Marvel is slowly ramping up their new direction under the care of new EiC C.B. Cebulski. The biggest thing that will be taking place in August from Marvel is the return of the Fantastic Four. This is something that the vocal Fantastic Four fans have been talking up about as Marvel’s First Family has been forgotten about by the company. Along with the Fantastic Four’s return it looks like we will be seeing the end of a major chapter in the history of the X-Men, the beginning of Infinity War, kickstarting the build towards Spider-Geddon and more. Let’s see what else is coming down the pipeline over in Marvel from their August 2018 solicitations.
THE FANTASTIC FOUR ARE BACK
The Fantastic Four are finally back and it couldn’t be at a better time. Just seeing the Fantastic Four in Marvel’s solicitations again gives a sense of hope for the Marvel Universe. While Dan Slott is a controversial writer in terms of what fans think of the quality of his comics the guy understands the Marvel Universe as well as anyone. And in the few times he wrote the team during his Amazing Spider-Man run Slott has shown he knows what makes the Fantastic Four a compelling franchise. Teaming Slott up with Sara Pichelli will guarantee that the comic will look fantastic.
As for the series itself, the solicitation for Fantastic Four #1 does seem to indicate that we will be seeing elements of Secret Wars come into play. Slott is no stranger to playing with the Multiverse and that is something that won’t be surprising to see come into play with how Reed and Sue return. And along with their return it is hopefully the return of Doctor Doom as a villain. Doom is a character that plays best in the villain role as he can make the entire Marvel Universe more interesting as an antagonist for the Fantastic Four and hero community as a whole.
THE FATE OF THE ORIGINAL X-MEN
With the return of the iconic versions of Jean Grey and Wolverine it was only a matter of time before Marvel finally answered what will happen with the original X-Men. Now with the Extermination event that is going to happen as we see what the future of the time-displaced original X-Men will be. I haven’t been keeping up with the original X-Men adventures the last few years but this Extermination event does peak my interest.
My interest level is increased by the fact that the writer of Extermination will be Ed Brisson. I’ve become a big fan of Brisson’s work from his time on Iron Fist and Old Man Logan. So to see him get more work, specifically an X-Men event, is great to see for a rising talent at Marvel. Hopefully Brisson will be able to help slightly clean up the confusing X-Men Universe.
INFINITY WAR BEGINS IN THE COMICS
The Infinity Wars event will finally begin in comic book form for Marvel in August. This is something that Marvel has been building towards since just before the Avengers: Infinity War movie. Now that Gerry Duggan has been given the keys to a big event it’ll be interesting to see how much Infinity Wars will affect the Marvel Universe at large. We already know that some major Marvel character have possession of Infinity Gems (yes, that is what I still call them). How many major Marvel characters are involved is a big question given how busy the Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men are. It’ll also be interesting to see how Duggan redefines the Infinity Gems for Marvel in comparison to the movies. Also this could give us a clue as to how Captain Marvel can factor into the movies since she is a major character for Avengers 4.
WEST COAST AVENGERS ASSEMBLE
The West Coast Avengers is a team that I only remember reading back issues of as a kid. While I’ve gone back to read some collections I haven’t read every comic. That said, I will be checking out the West Coast Avengers purely because of the creative team. Kelly Thompson has done a great job on every series that Marvel has given her to write. Her work on Hawkeye was solid and showed she can tell long-term stories. And with the recent Rogue & Gambit mini-series Thompson showed how much fun she can have with different characters. The roster of West Coast Avengers is so random that it can definitely work as a fun series that’ll be a fan favorite. Though how it grows its reader basis per issue will be what determines its long-term future.
MARCH TO SPIDER-GEDDON
With all the events going on at Marvel and Nick Spencer beginning his run on Amazing Spider-Man it is surprising to see a build towards a Spider-Man event begin. It is very odd timing for Spider-Man. Though it is not surprising that Marvel would go back to the well with Spider-Verse, probably the best and most successful Spider-Man event in the last few years.
Given that we will be seeing all of the different Spider-Men from the Multiverse and not one of the main 616-Universe ones seems to indicate that Peter Parker and Miles Morales aren’t the main stars. That could easily change as we learn more about Spider-Geddon. Though given that Spider-Gwen’s popularity and her series canceled Spider-Geddon could be a good spotlight event for her character since she does exist in a different Marvel Universe.
WOLVERINE FINALLY RETURNS
The Hunt For Wolverine will finally end in August. With that we will finally see the return of the iconic version of Logan back as Wolverine. It has been a long time coming as the Marvel Universe just has not been the same without the original Wolverine. What Wolverine’s full return mean to the entire Marvel Universe will be interesting to see since both Avengers and X-Men characters have been involved with his return. It won’t be surprising if Wolverine ends up joining both teams in the future.
What’ll be even more interesting is what Wolverine’s return means for Old Man Logan. At least from the solicitations, there isn’t any indication that we will see Old Man Logan end when the first issue of the new Wolverine series begins. Given that we have Wolverine, Old Man Logan and Ultimate Wolverine running around Marvel will likely already have Wolverine overload before the new series begins.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN MEETS ULTIMATE PETER PARKER
Nick Spencer’s Amazing Spider-Man run is a big question mark at Marvel given the controversial status of the writer. That said, it is interesting to see Spencer already tackling confusing elements of the characters history by possibly introducing Ultimate Peter Parker to the Marvel Universe. This is a questionable thing to do given that fans have made peace with saying goodbye to the Ultimate Universe. And bringing in Ultimate Peter Parker may not be the best way to get new fans to pick up Spencer’s Amazing Spider-Man run since that does not say “new reader friendly” for the casual audience.
DAREDEVIL GETS HIS OWN HUSH
Charles Soule’s Daredevil run has been excellent so far. Now it seems like Soule is going to take the next step in making Daredevil more like Batman by giving the Hell’s Kitchen hero his own version of Hush with the reappearance of Mike Murdock. This time around rather than being just an alter-ego for Matt to hide his identity it looks like Mike Murdock will be his own character. Who Mike Murdock is and what his plans are could be a very compelling story that adds another strong villain for Daredevil’s Rogues Gallery. It could also add an extra layer to the complex nature of Matt’s current arc where he is trying to balance working in a political office with Wilson Fisk and his hero life as Daredevil.