Marvel Comics Solicitations for June 2012

[runawayboulder]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=37680

 

[Themanofbat]

Yess.... a Steve Gerber Man-Thing story...

 

[Dread]

- AVX chugs along. The VERSUS series brings you the battles nobody wanted, such as Black Widow vs. Magik. Seriously, who thought that up, who cares, let's move on. I suppose Cluggernaut vs. Thing is interesting for fans of bruisers. The fact that Marvel is making no bones about targeting obsessive versus match fans who haunt message boards yelling about how Batman with Prep-Time could beat everyone IN CAPITAL LETTERS is fairly shameless in their milking the fans for all they're worth. The AVX proper title seems to shift into the second act with Hope becoming Phoenix and Wanda showing up. I have no enthusiasm for this event, and that's because it seems like the product of a bunch of suits getting into a room and picking a no-brainer story which smashes together every dangling plot thread from the last 6 years into one story, regardless if it makes any sense. There's no good reason for the heroes to be fighting, it'll involve a lot of top talents wasting their efforts on a story which will probably range somewhere between feces and crap, yet many of us will throw our cash at the void.

- AVENGERS ACADEMY double ships and it seems the cast of Generation Hope find their way over for a stretch. Is that series now the dumping ground for teenage characters from canceled series? X-23 hopped there right after her book ended, and now the Hope crew. The cadets would seem to be the least likely to engage in the adult pissing match to me, but we'll see how it goes. That said, I do think it was about time some X-characters had something to say about a kid roaming around with a giant Sentinel allowed to live at the Mansion. With the best intentions in the world, that's a terrible message.

- X-MEN LEGACY also double-shifts, and focuses on Frenzy. To me, this is the sister X-Book to AA and one I don't enjoy as much. I'm aboard for now, but if things falter a little I may drift off.

- SECRET AVENGERS' tie in to AVX has a space story, which will be interesting if only to see if Rick Remender handles that sort of thing better than Ed Brubaker did.

- THUNDERBOLTS becomes DARK AVENGERS with it's 175th issue, which I see as a final saving throw to save the book since it is selling below cancellation range. At best, that'll buy it an arc to me. How many times has editorial forced Jeff Parker to alter his roster.

- Lord knows what SPIDER-MEN is about. The safe bet is some crossover between USM's Miles Morales and 616's Spider-Man, which according to what Joe Quesada said years ago about the concept of a USM/616 crossover, means Marvel is out of ideas. Or they'll truly let Bendis write anything.

- ENDS OF THE EARTH ends and a new Lizard story kicks into ASM right in time for the movie. I am somewhat annoyed that an epilogue to EOTE is tacked onto AVENGING SPIDER-MAN by Dan Slott for no reason other than to encourage ASM readers to buy a third issue a month. It appears Marvel has a strategy to force or at least manipulate or attempt to fool readers into buying more comics of certain franchises than the market suggests they want to. That may work in the short term, but will seriously harm their brand in the long term. You could argue that's happened already.

- SCARLET SPIDER #6 suggests a battle between Kaine and Ana Kravenoff, which might have excited me if SPIDER-GIRL hadn't already utilized Ana in a very similar story last year. In fairness, repeat appearances will convince readers that this BRAND NEW DAY legacy villain is here to stay. Still, she lost to a powerless teenage girl (albeit a smart, skilled, and clever one), so it seems hard to imagine she'd be much challenge to Kaine. I suppose the real hook is a skeleton from Kaine's past - he technically killed Grim Hunter once, who was Ana's brother. And it seems Julia Carpenter will show up to tell Kaine the same sort of vague non-premonitions that do nothing but make his life harder than he did to Peter. Unless she just doesn't like Peter and is more frank with Kaine.

- VENOM #19 has Cullen Bunn join the writing credits, which suggests Rick Remender is being stretched thin. It does seem as if all of Venom's enemies have teamed up to from a Savage Six, which could be fun.

- CAPTAIN AMERICA seems to suggest Ed Brubaker is doing a Scourge story. If he's actually running with the idea that Nuke is the new Scourge from THUNDERBOLTS, a mad cyborg who was a former pawn of Norman Osborn and who critically maimed Rogers' old ally U.S. Agent, and this could be an interesting story. A part of me fears that Brubaker will instead do Just Another Retcon, though.

- WINTER SOLDIER double ships with Michael Lark on art, which looks good. All that is known is a villain knows Bucky is alive. Frankly, Barnes can really only run around jumping through windows or pummeling criminals and villains for so long before the underworld at least catches on that he's alive.

- MIGHTY THOR ANNUAL #1 written by J.M. DeMatteis? Is his exclusive with DC up?

- FANTASTIC FOUR likely starts the great wind down of Hickman's run. I am curious who replaces him.

- DEFENDERS #7 suggests that both Black Cat, Black Panther and John Amon show up in the book. Will any of them join the team, at least for an arc? Between this and SECRET AVENGERS, Amon sure is getting his tour of team duty lately.

- INFERNAL MAN-THING is somewhat odd. It's apparently a long lost Steve Gerber Man-Thing story which has never been published before. It seems quite a few of these "from the vaults" comics have come out. It is as if some accountant has noted that Marvel has already paid for this material, and they may as well try selling it rather than having it collect dust at the back of a shelf.

- DAREDEVIL #14 seems to continue on Waid's long term storyline involving the Omega Drive and the plot from Latveria. Rivera's on art, and it'll be brilliant as always. One of Marvel's best relaunches in the last couple years.

- Why is UNTOLD TALES OF PUNISHERMAX noted as both a one shot and a mini series? Has Marvel's accountant not decided yet?

 

[CrimsonMist]

Untold Tales of PunisherMAX is a 5 issue series of one shots. 5 different writers will be writing 5 different stories.

That said, I'm at the very least skipping this first issue. Everything I've read of Jason Starr has not impressed me at all.

We'll see who the other writers are soon I imagine, but I have low hopes as it is. When Marvel dished out all those other MAX one-shots when the title was delayed, the only good one was written by David Lapham. All the others felt like the writers had no idea how to tell a single story in 32 pages.

 

[Themanofbat]

It's probably been 7 years since the Movie Man-Thing mini-series, and Marvel has to put something out in order to keep the name/logos/whatever the hell it is in order to keep the character....

 

[kguillou]

- AVX chugs along. The VERSUS series brings you the battles nobody wanted, such as Black Widow vs. Magik. Seriously, who thought that up, who cares, let's move on. I suppose Cluggernaut vs. Thing is interesting for fans of bruisers. The fact that Marvel is making no bones about targeting obsessive versus match fans who haunt message boards yelling about how Batman with Prep-Time could beat everyone IN CAPITAL LETTERS is fairly shameless in their milking the fans for all they're worth. The AVX proper title seems to shift into the second act with Hope becoming Phoenix and Wanda showing up. I have no enthusiasm for this event, and that's because it seems like the product of a bunch of suits getting into a room and picking a no-brainer story which smashes together every dangling plot thread from the last 6 years into one story, regardless if it makes any sense. There's no good reason for the heroes to be fighting, it'll involve a lot of top talents wasting their efforts on a story which will probably range somewhere between feces and crap, yet many of us will throw our cash at the void.

- AVENGERS ACADEMY double ships and it seems the cast of Generation Hope find their way over for a stretch. Is that series now the dumping ground for teenage characters from canceled series? X-23 hopped there right after her book ended, and now the Hope crew. The cadets would seem to be the least likely to engage in the adult pissing match to me, but we'll see how it goes. That said, I do think it was about time some X-characters had something to say about a kid roaming around with a giant Sentinel allowed to live at the Mansion. With the best intentions in the world, that's a terrible message.

- X-MEN LEGACY also double-shifts, and focuses on Frenzy. To me, this is the sister X-Book to AA and one I don't enjoy as much. I'm aboard for now, but if things falter a little I may drift off.

- SECRET AVENGERS' tie in to AVX has a space story, which will be interesting if only to see if Rick Remender handles that sort of thing better than Ed Brubaker did.

- THUNDERBOLTS becomes DARK AVENGERS with it's 175th issue, which I see as a final saving throw to save the book since it is selling below cancellation range. At best, that'll buy it an arc to me. How many times has editorial forced Jeff Parker to alter his roster.

- Lord knows what SPIDER-MEN is about. The safe bet is some crossover between USM's Miles Morales and 616's Spider-Man, which according to what Joe Quesada said years ago about the concept of a USM/616 crossover, means Marvel is out of ideas. Or they'll truly let Bendis write anything.

- ENDS OF THE EARTH ends and a new Lizard story kicks into ASM right in time for the movie. I am somewhat annoyed that an epilogue to EOTE is tacked onto AVENGING SPIDER-MAN by Dan Slott for no reason other than to encourage ASM readers to buy a third issue a month. It appears Marvel has a strategy to force or at least manipulate or attempt to fool readers into buying more comics of certain franchises than the market suggests they want to. That may work in the short term, but will seriously harm their brand in the long term. You could argue that's happened already.

- SCARLET SPIDER #6 suggests a battle between Kaine and Ana Kravenoff, which might have excited me if SPIDER-GIRL hadn't already utilized Ana in a very similar story last year. In fairness, repeat appearances will convince readers that this BRAND NEW DAY legacy villain is here to stay. Still, she lost to a powerless teenage girl (albeit a smart, skilled, and clever one), so it seems hard to imagine she'd be much challenge to Kaine. I suppose the real hook is a skeleton from Kaine's past - he technically killed Grim Hunter once, who was Ana's brother. And it seems Julia Carpenter will show up to tell Kaine the same sort of vague non-premonitions that do nothing but make his life harder than he did to Peter. Unless she just doesn't like Peter and is more frank with Kaine.

- VENOM #19 has Cullen Bunn join the writing credits, which suggests Rick Remender is being stretched thin. It does seem as if all of Venom's enemies have teamed up to from a Savage Six, which could be fun.

- CAPTAIN AMERICA seems to suggest Ed Brubaker is doing a Scourge story. If he's actually running with the idea that Nuke is the new Scourge from THUNDERBOLTS, a mad cyborg who was a former pawn of Norman Osborn and who critically maimed Rogers' old ally U.S. Agent, and this could be an interesting story. A part of me fears that Brubaker will instead do Just Another Retcon, though.

- WINTER SOLDIER double ships with Michael Lark on art, which looks good. All that is known is a villain knows Bucky is alive. Frankly, Barnes can really only run around jumping through windows or pummeling criminals and villains for so long before the underworld at least catches on that he's alive.

- MIGHTY THOR ANNUAL #1 written by J.M. DeMatteis? Is his exclusive with DC up?

- FANTASTIC FOUR likely starts the great wind down of Hickman's run. I am curious who replaces him.

- DEFENDERS #7 suggests that both Black Cat, Black Panther and John Amon show up in the book. Will any of them join the team, at least for an arc? Between this and SECRET AVENGERS, Amon sure is getting his tour of team duty lately.

- INFERNAL MAN-THING is somewhat odd. It's apparently a long lost Steve Gerber Man-Thing story which has never been published before. It seems quite a few of these "from the vaults" comics have come out. It is as if some accountant has noted that Marvel has already paid for this material, and they may as well try selling it rather than having it collect dust at the back of a shelf.

- DAREDEVIL #14 seems to continue on Waid's long term storyline involving the Omega Drive and the plot from Latveria. Rivera's on art, and it'll be brilliant as always. One of Marvel's best relaunches in the last couple years.

- Why is UNTOLD TALES OF PUNISHERMAX noted as both a one shot and a mini series? Has Marvel's accountant not decided yet?

Actually my friend, Samnee's drawing it but still I'll take that. I'm hoping this doesn't mean Rivera's off the book for good though.

 

[Dread]

Untold Tales of PunisherMAX is a 5 issue series of one shots. 5 different writers will be writing 5 different stories.

That said, I'm at the very least skipping this first issue. Everything I've read of Jason Starr has not impressed me at all.

We'll see who the other writers are soon I imagine, but I have low hopes as it is. When Marvel dished out all those other MAX one-shots when the title was delayed, the only good one was written by David Lapham. All the others felt like the writers had no idea how to tell a single story in 32 pages.

I see. Didn't know. So, it is a mini series of 5 one shot stories. I still say that's a mini series, and calling each one a one shot in solicitations while having them still have the same title and consecutive numbering is flawed logic. But then again, so does "fudging" (as in, making up) numbers to get any comic they want to a triple digit number.

It's probably been 7 years since the Movie Man-Thing mini-series, and Marvel has to put something out in order to keep the name/logos/whatever the hell it is in order to keep the character....

Very true; I hadn't thought of that. They could have avoided that simply by titling that crappy FEAR ITSELF: FANTASTIC FOUR or whatever with Man-Thing, Howard the Duck, She-Hulk and Nighthawk after Man-Thing.

I have noticed since the Disney deal, though, that Marvel is more willing to publish stuff they paid for years ago but never printed for some reason. More "from the vaults" material and so on. In fairness, it makes more sense to try to recoop some prior costs.

Actually my friend, Samnee's drawing it but still I'll take that. I'm hoping this doesn't mean Rivera's off the book for good though.

I see. Well, Rivera always needed a second rotating artist and Martin is gone. I hope Samnee is to stay in that regard. Khoi Pham doesn't seem like the right fit to me.

 

[runawayboulder]

Finally got a chance to read through these.....

Avengers/X-Men - I still have no interest in the mindless slug fest match-ups in AvX. The main Avengers vs X-Men book doesn't have me excited all that much. The fact that Wanda doesn't show up until halfway through doesn't help either. This whole event seems like it's going to drag out like a typical Matt Fraction story arc.

Avengers #27 - I guess the Protector betrays the Avengers to protect the greater good of the universe for some reason. There's a high probability he may die during this event considering Carol is being promoted to Captain Butch Marvel, lessening the need for the former Marvel Boy. He's done next to nothing as an Avenger anyway - good riddance.

Avengers Academy #31/32 - Event tie-ins have always been a strong suit for Avengers Academy, so I expect good stuff there. It will probably boost the life span of the title even further before it inevitably becomes Avenger West Coast. I only say that because the Thunderbolts is becoming Dark Avengers and Marvel's new thing is keeping the numbers but changing the title.

WATXM #12 - Kid Gladiator vs The Avengers is something I would pay any amount to see. That kid is awesome and Nick Bradshaw is a terrific artist.

Secret Avengers #28 - I thought Carol lost her Binary powers?

Dark Avengers #175/176 - Dark Scarlet Witch...Dark Spider-Man...why can't they just come up with new code-names? Clint's brother is calling himself Trickshot now, it's not that hard.

Captain America and Iron Man #633 - I like how Cap is using the energy shield to go undercover in Captain America Team-up.

Captain America #13 - Is Cap aware that Scourge is actually Nuke? Or is this the arc he's going to find out? I can't remember if it was ever touched on since SIEGE. Did John Walker ever tell him?

Winter Soldier #6/7 - Michael Lark is a great addition but what happened to Butch Guice? Are they rotating? So a villain finds out Bucky is alive? It was only a matter of time. He'll be back on the Avengers before the end of 2012.

Journey into Mystery #640 - The Otherworld is getting a lot of use lately.

Daredevil #14 - Matt imprisoned in Latveria? Yet another enticing story coming from Mark Waid.

AoA#4 - I like Dave Lapham but I'm not that big enough of a fan of Age of Apocalypse to read an ongoing about it. This is gonna end up being a 6-8 issue mini tops. Find a better use for this guy's talents Marvel.

UXF #26 - I'm looking forward to this arc with the successors in the Omega Red lineage. I'm concerned Fantomex is getting killed off soon. He's my favorite character in the book.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Yess.... a Steve Gerber Man-Thing story...

Agreed! However, i kind of wish Marvel would release their monster limited series and stuff closer to Halloween...

 

[runawayboulder]

Is this Man-Thing story a re-print or an unreleased story?

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

It's probably been 7 years since the Movie Man-Thing mini-series, and Marvel has to put something out in order to keep the name/logos/whatever the hell it is in order to keep the character....

About four years, actually...but who's counting? t:

 

[Themanofbat]

Is this Man-Thing story a re-print or an unreleased story?

Unreleased story

 

[CConn]

Avengers Academy #31
Avengers Academy #32
Wolverine and the X-Men #12
Secret Avengers #28
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #11
Captain America #13
Journey into Mystery #640
Incredible Hulk #9
Incredible Hulk #10
Uncanny X-Force #26
X-Factor #237
X-Factor #238

That's all I'll be buying. If the $4 Incredible Hulk wasn't double shipping, I'd actually be quite pleased.

It's a shame. I liked Uncanny X-Men, but the double shipping has killed it for me. And as much as I like the FF, we all know they're just going to be coasting story-wise until the new writer comes on.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Avengers vs. X-Men 5
Avengers vs. X-Men 6

Avengers 27
New Avengers 27
Secret Avengers 28
Avengers Assemble 4
Avengers Academy 31
Avengers Academy 32

Wolverine & the X-Men 12
Uncanny X-Men 13
Uncanny X-Men 14
Uncanny X-Force 26
Astonishing X-Men 51
X-Men 30
X-Men 31
X-Men Legacy 268
X-Men Legacy 269
X-Factor 236
X-Factor 237

Defenders 7

So after my most recent series of cuts I'm down to only one non-X-Men or Avenger book, and that one (Defenders) is hanging on by a thread. I actually DID drop it after the second issue but decided to give it a little longer. I figure I'll stick around until issue 12 or so and maybe decide then. I'm only buying it for Iron Fist and if the plot doesn't get better and Iron Fist doesn't get a good enough showing it'll be gone.

I'm expecting to drop most or all of the Avengers line post AvsX as well. Academy will definately be gone unless they mix in the X-Kids or something like that. I'm only buying it for the Runaways and tie-in issues. Avengers Assemble I'm testing on an issue-by-issue basis because it's been far too long since I've read anything drawn by Bagley and I missed his art but I don't see myself staying on this title long. Avengers will likely become a classic Avengers team written by major talent to draw in a major crowd and I don't really care about that as much. It'll likely be dropped. If not for the AvsX tie-ins it'd be dropped now. I'm enjoying Secret Avengers right now but I don't know if I'm enjoying Secret enough to actually continue post AvsX. New Avengers is the wild card for me. I like the street-level Avengers and if it stays that way with the heart of this team remaining the same then I'll stay with it but if it's changed a lot then it's gone. I almost hope it gets canceled just so I can wipe the Avengers line clean from my buying list.

I'm almost looking forward to dropping everything to be honest. Even with all my drops the double shippings are making it look like I've dropped nothing and it's ticking me off. I'm eager to just drop it down to almost nothing. I'm even starting to question a lot of the X-titles I buy. X-Men will likely get dropped following the current arc. I'm not even starting X-Treme or Age of Apocalypse. Astonishing will be on a test-trial because I like Liu's writing but it's only getting an arc or two to win me over.

Wolverine & the X-Men
Uncanny X-Men
Uncanny X-Force

And to a smaller extent

X-Men Legacy
X-Factor

Those are the only safe Marvel books right now. Everything else is in danger of being dropped.

 

[Themanofbat]

I'll be getting....

New Avengers #27
Secret Avengers #28
Amazing Spider-Man #687 & #688
Avenging Spider-Man #8
Scarlet Spider #6
Venom #19
Amazing Fantasy #15: Spider-Man!
Infernal Man-Thing #1
DareDevil #14
Essential Spider-Man Vol. 11

With my recent cutbacks, I'm saving on the costs of 6 books... though I will also be getting Hulk #53 & #54 for TheSonofBat...

 

[Colossal Spoons]

WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN #12
JASON AARON (w) • NICK BRADSHAW (a&C)
AVX TIE-IN!
• Kid Gladiator goes after the Avengers single-handedly!
• The X-Men from Wolverine’s school see the events of AVX and have a choice to make…

Of course he does

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Kid Gladiator is pretty hilarious. I hope Gladiator himself shows up at some point to wring his little jerkwad neck.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Haha, their inevitable meeting should be fun. I was worried that 1 book couldn't house KG and Quire since they're really similar and boisterous but Aaron's makin it work

 

[runawayboulder]

I loved how he was turned into a Brood in the last issue of WATXM and refused to be turned back he thought he looked even more awesome.t:

 

[Colossal Spoons]

His "caretaker" is a hoot too. Trying to sex Iceman up inside of Shadowcat.

 

[runawayboulder]

Yeah, I love the line she had "Have you ever conducted a mating ritual while trapped inside another body surrounded by flesh eating aliens? Because I have" LOL!

So does Warbird have a connection to Deathbird?

And Krakoa's ability to grow grapefruit sized diamonds on the lawn of the school to supply their funding was brilliant too.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, I'm starting to love Krakoa.

 

[runawayboulder]

Krakoa has now become their secret weapon. It's interesting now considering his place in history from Giant Sized X-Men #1.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

The whole diamond tree thing didn't seem as absurd as it should be. I shrugged and said to myself "That could happen "

 

[TheCorpulent1]

A lot of things seem to make more sense when the land you've built on is alive and sentient.