Many of today’s Marvel comics contain unique teaser images, only featuring a pair of creators and the date of August 2019. It is unclear at this time what the subject of these teaser images is. However, they are likely either a part of the upcoming Absolute Carnage event, which is set to begin in August, or a part of Marvel’s overall 80th anniversary celebration. The images can be found below along with some speculative thoughts for each of them.
First up is the creative team of Brad Meltzer and Julian Totino Tedesco, found in today’s Age of X-Man: Apocalypse and the X-Tracts #3. Meltzer is known for his DC work, such as Identity Crisis and Justice League of America. He has not done any Marvel work to date, so this would signify his Marvel debut. Tedesco on the other hand has worked for Marvel for the past few years, mostly contributing covers to the current Daredevil run and Hawkeye. Tedesco has done interior work in the past, such as working with Rick Remender on Uncanny X-Force for a brief period. Tedesco is taking a break from providing Daredevil covers following next week’s fifth issue, so it can be assumed he is working on interiors for this unannounced project. Meltzer’s last mainstream comics work was in last year’s Action Comics #1000.
Captain America #10 features a teaser of a Mark Waid and John Cassaday collaboration. Interestingly, both creators are both currently working at comic book publisher Humanoids. Waid was named Director of Creative Development last year, with Cassaday acting as the company’s Chief Creative Officer. Waid has been a Marvel mainstay for the last several years, with runs on Daredevil with Chris Samnee, Champions with Humberto Ramos, and Doctor Strange with Jesus Saiz and Barry Kitson. Cassaday’s last significant Marvel project was the first arc of Star Wars with Jason Aaron.
Captain Marvel #5 contains a teaser with J. Michael Straczynski and Ed McGuinness. McGuinness is providing artwork for the current Avengers series. If the teased project is of the ongoing variety, then this might indicate McGuinness’ departure from the series, which he launched in May of last year with Jason Aaron. On the other hand, Straczynski has been busy working in television, most recently co-creating Sense8 with the Wachowskis for Netflix.
Invaders #5 features the first solo creator teaser, that of the great Walt Simonson. He is known for his expansive and character-defining run on Thor. It was recently announced that he would be returning to his Ragnarok opus for a third chapter, so the extent of this Marvel project raises more questions.
Spider-Man/Deadpool #50, the concluding chapter of the series, teases a Joe Hill and Mike Allred collaboration. Hill is best known for co-creating the IDW-published Locke & Key, with Allred’s work on X-Statix with Peter Milligan and Silver Surfer with Dan Slott solidifying the artist as a fan-favourite. Allred and Milligan are reuniting for Giant-Size X-Statix #1, a one-shot out this July.
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #44 contains the second sole creator teaser, that of famed illustrator Alex Ross. Ross is currently providing covers to the Captain America and Immortal Hulk series. Ross and Kurt Busiek are also returning to their groundbreaking miniseries Marvels this July for an epilogue issue.
Unstoppable Wasp #7 features a very surprising teaser, teasing Phil Lord, Chris Miller and Javier Rodriguez. Lord and Miller recently produced last year’s Oscar-winning film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse so this news should excite fans of the film. Lord will also make his Marvel Comics writing debut collaborating with Jason Latour on the back-up story of the upcoming Spider-Ham-starring Amazing Spider-Man annual. Rodriguez and Mark Waid are collaborating on The History of the Marvel Universe, a six-issue miniseries detailing what the title suggests. Rodriguez’s involvement in this teaser is doubly surprising given his involvement in the series, so time will tell what this collaboration entails.
War of the Realms: Journey into Mystery #2 teases a collaboration between Al Ewing and recently-retired George Pérez. Yes, you read that right. His retirement was announced on the heels of some health trouble the artist has been experiencing, so the scope of his involvement is worth looking out for. Pérez’s work on the seminal Infinity Gauntlet event remains his most well-known Marvel artwork. Ewing and Joe Bennett’s Immortal Hulk is one of the most acclaimed series of the last few years.
This is the third sole creator, with Erik Larsen’s return to Marvel teased. This isn’t the first time Larsen’s return to the publisher has been teased, however. Larsen’s comments make it clear that his upcoming Marvel project involves some work pertaining to Marvel’s 80th anniversary, so the nature of the project seems more solid now.
The final tease features perhaps the most curious creator pair yet. Jeffrey Veregge is an artist and graphic designer who has primarily worked as a cover artist for Marvel in the past. A Native American artist, Veregge currently has an exhibition up at the National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center. Titled “Of Gods and Heroes,” the exhibition primarily features traditional Native American renderings of Marvel superheroes.
As for Taboo, that appears to be a member of the Black Eyed Peas, as Veregge tweeted the following to that effect back in March:
https://twitter.com/JeffreyVeregge/status/1111776519469191168?s=20
Whatever this project is, it will be both Veregge and Taboo’s first interior work for Marvel.
We’ll have more information on just what these teases are for as it becomes available.
It’s raining men?
This will be an 80th Anniversary Marvel Comics special spurred on by DC’s sales success with Action Comics 1000 and Detective Comics 1000. It will contain short stories featuring Marvel’s principal characters by these creators and creative teams, though Alex Ross may only paint the main cover. There will be many variant covers and retailer-exclusive covers, and the cover price will be $9.99. It is even possible C.B. Cebulski believes this special will sell one million copies in the North American direct market. That seems highly unlikely, but whether or not it happens will be largely down to the extent of the variant cover incentives.
Or this could be something else entirely.
Awesome, awesome, awesome!!
I agree, either short stories or one-shots. Perez being involved is definitely the giveaway for that.
It’s Marvel #1000 or Marvel Comics #1000. As Carl says, its an attempt to replicate Action Comics #1000 and Detective Comics #1000′ success for Marvel’s 80th anniversary, the idea that if Marvel Comics had been published monthly since #1 in 1939 we would be up to #1000 by now. I am told that a number of these will be one page stories within the volume. I wonder if it will end up in a Loot Crate?
Where are the women writers? The black writers?
How depressing that these are the only writers Marvel can get, in this day and age.
Where are the Jewish creators?
the Anti-Semitism in these announcements is dreadful. They have exiled the only Jewish human who worked at Marvel in order to have him replaced by white men.
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