Last month, Marvel announced Avengers and Spider-Man tie-ins to the upcoming Empyre crossover event between the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. Today the publisher has revealed a pair of new tie-in miniseries, this time featuring Thor and the Squadron Supreme.
Empyre: Thor is a three-issue miniseries written by Ram V and illustrated by Pasqual Ferry. Per comicbook.com, the series will see the god of thunder protecting his birth mother, the Earth goddess Gaea, from an unknown threat tied to the invasion of Earth by the combined Kree/Skrull Empire. The series will reportedly introduce new Asgardians of the Marvel Universe. (If you’re like me, you’re learning that Gaea is Thor’s mother for the first time, so that’s already exciting.)
Meanwhile, Empyre: Squadron Supreme is a two-issue series by Mark Waid and Dio Neves, with covers by Paco Medina. Recently reintroduced in the pages of Avengers, the government-sanctioned Squadron Supreme of America will join the fight against the invading armies in a story that, per Waid, “puts a modern spin on some of the Silver Age of Comics’ more familiar tropes.”
Empyre: Thor is Ram V’s first work for Marvel, and it’s good to see the publisher continuing to use event tie-in titles (which typically sell moderately well and are sure to grab attention from fans following the events) to bring new creators into their fold. Last year The McElroys made their Marvel debut with a tie-in series to the War of the Realms event, while earlier in the year Leah Williams and Vita Ayala both had their first Marvel series published as part of the Age of X-Man X-Men event. Williams and Ayala have since become staples at Marvel, helming, among other series, X-Factor and Children of the Atom, respectively, as part of the next wave of Dawn of X titles.
Look for both Empyre: Thor #1 (of 3) and Empyre: Squadron Supreme #1 (of 2) in stores this May.
