Following a teaser revealing new costumes for Venom/Mary Jane Watson and Knull, Marvel Comics has released what exactly to expect from this summer’s crossover Queen in Black. Consisting of a main five-issue series by Al Ewing and Iban Coello, and various, unannounced tie-ins, the event builds on Ewing, Tom Waltz, and Juanan Ramirez‘s current Knull miniseries, where Hela, the Norse goddess of death, stole the symbiote god’s power for herself.
HEL ON EARTH! On the farthest edges of the solar system, Knull, God of the Void, builds a brand-new army to destroy Earth… but Hela of Asgard might have gotten there first – as she makes planetfall with a legion of the galaxy’s deadliest symbiotes! Two of the most powerful evils in the galaxy are at war… A cosmic collision of evil versus evil with Venom, Mary Jane and Dylan Brock caught right in the middle!
Ewing states, “The only threat bigger than one evil god is two of them fighting each other, with Earth caught right in the middle. As an old-school ‘60s Marvel villain, Hela’s a great match-up against the newer school of Knull, especially given the steps she’s been taking to get onto his level. There can only be one winner – but whoever wins, it’s the worst news possible for our heroes.”
Queen in Black will kick off on July 1, with Spider-Man, Venom, Mary Jane, Eddie Brock/Carnage, and Dylan Brock all confirmed to be making an appearance. Given Ewing also writes Mortal Thor, and Hela’s enmity with the God of Thunder, it’s possible he and the other Asgardians will join the fray, but it was not announced at the time of writing. In the meantime, Knull will conclude with issue #5 on May 13, and the ten-part Amazing Spider-Man/Venom crossover Death Spiral will kick off with an eponymous one-shot next week.
Additionally, Marvel revealed the first issue will receive a number of blind bag covers, containing art that’ll only be available with them. (Something bound to make the practice even more controversial.) The exclusives will consist of:
- A design variant cover by Ryan Stegman
- A swimsuit cover by David Nakayama
- Jeff the Land Shark and Knull cover by Gurihiru
- “Alternate webhead foil” variant by Pat Gleason
- Variant and virgin variants by Artgerm (sold separately)
- Virgin variant of Jeehyung Lee‘s cover
- Virgin variant of Peach Momoko‘s cover
- Alternate homage variant cover by Ryan Stegman
- Marvel Rivals variant by NetEase Games
- All-black blank sketch cover
- Two connecting covers (sold separately) by David Marquez
Regular covers will be provided by Coello, Stegman, Momoko, Gleason, Lee, J. Scott Campbell, Skottie Young, Chip Zdarsky, and John Romita Jr. You can check out some of those below, along with the design for Hela for Stegman, which’ll presumably be featured on his blind bag cover.
