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New Avengers Revived with New Roster, New Mission

New York, NY— May 7, 2025 — In March, Marvel Comics announced that a new era of THUNDERBOLTS was coming this June by writer Sam Humphries (Uncanny X-Force) and artist Ton Lima (West Coast Avengers). Today, a startling truth is revealed—in classic Thunderbolts fashion, this latest iteration isn’t at all what it seems! They’re the NEW AVENGERS!

Since their debut as a team of disguised supervillains, the Thunderbolts have become synonymous with unpredictable twists and unconventional rosters. This legacy continues with a surprise—and first-of-its-kind—comic book title change that echoes the jaw-dropping twist in Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts*, now in theaters, while introducing an entirely new—and shocking—team of heroes!

THE WINTER SOLDIER. BLACK WIDOW. EDDIE BROCK, CARNAGE. THE HULK. NAMOR. CLEA. WOLVERINE. It’s a group of the most dangerous loners and antiheroes in the Marvel Universe, yet they’ll come together as the NEW AVENGERS! In classic Avengers fashion, they’ll assemble to take on a threat too big for any one hero to combat—corrupt clones of the Illuminati! And in the spirit of Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch’s decade-defining New Avengers run, this radical lineup will usher in a revolutionary new era of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes!

Elated to talk about the secret change finally, Humphries said, “Plot twist–it’s been NEW AVENGERS all along! I promised surprises, and this is the first of many. It’s a thrill and an honor to continue the grand New Avengers tradition of team dynamics that are as explosive as the threats. And this era has two combustible teams: the New Avengers and the Killuminati!”  Check out the covers, including a homage to David Finch’s iconic New Avengers #1 cover by Whilce Portacio, newly revealed character variants by Derrick Chew, Ejikure, and Woo-Chul Lee, and the first of three Marvel Studios Variant Covers. Featured on the first three issues of the series, the Marvel Studios Variant Covers spotlight original character designs by Marvel Studios’ Director of Visual Development, Andy Park, for the Thunderbolts* film.

NEW AVENGERS #1
Written by SAM HUMPHRIES
Art by TON LIMA
Cover by STEPHEN SEGOVIA
Virgin Variant Cover by STEPHEN SEGOVIA
Variant Cover by MARK BAGLEY
Variant Cover by STEPHANIE HANS
Black Widow and Winter Soldier Variant Cover by DERRICK CHEW
Carnage and Wolverine Variant Cover by DERRICK CHEW
Clea and Namor Variant Cover by EJIKURE
Hulk Variant Cover by WOO-CHUL LEE
Spoiler Homage Variant Cover by WHILCE PORTACIO
Killuminati Variant Cover by JOSEMARIA CASANOVAS
Marvel Studios Variant Cover by ANDY PARK
Logo Variant Cover
On Sale 6/11

Black Cat Gains New Ongoing, New Modus Operandi

New York, NY— May 6, 2025 — This August, BLACK CAT is back in an all-new solo ongoing series written by superstar writer G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel) and drawn by rising star Gleb Melnikov (Amazing Spider-Man). Spinning directly out of Joe Kelly, Pepe Larraz, and John Romita Jr.’s Amazing Spider-Man, BLACK CAT kicks off with Felicia Hardy testing her luck at being a full-fledged super hero. The series will be a radical shift for the character’s solo adventures as Black Cat is battling supervillains, including many of Spider-Man’s most fearsome foes, amidst her usual high-stakes capers. But is her most recent change of heart for purely altruistic reasons or simply a way to pull off her greatest heist yet?

SUPER-THIEF, SUPER…HERO?!

Felicia Hardy is the BLACK CAT, the world’s slyest and most skilled super-thief! She loves a good score. The longer the odds, the better! But her entire world turned upside down after SPIDER-MAN’s brutal battle with HELLGATE in Amazing Spider-Man #8-9, so Felicia is turning over a new leaf as New York City’s newest…super hero?! The first super villain on her list – THE LIZARD! But will the Black Cat risk it all after her do-gooding moral high ground attracts dangerous attention from the lowest of the city’s underworld? Easy, KINGPIN OF CRIME, she’s still skimming off the top – honest! Don’t miss the winding road of twists, turns, laughs, and mind-bending action of BLACK CAT’s next exciting chapter!

The series marks Wilson’s first ongoing Marvel series since her groundbreaking run of Ms. Marvel ended. Wilson wrote a short tale starring Black Cat in Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #4 last year.

“As soon as Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood dropped and people saw the Black Cat story, readers began to ask me ‘When are you going to write more Felicia?’ Well, the answer is: right now,” Wilson shared. “Black Cat is so much fun to work with. She’s a supporting character with main character energy. And she has such a rich history that there are tons of tantalizing story threads to pull on.”

“I was itching to draw more of Felicia after finishing my first Spider-Man issue, so when [Editor] Tom Groneman asked if I was interested in working on the BLACK CAT series, I typed ‘YES!’ faster than a lightning bolt,” Melnikov said. “Black leather, street-level fights, and the chance to draw our favorite usual suspects from Spidey’s rogues gallery? Sign me up! Not to mention I’m very excited to work with Willow and color artist Brian Valenza.”

BLACK CAT #1
Written by G. WILLOW WILSON
Art by GLEB MELNIKOV
Cover by ADAM HUGHES
Variant Cover by JEEHYUNG LEE
Virgin Variant Cover by JEEHYUNG LEE
Variant Cover by PEACH MOMOKO
Variant Cover by SIMONE DI MEO
On Sale 8/20

Mephisto’s Plan Gives ERise to More Bring on the Bad Guys One-Shots

New York, NY— May 6, 2025 — A long-standing scheme involving Marvel’s greatest supervillains is uncovered this June in BRING ON THE BAD GUYS, a new seven-part saga celebrating the nearly 50-year legacy of the groundbreaking BRING ON THE BAD GUYS trade paperback. The event begins this June in BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: DOOM #1 by Emmy Award-winning writer Marc Guggenheim and acclaimed artist Stefano Raffaele and continues in July with BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: GREEN GOBLIN #1, BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: ABOMINATION #1, and BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: LOKI #1, each delivered by all-star creative teams. Today, fans can learn about the event’s final three chapters, on sale in August: BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: RED SKULL #1, BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: DORMAMMU #1, and BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: MEPHISTO #1, which sees Guggenheim return to deliver the event’s fiery conclusion alongside artist Álvaro López. In addition to writing the first and last installments, Guggenheim will team up with artist Michael Sta. Maria for a backup story in each issue, shedding light on Mephisto’s overarching scheme and the mysterious new villain SISTER SORROW! 

Acclaimed writer, military-history buff Stephanie Phillips, and moody, dynamic artist Tomasso Bianchi dive deep into their dark sides in BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: RED SKULL #1! Witness Red Skull at his most sinister in a story from his ruthless past during the dark days of World War II, along with the horrible future that awaits Captain America as a result, thanks to a deal with the devil himself!

Then, join acclaimed creators, writer Alex Paknadel and artist Javier Pina, as they dare to test the dread Dormammu in BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: DORMAMMU #1! The saga takes a mind-bending turn as Dormammu is drawn into a battle across generations, and the arcane horrors of the Dark Dimension come to life as vividly as you’ve never seen them before! But what could move Dormammu to help anyone seeking his aid?

Finally, all seven villains’ paths collide in the grand finale, BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: MEPHISTO #1 by event architect Marc Guggenheim and artist Álvaro López. Victory is in Mephisto’s grasp as he prepares to control all souls on Earth! But who is the mysterious figure who stands against him?

“Marvel broke the mold with supervillains, pushing them past the archetypical to the complex and some even morally gray but still to be feared,” Editor Mark Paniccia added. “Each of these one-shots are an opportunity for fans to see what makes these villains some of the most dangerous characters in the Marvel Universe.”

BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: DOOM #1
Written by MARC GUGGENHEIM
Art by STEFANO RAFFAELE
Cover by LEE BERMEJO
On Sale 6/18

BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: GREEN GOBLIN #1
Written by ETHAN S. PARKER, GRIFFIN SHERIDAN & MARC GUGGENHEIM
Art by MATTEO DELLA FONTE & & MICHAEL STA. MARIA
Cover by LEE BERMEJO
On Sale 7/2

BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: ABOMINATION #1
Written by PHILLIP KENNEDY JOHNSON & MARC GUGGENHEIM
Art by SERGIO DÁVILA & & MICHAEL STA. MARIA
Cover by LEE BERMEJO
On Sale 7/16

BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: LOKI #1
Written by ANTHONY OLIVERIA & MARC GUGGENHEIM
Art by JETHRO MORALES & MICHAEL STA. MARIA
Cover by LEE BERMEJO
On Sale 7/30

BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: RED SKULL #1
Written by STEPHANIE PHILLIPS & MARC GUGGENHEIM
Art by TOMMASO BIANCHI & MICHAEL STA. MARIA
Cover by LEE BERMEJO
On Sale 8/13

BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: DORMAMMU #1
Written by ALEX PAKNADEL & MARC GUGGENHEIM
Art by JAVIER PINA & MICHAEL STA. MARIA
Cover by LEE BERMEJO
On Sale 8/20

BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: MEPHISTO #1
Written by MARC GUGGENHEIM
Art by ÁLVARO LÓPEZ
Cover by LEE BERMEJO
On Sale 8/27

Jaws 50th Anniversary Edition Coming To Disc and Digital June 17

Universal City, California, April 29, 2025 – JAWS made history in 1975, turning a young Steven Spielberg into a household name and boldly establishing the summer blockbuster spectacle that revolutionized the film industry. Winner of three Academy Awards®, including Best Original Score, JAWS has become a global phenomenon, and half a century later, it still holds a grip on audiences around the world. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment celebrates this cinematic milestone with the JAWS 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, available on June 17, 2025, in 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray™, and Digital. This Combo Pack features the never-before-seen documentary, JAWS @ 50: THE DEFINITIVE INSIDE STORY, a brand-new look at the making and legacy of the film directed by Laurent Bouzereau and from National Geographic, in partnership with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Documentaries, Nedland Media, and Wendy Benchley. The disc and digital include over five hours of bonus features with an inside look at the making of the film, deleted scenes, original on-set footage, and much more! JAWS will also be available in an all-new limited edition SteelBook with never-before-seen artwork.
 
When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town’s chief of police (Roy Scheider), a young marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss), and a grizzled shark hunter (Robert Shaw) embark on a desperate quest to destroy the beast before it strikes again. Featuring an unforgettable score that evokes pure terror, JAWS remains one of the most influential and gripping adventures in motion picture history.
 
JAWS @ 50: THE DEFINITIVE INSIDE STORY:

  • This documentary gives Steven Spielberg an authorized look inside the story of JAWS. From Peter Benchley’s epic novel to Spielberg’s film, JAWS continues to influence pop culture, cinema, and shark conservation. With interviews from Hollywood’s most influential directors and shark scientists, the legend of JAWS is endless.

 
BONUS FEATURES ON 4K UHD, BLU-RAY™ AND DIGITAL INCLUDE:

  • Deleted Scenes and Outtakes – Over 13 minutes of content
  • The Making of JAWS—This original full-length documentary gives an insider’s look into the making of this classic film. It is filled with exhaustive cast and crew interviews, archival footage, outtakes, and much more!
  • JAWS: The Restoration – An in-depth look at the intricate process of restoring the movie.
  • The Shark is Still Working: The Impact and Legacy of JAWS – A fan-made documentary that focuses on the many ways JAWS has helped shape elements of pop culture and influence a generation of filmmakers.
  • JAWS Archives
    • Storyboards
    • Production Photos
    • Marketing JAWS
    • JAWS Phenomenon
  • From the Set – Available on Disc only
  • Theatrical Trailer

Fortune & Glory: The Musical by Brian Michael Bendis & Bill Walko

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Brian Michael Bendis’s Hollywood memoir-in-comics Fortune & Glory  was republished about two years ago, for no obvious anniversary- or thematically-related reason. At the time, I thought it was just a random new edition, but now it’s clear that it was setting up for what we might as well call a sequel.

Fortune & Glory: The Musical was published at the end of January – I don’t think it was serialized first, which is a little unusual for a book written by a guy like Bendis and published by an outfit like Dark Horse – and it tells a different story of a younger Bendis getting pulled into writing stuff for other creative media. While the first F&G centered on trying to turn his creator-owned early noir GNs into movies – Spoiler alert! it didn’t quite happen, though Bendis got contacts and contracts and some income for a few years and other things eventually did get made – this second one is about one project that we readers might not have known Bendis was ever part of.

The famously…um, troubled Broadway musical of the early Teens, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark [1], had a book attributed to director Julie Taymor, playwright Glenn Berger, and (after a hasty rewrite during previews) playwright and comics scripter Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. But it was no secret that other writers, including several comics writers, had been part of the project earlier. And Bendis was one of them, having been pulled in by Marvel head Avi Arad in 2004 to meet with Taymor and, everyone hoped, write the book of this musical.

(The music and lyrics were always going to be by Bono and The Edge of U2, and they were.)

The Musical is written by Bendis and features him as the main character, with roughly the same character design as the Bendis-drawn original F&G. But this time the art is by Bill Walko, with colors by Wes Dzioba and letters by Joshua Reed. It is the story of his involvement with Turn Off the Dark – which is actually pretty short and minor – as well as loosely-related material about his youth and the usual how-I-got-into-comics stuff.

Bluntly, Bendis took a couple of meetings with Taymor (one by phone, one after being flown down to LA), where he was impressed by her energy and passion but reacted really badly to two major pieces of her vision. First, that the musical should end, like a comic book, with a big “To Be Continued!” message – but he thought he could finesse that. Second, and more seriously, that she wanted to change Spider-Man’s origin from the standard radioactive spider-bite, so that instead Peter Parker got his powers by praying to the Greek goddess Arachne.

(That stayed in the final work, more or less, so it clearly was a deal-breaker for Taymor. I’m more surprised that Marvel allowed it; they could have fired her instead and gone with another director. But I suppose this was post-bankruptcy, pre-Iron Man Marvel, a company more willing to take a crazy chance on someone who was well-known and successful in her area of expertise.)

So Bendis wrote up a treatment, and had another meeting to pitch it. He did not include the Arachne origin, and got only about that far into the pitch before Taymor blew up, and Bendis’s involvement in the project quietly ended. (Bendis thought the project ended, and was surprised when the musical popped back up a few years later.)

That, as I hinted above, is only one small thread in The Musical – maybe 15% of the pages at most. It’s not a long story, and not a lot happens. Most of the book is flashbacks to Young Bendis, dewy-eyed and obsessed with comics, bugging people like Walt Simonson and making crappy comics as a teenager and, eventually, forging an indy self-published crime-comics career in his twenties.

I don’t know if anyone will come to The Musical for that story, but, if you’re a Bendis fan, you’ll probably enjoy it. It’s the standard story of a lot of fans-turned-pro, and Bendis tells it with a lot of self-awareness and humor. Walko brings a slightly cartoony, caricatured line that adds energy and big facial expressions to pages with lots of captions and dialogue.

The Musical does not provide much background on Turn Off the Dark; Bendis was only involved briefly and inconclusively several years before it actually happened. But it’s an amusing “creative people are obsessive weirdoes with quick tempers” story, and the rest of the material in the book is at least loosely and vaguely connected to that story.

[1] I actually saw Turn Off the Dark on Broadway with my two kids. Sadly, I saw it after the retool, when it was just kooky and not full-on insane. I  didn’t write about it at the time, and that was fifteen years ago, so all I have are vague memories. It was very technically impressive and full of excellent on-stage talent doing impressive things, but the story was…well, I don’t want to say “a confused mess,” since that would be insulting, but it wasn’t the most clear and understandable thing I’ve ever seen.

Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

Sharky Malarkey: A Sketchshark Collection by Megan Nicole Dong

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As far as I can tell, this 2018 book is the only collection of the “Sketchshark” comic – more than that, it’s creator Megan Nicole Dong’s only book to date, and “Sketchshark” was the title of her (long-abandoned) Blogspot site and maybe the original title of the (only mildly abandoned) related Tumblr , which now uses the book’s title.

On the other hand, she’s got a day-job in animation as a director and storyboard artist (including what looks like three shows this decade, one upcoming for 2027), which probably takes most of her artistic energy and drawing time the last bunch of years.

Sharky Malarkey  feels like one of those “throw in everything to fill up a book” collections, divided into chapters with somewhat different kinds of cartoons. There’s a twenty-page introduction, which I think was new for the book, in which the creator is picked up for a rideshare by her shark character (Bruce), incorporating what may have been a few separate individual strips about Dong’s life and cat. That’s the only major autobio material; Dong doesn’t seem to be the kind of creator who wants to talk about herself.

The first chapter, Malarky, has a bunch of general cartoons  – people on phones, anxiety issues, other life issues and relatable content, and a bunch of comics about butts. (Millennial cartoonists cartoon as much about butts as Boomer-era cartoonists did about tits – though the millennials are more gender-balanced, both the cartoonists and the butts they draw.)

Then we get the Bruce-centric chapter, There’s a Shark in Los Angeles. Bruce is shallow, self-obsessed, and a minor celebrity (at least in his own head). The fact that he is in Los Angeles is definitely not random, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Dong started doing this character when she began looking for work in Hollywood. (The book includes some pieces – older, I assume – in which the main character is still in art school, too.)

Next up is Ladythings, which somewhat heads back to the general humor of the first chapter – but focused on physical or cultural issues that are female-coded. (Often in weird ways, because Dong is a cartoonist and they have goofy ideas; there’s a short sequence about prehensile boobs, for example.)

Then comes The Animal + Plants Channel, which is pretty random. For most cartoonists, a chapter about animals would imply pets – dogs and/or cats, depending – but Dong’s work is wilder than that, with a lot of squirrels and horses, plus whales and a few returns of Bruce. And, yes, there are strips about plants as well.

Fifth is A Toad Makes New Friends in the Forest, which starts out as a picture-book-style story and morphs over into more traditional comics as it goes. It’s also an unsubtle racial allegory, and runs into the final section, Some Sort of End, in which Bruce returns for one last time to lead the big kids-movie all-singing, all-dancing ending. (Dong spent most of the first decade of her career making animation for kids – I’m not sure she’s entirely moved beyond that now – and is deeply familiar with the story beats and particular bits of laziness of that genre.)

Dong has an organic, appealing style, with bright colors enclosed by confident black lines all basically the same weight. And her humor is quirky and specific – the jokes and ideas and setups in Sharky Malarkey aren’t derivative, or ever obvious. It would be nice if she had time and energy and enthusiasm to make more comics like this, since her work is so distinctive, but it looks like animation has been taking her creative energy since the book came out – and probably paying much better. But time is long and Hollywood is fickle; who knows what will happen next? Maybe she’ll make more cartoons and be a massive success at something unexpected. 

Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

Fallout: Season One Comes to Disc in July plus Amazon Steelbook Exclusive

BURBANK, CA (April 22, 2025) – Based on the best-selling global video game franchise, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment brings you the most bombastic and delightful post-apocalyptic action mission to ensure the survival of humanity with the release of Fallout: Season One on Blu-ray & DVD on July 8. A limited edition 4K UHD Steelbook will also be available exclusively at Amazon. The 4K UHD Steelbook and Blu-ray sets will both include a set of 6 Collectible Art Cards (available while supplies last). Get ready to binge all 8 episodes of the phenomenal series, plus go behind the scenes with over an hour of bonus content. Pre-order your copy today!

The series comes from Kilter Films and executive producers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. Nolan directed the first three episodes. Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner serve as executive producers, creators, and co-showrunners. 

Fallout stars Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets), Aaron Moten (Emancipation), Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks), and Walton Goggins (The White Lotus). Athena Wickham of Kilter Films is also an executive producer, along with Todd Howard for Bethesda Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks. The series cast includes Moisés Arias (The King of Staten Island), Sarita Choudhury (Homeland), Michael Emerson (Person of Interest), Leslie Uggams (Deadpool), Frances Turner (The Boys), Dave Register (Heightened), Zach Cherry (Severance), Johnny Pemberton (Ant-Man), Rodrigo Luzzi (Dead Ringers), Annabel O’Hagan (Law & Order: SVU), and Xelia Mendes-Jones (The Wheel of Time).

SYNOPSIS:

Based on one of the greatest video games of all time, Fallout is the story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. Two-hundred years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind—and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird, and highly violent universe waiting for them.

PRODUCT                                  

Blu-ray & DVD (4K UHD Steelbook exclusive to Amazon)

SPECIAL FEATURES

  • Commentary (exclusive to the physical release)
  • Animated Content – A step-by-step career walkthrough with a focus on what really matters, produced by Vault-Tec executive Bud Askins.
  • Becoming The Ghoul – Award-winning actor Walton Goggins plays not one but two central characters in Fallout. This in-depth look highlights the dichotomy of The Ghoul and Cooper Howard, and their long journey from past to present.
  • Console to Camera – The Fallout universe has a rich legacy with tens of millions of fans around the world. Go behind-the-scenes of Prime Video’s new series and explore how and why, after nearly three decades, it was the perfect time to make the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. leap from game to screen.
  • Creating the Wasteland – The VFX team for Fallout breaks down the various ways, mostly practical, they brought the Wasteland to life.
  • Inside Season One – Go inside the making of Season One.
  • Meet the Filmmaker (and fanatic) Jonathan Nolan – Todd Howard and Bethesda Game Studios waited over 25 years to find someone with the ‘Profile’ to bring their iconic universe to life.
  • Prosthetics & Makeup Gone Nuclear – Let’s face it – when it comes to Prosthetics and Makeup design in Fallout, Gore and Ghouls go hand-in-hand.
  • Safe and Sound – Composer Ramin Djawadi and the team behind the sounds of Fallout reflect on the many musical notes of Season One.
  • Set Your Sets on 2296 – Inside the cinematography and production design for Fallout, and how Jonathan Nolan and team achieved a very specific (and unforgettable) look for post-apocalyptic Los Angeles
  • The Costumes of Fallout – Costume designer Amy Westcott and the Fallout producers unpack how they brought the Fallout factions to life.
  • Welcome to the World of Fallout – An atomic past creates wild new futures. The cast and filmmakers of Fallout discuss the unique tone, characters and vast world of the post-apocalyptic sci-fier, based on the beloved video game franchise.
  • Writing for the Wasteland – Showrunners Geneva Robertson Dworet and Graham Wagner describe how they created the ultra-unique tone of Fallout.       

Audio: English
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 475 minutes
Rated: TV-MA

Mephisto Brings on the Bad Guys in New One-Shots

  • News
  • April 27, 2025

New York, NY— April 24, 2025 — Marvel’s greatest supervillains steal the spotlight this June in BRING ON THE BAD GUYS, a new seven-part saga celebrating the nearly 50 year legacy of the groundbreaking BRING ON THE BAD GUYS trade paperback. The event begins this June in BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: DOOM #1 by Emmy Award-winning writer Marc Guggenheim and acclaimed artist Stefano Raffaele. Today, fans can learn more about the next three BRING ON THE BAD GUYS chapters, on sale this July: BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: GREEN GOBLIN #1, BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: ABOMINATION #1, and BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: LOKI #1.

The saga comes from a lineup of superstar creators, spearheaded by Guggenheim who will write the opening and closing chapters along with a backup story in each issue shedding light on Mephisto’s overarching scheme and the mysterious new villain SISTER SORROW! 

In BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: GREEN GOBLIN #1, Eisner-nominated writing duo Ethan S. Parker and Griffin Sheridan and rising star artist Matteo Della Fonte reveal an all-new piece of Norman Osborn’s villainous history! The Green Goblin is one of the most terrifying villains in the Marvel universe – thanks to a deal with Mephisto. But what does the Soul Forge have to do with it?

Then, two superstar creators—writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson and artist Sergio Dávila—team up in BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: ABOMINIATION #1! Emil Blonsky is never one to turn down a good deal. Whether it’s to fell the mighty Grootslang in exchange for his freedom from a Wakandan prison, or to collect a soul on behalf of Mephisto for a mystery boon. The Abomination is always the monster for the job, and he’s going to prove it once and for all.

And, discover who gets the last laugh in BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: LOKI #1 by acclaimed writer Anthony Oliveira. Loki is the God of Mischief. Mephisto is the Lord of Lies. In a centuries-old battle of wits, Loki needs of a favor, and in exchange, Mephisto commands him to retrieve a soul – one belonging to an agent of Khonshu. But no one tells Loki what to do.


“Marvel broke the mold with supervillains, pushing them past the archetypical to the complex and some even morally gray but still to be feared,” Editor Mark Paniccia added. “Each of these one-shots are an opportunity for fans to see what makes these villains some of the most dangerous characters in the Marvel Universe.”

Marvel Adds Tie-in Comics to Fantastic Four: First Steps

New York, NY— April 25, 2025 — This July, the Future Foundation is proud to partner with Marvel Comics to produce the first-ever authorized retelling of the Fantastic Four’s early adventures. Titled FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS, the single-issue comic will be authored by acclaimed writer and renowned Fantastic Four expert Matt Fraction and drawn by award-winning super hero artist Mark Buckingham. The issue will hit stands just in time for the fourth anniversary of the Fantastic Four’s public debut to our world, part of a milestone celebration that’s shaping up to be the talk of the summer season!

It’s the moment that changed the world–-presented in the most brilliant medium there is! FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS #1 is certain to be a must-have item, both for those who have looked up to this super team since they made themselves known those who might be unaware of the history behind Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and The Thing’s incredible rise to global stardom!

Four years ago, the world was transformed as an amazing cosmic-powered quartet revealed themselves and their astonishing abilities to the public! Since that time, they have become world-famous as the Fantastic Four! Now, to celebrate that anniversary, Marvel Comics recounts their very first exploit that saved our city from near destruction!

“What an honor to be asked to help celebrate the fourth anniversary of the Fantastic Four!” Fraction shared. “It was a thrill to bring their first legendary adventure to the world of comic books for the first time! It’s a story we all know by heart, but I think Magic Mark Buckingham and I have found a way to tell it as you’ve never heard or seen before — and who knows, this could be the start of something big!”

FANTASTIC 4: FIRST STEPS #1
Written by MATT FRACTION
Art by MARK BUCKINGHAM
Cover by PHIL NOTO
On Sale 7/2

REVIEW: Song of the Lioness Book One: Alanna

Song of the Lioness Book One: Alanna
By Tamora Pierce, Vita Ayala, and Sam Beck
Abrams Fanfare/256 pages/Hardcover (($26.99), Softcover ($17.99)

Tamora Pierce crafted Song of the Lioness, a four-part story tracing the making of a hero in the form of twins Alanna and Thom. Across the young adult novels, she dealt with gender and bullying, set in a fantasy realm where the forces of good and evil and politics play out. It was an acclaimed series, earning plaudits and awards.

Now, Vita Ayala and Sam Beck begin adapting the story in a set of graphic novels, beginning in mid-May with this first volume. Having never read the novels (or any Pierce to be honest), I find that this requires the adaptation to stand on its own.

The twins possess magical talents, something their father frowns on, and they contrive to defy him, with Alanna going to court to train to be worthy of becoming the first female knight while Thom goes off to learn the ways of sorcery. To fight stereotypes, Alanna disguises her prepubescent self as Alan.

Smaller and slighter than the other would-be squires and knights, Alan is bullied by many other boys. Slowly, she earns the admiration of her peers, notably Prince Jonathan, who is also in training. Alan excels in skilled arts such as archery and is clearly the most learned of the trainees.

Slowly, Alan makes friends, sharing her secret with a few. She posts letters to Thom so we get the merest glimpses of what he’s up, hinting that I suspect his story for subsequent volumes.

In time, events bring Jonathan and Alan to Persopolis, the one major desert city, but it was said to keep an eye on the Black City. Determined to learn the secrets of this storied metropolis, the pair sneak in and discover evil magic.

Ayala does a fine job moving things along, although besides Alan and a few others, most characters remain static and uninteresting. Alan is made to be The One, so special and earnest that all come to admire (or envy) the trainee. It’s a bit much, but it is tempered by the internal fight she waged to be taken as she is.

Beck’s art is presented only in black and white in the ARC sent for review, with just a hint of the full color to come in the final form. The color will help a lot since Beck too often ignores backgrounds and details. More than a few panels make you wonder what’s going on while some spreads are poorly constructed, so figures are lost in the perfectly bound gutter.

Aimed at the 12-16-year-old market, this stands fine on its own, but the prose version is probably a far richer read.

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