Marvel Penguin Picks: December 2025
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Imperial
Jonathan Hickman is doing another reinvention of a specific part of the Marvel Universe? SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!! No, seriously. The man has crafted lots of classic stories through his work on “Fantastic Four,” “The Avengers/New Avengers,” and “X-Men.” Even when he doesn’t hit it out of the park (looking in your direction “G.O.D.S.”) the results are at least still interesting and even influential. So if he’s going to reshape the power structure of Marvel’s cosmic sector, then I’m going to want a front-row seat for that.
However, this part of the Marvel Universe has proven notoriously resilient to anything resembling commercial success. Even its most influential storylines in the modern era – the Keith Giffen-led “Annihilation” the Abnett/Lanning “Annihilation: Conquest,” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Nova” runs – were cult successes at best. So it’s entirely possible that whatever Hickman has planned isn’t going to stick, and that becomes even more likely when you realize that he’s not writing any of the series coming out of “Imperial” – which includes the Black Panther: Intergalactic miniseries debuting here – and is just co-writing the tie-in one-shots meant to set them up here. Still, the hope is that the main event will be worth reading on its own terms and I see no reason to doubt that here.
Ultimate Endgame #1 (of 5): Speaking of Hickman, it looks like Marvel is actually serious about wrapping up the new version of the Ultimate Universe that he spearheaded a couple years ago. Ultimate Spider-Man #24 is also solicited this month and it’s billed as the series finale, which is only disappointing in that it’s ending after the superlative quality of its first two volumes. While I’d normally have no problem with a storyline reaching its natural conclusion – especially one coming from either Marvel or DC – the issue here is that Hickman isn’t writing “Endgame.” “Ultimates” writer Deniz Camp is. I’ve not been the biggest fan of what he’s written so far, and his first volume of that series didn’t excite me the way the original series did. I realize that his work there and on his creator-owned titles has him being viewed as a Next Big Thing, but not by me. Not yet, anyway. I’ll buy this because I’ve been buying all the other “Ultimate” titles and I want to see how it’ll all wrap up. I just won’t be anticipating it the way I would if Hickman was writing it.
Sorcerer Supreme #1 & Doctor Strange #1: Two different titles. Really. The former has the announcement of a new Sorcerer Supreme from an unnamed writer and artist. Right now the smart money is on Wanda “Scarlet Witch” Maximoff, with Magik being a dark horse bet. Meanwhile, “Doctor Strange” continues his adventures as just a regular practitioner of the mystic arts. Only there’s what looks like a HUGE SPOILER for the events of Al Ewing’s run on “Thor” in the solicitation text for this issue. Gee, thanks for that, Marvel.
Hulk Smash Everything #1 (of 5): Hulk always says he’s the strongest one there is, but is he really? We’ve seen him beat up plenty of superheroes, but what about planets? Cosmic forces? Gravity itself?! Ryan North is here to ask the hard questions about what Hulk could really beat in this miniseries, and since Randall Munroe hasn’t started writing superhero comics yet, the current writer of “Fantastic Four” sounds like the right guy for the job. Vincenzo Carratu illustrates this miniseries and good luck to him – you just know North is going to throw some crazy stuff at the artist to draw and I sure hope he’s up to the task.
Marvel Winter Break Special #1: Because you demanded it – another swimsuit special! Either the first one sold really well, or Marvel is going to pump enough of these out to fill up a collection at some point. Or both. Whatever story is here comes from the “Local Man” team of Tony Fleecs and Tim Seely, and I think I’d rather just go re-read that series again.
Uncanny X-Men by Kieron Gillen Omnibus HC: “Kieron Gillen masterminds a tumultuous era for the X-Men!” is how the solicitation text describes this volume. They’re not kidding as this collection sees the writer navigate the “Fear Itself” crossover, help take the team through the “Schism” era, and then right into “Avengers vs. X-Men.” A lot of what the writer was doing here was just reacting to events, which makes it surprising that the comics he wrote here turned out as well as they did. It’s quality superhero comics work with plenty of great twists, witty writing, expert leveraging of the event setups, and a revelatory take on Mister Sinister that turned him into a villain you actually enjoyed to hate. I already own all the comics collected here (and good on Marvel for throwing in Gillen’s gone-too-soon “S.W.O.R.D.” series here as well), but if you’re an “X-Men” fan who doesn’t then you want this in your library.
Incredible Hulk: Return of the Monster Omnibus HC: Back in the early aughts, writer Bruce Jones took over “Incredible Hulk” and aimed to give it a more down-to-earth horror vibe. It worked out immensely well with everyone talking up the series again and eager to see where the writer took the series next. The answer wound up being “nowhere interesting” as people eventually stopped talking about it after around issue #50, and when I did hear it discussed in the latter days of this run it was usually to talk about how a run with such promise went so wrong. Still, Jones got to see the series through to the conclusion of his storyline so that’s not nothing, and it also allows Marvel to sell the whole thing in an omnibus edition today. I’ll admit to being morbidly curious to read how this run went off the rails, but it’s not worth $125 to satisfy my curiosity. That’s what Marvel Unlimited is for.