The Diamond Comics Retailer Summit is wrapping up today in Las Vegas, as retailers are invited out to come see what publishers have planned ahead. It’s done to basically give retailers a heads up, entice them for what is to come and hopefully get them to up orders and push things to their patrons.
And Marvel? Well, Marvel is trying hardest of all.
As reported at Bleeding Cool (and apparently nowhere else, which means you’ll be seeing “exclusive” announcements soon), there are a few things that you can take note of coming from Marvel in the rest of the year, and next year.
For one, there will be a “Guardians 3000” book, perhaps in addition to the “Star-Lord” and “Rocket Raccoon” ongoings. Whether this replaces or runs alongside the current “Guardians” series is to be determined, but apparently there will be a big push for “Guardians” thanks to that feature film.
Next, we now know a bit more about “Axis,” the previously teased event from C2E2. While the logo has changed (formally featuring an Avengers A and an X-Men X), the series will be written by Rick Remender and apparently features the new Axis of Evil: Green Goblin, Loki, Sabretooth, Red Skull (all Onslaught’d out), Doctor Doom and Carnage. I’m reminded a bit of the whole Dark Reign thing but there’s no further details on this one yet. It’s featured in the June 2014 Previews, though (as the Jim Cheung cover was shown), so I imagine we’ll know more very soon. No artist yet, unless Rick Remender is drawing it too, which would be interesting.
Now, the big thing. As teased, Hickman’s “Avengers” were getting ready for the finale, and apparently this will be a big to-do as in September, Hickman’s “Avengers” and “New Avengers” jump eight months into the future (humorously enough at the same time that all of DC’s titles jump five years into the future). Not only that, but something for May 2015 is coming teased as “Time Runs Out,” which is what everything from Hickman’s run has been heading towards and assumedly involves the giant incursion that our Avengers can not stop (see: the image at the top of this post).
Apparently, according to BC’s report, this will cause changes in the entirety of Marvel’s publishing line, “forcing them to do something the company has never done in its 75 years.”
The popular theory here, I suppose, is a reboot a la DC. Marvel has certainly done a lot with time and time incursions and all that jazz as of late, ever since “Age of Ultron” made things all weird. I imagine if Marvel does plan a big reboot in May 2015, you’ll see a lot of negative commentary as they’ve seemed to figure out how to not reboot and chug along for “new readers.” That, and we’ve seen what revamped Marvel U’s look like twice now (“Heroes Reborn” and the Ultimate Line) so it seems kind of pointless.
After this, there’s really just two small things to take note of. The first is that you should expect an announcement of what Marvel has planned for Star Wars soon, come San Diego Comic Con. The rumor is two books with big creative teams, and perhaps a late fall release.
Last, there will be a “Deadpool” and “Hawkeye” crossover. When you think about the creative teams of both it’s actually not as out of left field as one might originally imagine, but this does raise some questions about what will be happening with “Hawkeye” given that Fraction has stated that the series is beginning to wind down with its story.
Never the less, I imagine official announcements and all that jazz are coming soon. We’ll keep you posted.
