Marvel just dealt mutants another genocidal blow, as revealed in X-Men: Hellfire Gala (2023). SPOILERS FOLLOW: This year's gala thrown by the mutant nation of Krakoa was set to carry on the annual tradition of selecting and debuting the latest X-Men team roster; instead, the mutant-hating organization ORCHIS crashed the party, finally launching a strike they'd been planning since Krakoa started.

ORCHIS (and old X-Men AI foe, Nimrod) murdered most of the new X-Men team, and either maimed, crippled, or killed quite a few of the most powerful veterans. Professor X was captured and coerced into making nearly all mutants leave Earth - seemingly transporting them to their deaths. ORCHIS's latest has reset the X-Men's status quo to one where a desperate few are fighting to survive - but is it really the change fans needed at this point?

Marvel Loves A Mutant Massacre

The ORCHIS Mutant Massacre isn't the first time Marvel's mutants have faced near-extinction. Going back to the alternate future of "Days of Future Past," where Sentinels hunted down mutants to near-extinction, there have been stories both iconic (Mr. Sinister's Morlock Massacre - the first X-Men crossover event - or M-Day/House of M) and infamous (New X-Men's Genoshan Mutant Massacre) about just how dark times get for mutants, when humanity's (or other enemies') bloodlust surges.

Admittedly, mutant massacres have always been a questionable trope of the X-Men Universe, allowing creators an easy "out," for reducing mutants' presence in the franchise, and then bringing them back in an entirely new status quo. This time it arguably hits very differently, though. The Krakoa Era of X-Men has been one of the longest-lasting creative runs with the characters (four years), not to mention one of the most revolutionary and immersive.

The Krakoa Massacre Hits Different

With "House of X" and "Powers of X," writer Jonathan Hickman introduced an entirely new take on mutant culture, history, and how mutant powers were used. The Krakoa experiment (welcoming both "good" and "evil" mutants into the mutant nation) sparked intrigue as different factions built and schemed around Krakoa's Quiet Council government. The new world order that Hickman built into X-men inspired Marvel Comics creators to revise Hickman's original (shorter) timetable for a three-act plan for Krakoa's rise and fall; just building out the new X-Men Universe and all the characters and stories it touched kept Marvel busy for at least three years.

The point here is that there was clearly a lot of fun to be had with the Krakoa Era of X-Men, and even though the various comics and storylines were a hit-or-miss mix, the high points really resonated with fans - as did certain ideas, characters, and overarching story ideas that Hickman and co. put in place.

That's why a lot of Marvel fans are feeling like this Krakoa Mutant Massacre is something akin to a chess player simply swiping the game pieces off the board in the middle of an intricate game. Granted, the story is still unfolding, but it feels like Hellfire Gala (2023) really did signal the end of the Krakoa Era as we knew it, along with all the deeper and more challenging themes and stories of trying to create, maintain and protect all facets of a sovereign nation, in the midst of a superhero universe, all while trying to avoid and/or change numerous timelines leading to extinction.

The run-and-gun survival stories of the X-Men have their own proud legacies, and the upcoming "Fall of X" could turn out to be another one. But once again taking Earth's mutant population down, the X-Men franchise has lost one of the most intriguing story hooks it's had in years, and a whole lot of originality with it.

X-Men comics are on sale at Marvel.

1990's "Treehouse of Horror" -- the first of the annual, Halloween-themed episodes of The Simpsons -- ended with Marge assuring Homer: "They're just children's stories. They can't hurt you." But they can scare you. In keeping with the yearly "Treehouse" tradition, creator Matt Groening's Bongo Comics launched the "scarifying" first issue of Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror (later retitled The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror with issue #14) in 1995. The horror anthology spanned 23 issues between 1995 and 2017, all of which are being collected across three volumes of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus.

The first volume, titled The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus Vol. 1: Scary Tales & Scarier Tentacles, arrived in 2022. And on August 1st, 2023, fans can get their tentacles on The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus Vol. 2: Deadtime Stories for Boos & Ghouls. Like the first volume, the over-sized omnibus is packaged in a deluxe, die-cut slipcase that glows in the dark. (A third and final omnibus volume collecting the remaining material from the Treehouse of Horror comics is expected to release in 2024.)

While some issues adapted the TV episodes, most told new stories written and illustrated by some of the biggest names in comics, including Kyle Baker (Why I Hate Saturn), Ian Boothby (Futurama Comics), Dan Brereton (The Nocturnals), Gerry Duggan (Marvel's Deadpool), Pia Guerra (Y: The Last Man), Peter Kuper (Spy vs. Spy), Carol Lay (Way Lay), Nina Matsumoto (Y?kaiden), Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise), Steve Niles (30 Days of Night), Brian Posehn (Deadpool), James Robinson (Starman), Tone Rodriguez (Radioactive Man), Scott Shaw! (Simpsons Comics), and Jim Woodring (Jim and Frank).

"I've been looking at comics since before I could read. I had an older brother, Mark ... who turned me onto all the great comics of the fifties: Mad, when it was still a comic, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, Little Lulu, Tales From The Crypt -- all that stuff," Groening recalled in a 1995 issue of Flux magazine. "He and his buddies had a secret clubhouse up in this little room in a garage down the street and you had to climb a ladder and crawl across a beam in order to get in there. That was the comics reading room, so there was definitely a taste of the forbidden just getting to this secret room to read the comics. They wouldn't let in while they were there so I had to wait until they were out shooting slingshots at squirrels until I could sneak in and read all these great comics."

That's the inspiration behind Bart's treehouse, and in turn, Treehouse of Horror.

According to Groening: "Comics are meant to be read in one of two places; either in a treehouse or under the covers late at night with a flashlight in your mouth and a little transistor radio with one of those little plastic earphones."

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus Vol. 2: Deadtime Stories for Boos & Ghouls is out August 1st.

Star Wars is shining a whole new kind of light on its droid characters - and it is a dark light indeed!

Star Wars: Dark Droids is the new Star Wars comic book series Marvel Comics is going to be releasing in August, and the preview pages reveal how this new story is being built out of the recent events in the larger Star Wars comics universe, which include writer Charles Soule's "Qi'ra Trilogy" story arc, which included War of the Bounty Hunters, Crimson Reign, and Hidden Empire.

(MILD SPOILERS) Lady Qi'ra returned to the galaxy during the Galactic Civil War (following events of The Empire Strikes Back). Qi'ra brought back a refitted version of Darth Maul's criminal organization Crimson Dawn, which became a secret army of spies, infiltrators and influencers, embedded in every organization in the galaxy. Qi'ra sowed conflict and disruption with one main goal: defeating the Sith Lords that she had learned were controlling the galaxy through the Empire. Part of her plan used an ancient piece of AI tech called the Spark Eternal, that an ancient race (the Ascendant cult) used to fight the Sith Order. In the aftermath of Qi'ra's failed uprising, the Spark Enternal escaped into a disc of tech even the Sith had banned from use, gaining new machine sentience as "The Scourge"

Well, the Star Wars Universe will see its droids become a nightmare army, when the Scourge finally takes control.

What Is Star Wars: Dark Droids About?

As per Marvel Comics' description:

STAR WARS: DARK DROIDS will unfold in a main series by writer Charles Soule and artist Luke Ross, the team behind other STAR WARS comic crossover epics like WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS as well as a spinoff limited series, STAR WARS: DARK DROIDS - D-SQUAD, and tie into the four ongoing series that are currently bridging the gap between the films The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi: STAR WARS, STAR WARS: DARTH VADER, STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA, and STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS.

The horror-fueled story promises to be unlike any told in Star Wars history, as droids of all allegiances and roles become highjacked by the new entity created by the merging of two technologies introduced in both DOCTOR APHRA (The Spark Eternal) and STAR WARS: HIDDEN EMPIRE. This terrifying threat was first teased in STAR WARS: REVELATIONS, which debuted Ajax Sigma, a warrior droid with free will whose attempt at a droid revolution was brutally crushed by the Jedi during the High Republic era.

Star Wars: Dark Droids #1 Preview

Star Wars: Dark Droids #1

A STAR WARS EPIC LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE!

"SCOURGE OF THE DROIDS!" A STAR WARS EPIC LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE! Who or what is THE SCOURGE, and why is no droid safe? As a corruption spreads from one droid to the next THE REBELLION and THE EMPIRE face chaos! What role does AJAX SIGMA play in all of this? And whose side is he on? Find out when horror comes to a galaxy far, far away! Charles Soule continues his legendary run on STAR WARS with the most ambitious event in STAR WARS comics history! Joined by his WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS collaborator Luke Ross, the superstar team carves a new path for the future!

Written by: Charles Soule
Art by: Luke Ross, Alex Sinclair
Cover by: Leinil Francis Yu, Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Page Count: 36 Pages
Release Date: August 2, 2023

The hunter is becoming the hunted in The Amazing Spider-Man. Decades after Sergei Kravinoff took his life in Kraven's Last Hunt, Kraven returned in The Grim Hunt when the Kravinoffs clan -- his wife, Sasha, and his children, Anastasia and Alexei Kravinoff -- resurrected Sergei to kill his archenemy, Spider-Man. Cursed with "unlife" unless he dies by Spider-Man's hand, Kraven once again set his sights on the wall-crawler in the six-part "Hunted" arc in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5. Sergei's "Great Hunt" ended with his second death breaking the curse -- not by Spider-Man, but by Sergei's cloned offspring, the Last Son of Kraven.

But in September's Amazing Spider-Man #33 -- from writer Zeb Wells and artist Patrick Gleason, with a cover by John Romita Jr. -- Kraven is once again tangled in Spider-Man's web. Recently revealed cover art shows Spider-Man, clad in his classic '80s black-and-white costume, stalking his prey on the streets of New York.

"There's a lot of history between Spider-Man and Kraven. Something happens in Spider-Man's life that puts him in a bad mood, and he decides that he's going to get revenge on Kraven and hunt him down," Wells teased during Marvel Comics' panel at San Diego Comic-Con. "So it's a fun reversal of the usual [dynamic], and it's fun to see Spider-Man get some revenge for Kraven's Last Hunt."

The special over-sized issue Amazing Spider-Man #31 (on stands August 9th) sets up the "big Spider-Event" of Wells and Romita's second year on Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 6, according to Marvel, and will feature more preludes and glimpses of some of the biggest unannounced Spider-projects to come. Amazing Spider-Man #32 (on sale August 23rd) teams Kraven with the Queen Goblin before "Spider-Man's First Hunt" begins in Amazing Spider-Man #33 (on sale September 6th).

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #33

ZEB WELLS (W) o PATRICK GLEASON (A)

Cover by JOHN ROMITA JR.

SPIDER-MAN'S FIRST HUNT!

o The hunter is now the prey.

o Can Kraven survive?

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #34

ZEB WELLS (W) o PATRICK GLEASON (A)

SPIDER-MAN'S HUNT CONTINUES!

o Who is Peter's next victim?

o The penultimate chapter of a story you'll never forget!

Marvel has released a new X-Men preview that teases the return of Kitty Pryde in her new "Shadowkat" persona, which will debut in X-Men #25. (SPOILERS) After the latest Mutant Massacre carried out by the ORCHIS organization during the 2023 Hellfire Gala, the mutant nation of Krakoa has been nearly wiped out, and the surviving members of the X-Men are scattered.

Last we saw Kate Pryde, she had escaped with Emma Frost and a few other key figures from Krakoa. However, Kitty's longtime problem of not being able to use Krakoan warp gates suddenly took a reversal, when a gate she was leaning against suddenly activated and she ended up falling into a whole squad of ORCHIS agents that are occupying the Krakoan embassy in Jerusalem, Israel.

From the preview pages of X-Men #25 that Marvel has released, it's looking like part of the immediate fallout of the ORCHIS Mutant Massacre will see Kitty having to get herself out of a sticky situation trapped behind enemy lines. That kind of trial will require Kitty to leave the pirate persona behind and get back to her ninja ways!

As the preview pages remind us, the classic Kitty Pryde and Wolverine limited series saw Kitty train with Wolverine's ninja mentor Ogun - a side of herself that is still very much intact. With Kitty being one of the most powerful and dangerous mutants still at large, she'll need her fiercest persona to handle ORCHIS.

X-Men fans can't help but notice that this "Shadowkat" persona looks very much in line with her "Age of Apocalypse" timeline persona. As a leader of the "Generation Next" team of young mutant heroes, Kitty had her own Wolverine claws and a much more ruthless ninja persona. It was one of the most badass versions of "Shadowcat" that we've seen - but this looks like it could be another one.

Check out the official details of X-Men #25 below:

X-Men #25

Now, as a new X-Men team finds their way through their darkest hour...SHADOWKAT emerges!

THE FALL. She's been known as Kitty, Sprite, Ariel, Red Queen and Captain Kate. Now, as a new X-Men team finds their way through their darkest hour...SHADOWKAT emerges!

Written by: Gerry Duggan
Art by: Stefano Caselli, Marte Gracia
Cover by: Joshua Cassara, Alex Sinclair
Page Count: 52 Pages
Release Date: August 2, 2023

By the time AMC aired the "Tell It to the Frogs" episode of The Walking Dead TV show in 2010, Image Comics had published 78 issues of Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead comic book -- and not a single issue featured brothers Merle and Daryl Dixon. Played by Michael Rooker and Norman Reedus, the Dixon brothers were created by series developer and then-showrunner Frank Darabont for AMC's adaptation of the comic books. Daryl would go on to become one of the television show's most popular characters -- and will lead his already-renewed solo spin-off, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, premiering this fall -- so why wasn't Daryl in the comics?

"While I had a hand in creating Daryl and Merle, it was very much a team effort involving other season one writers Jack LoGiudice and Charles H. Eglee, as well as Frank Darabont (who originated and named them)," Kirkman wrote of the Dixon duo in the letters page in The Walking Dead Deluxe #67. "A cool thing in TV is that the actors also have a huge hand in who their characters become just in the way they interpret lines. Surprising line reads inspire the writers to write the characters completely differently as the series progresses. So, I'd also credit Michael Rooker and Norman Reedus with a lot of what makes those characters work."

Reedus initially auditioned for the Merle role. (While casting directors "loved" the Boondock Saints actor, he "wasn't a perfect fit" for the racist, redneck drug dealer -- so Darabont created Daryl for Reedus.)

Kirkman added that there were "logistical issues" that barred bringing TV show characters into the comics, but did not specify what those might be. "I would never have done it because it would feel wrong to bring the work of so many other people into the comic," Kirkman explained. "I never wanted the show to change the comic, since the comic is what made the show possible, and I worried it could turn into a snake eating its own tail."

The Walking Dead issue #98, published in 2012, introduced Dwight, a disfigured member of the Saviors who wielded TV Daryl's weapon of choice: a crossbow. "All that said," Kirkman wrote, "doing fun things like making comic readers think Dwight might be Daryl when introducing him? That kind of stuff is fun."

During a 2018 panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Kirkman remarked that there were "Norman Reedus likeness rights" that barred Daryl Dixon from the comic book. "I love the fact that there is something, if you read the comics, there would be an absence of Daryl and I feel like that adds to the mystery of the comic and makes it more appealing," Kirkman said at the time.

The Walking Dead Deluxe #68 is on stands August 2nd from Skybound and Image Comics.

Marvel is returning to Battleworld for the 40th anniversary of the classic Secret Wars series. Created by Jim Shooter, Mike Zeck, and Bob Layton and first published by Marvel in 1984, the original Secret Wars pit Marvel's heroes and villains against the seemingly omnipotent Beyonder, setting the bar for decades of Marvel event series that followed. Marvel will celebrate that legacy with the four-issue Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars: Battleworld, beginning in November. As announced at San Diego Comic-Con, former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco, who worked as the editor overseeing the first Secret Wars, returns to Marvel to write the series, joined by artist Pat Oliffe.

Secret Wars: Battleworld will reveal secrets from the first Secret Wars event, including "revelations beyond the Beyonder's true motives, shocking appearances by characters that you didn't even know fought in the Secret Wars, and more." With Marvel heroes Spider-Man and the Human Torch cast in the lead roles, Secret Wars: Battleworld is designed to fit within Marvel continuity and between the pages of the original Marvel Comics event. Here's the synopsis from Marvel:

"The mysteries of the Secret Wars deepen! Get ready for an all-new cataclysmic battle from when Spider-Man first got his alien costume and a mysterious being called the Beyonder assembled super heroes and villains from Earth to do battle on a patchwork planet. Witness now an untold adventure set during the original Secret Wars!

"Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars set the standard for Marvel Comics events (as well as action figures and the characters existing at the forefront of pop culture), and this new story will at last reveal some secret connections and missing characters going back to the original series! What secret test are the Beyonders conducting...and how will Spider-Man, the Human Torch and the whole cast determine the fate of the universe? (PLUS: Surprise super villain appearances inside!)"

In a press release, DeFalco says, "Pat Olliffe and I were handed a daunting creative challenge. We were asked to do a sequel/new tale of a classic Marvel story that first saw print 40 years ago and created ripples that are still felt throughout the universe today. Since we share a kinship with a certain web-swinger (and his family), we were also compelled to do a story that ripped to his core and defined his unique place in the Marvel Universe while examining the budding relationship with his new black costume. With the aid of editors Mark Basso and Drew Baumgartner, Pat and I constructed a tale that we believe has repercussions for today's readers and creative ripples that we hope will still be felt 40 years from now."

Editor Mark Basso adds, "The original Secret Wars was so multi-dimensional, it's been thrilling to add new dimensions to the saga! While the new story fully stands alone, I can tease that the connection to the original Secret Wars goes even further than just the comics pages...Old-school fans will know what I'm talking about...!"

Secret Wars: Battleworld #1 goes on sale on November 22nd. See covers to the issue, including an homage variant by Ryan Stegman, the first in a series of connecting covers by Todd Nauck, and a cover by Olliffe above.

MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS: BATTLEWORLD #1 (OF 4)

• Written by TOM DEFALCO
• Art by PAT OLLIFFE
• Cover by GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI
• Variant Cover by PAT OLLIFFE
• Variant Cover by FRANCESCO MOBILI
• Homage Variant Cover by RYAN STEGMAN
• Virgin Homage Variant Cover by RYAN STEGMAN
• Connecting Variant Cover by TODD NAUCK
• On Sale 11/22

Marvel Comics will celebrate Howard the Duck's 50th anniversary with a special one-shot in November. Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik introduced the cult-favorite comics character into the Marvel Universe in Adventure into Fear #19, published in 1973. Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones, the acclaimed creative team who worked on the 2015 Howard the Duck series, will reunite for the oversized Howard the Duck #1 one-shot. Additional writers and artists will also contribute to the issue, each offering their unique takes on the beloved Marvel character. In a press release, Marvel says that Zdarsky and Quinones' story "will get into the nitty-gritty of the private-eye's hectic history with a feather-raising journey through the Howard-verse!" The other stories will examine paths not taken in Howard the Duck's history. Here's the synopsis from Marvel:

"Meet Howard. He's a hard-boiled P.I. with problems by the duckload. But a cosmic, all-seeing friend(?) known as the Peeper(!) is giving him a chance to see what his life COULD be! The joys he COULD have! All the ways his life COULD suck way less than it does now! In other words: 'Whaugh If?'"

Marvel also detailed some of the other Howard the Duck #1 stories. They follow:

• Emmy-nominated writer and comedian Daniel Kibblesmith and acclaimed artist Annie Wu put Howard in the Oval Office! Inspired by a classic tale from Steve Gerber and Gene Colan's 70s run, Howard the Duck has been sworn in as President. Find out how gutsy he is as Commander in Chief when the Earth is invaded by aliens in this startling political satire!
• Popular video game designer and writer Merritt K makes her Marvel Comics debut alongside artist Will Robson with a cosmic comedy that sees Howard the Duck leaving the chaos of Earth behind to take over as leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy! Playing Star-Lord is all fun and games for Howard until some of his most iconic classic villains band together to take him out once and for all!
• And more!

Howard the Duck led a 1986 movie produced by Star Wars creator George Lucas that fared poorly at the box office. Howard has also made Marvel Cinematic Universe appearances in Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy movies and the What If..? animated series voiced by Seth Green. Lea Thompson, who starred Beverly Switzler in the Howard the Duck movie, in 2018 stated that she hoped to see Howard the Duck fully rebooted by Marvel, citing the excellence of Zdarsky and Quinones' run on the comic as inspiration.

"I worked on the pitch for a really long time and I had the help of Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones and they had done a run of Howard the Duck, the last run of Howard the Duck, and they put me in it, Lea Thompson," Thompson said. "And it was really great, so I asked them for help and Joe drew some drawings and Chip and I worked on the pitch and we did it in Marvel and they really liked it. They loved it, actually. But they were like, 'We have no plans for these things, and we're doing the streaming thing, and we'll call you back.' So tweet away, guys!"

Tim Robbins, who also starred in the 1986 Howard the Duck movie, recently spoke to ComicBook.com and revealed what it would take to get him on board for a reboot. "Depends on the casting of the duck," Robbins said. "I need that gruff guy. I need the cigar-chomping rude boy. That's what I want in Howard the Duck."

Marvel also celebrated Howard the Duck's 50th anniversary earlier this year by releasing a series of Howard the Duck variant covers across its titles in February, March, and April. You can see Ed McGuinness' main cover and Ron Lim's variant for Howard the Duck #1 above. Howard the Duck's 50th-anniversary comic book special goes on sale on November 29th.

Seth Rogen has been on a bit of a tirade for the past few years with his producing partner Evan Goldberg, and they have yet to show any signs of stopping. Rogen and Goldberg have plenty of titles under their belt, like Superbad, Knocked Up, This Is This End, and many more. They also produced one of the most popular superhero series in recent years with The Boys and have a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie coming out pretty soon. The actor turned producer already has a lot on his plate, but a new interview has him thinking about a lot of other comic book projects he could adapt. In a new interview with Polygon, Rogen revealed that he's currently reading some Grant Morrison comic books and what he'd like to adapt from the author.

"That's a good question. What have I been reading? I read old comics, from time to time," Rogen said. "There's these Green Lantern comics I've been reading, I love all those Grant Morrison Superman ones, I was rereading those because I heard that that's what the James Gunn Superman movie was gonna be inspired by. I read them when they first came out, but I feel like I was distracted, so I went back."

"Yeah, those Grant Morrison ones are really appealing. We3 is something I'm a big fan of. It seems maybe just too sad honestly; it just bummed me out. We've kind of been down that road -- and we know Grant a little bit, we've talked to him. That's what's nice, is we've done well with things that were traditionally considered unmakeable, essentially, for a long time. But also we don't want to ruin things we love. So we'll have very honest conversations with Grant and just talk about it and where his head's at, and where our heads are at. Things like We3, we've talked to him about several times over the years. And we're kind of always like, Yeah, I just don't think this is the thing right now. There's things like that -- we really talk to the creators to make sure that we all think it's a good idea, at that moment, in that way." Rogen added about We3 which is a comic series from the author.

Seth Rogen Will Release Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Next

Rogen has a pretty vast catalog of films and television shows that he's released, and he's just started to venture into comic book properties like The Boys series and even the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem movie that will be released next month. The actor/producer will be voicing Bebop in the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie that he's releasing, and he recently talked about the surprising way they recorded their voices.

"On Ninja Turtles, it was lovely because we were able to control the process a lot more. For every session, we lumped people together. So every time the four turtles recorded, they were together. Me and John Cena were Bebop and Rocksteady, and we recorded together. Ice Cube has a bunch of scenes with the kids, and they recorded together. So we really went out of our way and bent over backwards on Ninja Turtles to try to capture that improvisational energy that you get when a lot of people are in the same place at the same time. I actually saw how helpful it was from doing Lion King, and if that's the tone and style you're going for, then it is a great thing to chase."

Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for more updates on Seth Rogen and the projects he will be releasing as we learn them!

What do you think about Seth Rogen's comments? Would you want to see him work on a Grant Morrison project? Let us know in the comments below or by hitting up our writer @NateBrail on Twitter!

The ComicBook Nation Crew recaps Marvel's Secret Invasion Finale, reviews Disney's Haunted Mansion movie, Peacock's Twisted Metal TV series, and the epic conclusion to The Witcher Season 3. We also look at Invincible Season 2's Atom Eve Special, preview WWE NXT's Great American Bash, and dive into this week's biggest comics!

Haunted Mansion Review

In his review of Disney Haunted Mansion (2023), ComicBook.com critic Charlie Ridgley says:

Disney's new take on Haunted Mansion was always going to have its work cut out for it, thanks to the ill will earned from the 2003 film. Some wondered if the attraction was somehow unadaptable without Guillermo del Toro (who was once attached to helm the project). Enter the team of director Justin Simien and screenwriter Kate Dippold, who have made questions about Haunted Mansion's adaptability feel rather silly. Their Haunted Mansion movie is a breath of fresh air for everyone who has grown tired of Disney's lifeless live-action output of late, as well as die-hard Haunted Mansion ride fans who have been begging to see a film actually give the attraction the love it deserves.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Twisted Metal Review

In his review of Peacock's Twisted Metal TV series, gamer/critic Cade Onder said the following:

Twisted Metal is a very charming show that manages to accomplish a lot in its ten 30-minute episodes. There are tons of well-earned laughs, a diverse cast of eccentric characters with fleshed out and unique backstories, and a surprising amount of world-building. It's almost shocking that the show isn't longer, given everything it does and how well it pulls it all off. While there are some areas that suffer, such as the vehicular action scenes, everything else comes together in such a satisfying way that it makes Twisted Metal another very successful gaming adaptation.

Rating: 4 out of 5

BONUS ROUND: What's Going On With The MCU???

After the disappointments of the Secret Invasion Finale, the ComicBook Nation crew discusses what The Marvel Cinematic Universe needs to do in order to get back on track:

There are several additional ways you can subscribe and/or listen to ComicBook Nation, which are listed below:

1. SUBSCRIBE to our Official YouTube Page
2. Watch Us On Paramount+
3. Listen via the media player embedded below.
4. Check us out on Spotify or Stitcher
5. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or iHeartRadio

Each episode has a deep dive into the current biggest discussion topics and debates within geek culture: movies, tv, comics, and video games are regular features, with genres like sci-fi, anime, and wrestling also featured regularly. The ONLY show covering ALL THINGS Geek Culture!

After every show we'll keep the discussion on Twitter:

• @ComicBookNation
• @KofiOutlaw
• @MattAguilarCB
• @JanellWheeler

Have thoughts to share? Want us to cover something on the show? Let us know in the comments!

DC Studios head James Gunn is congratulating the DC comic book artists and writers who won Eisner Awards this year. In a tweet, Gunn said "Congrats to all the folks at @DCOfficial comics who won more Eisner Awards than any other comics publisher."

The winning writers & artists included the late Kevin Conroy (Batman: TAS), who won Best Short Story for his DC Pride (2022) story "Finding Batman" with J. Bone. Acclaimed writer Tom King won a pair of Eisners: Best Single Issue/One-Shot for Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler (with Mitch Gerads), and Best Limited Series for his work on The Human Target with Greg Smallwood. Human Target also snagged a second Eisner: Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team for Smallwood's artwork.

Equally-acclaimed writer Tom Taylor also one Best Continuing Series for his work on Nightwing, with the series also winning Best Cover Artist (for multiple covers) for the cover artwork of Bruno Redondo.

Finally, Batman and Something's Killing the Children writer James Tynion IV won Best Writer for his acclaimed series The Nice House on the Lake, as well as The Sandman Universe: NIghtmare Country. Artist Jordie Bellaire also won Best Coloring for The Nice House on the Lake, as well as the limited series Suicide Squad: Blaze.

All of these comic book series are ones that we personally highlighted on our ComicBook Nation podcast over the last year, as part of the larger discussion about how creators like Tynion, Taylor, King and others (Joshua Williamson, Chip Zdarsky) are currently helping to lead major DC characters and books (Superman, Batman) into new exciting new eras of story, while also producing original works (SKTC, TNHOTL) which are adding new blood to the comic book medium - and launching new multimedia IP in the process. As of writing this, Something Is Killing the Children is poised to be a breakout hit for Netflix, while The Nice House on the Lake seems inevitable as something like an HBO (or MAX) miniseries event.

Obviously, James Gunn is showing love to 'Team DC' as both a longtime comic book fan, and the head of a studio looking to better synergize its multimedia ventures with its publishing IPs. Recently, DC Publisher and CCO Jim Lee made it clear that Gunn's love and respect for the comic book medium isn't just PR for DC Universe movies and TV shows - it's lucrative publicity for the comics that inspire them:

"It's amazing to have partners in Peter [Safran] and James [Gunn], particularly James. He was a comics fan growing up and knows our mythology inside out, and having that kind of ally in the live-action space allows us to really leverage what he is doing and allow us to market and sell comic books to new readers." Lee said to THR during Comic-Con 2023. "These are people who are interested in his movies, his TV shows, and if they want to take a deep dive into these characters, he directs them to the comic books."

Currently, Gunn is waiting to get to work on Superman: Legacy, the critical reboot film that will launch the new, rebooted, DCU franchise.

The Star Wars comic series Star Wars: Darth Vader - Black White & Red has revealed a story that sees the dreaded Sith Lord return to an iconic place in the Star Wars Saga: the Rebel Alliance base on Planet Hoth.

Darth Vader - Black White & Red #4 has a story called "Return to Hoth" that follows Darth Vader as he takes on a mysterious alert on Hoth: an imperial droid left there after the Battle of Hoth (seen in The Empire Strikes Back) has been destroyed. Vader goes to check if the Rebels (or Luke Skywalker and co.) are sneaking back into the base - only to find more than he ever bargained for.

Star Wars fans know the iconic story of how Luke Skywalker went out into the tundra of Hoth and ended getting beat up and captured by the Yeti-like Wampa beast. Well, Luke's father doesn't fare much better: as soon as Vader steps onto the icy planes of Hoth he finds himself getting ambushed by an entire pack of Wampas. Like Luke, Vader gets a good blow in by severing one beast's arm; however, he's critically injured when the animals gang up on him, breaking the chest plate that regulates Vader's breathing. The Sith Lord has to go on the run, finding refuge in an abandoned AT-AT Walker leftover from the Battle of Hoth.

The Wampas won't let their prey go, and start ripping into the AT-AT cabin where Vader is hiding, so the dark lord ends up having to make a stand. It's a brutal, bloody, fight for Vader to kill the entire pack of Wampas - but only moments before his air runs out and he passes out cold in the snow. When Vader wakes up, he's been saved by Imperial forces, led by the General who didn't want him to take on the mission alone. But gloating about being right proves to be fatal validation: Vader snaps the general's neck with a Force choke, rather than be humiliated for a second.

Seeing Vader have to experience the horrors of Hoth was a nice little adventure for longtime Star Wars fans. Writer Frank Tieri and artist Danny Earls use the "black, white, and red" format of the book to perfection for this nice succinct story of survival - one that paints Vader in the rare light of being vulnerable and in real danger.

Star Wars: Darth Vader - Black White & Red is on sale at Marvel Comics.

It's hard to deny that the Justice League is the strongest superhero team in the DC Universe. The collection of crime fighters have long held a major part of the comic book universe, but this fall, they'll be facing a larger-than-life threat that many are quite familiar with. Godzilla Vs. Kong Vs. Justice League will see the likes of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman taking on the two popular giant beasts and the comic book mini-series has released a special trailer revealing new tidbits about the crossover.

The king of the monsters has quite a bright future ahead of it, as Godzilla has a major role in both this mini-series along and a handful of live-action projects. Godzilla Minus One will hit Japan and North America later this year, focusing on a new story that takes the lizard king back to the 1950s to threaten Japan. Next year, the king of the monsters and the ruler of Skull Island will cross over once again thanks to Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, but it seems they'll have a bigger threat to worry about than each other.

Godzilla x Kong x Justice League: Super Heroes Vs Kaiju

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the writer behind the crossover series, Brian Buccellato, discussed the king of the monsters entering the DC Universe, "One great thing about Godzilla is that Godzilla is obviously not a villain, but not quite a hero either. Godzilla is about restoring balance and the order of nature. So when Godzilla ends up in this world with metahumans and superheroes and supervillains, things are upset. So that's going to make Godzilla want to do what Godzilla does, which is create order. There will be more monsters. I'm not allowed to say which, but Kong and Godzilla are not the only two giant monsters that the Justice League is going to have to face. Things are going to get crazy."

Godzilla Vs. Kong Vs. Justice League will hit retailers this fall beginning on October 17th. The series will run for seven issues with DC Comics and Legendary Comics teaming up for this crossover fit to bursting with kaiju, superheroes, and supervillains.

Who do you think will win in this battle featuring quite a few Titans? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of kaiju.

Massive Publishing is set to release new comic book stories set in the world of Assassin's Creed, the company announced at Comic Con International in San Diego last week. Massive and Studio Lounak to debut Assassin's Creed Visionaries #1 in November. In the first issue, celebrated artist Rafael Albququerque (American Vampire, Blue Beetle, Detective Comics, Prodigy) is joined by writer Ale Santos and colorist Marcelo Maiolo. Together they tell us a story set during the seventies' Brazilian Dictatorship, where a revolutionary fighter is captured and sent to a military basement, also known as Torture Rooms... Then in a second tale, renowned European writer/artist St?phanie Louis (Tessa Agent Intergalactique, Carmen McCallum, Aquablue) is joined by colourist V?ra Daviet to weave us a tale set in a future where the Templars are on the verge, yet again, of eliminating the Assassin Brotherhood once and for all.

Every new Assassin introduced in the Visionaries comic series is created by the comic book artists themselves and are appearing for the first time in this new series. In Visionaries, celebrated artists from around the world are given Carte-Blanche to create and share their own personal take on the Assassin's Creed franchise. Each issue will feature two stories by today's top creators in the comics and pop culture worlds.

''We have been involved with Ubisoft and the Assassin's Creed franchise almost since it was introduced over 15 years ago," Studio Lounak said in a statement. "So what better way to celebrate than to give renowned comic book artists 'carte blanche' to share their own, personal visions of Ubisoft's hidden blade-wielding, parkour-running, century-spanning Assassin's Creed!''

Massive Publishing and Studio Lounak have a full year of Assassin's Creed comics planned, with longer format stories outside of the Visionaries brand, including prestige format issues of their original (some never before released through the direct market), Assassin's Creed stories.

Here's how they describe Visionaries in a bit more detail:

A roster of celebrated artists working in various styles and genres will be featured in subsequent issues, bringing us their own take on the Assassin's Creed universe. Including talents like ENRICO MARINI (Gispy, Rapaces, Batman: The Dark Prince Charming, The Scorpion), MAHMUD ASRAR (King Conan, Batman vs Robin, X-Men, All New Avengers), OLIVIER VATINE (Aquablue, Star Wars: Heir to the Empire, Angela, Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.), YANICK PAQUETTE (Swamp Thing, Terra Obscura, Wonder Woman, X-Men), NIKO HENRICHON (Pride of Baghdad, Doctor Strange, Meta-Barons, New Mutants), JONBOY MEYERS (Teen Titans, Spawn, Superman, Danger Girl) and many more gifted creators will join this artist-driven anthology series.

Mark Waid and DC will return to the world of Kingdom Come, the fan-favorite 1997 miniseries scripted by Waid from a story by artist Alex Ross, later this year. While it isn't Waid's first time back in that world -- Kingdom Come's first follow-up was a 1999 story called The Kingdom, which Waid worked on with a number of artists -- returning to the Kingdom Come timeline is fairly rare. In most cases, appearances by Kingdom Come characters tend to be fleeting -- just an acknowledgment that "yes, this story still exists out there in the DC multiverse."

Kingdom Come centers on a near-future dystopia, where Superman's retirement left a generation of violent, young antiheroes without a moral compass. After a metahuman called Magog causes a catastrophic nuclear accident in the midwestern United States, Superman returns, only to find himself drawn into a complex metahuman civil war. The series was a commentary on the excesses of the 1990s comics industry, as well as an answer to the question of why the world still needs Superman, even when there are hundreds of other costumed adventurers.

Kingdom Come was also a very self-contained story. While it set up a new status quo that wasn't quite as dark at the end, the story of Kingdom Come did not need embellishment, and hasn't really benefited from attempts to return to it. It's complicated by the fact that the defining characteristics of the Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman of Kingdom Come are all wrapped around the hoplessness and violence of their world. Once there's a happy ending, they segue into being a fairly standard take on the classic versions of those characters -- just slightly older.

Some stories have ignored that issue and played as direct sequels to Kingdom Come -- see The Kingdom -- but others, like Alex Ross and Geoff Johns's Thy Kingdom Come, pulled Superman from the middle of the Kingdom Come story to make him interact with the current time. This creates some potential continuity or logic headaches, but preserves the unique feeling of Kingdom Come. It's also what it sounds like Waid is doing, if you read the official synopsis for Batman/Superman: World's Finest #20 below:

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD'S FINEST #20

Written by MARK WAID
Art and cover by DAN MORA
Variant cover by BJORN BARENDS
1:25 variant cover by DAVID NAKAYAMA
1:50 variant cover by DANIEL SAMPERE
Embossed Foil Magog Helmet variant cover ($7.99 US)
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 10/17/23

The return of Boy Thunder! To find and save Superman's former prot?g?, the World's Finest duo bridges the dimensional gulf between their world and an Earth with a jaded Superman, a broken Batman, and a war-hungry Wonder Woman--the world of Kingdom Come!

Jamie Lee Curtis might be best known for her prolific career as an actress, but she's soon headed into a whole new domain -- comics. Curtis is co-writing the Titan Comics graphic novel Mother Nature, an "eco-horror" tale created alongside co-writer Russell Goldman and artist Karl Stevens. The story of Mother Nature has been a passion project for Curtis for a while, and according to the actress, its central themes have only become more relevant than ever. While speaking to ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis at San Diego Comic-Con, Curtis revealed her own personal catalyst for the environmentally-conscious story.

"When I was 19, I somehow knew we were blowing it," Curtis explained. "I just knew it from an environmental standpoint. And I had this story that had been in my head since I was 19 with a couple visual images. And then after I finished the movie Halloween, which reinvigorated my love for movie-making, I decided to try to write it out as a story. I met young Russell Goldman who helped me. He and I then collaborated when Russell decided to really focus the story on mothers. Mother Nature. It's a story about two mothers and two daughters. And Karl Stevens, who I've collected the work of for a long time now, read the story that we wrote and said, "Well, guys, I think it's a graphic novel." And here it is."

What Is Mother Nature About?

Mother Nature follows Nova Terrell who, after witnessing her father die in mysterious circumstances on one of the Cobalt Corporation's experimental oil extraction projects, has grown up to despise the seemingly benevolent company that the town of Catch Creek, New Mexico, relies on for its jobs and prosperity. The rebellious Nova wages a campaign of sabotage and vandalism against the oil giant, until one night she accidentally makes a terrifying discovery about the true nature of the 'Mother Nature' project and the long-dormant, vengeful entity it has awakened that threatens to destroy them all."

"For me, it's the big wake-up call," Curtis said elsewhere in the interview. "It's the way that art can stimulate all of us. I don't know if any of y'all who are watching this have been paying attention to the news. I don't know. Maybe it's just been the hottest days on record ever in the United States. I don't know. Records rainfall. They got a month's rainfall in Pennsylvania in an hour. So it's happening. It's game on. And we're just watching it going, "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," and not doing anything. And the "Oh my God, we're not doing anything" isn't going to get us anywhere. And so I think the beautiful part of art is that art can stimulate change. And it's how change has happened throughout history, is that art has led the way. Art is the translator. Art is the great equalizer. And just where you were talking about the energy that we have been sucking out of the earth for a very long time. Oil, and then it became uranium, and then it became natural gas, and then it... Fracking and all of the ways that we just go, "Oh, Mother Nature, I'm going to take everything from you.""

Mother Nature will be available wherever comics are sold on August 8th.

SDCC has come and gone, and hot dang, did it influence the market this week. To be expected, but we're seeing more exclusives make the list than movie news or trailers shaking the list (well, except for a few)! Refreshing, to say the least. Without further adieu, let's dive in and highlight some of these exceptional books on this week's Top Ten!

Want to know what comic books are trending each week and why? COVRPRICE.COM uses live sales analytics to identify and compile the most robust market price guide, highlighting the weekly top trending comics. No opinions. Just data. Each week, they present a newly updated list of the TOP 10 COMICS trending in the aftermarket. These trends are due to rumors, fan-favorite covers, story-driven content, and content-related news.

#10: INVINCIBLE #2 - ROSE BESCH - 2023 SDCC - 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION | IMAGE | 2023 | It's been two years since season one of Invincible. The beloved comic series roped in a new audience with its exceptional animated adaptation, and the IP is only growing. This past week at SDCC, we finally got a teaser for Season 2 before it was released to the masses. That, and a spectacular Atom Eve special episode. Queue the run on this book, an anime-style depiction by fan-favorite artist Rose Besch and a 20th-anniversary edition featuring the pink badass that is Atom Eve! Limited to one per person at the convention (and an unknown print run), it sold out fast! We tracked 19 copies sold, at a 7-day trend of 123%, with a high sale of $130 for an NM raw copy and a current raw NM FMV of $95.

#9: SPIDER-MAN 2099 #1 | MARVEL | 1992 | The legs on this book are quite astounding, so much so some may swear it has eight of them! While it's slipping down the list, it's still stubbornly sticking as fans continue to see Across the Spider-Verse and exit the theatre opting to pick up the first solo series spotlighting the now resurgent fan-favorite character of Spider-Man 2099. Miguel O'Hara, AKA Spider-Man 2099, played a massive role in the film and is prepared to be a significant player in Part 2. While his first appearance has fallen by the wayside, collectors continue scoping up his first solo outing, an affordable and prevalent key. We tracked 26 copies sold, at a 7-day trend of 100%, with a high sale of $230 for a CGC 9.8 and a current raw NM FMV of $27.

#8: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #25 - J. SCOTT CAMPBELL - 2023 SDCC - PHOTO BOOTH SECRET COVER (LIMITED 2000) | MARVEL | 2023 | This book was touted as the big reveal as to why MJ and Peter went their separate ways. That, combined with issue #26 marking the 50th anniversary of the death of Gwen Stacy. It already had a lot going for it, then you toss in a J. Scott Campbell cover, limited to 2k copies, and make it an SDCC exclusive, and bam, you have a highly sought-after book. We tracked 31 copies sold, at a 7-day trend of 89%, with a high sale of $172 (pre-sale) for an NM raw copy and a current raw NM FMV of $103.

#7: CAPTAIN AMERICA #750 - JOE QUESADA - 2023 SDCC - MARVEL FANFARE PANEL - B&W VIRGIN | MARVEL | 2023 | Of course, Marvel would have a heavy presence at SDCC. Their fanfare panel provides fans with news, updates, trailers, upcoming movie tidbits, and exclusive merch. This Quesada Captain America variant was one of them, and boy, did he deliver for the seminal release of the 750th issue. If you're a fan of Cap and specifically AVENGERS: ENDGAME, as many reading this are, it piqued your interest as it did with many a collector on the aftermarket. We tracked 13 copies sold, at a 7-day trend of 217%, with a high sale of $250 for an NM raw copy and a current NM FMV of $120.

#6: VOID RIVALS #1 - DANIEL WARREN JOHNSON - 2023 SDCC | IMAGE | 2023 | Void Rivals is the new sensation in the comic community. It had a highly secretive variant when issue #1 dropped that would have spoiled the reveal on the final page. Well, they're not shy about it now and have that epic secret front and center for all to see. In the day and age of the internet, where a spoiler lurks around every corner, there is no reason to be secretive any longer with this IP. One of its major selling points was a connected universe between Transformers, G.I. Joe, and other titles. They sure got that point across with this awesome issue. We tracked 29 copies sold, at a 7-day trend of 101%, with a high sale of $94 for a raw copy and a current raw NM FMV of $78.

#5: BIKER MICE FROM MARS #1 | MARVEL | 1993 | Per ComicBook, the nostalgia trip that is The Biker Mice from Mars is set to return to the small screen! Not only that but Ryan Reynolds is also attached to the project! We mentioned last time we highlighted this book that it would receive a new series and toy line, and recently at SDCC, the new toy line from the Nacelle Company made its debut, and they're fantastic. That jolted the community into picking up the first issue of this brief comic run. We tracked 11 copies sold, at a 7-day trend of 275%, with a high sale of $100 for a CGC 9.6 copy and a raw NM FMV of $15.

#4: UNCANNY X-MEN #266 | MARVEL | 1990 | This book has been central to the first appearance debate for weeks. With rumors Channing Tatum will finally portray Gambit in the upcoming Deadpool 3, it's par for the course. But these are still just rumors. That hasn't stopped the community from bringing this debate back to the forefront and spotlighting this book, his long-accepted first appearance, and his first cover appearance. Despite appearing in 15 panels across nine pages, speaking, and being called by name in X-Men Annual #14, this book is still Gambit's "official" first appearance. For now, at least. We tracked 29 copies sold at a 7-day trend of 109%, with a high sale of $750 for a CGC 9.8 and a raw NM FMV of $199.

#3: SPAWN #1 - PUPPETEER LEE - 2023 SDCC | IMAGE | 2023 | The Toddfather used the backdrop of SDCC to reveal two new Spawn series titles. Fans went wild, as they love them some Spawn. But do you know what they love more? They love incredible and coveted variants for the titular anti-hero, especially from hot new artists like Puppeteer Lee. There was a run on this book at SDCC, and it is now the highlight of the convention sought by a community at large unable to attend, who want their hands on it! We tracked 45 copies sold, at a 7-day trend of 140%, with a high sale of $150 for an NM raw copy and a current raw NM FMV of $100.

#2: TRANSFORMERS #1 - 2023 SDCC - B&W | IMAGE | 2023 | We mentioned the expanded universe that Void Rivals ushered in. Transformers are a part of that, or some might argue, the focal point of it. Now that Transformers is firmly back in the Image Comics fold and under the Robert Kirkman Skybound imprint, fans are excited to see what comes next. To start, they got this B&W variant featuring our boy Optimus Prime, an homage to Void Rivals that appeared further up this list. We tracked 17 copies sold, at a 7-day trend of 383%, with a high sale of $200 for an NM+ raw copy and a current raw NM FMV of $105.

#1: TRANSFORMERS #1 - 2023 SDCC | IMAGE | 2023 | Well, you saw the B&W version of this cover, and now you get the full-color spread. Transformers are set to receive some much-needed attention under the guidance of Robert Kirkman. This has fans thrilled, as the man has delivered some of the best comic titles in modern history in The Walking Dead and Invincible. The excitement has been building for months leading up to the release of this book, and with a slew of SDCC-exclusive variants to choose from, the community has crowned their pick. It saw the highest movement out of any SDCC-exclusive book on our list and doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon. We tracked 65 copies sold, at a 7-day trend of 100%, with a high sale of $94 for a raw copy and a current raw NM FMV of $70.

And that's your TOP 10 COMICS OF THE WEEK for 7/25/23! Want to know what your comic books are worth? COVRPRICE.COM offers the ULTIMATE price guide with LIVE ungraded (raw) and graded sales for today's market trends. Manage your collection and track your portfolio's overall value with our robust tracking systems. With a free 10-day trial and several affordable price tiers, discover the value of your comics and sign up today! CHECK OUT THE TOP 10 ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL. PLEASE LIKE & SUBSCRIBE!

Marvel seems to go through an oscillating process of having the mutant race flourish, and then face near-extinction. We're now entering one of the latter periods of that pendulum swing, with X-Men: The Hellfire Gala (2023). The latest installment of the X-Men's annual party event took a drastic turn, as (SPOILERS) the mutant-hating human organization ORCHIS launched a surprise attack against the X-Men and Krakoa, slaughtering some of the most powerful X-Men, and forcing mutant-kind into a drastic decision: leave Earth for good or die.

However, even when Charles Xavier capitulates and psychically-coerces every mutant on Earth to be transported away, ORCHIS is revealed to be deceiving the mutant leader: ORCHIS tampers with the mutants' Krakoa gate portals, allegedly sending all the transported mutants to their deaths.

At the end of X-Men: The Hellfire Gala (2023), Rogue and Xavier do the horrific math on the slaughter: of the estimated 250,000 mutants that were living on or affiliated with Krakoa, the only known survivors are: a small group of mutants (and Kingpin) that Emma Frost escaped with (Talon, Sync, Aurora, Katherine Pryde, Kamala Khan); a few isolated and/or maimed mutants (Cyclops, Wolverine); a double-agent embedded within ORCHIS (Firestar), Xavier and Rogue, and few key figures yet to be accounted for (Sinister, Beast).

The losses the X-Men suffered are immense: Omega mutants Iceman and Jean Grey both die in the fight with ORCHIS; the holy team of mutants known as "The Five" are also seemingly warped into oblivion, ending mutantkind's practice of unlimited resurrection from death. Other casualties at the Gala included most of the new X-Men team that was selected at the event: Cannonball, Juggernaut, Jubilee, Dazzler, Frenzy, and Prodigy. They were all either brutally annihilated by Nimrod in its initial crash-landing in the gala, or beaten to death by Nimrod (Juggernaut) during the fight. Mystique's brain shorted out trying to resist Xavier's commands, and she fell to her death, while her wife Destiny inexplicably walked through a corrupted gate, despite being able to see the future.

Are Marvel Mutants Really X-Tinct?

As stated, Marvel has a pendulum-swing tradition when it comes to building the mutant population up, and then tearing it down. From Mister Sinister's Morlock Mutant Massacre to New X-Men's Genosha Massacre and Scarlet Witch's "M-Day" during House of M... This latest "Fall of X" event isn't exactly re-inventing the wheel.

That's all to say: It's hard to measure just how long or permanent this latest near-extinction of mutants will be - or if the initial picture of doom is as bad as we've seen. A lot of fan theory speculates that ORCHIS didn't corrupt Krakoa's warp gates to kill all those mutants that Xavier moved: they may have corralled them into prison camps.

It seems more than likely that the X-Men and mutants would have to bounce back from this by the time the dust settles on "Fall of X" and a new status quo is set - but it'll be interesting to see how we get there.

X-Men: Hellfire Gala #1 is now on sale from Marvel Comics.

Things in Hollywood might be on ice for now, but movie industry legend Jamie Lee Curtis showed up at Comic Con International in San Diego last weekend to promote Mother Nature, a comic book adapted from a screenplay she had toyed with making as her feature directing debut. The graphic novel, which hails from Curtis with Karl Stevens and Russell Goldman, will be published by Titan Comics, who brought the creative team to San Diego to show off early print copies.

The plan, at least as of now, is to bring Mother Nature to life as a Blumhouse movie soon, with Curtis directing. It centers on a young woman who, after her father dies in an industrial accident, becomes an eco-terrorist, lashing out against the irresponsible actions of the company that orphaned her.

"I don't know about all of y'all, but I have a really dark imagination for somebody who doesn't like violence," Curtis told ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis. "And have you ever seen one of those hydraulic scissor lifts? Every time I see one, I think, 'Wow, I have a dark idea: what if you're like a Mafia guy and you're trying to get somebody to talk about something, and you put them cross-ways in the scissor lift and then move the button and start to compress it?' And then when things start to get a little...tense, that guy's going to talk?"

Curtis then showed off a sequence in the comic, in which that exact scenario played out. Other preview pages from the series have shown similarly violent and gory deaths, suggesting that Mother Nature has a bit of a Final Destination energy to it.

Titan's description of Mother Nature reads, "Nova Terrell who, after witnessing her father die in mysterious circumstances on one of the Cobalt Corporation's experimental oil extraction projects, has grown up to despise the seemingly benevolent company that the town of Catch Creek, New Mexico, relies on for its jobs and prosperity. The rebellious Nova wages a campaign of sabotage and vandalism against the oil giant, until one night she accidentally makes a terrifying discovery about the true nature of the 'Mother Nature' project and the long-dormant, vengeful entity it has awakened that threatens to destroy them all."

Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld is teasing some new villains that Marvel's 'Merc with a Mouth' will be facing in some upcoming Marvel Comics.

Liefeld was present at Comic-Con 2023 and talked about what's coming in Deadpool comics - specifically his return to the character in Deadpool: Badder Blood. According to Liefeld, one of the big problems with Deadpool is that the character doesn't have a Joker to his Batman, after more than 30 years of existence:

He needs more bad guys, okay? Like how has it been 30 years?" Liefeld asked ComicBook.com's Phase Zero host Brandon Davis. "In two years' time, think about it: Spider-Man got The Lizard, Kraven, Doc Ock, Green Goblin, The Vulture - I mean it was 'Boom! Boom! Boom!' [makes rapid chopping motion] In thirty years I'm not sure we can identify a true Deadpool villain. Like who's his Sabertooth? Who's his Joker? So I'm just rolling up my sleeves..."

Now to be fair, Deadpool has always been more Joker than Batman, so it's understandable that the violent anti-hero doesn't have a maniacal villain as a rival. That said, Deadpool is also now a worldwide icon thanks to years of comics, not to mention Ryan Reynolds and the Deadpool movies, so there's definitely new space for him to get a more traditional superhero framework - including some villain rivals.

New Deadpool Villains Are Coming In "Badder Blood"

Rob Liefeld teased two specific villains that will soon be troubling Deadpool:

Arcade's Sister & Killville: "I rolled the dice when I was a kid. I loved Murderworld, which is a theme park run by a guy named Arcade," Liefeld explained, referencing the classic X-Men villain. "So I called up Marvel and I said 'Can I give Arcade a sister? Who thinks 'Who makes murderous theme parks that cost billions of dollars?' Like so can we do some virtual reality? Can we apply some 21st-century logic here? And she doesn't like her brother. So we introduce her: it's called "Killville" instead of "Murderworld." So yeah I'm just trying to add new layers.

Bounty Hunter Shatterstorm: "Shatterstorm" is from Shatterstar's world, because I'm finding out how many people don't know about Shatterstar. But he was raised up in the arenas and the gladiator games in the Mojoverse, and lots of different warriors look like him: this is a female warrior who was in the same caste system, and is now here as a bounty hunter."

Deadpool: Badder Blood is available from Marvel Comics.

Zub's Conan the Barbarian #1, which is illustrated by Rob De La Torre, kicks off the "Scourge of the Dead" story. This isn't a new origin for the character, but it doesn't rely on much prior knowledge of past Conan stories either. It follows frustrated Conan who is searching the land for a purpose, a deeper meaning to his life that he hasn't been able to discover as a mercenary. As he's about to set out on his own, a mysterious woman rides into town to warn of a devastating army on a murderous path across the land. That army, as it turns out, is made up of the undead; or at least something very close to the undead. Conan is able to fight off adversary after adversary, but they don't seem to do much dying.

This take on Conan aims for the pulpy nostalgia of the stories that made the character a household name in the first place. When it comes to invoking that nostalgia, Conan the Barbarian #1 overwhelmingly succeeds. The art is rough around the edges in a way that feels purposeful - an effort to achieve a throwback style. Just looking at the issue gives you that nostalgic feeling it's hoping you'll find. The only issue there is that style makes the action difficult to read from time to time. Characters can be hard to distinguish and some of the action is a little jumbled.

Fortunately, De La Torre is too talented an artist for those instances to ever become habitual or get too out of hand. Conan's steely stare is engaging and calculated. The gorier, more brutal elements of the fight sequences are colorful and clear. If there's a moment where the style starts to lose you a bit, it's more than likely the next frame will quickly pull you back in.

Zub's script is largely straight-forward, and it sets up something rather exciting by the issue's end. It does, however, fall into the exposition trap that often plagues a debut issue, but only on a couple of occasions. There's a lot to pack in to set up Conan's current place, both geographically and in life in general. Laying that groundwork takes a little more time than you might like, but not so much that it's slow or overly distracting.

The reveal of the undead enemies in the second half of the issue helps tremendously with the pacing and intrigue of the story overall. They bring with them a ton of questions, as well as the promise of a lot of great action in future installments.

Titan's debut issue of Conan the Barbarian may not be the very best we've seen from Conan over the years, but it's much closer to the character's best than his worst. It's a strong, if uneven first issue that plants the seeds for some exciting adventures ahead.

Published by Titan Comics

On July 26, 2023

Written by Jim Zub

Art by Rob De La Torre

Colors by Jos? Villarrubia

Letters by Richard Starkings

Cover by Dan Panosian

Over the past few years, Marvel's merry mutants have been in a major new status quo, with 2019's House of X and Powers of X revitalizing Marvel's entire X-Men line. The ensuing years of the "Krakoa Era" have been filled with some landmark moments and shocking developments, but the concept of the annual Hellfire Gala has become one of the most beloved. This year's proceedings took that attention and propelled it into something unexpected -- which just may have rewritten the story for mutantdom once again. Obviously, major spoilers for X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 by Gerry Duggan, Adam Kubert, Luciano Vecchio, Matteo Lolli, Russell Dauterman, Javier Pina, R.B. Silva, Joshua Cassara, Kris Anka, Pepe Larraz, Rain Beredo, Cecil De La Cruz, Matthew Wilson, Erick Arciniega, Marte Garcia, and Virtual Calligraphy below! Only look if you want to know!

This year's Hellfire Gala one-shot opens on noteworthy, but ordinary footing -- Kamala Khan waking up on Krakoa and discovering her mutant heritage, the assembling of the actual gala, and Jean Grey announcing that she and Cyclops are stepping down from the main X-Men team. This is brutally shaken up by the arrival of Nimrod and the members of Orchis, who unveil a chilling plan to stop the X-Men once and for all. Stasis reveals that, at the previous Hellfire Galas, he had secretly sabotaged Krakoa's life-saving drugs, installing a kill switch that he and M.O.D.O.K. can activate. Stasis orders an ultimatum to Professor X: surrender and force the entire mutant population off of Earth, or Orchis will kill an ever-growing number of humans with the kill switch. Professor X agrees, and mind-controls most of the mutants to successfully enter the Krakoan portrals that go off-planet. A select few, such as Emma Frost, Kamala, Kitty Pride, and the surviving members of the new X-Men team, are able to resist Professor X's telepathy and hide away -- only to discover that the remaining Krakoan portals are locked altogether, leaving them stranded on an increasingly-hostile Earth.

After a surprising amount of additional carnage and bloodshed, Rogue begins to fly Professor X to safety, but he asks her to stop and bring him back to Krakoa. As he sits on the beach of the island, he reveals that he believes the Krakoan portals were sabotaged even further by Orchis, as he can't telepathically feel the mutants who went through the gates. He is adamant that he forced the vast majority of mutantdom to be killed in "a meat grinder", and asks Rogue to leave and avenge them, while he remains on the beach. And with that, the "Krakoa Era" is over.

What's Next For the X-Men After The Hellfire Gala 2023?

While there's absolutely no telling if and how any component of this storyline could be resolved in Fall of X, -- after all, even beyond the mutants who went through the Krakoan gates, the issue contained multiple major deaths (like Jean Grey, Dazzler, Mystique, Jubilee, and Iceman) that seemed pretty definitive on the page. The only detail that could prove helpful for keeping the mutant population alive might lie with Mother Righteous and Exodus, who are shown trapping Krakoa's Atlantic Island in a protective bubble, and pushing The Five through a very specific gate. Maybe The Five -- or maybe all of the mutants who went through the gates -- ended up on that secret island, and Charles isn't able to detect them.

We do know Marvel's immediate plans for X-related titles in the coming months, including Dark X-Men, Children of the Vault, Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant, the one-shot X-Men Blue: Origins, and some sort of The New X-Men launch in 2024. Even then, those titles are all cast in a new light amid the carnage of the Hellfire Gala, and we'll have to see how they (and the remaining mutants not featured in those books) are impacted.

What do you think of the Krakoa Era ending in X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Over the past few years, the X-Men's Hellfire Gala has become a surprising staple of Marvel Comics. The event has not only brought some beautiful sartorial designs for the X-Men and other Marvel characters, but it usually ushered in a new chapter for the mutants writ large. The 2023 Hellfire Gala delivered that in spades -- but unfortunately, it also delivered some pretty traumatic and possibly definitive deaths. Obviously, major spoilers for X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 by Gerry Duggan, Adam Kubert, Luciano Vecchio, Matteo Lolli, Russell Dauterman, Javier Pina, R.B. Silva, Joshua Cassara, Kris Anka, Pepe Larraz, Rain Beredo, Cecil De La Cruz, Matthew Wilson, Erick Arciniega, Marte Garcia, and Virtual Calligraphy below! Only look if you want to know!

For the first few pages, the Hellfire Gala seems to go off without a hitch, with mutantkind (including the newly-resurrected Kamala Khan) gathering alongside the Avengers and a number of humans who had been impacted by Krakoa's life-saving medicine. The event then announced the new X-Men team (revealing that somehow, each of this year's X-Men Vote nominees had been inducted) only for everything to come crashing down. Nimrod quickly attacked the gala, and the brunt of his landing managed to brutally kill nearly all of the nominees -- Dazzler, Cannonball, Frenzy, and Prodigy -- in a single blow, before immediately stabbing Jubilee. Nimrod then proceeded to target other Omega-level mutants, stabbing Iceman with a Blightswill dagger that grotesquely melted his body into nothing. Later on in the issue, Moira X emerged, stabbing Jean Grey through the chest with a Blightswill dagger, in the same exact framing as Moira's previous lives had died multiple times over. Jean then used her last moments of consciousness to send telepathic messages to Firestar, Cyclops, and Wolverine, before turning into a skeleton.

The bloodshed only continued from there, with Lourdes Chantel dying after helping teleport the remaining mutants to safety, Juggernaut getting his head bashed in by Nimrod, and Mystique falling to her death after Charles' psychic powers overwhelm her. By the end of the issue, Charles becomes convinced that every mutant who followed his orders, going through the Krakoan gates that Stasis and Orchis claimed were programmed to go off-world, is dead as well, as he can't psychically hear them. In Charles' mind, the vast majority of mutantdom was killed in "a meat grinder."

Did the X-Men Really Die in Hellfire Gala 2023?

It's safe to assume that, in one form or fashion, the deaths of the Hellfire Gala will eventually be undone in Marvel canon. At very least, two sequences midway through the issue add a new layer to Charles' "meat grinder" comment, as Mother Righteous is shown trapping Krakoa's Atlantic Island into a protective bubble, and Exodus is shown shoving The Five through a very specific Krakoan gate. There's a chance that The Five, or maybe all of the mutants who went through the gates, ended up on that secret island, unbeknownst to Charles.

That still leaves the bulk of the issue's other deaths, which are very clearly, graphically shown on panel. Again, it all goes back to the status of The Five -- if they're alive, and eventually able to combine their powers as they have countless times on Krakoa, then we might see the resurrection of characters like Jean, Dazzler, Jubilee, and Iceman at a later point. Either way, that possibility is something that only starts to soften the gruesomeness of these deaths, as well as the absence of these characters for the time being.

What do you think of the deaths in X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

It has been almost precisely one year since the events of A.X.E.: Judgment Day #1 when the newest round of mutant genocide was unveiled as Eternals massacred most of Arrako's population. This year the X-Men editorial office makes it clear they only have one story to tell when they finish the job on Krakoa in X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 #1.

Readers have been anticipating an attack by the anti-mutant coalition Orchis, but what is revealed in this week's one-shot may exceed even the most pessimistic expectations. After the first 18 pages--dedicated to the joyful resurrection of Ms. Marvel and an introduction to the outfits and characters at the center of this year's gala--Orchis attacks and everything that follows is a massacre. It's made exceedingly clear in dialogue that readers are expected to refer to this event as the "Second Mutant Massacre."

Readers will be calculating the body count for weeks to come. Some notable deaths are made explicit--Dazzler's bisected corpse, Jean Grey's desiccated bones, and Juggernaut's bloody, inverted helmet--but many characters drop into the background in the midst of so much chaos. It's possible to observe current X-Men narrowly averting death, but to remain uncertain of their final fate given the issue's big twist that nearly all of mutantkind on Earth and seemingly every current occupant of Krakoa has been killed.

This revelation cements the bitter taste of this comic book, but the entire onslaught on the Hellfire Gala is a miserable affair to read from the very start. It begins with what is perhaps the most diverse X-Men team to ever assemble being liquified one page after they are unveiled. That pattern is repeated throughout the rest of the issue as each opportunity to turn the tide or find some small victory is undermined in some cruel fashion.

The tools of Orchis' victory are well established throughout the past several years of X-Men comics, but their implementation in this story is purely a mechanism of plot. There are no deeply ironic twists or moments of stunning characterization, only waves of mutilation.

This culminates in the revelation that when Xavier compelled all but a few mutants to flee Earth through the Krakoan gates they went "into a meat grinder." Earlier images in the issue showing long lines of mutants herded from their cities and through gates take on a new significance; it's easy to imagine the phrase "arbeit macht frei" hanging above their departure points.

In this climax there is obviously no joy, but neither is there suspense, intrigue, tension, or anything approaching a positive attachment to the story at hand. The issue makes it plain that mutants--a flexible metaphor for oppressed people across decades of superhero comics--only have one story and that story only has one ending: extermination.

It is an ugly perspective that offers no reprieve in the upcoming stories of revenge and resistance. Four years ago the X-Men line began to expand and introduced readers to an island nation and then a new planet. Now in the course of one year, two acts of genocide have purged most of the mutants from both Arrako and Krakoa. It's a pattern that extends long before the current line of X-Men comics into events like "House of M," "E is for Extinction," and the original "Mutant Massacre." Yet with each new iteration there is less joy to be found in an aftermath that promises anything interesting or new will be burnt away to make space for the same formula of misery and desperation revealed in X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 #1.

The story is competently portrayed with a talented line up of artists who generally manage to make the eccentric costumes and explosive events cohere amidst their distinctive styles. Narrative captions summarize those events and provide readers with clear knowledge about all of the terrible aspects of this massacre. Yet competence cannot make X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 an enjoyable comic; it does not even function as tragedy. Instead, it luxuriates in the unending punishments heaped upon Marvel's mutants and promises that this will always be their status quo. Four years after House of X and Powers of X revitalized the entire X-line, Hellfire Gala 2023 has extinguished any interest I still held in a truly dismal affair.

Published by Marvel Comics

On July 26, 2023

Written by Gerry Duggan with Jonathan Hickman

Art by Adam Kubert, Luciano Vecchio, Matteo Lolli, Russell Dauterman, Javier Pina, R.B. Silva, Joshua Cassara, Kris Anka, and Pepe Larraz with Valerio Schiti

Colors by Rain Beredo, Matthew Wilson, Marte Gracia, Erick Arciniega, and Ceci de la Cruz

Letters by Virtual Calligraphy

Cover by Phil Noto

Last month when Marvel published Ultimate Invasion #1, the evil version of Reed Richards made a major change to Spider-Man's origin. The Maker was able to break out of his prison that the 616 version of Reed Richards had constructed, while also leaving the main Marvel universe behind and heading off to a different reality, one of his own making. Though The Ultimate Universe, Marvel's reboot universe from the early 2000s, had previously been destroyed, The Maker appeared to completely remake that world in his own Universe, given the number designation Earth-6160 (an inverse of the Ultimate Universe's Earth-1610). Now Ultimate Invasion #2 has revealed even more differences in the universes, including who else has been killed.

Ultimate Invasion #1 revealed that while Peter Parker was still alive, The Maker had prevented him from gaining super powers at all. With the publication of Ultimate Invasion #2 however, this new universe itself has been defined to a bigger degree, revealing even more heroes that didn't get their powers and plenty of others that died. In the opening pages, we see that in this new universe Loki is the ruler of Asgard and keeps Thor under his thumb, that the Fantastic Four took off late and never got their cosmic ray powers, and the Captain America was nowhere to be found in the ice of Antarctica. After that comes a page with a host of dead Marvel heroes.

After confirming that the likes of Steve Rogers are "undefined" in this universe, Earth-6160 confirms dead heroes including: Jim Hammond (the original Human Torch), James Buchanan Barnes aka Bucky/The Winter Soldier, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm. A few other Marvel heroes are listed as "inactive," including a reason why, such as: Robert Grayson (Marvel Boy), Jack Monroe (Nomad), Hank Pym (Ant-Man), and Janet Van Dyne (The Wasp).

As for the surviving heroes, Ultimate Invasion #2 reveals the characters that fans know are all very different. Iron Man for example is Tony Stark's father, Howard, who is not only alive and a hero, but whose company isactually Stark Stane, partnering with Obadiah rather than fighting against him. To add another layer, Obadiah Stane is this universe's War Machine. The Hulk is also present, and though still a green behemoth, is actually a spiritual leader that has his own following. Some new alliances are revealed, including that Silver Samurai and Sunfire have formed an alliance that seemingly rules Japan; and Colossus, Magik, and Omega Red are in charge of the Russian territories.

The latest issue concludes with a team of Avengers clones from the future, including Ultimate Captain America, Thor, Vision, and Wasp, as they try to apprehend and destroy The Maker; dispatched by the evil Reed Richards by eliminating the people in the present that they had been cloned from. Ultimate Invasion #2 concludes with The Maker revealed "The Immortus Engine" to Howard Stark, a time machine that will allow him to completely reshape the universe, and leaving us with the potential for even more major changes in the future.

ULTIMATE INVASION #3 (of 4)
(W) Jonathan Hickman (A/CA) Bryan Hitch
After KANG descends upon the City of Tomorrow, the Illuminati must regroup! IRON MAN has a heart-to-heart with Tony Stark! DOCTOR DOOM - the anti-Maker - prepares his own plans to deal with this evil Reed Richards... and the Ultimate Universe that the Maker thought he had rebuilt frays at the edges as they prepare for cosmic war!
Rated T+
In Shops: Aug 30, 2023
SRP: $5.99

My Hero Academia just ended one major story arc for the series, as (SPOILERS) Himiko Toga finally met her end, on the battlefield of the Final War between the heroes and League of Villains. Toga was given an epic shonen manga death scene, which reflected back on the span of her lifetime, as well as her rivalry with Ochaco Uraraka. That death scene sequence made it pretty clear: Himiko Toga had one of the best character arcs in My Hero Academia!

Why Himiko Toga's Story Arc Is One Of MHA's Best

My Hero Academia has used a classic "heroes vs. villains" trope for its story of All Might and the current generation of pro heroes battling All For One, his League of Villains army, and all the nefarious forces and factions in between. That said, the deeper thematic arc of Kohei Horikoshi's manga series has been all about what the meaning of "heroism" is, especially in the context of a generation where cynicism and sadness are so much more en vogue.

In many ways, Himiko Toga was one of the clearest embodiments of My Hero Academia's theme about heroism vs. cynicism. Toga's backstory was that of an unusual girl with an unusual quirk power (copying someone's form by ingesting their blood), which made her a social pariah. Toga'sn"evil" was actually a deep lack of self-esteem from having her expression of "love" (actually becoming the people she adored) seen as monstrous by the world around her. It was, again, a great metaphor for how a cruel world of bullying or social ostracization can really warp a person's soul.

The end of Toga's arc saw Uraraka finally touch something in the vampiric killer by giving her what she always lacked, and was secretly seeking: admiration and true connection. A friend. It was a big enough bond that Toga sacrificed her own life by transforming into Uraraka and donating all of her own blood to stop Uraraka from bleeding out. In a sense, she went from being one of the fiercest villains in the series to one of its most selfless heroes - all thanks to a profound act of kindness from a seemingly bitter rival.

The reversal Toga's character arc is pretty significant in those final moments. While a lot of fans might of been hoping for a battle to the death between Uraraka and Toga, the former actually befriending the latter, and "defeating" her villainy in that way is everything that My Hero Academia has been building toward with its thematic arc - and why characters like All Might, Deku, and Uraraka are at the forefront of the series - characters with sunny-enough optimism to push away the darkness, and the powers to back it up.

My Hero Academia is releasing new manga chapters online.

It's a good time to be a fan of giant monsters. Next year, Godzilla and Kong are set to meet once again as Legendary Pictures released a new trailer this year for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Hinting that a new primate might be looking to challenge the two kaiju for their respective crowns, Legendary Comics recently announced at San Diego Comic-Con International that there was a new comic book series that would fill in the blanks when it came to the time between the first crossover film and its upcoming sequel.

Godzilla fans will have the opportunity to see Japan's latest take on the king of the monsters later this year. Godzilla Minus One will revisit Japan shortly following the conclusion of World War 2, focusing on a country already in dire straits before a lizard king decided to make landfall. Also in the works for the king of the monsters is the upcoming Apple TV+ series, which will focus on Godzilla and a handful of other kaiju that were given a fresh makeover thanks to Legendary Pictures' MonsterVerse.

Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted

The new comic series, Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted was announced to arrive next year on February 27th, 2024. The upcoming comic series was also joined by an announcement for "Monarch: Declassified", which will take the opportunity to present more information about some of the MonsterVerse's lesser-known beasts. Legendary's universe focusing on giant beasts is rampaging across quite a few mediums in the future.

MONARCH: DECLASSIFIED
Wanna know more about the other titans (Tiamat, Scylla, Behemoth, our buddy Doug, Abaddon) ?
It's coming...soon. I bet we'll get some new ,,Bios".
*
,,GxK - The Hunted (official GxK prequel Comic) drops (before GxK -TNE is out / March 15, 2024) Feb 27, 2024. pic.twitter.com/1mXP9Xts2f

-- K-D-M (@KDM_Monsters) July 23, 2023

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is set to premiere on March 24, 2024 next year and is teased as such, "This latest entry in the Monsterverse franchise follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new cinematic adventure, pitting the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence - and our own. The epic new film will delve further into the histories of these Titans, their origins, and the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever."

What are your predictions for the upcoming sequel featuring Godzilla and Kong? Which kaiju are you dying to see introduced to the MonsterVerse? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of kaiju.

If you're a TMNT fan that couldn't attend San Diego Comic-Con this year, we have some good news. The Loyal Subjects has made their SDCC 2023 exclusive BST AXN Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4-pack available to order online! The set includes 5-inch figures of Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael complete with weapons, interchangeable hands, 31 points of articulation, and a black and white deco inspired by IDW comics. What's more, the set is a limited edition of 10,000 units.

You can order the TMNT set here at Entertainment Earth for $84.99 with free US shipping using the code FREESHIP59 at checkout. While you're at it you might want to check out the action figures that have launched in support of the upcoming animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem as well as the figures that NECA recently launched that are based on the TMNT: The Last Ronin miniseries. As we learned at SDCC this year, IDW is planning a sequel to The Last Ronin that will hit shelves in December. Details about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II -- Re-Evolution can be found right here.

What is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem about?

Paramount describes the film as follows, "In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, after years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O'Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them." You can check out the trailer right here.

Back at CinemaCon, Rogen talked about how important it was to have the turtles be "actual teenagers." When you see the young actors interact or hear their characters together on-screen, it really all clicks into place.

"I love these characters -- they were weird, noble, brave and smart," Rogen recently said of the decision to go a bit younger for the heroes this time around. "When I got the opportunity to put my own stamp on it, I knew the versions that had come before had never leaned into the teenage element. We thought: 'What if we cast actual teenagers and we capture their insane teenage energy?'"

That style is worth pausing on first as the issue officially marks this season as "Hot Bryan Hitch Summer." Hitch's work in Ultimate Invasion #1 reminded readers the artist has not lost a step and is still ready to tackle ambitious visual sequences that deliver some of the most engrossing action and skylines in the medium today; that's true in The Last Days of Lex Luthor, too. The debut issue features two big sequences: Superman battling a massive, city-destroying mech and an exploration of the Fortress of Solitude. That opening action sequence plays upon the artist's strengths with a formidable mech, genuinely dense city, and visions of Superman which make it clear everything will be okay. Seeing Hitch delve into the many wonders contained in Superman's retreat is a delight for fans of the character who will appreciate the artist's careful attention to detail.

It's particularly interesting to see Hitch's revolutionary 21st century-defining style applied to a narrative that reads like something from the Silver Age. It opens with Superman battling a giant robot before discovering the real adventure and moving through colorful highlights of his lore. Although the dialogue and pacing are much more modern (and well done), the plotting contains a nostalgic thread.

The temptation of nostalgia is present in Superman's own narrative as he's repeatedly drawn to memories of his and Lex's childhood in Smallville throughout the issue. They center around a mysterious moment in which a young Lex is trapped in a burning building with Clark Kent pounding on the door outside. It's established as Superman's motive for helping Lex in this story without actually providing the context. This mystery box becomes a problem for the narrative, however, as Superman's actions are genuinely difficult to understand within the moral conundrum presented to him.

The Last Days of Lex Luthor #1 embraces the notion that Superman will seek to save anyone who needs him, but not without redefining which people actually count. When Luthor first requests Superman's assistance, he does so by killing at least a dozen individuals and threatening thousands more. Superman's immediate agreement to aid Luthor ignores the corpses and cost of the request and, as a result, makes its hero appear deeply naive.

While most readers will have avoided introductory economics courses (wisely, I might add as someone with a degree in the field), it addresses the topic of opportunity cost in an instantly recognizable fashion. Superman doesn't simply agree to help Luthor, he places all of his time, energy, and resources into curing Luthor's disease. That passionate response feels genuine on a superficial level, but it denies the cost of that decision entails. Time spent researching Luthor's cure is denied to millions suffering across the globe, many of them likely due to the direct actions of Luthor and LexCorp. The equation is not as simple as helping a mass-murderer survive his illness, but doing so at the cost of everyone else who might receive help. Given the miracles contained within the Fortress of Solitude, it's impossible to avoid asking whether Superman has ever considered seeking a cure for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or a million other illnesses not experienced by a single super-criminal.

In Silver Age comics these logical issues are easily ignored given the tone and genre applied, but that is not the case here. Hitch's extraordinarily detailed work invites comparisons to our own world and Waid's choice to examine the lethal logistics of Luthor acquiring his robot orients readers to pay attention to details. This is a comic that examines who puts the tires on the Batmobile and, as a result, it invites readers to consider the consequences of Superman's actions.

Examining the moral logic present in this issue makes it clear that there are two classes of people in Superman's world, as is so often the case in superhero comics. There are metahumans (i.e. all superheroes and supervillains) and human beings, and only the former is genuinely important. Superman is revealed to be a classist focused on his peers before anyone else. Humanity's collective expression of horror at his agreement to save the most dangerous man in the world is unimportant to him.

Superman is certainly a character who seeks to save everyone, but that simple tenet contradicts itself within this story. It's this muddled moral logic that undermines Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor even in its first issue. While it's possible that the mystery of what happened between Lex and Clark in Smallville will provide greater significance to these decisions, it is absent here. So Superman is left to seem either foolish or classist, but there's nothing inspiring or noble about the nature of his quest as intended.

Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor #1 reaffirms Hitch's place in comics and is worth reading, if only to see his depiction of grandiose Superman adventures. Yet the underlying premise proves far weaker than it appears on the cover. Superman's approach to this conundrum only envisions a world in which he and Luthor matter, even as it depicts a sprawling globe filled with individuals in Hitch's iconic style. It ignores the sticky nature of this premise in order to barrel ahead without addressing the conflicts and interests that may interest readers more than the fate of a fictional villain.

Published by DC Comics

On July 25, 2023

Written by Mark Waid

Art by Bryan Hitch and Kevin Nowlan

Colors by David Baron

Letters by Richard Starking and Tyler Smith

Cover by Bryan Hitch and David Baron

On the heels of last year's 30th anniversary celebration for The Death of Superman, DC has announced that they will give Reign of the Supermen!, the story arc in which the Man of Steel returned from the dead, a bit of 30th anniversary love this fall. For those who might not remember, Superman died at the hands of Doomsday in 1992's Superman #75, but a few months later, four Supermen rose up to replace him. For a while, the publisher played with readers a bit, raising the question of which was the real Superman, before reviving a fifth, who actually turned out to be Superman.

Creators behind three of the four Supermen are returning for DC's The Return of Superman 30th Anniversary Special, including former Superman creative team Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding; Superman: The Man of Steel writer Louise Simonson and artist Jon Bogdanove; and The Adventures of Superman's Karl Kesel, Jerry Ordway, Tom Grummett and Doug Hazlewood. They will be joined by Travis Moore on art, with variant covers by Brad Walker, Jon Bogdanove, John Giang, Dave Wilkins, Francis Manapul, and Ben Oliver. Both the standard cover and a foil variant will come from Dan Jurgens, the writer and artist behind The Death of Superman.

The "Return of Superman"/Reign of the Supermen! arc launched with 1993's The Adventures of Superman #500, which revealed Superman's grave was empty. In the issue, each of the four creative teams behind the monthly Superman comics had a couple of pages to introduce their candidate to be the new Superman. Action Comics writer Roger Stern introduced "The Last Son of Krypton," a violent Superman wearing a visor, who later turned out to be the Eradicator, in a story drawn by Butch Guice. Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove introduced John Henry Irons, the "Man of Steel," which would later be shortened to Steel. "The Metropolis Kid," who would later go by Superboy, first lashed out against that name in a story by Karl Kesel, Tom Grummett, and Doug Hazlewood. Dan Jurgens, the Superman writer and artist, introduced "The Man of Tomorrow," colloquially and later offically known as the Cyborg Superman, in a story with Hazlewood on inks. Interestingly, that was the only time Hazlewood, the regular inker on The Adventures of Superman, had to step in to pinch hit, since inkers Dennis Janke (Man of Steel) and Denis Rodier (Action Comics) worked on those teams' stories.

Jurgens and Bogdanove were on the Superman comics for so many years, they became the artists who most clearly defined the Man of Steel in the 1990s. Grummett and Hazelwood were there for nearly as long, but left to launch a Superboy series, after the "Superman" they introduced in The Adventures of Superman #500 spun out on his own. Ordway, who had been a kay part of the Superman creative team as a writer and artist since the mid-1980s, often doesn't get as much credit as he deserves for helping to shape the books during this era. The Adventures of Superman #500 would actually be his final issue as a regular monthly writer, with Kesel taking over the job after that.

Here's the official solicitation text for Return of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1, due from DC in October:

RETURN OF SUPERMAN 30TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1

Written by DAN JURGENS, LOUISE SIMONSON, JERRY ORDWAY, and KARL KESEL
Art by TRAVIS MOORE, DAN JURGENS, BRETT BREEDING, JON BOGDANOVE, BUTCH GUICE, TOM GRUMMETT, and DOUG HAZLEWOOD
Cover by DAN JURGENS
Variant covers by JOHN GIANG, DAVE WILKINS, FRANCIS MANAPUL, and BEN OLIVER
1:25 variant cover by BRAD WALKER
1:50 variant cover by JON BOGDANOVE
Foil variant cover by DAN JURGENS ($10.99 US)
$9.99 US | 80 pages | Prestige | (all covers card stock)
ON SALE 10/31/23

Superman returns! After the tragic events of more than 30 years ago, when Superman met his end at the hands of Doomsday, Metropolis mourned the loss of their greatest hero and soon turned their attention to the search for his successor. Four Supermen rose to the challenge: Superboy, Steel, Eradicator, and Cyborg Superman. Each with their own strengths and weaknesses, they fought in honor of the original Man of Steel. Little did they know, his return was just around the corner!

To celebrate the Reign of the Supermen and Return of Superman, DC has brought back the original creative teams for new stories set in the wake of Superman's death. It all begins with new Daily Planet editor-in-chief Lois Lane discovering Perry White's journals from the time and the secrets he kept as he searched for who could be the next Superman. What could this discovery mean for our present? Find out in this special that's sure to be a classic in the future!

It's hard to deny that superhero adaptations have become a prominent part of our pop culture, with an ever-growing number of heroes and villains are getting the spotlight in live-action and animated adaptations. As a new solicitation reveal, a recent breakout character from DC's television output is getting brought back to life. On Monday, DC released the first details surrounding October's Batman: The Brave and the Bold #6, an anthology series spotlighting Batman and other corners of DC mythos. One of these stories, seemingly from Rob Williams and Stefano Landini, will see Emilia Harcourt return to the comics, just as Jennifer Holland has been portraying the character in multiple live-action DC adaptations.

BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #6

• Written by GUILLEM MARCH, ED BRISSON, ROB WILLIAMS, COLLIN KELLY, and JACKSON LANZING
• Art by GUILLEM MARCH, JEFF SPOKES, STEFANO LANDINI, and JORGE MOLINA
• Cover by SIMONE DI MEO
• Variant covers by CHRISTIAN WARD and GUILLEM MARCH
• 1:25 variant cover by MARGUERITE SAUVAGE
• $7.99 US | 64 pages | Prestige | (all covers are card stock)
• ON SALE 10/24/23
• Guillem March writes and draws a poignant and heartfelt tale of redemption in "Back to Year One." The shocking final chapter of Stormwatch has arrived from Ed Brisson and Jeff Spokes: What secret has Director Bones been withholding from the team all this time?! Emilia Harcourt returns...from the dead?! A mystery unfolds courtesy of Rob Williams and Stefano Landini! Plus: a no-holds-barred story of Batman from Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, and Jorge Molina in their first Batman Black & White story!

Who Is DC's Emilia Harcourt?

Originally created by Williams and Jim Lee in 2016's Suicide Squad #2, Harcourt was established as a Russian NSA agent, who worked under Amanda Waller to monitor the Suicide Squad. She did not last in the book (or the main DCU) for long, dying in 2017's Suicide Squad #17. Fast-forward to 2021, when Holland first portrayed Harcourt in 2021's The Suicide Squad, before becoming one of the main characters of Max's Peacemaker series. She has since reprised her role in the previous DCEU's Black Adam and Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and is expected to continue appearing in the "reset" DC Universe.

"I think the interesting thing is that we don't know where she goes from here," Holland told ComicBook.com in an interview following Peacemaker's Season 1 finale. "She's not exactly an open book now. She still has a lot of demons and a lot of stuff to deal with. Emotionally, she's still very closed off. But she -- at this point, I think -- has finally accepted that it's okay to have a team, and it's okay to have a family. Whereas when we saw her at the beginning of the series, she was such a lone wolf. She felt like she was just carrying everyone else, and everyone else was just a liability to her. She thought she would be better off alone. I think she has accepted that there is value in having a team and having a family."

Is Emilia Harcourt Peacewrecker?

Harcourt's apparent resurrection comes just months after fans had begun to speculate that she'd already been brought back to life -- as Peacewrecker, the mysterious female counterpart of Peacemaker who debuted in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7. There's still no telling at this point if Harcourt is or isn't Peacewrecker -- after all, her Brave and the Bold story could very well be set prior to Dark Crisis, and explain how she become the vigilante.

"I can tell you one of their names," Dark Crisis writer Joshua Williamson explained in an interview late last year. "The character with Peacemaker, the woman dressed like him; her name is Peacewrecker. That's the most I can tell you about her now but, hey, that's her first appearance."

What do you think of DC bringing Emilia Harcourt back to life? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

As mentioned above, Batman: The Brave and the Bold #6 will be released wherever comics are sold on Tuesday, October 24th.

My Hero Academia has hit fans over the head with its latest major character death: Himiko Toga. The Final War Arc brought Toga and her rival Ochaco Uraraka face to face on the battlefield for a final showdown. Toga used the quirk power of her dead villain "brother" Twice to create an unstoppable army of duplicates that were overrunning the heroes - but thanks to Ochaco's unique compassion, she was able to reach out and touch something inside Toga: a sense of camaraderie and friendship.

(WARNING: MY HERO ACADEMIA CHAPTER 395 SPOILERS FOLLOW!)

Unfortunately, reaching Toga's heart meant that Uraraka had to take quite a few knife stabs - including one that left the young heroine fatally bleeding out on the ground. In order for there to still be a world with good people like Ochaco in it, Toga decides to use her quirk in a way she never has before: by giving blood, instead of taking it.

Toga drinks Uraraka's blood in her usual vampiric way, taking on her hero rival's form. With Ochaco's blood running in her veins, Toga gives Ochacho a blood transfusion that cannot fail - at the expense of using up her own blood. Toga dies lying hand-to-hand with Uraraka, having cemented a bond that Ochaco will remember forever...

...Or Did She?

Is Himiko Toga Really Dead?

There are a fair number of My Hero Academia fans who are wondering if Himiko Toga's death is yet another fake-out for the series. While this death scene being near the end of the series makes it feel real and certain, there is room for a possible surprise.

As always, the moving target here seems to be what My Hero Academia creator Kohei Horikoshi defines as "heroism." On the one hand, Toga's death will make Ochacho forever look at the idea of "heroes" and "villains" differently, since she'll have a villain's blood literally running through her. On the other hand, My Hero Academia has repeatedly pushed the notion that its heroes lay their lives on the line - even for the worst villain - so Uraraka could turn around to give back to Toga by refusing to let her die.

As it stands, it seems that Himiko Toga got one of My Hero Academia's greatest death scenes, while her personal arc - not to mention her rivalry with Ochacho - has arguably been one of the most complete and sensible ones in the series.

My Hero Academia's new manga chapters are online to read.

An unseen chapter of the DC Extended Universe is surfacing in the pages of DC Comics. Before Aquaman 2 hits theaters in December, the publisher will release a 64-page one-shot comic book prequel set after the events of 2017's Justice League and 2018's Aquaman. In DC's Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Special #1, on stands October 31st, Arthur Curry (played by Jason Momoa in the film) must balance being king of Atlantis as he plans his wedding to Xebel princess Mera (Amber Heard); meanwhile, Arthur's Atlantean half-brother -- Orm (Patrick Wilson) the Ocean Master -- and the scorned surface dweller Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) plot their revenge.

Here's the official description from DC's October solicitations:

"Discover the shocking events that connect the smash-hit Aquaman movie to the eagerly anticipated Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom! Aquaman balances his duties as king and as a member of the Justice League, all while planning a wedding! Black Manta is on the hunt for Atlantean tech to help rebuild his armor! Orm plots to escape his Atlantean prison! Three action-packed tales crammed into a single special!"

The Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom prequel comic book is written by Tim Seeley (Batman Eternal), Joey Esposito (Batman: Urban Legends), and Ethan Sacks (Marvel's Star Wars: Bounty Hunters), with art by Miguel Mendon?a (Aquaman), Ray-Anthony Height (DC's Truth & Justice), and Scot Eaton (Aquaman). The special features a cover by Ivan Reis (Justice League), a variant cover by Jim Cheung (Justice League), 1:25 variant by Bel?n Ortega (The Joker), a blank sketch variant, and a photo variant cover featuring Aquaman's stealth suit.

The Lost Kingdom plot details remain largely under wraps, but a brief synopsis teases Aquaman forging an uneasy alliance with an unlikely ally to protect Atlantis -- and the world -- from irreversible devastation after an ancient power is unleashed from the depths.

"Well, Aquaman - even the first film - has always been a very standalone film. That was always our approach: that it kind of lives in its own world, and that's kind of how we've approached The Lost Kingdom as well," director James Wan previously told ComicBook. "You know, people love Jason Momoa. People love him playing this role, and people love the action visuals of this space and this world. And that's what we're doing -- we're taking it to the next level and we are still expanding."

Wan added: "Any fans of Aquaman the character, that love Black Manta [as well], this is the next level and I'm very excited to finally put [it] out there to show them what we've been working on all these years."

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is scheduled to open in theaters on December 20th.

One of the DC Universe's most terrifying villains is getting a surprising successor. During this past weekend's San Diego Comic-Con, DC announced plans to debut a new villain named Shush, who will be appearing in October's Batman and Robin #2. Yes, you read that right -- Shush will be some sort of female version of Tommy Elliot / Hush, whose animosity towards Bruce Wayne / Batman has fueled countless stories, including the landmark Batman: Hush storyline.

While there's no telling what Shush's real identity is, much less if and how she might have an actual tie to Hush, it sounds like her arrival will have a great impact on the world of Damian Wayne / Robin. The newly-released October 2023 solicitations revealed the first official look at Shush, which you can check out below.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #2

• Written by JOSHUA WILLIAMSON
• Art and cover by SIMONE DI MEO
• Variant cover by FRANCESCO MATTINA
• Variant cover by KAEL NGU
• 1:25 variant cover by LEIRIX
• 1:50 variant cover by SIMONE DI MEO
• 1:100 variant cover by KAEL NGU
• Artist Spotlight variant cover by GABRIELE DELL'OTTO
• $4.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
• ON SALE 10/10/23
• Introducing Shush. Who does she work for? And how have they turned one of Batman's greatest tools against him? Urban Jungle continues as the father and son dynamic duo are on the deadly case! But first, Damian must deal with...his first day of school?!

What Is Batman and Robin About?

The new Batman and Robin series, which will launch in September, will be from writer Joshua Williamson and artist Simone Di Meo. In Batman and Robin, after Batman vs. Robin and Lazarus Planet, Bruce and Damian Wayne are back together again, investigating mysterious new cases and monsters in Gotham!

What Is Dawn of DC?

Beginning in January, Dawn of DC includes the launch of a number of new titles, including Batman and Robin. The relaunch also includes a rebrand of books like Action Comics and Superman, with new titles including Green Arrow, Unstoppable Doom Patrol, Birds of Prey, Fire and Ice: Welcome to Metropolis, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Titans, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Cyborg, Shazam!, Steelworks, and The Penguin.

"After the near-Multiverse-ending events in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths and DC Universe: Lazarus Planet, the DC Universe will be heading toward the light," DC publisher and chief creative officer Jim Lee said in a statement when the initiative was first announced. "With brand-new series and story arcs from some of the top creative members in comics, Dawn of DC is one of our most ambitious initiatives ever and is a chance for us to tell bigger and bolder stories across our line."

What do you think of the first details surrounding the debut of DC's Shush in the pages of Batman and Robin? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

As mentioned above, Batman and Robin #2 will be released wherever comics are sold on Tuesday, October 10th.

Keanu Reeves made the jump from movie star to comic book creator with BRZRKR in 2021, and the hit series is finishing up its final volume this year. That said, BRZRKR has already been set up and primed to be a massive multimedia franchise, with a movie adaptation, anime series, and novel all in the works. Add to that list another BRZRKR comic series that's been announced, a prequel story one-shot titled BRZRKR: Poetry of Madness #1.

As detailed in the press release by BRZRKR publisher BOOM! Studios, BRZRKR: Poetry of Madness will be a "Lovecraftian nightmare" that follows the titular character "B." at an earlier point in his immortal existence, where he was known as "The Tip of the Trident" and "Poseidon's Pet Demon," while serving as protector of the city of Atlantis. While full details haven't been revealed yet, it's clear that this story will b the BRZRKR version of the Atlantis, and how it sank down to become the undersea kingdom of legend.

This sort of one-shot special highlights the greatest strength of the BRZRKR series: the idea that B., as an immortal has lived so many lifetimes there are endless stories to tell about it (suited to many different formats), including stories like this, which intersect with actual myth, legend, or historical events.

Get the full details from BOOM! Studios about BRZRKR: Poetry of Madness #1 below - and check out some preview pages HERE.

BRZRKR: Poetry of Madness #1 Preview

See Atlantis Like Never Before...Blood-Soaked & Filled with Monsters in July 2023

BOOM! Studios revealed today a first look at BRZRKR: POETRY OF MADNESS #1 from iconic filmmaker and record-shattering comic creator Keanu Reeves, acclaimed writer and artist Steve Skroce (We Stand On Guard), and Eisner-winning colorist Dave Stewart (Black Hammer). The first-ever BRZRKR one-shot special pits the immortal B. against a Lovecraftian nightmare, available this July.

A sea of gore and devastation awaits as B., through a fateful chance encounter, safeguards the advanced and ancient realm of Atlantis as its unstoppable protector. But a deceived king serves as a symbol for the rot inside the kingdom, as the security and peace created through B.'s violence is shallow... The cracks created by a secret cult might spell a monstrous end for the legendary city, one beyond even B.'s ability to save.

BRZRKR: POETRY OF MADNESS #1 features covers by Steve Skroce, Travis Charest (Wildcats), David Aja (Hawkeye), and David Mack (Kabuki).

BRZRKR: POETRY OF MADNESS is the newest release from BOOM! Studios' eponymous imprint, home to critically acclaimed original series, including BRZRKR by Keanu Reeves, Matt Kindt, and Ron Garney; Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edera; Once & Future by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora; Wynd by James Tynion IV and Michael Dialynas; Grim by Stephanie Phillips and Flaviano; Briar by Christopher Cantwell and Germ?n Garc?a; Stuff of Nightmares by R.L. Stine and A.L. Kaplan; The Approach by Jeremy Haun, Jason A. Hurley, and Jesus Hervas; Damn Them All by Simon Spurrier and Charlie Adlard; Behold, Behemoth by Tate Brombal and Nick Robles; Once Upon a Time at the End of the World by Jason Aaron, Alexandre Tefenkgi, Leila del Duca, and Nick Dragotta; Know Your Station by Sarah Gailey and Liana Kangas; A Vicious Circle by Mattson Tomlin and Lee Bermejo; Mosely by Rob Guillory and Sam Lotfi; Harrower by Justin Jordan and Brahm Revel; The Neighbors by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and Letizia Cadonici; The Seasons Have Teeth by Dan Watters and Sebasti?n Cabrol; Ghostlore by Cullen Bunn and Leomacs; and Sirens of the City by Joanne Starer and Khary Randolph. The imprint also publishes popular licensed properties, including Dune: House Harkonnen from Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, and Michael Shelfer; Mighty Morphin Power Rangers from Melissa Flores and Simona Di Gianfelice; Magic from Jed McKay, Rich Douek, and Ig Guara; and The Expanse: Dragon Tooth by Andy Diggle and Rubine.

BRZRKR: POETRY OF MADNESS #1 will be available in comic shops July 26, 2023. It is available for pre-order at your local comic shop. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers, including comiXology, iBooks, Google Play, and Kindle.

Source: BOOM! Studios