The closest thing to an event seems to be a miniseries about Marvel's answer to DC's Arkham Asylum, Ravencroft (which always makes me think of the old TSR Ravenloft campaign setting), as that will feature several character-specific one-shot spin-offs, and seems to be a sort of tangential sequel to the recently Absolute Carnage events. This is also the organizing principle of the month's True Believers reprints, which all bear the sub-title Criminally Insane and feature a different villain (Tomb of Dracula #24, will be one of those reprints, which is why that image is up there).
Finally, there are a couple of books branded "Gamerverse," which looks like it may be how Marvel will brand comics based on video games based on their comics in the future.
As for more specifics, though, let's take a closer look, shall we...?
ED BRISSON (W) • JONAS SCHARF (A) • Cover by JUAN JOSÉ RYP
Variant Cover by GARRY BROWN
VARIANT COVER BY TBA
A NEW STORY FROM THE WORLD OF OLD MAN LOGAN!
In a world where most of the super heroes fell at the hands of the RED SKULL over fifty years ago, a new force rises in the Wastelands! DANI CAGE wields the mighty Mjolnir for the cause of peace, but when the brutal regime of DOCTOR DOOM forces DWIGHT (a.k.a. the owner of the surviving Ant-Man technology) to Dani and HULK in a last ditch effort to survive, the AVENGERS may ASSEMBLE once more! Spinning out of the saga begun in OLD MAN LOGAN, and following up OLD MAN QUILL and DEAD MAN LOGAN, this is the can’t miss premiere of Ed Brisson and Jonas Scharf’s magnum opus!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
What's that, Marvel? You don't want the name of your Avengers comic set in the world of Old Man Logan, Old Man Hawkeye and Old Man Quill to be Old People Avengers...? Why not?
ERIK LARSEN (W) • ERIK LARSEN (A) • Cover by RAHZZAH
...
THE FINAL CAPTAIN AMERICA STORY!
Steve Rogers fights for survival in a post-apocalyptic wasteland populated by hordes of Red Skulls! Legendary writer/artist Erik Larsen (SPIDER-MAN, WOLVERINE, NOVA) returns to Marvel for an oversized last tale of Simon & Kirby’s American Hero!
40 PGS./ONE SHOT/Rated T+ …$4.99
I get that Marvel would prefer to highlight Erik Larsen's Marvel credits over any of his other credits, but man it looks weird to suggest he's best known for his work on Spider-Man, Wolverine and Nova. That'd be a little like putting Phantom Stranger and World of Krypton in parenthesis following Mike Mignola's name; yes, technically true, but aren't you forgetting the guy's life's work...?
Or is this an entirely different Erik Larsen than the one I'm thinking of...?
AL EWING (W) • JOE BENNETT (A) • Cover by ALEX ROSS
MARVELS X VARIANT COVER BY TBA
• Giant monsters have been unleashed in Phoenix, Arizona. The Roxxon Corporation is unavailable for comment.
• The people need help. They need the crusading outlaw with a heart of gold they read about in the Herald. They need their secret hero.
• Instead, they’re getting the IMMORTAL HULK.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
That is an awesome-looking cover featuring an awesome-looking monster. I sort of regret not reading Immortal Hul serially, but I honestly had no idea how great a comic it was going to turn out to be until I had read the first trade paperback collection, and by that point it was too late.
AL EWING (W) • JOE BENNETT (A) • Cover by ALEX ROSS
MARVELS X VARIANT COVER BY NICK BRADSHAW
• The first Gamma Bomb unleashed a terrifying creature with impossible strength who waged war on all human authority.
• The authorities gave the beast a name - a name the whole world knows. But it was someone else’s name first...
• ...and now the HULK THAT WAS has returned to take it back.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
Fuck yeah, it's the Immortal Hulk vs. Journy Into Mystery #62's Hulk! I just recently reread the story of that first Hulk, in the pages of True Belivers: Hulk--The Other Hulks #1, so I've actually been thinking about this guy again lately. This is, honestly, the most exciting thing I see in this month's solicitations, but then, my particular tastes probably don't reflect those of most Marvel fans.
"The Hulk That Was" sounds like much more ominous name than "Xemnu, The Titan," by the way...
Kelly Thompson (W) • Mattia De Iulis (A)
Cover by Valerio Giangiordano
...
BLINDSPOT - Parts 1 & 2
ISSUE #1 –
Jessica Jones was once the costumed super hero known as Jewel. She sucked at it. Now she’s a private investigator at her own firm, Alias Investigations. She sucks less at that. With the Purple Man gone, her relationship with her husband, Luke Cage, and their daughter, Danielle, is better than ever. But her past always comes knocking, and when a woman whose case she fumbled winds up dead on her office floor, Jessica goes from private investigator to prime suspect. Can she find the real killer and clear her name?
The critically acclaimed Marvel Digital Original series by Kelly Thompson and Mattia De Iulis, released for the first time as a print miniseries!
ISSUE #2 –
After being brutally attacked in her office, Jessica turns to Doctor Strange to help her find the target. But he may discover more than Jessica bargained for…
32 PGS.(each)/RATED T+ …$3.99 (each)
Okay, this I just don't get at all. It appears to be a print edition of the first two chapters of the pretty-dang-good Kelly Thompson/Mattia De Iulis Jessica Jones digital comic that Marvel already published as a trade paperback in November of last year. So I'm not sure what the point of re-releasing it serially, in the less-desirable comic book format is. Even if there are people who prefer to read comics at a pace of 20-ish pages a month over the course of three-to-six months rather than in one sitting, and to get a bunch of ads and pay a lot more money for it than they would otherwise (the trade was $20; this will run you $24), why would those people have not bought the trade? Publishers have trained readers to "wait for the trade," not to "ignore the trade in the off-chance that the same story will be released in serial format over a year later."
Weird.
FRANK TIERI (W) • ANGEL UNZUETA (A) • COVER BY KYLE HOTZ
...
RAVENCROFT REOPENED!
After the hellish horrors of ABSOLUTE CARNAGE, the Ravencroft Institute has received a much-needed facelift and is open for business with a new staff, including JOHN JAMESON, looking to atone for the part he played in ABSOLUTE CARNAGE. But will Ravencroft return the mentally unstable villains of the Marvel Universe to upstanding citizens and give John the redemption he’s looking for, or will they fall prey to the hospital’s seemingly sinister nature?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
This great image of Arkham Asylum is another great piece of evidence as to why DC should hire Kyle Hotz for an ongoing Batman book ASAP.
Wait, what? "Ravencroft"...? What the fuck is Ravencroft?
Who takes their criminally insane villains there, Moon Knight or Nighthawk...?
THE RUINS OF RAVENCROFT: DRACULA #1
FRANK TIERI (W) • STEFANO LANDINI (A)
Cover by GERARDO SANDOVAL
VARIANT COVER BY GREG LAND
To the men and women of the Marvel Universe, Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane appeared to be a hospital devoted to the rehabilitation of society’s most violent offenders. But appearances can be deceptive, and -- as Captain America learned the hard way – some secrets have teeth.
40 PGS./ONE SHOT/Rated T+ …$4.99
With all due respect to Frank Tieri and Stefano Landini, I thought I was quite clear which creative team I wanted to see on a longer Dracula comic.
FRANK TIERI (W) • GUILLERMO SANNA (A)
Cover by GERARDO SANDOVAL
...
The history of the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane has been shrouded in mystery for years. NO LONGER! In the wake of ABSOLUTE
CARNAGE, the facility’s past has started to unravel, and in doing so has revealed hidden chapters in the lives of some of the Marvel Universe’s most recognizable heroes and villains!
40 PGS./ONE SHOT/Rated T+ …$4.99
Okay, I give up: Why is Sabertooth dressed like first appearance Wolverine...?
TARAN KILLAM (W) • JUAN GEDEON (A)
Cover by DAVE RAPOZA
• It’s high-noon, the town is in trouble, Sherrif Stacy is down for the count and the Sinister Sextet is threatening the peace. Who could possibly stop them?
• Why, Webslinger, of course.
• Join Taran Killam (star of ABC’s Single Parents, formerly of Saturday Night Live) for his Marvel Comics debut alongside Juan Gedeon (VENOM) bringing you a horse that can run up the side of buildings.
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99
I'm actually quite interested to read more about a horse that can run up the side of buildings.
CHARLES SOULE (W) • JESUS SAIZ (A) • CoverS by R.B. SILVA AUG199000
ISSUE #1 - Vader Variant COVER by Mahmud Asrar AUG199002
ISSUE #1 - EMPIRE STRIKES BACK VARIANT COVER BY CHRIS SPROUSE AUG199009
ISSUE #1 - Leia Variant COVER by Jen Bartel AUG199003
ISSUE #1 - Luke Variant COVER by Adam Hughes AUG199005
ISSUE #1 - VARIANT COVER by Art Adams AUG199001
ISSUE #1 - Party Variant COVER by TBA AUG199007
ISSUE #1 - Premiere Variant COVER by RB Silva AUG199008
ISSUE #1 - MOVIE VARIANT COVER AUG199006
ISSUE #1 - BLANK VAIRANT COVER ALSO AVAILABLE AUG199004
ISSUE #2 – VARIANT COVER BY BEN OLIVER
ISSUE #2 – EMPIRE STRIKES BACK VARIANT COVER BY CHRIS SPROUSE
“No…I am your father.”
In the wake of the events following The Empire Strikes Back, it is a dark time for the heroes of the Rebellion. The Rebel fleet…scattered following a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Hoth. Han Solo…lost to the bounty hunter, Boba Fett, after being frozen in carbonite. And after being lured into a trap on Cloud City and bested in a vicious lightsaber duel against the evil Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker…learned the horrible truth about his past. Vader did not kill Luke’s father Anakin--Vader is Luke’s father! Now, after narrowly escaping the dark lord’s clutches, and wounded and reeling from the revelation, Luke, Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, the Wookiee Chewbacca and the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 must fight their way back to the Rebel Alliance—for the fate of the entire galaxy is at stake! After so many losses is victory still possible? But, what Leia, Luke and their ragtag band of freedom fighters do not realize is that they have only traded one Imperial trap for another! Enter the cunning and vengeful Imperial Commander Zahra, at the helm of the Tarkin’s Will!
Writer Charles Soule (DARTH VADER) and artist Jesus Saiz (DOCTOR STRANGE) are taking us all to the galaxy far, far away next year! With covers by RB Silva (POWERS OF X)!
THE GREATEST SPACE ADVENTURE OF ALL TIME BEGINS THIS JANUARY!
ISSUE #1 - 40 PGS./Rated T …$4.99
ISSUE #2 - 32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99
Star Wars © Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All rights reserved. Used under authorization. Text and illustrations for Star Wars are © 2019 Lucasfilm Ltd.
I'm kind of excited to hear that Marvel's main Star Wars title is finally jumping ahead in time to the point between Empire and Jedi (even though I think the time after Jedi would be infinitely more interesting), but, from past experiences, that's kind of a catch-22. On the one hand, the characters can finally move on from their seemingly endless task of looking for a new and/or permanent base for the rebel fleet, but, on the other hand, they've lost their most charismatic character.
One thing I didn't like about the original Marvel Star Wars comic when it reached this point was that it was quite clear it was just marking time, and Lando didn't have all that much of a personality at that point. Additionally, since I was reading it in the early '00s or so, I was doing it with hindsight, and that whole period just felt off and wrong to me. Watching the films, I got the impression that Luke, Leia and company went to rescue Han pretty quickly after the events of Empire, whereas in the comics they all seeemed to act like they didn't know where the bounty hunter might have taken him.
I assume that won't be a problem here, though, as the comic will be created with the benefit of hindsight that the folks making the original Star Wars comics in the late 1970s and early 1980s didn't have regarding what would happen in the next movie.
I'm a little baffled by the renumbering here, though. Since it's still just called Star Wars, there doesn't seem to be a reason for it. Sure, the creative team is different, and yeah, there was a time jump, but if they're still just calling it Star Wars, they don't really need a "#1" attached. And if Marvel is having trouble selling a fucking Star Wars comic in 2019, well, they're in bigger trouble than the temporary boost of a new #1 is going to be able to solve.
ALAN DAVIS (W) • PAUL RENAUD (A/C)
...
An all-new epic adventure teaming the classic Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with Marvel’s premiere Non-Team by Alan Davis and Paul Renaud!
A strange and impossible lost memory from his days in World War II draws Namor the Sub-Mariner to his one-time compatriot Captain America—but the two heroes and their respective allies find themselves pulled into a labyrinth of pain, destruction and madness courtesy of the Infernal Ichor of Ish’lzog!
40 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99
This is a truly perplexing title-choice, and I can't imagine why it's eschewing a more standard formulation, like, I don't know, Avengers/Defenders: Tarot, but whatever you call it, it's the Defenders vs. The Avengers, so my interest in piqued.
DONNY CATES (W) • NIC KLEIN (A)
...
A BRAND-NEW, SUPERSTAR CREATIVE TEAM TAKES THE KING OF ASGARD TO NEW REALMS OF GLORY!
The prince is now a king. All Asgard lies before Thor, the God of Thunder. And after many months of war, the Ten Realms are finally at peace. But the skies above the Realm Eternal are never clear for long. The Black Winter is coming. And the God of the Storm will be powerless before it.
40 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99
Not only is Thor getting his first new writer in years, he's also getting a pretty drastic redesign. I'm...not sure about it. I like the costume, up to and including the tiara thing, but I'm not sure about the clean-shaven look and the long, long hair. I think the hair might be a bit too long, at least on that cover (there are a million variants, naturally).
ADAM WARREN (W) • CHAMBA (A) • Cover by RAHZZAH
Variant cover by ADAM WARREN
THE FINAL VENOM STORY!
The alien symbiote who bonded with Eddie Brock has been through a lot… but not nearly as much as he has coming. In a tale that literally spans over a trillion years, Venom travels the length of space and time as the last defender of life in the universe!
40 PGS./ONE SHOT/Rated T+ …$4.99
This is the only one of the The End specials I'm particularly interested in. Not because I'm all that interested in Venom, of course, but because this is written by the great Adam Warren. Written by but, alas, not drawn by Warren. Still, Warren is a really great superhero comic writer, something I don't think he gets enough credit for, given that he doesn't do these sorts of comics all that often, instead focusing on his own stuff, like Empowered.
Benjamin Percy (W) • Georges Jeanty (A) • Cover by Kyle Hotz
...
WHATEVER KNOWS FEAR!
Biochemist Ted Sallis was developing a serum for military application, but was tragically killed in a freak accident before he could perfect it. Still, the data behind his formula remains property of the United States government and the Weapon IV Program to this day--Mutants aren’t the only ones to have weaponized flora!
Marvel Comics proudly presents a sensational new hero ready to fight back against the new world order! No longer just a man…not a thing…he’s All-American soil and he’s reporting for duty… Benjamin Percy (WOLVERINE, X-FORCE) and GEORGES JEANTY (WEAPON X) introduce…MAN-SLAUGHTER!
40 PGS./PARENTAL ADVISORY …$4.99
I honestly have no idea what is going on here, exactly, but, as they say on the Internet, I am here for it.
I'm just a little bummed that the man responsible for that image, Kyle Hotz, is only providing that image, and not drawing the interiors. It's really too bad; Hotz was born to draw muck-encrusted mockeries of men.
I'm not too terribly familiar with the work of Percy and Jeanty, and at least one phrase in that solicitation copy sounds somewhat worrisome, but I like Man-Thing enough to check out this gonzo-looking riff on the concept.
Oh man, I almost forgot Ravencroft existed. I mostly remember it from Spider-Man comics by J.M. DeMatties in the early 90's. Oddly, almost all the stories I remember it appearing in featured Vermin, who came to an odd prominence then because of his appearance in Kraven's Last Hunt. Even though it was obviously supposed to be Marvel's version of Arkham for Spidey, I never remember it looking like Arkham or having a "cursed" history-- in fact it seemed like the patients there actually got competent help. I bailed on Spidey during the clone saga though, so maybe I am missing something.
ReplyDeleteOf course that brings to mind Dr. Ashley Kafka who was also a pretty prominent supporting player in the Spider-Man books of the time. When she was originally introduced, Sal Buscema drew her as a middle age woman in her mid-fifties but eventually other artists started drawing her as thinner and younger until she seemed to be in her late 20s / early 30s or something.
All this makes me wonder if a) Ashley Kafka will be appearing in this revival of Ravencroft and b) which version of her we will get. I'm guessing the younger / hotter version not only because "comics" but because "young" Dr. Kafka eventually began dating John Jameson and since John Jameson is featured prominently in the solicitation.
Chamba is a stellar artist to draw an Adam Warren book though. He's done a ton of design work for the Street Fighter games, as well as drawing a ton of Udon's books. Tons of anime influence but still American in style.
ReplyDeleteMedraut, Ravencroft also appeared in the Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie, the one with Electro and Rhino, where Ashley Kafka was for some reason turned into a maniacal Germanic (male!) mad scientist, all too remiscent of John Glover's Jason Woodrue in Batman & Robin. Maybe Caleb remembers that?
ReplyDeleteI...do not remember Ravencroft and/or Ashley Kafka appearing on the silver scrren, although I did see that movie. I only saw the two ASM movies once apiece, and didn't have to review either, so my memories of them are not as strong as those of the Rami Spider-Mans (or the two newer ones).
ReplyDelete