Alright then my dear comic book maniacs we are into June which I’ve already noted as feeling like one hell of a fast surprise in another “Insights” narrative just days ago. Here we go with the Marvel Comics offerings in terms of the first issues and as we’ve also previously noted, they are in the beginning stages of the massive “Secret Wars” initiative and that is combining all of the various worlds of their stories and bringing them together for one big (dare I say it) New Universe. As we found with last month there are a lot of titles making this up and instead of parsing it into chapters I have instead alphabetized the month’s releases. Feel free to use this as a checklist when you hit the shops during June. Here we go.
Age Of Ultron Vs. Marvel Zombies #1: THE ULTIMATE DEATH SENTENCE IN BATTLEWORLD. There’s a place that’s so dangerous it’s walled off from the rest of BATTLEWORLD……where WILD ZOMBIES feast on those who’ve been banished for crimes against the state. where cold, mechanical ULTRONS destroy anything that’s human. Pity those who get caught between the two, for their death WON’T be fast and painless!
James Robinson (w); Steve Pugh (a)
Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #1/#2: THE LAST SPIDER-MAN STORY. Not even The Amazing Spider-Man is safe from Secret Wars! In this new Marvel Universe, Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson and their daughter have to scrape by to make ends meet, but they have each other… Face front, True Believers. This is the one you’ve been asking for.
Dan Slott (w); Adam Kubert (a/c)
Armor Wars #1: A SHADOW FALLS OVER AN ARMORED UTOPIA! TECHNOPOLIS: Amazing Domain of science and wonder created by rival genius brothers TONY AND ARNO STARK. A utopia except…a unique disease forces EVERYONE to wear armor to live and breathe. In this armored land a hero is murdered and the killer’s identity a mystery Baron Tony Stark must solve. But in doing so, will Technopolis be forced into a civil war?
James Robinson (w); Marcio Takara (a)
Captain Marvel and The Carol Corps #1: Atten-Hut! These ladies are the best of the best–and will take you down if you threaten their Captain. Welcome to Hala Field, where being a part of the elite Carol Corps, requires guts, guile and a whole lot of grit. So put on your uniform and get ready for a high-flying Captain Marvel series years in the making.
Kelly Sue Deconnick & Kelly Thompson (w); David Lopez (a/c)
E Is For Extinction #1: What happens when mutants prove they really are Homo SUPERIOR? What will happen to the X-Men when they fight for a world that wants to be them, rather than hate and fears them? And what exactly is Magneto doing running the Xavier institute??
Chris Burnham (w); Ramon Villalobos (a)
Future Imperfect #1: ON BATTLEWORLD, THE DICTATOR OF DYSTOPIA IS A FAMILIAR FACE! THE MAESTRO rules but there are those who want him dethroned! What role does RUBY SUMMERS have in the plan for this dangerous rebellion? Have the rebels genuinely found ODIN, the father of The Gods, as an ally against the Maestro?
Peter David (w); Greg Land (a/c)
Ghost Racers #1: FURIOUS RACE FROM HELL IN A BLAZING ARENA OF HORROR!!! Welcome to the scorching-hot track where cursed souls race at the speed of sin, anything and everything goes and the only rule is no rule–it’s the spectacle known as the GHOST RACES; the most hellish “entertainment” known to BATTLEWORLD! 1st place prize: Temporary freedom from the ARENA, but what happens to the unlucky and unholy losers? It’s all-out, high-speed warfare among the most bizarre and vicious GHOST RIDERS of the MARVEL UNIVERSE. Expect MANY familiar SKULLS!!
Felipe Smith (w); Juan Gedeon (a)
Giant-Size Little Marvels: AVX #1: The toughest, funniest, craziest and most adorable Marvel heroes THROW DOWN. Featuring all your favorites including Cyclops, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Wolverine! They’re all there, just shorter! Skottie Young brings out the big guns in the series fans have been waiting for!
Skottie Young (w/a/c)
Guardians Of Knowhere #1: A single moon orbits Battleworld. But no, that’s no moon. It’s a space station. It’s Knowhere. The head of a dead Celestial, somehow saved in the universal collapse, a colony brimming with convicts and criminals. The Galaxy may be gone, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t places that still need heroes. Places that need champions. That need GUARDIANS.
Brian Michael Bendis (w); Mike Deodato (a/c)
Korvac Saga #1: Lord Michael Korvac governs the Forest Hills, but his domain is threatened by rival lords, chaotic threats from beyond the Wall, and, worst of all, a dark madness that is spreading through the population. Led by the noble Major Victory, Korvac’s loyal Guardians must find the source of the evil before it corrupts the world as they know it.
Dan Abnett (w); Otto Schmidt (a/c)
Marvel Zombies #1: Elsa Bloodstone is stationed on the Shield, burdened with the Sisyphean task of keeping the zombie hordes from rampaging through Battleworld. In those moments where she’s not enrapt in the throes of battle, she meditates on her deceased father…how everything he taught her gave her the means to fight the zombies, but all the love he didn’t give her is what motivated the self-destructive actions that landed her on the Wall in the first place. But when she sees a human child caught in the middle of the zombieverse, she’ll muster every ounce of determination she has to throw herself into the zombie horde to rescue the girl. And once Elsa finds her, she’s going to have to fight her way back out…
Simon Spurrier (w); Kev Walker (a/c)
Mrs. Deadpool and The Howling Commandos #1: She is Shiklah—undisputed Queen of the Monster Metropolis below Manhattan! In the world that was, she married Deadpool, the Merc with the Mouth…But nothing on Battleworld is quite as it was. Now, she commands the Howling Commandos: Werewolf By Night! Frankenstein’s Monster! The Living Mummy! Man-Thing! And Marcus the Centaur! What would her late husband think of that???
Gerry Duggan (w); Salvador Espin (a)
Runaways #1: The best and brightest teens from all corners of Battleworld are chosen to attend a prestigious school on the planet’s capital! But what does the new class do when they discover the school’s beloved headmaster is actually a diabolical super villain? RUN AWAY! A SECRET WARS story like none other from the remarkable minds of Noelle Stevenson (LUMBERJANES) and Sanford Greene (UNCANNY AVENGERS)!
Noelle Stevenson (w); Sanford Greene (a/c)
Squadron Sinister #1: They’re the WORLD’S GREATEST… VILLAINS. The SQUADRON SINISTER. And they’re taking Battleworld by force in this Secret Wars tie-in for fans of crime epics like The Godfather, The Sopranos and Sons of Anarchy. But will controlling one Domain be enough for Hyperion and his gang?
Marc Guggenheim (w); Carlos Pacheco (a/c)
Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde #1: STAR-LORD AND KITTY PRYDE–finally in their own series together! But are they TOGETHER together?! And is this the Kitty Pryde that Peter loves or one from a completely different reality. This series takes place right in the thick of things on BATTLEWORLD and is sure to be a wild ride!
Sam Humphries (w); Alti Firmansyah (a)
Thors #1: The Thors of every domain, together in one book! As cosmic cops! Whenever there’s trouble on Battleworld, the Thors answer the call. But a string of mysterious murders leaves some of them asking questions that may unravel all of reality! A hard-hitting Marvel Comics police drama. With hammers. Lots and lots of hammers.
Jason Aaron (w); Christopher Sprouse (a/c)
Weirdworld #1: Welcome to the wildest, most dangerous new corner of the Marvel Universe. Welcome to Weirdworld. A world of swords and sorcery and strange, perverted science. A world where one barbarian walks alone, on a dark and savage quest though all things weird and fantastic from throughout Marvel history. His name is Arkon. A lost man in a lost world. Follow him if you dare.
Jason Aaron (w); Michael Del Mundo (a/c)
X-Men ’92 #1: Everyone’s favorite version of the X-Men from the ’90s is back! When Baron Kelly charges the Clear Mountain Project and it’s mysterious new director with “mutant rehabilitation,” it’s up to the X-Men to investigate! PLUS: Free Range Sentinels?!?
Chris Sims & Chad Bowers (w) • Scott Koblish (a)
Years Of Future Past #1: In the dystopian nations of BATTLEWORLD, the mutants of New York City must fight to survive the rule of the Sentinels! At their center is Kate Pryde, a heroine tried and tested by war, and mother of the last mutant ever to be born before the purges of the Mutant Control Act! With revolution on the wind, the X-Men are not a broken team with nothing left to lose, but a desperate family with more at risk than ever before!
Marguerite Bennett (w); Mike Norton (a)
X-Tinction Agenda #1: Ten years since the fall of Cameron Hodge and his fascist regime. Ten years that Havok and Wolfsbane have labored to rebuild Genosha. But their work may be for naught, as a plague has spread across their nation, infecting mutants and threatening their race with extinction. With the country quarantined and seemingly abandoned by the rest of the world, including the X-Men, old friends may become new enemies as Genosha’s rulers fight to save their people! Experience an alternate future fueled by the events of the landmark first X-Crossover of 1990, X-Tinction Agenda!
Marc Guggenheim (w);Carmine Di Giandomenico (a)
1602 Witch Hunter Angela #1: In the altered realms of BATTLEWORLD, Angela and Sera are WITCH HUNTERS, the scourges of King James’ England, 1602. In a land beset by magic and monstrosity, they seek a new and seductive evil—not witchbreed, but deal-making FAUSTIANS, who bargain with ancient creatures for unnatural power! Moral ambiguity? Fancy allusions? Marguerite making the most of that English degree?
Marguerite Bennett/Kieron Gillen (w); Stephanie Hand/Marguerite Sauvage (a)
1872 #1: REAL HEROES DIE WITH THEIR BOOTS ON. Sheroff Steve Rogers faces corruption and fear in the boom town of Timely. The only thing Anthony Stark seems capable of is pulling a cork, so can he pull Rogers’ fat from the fire? But…a stranger comes to town that will change Timely forever…for anyone left standing, that is.
Gerry Duggan (w); Evan “Doc” Shaner (a)
PiercingMetal Thoughts: There are a lot of books to keep up with as the new “Secret Wars” gets its grip on your comic collecting funds and quite a few of these have come out today. The rest will arrive over the course of the month so don’t forget to check off the ones you have each week to avoid duplication. I have not yet read any of these in advance format or teaser pages but I think I am most interested in the “Mrs. Deadpool”, “Years Of Future Past”, “X-Men ’92” and “Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows” right off the bat based on the characters being long time favorites. Battleworld is already proving to be a crazy place and one has to wonder how Marvels Universe will be after its all said and done. What titles if any are you readers most interested in? Let me know in the comments section. I’ll be back with more comics stuff during the DC first issues posting in a couple of days.
Official Website: http://www.marvel.com