Ladies and gentlemen…
They got me.
TO BE FAIR… A.I. did ruin the “–” for every writer out there.
(I’m not stopping. My newsletter readers love me, right?)
Marvel Ends and Beginnings
While the Ultimate Universe finally bids goodbye with Ultimate Universe: Finale #1, Marvel is making its biggest play of the year with:
Avengers: Armageddon #1
The start of Chip Zdarsky’s vision for the Marvel Universe, spinning out from the pages of his Captain America run and the Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon miniseries.
He’s been talking a lot on podcasts about his inspiration from the Bendis era and how massive this event is supposed to be. He actually has plans for the whole line to connect around what happens here, with years ahead already planned out.
If you haven’t caught up, this happens right after Doom lost his bid as Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, leaving a gap in power in Latveria. That’s when Red Hulk and his American-centered mind come in with a giant American flag.
Marvel needs a big play, and we hope this is the beginning of that.
All first-printing copies of any cover will come with an exclusive Magic: The Gathering CARD featuring art by Ryan Stegman inside a polybagged copy!!!!!
You can also get that drawing as a full-sized cover variant.
⚠️ BLIND BAGS ALERT ⚠️
BLIND BAG 1
Marvel is doing a very special 616 Mystery Bag, all centered on Doctor Doom. What a surprise!
All bags will include one exclusive black-and-white edition of Doomquest #1, the upcoming miniseries from Ryan North and Francesco Mobili. I started reading it with a frowny face and ended up REALLY loving it. Some might call it the North redoomption. It will come with an exclusive cover by Simone Bianchi or, you know the deal, a sketch cover by a surprise artist.
Also in the bag is a facsimile edition of a classic Doctor Doom story. Depending on your luck, you get an original cover OR a surprise modern variant cover. The issues are Avengers #25, Fantastic Four #258, and Iron Man #149. And there’s a Doctor Doom paper mask by Jack Kirby. Why is this the thing I’m the most excited about?
BLIND BAG 2
To commemorate the final season rollout of The Boys on Amazon Prime, we’re getting The Boys Bloody Blind Bag Edition #1. It’s actually THREE random key issues from the series with exclusive art.
BLIND BAG 3
Oni Press is also getting in the blind bag game with Mind MGMT: New & Improved #1 (Cover C), a new story from the award-winning, and Walt’s Comic Shop highly recommended, franchise from Matt Kindt. I’m dying to get one of the more alternative covers, like this one from Scott Sugiuchi.
ABSOLUTE WAVE 3
We were “introduced” to Green Arrow lore in the incredible Absolute Evil one-shot last year. My favorite single issue of the line last year, or maybe my favorite all around from 2025.
Absolute Green Arrow is here from superstars Pornsak Pichetshote and Rafael Albuquerque.
This is a horror urban mystery that continues to justify why this universe just keeps setting sales records. It reminds me a little bit of Pornsak’s latest work with Boy Boys Detective.
The Reiko Murakami 1:25 ratio variant is already seeing some market value. Yes, Math the cover connoisseur is loading!!
NEW #1 INDIES
The best thing about this work is that I get to read advance copies of the series and tell you all about them. We have tons of big releases this week.
Odin #1
The new Tiny Onion horror series goes Yellowjackets by way of Nordic mythology. James Tynion sets up his next gig with Marguerite Bennett, from Witchblade, with Letizia Cadonici and Jordie Bellaire (Btw, we have an exclusive cover for this one).
Love this one. It gives me a narrative setup similar to Nice House, but with the way of modernizing classic mythology that we see in SIKTC. An undercover reporter joins a group of neo-Nazis on a journey of worship to their superiority that goes absolutely the way they deserved it. Very provocative, no mincing words, and bound to be a hit.
VARIANT COVER ALERT: Lots of options here, including a 1:100 by Jae Lee, a 1:25 by Christian Ward, and a normal variant by Sebastian Fiumara. Beautiful!
Of the Earth #1
Chris Condon, Andrew Ehrich, and Walking Dead staple artist Charlie Adlard bring us a small-city horror. The first issue gives New Hollywood vibes, with an unprecedented sense of eeriness in a long and heat-exhausted horror.
It’s a story of a small city with no laws in the middle of nowhere, with a slow-burn mystery lurking in the background. It reminds me a lot of the Fargo movie and Juno Temple’s character from season 4 of the TV series. Coen Brothers and Noah Hawley are references I don’t throw around easily.
Only the Savage Are Left #1
A pretty usual zombie apocalypse plot flips the narrative by making killing and burning other early infected people the only cure. Then it becomes a very cool coming-of-age romance with mutation powers. It does remind me of a lot of random anime-like TV shows I would watch when I was younger. Zack Kaplan had a breakthrough with Kill All Immortals. He’s bound to become a bigger name. Will this be it?
COVERS TO WATCH FOR: (I told you!!)
(P.S. You can click on the covers)
Marvel / DC: Spider-Man / Superman #1 hits 2nd printing with covers by Jim Cheung, Martin Cóccolo, Peach Momoko, and Ryan Stegman.
FOC newsletters as lengthy as this one MIGHT make Walt and Gloriana kill me, BUT God, there’s just so much stuff to talk about.
You know who will not kill me, hopefully? Heiko. Email him with questions. And blind bag complaints. OH NO, HEIKO WILL DEFINITELY HATE ME.
You can check out everything on pre-order here: SINGLE ISSUES FOC
We run our orders until Saturday at 4 p.m., so get them in, OK?
See you,
Math
