What We Learned from MARVEL’s MAY 2015 Solicitations
Secret Wars Go Public
1 of 12May looks to be a monumental month for Marvel comics, with the advent of Secret Wars - and a slew of related titles - taking up a good chunk of the month's books.Secret Wars leaves everything on the table for Marvel, promising major changes in nearly every title across the board. Fortunately, we've done the hard work of digging through Marvel's May solicits to find clues, tidbits, and points of interest. So, without further ado, here are ten things we learned from Marvel's May solicits!
Ant-Month
2 of 12With his film debut scheduled for July, it's not surprising that Marvel is stocking the shelves of comic and bookstores with new Ant-Man collections early.Between his ongoing solo title, movie tie-ins, and even a prose novel, the pint-sized Avenger is appearing in more than half-a-dozen releases with his name on the cover in May.
Not-So-Silver Surfer
3 of 12May's Silver Surfer #12 finds the sentinel of the spaceways with "no surfboard, no silver, and no trace of the power cosmic," saying that Norrin Radd has found a peaceful new existence. The same solicit says it "heralds" a new chapter in the life of the Surfer's companion, Dawn Greenwood. Could we see a transfer or power between the two, or will Galactus have a new herald?New Talent
4 of 12Every month we take a look at some new talent that seems to appear in Marvel's solicits, and May is no different.First up is young adult writer Prudence Shen, making her comics debut as one of the writers of Secret Wars Journal.
Additionally, Secret Wars #2 sees a variant cover - and the first Marvel work - by Dynamite artist Yasmine Putri, as well as the Marvel debut of artist Alec Morgan on the All-New Captain America Special.
Exodus
5 of 12As of these solicits, the X-Men appear to be down to only one ongoing title, Uncanny X-Men - "appear" being the key word here. While we know that All-New X-Men is ending with Brian Bendis's departure from the X-titles, but also missing from May's solicits are Amazing X-Men, the adjectiveless X-Men, and Cyclops.But it's not just X-titles that may be coming to a close, as Hulk's solicit certainly reads like a big ending, though it may just be the end of the arc, not the title. Furthermore, All-New Captain America only has a "Special" in May, with no regular issue being solicited.
Newsarama asked Marvel for comment, with the company's Joe Taraborrelli answering back only with "When everything ends…there is only Secret Wars."
Amazing Spider-Man #18
6 of 12Dan Slott and Christos Gage have often teamed-up over the course of Slott's acclaimed Spider-Man run, with Gage even filling in for Slott at times. But it's still a surprise to see May's Amazing Spider-Man #18 solicited with only Gage as writer.Slott took to Twitter saying it was a mistake on Marvel's part, and that he and Gage are co-writing #18 - as well as #16 and #17. While not the first time mistakes in solicits are made, given Slott was previously listed as the sole writer of #16 and #17 and Marvel is retro-actively bringing in Gage to help Slott with the issues could this point to changes being afoot in Marvel's main Spidey title?
With Secret Wars shaking things up across Marvel's line, and issue #18 promising to bring to a head all the threads Slott has been laying since Peter's return, it’s something to keep an eye on at least.
Superior Iron Woman
7 of 12Pepper Potts has been scheming against her still-inverted boss Tony Stark since the beginning of Superior Iron Man, and it looks like those chickens will be coming home to roost in May's #9.The solicit promises the birth of the Superior Iron Woman, and the cover shows Pepper decked out in an armor similar to her Rescue suit - an armor that, it's worth noting, appears on the cover of the recently solicited A-Force.
Flame On!
8 of 12Judging by the cover of Silk #4, it looks like Johnny Storm may have regained his powers come this May after being depowered in the current Fantastic Four arc. But with no Fantastic Four title slated for May, this cover image may not be prophetic but just be symbolic, or hypothetical.With so much turmoil in the world of the Fantastic Four, it's hard to imagine Johnny would come through whatever happens in the "End is Fourever" arc unscathed and happy-go-lucky, but maybe it's as simple as that after all.
A.K.A. Thor
9 of 12The true identity of the new Thor has been the biggest mystery of Jason Aaron's newest volume, as the Goddess of Thunder's secret has eluded even the all-seeing Heimdall.But it looks like the mystery will be solved in May, with the solicit for Thor #8 saying her true identity will finally be revealed.
Action Figure Variant Covers
10 of 12Back in the '80's, Marvel's Secret Wars defined the comic book crossover, putting big events that brought all of a publisher's characters into one book on the map. Interestingly enough, that first Secret Wars crossover was created with the intent to sell toys, with Mattel releasing a series of Marvel action figures to coincide with the comic - the title of which came from Mattel's market research.Even though a new toyline has yet to be announced, Marvel is cashing in on the nostalgia of the title of their upcoming universe ending series, by showcasing a number of "Action Figure variants," featuring the stars of the books in question illustrated on blister packs from the original Secret Wars toyline.
Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver: Secret Origins
11 of 12We here at Newsarama have been speculating about the origins of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch - and whether they would be redefined with the onset of Avengers: Age of Ultron - for some time. And while we've known for a little while that their movie origins were different, with the Axis revelation that Magneto is not their biological father, the possibility that the comic origins of the Maximoff twins may be different were cemented as fact.And so, it's no surprise that Uncanny Avengers #5 - which features a clash between the High Evolutionary, and the still unknown Low Evolutionary - promises to shed some light on their true nature, with the solicit promising to reveal "the truth that will shatter the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver."