By Brayden (they/them)
San Diego Comic Con had some crazy reveals and cool previews of what’s to come for our lovely little industry! I won’t bore you with my silly little introduction spiel, let’s get straight to it! AFTER I remind you all to check out Our Weekly Pre-Order Form each Tuesday evening, so you don’t miss out on any of this stuff!
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Marvel Studios really stole the headlines away from everyone else announcing things this SDCC with their reveal of The Russo Brothers returning for ‘Avengers: Doomsday‘ & ‘Avengers: Secret Wars‘ and the casting of Robert Downey Jr. as Victor Von Doom a.k.a. Doctor Doom. Even that announcement overshadowed what sounded like some cool MCU news.
But anyway, by now everyone and their confused parent saying “wait but isn’t he Iron Man” has seen this. So let’s get to some comic book news!
Marvel Comics News
In one of the strongest bits of BRAND SYNERGY I’ve seen in a long time, Marvel are giving us a tease of their big event coming next year. In the fallout of this years event, ‘Blood Hunt‘, we will find out what brings everyone to the feet of Doctor Doom. When discussing this at Marvel’s Next Big Thing panel, Tom Brevoort said “This is the next big thing. Whatever you’re thinking, think bigger.” Very fitting given the name of the panel.
Victor Von Doom has taken on the role of Sorcerer Supreme from Doctor Strange, leading to what is sure to be a shockwave across the Marvel Universe. The first to be affected is none other than the Amazing Spider-Man! Read on below to see how…
That’s right folks, the first to fall under the metal thumb of Doctor Doom’s gauntlets is the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man himself. It kicks off a brand new storyline titled ‘8 Deaths Of Spider-Man’, which I won’t lie… sounds pretty cool. This all comes along as Zeb Wells & JRJR end their run on ASM with #60, now with this story starting in #61 with a brand new creative team made up of Joe Kelly (previous runs on ‘Amazing Spider-Man‘, ‘Deadpool & Wolverine WWIII‘, ‘Non-Stop Spider-Man‘) and the continuing artist of the series recently Ed McGuinness. Marvel officially solicit ASM #61 with the following: “The leader of Latveria has given Spider-Man a new, magic powered suit and eight extra lives with which to save (!?) the world. True believer, they won’t be enough…”
At the Women of Marvel panel, Erica Schultz (‘X-23: Deadly Regenesis‘, ‘Spawn: Rat City‘, ‘The Deadliest Bouquet‘, ‘Daredevil: Woman Without Fear (2024)‘) revealed her next project as a return to X-23 with ‘Laura Kinney: Wolverine‘! Teaming up with Italian artist Giada Belviso, they revealed the cover for the first issue with art by Elena Casagrande. Marvel say that we “will see Wolverine enter the darkest corners of the Marvel Universe, places that neither the X-Men nor her friends in ‘NYX‘ would dare go, to defend mutants who can’t defend themselves.” Erica Schultz also teased that “there will be laughing and crying”, which definitely fits the Laura Kinney vibe from her past stories, throwing back to her dark first appearance, as well as her excellent previous solo series ‘All-New Wolverine‘ by Tom Taylor.
The Marvel Ultimate Universe has been going super strong after the success of ‘Ultimate Spider-Man‘ by Jonathan Hickman & Marco Checchetto. That was followed up by ‘Ultimate Black Panther‘ by Bryan Hill & Stefano Caselli, ‘Ultimate X-Men‘ by Peach Momoko and most recently ‘The Ultimates‘ by Deniz Camp & Juan Frigeri. Next up Marvel are releasing an oversized one-shot setting up the next year of stories in the Ultimate Universe, while also unveiling the Ultimate versions of two more “major” characters.
At the Marvel Fanfare panel we got the reveal of a brand new Ghost-Spider led multiversal adventure in ‘TVA‘. It will be written by Katharyn Blair, novelist and writer on Season 2 of Marvel Studios ‘Loki‘, alongside artist Pere Perez (‘Carnage (2023)‘, ‘Iron Cat‘, ‘Spider-Woman (2020)‘). Marvel Describe it as “Ghost-Spider and other universe-displaced heroes join up with the newly revamped TVA in their new mission to protect all timelines!” Featuring Miss Minutes first in Marvel Comics appearance!
“Ultron returns… redeemed? Iron Man and War Machine have put together a new team of Avengers—one that includes villains seeking a path to redemption. Their case study? Ultron—who, against all odds, seems to be walking the straight and narrow… for now.” From writer Gerry Duggan (‘Invincible Iron Man (2022)‘, ‘X-Men (2021)‘, ‘Deadpool‘, ‘Falling In Love On The Path To Hell‘) and artist Danny Kim (‘Ghost Rider: Final Vengeance‘), it will be interesting to see if some villains can put their powers to good use.
And lastly for Marvel is a little bit of a grab bag. The current ‘Deadpool‘ series dEfInItElY tOtAlLy dOeSn’T kIlL wAdE wIlSoN (don’t @ me they say it in the description of #6), so his daughter Ellie is taking over while getting trained by Taskmaster! Marvel also put out a countdown style teaser for ‘The Fantastic Four‘, so we have no clue what that means yet. Lastly, Dan Slott continues to just be having the most fun with the Spider-Verse as he introduces a brand new Spider-Girl in the pages of ‘Spider-Boy‘!
DC Comics News
Jim Lee himself revealed that DC were returning to the good old days, by which I mean they are bringing back and refining their company logo that served them from 1976 all the way to 2005. Lots of classic DC fans were excited by this, but the excitement really dialled up when James Gunn revealed that this was also some BRAND SYNERGY, with the opening credits for DC Studios sharing the logo design. Check out the video he shared of the animation here!
The incredible creative duo of Mark Waid & Dan Mora, the team behind ‘Batman/Superman: World’s Finest‘ and ‘Absolute Power‘, are bringing back the Justice League after the events of the upcoming ‘All-In‘ one-shot. Only this time, The Watchtower is open to every single DC hero! We don’t have an exact release window just yet for ‘Justice League Unlimited‘, but we can’t wait to see what they have in store for the team since they’ve been separated since the events of ‘Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths‘ back in 2022.
Two words: THICK. BOI. Scott Snyder & Nick Dragotta showed off some of their conceptual work for the upcoming ‘Absolute Batman‘ series that arrives in October, after it spins out of the ‘All-In‘ one-shot. Bruce is listed as SIX FOOT SIX. SEVEN FEET TALL WHEN IN THE BATSUIT. Insane, go off king. He also isn’t a filthy billionaire in this universe, just a regular working class dude with a pet Frenchie. Alfred is a former MI-6 agent and Blask Mask has a sick new design, which just gets us more excited to see more ‘Absolute‘ versions of other characters!
Jason Aaron (‘Avengers (2018)‘, ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2024)‘, ‘The Mighty Thor‘) is teaming up with Rafa Sandoval (‘Superman‘, ‘Action Comics‘) to make Superman a bit more sexy. Rocking a pretty hot new outfit (and haircut), it looks like ‘Absolute Superman‘ will be going up against an army of Peacemakers? Jason Aaron hasn’t been giving anything away, staying pretty tight lipped in this interview with aiptcomics.com, and understandably so! When you get the chance to give Superman a brand new dynamic and features, having them be a surprise to readers is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Riding through the skies on the undead black skeleton of a pegasus, wielding a sword that would have Cloud Strife proud, ‘Absolute Wonder Woman‘ looks to be a brutal and bold depiction far from the Diana of old. Kelly Thompson (‘Captain Marvel‘, ‘Black Widow‘, ‘Birds of Prey‘, ‘Black Cloak‘), alongside artist Hayden Sherman (‘Dark Spaces: Dungeon‘, ‘Blink‘), are bringing us a Wonder Woman raised in the Underworld, half warrior and half witch and all badass. I mean how sick is her arm sleeve tattoo! Personally, I am super excited to see what Kelly Thompson does with this series!
Just announced, more-so teased, at Comic Con is the fourth series in the Absolute universe: ‘Absolute Flash‘! It will be written by Jeff Lemire (‘Moon Knight‘, ‘Descender‘, ‘Black Hammer‘, ‘Sweet Tooth‘, ‘Gideon Falls‘, ‘Phantom Road‘, ‘Little Monsters‘, ‘Sentient‘, ‘Robin & Batman‘) and have art by Nick Robles (‘Behold Behemoth‘, ‘The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos‘), featuring a 15-year old Wally West. Good luck kid, cause that concept art looks like it’s gonna be a rough time.
Lastly, DC revealed that Al Ewing (‘Immortal Hulk‘, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy‘, ‘Avengers Inc.‘, ‘X-Men Red‘) will be writing his first story with the blue brand! With art by Jahnoy Lindsay (‘Superboy: The Man Of Tomorrow’), they will be bringing to life the Lanterns of the Absolute universe with a cast of characters from Hal Jordan to Jo Mullein in a story that Scott Snyder described as a “first contact story”. More details will arrive in the coming months.
In a return to the classics, we will be seeing both the Justice Society of America as well as Jack Kirby’s New Gods in brand new series’. Jeff Lemire (as we spoke about above in the Absolute Flash tease) is teaming up with Diego Olortegui (‘Jay Garrick: The Flash (2023‘) for ‘JSA‘, which will see both the Justice Society as well as heroes from Infinity, Inc. which hasn’t had a comic in ages. Then in December, the creative team from ‘Batman: Detective Comics‘, Ram V (‘The Many Deaths of Laila Starr‘) & Evan Cagle, tackle ‘New Gods‘. Ram V teased the series by saying “Absolute and All-In triggers a cosmic imbalance which starts this spiral between New Genesis and Apokolips.”
James Gunn revealed a trailer for the first official project under his and DC Studios co-boss Peter Safran’s new Universe, which for some reason isn’t his Superman movie slated for 2025 that just wrapped filming. No instead it is ‘Creature Commandos‘, an animated series of the monster mash of a task force team. The trailer is actually pretty fun and the art direction I quite like, but also personally James Gunn’s humour is pretty hit-and-miss for me so hopefully you enjoy! Also, for bonus BRAND SYNERGY points, DC just revealed a new comic series from David Dastmalchian (‘Count Crowley‘) called ‘DC Horror Presents: Creature Commandos‘ that you can check out in the DC Preview Picks for October!
Other Notable Comic News
Keanu Reeves had a wonderful time at San Diego Comic Con this year, discussing the trans-media future of BRZRKR and also being awarded the Inkpot Award (given to individuals for their contributions to the worlds of comics, science fiction/fantasy, film, television, animation, and fandom services). In a panel at Hall H he discussed the planned Netflix adaptations – both a film and an anime series. Writer Mattson Tomlin was also on the panel, who announced that not only will they be writing the film but also showrunning the anime.
Big news for The Massive-Verse from Image Comics, which is made up of ‘Radiant Black‘, ‘Rogue Sun‘, ‘Radiant Red‘, ‘The Dead Lucky‘, ‘Radiant Pink‘, ‘Inferno Girl Red‘, ‘NO/ONE‘ and the upcoming ‘C.O.W.L. 1964‘. They are continuing their comics of course, but they are also working on an audiobook with stars like Will Friedle, Rider Strong & Troy Baker providing their vocal talents among many others. Then they also revealed that Kyle Higgins (‘Radiant Black‘, ‘No/One‘, ‘C.O.W.L.‘), and Brian Buccellato (‘No/One‘) are developing a film! ‘Who Is No/One‘ will be directed by Higgins and produced/co-written by the duo.
Dark Horse Comics have revealed that they have acquired the licenses to publish comics for both Dungeons & Dragons and Magic The Gathering. These were previously with IDW and BOOM! respectively. Hasbro seem to be continuing their splitting of their licenses across different publishers, making for business as usual for them!
Dynamite are continuing to develop licensed comics, growing their library from Warner Bros. Discovery with the additions of ‘Ben 10‘, ‘Captain Planet‘, ‘The Herculoids‘, ‘Thundarr the Barbarian‘ and ‘Dynomutt & Blue Falcon‘. Let’s see if these will actually be available to us here in Australia, since Dynamite screwed us over with their Disney licensing deal.
The 2024 Eisner Awards Highlights
Daniel Warren Johnson had a huge night, winning both Best Writer/Artist and Best Continuing Series for ‘Transformers‘. Super duper well deserved for DWJ! If you haven’t checked out the Energon Universe yet it is a great time to jump in with ‘Void Rivals‘ & ‘Transformers‘ Volume 1’s!
In an absolutely stacked category, Best New Series could have easily gone to ‘Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees‘, ‘Black Cloak‘, ‘Local Man‘ or ‘Phantom Road‘. But Becky Cloonan & Tula Lotay were the winners with ‘Somna: A Bedtime Story‘ from DSTLRY.
Best Single Issue/One-Shot understandably went to ‘Nightwing #105‘ by Tom Taylor & Bruno Redondo. If you missed what makes this random issue of last years winner for Best Continuing Series so special… it is completely in First-Person Perspective!
I like to think that Jen Bartel was a close 2nd place in this category, but a well deserved win to Peach Momoko for Best Cover Artist. If you haven’t checked out her work yet you should take a look at ‘Ultimate X-Men‘ from Marvel Comics.
Best Adaptation From Another Medium was awarded to the excellent and beautiful graphic novel of ‘Watership Down‘, originally by Richard Adams and adapted/illustrated by James Sturm & Joe Sutphin.
Thien Pham shared a great little video to show off their win! Their trophy being awarded to ‘Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam‘ for Best Graphic Memoir.
Best Comics Related Book was awarded to a title that Ross immediately predicted would be excellent when he spotted it in the Previews catalog: ‘I Am the Law: How Judge Dredd Predicted Our Future‘ by Michael Molcher.
‘PeePee PooPoo‘. Yes that is the actual real title of the winner for Best Limited Series. Caroline Cash delivers a modern, gay take on underground 60’s comics in this anthology series.
Best Publication For Early Readers went to ‘Bigfoot and Nessie: The Art of Getting Noticed‘ by Chelsea M. Campbell & Laura Knetzger.
Best Publication For Kids was awarded to ‘Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir‘ by Pedro Martín.
Best Publication For Teens was won by ‘Danger and Other Unknown Risks‘ by Ryan North & Erica Henderson.
That’s it for now! As always thank you so much if you are reading this and keeping up-to-date on all the upcoming releases via Our Blog and Our Weekly Pre-Order Form. Y’all are the best!
Happy Reading 💚