Marvel’s been setting up and teasing its Queen in Black event for a bit, and this week revealed more information on what we can expect from it and when.
The five-issue event series by writer Al Ewing and artist Iban Coello will launch July 1. The series spins out of Ewing’s Venom run and the current Knull limited series, in which Hela seized Knull’s throne and forced the God of the Void to go on a spirit quest of sorts.
Queen in Black will bring Hela to Earth with a legion of the galaxy’s deadliest symbiotes, while Knull builds a new army on the edges of the solar system — with Spider-Man, Venom, Mary Jane, Eddie Brock and Dylan Brock caught in the middle of their collision. Tie-in series exploring other corners of the Marvel Universe will be announced in the months ahead, but … we all realize Hela’s a Thor villain, right? And the former God of Thunder is also on Earth right now … I’m just sayin’.
“The only threat bigger than one evil God is two of them fighting each other, with Earth caught right in the middle,” Ewing said. “As an old-school ’60s Marvel villain, Hela’s a great match-up against the newer school of Knull, especially given the steps she’s been taking to get onto his level. There can only be one winner — but whoever wins, it’s the worst news possible for our heroes.”
The main cover for Queen in Black #1 is by Ryan Stegman. Marvel is also releasing it as part of their True Believers Blind Bags program, which for this series will contain only exclusive variant covers not available through any other format — including covers by Stegman, David Nakayama, Gurihiru, Pat Gleason, Artgerm, Jeehyung Lee, Peach Momoko and David Marquez, plus rare one-of-a-kind hand-drawn sketch covers. So if you got burned on Ultimate Endgame because you ended up with the main cover, you shouldn’t have that issue here.
There’s also regular variants for people who don’t want to play the blind bag game, by Iban Coello, Peach Momoko, and Chip Zdarsky.
Queen in Black kicks off July 1.