The most anticipated comics through the end of 2019: Marcel, DC, & more

Like Hollywood before it, the American comics industry is defined by the summer event — and these days it’s the summer event that stretches all the way to September, or even the following March.

But it’s not just the biggest and crossover-iest books that Polygon’s comics reporters are looking out for in the second half of this year: It’s old creators returning to familiar superheroic territory. It’s the end of some of the biggest comics series of the past five years. And it’s the beginning of new eras for some of the biggest names in comics.

These are Polygon’s most anticipated comics of the rest of 2019.

The world of the X-Men has been in a state of upheaval all spring, as various titles and characters shuffled into place for the advent of Avengers veteran Jonathan Hickman. The writer is kicking off a new age of the X-Men with two, six-issue miniseries, House of X (on July 24) and Powers of X (a week later on July 31).

Marvel Comics is hyping the event as standing among great X-Men turning points of the past — like Giant-Sized X-Men, the 1990s X-Men relaunch, and Grant Morrison’s New X-Men — but we don’t know much about exactly what that means, at least not yet. House of Xwill kick off with Charles Xavier’s new plan for all mutantkind, while Powers of X will reveal “the secret past, present and future of mutantkind.”

And when the past year has seen Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, and Professor Xavier all return from the dead and to the editorial playing field, House/Powers of X stands to be big.

Kicking off across multiple Marvel titles on Aug. 7

Marvel’s late summer/fall event promises to be a gory one, with the culmination of all the cosmic madness that Donny Cates (Cosmic Ghost Rider: Baby Thanos Must Die) and his collaborators have been injecting into their run on Venom and its Web of Venom tie-ins.

Carnage, Spider-Man’s deadly Waluigi, is back, and he’s joined forces with a doomsday cult that worships the symbiote god, Knull. In order to free Knull from his prison, Carnage is on a mission to kill and eat every single person who has ever merged with a symbiote. Thanks to certain previous Marvel Comics crossovers, that’s a long, long list.

That’s an out-there idea for a crossover, but if Cates does one thing well, it’s injecting humor and grounded emotion into big cosmic yarns. Absolute Carnage kicks off in August with Absolute Carnage#1, and will run through September and October in the Venom series and various tie-ins featuring the Avengers, Spider-Man, Miles Morales, the Immortal Hulk, and more.

Written by Gerard Way, drawn by Jeremy Lambert; launching July 3

Gerard Way (Umbrella Academy) and Nick Derington’s (Mister Miracle covers) Doom Patrol was one of my favorite comics of 2017. So I’m supremely excited that Way is back for another round on the weirdest comic in the DC Universe, this time with artist Jeremy Lambert.

Already the first issue starts swimmingly, introducing team members new and old and setting them off on a weird adventure of external triumph and internal discovery. I expect the rest of the run will be just as good, and I have my fingers crossed that I’ll incorporate some references or elements from the DC Universe streaming service’s incredible TV adaptation.

This summer, DC Comics’ trinity of Walmart-exclusive comics are finally coming to everybody who doesn’t have access to a Walmart. Each series was originally printed in 12 12-page installments in the pages of a series of anthology books, and those stories are finally being printed as regular monthly floppies. Which, if you do the math, is six 24-page issues each.

Tom King (Batman, Mister Miracle) and Andy Kubert’s (Marvel: 1602) Superman: Up in the Sky #1, about Superman tracking an earthly kidnapping victim through space, will hit shelves on July 3. Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, and Chad Hardin’s (Harley Quinn) Wonder Woman: Come Back to Me #1 will be available July 17. But if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Brian Michael Bendis and Nick Derington’s Batman: Universe #1, out on July 10.

Bendis’ Superman books have only given small glimpses of the Marvel veteran’s take on Batman, and I can’t wait to see what he did when given an entire book.

Speaking of Brian Bendis, two books spinning out of the writer’s Event Leviathan in the Superman titles are shaping up to be absolute winners. Both are being written by close friends of Bendis, legendary comics talent on their own, based on ideas cooked up during the writer’s near-fatal 2017 case of MRSA.

Writer Greg Rucka (Wonder Woman, Gotham Central) is teaming with artist Mike Perkins for a Lois Lanesolo book where the legendary comics heroine is on the trail of a story — one that could spell dire consequences for her husband. Rucka is a DC Comics veteran, and Lois Lanewill see him return to characters like the Question and Renee Montoya.

Meanwhile, Matt Fraction (Hawkeye, Sex Criminals) is teaming with artist Steve Leiber for Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, an absurdist romp through the weirdest corners of the DC Universe. The book will be Fraction’s first work in the DC Universe, and having sampled some early previews, it could be just as big as his iconic run on Hawkeye with David Aja.

This summer marks the end of an era, with the final issue of The Wicked + The Divine, Gillen and McKelvie’s mythopoetic, pop-music-coming-of-age epic. The story takes place in a world where 12 gods reincarnate as teenagers every 90 years, gain immense divine power, and die two years later — and it’s nearly impossible to describe the actual plot without spoiling something.

It’s about pop music, it’s about fame, it’s about the power of belief, and it’s about how shitty it is to be a teenager. It’s been running since 2014, with shocking plot twist after shocking plot twist, and soon, it’ll all be definitively over.

The Wicked + The Divine #45 hits shelves on Aug. 21.

Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, drawn by Emma Rios; kicking off Sept. 4

Pretty Deadly is about as good as comics get, bringing out the best in the already significant talents of writer Kelly Sue DeConnick (Bitch Planet, Captain Marvel) and artist (Hexed, Doctor Strange) Emma Rios. At its simplest, the series is a series about grim reapers in the American Old West, but on other levels it’s about the quests for agency in a world that denies it to you, whether you’re a black American soldier in World War I or a woman that Death itself has become infatuated with.

My only problem with it is that it’s published so dang intermittently, with a first six-issue series in 2014 (nominated for four Eisners), and a second in 2016. So I’m happy to have gotten the news that DeConnick and Rios are bringing a third installment to shelves this fall.

Written by Chris Claremont, drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz; kicking off Sept. 18

There are many, many X-Men fans out there who credit their love of the characters to one specific series: New Mutants as written by the legendary Chris Claremont. And among those, there are many who will tell you that the absolute peak of the series is when Bill Sienkiewicz drew it.

Both Claremont and Sienkiewicz are returning to the New Mutants this fall, for a story set in the era they first collaborated on the series, with the characters of Magik, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Cypher, Mirage, Karma, and Sunspot.

Not every creative team can recapture magic more than 30 years old, but regardless, this is a series to watch.

Written by Kami Garcia, drawn by Mike Mayhew; kicking off Oct. 2

Kami Garcia is a New York Times bestselling author, and her work on Teen Titans: Raven, the first in a series of YA graphic novels, is already quite solid. So I’m excited to see her tackle a book for an adult audience at Black Label, and with Mike Mayhew’s gorgeous painted style to go with it.

Above all, I’m interested to see someone a new take on the very tragic origin story of Dr. Harleen Quinzel — especially one written by a woman.

Written by Geoff Johns, drawn by Gary Frank; launching in 2019 ... hopefully?

When Geoff Johns and Gary Frank announced Doomsday Clock, the series that promised to bring the characters of Watchmen to the main DC Universe and provide an in-canon explanation for how gritty everything got at the beginning of the New 52, they said that they anticipated delays.

But probably not 11-issues-over-22-months delayed. As of this writing, Doomsday Clock #11 is scheduled to hit shelves on Aug. 14, and it seems reasonable to expect that we’ll see the final issue of Doomsday Clock, one in which Doctor Manhattan and Superman (presumably) square off and we all get to find out whether the universe ends, before the end of the year. Maybe even in November, so the series can go out exactly two years after it began.

When it was announced, the folks behind Doomsday Clock promised that its finale would spell major changes for the DCU, but the DCU has now moseyed right along through an extra year of its own changes since the series kicked off — including huge changes in the Superman office. It’ll be fascinating to watch Doomsday Clockfinally reach the end of its countdown.

Written by N.K. Jemisin, drawn by Jamal Campbell; kicking off in “late 2019”

N.K. Jemisin is the first author ever to win three successive Hugo awards for Best Novel for three books in the same series, her Broken Earth trilogy. Her writing shows off exquisite world building, compelling characters, and drama that’ll pull your heart right out of your chest. Jamal Campbell’s work on Naomiwith Brian Bendis has been kicking me in the ass all year. He’s nothing short of incredible, from his expressions, to his character designs, to his page layouts.

If it was just a team-up between these two, I’d already be salivating to see what they do together, but we even known who Far Sector is about: Green Lantern Sojourner “Jo” Mullein, guardian of the City Enduring. The City is a Dyson sphere on the far edge of space, where emotions, the source of all Lanterns’ power, is outlawed, and the series announcement promised “a dizzying game of politics and philosophies as Jo discovers a brewing revolution in the City.” I fully believe Jemisin and Campbell can deliver.

Source: Polygon

Powered by NewsAPI.org

Keywords:

DC Comics • Cinema of the United States • American comic book • Polygon (website) • Polygon (website) • X-Men • Character (arts) • Avengers (comics) • Jonathan Hickman • New Age • X-Men • Miniseries • Marvel Comics • X-Men • Grant Morrison • New X-Men • Professor X • Cyclops (comics) • Jean Grey • Wolverine (character) • Professor X • Ghost Rider • Venom (comics) • Webcomic • Venom (comics) • Carnage (comics) • Spider-Man • Waluigi • Doomsday cult • Venom (comics) • Carnage (comics) • Symbiote (comics) • Marvel Comics • Crossover (fiction) • Crossover (fiction) • Carnage (comics) • Carnage (comics) • Venom (comics) • Ongoing series • Tie-in • Avenging Spider-Man • Spider-Man (Miles Morales) • Immortality • The Incredible Hulk (comic book) • Gerard Way • Gerard Way • The Umbrella Academy • Mister Miracle • Doom Patrol • Comic book • DC Universe • DC Universe • DC Comics • Walmart • Walmart • Book • Tom King (comics) • Batman • Mister Miracle • Andy Kubert • Marvel 1602 • Superman • Sky 1 • Superman • Kidnapping • Jimmy Palmiotti • Amanda Conner • Harley Quinn • Wonder Woman • Come Back to Me (Vanessa Hudgens song) • Brian Michael Bendis • Nick Cardy • Batman • Superman • Comic book • Marvel Comics • Batman • Brian Michael Bendis • Comic book • Leviathan (Marvel Comics) • Superman • Brian Michael Bendis • Legendary Comics • Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus • Greg Rucka • Wonder Woman • Gotham Central • Comics artist • Mike Perkins • Lois Lane • Legendary Comics • Hero • Greg Rucka • DC Comics • Lois Lane • Character (arts) • Question (comics) • Renee Montoya • Matt Fraction • Hawkeye (comics) • Sex Criminals • Comics artist • Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen • Theatre of the Absurd • DC Universe • DC Universe • Hawkeye (comics) • David Aja • The Wicked + The Divine • Jamie McKelvie • Mythopoeia • Popular music • Coming of age • Epic poetry • Deity • Reincarnation • Popular music • The Power of Belief • Plot twist • Plot twist • The Wicked + The Divine • Kelly Sue DeConnick • Emma Ríos • Pretty Deadly • Comics • Kelly Sue DeConnick • Bitch Planet • Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics) • Comics artist • Doctor Strange • Emma Ríos • Death (personification) • American frontier • African Americans • World War I • Eisner Award • Chris Claremont • Bill Sienkiewicz • X-Men • Ongoing series • New Mutants • Chris Claremont • Ongoing series • Bill Sienkiewicz • New Mutants • Ongoing series • Character (arts) • Magik (comics) • Wolfsbane (comics) • Cannonball (comics) • Cypher (Marvel Comics) • Danielle Moonstar • Karma (comics) • Sunspot (comics) • Magic (paranormal) • Kami Garcia • Mike Mayhew • Kami Garcia • The New York Times • Teen Titans • Raven (comics) • Graphic novel • Audience • Mike Mayhew • Origin story • Harley Quinn • Geoff Johns • Gary Frank • Geoff Johns • Gary Frank • Doomsday Clock • Character (arts) • Watchmen • DC Universe • Canon (fiction) • The New 52 • Doomsday Clock (song) • Doomsday Clock • Doctor Manhattan • Superman • DC Universe • Ongoing series • Doomsday Clock • DC Universe • DC Universe • Superman • Doomsday (comics) • Countdown to Final Crisis • N. K. Jemisin • N. K. Jemisin • Hugo Award • Novel • Television program • Earth • Trilogy • Brian Michael Bendis • Green Lantern • Verbascum • The Guardian • Dyson sphere • Revolution •