Slugfest | Wolverine seeks ‘Revenge’ in Marvel’s August solicitations

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you, with this edition focusing on Marvel’s August 2024 announcements. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel’s solicitations for August landed late last week, right before the long weekend here in the U.S. (which I made even longer!) so let’s catch up on all the new stuff they plan to release in the last month of the summer. Just like I did with DC, I’ll hit the titles I haven’t previously covered. You can read about Spider-Society, the Iron Fist 50th anniversary anthology, Storm joining the Avengers and Rob Liefeld’s final Deadpool comic elsewhere on the site.

Now let’s get to it …

Greg Capullo started doing work for Marvel again last year, but so far we’ve just seen him drawing covers — until now. The Batman and Spawn artist will team with Jonathan Hickman on Wolverine: Revenge, a five-issue miniseries that finds Logan going up against Omega Red, Sabretooth, Deadpool and more. Each issue will come in a standard edition and a “red band” edition, meaning it’ll be polybagged with bloodier, more adult-oriented content.

Marvel has made a habit now of releasing some sort of anniversary anthology every August, and this year is no different. The Marvel 85th Anniversary Special marks the 85th anniversary of the release of Marvel Comics #1 way back in 1939. The anthology will feature stories by Ryan North, Alan Davis, Christopher Priest, Iman Vellani, Sabir Pirzada, Steve Skroce, Josh Cassara, Stephen Byrne, Kaku Yuji, Carlo Pagulayan and more, featuring Ms. Marvel, Deadpool and a “lost” story featuring the original Excalibur. Kaare Andrews drew the cover, shown above.

Speaking of anthologies, Moon Knight is the focus of a four-issue miniseries that will feature stories about various Khonshu champions from throughout history. Phases of the Moon Knight #1 will include a story by Benjamin Percy and Rod Reis that introduces the Moon Knight of the Old Crusades, while Erica Schultz and Manuel García show us the night that the Shroud decided to take up the mantle of Moon Knight.

Moon Knight isn’t the only character getting an anthology miniseries in August. Spider-Man is the latest character to appear in a Black, White and Blood miniseries, but with a twist: Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood will feature black, white and red stories about Peter Parker in his black suit. It’s in honor of the 40th anniversary of the black suit, and the first issue includes stories by Dustin Nguyen, J. Michael Straczynski and Sumit Kumar, and J.M. DeMatteis and Elena Casagrande, who will revisit the classic “Kraven’s Last Hunt” storyline.

The first issue features a main cover by Leinil Francis Yu, with variants by Ron Frenz and Brett Breeding, Greg Land and Skottie Young.

Marvel has published multiple Ultraman comics over the last few years, but he has not yet crossed over into the Marvel Universe. That changes in August with the release of Ultraman X Avengers by Massive-verse writers Kyle Higgins and Mat Groom and artist Francesco Manna. The first of four issues features a cover by Dike Ruan, and will feature other Marvel characters besides the Avengers (like Spider-Man, who you can clearly see on the cover).

While Spider-Man and the Avengers have their hands full with Ultraman, Black Panther will cross over with another of Marvel’s licensed properties in Predator vs. Black Panther. The four-issue miniseries by Benjamin Percy and Chris Allen sees a young Predator arrive in Wakanda looking for vibranium. It isn’t often you’d find a Predator biting off more than they can chew, but that doesn’t sound very smart …

Above you can see the main cover and a variant by Ken Lashley, along with another variant by Edwin Galmon.

As the Blood Hunters assemble in the current Blood Hunt storyline running through Marvel’s titles this summer, the publisher has announced that the team will live on after the event. The five-issue Blood Hunters miniseries by Erica Schultz and Robert Gill will feature Dagger, Elsa Bloodstone, White Widow and Hallow’s Eve removing newly turned vampires from the streets after the events of the crossover.

And while Hallow’s Eve gets a new mission and team, her boyfriend Chasm also returns in August with the four-issue Chasm: Curse of Kaine miniseries. Steve Foxe and Andrea Broccardo send Kaine Parker on the hunt for his clone brother, Ben Reilly, who he thinks needs saving. But does Chasm even want to be saved?

Marvel has two new Spider-Man titles aimed at younger readers debuting in August. First is Spidey and his Amazing Friends, a comic book adaptation of the Disney cartoon. “It’s Spidey time! Swing into adventure with Spidey, Ghost-Spider, and Spin as they team up with heroic friends and face-off against Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and more!” Is Miles Morales called Spin on that show?

The other title, Spider-Man: Homeroom Heroes by Steve Foxe and Ariana Florean, actually debuts in September. It looks like ti skews a little older than the Spidey title, as it features the high school adventures of Peter Parker.

Infinity Watch

Infinity Watch, the event running through Marvel’s annuals this year, continues in two titles in August. First up, Wolverine Annual #1 by Ezra Claytan Daniels, Yildiray Çinar and Sara Pichelli has Wolverine facing off with the new Infinity Watch.

Then Incredible Hulk Annual #1 by Derek Landy, Geoff Shaw and Sara Pichelli finds Thanos hunting down the current owner of the mindstone, but there’s a big, green Hulk standing in his path. Salvador Larroca covers both annuals.

Venom War

Marvel announced Venom War earlier this year, a crossover event that will find the various symbiote heroes and villains choosing sides in a war between Eddie Brock, the original Venom, and his son Dylan, who took on the Venom symbiote when Eddie went off to fulfill his duties as the King in Black. But there can be only one Venom, apparently, so now they’re going to fight.

The main Venom War series is by Al Ewing and Iban Coello, and the first issue will feature a foil cover by David Baldeon, shown above. There are also several tie-in issues and miniseries coming in August, including …

Venom War: Venomous by Erica Schultz and Luciano Vecchio will feature Black Widow — she has a symbiote now, too — teaming with Agent Anti-Venom to take on Alchemax. The first issue of the three-issue miniseries features a cover by Leirix.

What would a Venom War be without Carnage? Probably a lot less bloody … Venom War: Carnage sees Torunn Gronbekk team with artist Pere Perez, as the other “son” of Eddie Brock gets involved in the war.

And let’s not forget that Venom would have never existed if Peter Parker hadn’t decided to get a new look during Secret Wars all those years ago. The four-issue Venom War: Spider-Man is by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing and Greg Land, and will feature Spider-Man reuniting with the symbiote.

Then we have what might be the weirdest addition to the crossover, which is probably saying something — Cavan Scott and Juan Jose Ryp present Venom War: Zombiotes, which will feature “a darker strain of symbiote” that “can reanimate the dead and turn the living into an engine of mindless hunger with just one bite.”

Finally, Venom #36 gets in on the action, as “Old Man Venom” — that’s an older, time-traveling Dylan Brock with a score to settle — heads back in time and sets his sights on Spider-Man. This one is by Torunn Grønbekk and CAFU.

from the Ashes

Finally, August is shaping up to be a big month for Marvel’s mutants, as the publisher continues to roll out new titles in the From the Ashes line. Two of them I’ve already covered — Uncanny X-Men and X-Factor, but you can see some variant covers for the first issue of X-Factor above by Mahmud Asrar, Marcus To and Luciano Vecchio. You can read more about the second issues of X-Men, Phoenix, X-Force and more on Marvel.com.