Spider-Man’s gonna have a busy Fall

Marvel reveals more about the upcoming ‘Dark Web’ event, plus Gold Goblin, Hallow’s Eve and more.

As the temperatures cool down, the Spider-Verse will heat up — in San Diego this week, Marvel shared details on several Spider-Man related titles and events that will keep the wall-crawler busy through the end of the year.

First let’s talk about Dark Web, the Spider-Man/X-Men crossover event spearheaded by Zeb Wells that involves the Goblyn Queen and Chasm, aka Ben Reilly. The story will begin in “prelude” issues throughout November (in Amazing Spider-Man, for example), followed by December’s Dark Web Alpha #1 where Wells will be joined by Adam Kubert to kick things off in earnest. From there, the story continues in Amazing Spider-Man as well as various tie-in one-shots and limited series.  

Marvel released the cover for Dark Web Alpha, by Ryan Stegman. Here’s his line art:

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‘Amazing Fantasy’ #1000 celebrates 60 years of Spidey

Neil Gaiman, Kurt Busiek, Dan Slott, Ho Che Anderson, Rainbow Rowell and more contribute stories to the anthology one-shot.

For the 60th anniversary of Spider-Man, Marvel will return him to his roots with a new issue of Amazing Fantasy featuring stories by Neil Gaiman, Kurt Busiek, Dan Slott, Jim Cheung, Olivier Coipel and more.

Amazing Fantasy #1000, which takes its name from the comic where Spider-Man first debuted, Amazing Fantasy #15, will be a giant-sized anthology one-shot. The stories will “explores the past and future of Amazing Spider-Man storytelling in tales that leave a profound impact on the Spider-Man mythos and showcase why Spidey is one of the most beloved heroes in history,” according to Marvel.com.

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Marvel will preview Wells/Romita Jr.’s ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ on Free Comic Book Day

Following the release of a new ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #1 in April, Marvel will showcase the new creative team’s work with a free issue in May.

Marvel has announced more details and revealed covers for two of their three Free Comic Book Day titles for 2022.

Last year’s Spider-Man/Venom FCBD title previewed the “Beyond” era of Amazing Spider-Man, where Ben Reilly and the Beyond Corporation took over the Spider-Man name from Peter Parker and Marvel re-introduced a “writer’s room” approach to the comic. With the Beyond era wrapping up soon, Zeb Wells — one of several writers currently writing the title — will team with the legendary John Romita Jr. for a relaunch of Amazing Spider-Man. And Marvel will offer a preview of their run in this year’s Spider-Man/Venom FCBD title.

In addition, like last year, Marvel will preview the work Al Ewing, Ram V and Bryan Hitch are doing on Venom. Here’s a look at the main cover by Romita Jr. and the variant cover for the FCBD issue by Jonboy Meyers. Is this the first time we’ve seen a variant cover on a Free Comic Book Day title? I can’t recall that being a thing before.

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Mail Call | Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day titles

Get ready for Free Comic Book Day, which is coming up this Saturday. Also check out news from DC, Image Comics, IDW, AfterShock Comics and more.

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.

Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day offerings for this year have been somewhat confusing — at one point Chip Zdarsky was mentioned as contributing — but the company has put out a press release detailing what you specifically can from them this coming Saturday.

Marvel will have two books, as previously announced — Spider-Man/Venom and Hulk/Avengers, both of which will tease upcoming storylines for the four titles represented.

As previously reported, Amazing Spider-Man is getting a new creative team AND a new person under the mask, as infamous clone Ben Reilly returns to take on the mantle of Spider-Man. One of the new writers of Amazing, Zeb Wells, will team with artist Patrick Gleason for a story featuring Reilly as Spider-Man. It will be accompanied by a Venom story by the new creative team of Ram V., Al Ewing and Bryan Hitch “in a glimpse that will show you just how twisted their upcoming run will be.”

Then, in the second title, Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley will present a look at their upcoming run on Hulk. And Jason Aaron teams up with Iban Coello to “present the dangerous new threat that the Avengers will face in the next arc of his hit Avengers run.”

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Marvel celebrates 60 years of the Fantastic Four in August

Dan Slott, John Romita Jr. Mark Waid, Paul Renaud and more contribute stories to the giant-sized issue #35.

In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Fantastic Four, Marvel has announced that August’s issue #35 will be special giant-sized issue featuring three stories.

The main story will featured the FF going up against all the Kangs, as the time lord and his various incarnations target the team at different points in history. It’ll be written by Dan Slott and drawn by John Romita Jr., who recently returned to Marvel after spending a few years at DC, and inker JP Mayer.

“I’ve read, and been told by much smarter people, that ‘luck is the residue of design’ so I won’t even attempt to claim I designed the events of these last few months, but I will take this kind of luck any day any time,” Romita Jr. said. “I was lucky to begin my career with Marvel and now am extremely lucky to re-connect with Marvel. That’s an enormous amount of good fortune. I sincerely thank all the folks up at Marvel, and Disney, who worked for this fortunate re-connection to happen.

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Mail Call | The Hellfire Gala guest list includes mutants, Avengers … and Eminem?

As Marvel’s mutant event gets closer, take a look at what’s in store at the big party — and afterwards.

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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John Romita Jr. returns to Marvel later this year

The artist returns to the place where he started his career almost 50 years ago.

After almost seven years working for Marvel’s distinguished competition, John Romita Jr. will return to the House of Ideas later this year.

Marvel announced the return on their website today, noting that Romita will begin working in the Marvel Universe again in July.

“I have been very fortunate more than a few times in my life, and now I can add this latest event to that list. I have returned to Marvel, the company that I started my career in, and I couldn’t be more thrilled!” said Romita in a statement. “I am literally, at this very moment, working on my next big Marvel project, and it’s a blast!!! I am JUST as excited as I was when I first started, and I will do my best to let the work show that again. I hope fans will see that too!”

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‘Red Rain’ Batman sinks his teeth into ‘Secrets of Sinister House’ one-shot

DC’s annual Halloween anthology features new stories by John Layman, Paul Dini, Rafael Albuquerque, Tom Raney and more.

DC’s annual Halloween anthology will return in October with a new story set in the world of Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, among other stories.

Rafael Scavone and Rafael Albuquerque will co-write the story about vampire Batman, with art by Rafael Albuquerque. Albuquerque’s the co-creator of American Vampire, so he’s very familiar with fanged monsters. Released in the 1990s and created by Dog Moench and Kelley Jones, Red Rain was one of the earliest “Elseworlds” stories published by DC. It spawned two sequels.

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‘Superman: Year One’ preview showcases key moments on the Kent farm

As a matter of fact, we ARE in Kansas anymore for this preview of the Black Label project from Frank Miller and John Romita Jr.

DC Comics has released a preview and some additional details on Frank Miller and John Romta Jr.’s upcoming Superman: Year One project, which starts in June. Not only do they share some interior pages, but they also have a Q&A with the creative team.

“This is baby Kal-El’s odyssey from planet Krypton to planet Earth. From a strange little boy to Superman. It’s a hero’s journey wherein a boy discovers his powers and more importantly, his destiny,” Miller said. “It ties in with my Dark Knight Universe and Batman: Year One.”

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Miller + Romita Jr.’s ‘Superman: Year One’ lands in June

Frank MIller and John Romita Jr.’s Black Label project gets a release date; DC reveals the covers for all three issues.

DC Comics has revealed the release date for another of its Black Label projects, Frank Miller and John Romita Jr.’s Superman: Year One. The first “large-format ” issue is scheduled to arrive in June.

The series will run for three issues, with the last two arriving in August and October. A collected edition will arrive in November.

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DC’s Black Label debuts in September, adds ‘beloved existing titles’ to the line

Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo’s ‘Batman: Damned’ miniseries kicks the imprint off in September.

DC Comics’ new Black Label imprint promises standalone, out-of-continuity comics from “top talent” like Frank Miller, John Romita Jr., Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, John Ridley and many others — and it looks like we’ll see the first new output from the line in September.

DC revealed that Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo’s Batman: Damned miniseries will run for three bimonthly issues starting on Sept. 19. It will be followed by Frank Miller and John Romita Jr.’s Superman: Year One three-issue miniseries in November, and John Ridley’s The Other History of the DC Universe, a seven-issue series, in December.

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Steve Niles, Marcelo Frusin take over ‘Kick-Ass’ with issue #7

After a decade of kicking ass, Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. hand over the reigns to their creator-owned title.

Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. returned to the world of Kick-Ass this year with a new title and a new character under the mask. And now, with issue #7 of the series, the duo will bring in a new creative team — Steve Niles and Marcelo Frusin.

“When we sold Millarworld to Netflix, the one and only downside was not being able to write more Kick-Ass with my new executive role, and so I did the next best thing—I got my favorite writer to continue Patience Lee’s adventures,” said Millar. “Steve Niles is without question my favorite writer in comics, and I rank 30 Days of Night as my favorite graphic novel of the last 20 years. I’m honored he’s taken the time to do this and slightly in awe that, like Jeff Lemire on Hit-Girl, he’s already outclassed me on this book. I finally get to enjoy Kick-Ass as a reader!”

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