Being a comic fan can be tough. With so many publishers printing more and more books, canceling titles and starting new ones, it can be daunting when you head to the comic book shop on a Wednesday to know exactly what’s coming out.
The current system of presenting and ordering comics three months ahead of their release as set forth by the sole comics distributor, Diamond Comics, doesn’t make it any easier either. We’re not a fan of that system, we think it’s slowly strangling comics to death, but we realize it’s a harsh reality of how the industry works and we definitely don’t want you to miss out on any of the cool comics being published.
And so, as opposed to regurgitating the list of comics solicited in Previews each month, we present to you some of the highlights of things you probably won’t want to miss out on.
SPOILER WARNING – in order to get people to order comics, the publishers have a funny habit of revealing what’s happening in the books. If you don’t want anything at all to be spoiled, then you’ll probably want to skip this post and take your chances with your pre-orders and/or your shopping.
Beginnings and Endings!
Enter Ed Brubaker’s engaging espionage extravaganza!
WINTER SOLDIER #1
STORY BY ED BRUBAKER
ART BY BUTCH GUICE
COVER BY LEE BERMEJO
VARIANT COVER BY GABRIELE DELL’OTTO
SKETCH VARIANT BY LEE BERMEJO
CLASSIC ARTIST VARIANT BY JOE KUBERT• Winter Soldier and Black Widow are the super-spies of the Marvel U!
• Ex-Russian Sleeper Agents awaken, but under who’s control?
• Is that Dr. Doom? Uh oh.32 PGS./Rated T+ – $2.99
WINTER SOLDIER #2
STORY BY ED BRUBAKER
ART BY BUTCH GUICE
COVERS BY LEE BERMEJO
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 50TH ANNIVERSARY VARIANT BY TBA• Bucky and Black Widow on the hunt for men trained by the Winter Soldier himself!
• Who is trying to kill Dr. Doom?
• Also featuring – talking gorillas! Yeah, you heard me.32 PGS./Rated T+ – $2.99
Speaking of spy books Ed Brubaker wrote, Rick Remender and Gabriel Hardman launch their highly-anticipated reign on Secret Avengers at long last. This seems like a sure thing.
SECRET AVENGERS #22
STORY BY RICK REMENDER
ART BY GABRIEL HARDMAN
COVER BY ARTHUR ADAMS
ISSUE #22 VARIANT COVER BY GABRIEL HARDMAN• The ALL-NEW era of Secret Avengers begins here!
• Enter Captain Britain and Giant-Man as Hawkeye becomes the new leader!
• Sentinels hunt mutants, Adaptoids hunt Avengers!32 PGS./Rated T+ – $3.99
SECRET AVENGERS #23
STORY BY RICK REMENDER
ART BY GABRIEL HARDMAN
COVER BY ARTHUR ADAMS• Who are The Descendants?
• In this issue an Avenger will die to find out!
• JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH TO FIND THE ONE THEY CALL “FATHER”!32 PGS./Rated T+ – $3.99
Speaking of books Rick Remender writes… all right, pretend there are no (insane) numbers on the covers and tell me this doesn’t sound like a lot of fun.
VENOM #13.1 – #13.4
ISSUE #13.1 – ART BY LEE GARBETT
ISSUE #13.2 – ART BY SANA TAKEDA
ISSUE #13.3 – ART BY JULIAN TOTINO
ISSUE #13.4 – ART BY LAN MEDINA• Hell is spreading across the Earth from out of Las Vegas.
• Ghost Rider is responsible but what price is she willing to pay to save mankind?!
• X-23, Venom & Hulk must defeat their worst enemies, buying Ghost Rider time to stop hell’s march across the globe!
• As a clone, X-23 has often wondered if she has a soul. This is where she gets her answer!
• Who is Ichor and why has he targeted Venom for Death?!32 PGS. (each) /Rated T+ – $2.99 (each)
Speaking of books that are a lot of fun, this promises to be the perfect jumping-on point for the normally intricate, inscrutable plots of Amazing Spider-Man.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #679.1
STORY BY DAN SLOTT
ART BY MATT CLARK
COVER BY JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER• Morbius the Living Vampire returns!
• The perfect jumping on point for the hottest comic around!32 PGS./Rated T – $2.99
Speaking of street-level heroes in red suits: if I’d said “Daredevil goes after the Mole Man” to you two years ago, the best you could have done was get a faraway look in your eye and sigh. Now, you can buy that story and read it!
DAREDEVIL #9
STORY BY MARK WAID
ART AND COVER BY PAOLO RIVERA• Mole Man returns, fresh from his battle in Avenging Spider-Man!
• Jump on to the book that EVERYONE is talking about!32 PGS./Rated T+ – $2.99
Speaking of the kind of books Daredevil was in two years ago, this cult favorite with an African main character comes to its conclusion during Black History Month. So.
BLACK PANTHER: THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE #529
STORY BY DAVID LISS
ART BY SHAWN MARTINBROUGH
COVER BY FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA• Kingpin vs. T’Challa in this status-quo changing series finale!
• Guest-starring: Lady Bullseye! Typhoid Mary! Falcon! Luke Cage!32 PGS./Rated T+ – $2.99
Speaking of books coming to an end, Jason Aaron’s harder-than-hardcore take on Frank Castle also comes to its inevitable conclusion.
SERIES FINALE – PUNISHER MAX #22
STORY BY JASON AARON
ART BY STEVE DILLON
COVER BY DAVE JOHNSON• JASON AARON’S and STEVE DILLON’S seminal run on PUNISHER MAX comes to an end!
• DO NOT MISS the Punisher story you’d never thought you’d read!32 PGS./Explicit Content – $3.99
Collected Classics Cavalcade!
Speaking of books you’ve been hearing people talk about for as long as you can remember but still haven’t read, the most revered and referenced Marvel saga this side of Galactus gets a snazzy new hardcover.
AVENGERS: KREE/SKRULL WAR HC
WRITTEN BY ROY THOMAS
PENCILED BY SAL BUSCEMA, NEAL ADAMS & JOHN BUSCEMA
COVER BY NEAL ADAMSA conflict of star-spanning proportions — with Earth caught in the crossfire!
For those eternal intergalactic enemies, the merciless Kree and the shape-changing Skrulls, have gone to war, and our planet is situated on the front lines! Can Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers, bring about an end to the fighting before humanity becomes a casualty of war? And what good are even a dozen super-powered champions against the vast military machines of two of the great empires of the cosmos? The key to victory lies with the expatriate Kree Captain Mar-Vell and his human host, honorary Avenger Rick Jones!
Featuring the trend-setting artwork of Neal Adams, the Kree/Skrull War is universally acknowledged as one of the finest and most important sagas in the Marvel canon.
Collecting AVENGERS (1963) #89-97.
240 PGS./Rated T – $34.99
Speaking of cosmic epics, this eighties collaboration between honest-to-goodness legends Stan Lee and Moebius (!!!) has been on my “to read” list since before I would have been able to appreciate it. Here’s to procrastination!
SILVER SURFER: PARABLE PREMIERE HC
WRITTEN BY STAN LEE
PENCILED BY MOEBIUS & KEITH POLLARD
COVERS BY MOEBIUSA star falls to earth. Panic grips the planet as mankind prepares for its inevitable end. But the star is a ship, and inside is a god. All he asks is adoration. Overcome with relief, man rushes to obey. There is only one voice of dissent that will not be silenced: the Silver Surfer, who recognizes the “god” as his former master. But why has Galactus encouraged mankind to live down to his darkest nature?
From Stan Lee and Moebius, one of France’s living treasures, comes a bewitching tale of man’s folly and nobility.
Plus: Almost every hero on Earth has fallen before the unexpected power of Mrrungo-Mu, the alien leader of the Enslavers. All except the Silver Surfer. But what chance does even he have against such power?
Collecting SILVER SURFER (EPIC) #1-2 and SILVER SURFER: THE ENSLAVERS HC.
168 PGS./Rated T+ – $24.99
SILVER SURFER: PARABLE PREMIERE HC — VARIANT EDITION VOL. 91 (DM ONLY)
168 PGS./Rated T+ – $24.99
Speaking of books you waited to read, the Miles Morales saga has finally made its way into a collection for you to catch up with.
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN BY BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS VOL. 1 PREMIERE HC
WRITTEN BY BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
PENCILED BY SARA PICHELLI
COVER BY KAARE ANDREWSThe year’s most-talked about story! Miles Morales IS the new Spider-Man! What’s the secret behind his powers, and how will he master them? What new and familiar enemies will rise to challenge this all-new Spider-Man? And will Miles live up to Peter Parker’s legacy?
Also includes ULTIMATE COMICS FALLOUT #4, featuring the very first appearance of Miles Morales!
Collecting ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN (2011) #1-5.
144 PGS./Rated T+ – $24.99
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Winter Soldier is $2.99? I’m in!
That’s the same thing I said!!!
+1!
Rememder is finally going to start writing Secret Avengers with Hardman on art?! And its 3.99 and double shipping?! Damn You Marvel you know i still wont be able to resist that!! Damn You!!!!
Remender**
Honestly cant wait for this though should be great
Remendergasm!!! Plus Winter Soldier. <3 I have high hopes for February.
I’m excited about Daredevil vs mole people, but did marvel just remember they existed or something? In the last month they’ve shown up in Incredible Hulk and Avenging Spiderman, now Daredevil. Crap, are we building to another event?
Didn’t they show up in FF?
Ya ive dropped off of FF a few issues ago but i recall that The Mole Man along with his moloids were working with one of the many Reeds from a different timeline if im not mistaken.
Remender is probably my current favorite writer right now, but why is Secret Avengers going to be 32 pages at 3.99 when all the others are 32 pages at 2.99? It’s because it’s got the Avengers name in it, isn’t it?
That and the fact that Uncanny X-Force has been so succesful and with names like Remender and Hardman behind it its an easy sell which is why they are probably going to double ship that title as much as possible.
Im not looking forward to spending that much ethier but isnt stopping me from buying it or from my intrest in it so as you could see the idea works haha.
It’s a tactic to get more from a series, I get that, but I don’t really like it.
I’m one of the few people that use Marvel’s mail subscription service and even though I get my issues a week late, I’m also only paying 21 bucks for 12 issues. So this double shipping stuff is going to throw off my schedule.
But oh well, first world problems, we’ll get an awesome story from Remender and beautiful art, I shouldn’t complain too much.
Speaking of catching up, this comment expresses my enthusiasm for Marvel in February.
That Kree/Skrull War HC looks like a sweet place to start my odyssey of reading classic Marvel storylines.
But I’m really currious about that Moebius Silver Surfer HC. Does anyone know if its any… good?
It’s a great Surfer story.
Almost everything on this list is exactly why I love Marvel.
Didn’t Amazing Spider-man already have a 0.1 issue? I know it was more like a Venom 0.1 issue, but come on with the 0.1 gimick already. Just put “Starting a new epic!” or “It all starts here!” on the cover and fans will get it. And I love Remender and all, but a big FU to #13.1-13.4. I might buy 14-17, but that nonsense I am staying away from.
So…you’re gonna skip the Venom Event?
Because of numbers?
Is it really a Venom event? Or is it just a way for Marvel to throw a bunch of heroes into the Venom book in an attempt at getting their fans to buy the book too? With the bonus effect of drawing more attention to a character/title and hopefully convincing the general Marvel fan that “everything changes” so they’ll have to buy it as well or be left behind in the continuity.
I’m buying Venom right now and this could easily kill my enthusiasm if I smell exploitation…
As a fan of “The New Fantastic Four” and Remender… Ill be reading the Venom Event. I would have read it if it was 14-17 or if it was 13.1-13.4. Some people wouldnt notice the books if they werent splashed with a strange number. Fact of the matter is though… what difference does it make if the end product entertains you. It is exploitation ….but at least its not a chromium cover for double the cost and half the writing talent.
That being said.. I do think that anything beyond a .1 every once in a while to signify a new arc is a little ridiculous… but frankly im more annoyed with the 500 and 600 issues that pop every few months now.
I think maybe the original intention was to promote all 4 of the characters but that was planned before the 2 cancellations. I mean how do you feel about spiderman and wolverine being on every superhero team. If thats not promotion i dont know what is.
Anyway this really is not that different from what Marvel always does every few months or so.
“I think maybe the original intention was to promote all 4 of the characters but that was planned before the 2 cancellations”
If I recall, the “event” was supposed to span across Ghost Rider and Hulk as well, but yea, with the recent cancellations, they probably decided to just streamline it within one series.
Ya blargo.. it seems like that. I didnt even realize at first that this was going to be released weekly. It makes the .1 and .2’s ..etc.. a little less strange to me.
Im hoping Remender can spin the new Ghost Rider into a more intersting character in 4 issues or less..
Every single time I see that Black Panther cover I can’t help but think of Dark Knight Returns. Am I the only one?
#13.1 – #13.4? Are you serious Marvel? This is even more moronic than #0.1 issues (as if #1 wasn’t already a perfect jumping on point). Sheesh!
Aren’t they releasing every issue within the same month? Offsets some of the retardation…
I love/hate Marvel, alot of my books are double shipping this month PLUS double shipping on two titles I’m VERY excited for?! Why do you do this to me?
Love/hate is the theme –
Hate – Point 4??!! I wonder what information encourages Marvel to build on this unsuccessful idea.
Love – everything else – very excited for Winter Soldier.
i wonder what information you are using to call it unsuccessful? sales seem to be strong on the point issues? Thats pretty much the only information marvel needs. and if these sell as well, then their information is correct.
I dont get what the problem is. its just numbers cross them out and write in 14, 15, 16, 17 and continue to do that going forward.
Everything on that list is double shipped, a point issue or ending. Marvel’s marketing department needs to calm down. That being said the actual stories look great.
Apart from Daredevil fighting Moloids, and that Moebius Silver Surfer trade; nothing here excites me for Marvel.
I mean I’m getting only 5 books from the company around this month and none of those are double shipped. At this rate I could drop the whole line completely but fortunately the stuff I am excited for are ‘A’ level quality books like FF, Thunderbolts, DD, JIM, and FF…2.
Looking forward to most, if not al of it.
all* even
So I haven’t been following the news about Secret Avengers, but is that preview art potentially spoiling Fantastic Four 600?
Because there is clearly a man on fire above Venom and Beast…
It’s most likely the original Human Torch, Jim Hammond.
Is Ultimate Spider-Man going to still be coming out in the oversized hardcovers or did that end with the first volume??
I saw that they also solicited an Omnibus of my favorite horrible comics: Avengers: The Crossing. The Avengers line 90’s tailspin into Heroes Reborn. It includes the death of a serial killer Iron Man, the Avengers replacing him with his teen aged self from the past and Wasp mutating into a bee creature. I pull out my issues every year or so to read them like they were the Watchmen.
I know I should stop whining about prices and issue numbers but man, it’s really hard to care about Marvel with their random prices and insane numbering schemes.
That said, if Remender’s Secret Avengers is as good a team book as his X-Force then both the price and double shipping will be worth it. Plus Hardman is equal to Opena in terms of being completely awesome.
I’ve never been into Hawkeye (or any archer character for that matter) so hopefully Remender can sell me on him. People say his old costume looks silly but I always liked it. They traded silly for making him look like a douchebag.
Daredevil looks great as usual.
all this double shipping they do,and now they found a way to ship 4 of the same book in one month.it’s to much
I like the old avengers cover on that hardcover! I like oldschool comics so much!
I still read them
Double shipping is a smart business move but I hate it because it hurts artistic consistency. Yes, if a reader is digging Secret Avengers he will pick up both issues in a double ship month but most likely would not add another book to his pull-list if the Secret Avengers only shipped one issue. Double shipping is a sneaky way to get readers to double their pull list, so I can see why Marvel keeps doing it. Unfortunately, double shipping means an artist cannot draw every issue of a title as seen with Hardman on Hulk or Opena on Uncanny X-force, which hurts the overall artistic quality of the title. The $3.99 price tag of titles such as Secret Avengers also hurts, especially when it’s coupled with double shipping. In Feb for the same price I can either buy Secret Avengers or the January issues of GL, Wonder Woman, Batman and Animal man digitally. Something is wrong with that equation.
I hear you on how double shipping hurts when the books are $3.99, but I don’t agree with your argument that it hurts artistic quality. Many artists these days work at a quality and detail level that prohibits them from consistently turning out a book a month (without being chained to their drawing tables, risking burnout, injury, or insanity). Factor in the arc-based nature of most comics these days, and I think having rotating art teams makes a lot of sense.
As long as the editor can secure artists with similar styles and detail levels.
Which I believe is what bothered people about the double shipping on Uncanny X-Force. Taking Secret Avengers as an example — Hardman is great, but if he needs a break to get ahead on the next art, guys like David Aja, Michael Lark, or Mitch Breitweister could all bring a similar look to the book.
I wonder if double shipping will bring back the idea of a “house style” for certain titles based on the style of the “lead” artist?
Winter Soldier looks great. I hope hope hope it’s availably day and date digitally.
Yea I’m exited about Winter Soldier can’t go wrong with Brubaker and Guice on it especially at $2.99 wish all Marvel books were that price.I would get more books.That Avengers hardcover looks great.I thought that Reign’s End cover was Batman.
Good lord. Enough with the point one issues! When you’re having MULTIPLE point one issues on a book in a matter of months, things have gone too far. Marvel, we’re all well aware that you guys are putting out a butt ton of issues and double-shipping like mad. We get it. You don’t have to trick us. It’s also obviously clear that people are buying these issues as any sort of jumping on point. Enough already. You tried your little marketing ploy. Give whoever in the office whose idea it was a pat on the back and “atta boy”. But it’s clearly annoying the hell out of your readers. PLEASE, ust stop.
I have been waiting for YEARS for Marvel to re-release Parable. That was one of the first comics I read as child that really blew my mind. If it’s as great as I remember, it’s one of the best things Stan lee ever wrote. Plus, the art is outstanding.