Marvel Comics has been rolling out their line-up for their All-New All-Different Marvel initiative for weeks now. In the past week alone, we heard about ‘Black Panther,’ ‘New Avengers,’ and ‘Extraordinary X-Men,’ but that’s not even the tip of the iceberg of new titles coming from the House of Ideas this fall and beyond. Now, we have word of even more exciting books coming our way, including the return of one of the most enjoyable comic series of recent history.
Baltimore Comic Con kicked off earlier this week and one of the country’s most prominent conventions with a focus on comic books started with a bang, especially if you’re a True Believer. During the Diamond Retailer Summit, those in attendance learned of a number of upcoming titles, including new volumes of a few fan-favorites. First, the ‘Secret Wars’ tie-in ‘X-Men ‘92’ will return in spring 2016 as an ongoing series with Chris Sims and Chad Bowers continuing on as the writers of the book inspired by the popular 1990s X-Men animated series. They will be joined on the creative team by interior artist Alti Firmansyah and cover artist David Nakayama. Based on the cover, we’ll be seeing iconic villains of the era such as Omega Red, Apocalypse, The Brood, and more, but here’s the description of the series from Newsarama:
The X-Men will return from Secret Wars’ Battleworld to their own universe to re-open Xavier’s school. The school will have some new students however, as Cassandra Nova’s pupils will be enrolling.
Next, Moon Knight will receive his own solo series again from the team of writer Jeff Lemire and artist Greg Smallwood that will find Marc Spector institutionalized. In addition to “bombastic superhero stories” with “humor and heart and horror”, Lemire tells ComicBook.com that he uses the troubled vigilante to address criticisms of mental health issues:
“By starting the story in a mental health institution, it allows me to play with different perceptions of what it means to be mentally ill, both through Marc and also through the supporting cast we will meet in there with him. The hospital Marc is in is very much a throwback to an era gone by. The methods that the doctors use to treat mental illness in the comic are barbaric and outdated, but they reflect the reality of how we as a society saw the mentally ill not that long ago, and in some cases still do.”
After experiencing an upswing thanks to Adrianne Palicki’s portrayal of the character in ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ on ABC, Comic Book Resources tells us that Mockingbird will also be flying solo in her own series at some point next year. The call to give the character her own book also comes after an overwhelming positive response to the special one-shot ‘Mockingbird: S.H.I.E.L.D. 50th Anniversary’. Chelsea Cain, who is predominantly known as a novelist outside of her work on Bobbi Morse’s recent one-shot, will return as the writer for the ongoing, but no artist has been named at this time.
Finally, Dan Slott and Michael Allred’s acclaimed run on ‘Silver Surfer’ will continue with a new volume in early 2016. After debuting in 2014, the ‘Doctor Who’-esque adventure with Norrin Radd and Dawn Greenwood easily became one of the most entertaining books on Marvel’s roster. Slott and Allred even tried some crazy stuff with their story telling that totally paid off. While we anxiously await what comes next for the former herald and his companion, you can see the cover to the new #1 (which we’re told is a picture taken by Dawn, so take solace in the knowledge that she isn’t going anywhere) below courtesy of Comic Book Resources.
I know that I pretty much say this every time a new book is announced, but All-New All-Different Marvel is certainly shaping up to be one hell of an event. My wallet will definitely hate me after I end up buying more than half of the titles. But which ones will be you be picking up? Are you excited about these new books for Silver Surfer, Moon Knight, Mockingbird, and the X-Men? Let us know in the comments.
