The watchful and completely objective gaze of Soliciting Multiversity now falls upon Marvel’s crop of titles for December! Check out what’s gonna be under your Christmas tree and let us know what stuck out to you in this month’s solicitations in our comments section.
10. Slapstick Comedy
I like this current run of “Deadpool” as much as the next guy, mostly because I really like what Gerry Duggan’s been doing with Wade Wilson as a character. It goes to some wild places like presidential zombies and Deadpool marrying the Queen of the Underworld, but it also gets really personal in a way that not a lot of Deadpool stories have before. I understand why Marvel wants to capitalize on this good book they have right now, but I can’t understand how they want to capitalize on it by giving books to Deadpool’s lackeys. It’s obviously a convenient way to get more creators more books and there’s a solid chance that someone’s going to turn one of these spin-offs into a surprise hit. Still, it seems kind of like overkill to make eight or so tieins to a super-team you already gave two mini-series too. Might as well give Scott Adsit his own series. Wait. Give Scott Adsit, Agent of SHIELD his own series.
SLAPSTICK #1
REILLY BROWN & FRED VAN LENTE (W) • DIEGO OLORTEGUI (A)
Cover by DAVID NAKAYAMA
Variant Cover by RON LIM
Variant Cover by ROB LIEFELD
Sketch Variant Cover by ROB LIEFELD
ICX VARIANT COVER BY Pasqual Ferry
Hip-Hop Variant Cover by TBA
Divided We Stand Variant Cover by TBA
Steve Harmon was an average teenager who had an average job as your average clown, living in average New Jersey. But after being zapped by weird and mysterious extradimensional energy, Steve became Slapstick, a living, breathing cartoon! Now, after joining, and then quitting, Deadpool’s Mercs for Money, Slapstick is striking it out on his own terms! Sure he’s gotta move back in with his parents, but these new business ventures take time. And anyways, he gets to team-up with the Amazing Spider-Man in his first issue. That seems like he’s doing pretty well to me!
32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99
9. Richard Rider? I Hardly Know Him
It’s Richard Rider. Richard Rider’s alive again which is… exciting? For the entirety of my comic reading career, (which started in like 2010ish) Rider’s been dead and I’ve just accepted Sam Alexander as Nova. And Alexander’s really come into his own as a character lately, finding a great spot with the power trio of himself, Ms. Marvel, and Miles Morales. But bringing back Richard Rider feels like a kind of Barry Allen situation where he could easily overshadow the new guy who’s been picking up his slack in his absence. Or this could be a total swerve and Rider’s going to be like a disguised Annihilus or something.
NOVA #1
JEFF LOVENESS & RAMÓN PÉREZ (W) • RAMÓN PÉREZ (A/C)
Teaser art variant BY FRANCESCO MATTINA
Action Figure Variant Cover by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
HIP-HOP VARIANT BY CHRISTIAN WARD
ICX Variant Cover by TBA
CLASSIFIED IS BACK!
CLASSIFIED makes his roaring return to the Marvel Universe! How will Sam Alexander cope with this unfathomable homecoming? It’s the return you’ve all been waiting for. Or is something…else? Strap in True Believer, you’ve never seen a NOVA book like this before!
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99
8. U.S.Avengers: World Police
If you were looking for where the AIM version of the New Avengers were going to be in Marvel’s latest round of Marvel NOW! books, it’s just relocated over to U.S.AVengers where AIM has been rebranded to American Intelligence Mechanics. I’m kind of down for this just because Sunspot’s whole gig trying to run an Avengers team while simultaneously running a benevolent AIM has been one of the more interesting parts of recent Marvel. And seeing the team now operate under the government’s supervision is naturally going to add some freshness to the team. I kind of just want this to be an excuse to recruit American Kaiju as an Avenger.
Continued belowU.S.AVENGERS #1
AL EWING (W) • PACO MEDINA (A/C)
VARIANT COVER BY RYAN STEGMAN
Young Variant Cover by SKOTTIE YOUNG
HIP-HOP VARIANT BY OMAR CASANOVA
Action Figure Variant Cover by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
XCI Variant Cover by TBA
US State and Canada Variants Also Available
Blank Variant Cover also available
In a world beset by danger, the United States of America needs a team of heroes they can rely on. Welcome to… American Intelligence Mechanics! A.I.M. will dare any danger – no matter how awesome that danger might be – to save their nation from the wildest, weirdest threats of all! The most patriotic super-group ever is here to save the day. And they’ll do it all looking tried and true in the red, white & blue! Can you live without… the U.S.Avengers?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
7. Guardians of Earth
Chip Zdarsky is writing a new comic which is always a conversation starter and Kris Anka’s drawing it which makes it a really exciting conversation starter. Star-Lord and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy feel like something Marvel didn’t particularly capitalize on after that movie came out in 2014, at least in terms of the comic. So even if splitting the team up is kind of a weird decision, putting more of a focus on most of the heroes ain’t a bad idea. My big gripe though, and it’s a gripe I have with every other Marvel comic these days, is that Star-Lord’s getting brought down to Earth to fight aliens on Earth and live a double life as a bartender. That premise isn’t that bad in a vacuum, but when it feels like every other Marvel comic is “hero tries to calm down from superheroics life and get a day job”, I want to rip my hair out. Still, “Kaptara” is really good and it’d be a crime to not have Kris Anka draw awesome sci-fi stuff so I’m sure “Star-Lord” is still going to be worth checking out, my weird personal gripes aside.
STAR-LORD #1
CHIP ZDARSKY (W) • KRIS ANKA (A/C)
VARIANT COVER BY Chip Zdarsky
HIP-HOP VARIANT COVER BY TBA
ACTION FIGURE VARIANT COVER BY JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
ICX Variant Cover by TBA
Games/Animation Variant Cover also available
GROUNDED!
Peter Quill might have been born on Earth, but he’s been away a LONG time. How does a man go from soaring through the stars as the legendary Star-Lord to living with his feet planted firmly on the ground? What kind of job options are available for a guy whose CV mostly consists of “guarding the galaxy”? One thing is certain, Earth has a new guardian. Also, a new bartender.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
6. Rocket Raccoon in The Rock
On the total flipside, I’m weirdly all about Rocket Raccoon getting taken to the pound and having to find a way out. Any situation like being stuck with the animals he keeps getting compared to, which is going to just make him madder and madder, seems like it’d lead to some pretty funny comics. It’s the case of a situation lending itself to the character versus a character being a square peg being forced into a round hole.
ROCKET RACCOON #1
MATTHEW ROSENBERG (W) • JORGE COELHO (A)
Cover by DAVID NAKAYAMA
Variant Cover by Rafael Albuquerque
Variant Cover by Tom Angleberger
Hip-Hop Variant Cover by MIKE DEODATO
Action Figure Variant Cover by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
ICX Variant Cover by TBA
GROUNDED!
From the pages of Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket has found himself stuck in the LAST place he wants to be—the backwards, no-class, pit of a planet called Earth. It’s where those dumb furry things people say he looks like are from! One thing is clear—it doesn’t matter who or what gets in his way…he’s gotta get off this mudball, NOW. Easier said than done.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
5. The Women Who Got Messed Up By Civil War II World Tour
Continued below
Jennifer Walters is going to graduate from She-Hulk to Hulk and who can blame her? Her cousin bit the dust, Thanos beat her within an inch of her life, and now some millenial took on her cousin’s mantle and is dabbing all over New York. I’d get pissed too. She-Hulk has had a history of being one of Marvel’s more light-hearted characters but in a culture where most of Marvel’s fit that description, it makes sense for her to toughen up, especially considering the shit sandwich she was served in “Civil War II”. I just hope nobody treats this as Marvel “legitimizing” She-Hulk by making her violent considering that she’s been in some pretty great comics. (That Charles Soule run is underrated as hell!)
HULK #1
MARIKO TAMAKI (W) • NICO LEON (A) • Cover by JEFF DEKAL
Variant Cover by Dale Keown
Young Variant Cover by SKOTTIE YOUNG
Artist Variant Cover by Pia Guerra
Classic Hulk Artist Variant Cover by Dale Keown
Hip-Hop Variant Cover by TBA
Action Figure Variant Cover by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
ICX Variant Cover by TBA
Blank Variant Cover also available
JENNIFER WALTERS has survived the Civil War…barely…and having risen from the rubble, she re-enters the world a different kind of hero. Fueled by a quiet rage, she is determined to move forward, to go on with her life, but the pain of the past and all she’s lost is always there – an undercurrent, a pulse, waiting to quicken and trigger Jen’s transformation into the one thing she doesn’t have control over…
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99
4. The Women Who Got Messed Up By Civil War II World Tour Pt. 2
War Machine and Bruce Banner have already met their respective ends in “Civil War II” but the biggest casualty thus far has been Captain Marvel who’s suffering from “Iron Man in Civil War I” syndrome. Yeah she has a point about using Ulysses to help solve big conflicts like THE ENTIRE DESTRUCTION OF NEW YORK CITY, but because it’s a Marvel event and someone has to be the villain, Carol had to get all fascist about it. So can Margaret Stohl and Ramon Rosanas salvage one of Marvel’s best characters? Hopefully, especially if they incorporate who she became after Ulysses showed up in an interesting way.
The Mighty Captain Marvel #0
MARGARET STOHL (W) • RAMON ROSANAS (A)
Cover by ELIZABETH TORQUE
Variant Cover by Phil Noto
Variant Cover by Ramon Rosanas
Variant Cover by Dave Johnson
ICX Variant Cover by TBA
Behold the mightiest, fightiest super hero there is! Captain Marvel returns to her helm as Alpha Flight commander with the world cheering her on. She’s the biggest hero in the world – but has Captain Marvel become someone Carol Danvers no longer recognizes? New York Times bestselling author Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Creatures, Black Widow: Forever Red) makes her comics series debut in a blockbuster Marvel story decades in the making.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
3. Reminder That Misty Knight is Always Great in Everything
Misty Knight is always great in everything.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: SAM WILSON #16
NICK SPENCER (W) • PAUL RENAUD (A/C)
• Do NOT call her a sidekick: Misty Knight takes matters into her own hands.
• #takebacktheshield takes things a little too far.
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99
2. Hawkguy No More
Kate Bishop finally gets her own series after what feels like forever. Considering that Clint is over in “Occupy Avengers” living out his self-pity tour, it’s good that the Hawkeye name isn’t going to go to waste. It’s extra good that she’s going back to LA to do more private eyeing.
Continued belowHAWKEYE #1
KELLY THOMPSON (W) • LEONARDO ROMERO (A)
Cover by JULIAN TOTINO TEDESCO
variant Cover by Marguerite Sauvage
Design Variant by Leonardo Romero
HIP-HOP VARIANT BY MARCO RUDY
Variant Cover by TBA
ICX Variant Cover by TBA
Blank Variant Cover also available
Remember Hawkeye? No not that Hawkeye, our favorite Hawkeye, the chick who puts the hawk in Hawkeye, the butt-kicking hero who had to save the other Hawkeye’s butt all the time. Yup, you know her, it’s the dazzling Kate Bishop making her solo comics debut! Kate is heading west and returning to Los Angeles, with her bow and arrow and P.I. badge in tow. There are crimes to solve and she’s the best archer to handle ‘em! The City of Angels has a new guardian angel.
The talented duo of Kelly Thompson (A-Force, Jem) and Leonardo Romero (Squadron Supreme, Doctor Strange) bring you a Kate Bishop like you’ve never seen her before, in a brand-new ongoing series that really hits the mark!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
1. That’s Gamora
Guardians of the Galaxy screenwriter Nicole Perlman is writing a “Gamora” title and I don’t know how Marvel didn’t throw enough money at her to write their comics earlier. If this month is about the Guardians getting a soft reboot, there’s so much worse they could do than get the screenwriter of one of their best movies writing for their characters.
GAMORA #1
NICOLE PERLMAN (W) • MARCO CHECCHETTO (A)
Cover by ESAD RIBIC
Variant Cover by MARCO CHECCHETTO
Variant Cover by TULA LOTAY
Hip-Hop Variant Cover by TBA
Teaser Variant Cover by MIKE DEODATO
ICX Variant Cover by TBA
Before the Guardians…there was Gamora!
From screenwriter Nicole Perlman—co-writer of the Guardians of the Galaxy screenplay—and Marvel superstar artist Marco Checchetto comes a killer new ongoing series! Once upon a time she was Thanos’ heartless pet assassin and favorite daughter. Today, she is the backbone of the Guardians of the Galaxy, putting her life on the line to defend the innocent. What was it that transformed her from being used as a tool of her oppressor, to a champion of the powerless? Embark on a journey of revenge and redemption, and witness how Gamora earned her reputation as the Deadliest Woman in the Galaxy.
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99
