Marvel Comics has revealed Imperial War, a line of five one-shots tying into Jonathan Hickman et al.’s upcoming cosmic event series Imperial. The first two specials, both co-written by Hickman, will consist of Imperial War: Black Panther, by Victor LaValle and CAFU, and Planet She-Hulk, by Stephanie Phillips and Emilio Laiso.
The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda is under fire from all sides in IMPERIAL WAR: BLACK PANTHER! Blamed for the assassinations that have started an all-out galactic war, T’Challa will first need to survive a brutal assault from the World-Breaker Hulk and Amadeus Cho before he can even think about hunting down the true culprit! And all while his spacecraft spirals towards certain doom! Sounds like another day at the office for the Black Panther!
A brutal war of succession ignites in IMPERIAL WAR: PLANET SHE-HULK! Left behind on New Sakaar to keep the peace, Jen Walters discovers that in this savage realm, what’s needed isn’t a litigator, it’s a liquidator! Fortunately, She-Hulk is accomplished at being both!
LaValle says, “Working with Jonathan Hickman on an interstellar epic — who wouldn’t be thrilled by that idea? I’m excited to start working on the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda because there’s not enough stories about Black folks in outer space. There could always be more. By the time I’m done, T’Challa and Shuri will have constellations named after them, in some distant galaxy.” The comic marks the first time the author has penned a Black Panther story.
Similarly, Planet She-Hulk marks Phillips’s first time writing Jennifer Walters. “She-Hulk’s voice just came naturally to me from the first line,” she says. “She’s so sharp, funny, and confident. It’s been incredible getting to bring her story to life as part of Imperial and see what this talented lineup of creators is building together.”
Imperial War: Black Panther will be released on August 20, and Planet She-Hulk will arrive the following week. They’ll respectively mark the first comics for each character since the conclusion of Eve Ewing & Christopher Allen‘s Black Panther run in March 2024, and Rainbow Rowell & Andrés Genolet‘s Sensational She-Hulk last August. The main, four-part Imperial series, by Hickman, Iban Coello, and Federico Vicentini, will kick off in the meantime on June 4.
