Over at USA Today and Mashable, Marvel have dropped clues about what the post-“Secret Wars” landscape will look like at Marvel and, despite a slew of #1s, it doesn’t look all that different than where we left off. Jane Foster is still Thor, Sam Wilson is still Captain America, Miles Morales appears to have officially joined the 616, and the synergy of film and comics are continuing whole hog.
The language used by Axel Alonso sounds a lot like the Marvel NOW! rebranding from a few years ago: not a hard reboot, but new jumping on points for readers, especially readers who have come to these characters via film. If that is the case, then this is a pretty poor time to have relaunched – if a new fan saw Avengers: Age of Ultron and then went right to their comic shop, Marvel was in the midst of launching “Secret Wars,” not exactly the most new reader friendly event ever constructed.
“Secret Wars” will also be bringing some of its characters over to the ‘main’ universe, as Red Wolf appears on the above image alongside Spider-Gwen. Red Wolf, mark my words, will get a solo book written by Jeff Lemire – I can feel it. Not pictured, but discussed, is an all-new Hulk who, according to Alonso, will rile up some of the same readers who were upset over a female Thor. IGN has put together an infographic on the image which, I hate to be the guy to point out, features no X-Men or Fantastic Four characters, although Wolverine does get a mention, but is teased as a new (possibly not Fox-licensed) Wolverine.
The new #1s will be staggered across the fall months, and all pick up eight months after “Secret Wars” ended. Mashable estimates between 55-60 new #1s will come out around this time, making this the first ever time the New 52 was labeled a conservative relaunch.
Also related, in July, Marvel will release “All-New, All-Different Marvel Previews,” a free print (and later digital) magazine that will announce many of the upcoming new titles. Personally, I love this idea, and Marvel specifically mentions not needing to scour the internet for announcements or reveals. Having them all in one place is a fan’s dream come true, even if for the publisher and their press affiliates (ahem), an exclusive announcement never hurts.
These sort of things are commonplace in comics now, but there are still exciting aspects of this announcement: brand new books from solid creators, some chances being taken and, hopefully, a reason to get some new readers into their local comic shops. Stay tuned as more news emerges.
Update:
Marvel has released a second teaser, also drawn by David Marquez, this time featuring a lineup that is certainly more different than the first teaser’s. According to CBR, the image features:
Doctor Spectrum of the Great Society, a holdover from Jonathan Hickman’s “Avengers” run
Citizen V — originally the “heroic” alter ego of Baron Zemo — in his original Thunderbolts uniform
Thing and Rocket Raccoon, sporting matching Guardians of the Galaxy team uniforms
While it may not look like him, Marvel has confirmed that that is the Inhuman Karnak rocking a street-level look
Hyperion, another prominent player in Jonathan Hickman’s recently concluded “Avengers” epic
“Inhuman” protagonist Inferno and, just on the other side of Iron Man, an unchanged Inhuman ruler Medusa
Daredevil sporting a new black and red costume, possibly a nod to the dark duds the Man Without Fear wore in his Netflix series
X-23 — confirmed by Marvel — in her new Wolverine-esque suit
Star-Lord, same as before “Secret Wars”
A mostly unchanged Doctor Strange, except this time carrying a massive battle axe
And Old Man Logan, possibly one of the characters surviving Battleworld and continuing on into the new Marvel U
We will update this post with any future teasers.
