Marvel's August previews reviewed

August brings a new Black Panther #1, this one courtesy of writer John Ridley (some recent Batman stuff, some work in Hollywood), and artist Juan Cabal, whose work is pretty phenomenal. 

Deadpool: Black, White & Blood #1 will include three stories for $4.99, and one of them is both written and drawn by James Stokoe, which seems like reason enough to pre-order the first issue of this five-issue series (Also contributing to the issue are Ed Brisson, Phil Noto, While Portacio and Tom Taylor).

Behold, a new Defenders #1! This one is by Al Ewing and Javier Rodriguez, and seems to be missing two of the characters who make the Defenders the Defenders, in my book, the two who I most enjoy the character dynamic between. Of course, it's a five-issue miniseries, so maybe Namor and The Hulk will show up in some capacity before it's all over...although the fact that what looks like the Betsy Ross harpy from Immortal Hulk is there as a replacement Hulk makes me think he's not going to show. Whatever, I'll definitely check it out. 

Anyone know who the cloudy lady is...? Because I do not.

I like the basic idea of this Fantastic Four #35 cover by Mark Brooks, and the way the various members and their differing costumes evoke the whole long, varied, strange history of the team. I think the "60 Years!" cut-out sort of gets in the way of the idea, though. 

The issue, evidently celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Fantastic Four comic book, will feature artist John Romita Jr. joining writer Dan Slott, plus a special back-up by Mark Waid and Paul Renaud. The lead story involves various versions of Kang attacking various versions of the FF throughout their history. Sounds kind of fun, actually, but I'm so far behind on Slott's FF that, like Nick Spencer's Amazing Spider-Man and even Al Ewing's Immortal Hulk, I don't think I'll ever catch up. 

Keeping up with super-comics gets to be actual hard work, at a certain point...

Hey, look! Stilt-Man is on the cover of Iron Man #11! Painted by Alex Ross! Neat.

Kang The Conqueror #1  kicks off a five-issue miniseries by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lansing and Carlos Magno. I'm curious why Kang is getting this push now, and if it has something to do with the Cinematic Universe, as so much of what Marvel does with their publishing seems to be reflective of the movies and television. 

I was genuinely surprised that Kang's existence wasn't teased in that last Avengers movie, given that it involved the invention of time travel, and the MCU was in need of a new archvillain to threaten the heroes of multiple franchises...

Also curious? Why the fuck this book needs eleven variant covers, seven of which are "STORMBREAKERS" variants...

Marvel answer's DC's DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration #1 with its own Marvel Voices: Identity, a $5.99, 56-page one-shot featuring Shang-Chi, Jimmy Woo, Jubilee, Silk and Ms. Marvel, from "new and established Asian creators." Eight creators are listed along with the words "and more", and it's noteworthy that some of them—Gene Luen Yang, Greg Pak, Marcus To—are among the same creators to contribute to DC's book. It's almost as if there aren't that many creators of Asian descent working in mainstream super-comics!

Still, I like enough of these creators and characters that I'm going to pre-order this, making it one of only two Marvel books this month I want to read badly enough to to order (the other is the Deadpool comic with a Stokoe story).

I was about to say something about one of the light sabers on the cover of Star Wars: The High Republic #8, something that was several sentences long. Than I paused, thought about my life and how I want to live it, and realized that I don't want to be someone who shares his thoughts on light sabers. 

Whoever stacked up  all the bones on the cover of Warhammer 40,000: Sisters of Battle #1 sure did a neat job of it. 

Is that drool...? God, Wolverine is so gross.

(This is the cover of Wolverine #15, by the way, but I'm not sure who drew it, as there are four different covers).