Marvel Penguin Picks: January 2026
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Marvel Knights: The World to Come HC
The Black Panther, T’Challa, is dead, but who will succeed him as the King of Wakanda? That the claim is made by his son Ketema seems reasonable enough, except for one thing: Ketema is white! How the hell did something like this happen? I don’t doubt that co-plotters Joe Quesada and Christopher Priest knew exactly what they were doing when they dropped that particular bombshell. Still, this look at an alternate future for the Marvel Universe where things go off the rails in the most advanced city on Earth will undoubtedly have a lot to say about our current times. I’m expecting that stuff to be interesting, as Priest has given us the definitive modern run on “Black Panther,” and to look good too, because Quesada’s been doing this long enough to have that stuff down pat. The real question, though, is whether this will be good enough to get me to check out the companion “Marvel Knights Punisher” miniseries written by Jimmy Palmiotti and illustrated by Dan Panosian.
Iron Man #1: Now this is something of a coup. Not that there’s a new “Iron Man” series being launched, but the fact that it’s being written by Joshua Williamson. Long associated with either creator-owned projects or his DC work, and more recently with his “G.I. Joe” run, this is the first time he’ll be writing an ongoing series at Marvel. While I’ve come around to some of his work recently, there remains the fact that a lot of what I’ve read from him tends to be formulaic and without surprise. Which is why I’m a little concerned when the solicitation text doesn’t give us a high-concept pitch for the writer’s run and just tells us that Tony’s concerned with what he’ll create the next time he’s near death, and what will happen if someone does it first. Also, Madame Masque. This will likely be fine, especially with Carmen Carnero handling the art.
Knull #1 (of 5): Trapped in a Klyntar cage since the end of “King in Black” the title character has nothing to use as a weapon. Except that in Knull’s hands, Nothing is a weapon. Ha! This comes to us from co-writers Al Ewing and Tom Waltz and follows up on the character’s return from “Venom” #250. Ewing’s presence indicates that this is part of his wider “Venom” storyline and certainly required reading for anyone following it before the character shows back up in the main title or the “King in Black II” event, or whatever it’ll be called. I realize that may sound cynical, but Ewing has earned my trust as a writer and I still have fond memories of Waltz’s lengthy run on “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” so this should still turn out all right.
Dungeons of Doom #1 (of 3): Fallout from “One World Under Doom” brought to you by co-writers Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Benjamin Percy. With Doom’s castle empty following the events of that event, the world powers race to pillage its secrets. However, no one seems to have realized that the former ruler has made sure they’re still very well guarded in his absence. The punny title is a plus and I like the setup – particularly if the implication that it’ll be focusing on non-superpowered government/army types who find themselves way out of their league here.
X-Men #’s 23 & 24: “Age of Revelation” is over, but the threat of 3K still remains, along with the ramifications from whoever was sent back from that time to this one. That’s all irrelevant, though, because these two issues represent another coup for Marvel: Longtime DC and Image artist Tony Daniel is drawing them! The man has been doing excellent superhero and superhero-adjacent work at both publishers for a good long while and seeing him on “X-Men” at least implies a commitment from the publisher to getting A-list talent to draw this book. So yeah, I’m really looking forward to seeing Daniel bring his A-game to the “X-Men.”
Avengers #34: Actually issue #800 and the series marks this anniversary by promising a major development in the story of current big bad Myriddin. I haven’t been following current writer jed MacKay’s run, but given how his current time on “X-Men” has gone, I’ll have to catch up on this at some point. We’re also promised the surprise return of a blockbuster creative team from the title’s past, and… your guess is as good as mine regarding who it’ll be. Jason Aaron or Mark Waid would likely be able to tell a solid done-in-one tale that doesn’t have too much impact on continuity. Jonathan Hickman probably could too, though, I appreciate his longer-form storytelling better. Bendis? There have been rumblings, and it would be amusing if nothing else for him to do a “New Avengers” story that’s specific to his time and no one else’s.
Star Wars Legends: Legacy Omnibus vol. 1: John Ostrander and Jan Duursema’s 100-years later take on the Skywalker family gets the omnibus treatment. Though there are parts of it that may come off as a bit edgelord-y, with Luke’s grandson Cade being a deathstick-addicted scoundrel when we meet him, this ultimately wound up being a really solid and thoughtful take on the franchise’s future. Only the first two-thirds of which are collected here, which means that the vol. 2 omnibus is going to be a little thin… unless they collect the second series about Han Solo’s granddaughter which actually was a genuine disappointment.
One World Under Doom: The good Doctor finally gets what he’s always wanted when his status and powers as Sorcerer Supreme allow him to take over the world. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the world leaders seem fine with this, leaving Earth’s superhero community as the first and last line of resistance against Doom’s authoritarian regime. This comes to us from current “Fantastic Four” writer Ryan North and artist R.B. Silva, and is spinning out of the events of that series as well as last year’s “Blood Hunt” event. If you’re wondering why this wasn’t an Above-the-Board Recommendation, that’s for two reasons: The first being that this was a nine-issue series that ran monthly with breaks (some planned and not), which gave it the feeling that it was never going to end. The second being that it never seemed to get a lot of buzz over the duration of its run. So while I’ve generally liked North’s run on “Fantastic Four” so far, I’m feeling a little more cautious than I’d like to be about eventually reading this.
That said, I don’t envy the writer for having to restart “Fantastic Four” during this event in order to deliver a new #1 issue to coincide with the most recent movie. Still, there are reasons to be optimistic about Fantastic Four vol. 1: Save Everyone. With the team being thrown back in time to different eras, they’ve got to make their way back to the present in order to foil Doom’s plans. Doing that will involve a Macguffin called the Forever Stone, and Ben Grimm fighting dinosaurs – the latter of which sounds totally rad. Better still is the fact that this series is getting an artistic upgrade with Humberto Ramos illustrating this volume and whose continued presence should go a long way towards giving this series a consistent and stylish visual identity.
Ultimate Incursion: Back in “Ultimate Invasion,” The Maker offered Miles Morales a chance to visit the Ultimate Universe he was creating. Miles turned him down, but The Maker still gave him a key that would allow him to visit when he wanted for reasons which escape me right now. Anyway, Miles’ sister Billie winds up using that key and now he has to go and get here. I get why they’re doing this miniseries as Miles is the most high-profile character to have emerged from the previous iteration of the Ultimate Universe, so it makes sense for him to come and visit the new one (and be promptly horrified by what The Maker has done with it). It’s being written by Deniz Camp and current “Miles Morales” writer Cody Ziglar, with art from Jonas Scharf – a team which doesn’t exactly scream “must read” to me. Still, when you consider the low bar set by the previous “Spider-Men” miniseries, there’s a decent chance this one will be better.