Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.
It seems like we’ve been talking about Marvel’s Hellfire Gala forever, and Marvel’s publicity team has been working on overdrive to hype up the big X-Men event. And they aren’t stopping now! I’ll do a broader round-up over the weekend, but for this one we’re strictly looking at Marvel’s mutants.
As for the gala, Marvel announced this week that you can expect to see some familiar faces at it — and not just from the world of comics. The potential guest list includes real-life celebrities like Eminem, Conan O’Brien, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Ira Glass, Pete Alonso and possibly more.
“The Hellfire Gala will be the culmination of months of anticipation, and as one of the biggest nights in X-Men history, it only made sense that the nation of Krakoa would invite some of the world’s biggest stars to witness it for themselves,” said Mike Pasciullo, Vice President, Marketing and Communications at Marvel. “We thank all of our special guests for joining us for this exclusive in-world event, along with the incredible artists who brought them to life on the page.”
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If Conan O’Brien and Alex Morgan don’t get you excited, you might be more interested to know that several non-mutant comic book characters will also attend the gala, as shown in some of the preview art for the titles the Hellfire Gala will run through. For instance, expect to see the Avengers and Fantastic Four there, based on the preview art for Marauders #21:
That same arrival scene looks like it’ll play out in X-Force #20, before something seems to go wrong:
And then there’s Hellions #12; the Hellions seem like the type of mutants you might not want to invite, based on the cover (and the name — it’s right there in the name):
And what would a big comics event be without variant covers? Russell Dauterman has done a series of 12 “bold high-fashion designs” featuring some of the featured characters lined up for a photo op:
And here they are when you line them all up:
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And here’s a look at several “character design” variant covers, featuring even more X-characters in their fancy duds:
Marvel is promising some big changes coming out of the Hellfire Gala story, and if you’re curious what that might entail, this teaser image offers a hint at Krakoa’s future (and some John Romita Jr. artwork; he recently returned to the Marvel fold AND, longtime fans might recall, he drew the original Trial of Magneto storyline):
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