Marvel's November previews reviewed

Marvel Entertainment will have a couple of different variant themes come November, one of which has already been discussed at length all around the Interent (I had some thoughts here; it's worth noting that seeing some of the names attached to the hip-hop variants listed here, several are created by black folks, and at least one by Ed Piskor, who I believe is white, but who is also probably the comics creator who has done the most work on the subject of hip-hop, and is definitely the single most recognized cartoonist when it comes to the intersection of comics and hip-hop at the moment, so his tacit endorsement is probably a valuable one for Marvel, regardless of the color of his skin).

Another is these so-called "Cosplay Variants," which are...well, they're pretty weird, aren't they? They vary greatly in terms of quality of cosplay, and while that's a subject I know absolutely nothing about, I have to assume that what the publisher was going for was showing the wide variety of cosplay, essentially covering a spectrum of cosplay. Like the Ms. Marvel one at the top of the post is one of the better ones; that young lady looks a lot like Kamala Khan might in real life, and she and the costume look close enough that it's easy to imagine her appearing in a live-acction TV show or movie about Ms. Marvel (although her costume is unusually faithful; "Marvel Cinematic Universe" stuff generally tries to make the comics costumes look as different as possible when put to film, for reasons.) (Well, maybe the skirt is a little shorter and tighter than Kamala's.) I'm not sure why she's out in the woods though.

The higher-quality ones like this remind me of this Damage cover from way back in the day:

But then there are ones like this...

...or this...

I wish I knew the exact providence of these. Were they submitted by cosplayers, and then chosen by Marvel? Or did Marvel handle the photo-shoots themselves? Because it seems weird how many of Marvel's heroes seem to be appearing in people's backyards and creepy alleys, you know?

There are also Kirby Monster variants (which, like the hip-hop variants, are apparently carrying over from last month), design variants and the always-amusing-to-me blank variants.

As for the state of the Marvel Universe come November, it seems noteworthy that The Fantastic Four are apparently no more–perhaps their film bombed so bad it somehow erased them from the Marvel Universe altogether? Well, The Human Torch is mentioned, and will apparently be appearing in an issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and The Thing is in the cockpit of a spaceship on the cover of Guardians of The Galaxy. I saw no mention of Reed or Sue Richards, however, or of their kids or The Future Foundation. The ASM solicit that Johnny Storm appears in does mention the fact that The Baxter Building is no longer The Baxter Building, so, um, something happens to the FF during the course of Secret Wars, which probably makes sense, given the role Mister Fantastic plaid in its build-up (and that FF villain Doctor Doom is the apparent Big Bad).

The X-Men seemed to have similarly taken a hit during Secret Wars, appearing in just two titles featuring two different teams, and only one spin-off solo series (All-New Wolverine). Likewise, the Avengers line has shrunk dramatically, to just 2-4 titles, depending on whether you want to count The Ultimates and how much you want to count Uncanny Avengers.

Speaking of Secret Wars, a lot of characters from differing realities seem to have stuck around...certainly a lot more than what many of us were expecting (i.e. Miles Morales, and maybe Spider-Gwen). And this month features solicitations for the first round of collections of Secret Wars tie-in series. Oddly, they don't seem to have any real uniformity in their titling. Some have reference to "Battleworld" or "Warzones" in their titles, or "Secret Wars," while others nothing of the sort, and appear to just be random collections of, say, X-Men or Spider-Man comics. I suppose we'll have to wait to see the trade dress to see if Marvel is doing something to visually bind the various Secret Wars collections to one another, and if Marvel is really pushing the trades as standalones or as part of a greater whole (the latter strategy worked extremely well for them with Civil War, I know).

So here's what jumped out at me from Marvel's solicitations for the month of November, which you can read in their entirety here.

ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT AVENGERS #1 & 2
MARK WAID (w) • ISSUE #1 - ADAM KUBERT & MAHMUD ASRAR (A)
ISSUE #2 - ADAM KUBERT (A)
CoverS by ALEX ROSS
Issue #1 – VARIANT SKETCH COVER BY ALEX ROSS
Variant Cover BY MAHMUD ASRAR
Variant Cover BY LUCHIANO VECCHIO
HIP-HOP VARIANT BY JIM CHEUNG
VINTAGE VARIANT COVER BY ALEX ROSS
VINTAGE VARIANT SKETCH COVER BY ALEX ROSS
INHUMAN 50th ANNIVERSARY VARIANT BY CLIFF CHIANG
KIRBY MONSTER VARIANT COVER BY TBA
Issue #2 – Variant Cover by Oscar Jimenez
The Avengers are dead--long live the Avengers! Earth’s Mightiest Heroes--Captain America, Thor, Vision, and Iron Man--are living separate lives, not tied to any team--but when a threat from beyond the stars targets our world, fate draws them together once more, alongside Nova, Ms. Marvel, and Miles Morales a.k.a. Spider-Man!
Issue #1 - 40 PGS./RATED T+ …$4.99
Issue #2 - 32 PGS./RATED T+ …$3.99

Oof. So they're really going with that for the title then? "All-New, All-Different" isn't just a branding thing, but that's literally the title of this comic book...? It seems like a bit of a mouthful when just plain "Avengers" would do, especially considering that the Avengers line of books has been dramatically reduced post-Notareboot, to just three books–this, New Avengers and Uncanny Avengers (Although Uncanny Avengers is still a book that seems to be operating on a half-Avengers, half-X-Men sort of organizing principle, so maybe there will really only bee two and a half Avengers books post-Secret Wars).

Did we know that Adam Kubert would be involved with this series? And by "we" I mean "I"...? I don't remember knowing that, although it's quite possible I knew it and then forgot it. That seems like a pretty big deal, but Asrar is probably the stronger artist of the two, and the more likely to stay on schedule. If they're going to be double-shipping the book regularly, maybe they need two different pencil artists, but, if that's the case, then I wish they would have found someone more Asrar-like to draw the issues or parts of issues that Asrar can't draw, as those two don't seem to have much in common, stylistically. (Speaking of schedules, if Marvel essentially took a few months off from producing their regular line while Secret Wars was going on, wouldn't that have given their artists a few months of lead time to start getting pages in the can for the post-Secret Wars, "All-New, All-Different" phase...?).

ALL-NEW WOLVERINE #1 & 2
TOM TAYLOR (w) • DAVID LOPEZ & DAVID NAVARROT (a)
CoverS by BENGAL
...
HIP-HOP VARIANT COVER BY KERON GRANT
...
LAURA KINNEY EMBRACES HER DESTINY. HERE! COMES! WOLVERINE!
X-23 was created to be a weapon and for a time, that’s all she was. But with the help of her mentor, LOGAN—the original WOLVERINE—she escaped that dark past. Tragically, Logan has fallen, but Laura will continue in his footsteps as a hero. Recent events have her doing everything in her power to keep those around her alive, as violent forces are hell-bent on mutual destruction. If anyone can stop them, it’s Laura. She is the best there is at what she does. She is THE ALL-NEW WOLVERINE.
Issue #1 – 40 PGS./Parental Advisory …$4.99
Issue #2 – 32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99

The American Library Association's theme for summer reading programs this year was superheroes, so the public library at which I work invited a Cleveland-based comics scholar in to give a presentation on female representation in superhero comics. As he was discussing some of the ebbs and flows of positive and negative representation, he noted the point in time during which Marvel was only publishing a single ongoing monthly devoted to a female superhero, X-23. A character, he noted with some chagrin, who was literally a clone of Wolverine.

It could also be noted that not only was she a clone of Wolverine, but she was a character so lacking in her own identity that she didn't even have a name, but was referred to simply by a number.

Well, now X-23 is going to be the Wolverine, and, well, it's a better codename than either "X-23" or "Laura," I suppose. They may be overstating her Wolverine-ness a bit here, as she's apparently going to be only one of two Wolverines in the post-Secret Wars Marvel Universe, as the Unforgiven version of Wolverine from Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's Old Man Logan series is going to be in Extraordinary X-Men for some reason. (I should probably note that it is a pleasant surprise to find out that Marvel apparently isn't using Secret Wars to un-do a bunch of storylines like the "death" of Wolverine, who apparently wasn't resurrected in the cosmic rejiggering, but remains "dead").

I'm not crazy about that costume, but then, I don't really like any Wolverine costumes–maybe his black and gray X-Force get-up is my favorite, but, I don't know, he generally looks pretty dumb in costume. I've never liked Laura's claw arrangement, and the fact that she only has two claws on each hand looks especially weird now that she's wearing an old Wolverine costume.

ALL-NEW X-MEN #1 & 2
DENNIS HOPELESS (w) • MARK BAGLEY (a/C)
ISSUE #1 - HIP-HOP VARIANT COVER BY ED PISKOR
Variant Cover BY MARK BAGLEY
KIRBY MONSTER VARIANT COVER BY TBA
ISSUE #2 - VARIANT COVER BY TBA
Hated and feared more than ever, the world is a dangerous place for mutants. As the few remaining X-MEN retreat into seclusion, a handful of mutant teenagers refuse to allow their destiny to be decided for them. CYCLOPS. BEAST. ICEMAN. ANGEL. THE ALL-NEW WOLVERINE. KID APOCALYPSE. OYA. Stepping out of the shadows of their predecessors, the ALL-NEW X-MEN are striking out on their own, determined to write their own futures!
32 PGS. (EACH)/Rated T+ …$3.99 (EACH)

Okay a couple of things:

1.) Why is this book just called "All-New X-Men," and not "All-New, All-Different X-Men" like All-New, All-Different Avengers...? As is, it's keeping the title of the Bendis-launched series about the original teenage X-Men in the modern Marvel Universe, four-fifths of whom make-up this team (In fact, this seems to be the cast of the existing All-New X-Men book, with a pair of students from the Jean Grey School replacing Professor Kitty Pryde). You know what this means, right? There will in a short time be two trade paperbacks on the shelves labeled All-New X-Men Vol. 1, making it extra-confusing for readers who want to start reading All-New X-Men in trade.

2.) They're not kidding about there being only a "few remaining X-MEN;" this is only the second of two X-Men books, with the other being Extraordinary X-Men, which looks to have a much lamer, Exiles-like team make-up.

3.) The fact that the original X-Men are all still in the present means that not only did Marvel not use the reality rejiggering elements of Secret Wars to put them back in place (which is probably a good thing, as it wouldn't have been dramatically satisfying), but that Brian Michael Bendis never resolved that element of his storyline, which has got to be rather dramatically unsatisfying as well. I guess I'll find out when I get to it in trade; I left off with "The Black Vortex."

4.) The All-New X-Men all have new costumes and looks (again). They look alright, no worse than their last new costumes, I suppose, but I really hate the fire-wings on Angel, which he got during "Black Vortex." Not only does it suggest the most confusing period of Supergirl comics from the Distinguished Competition, but Original Angel was pretty much the ideal X-Men in terms of name, appearance and powers all reinforcing one another.

5.) Having the guy who makes Hip-Hop Family Tree handle the "Hip-Hop Variant Cover" strikes me as a very good idea. They probably should have had Piskor draw all of the covers in that theme/line.

6.) I actually had to look up "Oya" to see if it was Idie's mutant name, as she is almost never, ever referred to as Oya (I just read the last two collections of Wolverine & The X-Men, co-starring Idie and Quentin Quire, too). I'm also surprised to see the name "Kid Apocalypse" used instead of "Genesis," although I imagine that must be Evan/Genesis, also from the pages of Wolverine & The X-Men. "Kid Apocalypse" is probably a more marketable codename, what with the next X-Men movie featuring Apocalypse and all, but it doesn't sound like a name Evan would want to use...it also sounds a little too much like those of his former classmates, Kid Gladiator and Kid Omega (Speaking of the latter, I sorta wish Broo and Quentin were in this line-up as well, particularly since we've repeatedly seen glimpses of the future in which they are future X-Men alongside Idie and Evan).


AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: RENEW YOUR VOWS TPB
Written by DAN SLOTT, MICHEL FIFFE, FELIPE SMITH, MARGUERITE BENNETT, JEREMY WHITLEY, KATIE COOK & MORE
Penciled by ADAM KUBERT, MICHEL FIFFE, FELIPE SMITH, KRIS ANKA, GURIHIRU, KATIE COOK & MORE
Cover by ADAM KUBERT
On Battleworld, the Amazing Spider-Man is a family man! Peter Parker, his wife, Mary Jane, and their daughter must scrape by to make ends meet — but at least they have each other! And Peter will protect his family at all costs — even if it means suiting up once again and taking on the godlike Regent! But Peter isn’t the only one willing to risk all for the family — and his daughter isn’t about to sit back and let dad have all the fun, either! The Parkers take on Regent in the most controversial Spider-Man story of the year! Plus: true tales of romance on Battleworld! Robbie Reyes and Kamala Khan! A Typhoid Mary, Karen Page and Matt Murdock love triangle! And more! When worlds collide, can their love survive? Collecting AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: RENEW YOUR VOWS #1-5 and SECRET WARS: SECRET LOVE #1.
136 PGS./Rated T …$17 .99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-9886-4

Well, I guess this answers my question of if, where and how Marvel would collect Secret Love. I honestly expected most of it to be divvied up into the collections of books featuring the characters, or for the whole one-shot to be collected along with a few other one-shots. I wouldn't have guessed that they might put the whole thing in the back of this ASM collection (which, you'll note, doesn't have any indication in its title that it's part of Secret Wars), as the only thing the stories in Secret Love seem to have in common with Renew Your Vows is that they also deal with relationships between Marvel characters in one form or another.

Here are two of the three covers for November's issue of Doctor Strange. The first appears to be by interior artist Chris Bachalo, and to depict Doc cleaning his fridge out of some sort of Beetlejuicey infestation. The second is a Skottie Young variant; these are so often done in his "Young" style, it's interesting to see him drawing a Marvel superhero as an adult. He's quite good at it, though.

DRAX #1
CM PUNK & CULLEN BUNN (w) • SCOTT HEPBURN (a/C)
Variant Cover by Ed McGuinness
HIP-HOP VARIANT COVER BY MIKE CHOI
YOUNG VARIANT COVER BY SKOTTIE YOUNG
UFC FIGHTER CM PUNK MAKES HIS MIGHTY MARVEL DEBUT!
Drax the Destroyer is the muscle for the Guardians of the Galaxy, but what does he do when he’s not adventuring through space with the Guardians? He lets his bloodthirsty quest for revenge take the pilot seat, of course! Determined to find and kill Thanos once and for all, Drax is ready to take on the universe. But when you’re tooling around the universe in a ship aptly named “The Space Sucker”, an unwavering desire for bloodshed isn’t enough to keep a mission from derailing. Drax crash lands into his wildest adventures ever, encountering foes no one will ever expect! The depths of space may not be big enough to contain this much grit, vengeance and all-out action!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

It is weird that every single member of the Guardians of the Galaxy–even the one who is a tree-man incapable of speech–has their own solo, ongoing title...with the sole exception of Gamorra, the Guardian of the Galaxy who is also a lady?

She doesn't strike me as too terribly interesting a character, being a one-dimensional big, green warrior-type who hates Thanos, but, well, that's Drax's whole thing, isn't it?

On the other hand, maybe CM Punk just really wanted to co-write a Drax title for some reason, and Marvel wasn't inclined to say no to Punk, given that he is something of a celebrity whose name is likely to bring in more readers than, say, the name "Cullen Bunn" or "Dennis Hopeless," and also because he is a big, tough guy that I imagine it is hard to say no to.

Speaking of Punk, don't listen to this solicitation copy; it is lying to you! He isn't making his mighty Marvel debut with Drax #1; he already made his mighty Marvel debut with Thor Annual #1.

HERCULES #1
Dan Abnett (W) • Luke Ross (A)
Cover by Clay Mann
Variant Cover by Jay Anacleto
HIP-HOP VARIANT COVER BY THEOTIS JONES
ACTION FIGURE VARIANT BY JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
YOUNG VARIANT COVER BY SKOTTIE YOUNG
“Still going Strong”
The World’s first super hero decides it’s time to get back in the game, protect the innocent, defend the world, and generally remind everyone why he set the mark for heroism in the first place. Make way… Hercules is back! The greatest son of Olympus is thrown into the fight against threats ancient and modern, and Hercules demonstrates that a legend, no matter how strong he is, survives on his experience, and his ability to move with the times. A modern world, an age-old hero… and blockbuster action!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

I like Marvel's Hercules a whole lot, but I have to say, this does (almost) nothing at all for me (the reference to Herc as "the world's first super hero" is a nice flourish, though). Abnett isn't a writer I'd expect to see on a Hercules comic, nor is he a writer I'm particularly curious about seeing provide his own take on the character (particularly after some pretty dismal, Lanning-less scripting for DC's Convergence event), but then, I don't suppose it would be an easy task for any writer to take on Hercules after Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente's long, creatively (if not financially) successful run on the character.

I wonder about his new costume. After decades–if not centuries–of rocking a skirt, why is The Lion of Olympus suddenly wearing a cod-piece, over a pair of pants...?

ILLUMINATI #1
JOSHUA WILLIAMSON (w) • SHAWN CRYSTAL (a)
Cover by RILEY ROSSMO
Variant Cover BY Paul Pope
HIP-HOP VARIANT COVER BY TBA
...
“Bad guys win every day… why not us?”
How do the villains of the Marvel Universe live in a world where the sky is constantly filled with heroes? What do they do when they want out of that life? There is no escape. No future. Who saves the villains? The Hood believes he might be that savior. He wants everyone to have a place at the table. Now all he needs to do is build his army… Featuring Titania, Mad Thinker, Thunderball, Black Ant and Enchantress, Illuminati is a tale of villains just trying to survive in the All-New All-Different Marvel Universe.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Strange. For years now Marvel was publishing a comic starring The Illuminati under the title New Avengers, and now they're using the title Illuminati...on a comic not starring any iterations of the Marvel Illuminati, but rather a completely random assortment of villains that I can't even guess at the connection between.

I suppose The Hood was once a member of the "Dark Reign"-era evil Illuminati, called "The Cabal," but that's as close as I can come to guessing about the application of that title to this group of characters. The solicitation copy certainly doesn't seem to suggest that these characters will be functioning as unseen hands controlling or influencing the Marvel Universe or anything.

That's a pretty nice cover by Constantine: The Hellblazer artist Rile Rossmo, and look, there's going to be a Paul Pope cover too...! I like Paul Pope covers. And Paul Pope art in general.

MOON GIRL AND DEVIL DINOSAUR #1
AMY REEDER & BRANDON MONTCLARE (w) • NATACHA BUSTOS (a)
Cover by AMY REEDER
HIP-HOP VARIANT COVER BY TBA
Variant Cover BY TBA
LUNELLA LAFAYETTE is a preteen super genius who wants to change the world—but learned the hard way that it takes MORE than just big brains. Fearful of the monstrous INHUMAN genes inside her, life is turned upside down when a savage, red-scaled tyrant is teleported from prehistoric past to a far-flung future we call TODAY. The pair are many things, and together the most amazing Marvel Team-Up. MARVEL PRESENTS… MOON GIRL & DEVIL DINOSAUR!
32 PGS./Rated T ...$3.99

I'm all for more dinosaurs in comics, and I imagine I'll be reading this in trade eventually, but, as I noted on Twitter upon the book's announcement, if I were the guys behind Terrible Lizard, the Oni Press comic about a young girl with a strong psychic bond with a Tyrannosaurus Rex from the prehistoric past, I'd probably be pretty irritated that this comic exists. I'm sure it's an innocent case of premise ovelap, but man, Terrible Lizard came out in trade, like, weeks before this was announced.

Of all the hip-hop variant covers, this is the one I'm most interested to see.

MS. MARVEL #1
G. WILLOW WILSON (w) • Takeshi Miyazawa & Adrian Alphona (a)
Cover by Cliff Chiang
HIP-HOP VARIANT COVER BY Jenny Frison
Variant Cover BY SARA PICHELLI
ACTION FIGURE VARIANT BY JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
COSPLAY VARIANT ALSO AVAILABLE
The internationally-beloved, butt-kicking, smack-talking, most adorable super hero makes her triumphant return. Look out world, Kamala Khan is back and officially an Avenger! Yup, the dream to end all dreams has happened for Kamala. She’s toe to toe with the best of the best, but will being one of Earth’s mightiest heros be everything she imagined? Is being a celebrity hero as wonderful as Kamala has hoped?
Plus: WHO IS THAT WITH BRUNO?? Welcome back, Kamala Korps. We missed you!
40 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99

I've been curious about the return of Ms. Marvel, now relaunched with a new #1 for maximum confusification! (Hopefully the collections won't also be renumbered, as this one does pretty well in trade format, and it would be too bad if Marvel's insane insistence on renumbering all their comics with new #1's every couple of months interfered with some readers' attempts to read Ms. Marvel).

Why have I been curious? Well, this was the last Marvel comic not based on a TV cartoon that was still priced at $2.99. I suspected Marvel would use the Secret Wars sabbatical and return with a new #1 as an excuse to raise the price to $3.99, but, well, this is an oversized issue, with a $4.99 price tag, so I guess I'll have to wait until next month to see for sure.

...

Hey, Ms. Marvel is rated T+...? Is that a typo? It's always seemed like one of the most kid-friendly comics Marvel publishes these days...

SPIDER-WOMAN #1
DENNIS HOPELESS (w) • JAVIER RODRIGUEZ (a/C)
...
COSPLAY VARIANT ALSO AVAILABLE
HIP-HOP VARIANT BY NATACHA BUSTOS
BABY ON BOARD!
Jessica Drew is a private investigator, a super hero and… a mom to be? Since we last saw her, Spider-Woman’s got a whole NEW responsibility -- she’s super heroing for two now, after all! Ben Urich and Porcupine are still along for the adventure, too, and aren’t making Jess’ life any easier – half the time they won’t even let her leave the car! How’s a gal supposed to save innocent people and keep herself out of harm’s way? See how in the mother of all Spider-Stories!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

I suppose it should go without saying how frustrating Marvel's random re-numbering of everything to a new #1 just because Secret Wars happened is, huh? I find this new #1 more frustrating even then those for titles like Howard The Duck and Squirrel Girl though simply because they didn't re-number this title when it got a new writer, new artist, new direction and the title character got a new costume, but they are renumbering now for, um, no reason. The only difference between Spider-Woman #1 (this Spider-Woman #1, that is) and Spider-Woman # is that Jessica Drew is now super-pregnant (and disappointingly drawn by the usually very reliable Javier Rodriguez).


UNCANNY AVENGERS ANNUAL #1
James Robinson (W) • Marc Laming (a)
Cover by Mike Deodato
• The only good Nazi is an undead Nazi...
• The Uncanny Avengers take on magic in this supernatural adventure!
• Featuring Deadpool! Doctor Voodoo! Agatha Harkness! And the Emerald Warlock makes his marvel debut!
40 PGS/ RATED T+ ...$4.99

I like how they announce the Emerald Warlock making his "marvel" debut as if that's someone we're supposed to immediately recognize. Almost as much as I like the announcement of Agatha Harkness and Brother Doctor Voodoo in the same excited breath as Deadpool. One of those things is clearly not like the other two.

WEB WARRIORS #1
MIKE COSTA (w) • DAVID BALDEON (a)
Cover by JULIAN TOTINO TEDESCO
HIP-HOP VARIANT COVER BY DAMION SCOTT
...
All of your favorite web-slinging wonders from SPIDER-VERSE, together in one place! It’s high-stakes action when ELECTRO threatens all of reality! From their base on Earth-001, it’s up to SPIDER-GWEN, SPIDER-MAN NOIR, SPIDER-MAN INDIA, SPIDER-UK, SPIDER-HAM and a TON of other surprise spider-guest stars to stop him!
40 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99

Say, isn't this pretty much the same premise as the Captain Britain Corps, but with Spider-MenPeopleCharacters instead...? Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course; surely readers are much more interested in alternate versions of Spider-Man than they are in alternate version of Captain Britain.