AIPTComics

Spawn fans get a whole new kind of flavor this week as a new four-issue miniseries realizes what could have been in Spawn ’77. Written by Todd McFarlane and co-written and drawn by Mark Spears, the series takes McFarlane’s original Spawn design and fleshes it out in a full story. For super fans of Spawn, this is a treat, given that this is the design McFarlane dreamed up when he was sixteen. But can the story take the design beyond a teenager’s imagination?

Doomquest may be a twelve-issue maxiseries, but so far it reads like a series of one-shots, with Doom taking over different people throughout history. The last issue saw him become George Washington, but now he’s himself at an earlier time in his life. What are the chances, or maybe more importantly, will he continue his mission or accept the chance to live his life differently for love?

On paper, the idea behind the Challenges of Doom one-shots sounds tricky. Revisiting Doctor Doom’s first encounters with certain Marvel heroes is a chance to give the Lord of Latveria more dimension, especially if those heroes aren’t the Fantastic Four. On the other hand, it’s hard to expand upon some of the more iconic moments in Marvel history. Thankfully, Al Ewing respects Marvel’s history, and he has a history of uncovering new layers in iconic characters like Thor and Hulk.

Marvel Comics has had its fair share of celebrations this year with big milestones and anniversaries, and with Marvel Gold ’76, it’s time to shine a light on Bullseye, Star-Lord, Jack of Hearts, and Nova. A fairly random group of characters, if I ever saw one; all four come into contact in an issue that celebrates these characters for who they are, but also the ingenuity of Marvel’s push to try new things in 1976.

If you haven’t checked out Marvel’s Black, White & Blood anthology series, you’re missing out on one of the more intriguing concepts from the House of Ideas. The concept is that certain characters will get an anthology series displayed entirely in black, white, and plenty of red to represent the blood spilled on each page. Even better is the fact that a collection of incredible creators gets to put their own spin on characters including Wolverine and Moon Knight.

The Marvel Mangaverse makes its grand return this month with a series of one-shots, building out a world of magic and monsters while reimagining a new crop of Marvel heroes.

Marvel’s 2099 universe is an interesting subset of their publishing line. After making a big splash in the ’90s with Spider-Man 2099, X-Men 2099, and Doom 2099, the line went pretty fallow for decades until about ten years ago, when Miguel O’Hara made a big splash when he entered the 616 universe.

Iron Man #9 may be mid-story arc, but casual readers may need to pick this up since the cover boldly promises the “most shocking reveal of the year!” It’s a smart move, especially when you account for Citizen V’s identity being one of the only mysteries still hanging out there to be revealed. On top of this, Iron Man has been captured by two of history’s Whiplash villains! It’s safe to say writer Joshua Williamson is having fun bringing back older legacy elements and making them feel new again.

Black Cat has managed to mostly stand on its own, yet also thrives when it pairs Felicia Hardy with different characters across the Marvel Universe. Those traits serve Black Cat #14 well, as it pulls Felicia smack dab into the events of Queen in Black. With Earth overwhelmed by symbiotes, the Fantastic Four task Felicia with retrieving a Kree seed used to grow their Supreme Intelligences and turn the tide against Hela’s invasion.

It’s hard to believe, but after today, we’re already at the halfway point for the new miniseries “Big Guns” with Punisher #8. Punisher is on the hunt for Deadpool after being entirely over Deadpool’s body parts coming to life. He found him and filled him with bullets last issue, but now he has fleshy mini-Deadpools to contend with! Punisher #8 opens with Deadpool monologuing to the reader via captions about how this isn’t his book.