The watchful and completely objective gaze of Soliciting Multiversity now falls upon Marvel’s crop of titles for September! Check out our picks below and let us know what stuck out to you in the comics.
10. Civil War II
Only real news here is that Marvel’s cutting their bimonthly thing for “Civil War II” this month so it can extend into August. I’d complain, but considering that “Secret Wars” ended, like, a month ago I’m kind of fine with one more month of this thing.
CIVIL WAR II #6 (OF 7)
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W) • DAVID MARQUEZ (A)
Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC
Variant Cover by Michael Cho
OLD MAN LOGAN VARIANT BY PHIL NOTO
B&W VIRGIN CONNECTING VARIANT G COVER BY KIM JONG GI
Sides have been drawn, battles have been fought, but it all comes down to this. Captain Marvel versus Iron Man over the future of the Marvel Universe, one of the biggest battles in Marvel history!
40 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99
9.Iron Daddy
A couple years ago, there was an “Iron Man” story in Kieron Gillen’s run that revealed how Tony Stark was actually adopted. We kind of forgot abut that for a while, but now we’re going to find out about Tony’s real parents while “Civil War II” rages on. I can’t imagine this actually having an impact on the crossover, but how incredible would it be if Captain Marvel was about to kill Iron Man but she stopped because he revealed that their moms have the same name.
INTERNATIONAL IRON MAN #7
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W) • ALEX MALEEV (A/C)
CIVIL WAR II TIE-IN!
• In the middle of the events of Civil War, Tony finds out the truth about his parents and their connection to the history of the Marvel Universe.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
8. Minimum Ride
Who reads this? I’m not just trying to be mean, I’m speaking as someone who read a lot of the “Maximum Ride” books when he was a middle schooler. Is this still a hot ticket for tweens? Is there still a sizable market of twentysomethings who read The Angel Experiment and just needed to see how it ends? Because I’m looking at the solicitation text here and it’s exactly what the characters were dong when I first read that book. When I was eleven.
MAX RIDE: FINAL FLIGHT #1 (OF 5)
JODY HOUSER (W) • MARCO FAILLA (A)
COVER BY DAVID NAKAYAMA
VARIANT COVER BY SIYA OUM
JAMES PATTERSON’S SMASH HIT SERIES RETURNS FOR A TRIUMPHANT CONCLUSION!
• THE FLOCK is tired of running. They’re ready to take the fight directly to JEB and the ERASERS!
• But things get complicated when the line between friend and enemy is blurred.
• And all the while, MAXIMUM RIDE keeps hearing that voice in her head — the voice that says she’s destined to save the world!
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99
7. Captain America Is A Snake
Here’s your regular character alert where we look at what’s getting reprinted to determine what Marvel’s going to make significant again. This time it’s The Serpent Society who are a bunch of people slithering around in snake costumes. Captain America fell in love with them once. They’re probably going to either A) get a new series, B) show up on Agents of Shield or C) get that Captain America: Serpent Society movie they threw out as a red herring before announcing Civil War. Either way, Gruenwald and Englehart’s runs on “Captain America” are pretty dope, but you find those collections on their own, rather than mashed up through a scaly filter.
Continued belowCAPTAIN AMERICA: SERPENTS UNITE! #1
MARK GRUENWALD & STEVE ENGLEHART (W)
PAUL NEARY & SAL BUSCEMA (A)
Cover by SAL BUSCEMA
• Slithering super villains, it’s a syndicate of snake-themed sinners!
• The sinister Sidewinder amasses an army of ophidian offenders — including Cottonmouth, Diamondback and Princess Python — for his mercenary Serpent Society!
• In Captain America’s first brush with the team, he’ll land in the arms of Anaconda! But whose side will he take when the Society targets M.O.D.O.K. for death?
• Look back at the Society’s original incarnation as Cap and the Falcon contend with the Serpent Squad!
• Collecting CAPTAIN AMERICA (1968) #163, #310, #313 and #315.
104 PGS./Rated T …$7.99
ISBN: 978-1-302-90316-9
6. Military Frank
I already really like Becky Cloonan and Steve Dillon’s new run on “Punisher”, but I’m kind of worried about the direction Frank’s been going in for a while. Starting with that okay Nathan Edmondson run, there’s been a lot more focus on Frank Castle’s past in the military, which is fine but kind of detracts from the whole street vigilante thing that The Punisher’s built on. Cloonan and Dillon make it personal here, since Frank’s tracking down the colonel from Daredevil, but I kind of want to see Frank hit the streets again soon.
THE PUNISHER #5
BECKY CLOONAN (W) • STEVE DILLON (A)
Cover by DECLAN SHALVEY
DEFENDERS VARIANT COVER BY TBA
ENTER ASYLUM: FIND NO SANCTUARY
• The Punisher tracks Condor’s EMC operation to its source…a deserted psychiatric hospital.
• Can Frank take down an asylum full of drug-enhanced killers, or will he become an inmate himself?!
• Agent Ortiz is close behind. She’s rescuing her partner, and she’s done with following protocol.
32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99
5.RIP HOWIE
Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones’s run on “Howard the Duck” comes to a close in September which is kind of a shame. I say “kind of” because there’s been so many Marvel comics lately that offer the same kind of irreverent fourth wall leaning humor that “Howard the Duck” had that it doesn’t feel like we’re really losing anything. This isn’t 2006 where it sucked that “Nextwave” got cancelled because there wasn’t a lot of comics like it. In a post-“Hawkeye” Marvel, there’s a couple of books that feel really similar to “Howard the Duck.” So seeing it get cancelled isn’t like losing one major tentpole for Marvel, it’s like seeing removing one suit from a clothesrack of identical garments.
HOWARD THE DUCK #11
CHIP ZDARSKY (W) • JOE QUINONES (A/C)
LAST ISSUE VARIANT COVER BY CHIP ZDARSKY
ACTION FIGURE VARIANT COVER BY JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
DEFENDERS VARIANT COVER BY Jamal Campbell
• Join Chip (Zdarsky) and Joe (Quinones) as they say goodbye to Howard in a Very Special Issue that is still priced as a Regular Issue!
• Can Howard outwit fate? Can any of us? Or is the concept of predestination just shorthand for the near-infinite factors in play that are guided, at their core, by free will?
• Guest-starring Spider-Man, probably.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
4. Hail Scott Lang
Since everything about the HydraCap debacle is embarrassing to some degree, this is a good space to remind people that Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas’s “Astonishing Ant-Man” is still really good. It’s a funny, definitive take on the character that doesn’t resort to getting fans riled up over its character pledging allegiance to a genocidal group. To describe it more positively, it’s like Louie meets The Avengers.
THE ASTONISHING ANT-MAN #12
NICK SPENCER (W) • RAMON ROSANAS (A)
Cover by Julian Totino Tedesco
DEFENDERS VARIANT COVER BY Siya Oum
The Trial of Ant-Man begins!
• Darren Cross is mad, and looking to get even. He’s grimacing and shaking his fists, like, constantly. Tough guy to be around.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
3. Serious Knight On Serious Earth
In case y’all been sleeping on it, Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood’s “Moon Knight” has been stellar so far. After being trapped by one of Khonshu’s enemies (or, uh, someone else if that spoilery solicit is correct), Moon Knight’s (or Marc Spector or Stephen Grant or…) confronting his identity crisis head on with components and people of his multiple lives trapped in an asylum with him. Among all of this is the idea that Moon Knight may have actually snapped for good and his stay in the hospital is legit. A lot of other “Moon Knight” stories lately have been focused on the coolness/smoothness of “Moon Knight” but this run gets back into a supernatural/psychological kinid of horror that feels like Silent Hill with more Egyptian gods and punching.
Continued belowMOON KNIGHT #6
JEFF LEMIRE (W) • GREG SMALLWOOD (A/C)
STORY THUS FAR VARIANT COVER BY Christian Ward
CLASSIC VARIANT COVER BY TBA
DEFENDERS VARIANT COVER BY TBA
“INCARNATIONS” STARTS NOW!
• Marc Spector broke his body to escape the prison Khonshu built for his mind…
• …And Stephen Grant awoke in New York City, ready to produce Marvel’s next box-office smash!
• It’s a happy ending — unless Marc is still trapped somewhere.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
2. Spider-Gwen vs. The World
As someone who just said they want to see The Punisher do more to fight criminals on the street, I don’t think I wanted him to try to kill Spider-Gwen but the spider-web that’s been woven between The Kingpin, The NYPD, and the fallout from Peter Parker’s death didn’t really leave any other option. Even when I’m complaining about a lot of Marvel’s books feeling samey, I’m really glad “Spider-Gwen” is around.
SPIDER-GWEN #12
JASON LATOUR (W) • ROBBI RODRIGUEZ (A/C)
• Here it is! SPIDER-GWEN vs. FRANK CASTLE.
• No more powers, no more running, no more hiding.
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99
1. No Surprise At All
Birds will fly, fish will swim, and I’m going to keep using every platform available to me to remind people how amazing it is that we live in a world where The Vision is the star of Marvel’s best comic. Maybe I’m just enjoying this more than everyone because I’m someone who used to hate The Vision and his new turn as a colder hero trying to keep his artificial family together is so much more compelling to me than whatever else he’s done. Or maybe I still hate The Vision and I’m elated to see how he gets all of The Avengers turned against him. A little bit of both, probably.
THE VISION #11
TOM KING (W) • GABRIEL HERNANDEZ WALTA (A)
Cover by MIKE DEL MUNDO
• The Avengers draw a line in the sand. They tell Vision he is not to cross this line. If he does, they will destroy him. “Remember,” they say. “You’re an Avenger. First. Always.” “Stay where you are,” they say. “Don’t cross the line,” they say. Vision nods. He tells them he understands.
• Then Vision crosses the line.
• The end is coming for the most critically acclaimed book of the year, and no one is safe. Don’t miss the issue everyone will be talking about.
• Also, hail Hydra.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
