As a follow up to our article “What to Expect From Marvel Comics Winter 2015”, this article will take a close look at the amazing announcements Marvel Comics has made for next summer. The house of ideas is bringing back some fan favorite stories as well as bringing the heat with some new ones. Follow along as we quickly tell you what we know about each one and add a little eye-candy to the tale between each announcement.
First off is the announcement heard round the world with a second look at “Civil War” coming next summer to a shelf near you. We covered the announcement and the hysteria it brought over here. All I know for sure is that half the Internet is happy while the other half went crazy talking about how much they hated the original. As one of the fans that loved what came out of “Civil War” but not one who liked the content inside, I sure hope it doesn’t play into the films. That being said, I’d love to see a second telling of the story.
Image: Marvel Entertainment
Leading out of that story was the confirmation that “The Fantastic Four” is being cancelled. Bleeding Cool had speculated on the cancellation of the series as a snub to Fox Studios but that is still speculation. What isn’t, is that at New York Comic Con, “Fantastic Four” will be see the end to its run by returning to regular numbering this Winter and then ending in June courtesy of James Robinson and Leonard Kirk’s “Fantastic Four: The End Is Fourever”. The numbers on the book have dwindled but that doesn’t mean the stories were bad. What is certain though, is that the team ending its run is surely not meant to last. It does play nicely into the current stories being told by Hickman in the Avengers titles and with the fallout of “Original Sin” and “Axis”.
Image: Bleedingcool
The next large event announced for next summer came in the shape of an X-title. The “All-New X-Men” from Brian Michael Bendis has been a real treat to both new and old fans. With the new stories about the first X-team thrilling readers and a whole slew of time-traveling shenanigans, it totally makes sense when Marvel announced “Years of Future Past #1”. The title, which is of course a nod to “Days of Future’s Past”, is sure to be a hot seller for Marvel in a summer full of potential.
Image: Marvel Entertainment
Not long after the X-Men announcement the gamma folk speculated they’d soon be getting a summer event too. They weren’t wrong because Marvel announced another contemporary story with an homage to a fan favorite storyline from the past with “Planet Hulk #1”. Fans of The Incredible Hulk have seen the character go through an amazing set of transformations over the years but that seemed to accelerate just a few years ago with Jason Aaron’s run on “Incredible Hulk”. The short lived series was soon followed by the Marvel NOW!’s “Indestructible Hulk” critical darling by Mark Waid and now Gerry Dougan’s “Hulk” staring Doc Green. Dougan’s series has Doc Green depowering gamma powered creatures while the character fights and hides alongside the Illuminati over in Hickman’s Avengers titles. What does that mean for next summer’s “Planet Hulk #1” is anyone’s guess but I’d wager it plays heavily alongside 2015’s “Civil War”.
Image: Marvel Entertainment
“Armor Wars #1” was the next big announcement for Marvel Comics’ summer 2015 line-up. Tony Stark will become the Superior Iron-Man this fall/Winter but does that have any bearing on the summer event? More to the point, does a bunch of armored suits make sense in a summer where “Avengers: Age of Ultron” hits theaters? My guess is that the two will complement each other nicely whilst the citizens of San Francisco turn into crazy Extremis 3.0 powered monsters!
Image: Marvel Entertainment
Not wanting to be left out of the game, and with the possibility that Marvel might change mutant DNA into Inhuman DNA flying around forums and message boards for years, the rumor out of New York Comic Con early this month that Scarlet witch might play into that is an exciting one. It became exciting the minute that Marvel Comics announced another favorite storyline from last decade in “House of M #1”. Next summer could rock the cinematic universe with super-heroes from the mutant genre that aren’t exactly mutants. Maybe Hugh Jackman will get his wish and Wolverine will show up as an Avenger before he puts down the claws for good? A fanboy can hope!
Image: Marvel Entertainment
At this point you may be asking, “Is Marvel going for a retro event summer next year?” With the announcement of “Infinity Gauntlet #1” I think you’ll agree that yes, yes they are.
Image: Marvel Entertainment
The latest announcement and the last one I have to share comes at a time when Wolverine fans are upset. They’ll be happy to hear though, that Logan is surely not going away for long because he’ll be coming back next summer in “Old Man Logan #1”. Of course the story is set in the future so Logan will not be back in the regular Marvel 616 but I think any fan of James Howlett will agree that any Logan Wolverine is better than no Logan Wolverine.
Image: Marvel Entertainment
Mark Avo AKA Zendobot can usually be found reviewing comic books and picking out his favorite moments every week for “Five and Three” right here on Big Shiny Robot. You can also find him writing and inking The Salt City Strangers comic book or pretending he’s an expert for The Undead Soup Podcast (http://undeadsoup.com/undead2/). You can delight or even heckle him with your tweets @MarkAvo and he’ll be totally thrilled.