‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ ‘S.W.O.R.D.’ will cross over for ‘The Last Annihilation’

Al Ewing brings two of his titles together for an epic space war.

Two of Al Ewing’s space-based titles will cross over later this year for an event Marvel is billing as “The Last Annihilation.”

Guardians of the Galaxy, which launched a new team and new mission with last week’s issue #13, will cross over with S.W.O.R.D., the X-title featuring Magneto, Cable and other mutants tasked with protecting the Earth. You might also remember that late last year, following the Empyre event, the Empyre Aftermath: Avengers special teased a confrontation between S.W.O.R.D. and the new Kree/Skrull Alliance. With both Hulkling and Wiccan playing a major roll in Guardians now, this could be what that teaser was alluding to.

Guardians and S.W.O.R.D. have been building their own unique gravity for a while now, and in space, when two objects have gravity, there’s a pretty good chance they’ll crash into each other – or get sucked into the orbit of something even bigger,” Ewing told Marvel.com. “Marvel Space these days is a fragile coalition of worlds that chose peace over war, a little bubble of hope in a cruel void – but there’s an enemy nobody ever suspected readying an attack that’ll either cement all those frail alliances or tear them to pieces.”

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Marvel announces ‘Immortal Hulk’ spinoff ‘Gamma Flight’

Puck, Rick Jones, Titania and more join forces in the new series.

Puck, Titania, Absorbing Man, Doc Sasquatch and Rick Jones will assemble under a familiar name with a clever twist: Gamma Flight. The spinoff from Immortal Hulk will be written by Al Ewing and Crystal Frasier, who have worked together previously on Immortal Hulk, with art by Lan Medina.

Gamma Flight is an opportunity to explore some of the concepts and plant some of the seeds from Immortal Hulk in their own space, building off the found family that came together in those pages and putting them into action against some strange and ugly doings in the unexplored corners of the gamma world,” Ewing told Marvel.com. “We’ve been ricocheting ideas off each other for a while on this one, and I suspect the result is something that’ll tickle Hulk fans old and new.”

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Ewing + Schiti raise their ‘S.W.O.R.D.’ in December

The new Marvel series spins out of events in ‘Empyre’ and ‘X of Swords.’

Al Ewing and Valerio Schiti, the creative team behind the recent Empyre: Aftermath Avengers comic, will pull S.W.O.R.D. out of its sheath this December.

If you read that Aftermath issue, you know that Abigail Brand, who most recently worked with Captain Marvel as part of Alpha Flight, wasn’t happy that the Avengers and Fantastic Four never called her during Empyre. She quit Alpha Flight, and the last two pages showed a dark future for the new Kree/Skrull Alliance led by Hulkling — thanks to Brand and her new team.

But despite the foreshadowing in Empyre, this is actually an X-title and will tie into that line, as part of the aftermath of the just-started X of Swords crossover — which ends in November, right before this one debuts in December.

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Eynd of Empyre

Carla Hoffman looks back at Marvel’s Empyre, both as a game-changing “event book” and from a story perspective.

With the world in flux, we can at least count on a major summer event to remain a constant for comic fans. Neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night will keep our Big Two from their appointed rounds of throwing their entire universe (or multiverse, as the case may be) into flux to determine the definitive path for their respective companies. At least until next year.

Let’s look at this year’s Empyre by Dan Slott, Al Ewing and Valerio Schiti, and see if a comic can rock our world harder than real life already has. WARNING: spoilers ahead for the basics of the main Empyre series, so if you’ve read all six issues, grab your comics and read along!

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Dog Man, ‘Empyre,’ Doctor Who and more

New comics and graphic novels arrive this week from Al Ewing, Simone Di Meo, Dav Pilkey, Emma Kubert, Jen Hickman, Zac Thompson, Jody Houser and more.

We are back again with a look at what’s arriving in comic shops, bookstores and on digital this week. And what a week it is, with new Dog Man, Black Widow, Doctor Who and many other debuts, along with the big ending of Marvel’s Empyre miniseries.

If you’re wondering what to get this week, check out a few recommendations below. You can check the Comic List page to see what’s arriving in your local shop, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally.

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What Are You Reading? | Red Goblins, celestial avatars, Klan smashers and Texas blood

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their ‘to read’ list lately.

Like I said last week, summertime is the right time for crossovers and comics. This week brought us a taste of Empyre, Marvel’s big crossover event featuring the Avengers, The Fantastic Four, the Kree, the Skrulls, the Blue Area of the Moon, the Swordsman and all that crazy cosmic space action Marvel fans have come to know and love. You can see Carla’s thoughts on it below, along with a list of comics Shane has been buying for his kids and Tom’s thoughts on two politically minded books from DC.

You can tell us what you’ve been reading in the comments below or on social media.

Shane Bailey

Lately my kids have started wanting to read more comics. My little one has always been into them, but now the older kids are as well. So I let them pick out their own comics to read on comiXology Unlimited.

My 9 yr old son picked Amazing Spider-Man: The Red Goblin by Dan Slott and Stuart Immonen, and he loves it. He wouldn’t stop commenting on how crazy scary Norman Osborn is, how it was gross when Carnage bit the head off a rat, and during one issue when the Goblin had a captive and was interrogating him, he wondered aloud over who it was, making guesses and gasping when he found out who it was and that Norman knew who Spider-Man was. It’s great seeing him get excited at things that are old hat for me. It made me appreciate those moments more.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Building toward ‘Empyre’

New comics arrive this week from Terry Moore, Mark Russell, Steve Rude, Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino and more.

The summer crossover season gets in full swing at your local comic shop this week; following the release of Dark Knights: Death Metal last week, Marvel delivers the start of their big cosmic event, Empyre. This week also brings several debuts from IDW, AHOY and Image, among others … it’s almost starting to feel like comics have returned to normal.

If you’re looking for something to get this week, check out a few recommendations below. You can check the Comic List page to see what’s arriving in your local shop, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally. As always, you should check with your local shop on their hours, curbside pick-up, mask requirements, etc. due to COVID-19. Stay safe out there.

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Ewing + Di Meo team for a new SF series from BOOM!

‘We Only Find Them When They’re Dead’ features a starship that harvests the giant corpses of alien gods.

Al Ewing and Simone Di Meo will team for a new science fiction series kicking off in September titled We Only Find Them When They’re Dead.

We Only Find Them When They’re Dead is a concept I’ve been brewing for some years now, something that merges a few of my favorite things – high-concept action, world-building, quests for the meaning behind existence and heavily metaphorical science fiction – and uses them to create a universe we’re building out into something truly vast, rich and strange,” said Ewing. “No matter which parts of my work you’ve enjoyed before, there’ll be something here for you to love.”

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Mail Call | AHOY Comics moves ‘Captain Ginger’ to digital only

Featuring news from AHOY, Quarantine Comix and the CBLDF.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

The latest issue of the Quarantine Comix guest series features Al Ewing and PJ Holden, telling a short story that’s a “riff on Animal Crossing and Wicker Man.” Proceeds for this latest issue will go to the Equal Justice Initiative and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.  Visit the Quarantine Comix website for more information.

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Cosmic collisions promised in ‘Empyre’ trailer

Watch a teaser for next April’s big event series from Marvel, featuring the Kree, Skrulls, Avengers and more.

Marvel has released a teaser trailer for their next big event, Empyre, which was also teased in last week’s $10-for-an-advertisement one-shot, Incoming!

The story will be written by Al Ewing and Dan Slott, with artwork by Valerio Schiti. It will star the Avengers and Fantastic Four in a story of “galactic intrigue and cosmic ramifications” that features the Kree, the Skrulls, Hulking and more.

Check out the trailer below:

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Ewing + Cabal relaunch ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ in January

The Guardians will take on the Gods of Olympus in the new series.

With Donny Cates’ tenure on Guardians of the Galaxy ending with issue #12, Marvel announced at New York Comic Con today that Al Ewing and Juann Cabal will relaunch the series in January.

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All-star line-up assembles for new Spider-Man tale

‘Amazing Spider-Man: Full Circle’ will feature appearances by Nick Fury, Wolverine and Peter Porker.

Marvel has announced a new Spider-Man project titled “Full Circle,” which brings the character together with Wolverine, Nick Fury and Peter Porker — and features the work of a Murderer’s Row of writers and artist.

I mean, check out this line-up: Written by Nick Spencer, Jonathan Hickman, Gerry Duggan, Al Ewing, Chip Zdarsky, Kelly Thompson and Jason Aaron; Art by Chris Bachalo, Chris Sprouse, Greg Smallwood, Michael Allred, Rachael Stott, Valerio Schiti, Cameron Stewart and Mark Bagley; Cover by Rod Reis.

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