Marvel Penguin Picks: May 2026
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
HULK SMASH EVERYTHING
We’ve known for a while that Hulk is really strong, but anyone can beat up a superhero. What about going back in time to beat up on all the dinosaurs? Or taking on the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy? Or what about who he’s going to fight when he gets imbued with the Power Cosmic? Al Ewing gave us a glimpse of Hulk’s frightening final form as the Breaker of Worlds, but now Ryan North is going to crank the character’s power levels up to absurd heights for what sounds like a rousing time of shits and giggles. Vincenzo Carratu illustrates this madness and it’s my hope that the two creators deliver something that compels me to write the review in ALL CAPS.
Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #1 (of 5): That’s right True Believers: Spider-Man’s “Brand New Day” rebrand happened so long ago that it qualifies for a retro miniseries now. Before you get too depressed about how the passage of time grinds us all down, you can take heart in the fact that one of the key writers from that era, and one of the best Spider-writers of all time – Dan Slott – is writing this story. So when Spidey gets his hands on a criminal database that used to belong to Wilson Fisk, not only does the Kingpin want it back, but everyone from Mr. Negative to the Punisher wants it for themselves too. Should be fun, with Marcus To illustrating and Marcos Martin doing something special for the first issue at least.
Doomquest #1 (of 10): This may be coming from “One World Under Doom” writer Ryan North, but it’s not a follow-up to that event. He’s teaming with artist Francesco Mobili for a miniseries that actually gives the doctor some justification for his latest campaign against Reed Richards? No, really: Reed has announced that he’s been making a plan to go back in time and optimize history by directing all of the years we spent fighting each other towards something more productive. Changing history in a way that reflects his greatest foe is abhorrent to Doom, so naturally he decides to go back and do it himself. I’ve got to admit that I’m curious as to what North’s endgame is for this series, beyond providing an evergreen “Doom” story that non-fans can pick up and read, but I’m very curious to find out.
Reborn: Ultimate Impact #1 (of 5): Behold, the milking of the most recent incarnation of the Ultimate Universe begins! When Miles Morales returned from his trip to that universe, he returned with plans for Origin Boxes – devices capable of giving superpowers to regular people. This didn’t stay secret for long and now he’s got to find a way to keep some very bad people from getting their hands on these things and completely upending the balance of power in the Marvel Universe. I really can’t begrudge Marvel for what they’re trying to do here as they’ve been doing stuff like this for decades. I just wish that they’d found someone who can deliver more than general competence in picking “Ultimate Wolverine” writer Chris Condon for the job. At least this will look good with “Ultimate Black Panther” artist Stefano Caselli providing the art.
JLA/Avengers Facsimile Edition #1: Reprinting the 48-page first issue of the epic crossover for $6. Which isn’t a bad deal when you consider that the hardcover has been out of print for a while and will set you back a few hundred bucks if you want a copy. So I guess what I’m asking here is, “Are there any plans to reprint the subsequent three issues in this format?”
Star Wars: Rogue One – Cassian Andor #1: “Rogue One” turns ten this year and Marvel are putting out several one-shots in order to mark the anniversary. Subsequent ones will be about Jyn Erso, Saw Gerrera, Chirrut & Baze, and Darth Vader (featuring Orson Krennic). “Andor” gets the lead off position for reasons that I think should be obvious to anyone who’s seen his streaming series. Benjamin Percy writes the story of what else the Rebel agent was doing on Kafrene at the start of the film with Luke Ross providing the art. This sounds perfectly fine but after reading the solicitations for the subsequent one-shots, I’ll be saving my enthusiasm for Saw Gerrera’s adventure.
Captain America by Chip Zdarsky vol. 1: Our Secret Wars: On the surface, this is a retro flashback story that shows Cap’s first encounter with Doctor Doom in Latveria after he was thawed out. That may sound simple enough, but not only is Zdarsky laying the groundwork for his “Armageddon” event with this series, he’s also introducing us to the Post-9/11 Captain America David Colton. “How is that possible?” I hear you ask when we’ve already had a story where Steve Rogers dealt with the fallout from that event that was illustrated by John Cassaday? Welcome to the magic of Marvel’s Sliding Timeline where all major origins happened “several years ago” save for those tied to a specific event. I know this sounds slightly nuts, but the impression is that Zdarsky has been firing on all cylinders with this series and giving it a new significance to the current Marvel Universe. That makes it sound like it’s worth reading, along with the sure to be excellent art from Valerio Schiti.
The Superior Foes of Spider-Man, Punisher: Confederacy of Dunces, Spider-Man: The Other: While no explanation is given as to why these random storylines that either feature Spider-Man or are adjacent to his world are being reprinted, it’s worth noting that his new movie comes out in July. That still doesn’t explain why “Confederacy of Dunces” is being reprinted as it was the finale to Garth Ennis’ Marvel Knights series featuring the character and was mainly focused on making Spidey (and Daredevil, and Wolverine) look as dumb as possible while teaming up to take on Frank Castle. Don’t get me wrong as it was good fun and one of Ennis’ better piss-takes regarding Marvel superheroes. Yet I can’t help but think someone at the company found out that this was a storyline featuring two characters who will also be appearing in the upcoming film and decided to have it reprinted without actually checking to see what it was about.
Ultimate X-Men by Peach Momoko vol. 4: Children’s Whereabouts: No, I’m not expecting this concluding volume to suddenly make up for the many storytelling sins of its predecessors. Thinking that Momoko (or translator Zack Davisson) is about to pull off some shocking last-minute twists which reveal that there was an actual plan from the start will only lead you to more aggravation here. I’ll just hope that the finale we get here doesn’t send me into a blind rage before I do the podcast on it. (Which I’m not sure will be about the other Ultimate titles too, or if each title will get its own podcast. Or if I’ll write up certain finales and touch upon them all in an “Ultimate Endgame” wrap-up podcast. I guess what I’m saying now is “Watch this space.”)