Battleworld #5
(W) Christos Gage (A) Marcus To
BATTLE AT THE END OF THE WORLD! KORVAC created this Battleworld… and he can destroy it! Will the heroes of this collected chaos return things to the way they were? Or will all be lost at the hands of a powerful madman? Find out in this cataclysmic finale!
Battleworld #4
(W) Christos Gage (A) Marcus To
TO COURT KORVAC! BATTLEWORLD is on the brink of destruction, and almost nothing can stop Korvac from his mission! Options are dwindling for our heroes, so JANET VAN DYNE does what she must to save them…
Battleworld #3
(W) Christos Gage (A) Marcus To
(C) Rachelle Rosenberg (L) Travis Lanham
(CA) Leinil Francis Yu, Romulo Fajardo Jr. (VCA) Nick Bradshaw and Rachelle Rosenberg, Rod Reis, Philip Tan and Rain Beredo, Mike McKone and Nolan Woodard
WELCOME TO THE PITT! With powers seemingly unmatched, KORVAC keeps our heroes trapped within Battleworld. But Hank Pym has a plan: recruiting KEN CONNELL, THE STAR BRAND! Only problem is… can Star Brand be trusted? PLUS: The most surprising costume reveal in 40 years!
The King in Black is back! Knull made his long-dreaded return last month in Venom #250 and will headline his first-ever solo series this January, each paving the way for “Queen in Black,” an epic symbiote event coming next year. To celebrate the iconic supervillain’s resurgence, a new collection of Knullified Variant Covers will hit stands in December. Drawn by today’s leading artists, these new pieces twist your favorite heroes into dark versions of the God of Symbiotes!
Emerging from the void during Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman’s seminal run, Knull became the comic book supervillain of the decade, headlining the 2020 crossover, King in Black. It took the combined might of Marvel’s greatest heroes to stop him and his symbiote army from conquering Earth. Now, he begins a new reign of terror, but first, he must reclaim his throne from a startling usurper—Hela, the newly proclaimed QUEEN IN BLACK! Follow his path of destruction to amass new power in Knull, a five-issue limited series by current Venom scribe Al Ewing, writer Tom Waltz, and symbiote superstar Juanan Ramirez.
Check out 19 of the 20 Knullified Variant Covers and preorder them along with Knull #1 at your local comic shop today!
Battleworld #2
(W) Christos Gage (A) Marcus To
CRASH COURSE! Universes COLLIDE as a fractured team of heroes must survive long enough to keep their worlds from destruction. But do these heroes have what it takes? And who’s really behind all of this? PLUS: Is that the CROSSGEN Universe?! You’ll need to see it to believe it!
Heroes from across the Multiverse are thrown together on a patchwork world to engage in their own Secret Wars for the survival of their timelines! Who or what has created this Battleworld, and for what nefarious purpose? Enter Maestro. Is he friend, or foe? Battleworld #1 is an odd debut with a story that feels like it should be tied into something but doesn’t seem to be?
Written by Christos Gage, Battleworld #1 revisits the concept last seen in Secret Wars when Doctor Doom brought together various different timelines, eras, concepts, to fight it out. Here, a new villain has stepped in for reasons that just seem rather odd. It’s a high stakes threat but feels rather low stakes in it all.
The heroes are presented with the challenge to battle it out and whomever wins can decide on the direction of the timeline, making sure certain things happen or prevent a horrible timeline from occurring.
And, that’s where the story starts to fumble. Unless you’re familiar with every character and the timeline they come from, their involvement doesn’t really bring much to the story. There’s a wide range of characters here, some rather obscure. Even I, who knows more than most, was lost as to what timeline some of these individuals were from and why I should care.
Where the comic shows some interesting aspects is the ending, which teases we might get more than just heroes battling it out. It’s an intriguing sign and tease we might get more than just fight after fight.
The art by Marcus To is good. With color by Rachelle Rosenberg and lettering by Travis Lanham, the comic brings together a lot of different eras and characters and makes it all feel like it fits together with nothing out of place. The battles that take place are interesting to look at with some dynamic moments. Overall, it looks good, much like a tie-in series to some main event.
Battleworld #1 is interesting. It has some pretty high stakes, the potential destruction of entire timelines, but doesn’t have too many characters taking part. There’s also key stories and timelines not represented. It feels like a grand event story scaled down to a small cast, making it a bit of an odd one. And, when we’ve seen this type of story in the past, it’s been a pretty big deal as either part of a major storyline or the storyline itself. It feels like it was meant for something else but that fell through. Add in Marvel’s current focus on two storylines changing the status quo along with a revisit to alternate X-Men timelines. It all comes together to make this an odd one that is engaging in some ways but utterly odd in its release with so much else going on.
Story: Christos Gage Art: Marcus To
Color: Rachelle Rosenberg Letterer: Travis Lanham
Story: 7.0 Art: 7.0 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Read
Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle
Battleworld #1
(W) Christos Gage (A) Marcus To
THE BATTLEWORLD FROM SECRET WARS RETURNS!
“SLAY YOUR ENEMIES, PROVE YOUR WORTH AND ALL YOU DESIRE SHALL BE YOURS IN THE WORLD TO COME!”
Heroes from across the Multiverse are thrown together on a patchwork world to engage in their own Secret Wars for the survival of their timelines! Who or what has created this Battleworld, and for what nefarious purpose? Enter Maestro. Is he friend, or foe?
In Amazing Spider-Man #252 by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, Spider-Man returned from Secret Wars with a new black costume that was later revealed to be the alien symbiote VENOM! Now, over 40 years later, a new comic book legend begins with the debut of a symbiote costume in Battleworld #3 this November that will return the following month in Venom #252.
Battleworld, a new limited series by Christos Gage and Marcus To, kicks off in September. The series follows the tradition of both the groundbreaking original Secret Wars and the 2015 Secret Wars event by bringing various heroes from the multiverse together on a patchwork planet for an epic conflict! Last week at San Diego Comic-Con, retailers learned that In Battleworld #3, one of those chosen heroes is revealed to be an all-new alternate Venom donning a Red and Blue Spidey suit! Created by writer Jordan Morris, who made his Marvel Comics debut earlier this year in Web of Spider-Verse: New Blood #1, and artist and designer Luciano Vecchio, this mysterious new character will headline his own backup story by Morris and Jesús Saíz in Venom #252, part of Al Ewing and Paco Medina’s current run. Venom #252 will also reunite DeFalco and Frenz for a story that ties back to their classic Amazing Spider-Man issue.
In addition to Luciano Vecchio’s design sheet for the new costume, check out the main cover for Battleworld #3 by Leinil Francis Yu and a Venom Variant Cover by Phillip Tan. Plus, see new variant covers for Venom #252 by R.B. Silva and Cory Smith that homage the original covers of Secret Wars #7 and Amazing Spider-Man #252. Don’t miss the most shocking costume reveal in 40 years by preordering both issues at your local comic shop today!
Just in time for Halloween, new Retro Halloween Mask Variant Covers will be featured on various upcoming Marvel titles this September! Drawn by artist James Kerigan, this exciting variant cover program depicts cut-out masks of Marvel characters, inspired by classic Halloween masks of the 1960s. For decades, comic book fans around the world have dressed up as their favorite Marvel super heroes for Halloween. Now, Marvel Comics celebrates this legacy by taking it back to where it all began with these fun illustrations!
Check out all 15 Retro Halloween Mask Variant Covers and preorder them at your local comic shop today!
It’s time for a Muppets Anniversary Celebration—Marvel Comics style!
Celebrating 70 years of The Muppets, Kermit and the gang will star in a set of 10 variant covers featured on select Marvel comic books releasing in October. Drawn by a lineup of leading Marvel artists, the artwork pays homage to iconic covers in Marvel history.
Over the decades, The Muppets have mastered the art of pop culture spoofs. Now, see Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam Eagle, Swedish Chef, and more parody classic Marvel Comics stories, including Spider-Man’s first appearance and the original Secret Wars! From The Electric Mayhem assembling as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to Miss Piggy wielding the Infinity Gauntlet (yikes!), these hilarious and first-of-their-kind pieces are bursting with pure Muppets foolishness. Sure to be must-haves for Muppets fans and collectors alike, it’s the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational variant cover program ever!
Check out the first six Muppets Variant Covers and preorder all 10 at your local comic shop today!
