Hey readers, how is your summer coming along so far? I hope that it has been grand and that some of you have even managed to squeeze some vacation into your plans. Now its time to say that without any further adieu, here is my monthly presentation of the Marvel Comics titles that are being delivered under their branding of the “All-New Marvel Now!”. As I have done before, these are the brand new first issues that we shall be seeing in this month of July 2014. While there are not a whole lot of brand new title releases with this particular month it’s okay because there are plenty of continuing series to enjoy and you can see them on the shelves of your neighborhood comics shop when you drop in. Longer termed followers of this particular category know that I’ve been snipping the descriptions of the titles from the Official Wikipedia entries since that let’s us get a quick premise of the new title and an idea of who the creative team will be on the title. It’s much easier for this particular solicitation purposes but don’t worry I will be offering up my sage comics wisdom after its all done. Here we go with the newest first issues from Marvel Comics.
Rocket Raccoon: Writer Skottie Young. Artist Skottie Young; About Rocket Raccoon’s adventures in his solo ongoing series, Young said, “We’re definitely going to play around with his scoundrel side. We’ll get him away from the Guardians and he’ll have some solo adventures. So we’ll definitely see that side, but we’ll weave in and out of there as we look at other aspects of his character. We’ll see things like what it’s like to be the last of your kind left in the galaxy, but mostly this is a book about a striped-tailed, loud mouth raccoon with big guns.”
Spider-Man 2099: Writer Peter David, Artist Will Sliney; The series involves Miguel O’Hara getting trapped in Earth-616 and having to live with Peter Parker until he can return home and destroy Alchemax.
The Legendary Star-Lord: Writer Sam Humphries, Artist Paco Media; Peter Quill flies solo for the very first time in THE LEGENDARY STAR-LORD #1 – the bombastic new series from some fan-favorites. Spinning directly out of the pages of Guardians of the Galaxy and just in time for the highly anticipated summer blockbuster – the notorious interstellar outlaw is striking out to swindle and swashbuckle his way across the galaxy in search of big adventures and even bigger scores. Expect a battle with the Badoon, a fight to save an orphanage, not to mention a little flirting with Kitty Pryde of the X-Men – and that’s just the FIRST ISSUE! “This book is going to be Peter’s adventures untethered from the Guardians, where he gets to play a little more fast and loose in the cosmic playground, says series writer Sam Humphries. “He likes to fight. He likes to flirt. He flies by the seat of his pants. This book is almost more like a Space Western. It’s about heists and cons, bounty hunters, revenge and all that good stuff.” “These are the high flying adventures of a space cowboy,” Humphries continues. From the cold abyss of deep space to the seedy alien underworld, deadly forces await around every turn – and the Star-Lord stands alone. As the brazen outlaw prepares to strike out on a new journey, no fan can afford to miss the continuing adventures of the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy. An epic new adventure begins right here – if he lives that long! Hang on dear reader, as Sam Humphries & Paco Medina take you out of this world when THE LEGENDARY STAR-LORD #1 explodes onto comic shop shelves and digital devices this July!
My Thoughts: It’s easy to come up with some quick points with only two new titles to opine about and I will start off by saying that I think “Rocket Raccoon” is going to be one of the break-out characters for Marvel based on the upcoming “Guardians Of The Galaxy” film. I find myself getting a little more excited with each passing day as the trailers keep on coming. Now I don’t expect the Rocket character to get his own feature anytime soon, but perhaps an animated release is not out of the question. I do see the title being popular and perhaps starting off a wave of toys. Switching over to “Spider-Man 2099”, well, I admit that I read the original series for about two years and liked most of the premise that it kept to. To me it was very interesting to find someone in the future adopting the heroic identity of one of my own favorites, The Amazing Spider-Man. I’ll close out with my being super intrigued about “The Legendary Star-Lord” and that was because I was only ever the casual fan of the character before he was fully integrated into the proper Marvel universe and ended up becoming the leader of this particular Guardians Of The Galaxy team. Based on my vintage, I grew up on the classic team of this futuristic Avengers but the premise of the title sure look to be levels of brash, action-packed adventures in space. Good source material for more films in my humble opinion.
What do you readers think about these offerings? Are they of interest to you? Will you be hitting the comic store to grab a copy when it hits the stands? Let me know in the comments.
Official Website: http://www.marvel.com
Official Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_NOW!#All-New_Marvel_NOW.21