Marvel's October previews reviewed

In October, Marvel will still be publishing those weird Miracleman variant covers covers where it looks like he's photobombing various Marvel characters on their regular covers. Here's Marco Checchetto's for Daredevil #4. 

I already have the 2011 Dennis Hopeless/Juan Doe Legion of Monsters trade that forms the bulk of the new Bloodstone & The Legion of  Monsters, and I kind of regret having bought it. It wasn't as great as a book featuring Marvel's '70s horror hero creations on motorcycles looked, and, had I only waited long enough, I'd be able to buy this version, which also includes material from various anthologies and specials stretching back to at least 1977. 

I'd sincerely like to know more about Marvel's Halloween anthology Crypt of Shadows #1, of which we get a list of writers (Chris Cooper, Al Ewing, Danny Lore, Rebecca Roanhorse, Adam Warren) and a list of artists (Karen S. Darboe, Geoff Shaw, Warren) and precious little else, like which characters will be appearing and which creators are handling them. Do I go ahead and pre-order this 56-page, $5.99 comic based on the fact that Man-Thing is on the cover and Adam Warren is ingenious when it comes to making super-comics...? I...think I might. 

I'm a 45-year-old man who began reading comics in my early teens, around 1991 or so. Miracleman was before my time. A British Captain Marvel clone that gained notoriety in the 1980s thanks to the work of such creators as Alan Moore, has been something of a white whale of super-comics publishing since, and it looks like Marvel is finally, finally going to pull the trigger and start publishing new comics featuring the character, which they acquired...I forget how long ago now. It's been years and years now though, right...? (Wikipedia tells me they gained the rights in 2013).

Anyway, October sees the release of Miracleman #0, a $5.99, 56-page one-shot that "celebrates all things Kimota" with work from Jason Aaron, Mikey Carey, Ty Templeton, Peach Momoko and Leinil Francis Yu, plus "Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham set up this issue and their return to MIRACLEMAN: THE SILVER AGE." 

I don't care. I was at least mildly curious in 2013 or so, I guess it was, when it seemed the book was imminent, and I could see what Moore and Gaiman might do with Captain Marvel, or his close British cousin. What little interest I had has slowly evaporated during the passing years, though.

 I have a hard time imagining readers younger than me will care over much. Are there still enough readers older than me with fond memories of Moore and company's "superheroes...but for grown-ups!" approach from 40-ish years ago to make this a hit, or, like, an event?

 I suppose the name "Neil Gaiman" still has some power in the comics market, and will prove even more effective in the bookstore market when this all eventually gets collected in trade...

Anyway, I'd sincerely like to hear an assessment of the character/brand's strength from someone knowledgeable about today's comics makret like, I don't know, Mike Sterling.

And here's the main event, Miracleman By Gaiman & Buckingham: The Silver Age #1, a 48-page, $4.99 comic in which Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham's unfinished story arc "The Silver Age" "begins again", with "These legendary creators...remastering the two published issues with brand-new artwork and finishing their grand story at long last." Smart to include Gaiman's name in the title; I don't know much about Miracleman, but I feel pretty confident "Gaiman" is a bigger draw in most comics-reading circles in 2022. 

The solicitation  copy for Namor: Conqurered Shores #1  begins thusly: "A century into the future, not much land remains on Earth. A combination of worsening climate and a devastating war with the  Kree has left the surface of the planet mostly inhospitable." I...don't think we need to blame a fantasy war with the Kree on Earth being mostly inhospitable in a century; at the rate we're fucking up the climate and doing nothing to reverse trends, we're doing pretty well on that front all by ourselves, without interstellar scapegoats. 

Also, I know the ruler-sitting-on-his-throne pose is a classic one, but man, doing it in profile sure makes it look like he's using the bathroom, doesn't it...? It was the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw that pose, and now I seriously can't unsee it. 

There's a new Spider-Man #1 by writer Dan Slott and artist Mark Bagley and I get why the pairing of those two would be very exciting to certain Spider-Man fans—they're both good at what they do, they're both good on that character, and I like their work too—but it almost seems like too obvious a team, doesn't it? Hey look, a new Spider-Man series, in which the guy who always writes Spider-Man is teamed with the guy who always draws Spider-Man! It's sort of a weird creative team just in that it's excitign in one way, and not at all exciting in another. I don't know...neat variant cover by (checks notes) Frank Miller though! Look, you can see Spidey's individual toes!

And, finally, a masterpiece:

Venom making out with himself. That's the cover of Venom #12.