Can’t Wait for Wednesday | A new era for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles begins

Check out new comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Jock, Scott Snyder, Gene Luen Yang, Mike Mignola, Jonathan Hickman, Marc Silvestri, Steve Orlando and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what’s coming to your local comic shop this week.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights for this week below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So check with your retailer to see what’s arriving at their shop this week.

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NYCC | Marvel’s Ultimate Universe will end next year

Each series will end between December and April, with the final battle with the Maker coming in ‘Ultimate Endgame.’

For the second time, Marvel’s Ultimate Universe will come to an end.

During Marvel’s Next Big Thing Panel at NYCC, Head of Marvel Comics and Franchise Dan Buckley, Editor in Chief C.B. Cebulski, Senior Editor Wil Moss, The Ultimates writer Deniz Camp and Ultimate Wolverine writer Chris Condon confirmed that the finite story, as it was conceived by story architect Jonathan Hickman, would wrap up in 2026.

“It’s hard to talk about without getting emotional,” said Camp. “It really is the culmination of everything Jonathan began. Everything from my book and everyone else’s book are all converging. It’s gonna be definitive, it’s going to be big, it’s going to be emotional, there’s going to be death…it’s just wild.”

Marvel previously announced this past summer that December’s Ultimate Spider-Man #24 would be the final issue of that title, and have confirmed that Ultimate Black Panther, Ultimate X-Men and The Ultimates will all end with their 24th issues. Ultimate Wolverine will end with issue #16. The showdown with the Maker will conclude with the previously announced Ultimate Endgame, the five-issue miniseries that kicks off in December and concludes in April.

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Here are the nominees for the 2025 Dragon Awards

Winners will be announced this weekend during DragonCon.

The nominees have been announced for the 2024 Dragon Awards, which have been presented annually during DragonCon since 2016.

The awards include multiple categories for books, media tie-ins like movies and video games, and comics. Last year Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda won the award for Best Comic Book / Graphic Novel.

The nominees in the comics and graphic novel category are:

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SDCC | ‘Ultimate Endgame’ begins in December as ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ ends

Details were shared at the San Diego Comic-Con this week.

Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto’s final issue of Ultimate Spider-Man will arrive in December, just as the Maker returns in Ultimate Endgame.

Hickman attended the Marvel Comics: Ultimate Universe Panel at San Diego Comic-Con today, sharing that the story he and Checchetto have been telling was always meant to end with issue #24.

“This was everything that I pitched,” Hickman said. “Nothing has deviated. It’s been really nice to execute the plan well and everything culminates into this issue. Fans of the Ultimate Universe are going to love it. It’s been a real pleasure being the writer of Ultimate Spider-Man.”

It was almost two years ago that fans were introduced to the Ultimate Universe version of Spider-Man — an older Peter Parker married to Mary Jane and father to two kids who had never been Spider-Man. As the maker tried to supress the hero community, Tony Stark had found a way to bring them back, and one of the first heroes he contacted was Peter Parker.

And now that story will come to an end. Here’s a look at the final cover by Checchetto:

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My favorite comics of 2024

And some favorite graphic novels as well.

It’s been a number of years since I’ve put together a list of my favorite comics of the year, something I used to do on a regular basis back in the Blog@ or Robot 6 days. Not from a lack of desire, but I spend a lot of time agonizing over my choices and, especially, the write-ups for each of my selections.

So this year I thought, “Screw it; just list your top 10 and be done with it.” So, here are my 10 — no, wait; I narrowed it down to 11, not 10 — 11 favorite comics, as well as five graphic novel favorites. I did not read as many graphic novels this year as I typically would for various reasons, but these are five I really liked.

So without further ado, here they are, in no particular order …

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Spawn reaches its 350th issue

Check out new comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Todd McFarlane, Carlo Barberi, Brett Booth, Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, Mirka Andolfo, Dan Mora, Mark Waid, Sarah Mai, Zac Thompson and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

Continue reading “Can’t Wait for Comics | Spawn reaches its 350th issue”

Can’t Wait for Comics | Powers of X, Aaron on Action, Ultimate Peter and MJ, and more

Check out new comics and graphic novels this week by Kieron Gillen, RB Silva, Jason Aaron, John Timms, Matt Fraction, Terry and Rachel Dodson, Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, Sweeney Boo, Zack Snyder and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital. Also, Happy New Year! I’m back briefly from a California vacation before I head off on a work trip, so expect things to be quiet around these parts until the weekend, at least. But enough about me — let’s look at this week’s comics.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

Continue reading “Can’t Wait for Comics | Powers of X, Aaron on Action, Ultimate Peter and MJ, and more”

Slugfest | Martinbrough + Greene take Red Hood back to ‘The Hill’

Plus: News and announcements on Marvel’s Godzilla series, John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, Ultimate Spider-Man, Sinister Sons and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. Hit the links for more information.

Shawn Martinbrough will return to write Jason Todd again next year with Red Hood: The Hill, a miniseries that follows his work on the character’s previous series. Sanford Greene will draw the six-issue series.

Here’s how DC describes the series:

In Gotham City’s early days, The Hill was one of Gotham City’s most dangerous neighborhoods, one that required the residents to band together to keep themselves safe when the police – and sometimes even Batman – wouldn’t.

Now, as the Hill finds itself gentrifying, old habits die hard as the vigilante known only as Strike works with her team to keep the town safe—but she’s not alone. Jason Todd, one of the Hill’s newest residents, is more than happy to don the visage of Red Hood to help Strike keep his new home safe. But a new villain is emerging from the shadows. Will Red Hood, Strike and the Hill’s small militia of vigilantes be able to keep their home safe? This series features a main cover by series artist Greene, with a variant cover by Tirso Cons.

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Spider-Man is older, ‘wiser,’ a husband + dad in ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’

Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto’s new series will give Spider-Man’s marriage more than one more day.

Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto’s Ultimate Spider-Man will “zag” instead of “zig” when it debuts in January. Instead of taking the approach of the original Ultimate Universe, where Spider-Man was rebooted as a teenager, they plan to present an older Spider-Man, who is married with a family.

So it’s more Renew Your Vows, less Miles Morales.

“When we decided that we were going to do a book about an older Peter Parker becoming Spider-Man, we really wanted to lean into him starting his super hero life from a very different place than what’s traditionally expected,” Hickman told Marvel.com. “Peter and MJ being married is one of many decisions we made that underline this being quite a ‘different’ kind of Spider-Man story.”

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Marvel announces three more ‘Ultimate’ titles for 2024

Peach Momoko, Bryan Hill, Stefano Caselli and more will contribute to the resurrected Ultimate Universe.

Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, which was reincarnated in the recent Ultimate Invasion miniseries, will grow next year with three new titles, following the Ultimate Universe one-shot coming Nov. 1.

Spider-Man, Black Panther and the X-Men will get new Ultimate titles in this “world outside your window” approach architected by Jonathan Hickman.

“What made the Ultimate Universe originally really interesting was that it was a reflection of the world outside your window, in the moment that you were living in. What does it look like in the world we’re living in now?” Hickman said back in June. “It’s kind of shocking how much the world has changed in that period of time. The idea of what it would be like to see the genesis of super heroes in a brand-new world is a really fascinating exercise.”

Hickman himself will write one of the titles, Ultimate Spider-Man, while Bryan Hill will write the first-ever Ultimate Black Panther series.

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