Marvel Previews Picks: August 2023
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham: The Silver Age
Yes, it really is nice when there’s an overwhelmingly obvious pick for this slot. They don’t come more overwhelming than the continuation of a legendary series from an equally legendary creative team over thirty years after their run was interrupted. Lots of people (including yours truly) assumed that we’d never see the end of Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham’s run on “Miracleman” after its publisher Eclipse went bankrupt and the rights to the character and his comics fell into legal Hell. I’m sure the story of how Marvel got the rights to publish this series again would make for a fascinating documentary itself, but all that matters is that they did and here we are with “The Silver Age.”
Obviously, we’re picking up after “The Golden Age” which examined the utopia that the title character had created after taking over the world, backed by the near-limitless power he and his allies possessed. While everything wasn’t perfect, things were actually really good for pretty much everyone in the world. Which means that there’s only one way for the story to go from here. It starts with the resurrection of his old friend and former comrade Young Miracleman, and where it goes… we’ll just have to wait until August to find out.
(Well, I will. If you really want to you can go buy the single issues before this arrives.)
Immortal Thor #1: Donny Cates’ ill-fated run gets its final collection in these solicitations with Thor by Donny Cates vol. 6: Blood of the Fathers which will get into the ancient connection between Thor’s grandfather, Bor, and Thanos. It may have Cates’ name on the cover, but Torunn Gronbekk will be doing the heavy lifting for that storyline. Which means it’s time for the God of Thunder’s ongoing title to get another relaunch! “Immortal” may be the hot new adjective being thrown around at Marvel these days, but it has extra relevance here given the title’s new writer: Al Ewing, who helped give us “Immortal Hulk.” Nothing is said regarding the story for this issue, but Ewing’s involvement is enough that it’s not really a problem here.
Death of the Venomverse #’s 1-5 (of 5): Cullen Bunn returns to the Marvel Universe for another Venom-related storyline. It involves a powered-up Carnage looking to take out ALL Venoms, and Knull is involved as well. This is another one of those cases where you should already know if this is something for you.
Uncanny Avengers #1 (of 5), Dark X-Men #1 (of 5), Astonishing Iceman #1 (of 5), Children of the Vault #1 (of 4), Alpha Flight #1 (of 5), Jean Grey #1 (of 4), Realm of X #1 (of 4), X-Men #25, Iron Man #9, X-Men: Red #14, X-Force #43, Immortal X-Men #14: What do all of these titles have in common? They’re all marked by “Fall of X” branding. This is a storyline that’s been hyped for a while as a major turning point for the X-Men. My guess is that it’s going to mark the end of the Krakoa Era and transition the franchise back to a more familiar setup. I can’t say I’m too keen on that idea (yet), but I’m truly baffled by how Marvel is choosing to tell the storyline. Rather than a core miniseries or each issue stating what “Part” of the storyline they’re telling, it looks like each of these titles is going to tell part of the story in its own way. They all indicate that the next “Hellfire Gala” one-shot is the start of all this, so it’s going to have to do some real heavy lifting in order to convince me that reading all of these titles – well, the ones in addition to “X-Men,” “Immortal X-Men,” and “X-Men: Red” – is going to be worth it. Even if I’m just following them on Marvel Unlimited.
Magneto #1 (of 4): Now here’s an “X-Men” title being released this month that isn’t tying into “Fall of X.” Better still is that it’s not heralding the return of the Master of Magnetism after his death in the pages of “X-Men: Red.” No, this is a miniseries that takes us back to the time Magneto took over as headmaster for the New Mutants. I’ve read a good chunk of “New Mutants” from that era, but my memory of those issues is too hazy to let me know if expanding upon the start of the character’s role in this position is a good idea. Writer J.M. DeMatteis is a long-time Marvel veteran, however, so if he’s got an idea about how this could work, I’m inclined to believe him. Todd Nauck provides art for this miniseries too.
Marvel Unleashed #1 (of 4): Why the hell would I want to read a miniseries about the Pet Avengers? Wait, Kyle Starks is writing it? …Okay. I’ll give it a look when it shows up on Marvel Unlimited.
What If…? Dark: Venom #1: What if Ben Grimm became Venom? Well, that certainly is a storytelling avenue that hasn’t been explored yet. Writer Stephanie Phillips and artist Jethro Morales will be the ones exploring it come August.
Venom #24: Bryan Hitch may only be doing covers for this series now, but DAMN that is a good one! Also, no points for guessing who’s guest starring in this issue.
Daredevil #14: The Zdarsky/Checchetto run comes to an end. Or rather, an “ENDD” as the solicitation puts it. I’ve been following this on Marvel Unlimited, so it’s likely that I’ll be doing a podcast on it once this issue arrives on it in November.
Judgment Day Omnibus HC: For $125, you get all 900+ pages of the event and every relevant tie-in it received as well. I thought the whole thing was worth reading when I did my podcast on this over a month back. That said, I’d love to know if they’re going to put all of the issues collected here in recommended reading order. Because that may actually convince me to add it to my physical shelf (as opposed to my digital one) when it arrives.
X-Men by Gerry Duggan vol. 4: The highlight of vol. 3 was seeing how Duggan picked up on the lingering plot thread regarding the threat posed by the Children of the Vault from Jonathan Hickman’s run. Duggan looks to continue to follow up on a similar thread as we get to see what has happened to Broo after he ate the King Egg and became Lord of the Brood. We also get to see what Orchis has been up to, and it doesn’t look to be any good as Feilong has taken over Tony Stark’s businesses and is using them to create the next generation of Sentinels. All this and the return of Pogg-Ur Pogg (You remember him, right? From “X of Swords?”) with what is sure to be top-class artwork from Stefano Caselli and Joshua Cassara.
Star Wars by Charles Soule vol. 6: Quests of the Force, Star Wars: Darth Vader by Greg Pak vol. 7 – Unbound Force: Looking at the solicitation text for these volumes, I’m amazed at Marvel’s restraint in not labeling them both “Hidden Empire Fallout.” That’s because both look to deal with the after-effects of whatever Q’ira has planned in that miniseries. Whatever it was, it looks to have disrupted Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader’s connection to the Force. Both will be trying to find their own way to re-establish this connection, with the former winding up in the clutches of someone by the name of Dr. Cuata. Vader’s efforts sound more interesting as his quest will lead him back to none other than Doctor Aphra. That reunion should be something to see, even as it risks being upstaged by the inclusion of the good Doctor’s first appearance from (the first) “Darth Vader” #3 published by Marvel.