A new Moon Knight will rise after Marc Spector’s death

‘Vengeance of the Moon Knight’ by Jed MacKay and Alessandro Cappuccio will see another character put on the hood.

If you’ve been a mainstream superhero comic fan for any amount of time, you’ve probably noticed certain patterns emerge. For instance, when a major superhero dies, it isn’t long before that void is filled.

Following the announcement that they plan to kill Moon Knight later this year, Marvel has announced Vengeance of the Moon Knight by Jed MacKay and Alessandro Cappuccio, which will kick off in the new year. It’ll follow Moon Knight #30, which will end the current series.

(In the words of my kid, “Can Moon Knight even die?” I guess we’ll find out.

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Marvel announces the death of Moon Knight

Jed MacKay and Alessandro Cappuccio pull the final curtain on Moon Knight — at least until Marvel decides to bring him back.

Following in the footsteps of Doctor Strange, Ms. Marvel and, well, just about every other character they have, Marvel has announced that Moon Knight will be the next character to die in their comics in a story by Jed MacKay and Alessandro Cappuccio.

It’s hard not to be cynical about comic book deaths, particularly when it comes to Marvel. They not only mourned Ms. Marvel last week in the pages of Fall Friend: The Death of Ms. Marvel, but turned around a few days later to announce her return. The X-Men and their resurrection protocols have pretty much ruined the impact of any comic book deaths these days, right?

And while I’m a big fan of MacKay’s work in general and on Moon Knight in particular, this story comes on the heels of a similar one featuring Doctor Strange. But still, big fan, so I’ll be curious to see how this one plays out and trust that the execution will be well handled (no pun intended … well, maybe a little).

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Scarlet Scarab will make her comic book debut in July

The character from the ‘Moon Knight’ show on Disney+ will appear in a Moon Knight miniseries.

Layla El-Faouly, the character played by May Calamawy in the Disney+ show Moon Knight, will make her comic book debut in Moon Knight #25, with her costumed identity, the Scarlet Scarab, soon to follow.

The character will be shown in flashbacks as a member of the Karnak Cowboys, a mercenary group that Marc Specter was a part of. The character will then make her superhero debut in Moon Knight: City of the Dead, a new miniseries by David Pepose and Marcelo Ferreira.

Jed MacKay, writer of Moon Knight, said that the character will debut in one of three stories that will appear in Moon Knight #25, an oversized issue featuring art by Alessandro Cappuccio, Alessandro Vitti and Partha Pratim. 

“Working on Moon Knight #25 was a bit of a mammoth task… 70 pages of story, cutting between three stories, each with their own artist,” Jed MacKay told IGN. “It was a really exciting opportunity to have that much space to work in, telling a Moon Knight story in a longer form than we’re usually used to.” 

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MacKay + Villa will launch a new ‘Avengers’ title in May

A team of familiar faces will battle Kang, Terminus and the Twilight Court in the new title.

With Jason Aaron’s time on Avengers wrapping up, Marvel has announced that Jed MacKay and C.F. Villa, who worked together recently on Marvel’s Black Cat, will headline a new Avengers title starting in May, joined by cover artist Stuart Immonen.

Their run will spin out of the recent Timeless one-shot, which featured the Avenger’s old villain Kang going up against a villain named Myrddin and his group of faux heroes, the Twilight Court. The Avengers will face a series of challenges called the Tribulation Events that bring them into conflict with Myrddin’s group.

Marvel also revealed the team line-up, which will be led by Captain Marvel. The team includes Thor, Iron Man, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Vision and Captain America — aka the former Falcon, Sam Wilson.

It’s an iconic, fairly conservative line-up, using characters who have all been part of the team for decades at this point. Even Sam Wilson, who is filling the Captain America role on the team instead of Steve Rogers, has been an Avenger since the late 1970s.

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Stephen Strange returns to life and his own title next year

Jed MacKay and Pasqual Ferry will resurrect the Sorcerer Supreme in March.

The Doctor Strange story Jed MacKay has been telling over the past year or so will come to a head next March as Stephen Strange will officially return from the dead in a new Doctor Strange title.

MacKay seemingly killed Doctor Strange off in the pages of The Death of Doctor Strange, then replaced him with his wife, Clea, in the pages of Strange. But readers of that title know that death was not the end for the good doctor, who took on a new role serving Death as the Harvestman.

MacKay will be joined by veteran artist Pasqual Ferry on the title, who has always wanted to draw Doctor Strange.

“When I started working for Marvel a long time ago, there were three comics I had always wanted to draw: Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange,” Ferry said. “Why Doctor Strange? Because his stories include all the elements I love as an artist—the fantasy, science fiction, and imagination. Above all, the fact that I could look at Steve Ditko’s work as a reference really motivates me! When he drew Doctor Strange, all the utopian and imaginary sceneries  were incredible. So this is a very special moment in my career, and I’m looking forward to seeing where the character is going to take us with this new narrative. I know a lot of artists, including myself, consider Doctor Strange a challenge, like there is a need to add something new to the character because it offers you that possibility. For me, Doctor Strange is a big challenge, but I embrace it.”

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Mary Jane Watson teams with the Black Cat for new ‘Dark Web’ miniseries

Jed MacKay and Vincenzo Carratù bring together the former rivals in December.

Two of Spider-Man’s ex’s will team up in a new miniseries this December, as a part of the bigger Dark Web crossover event Marvel announced at the San Diego Comic Con earlier this year.

The series will be written by Jed McKay, who wrote the most recent Black Cat series as well as the Black Cat/Mary Jane one-shot that tied into the “Beyond” storyline in Amazing Spider-Man. He will work with artist Vincenzo Carratù on the series, who has drawn several series for Dynamite in recent years.

“I’ve kind of lost track of how many lives Felicia has left at this point, but she keeps coming back- and this time she’s brought a friend,” MacKay told Marvel.com. “Getting back to Mary Jane and Black Cat after their one-shot last year has been a delight—and seeing how they’ve been catching up on all the drama that’s happened since then has been, well, catnip.”

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What Are You Reading? | ‘Batman: Fortress,’ ‘The Closet’ and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately, which includes ‘Avengers Forever,’ ‘JLA Classified,’ ‘Little Monsters,’ ‘Strange’ and more.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our look at what the Smash Pages crew has been checking off their “to read” list lately. Today’s reviews include some Batman, some Justice League, some Avengers and some horror comics.

Let us know what you’ve been reading lately in the comments or on social media.

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What Are You Reading? | A whole lotta Moon Knight

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately, from Noah Van Sciver, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Si Spurrier and more.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our look at what the Smash Pages crew has been checking off their “to read” list lately. Today’s reviews include a whole lot of Moon Knight, plus Amazing Spider-Man, Brubaker and Phillips’ Reckless and much more.

Let us know what you’ve been reading lately in the comments or on social media.

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A new Sorceress Supreme debuts from Marvel in March

Following the events of ‘The Death of Doctor Strange,’ a new but familiar face takes over the mantle from Stephen Strange.

Jed MacKay and Marcelo Ferreira will continue the story of the fall and rise of Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme in Strange, a new series set to debut in March.

Strange follows The Death of Doctor Strange, the miniseries that is currently chronicling the murder of Stephen Strange, the introduction of a younger version of himself (Magic!) and the return of Clea, Doctor Strange’s longtime love interest/wife/fellow magic user.

And in the new series, she becomes much more than just that.

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‘Timeless’ sets up Marvel’s future this December

The one-shot written by Jed MacKay has an artist change since it was announced last week.

Timeless, one of the eight new tentpole titles coming out this winter that Marvel announced last week, will arrive in December with a boom — but without Joe Bennett.

The Immortal Hulk artist was originally announced to be working on the one-shot, but as confirmed by Newsarama, the artist will not be working on any future Marvel projects. While Marvel did not give a reason, Bennett has been in the news lately both for the anti-semitic imagery being displayed in the background of a panel of Immortal Hulk and for a controversial drawing he did of Brazil President Jair Messias Bolsonaro.

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Marvel announces eight new ‘tentpole’ titles for this coming winter

Daredevil, Fantastic Four, She-Hulk and more have new projects lined up at the House of Ideas.

Marvel revealed today eight new titles for the coming winter that they’re referring to as “tentpole” titles — or titles that “will shape the future of the Marvel Universe in the months to come.”

Marvel announced earlier this month plans to reveal several new projects today in celebration of their birthday — so, Happy Birthday, Marvel!

The projects range from event titles to new ones featuring some characters you’ll soon see on Disney+.

Here’s the lowdown on the eight titles:

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Marvel’s ‘Infinite Destinies’ wraps up in November

‘Giant-Size Black Cat’ will mark the end of the crossover event and the ‘Black Cat’ ongoing series.

Marvel’s Infinite Destinies event, which has been running in their annuals this summer and in the pages of the Black Cat ongoing, will wrap up in November with Giant-Size Black Cat: Infinity Score.

Writer Jed MacKay and artist C.F. Villa will bring the story featuring the Infinity Stones — and, it appears, the Black Cat ongoing — to its conclusion.

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