROSTER: This team appears to be composed of Hit-Monkey, Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night, Teen-Abomination, Manphibian, along with some others that are more difficult to identify. The team is led by Dum Dum Dugan.
Carnage #1
— “Descent into madness…”
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Mike Perkins
It’s no surprise to see so many Avengers related titles with the popularity of the Avengers films out there. Of particular interest in these books is the inclusion of the Squadron Supreme, a sort of Justice League analog in the Marvel Universe who have had an on-again/off-again relationship with the Avengers. Also, the Illuminati are getting their own book again. They were originally introduced back during the Secret Invasion series and have had a background role ever since, finally re-emerging in Hickman’s New Avengers run. They were the ones dealing, in secret, with all the “Incursions” that eventually ended both the main universe and the Ultimate universe. It should be noted, however, that this appears to be a more criminal team, with Red Hood in the lead.
Also, of note, is the Ultimates title that is seemingly populated with characters not necessarily from the Ultimate universe. Perhaps the name carries over and will go hand in hand with The Avengers.
All-New All-Different Avengers #1
— “Earth’s mightiest most dedicated heroes.”
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Adam Kubert, Mahmud Asrar
ROSTER: This team seems to be composed of Thor (Jane Foster), Captain America (Sam Wilson), Iron man, Nova (Sam Alexander), The Vision, Spider-Man (Miles Morales) and Ms. Marvel (Kamala Kahn). It’s a lot of “legacy” characters rounded out by a couple original characters.
Squadron Supreme #1
— “Sole survivors of their own worlds, they’ll do ANYTHING to protect this one.”
Writer: James Robinson
Artist: Leonard Kirk
A-Force #1
— “A-Force to be reckoned with…”
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
CA: Victor Ibanez
ROSTER: Definitely includes She-Hulk, Medusa, Nico Minoru, Captain Marvel and Dazzler. They’ve also got the new character of Singularity.
New Avengers #1
— “Avengers Idea Mechanics. We A.I.M. To Help.”
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Gerardo Sandoval
ROSTER: This team has Squirrel-Girl, Wiccan, Hulkling, Hawkeye and Sunspot. They’ve also got Songbird, who was originally teamed with the Masters of Evil and later the Thunderbolts.
Illuminati #1
— “Forever evil.”
Writer: Josh Williamson
Artist: Shawn Crystal
Roster: Red Hood is the only distinguishable character on here. The Ball and Chain seems to imply Absorbing Man, though it could also be Thunderball, who’s a member of The Wrecking Crew.
Uncanny Avengers #1
— “Fighting for Humanity, Inhumanity, Mutants…and Deadpool”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Ryan Stegman
ROSTER: Spider-Man, Quicksilver, Brother Voo Doo, Steve Rogers, Rogue, and Deadpool. We’ve also got a new female character as well as the man on fire, who could be Human Torch or could be the Inhuman known as Inferno.
Ultimates #1
— “Ultimate problems need Ultimate solutions.”
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Kenneth Rocafort
ROSTER: This one is interesting. First of all, is Galactus part of this team or the threat they are up against. The team consists of some pretty heavy hitters: Black Panther, Monica Rambeau, Miss America and Captain Marvel, with the Blue Marvel in the lead.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1
— “Keeps your friends close and your enemies closer.”
Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Artist: Mike Norton
With the wild success of 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the cosmic side of Marvel is getting plenty of love well. It’s no surprise that Star-Lord will continue to have his own title, as well as Captain Marvel, but the stand out here is that Drax is getting his own #1. Also, seeing the cover to Nova #1 with Sam flying out to space with his dad is really satisfying if you’ve read the original run. Apparently, Sam and his dad now fight cosmic bad guys together.
Drax #1
— “Best in the galaxy”
Writer: CM Punk with Cullen Bunn
Artist: ?
Guardians of the Galaxy #1
— “The raccoon’s in charge.”
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Valerio Schiti
ROSTER: Groot, Agent Venom, Drax and Rocket Raccoon. We’ve also got a female Star-Lord, most likely Kitty Pryde, and… The Thing?
Captain Marvel #1
— “Captain Marvel rises.”
Writer: Tara Butters & Michele Fazekas
Artist: Kris Anka
Angela: Asgard’s Assassin #1
— “Hel hath a new fury.”
Writer: Marguerite Bennett
Artist: Kim Jacinto & Stephanie Hans
Nova #1
— “The family business…”
Writer: Sean Ryan
Artist: Cory Smith
Star-Lord #1
— “Feels like the first time. Feels like the very first time.”
Writer: Sam Humphries
Artist: ?
Venom: Spaceknight #1
–“Sometimes a hero needs a little space…”
Writer: Robbie Thompson
Artist: Ariel Olivetti
There’s also a number of solo titles. There’s the expected ones, like Daredevil, Ms. Marvel, and Invincible Iron Man. The Mighty Thor will continue the story of Jane Foster as the new Thor, all while fighting cancer and still being written by Jason Aaron. One of the more exciting titles here is Doctor Strange, who has not had his own solo title since the 90’s Dr. Strange, also being written by Jason Aaron who is taking the Sorcerer Supreme in new directions. We’ve also got Vision #1 which is, no doubt, piggy backing on the success of the break-out character from Age of Ultron. Also, interestingly, The Totally Awesome Hulk #1 asks the question, “Who is the Hulk?” which begs the question — is it not Bruce Banner?
Also, take a look at that Sam Wilson, Captain America #1 title. It looks as if Steve Rogers does NOT recover his super soldier serum, does not reclaim that title and that, in fact, the old crime-fighting partners are now at odds in some way.
The Mighty Thor #1
— “The flesh may be weak but the thunder is strong.”
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Russell Dauterman
Daredevil #1
— “The devil’s apprentice”
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Ron Garney
Vision #1
— “A bold new Vision for the Marvel Universe.”
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Gabriel H. Walta
Doctor Strange #1
— “Some surgery requires a scalpel — some, an axe.”
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Chris Bachalo
Ant-Man #1
— “Once a criminal…?”
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Ramon Rosanas
The Totally Awesome Hulk #1
— “Who is the Hulk?”
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Frank Cho
Invincible Iron Man #1
— “Upgrade.”
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: David Marquez
Howard the Duck #1 (Yes, Again.)
— “Howard, uh, gets a new hat…”
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Joe Quinones
Ms. Marvel #1
— “CRUSHED IT.”
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa & Adrian Alphona
Scarlet Witch #1
— “Seeing red…”
Writer: James Robinson
Artist: ?
Sam Wilson, Captain America #1
— “Who do you stand with?”
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Daniel Acuña
Hawkeye #1
— “Hawkeye vs. Hawkeye”
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Ramon Perez
Finally, we’ve got a very interesting title in Contest of Champions #1, with what appears to be the Maestro version of the Hulk on the cover. This could be really cool as it’s based on a video game where, well, the heroes are all forced to fight each other, pretty much exactly like the original Secret Wars from 1984.
Contest of Champions #1
— “When heroes gather…”
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Paco Medina
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He has two cats and knows all things about Doctor Strange but little else.
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