Marvel's July previews reviewed

Marvel's line-wide, shared universe re-shuffling event Secret Wars will still be in full swing in July, so their solicitations for the comics they intend to publish that month are a lot like those they plan to publish in June: All at least slightly ridiculous sounding, with plenty sounding potentially awesome, but who can say? The premises for all of these things are so out there, it's difficult to judge--well, pre-judge--at all. One can really only go by the creators and characters, and hope the ridiculousness is the good kind of ridiculous.

I'm curious about...let's see...all of these, but since Marvel doesn't really share press copies and I don't buy $3.99 books, I'll have to wait until the trades--whatever form they may take--arrive in Ohio libraries. If you haven't already seen the full solicitations, you may do so here. Otherwise, here are a few that jumped out at me this month...

AGE OF ULTRON VS. MARVEL ZOMBIES #2
JAMES ROBINSON (w) • STEVE PUGH (a/C)
LANDSCAPE VARIANT COVER BY TBA
WAR RAGES BETWEEN TWO SIDES OF UNHUMANITY – THE UNDEAD AND THE ARTIFICIAL!
• As battle escalates between ULTRON’S robotic horde and the ZOMBIE masses, a smaller pocket of humanity must defend themselves from both sides.
• Can SALVATION—an oasis of sanity amidst utter chaos run by JIM HAMMOND, THE VISION and WONDER MAN—protect what little humanity resides in the “DEADZONE”?
• And what is the HANK PYM from 1872, a man literally in a world he never made, supposed to do when first encountering the evil of Ultron?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
*SECRET WARS SERIES

While Age of Ultron was set-up as a sort of zombie movie only with robots instead of zombies, it doesn't seem like a very good fight, does it? I mean, if the zombies' greatest weapon is their ability to infect their victims with zombie-ism, increasing their own ranks with new recruits, well, they're not going to be able to do so with robots...


ANT-MAN ANNUAL #1
NICK SPENCER (w)
RAMON ROSASNAS & Brent Schoonover (A)
Cover by DAVID MARQUEZ
• Just in time for the ANT-MAN movie (funny, that), it’s the team-up you’ve been waiting for: Scott Lang and Hank Pym, together again! Ant-bros!
• A classic villain makes his dreaded return!
• And a new hero is born! Well, not born, really -- he’s already an adult. Nobody wants to read about a super-baby. (Or do they?)
40 PGS./ONE SHOT/Rated T+ …$4.99

I fail to undestand why this book isn't being called Ant-Bros. Or, at the very least, Ant-Men.


BLACK PANTHER BY CHRISTOPHER PRIEST: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION VOL. 1 TPB
Written by CHRISTOPHER PRIEST & JOE QUESADA
Penciled by MARK TEXEIRA, VINCE EVANS, JOE JUSKO, MIKE MANLEY, MARK BRIGHT & SAL VELLUTO
Cover by JOE QUESADA
Black Panther reinvented as a sharp and witty political satire? Believe it! T’Challa is the man with the plan as Christopher Priest puts the emphasis on the Wakandan king’s reputation as the ultimate statesman, as seen through the eyes of the U.S. government’s Everett K. Ross. As the Panther investigates a murder in New York, Ross plays Devil’s Advocate in an encounter with Mephisto, and a new regime seizes control in Wakanda. When the truth behind the coup becomes clear, T’Challa finds himself an enemy of the state — and a major revelation threatens to destroy his relationship with the Avengers! Plus: Meet Queen Divine Justice — is she ready to join T’Challa’s deadly crew of female bodyguards, the Dora Milaje? Are they ready for her? Hold onto your pants, because Ross sure can’t! Collecting BLACK PANTHER (1998) #1-17.
416 PGS./Rated T+ …$34.99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-9267-1

No jokes, no complaints; I just wanted to point out that this is a thing that exists.  I've been trying and mostly failing to find Priest's run on Black Panther in back-issue bins over the past decade or so, so I'm really glad to see Marvel making it much easier on me.

E IS FOR EXTINCTION #2
CHRIS BURNHAM (w) • RAMON VILLALOBOS (a)
Cover by IAN BERTRAM
VARIANT Cover by TBA
• The Classic X-Men rally against Magneto and his New X-Men, to save the life of one of their own!
• EMMA FROST versus her CUCKOOS! Have the students become the teachers??
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
*SECRET WARS SERIES

This is probably the X-Men comic I'm most excited about in Secret Wars, but I don't know; X-Men '92 certainly seems poised to press my nostalgia for that shitty Fox Kids cartoon series. Now if Ian Bertram were drawing the interiors instead of the covers, well, that would be a different story entirely; that cover is fantastic, from the detail under the plane of cement to the way Cyclops is leaning into his optic blast...Damn, I really like this Ian Bertram person.

GHOST RACERS #2
FELIPE SMITH (w) • JUAN GEDEON (a)
Cover by FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA
DANNY KETCH VARIANT COVER BY JUAN GEDEON
THE TRAGIC ORIGIN OF A GHOST RACER!!!!!
• How did ROBBIE REYES become a cursed GHOST RACER?
• Is his sizzling winning streak the ONLY reason why his fellow Ghost Racers despise him and crave to see him fail?
• More high-octane warfare, more hell-fueled rivalry, and more of your favorite Ghost Racers in a run for way more than mere victory!
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99
*SECRET WARS SERIES

That is Arcade, right? And not Archie Andrews pumped full of Joker venom? (I guess it would be super-weird if Marvel, DC and Archie all collaborated on a crossover, and it ended up being Ghost Racers rather than, I don't know, Teen Titans Vs. Young Avengers Vs. Archie or something...)

GROOT #2
JEFF LOVENESS (W) • BRIAN KESINGER (A)
Cover by DECLAN SHALVEY
VARIANT COVER BY TBA
• STRANDED, and without anyone who can understand what’s coming out of his mouth, it’s Groot vs The Cosmos in a trek to get his best friend back!
• Featuring a special guest star who’s REALLY OUTTA THIS WORLD!
• Groot may look intimidating, but, trust us, he’s all bark!
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

Ha ha ha ha ha! "He's all bark!" I get it! Because he's a tree! That is very good solicitation copy-writing, Mr. Solicitation Copy Writer. (Or Ms. Solicitation Copy Writer; I don't know.)

Also, that is an awesome cover, which I guess basically just amounts to Declan Shalvey draws teh whole Marvel Universe? That's a good idea for a cover! Poster, please. And can I have it for free? Thanks!

Nice cover for July's issue of Howard The Duck, by Howard The Duck artist Joe Quinones.

Is that She-Hulk on the variant cover for July's issue of Howard The Duck? Why is She-Hulk wearing fishnets? Oh, Howard Chaykin drew that cover. Never mind.

Also, those look like the world's most uncomfortable shoes; I assume wearing them is hurting poor She-Hulk even worse than being stood on by someone wearing them is hurting Howard.

MS. MARVEL #17
G. WILLOW WILSON (w) • ADRIAN ALPHONA (a)
Cover BY KRIS ANKA
•The team-up to end all team-ups has finally arrived! Carol “Captain Marvel” Danvers and Kamala “Ms. Marvel” Khan face the end of the world HEAD ON in this epic issue!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

I've never been found of Carol Danvers, but it's weird; I'm really happy for Kamala Khan that this team-up is happening, because I know how excited she will be, and why am I happy for a fictional character? I'm assuming it's because G. Willow Wilson has done such a fine job of creating and characterizing her.

I'm actually a little surprised that the book went over a year without having Danvers appear; typically, this sort of thing would have happened by the end of the first story arc, so that the previous hero to use the superhero codename can give his or her blessing to the new legacy version adopting the old name.


THE PUNISHER #20
NATHAN EDMONDSON (w)
MITCH GERADS (a/C)
THE LAST DAY
• With a bang, not with a whimper
32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99

Actually, I think the line goes, "Not with a bang, but a whim-" Oh! I get it! They flip-flopped it on purpose! Okay, never mind then.


SECRET WARS JOURNAL #3 (OF 5)
SCOTT AUKERMAN & FRANK TIERI (w)
RICHARD ISANOVE & RB SILVA (a)
Cover by JAKE WYATT
• COMEDY BANG BANG’S SCOTT AUKERMAN and RB SILVA follow psychologist Doc Samson as he tries to bring personal growth and inner peace to a land of RAGE-A-HOLIC HULKS!
• FRANK TIERI and RICHARD ISANOVE bring you a tale of murder and mayhem in the mighty Marvel Noir style! Will Wolverine discover a prominent citizen’s murder…or be the next victim?!
• The SECRETEST, WARRIEST book around! Go ahead, name a contender. NO! YOU’RE WRONG! BUT WE LOVE YOU ANYWAYS.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

SECRET WARS: BATTLEWORLD #3 (OF 4)
IVAN BRANDON and RYAN FERRIER (w)
AARON CONLEY, LOGAN FAERBER and PAUL POPE (a)
Cover by SCOTT HEPBURN
VARIANT Cover by JAMES STOKOE
• One versus many! What happens when a Wolverine who’s found peace is confronted with wave after wave of feral Wolverine? Bring a poncho!
• The Deadpool of 1872 is looking for a new ride! Say, Devil Dinosaur looks like a mighty fine steed…
• See the tremendously tiny tussle of the Ant-Men of Battleworld!
• If you only read one Secret Wars anthology, MAKE IT THIS ONE! If you read two…BUY TWO COPIES! Secret Wars Journal won’t love you like we do.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

I like the fact that these two Secret Wars tie-in miniseries have their own little feud going.

SECRET WARS: OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE MARVEL MULTIVERSE #1
Written by THE OHOTMU TEAM, LED BY MIKE O’SULLIVAN & JEFF CHRISTIANSEN
Cover by MIKE McKONE
Worlds are colliding! Both on Battleworld, and in the SECRET WARS OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE MARVEL MULTIVERSE #1 – a collection of all-new Profiles! Journey through Marvel’s multiverse:
Old Man Logan! The Ultimate Universe’s Spider-Man (Miles Morales)! The Age of Ultron! Weirdworld! The Spider-Verse event! The Age of Apocalypse’s Nightcrawler! Plus: profiles of the characters and events at the core of the Secret Wars: the Incursions of Earths, Namor’s Cabal, the Future Foundation kids and more! Also featuring key participants in previous Secret Wars: Volcana (Marsha Rosenberg), Thunderball (Eliot Franklin), the healer Zsaji, the Dark Elf Kurse, original Battleworld refugee Puff the dragon, and the Secret Wars II event itself! And because we love you: the Pet Avengers’ Throg, Lady Deadpool, Teen Hulk…and Obnoxio the Clown?!
64 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99

Say, are they aloud to say the word "Multiverse"...?

SILVER SURFER #14
DAN SLOTT (w) • MICHAEL ALLRED (a/C)
• THE LAST DAYS - “UNIVERSE 2.0”
•Given unheralded new power, the Silver Surfer is tasked with REMAKING THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE!
•From the laws of physics to the origins of new life itself, what strange new cosmos will Norrin Radd will into being?
•Meanwhile, Dawn Greenwood has a far less intimidating task. All she has to rebuild... is Planet Earth.
Plus, if the Surfer, Dawn, and Toomie were the only survivors of the previous cosmos to make it into the void...
•...why are they not alone?!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Ha ha, "unheralded"...

Wow, check out the Art Adams' kaiju-sized Lockheed (at least, I'm assuming that's who that is) on the cover of Years of Future Past.