Ultron isn’t the only villain joining the West Coast Avengers

Meet Blue Bolt, ‘the biggest jerk in the Marvel Universe.’

Marvel’s West Coast Avengers relaunch announcement came with a surprise addition to the line-up in Ultron, one of the Avengers greatest foes. He’ll be joined by one of their not-so-greatest foes in Blue Bolt, a new character created by Gerry Duggan and Danny Kim.

Chad Braxton, a.k.a. Blue Bolt, is a former henchman with “unrefined lightning-based abilities” who joins the team as part of a prison release program. “Reckless, undisciplined, and downright rude, Blue Bolt may just be the biggest jerk in the entire Marvel Universe,” Marvel.com says. Blue Bolt joins a long list of former villains who have been members, including Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Black Widow and Sandman, among others.

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X-Men ’97 comic leads into the Disney+ show

Steve Foxe and Salva Espín return to the world of ‘X-Men: The Animated Series’ in a new miniseries.

Steve Foxe and Salva Espín, the duo behind Marvel’s X-Men ’92: House of XCII, will reunite for another miniseries based on the animated mutants — a four-issue X-Men ’97 series that leads into the upcoming animated show on Disney+.

“There’s a very good chance I wouldn’t be writing comics today if not for the impact X-Men: The Animated Series had on me as a kid—heck, the voice actors from the show are still the voices I hear when I read the comics today!” Foxe said. “Getting to reunite with my X-Men ’92: House of XCII collaborator Salva Espín on this official prelude to X-Men ’97 has felt like a bucket-list project a lifetime in the making, and Beau [DeMayo] and the rest of the ’97 team gave us a fantastic runway to come up with our own original tale that feeds right into what viewers will get to experience in the new season.”

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Steve Orlando returns to Spider-Man 2099 for another weekly miniseries

Orlando will work with a variety of artists on the series, which will introduce 2099 versions of classic Marvel horror characters.

Steve Orlando will return to the world of 2099 next year with another weekly limited series featuring the co-star of one of this year’s hottest movies — and no, I don’t mean Barbie 2099.

Orlando, who previously wrote the Exodus and Dark Genesis miniseries, has written a new story titled Miguel O’Hara: Spider-Man 2099. It’ll feature 2099 variants of Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night, Terror Inc. and more, with a different artist working on each of the five issues.

“Returning to 2099 has been a blast, especially with the chance to do this series of one-shots crashing Miguel up against some of Marvel’s greatest horror icons–all of whom are newly debuting in 2099!” Orlando told Marvel.com. “I can’t think of a better reality to work in than the world of 2099—that dark, neon projection of our own modern day. And no matter the horror coming in the series, Spider-Man 2099 is set to defend his city and his people—whether it’s with a gravity-defying moon shot, an infestation of next-generation zombies, or helping a mercenary werewolf finally cut his leash!”

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Get a better look at the characters from ‘G.O.D.S.’

Several variant covers arriving in August offer a look at the cast of the new series coming from Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti.

A series of variant covers released by Marvel gives us our first good look at the characters who will appear in the upcoming G.O.D.S. by Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti.

The upcoming series, which will launch sometime in the fall, was previewed on Free Comic Book Day, where we got out first look at a character named Wyn. But the variant covers, all of which will land in August, reveal several more characters interacting with some old favorites from the Marvel U.

“When I came back to Marvel a few years ago, I wrote two series bibles. The first was House of X and the other one was G.O.D.S.,” Hickman said back in March. “To say that I’m excited to finally be able to share this story with everyone is a massive understatement. G.O.D.S. takes place in its own special corner of the Marvel Universe — in the cracks that lie at the intersection of science and magic — and revisits some characters and concepts that we’ve reimagined for a more modern, continuity-driven audience.”

Here’s a look at the covers:

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Back to school: DeMatteis + Nauck will revisit Magneto’s time as headmaster of the New Mutants

The four-issue ‘Magneto’ miniseries will introduce a new character, Irae, when it debuts in August.

Magneto’s slow and complicated face turn back in the 1980s was one of the highlights of the X-Men titles at the time, and now J.M. DeMatteis and Todd Nauck will explore one of the key milestones in that timeline — the period when Magneto became headmaster of Professor Xavier’s school and taught the New Mutants.

“Magneto may be the single most complex character in the Marvel Universe: a man of dizzying contradictions who has endured, and caused, extraordinary suffering. Who’s been both villain and hero. Whose long, tangled history invites endless exploration,” DeMatteis said. “Our new Magneto series allows us to look at all aspects of Erik Lehnsherr’s soul and psyche—at a period when he was trying to put his life as a so-called ‘evil’ mutant behind him and step, somewhat reluctantly, into Charles Xavier’s shoes, attempting to guide a new generation of mutants. We also get to look back at the early days of the X-Men—one of my favorite periods in Marvel history—and introduce a new villain, born in the cauldron of Magneto’s dark past.”

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Slugfest | A round-up of Marvel announcements for August

Damage Control, Alien, Edge of the Spider-Verse and more are coming in August.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. This edition is all about Marvel’s August announcements, of which there are many. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel released their solicitations for August today (You can find the complete listings on Newsarama or The Beat) and they included several new stories and big storylines that I may or may not have already covered here. So, here’s a round-up of what to expect and what looks interesting …

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Peter David writes a new X-Factor story for ‘X-Men Legends’

The ‘writer of stuff’ teams with Todd Nauck for a new story featuring Havok, Polaris, Madrox and more.

Peter David’s run on X-Factor is the next classic X-title to get the X-Men Legends treatment, as issue #5 of that title will feature a new story by David and artist Todd Nauck that is set between X-Factor #75 and #76, which came out in 1992.

The story will feature the characters you remember from his run, such as Havok, Polaris, Madrox, Wolfsbane and Strong Guy, among others.

X-Men Legends, if you weren’t aware, revisits classic X-Men runs with new, in-continuity stories by some of the original creators. Fabian Niceiza kicked off the series with a story about the Summers clan, while Louise and Walt Simonson will return to their version of X-Factor — the team that featured the original X-Men — in X-Men Legends #3.

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Mail Call | DC in May brings Star Girl and more

A round-up of news from DC, Marvel, Oni Press 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.

DC Comics released their May solicitations on Friday, and with them came several announcements and reveals throughout the week. In addition to the new Wonder Girl, Mister Miracle and Future State: Gotham projects, DC announced they will release two interesting one-shots — the first being Star Girl one-shot, featuring not only the star of the hit CW show, but also the Seven Soldiers of Victory. It’s by the character’s co-creator, Geoff Johns, and artist Todd Nauck.

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Artists take the #SixFanarts Challenge

Melissa Capriglione kicked off a fun, art-filled meme in March — and the participants grew from there.

Way back in mid-March — which feels like a million years ago at this point, but was really just a few weeks back — Falconhyrste creator Melissa Capriglione kicked off a fun exercise that would turn into a widespread meme for artists across social media: The #SixFanarts Challenge.

What started has a simple tweet has blossomed into a fun and welcome distraction during these difficult times. And it’s pretty easy to participate: artists just ask their social media followers to throw out character names, and the artist draws six of them on a grid that Capriglione has provided.

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