Musician Tegan Quin of the Grammy-nominated pop duo Tegan and Sara will write a story in Wiccan & Hulkling: Raid of Ultron #1, Marvel’s annual Pride special hitting stands on May 27. The singer-songwriter, who makes up one half of Tegan and Sara with her twin sister Sara, will write a story starring Marvel’s own twin super heroes, Wiccan and Speed.
This year’s one-shot spotlights family with stories centered around Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wiccan, Hulkling and more. A longtime advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, Tegan brings her expertise in an epic team-up tale that tackles the complex relationship between Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd, Young Avengers and twin sons of Scarlet Witch and Vision, exploring their differences and unique perspectives as they battle Ultron!
Announced last month, Wiccan & Hulkling: Raid of Ultron #1 brings together an incredible lineup of superstar LGBTQIA+ talent and rising stars, including stories by Wyatt Kennedy, Josh Trujillo, Luciano Vecchio, Zoe Tunnell, Rachael Stott, Bradley Clayton, and more! The saga will spotlight the importance of re-centering community in times of darkness as Wiccan and Hulkling join forces with their loved ones to defeat an evil villain bent on shattering their shared happiness!
WICCAN & HULKLING REUNITE WITH FAMILY…AND DANGER!
Wiccan & Hulkling gather their known & beloved friends and family to celebrate their wedding anniversary – but everything goes awry when Ultron arrives to reclaim Vision and Viv! Here’s what readers can look forward to:
The issue’s framing story by writer Wyatt Kennedy (Wiccan: Witches’ Road) and artist Stephen Byrne (What If…? Galactus) picks up where Wiccan: Witches’ Road leaves off as Wiccan and Hulkling host an epic anniversary party at their new home, but a certain megalomaniacal robot is eager to have a family reunion of their own and an Ultron army attacks the festivities!
Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara joins Marvel’s Stormbreaker artist Luciano Vecchio (Uncanny X-Men) to deliver an introspective Wiccan and Speed team-up where the twins face off against Ultron while clashing about their own unique perspectives and separate journeys.
Writer Zoe Tunnell (Marvel United: A Pride Special) and artist Rachael Stott (Fantastic Four) bring Hulkling and his alternate universe half-sister Phyla-Vell together to bond over their shared legacy as they combine their mighty Marvelous strength to take down Ultron’s forces!
And acclaimed writer Josh Trujillo (Planet of the Apes vs. Fantastic Four) and rising star Bradley Clayton, making their exciting Marvel Comics debut, reunite father and daughter as Viv Vision deconstructs her own identity—and how it interacts with being a synthezoid—with her dad, Vision.
Check out Russell Dauterman’s main cover along with variant covers by Luciano Vecchio and Javier Garrón. Preorder Wiccan & Hulkling: Raid of Ultron #1 at your local comic shop today!
This year, celebrate Pride Month with one of comics’ most iconic super hero families in Wiccan & Hulkling: Raid of Ultron #1, an all-newMarvel’s Voices one-shot hitting stands May 27.
The special spotlights fan-favorite couple Wiccan and Hulkling along with their amazing—and complex—family including Scarlet Witch, Vision, Speed, and Viv Vision. Bringing together an incredible lineup of superstar LGBTQIA+ talent and rising stars, Wiccan & Hulkling: Raid of Ultron #1 will feature stories by Wyatt Kennedy, Josh Trujillo, Luciano Vecchio, Zoe Tunnell, Rachael Stott, and more! The saga will spotlight the importance of re-centering community in times of darkness as Wiccan and Hulkling join forces with their loved ones to defeat an evil villain bent on shattering their shared happiness!
WICCAN & HULKLING REUNITE WITH FAMILY…AND DANGER!
Wiccan & Hulkling gather their known & beloved friends and family to celebrate their wedding anniversary – but everything goes awry when Ultron arrives to reclaim Vision and Viv!
Here’s what readers can look forward to:
The issue’s framing story by writer Wyatt Kennedy picks up where Wiccan: Witches’ Road leaves off as Wiccan and Hulkling host an epic anniversary party at their new home, but a certain megalomaniacal robot is eager to have a family reunion of their own and an Ultron army attacks the festivities!
Returning from last year’s Marvel United: A Pride Special, writer Zoe Tunnell’s story sees Hulkling and his alternate universe half-sister Phyla-Vell together bond over their shared legacy, exchange advice, and combine their mighty Marvelous strength to take down Ultron’s forces!
Acclaimed writer Josh Trujillo brings father and daughter together again as Viv deconstructs her own identity and how it interacts with being a synthezoid with her dad, Vision.
And more!
Check out Russell Dauterman’s main cover and stay tuned for more information about Wiccan & Hulkling: Raid of Ultron #1 and the reveal of this year’s Pride Variant Covers.
This June, celebrate love with Dark Horse Comics and Tiny Onion’s newest one-shot, Monsters in Love: A Pride Anthology!
This anthology includes ten new standalone stories blending horror and romance in the style of classic EC Comics anthologies by fan-favorite LGBTQIA+ creators, including James Tynion IV, Tate Brombal, Jadzia Axelrod, Vita Ayala, Zoe Tunnell, Josh Trujillo, Lee Knox Ostetag, Kenny Wroten, Jacoby Salcedo, Lilah Sturges, Vash Taylor, and more.
This super-sized special also includes a framing story by the three-time GLAAD Media Award-nominated creative team of The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos. Finally, the one-shot will feature three covers by V. Gagnon, Bradley Clayton, and Rian Sygh and a back-cover by Isaac Goodhart and Miquel Muerto.
Monsters in Love: A Pride Anthology one-shot arrives in comic shops on June 3, 2026 and is now available for pre-order from your local comic shop for $9.99.
Following the success of the horror imprint IDW Dark, IDW Publishing has announced IDW Crime, a line of gripping crime comic books that explore what it takes to turn a saint into a sinner and revels in the twisted, everyday acts of humans that we just can’t look away from.
This May, the shocks begin with Seven Wives from writer Zoe Tunnell and rising star artists V Gagnon and Tesslyn Bergin-Dicoi. Forty-nine witnesses, seven wives, one dead husband… Who’s the murderer? As two detectives investigate a death at a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints compound in remote Arizona, the dark mystery will unravel the horrors of brainwashing and deliver a compelling whodunit that will leave readers guessing until the very end.
In July, Eisner Award-nominated writer Joey Esposito and artist Valeria Burzo present the thrilling true crime serial killer saga Killer Influences #1. Melvin’s a serial killer who craves infamy. His problem? He’s so efficient and methodical that he doesn’t have a brand and no one has connected his crimes — except for Kylie, an aspiring true crime influencer who reaches out to him, hoping his story can help her become a star. The unlikely duo will make a pact to accomplish their dreams… and destroy their lives in the process.
Arriving this September is Fixation #1, a chilling cat-and-mouse thrill ride from writer Amy Chase and artist Savanna Mayer which blends true crime tension and thrills with razor-sharp commentary on fandom and toxic addictions. When superfan Taylor Van Owens and her best friend win a contest to stay at the iconic house from their favorite hit vampire book-turned-movie franchise, the two expect a weekend getaway that will live up to every fangirls’ dream, especially with fans descending on the town and the cast reuniting to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the movie. But a young woman was found dead inside the house, and the killer’s taste for blood isn’t finished. The killer is ready to paint the town red to make sure they’ll go down in the franchise’s history. Everyone has a motive, and the most dangerous person in the room isn’t always who it seems…
The launch titles from the IDW Crime imprint are all three issue limited series, each one 40+ pages for only $4.99 USD.
(W) Al Ewing, Anthony Oliveira, Wyatt Kennedy, Zoe Tunnell (A) Kei Zama, Pablo Collar, Bayleigh Underwood, Federica Mancin (CA) Lucas Werneck Rated T+ In Shops: Jun 11, 2025 SRP: $5.99
MARVEL HEROES UNITE AGAINST FEAR AND HATEMONGERING!
Visionary Marvel creators and bright rising stars deliver an action-packed anthology to take a real look at the world outside your window! From Al Ewing, Captain America of the Railways Aaron Fischer confronts the inimical and despicable Hate-Monger; Anthony Oliveira pens a story about the past that will reshape the future; and more! You won’t want to miss this special of righteous rage, longing love, captivating catharsis and, most of all, solidarity!
(W) Al Ewing, Anthony Oliveira, Wyatt Kennedy, Zoe Tunnell (A) Kei Zama, Pablo Collar, Bayleigh Underwood, Federica Mancin (CA) Lucas Werneck Rated T+ In Shops: Jun 11, 2025 SRP: $5.99
MARVEL HEROES UNITE AGAINST FEAR AND HATEMONGERING!
Visionary Marvel creators and bright rising stars deliver an action-packed anthology to take a real look at the world outside your window! From Al Ewing, Captain America of the Railways Aaron Fischer confronts the inimical and despicable Hate-Monger; Anthony Oliveira pens a story about the past that will reshape the future; and more! You won’t want to miss this special of righteous rage, longing love, captivating catharsis and, most of all, solidarity!
For the fifth consecutive year, Marvel Comics is celebrating LGBTQIA+ creators and characters for Pride Month in a giant-size Pride anthology one-shot. This year’s edition, Marvel United: A Pride Special #1 hits stands on June 11 and will feature four inspirational and action-packed adventures starring iconic and fan-favorite heroes, including members of the Avengers and X-Men. Today, fans can get an early look at all four stories along with all six covers!
Reflecting a wide range of voices, Marvel United: A Pride Special brings together talent from throughout the industry with stories from both established Marvel creators and bright up-and-comers, some of whom are making their exciting Marvel Comics debut.
It’s a real look at the world outside your window with tales from every corner of the Marvel Universe! Here’s what fans can look forward to next week:
Aaron Fischer, aka Captain America of the Railways, teams up with mutant hero Escapade to confront the inimical and despicable Hate-Monger in a pulse-pounding story by visionary writer Al Ewing and acclaimed artist Kei Zama.
Groundbreaking character Arnie Roth fights alongside Captain America against Hydra during the height of World War II in a story about the past that will reshape the future from the superstar team behind the hit Avengers Academy Infinity Comic series, writer Anthony Oliveira and artist Pablo Collar. Also arriving just in time for Pride Month, Avengers Academy: Assemble #1 collects the first six issues of Oliveira’s Avengers Academy Infinity Comic series in print for the first time.
Last year’s Pride special celebrated Mystique and Destiny’s marriage. Now, experience a new chapter in the iconic mutant couple’s decades-spanning romance that touches on parenthood and co-stars their son, Nightcrawler, by author Wyatt Kennedy and artist Bayleigh Underwood in her Marvel Comics debut.
In another exciting Marvel Comics debut, writer Zoe Tunnell teams up with rising star Federica Mancin for a Black Cat heist gone haywire as the super thief finds herself alongside heavenly hero Sera in a dark battle against the fear-inducing demon D’Spayre!
And more, including interviews and insightful essays.
Pick up Marvel United: A Pride Special at your local comic shop on June 11!
After whatever the hell 2023 was, I got back into comics in 2024. The Absolute and Ultimate lines helped me get back into Marvel and DC’s output, and I also finally read some stone cold classics, both old and new, like Starman, GenderQueer, 20th Century Men, and Something is Killing the Children. I really love that I can get Silver Sprocket’s books from Comics Plus and Hoopla from my public library, and even though I’m not a New Year’s Resolution person, I definitely plan on reading more of their catalog in 2025 (Caroline Cash’s Peepee Poopoo calls my name!) as well as the back half of Starman, Planetary, finally finding out what actually happened to Krakoa in the X-Books, and keeping up with new titles. (Metamorpho and New Gods were two year end bangers!)
Without further ado, here are my favorite ten comics of 2024
One of the happiest surprises of 2024 was the release of one last issue of Joe Matt’s Peepshow a year after his untimely passing. This comic deals with Matt moving to Los Angeles to pitch a TV version of Peepshow to HBO and deals with similar subject matter as the previous decades of the book like his frugality, personal feelings of inadequacies, and yes, obsession with Asian women. However, occasional distasteful subject matter aside, Peepshow #15 shows a cartoonist’s cartoonist at the height of his craft with impeccably placed sweat beads and speed lines as Joe Matt has another existential crisis. It’s also a love letter to a comics medium with one of Matt’s friends entreating both him and the reader to pore over some of the comics taking up space in his apartment.
In the launch title for DC’s new Absolute line, Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta, and Frank Martin rebuild and revise the Caped Crusader from the ground up. Absolute Batmantakes elements from Frank Miller’s works, various Bat-films, and Snyder’s previous work with the character to create a beefy, working class Batman, who is currently bestie with what might later become his Rogue’s gallery. Scott Snyder and Dragotta take aim at school shootings, the prison industrial complex, and cryptocurrency while having entertaining action and chase sequences. They’re three issues into building a universe, and I’m excited to see where this book goes in 2025.
Rick Remender, Brian Posehn, Brett Parson, and Moreno Dinisio’s Grommets is a semi-autobiographical love letter to 1980s skate and punk culture set in the Sacramento suburbs. Remender and Posehn draw on their own experiences as teenagers while Parson and Dinisio turn them up to eleven with detailed and period-accurate visuals that are something out of Mad Magazine. It’s fun to watch Rick and Brian’s misadventures and the ups and downs of their friendship, especially once a timer is put on it when Rick’s parents tell him they’re moving to Phoenix. The past few issues of the series have been literal bloodbaths as punks and jocks clash, and of course, the cops don’t take the jocks’ side. Grommets really captures how epic, hilarious, and occasionally sad growing up was.
I read Sami Alwani’s Ignatz-winning “The Happy Art” on his Instagram, but it’s also available in the Pulping “Comics on Comics” anthology. “The Happy Art” is a quite meta comic about how hard it is to appeal to different audiences in comics and also about collective thinking, cancel culture, and all that jazz. Alwani portrays himself as a dog, and the story reaches new heights of absurdity with each page. I love the juxtaposition of Gen Z lingo with a fanatical love for comics as a medium, and how it changes styles and POV with each panel. Saehmeh is indeed based, and so is this very accessible comic.
Zoe Tunnell, Sebastian Piriz, and Rebecca Nalty tell a cute queer love story against the backdrop of kaiju attacks in Godzilla Valentine’s Day Special. Kaiju romcom is kind of the perfect subgenre, and Tunnell gives the full progression of the relationship between unemployed burnout-turned-monster chaser Piper and Earth Defense Force soldier Tam from loathing to sweet loving. On the art side, Piriz gets to dig deep into Toho’s library of critters, including a battle royale between Godzilla and MechaGodzilla that shows that building bigger bombs and weapons doesn’t lead to peace, but just more war. It’s also interesting to see the portrayal of the King of Monsters change as the book progresses from something jarring and life-changing to just a reality of life. This could also be a metaphor for the progression of a romantic relationship as well.
5. Belly Full of Heart (Silver Sprocket)
Madeline Mouse’s Belly Full of Heart is queer softness, love, and desire in fluid comic book short story format. Mouse uses pomegranates, starfish, cars, Adidas slides, and more as visual metaphors for love. Their vignettes flow from page to page and color palette to palette in a way that feels like a warm hug multiplied by eleven. Belly Full of Heart throws plot out of the window and focuses on feelings and vibes instead. It’s also full of silly humor with “Kissin’ at the beach/Pissin’ at the beach” getting inducted into the kind of rhyming couplet hall of fame. Belly Full of Heart captures the feeling of being 100% yourself around another person as Madeline Mouse rejects rigid panel boundaries and embraces hand lettering to craft one of the most beautiful and gender euphoric comics of 2024.
I know that Midnight Radio technically came out in 2019, but it got a special edition remaster from writer/artist Iolanda Zanfardino so it’s eligible for my “Favorite Comics of 2024” list. Using a distinct color palette for each protagonist, Midnight Radio follows the lives of a diverse cast of characters brough together by a mysterious radio message urging them to be their own authentic selves. There’s a plotline with a healthcare company being responsible for the deaths of many people that was painfully relevant last year, and Zanfardino explores even more social issues like racism, xenophobia, social media addiction, and violence against queer people throughout her story. However, the main draw of Midnight Radio for me was the characters breaking off the shackles of corporate jobs, corrupt cops, unwelcoming families, and societal pressure and finding fulfillment through a variety of types of art, including indie games, music, and more!
Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, and Phil Noto’s Ultimates is anti-imperialist team superhero comic published by the world’s largest entertainment corporation that is also an ode to the single issue. As a collective unit, Ultimates builds to the assembling of Earth-6160’s mightiest heroes and the return of the Maker. However, Camp does the opposite of writing for the trade and gives each single issue its own flair. For example, Ultimates #4 is about Dr. Doom trying to bring the Fantastic Four back and can be read in five distinct ways to tell his tragic story with Noto channeling his inner Dave Gibbons and creating gorgeous symmetry. Deniz Camp and Frigeri connect new takes on She-Hulk and Hawkeye to the violence done towards the indigenous people of the Pacific islands and North America and breathe new life into old school anti-fascists Captain America and Jim Hammond’s Human Torch. Ultimates feels a lot like if Angela Davis wrote the Avengers, and that is a high compliment.
Influenced by comic book history as well as his own experiences as a cartoonist, Chip Zdarsky’s Public Domainis part love/hate letter to the medium and dysfunctional family drama. Public Domain #6-10 shows how the sausage is made with Dallas Comics trying to beat the clock and their new take on iconic superhero, The Domain. Along the way, there are old men arguing at bars, thinly veiled analogues for “star” comic book creators, and a look back at a love affair. Public Domain shows the difficulty of being creative under corporate constraints and also having a personal life while being caught up in the wringer of the comic book industry. It comes across as a real passion project for Zdarsky who crams each issue with visual gags, parodies, and of course, heartfelt moments.
Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, and David Messina’sUltimate Spider-Man was twelve issues of comic book comfort food as Peter Parker gets his powers as a thirty-something and must learn how to use them in a world undergirded by evil and corruption. In opposition to certain other writers and editors, Ultimate Spider-Man shows that a married with children Spider-Man comic can be compelling. There’s nothing like struggling fighting the Shocker while one kid knows your secret identity, and the other doesn’t and is kind of besties with J. Jonah Jameson. Speaking of Jameson, the story that showcased him and Uncle Ben digging into the Kingpin and Oscorp might have been the single issue of the year as the two old school newspapermen show their work and speak truth to power. On the art side, Checchetto brings a sleek high tech sheen to the suits and fights while not losing that classic Spider-Man charm, and Messina does a good job of holding down the fort in his fill-in issues. All in all, Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) is the Spider-Man comic I needed at 31 like Ultimate Spider-Man (2000) was the Spider-Man comic I needed at 13, and I love that it wrapped up its first year with a dark, Empire Strikes Back type ending.
Just in time for the big greeting card holiday, Zoe Tunnell, Sebastian Piriz, and Rebecca Nalty give readers a sweet, gay kaiju treat in the form of Godzilla Valentine’s Day Special. This one-shot chronicles a growing slow-burn romance between an unemployed burnout-turned-monster chaser named Piper Simmons and Lieutenant Tam Sauveterre, an officer in the Earth Defense Force, a self-explanatory peacekeeping force. It’s set against a tapestry of deep-cut monster fights, a variety of locations, and interrogates the relationship that the world has to the existence of Godzilla and the various upheavals he and his buddies cause through two different perspectives. But it’s also very cute and flirty.
Within the first two pages of Godzilla Valentine’s Special, Tunnell and Piriz grabbed my attention as a reader. I’ve definitely worked some dead end jobs and pondered, “What if Godzilla showed up?”, and this comic gave me my wish. Piriz uses contained square and rectangle before opening up to Godzilla’s side profile and finally giving a poster-worthy double page spread of Godzilla taking out an office building with explosions, sound effects, and helicopters all around. His take on the King of Monsters swallows up the page and is more like a natural landmark than an action figure-type figure. Piper has almost a spiritual experience, and of course, she ends up chasing monsters after her work lays her off in a “restructuring move” after the collapse of their building.
Initially, Piper is a typical thrill seeker posting about monsters on social media and being reckless. Her meet cute with Tam involves being almost hit by debris in Singapore, and Nalty’s jarring color palette and aggressive effects lettering from Johanna Nattalie drive the sequence home. However, she ends up having a full arc throughout the course of Godzilla Valentine’s Day Special and turns her theories about how EDF’s militarism and radiation leaks around have led to the rise of the kaiju into praxis as she ends up doing EDF’s job better than them and eventually and unexpectedly earns Tam’s respect. Mutual respect is what leads to their romantic relationship, and there’s nice bookends of Piper saving Tam after they saved her towards the beginning of the comic.
There’s definitely flirting (Tam’s job offer), glances, and physical touch, but Godzilla Valentine’s Special is chock-full of the social commentary that is why his stories are so compelling for me. The big action climax of the comic is a fight between Godzilla and the EDF constructed MechaGodzilla, who Godzilla sees as a predator. Piper lectures Tam on how using military ways of fighting Godzilla just leads to more war and destruction instead of figuring out ways to adapt to his and other monsters’ presence in the ecosystem. I mean, how many times in the films have you seen Godzilla save Earth from bigger, badder monsters. Piper’s ideas about dealing with Godzilla could be a metaphor for anything from climate change to any number of ongoing wars, crises, and genocides as she goes for smarter, more ethical solutions instead of just throwing money and weapons at a problem like the United States government and its corporate cronies. However, the personal angle between her and Tam keeps the comic approachable and not preachy. The relationship between Tam and Piper is relatable for anyone who has had a strong attraction to someone that they had ideological differences with, in say, a leftist versus liberal way.
Godzilla Valentine’s Special is a beautiful story about two people finding each other in the middle of years of turmoil that happen to involve giant monsters. Zoe Tunnell gives lovely arcs to both Tam and Piper, and her dialogue is full of emotion while Sebastian Piriz and Rebecca Nalty make sparks fly with the big monster battles as well plenty of close-ups of our protagonists coming to terms with their feelings. This is a must-read for fans of kaiju stories, queer romances, or both like yours truly!
(W) Zoe Tunnell (A/CA) Dani Pendergast In Shops: Feb 07, 2024 SRP: $4.99
Is there anything as romantic as seeing the world together? Hopping from country to country to take in the sights and splendor in the fleeting seconds before Godzilla smashes the skyline? Truly, there’s nothing like the thrill of an international game of cat and mouse between an intrepid amateur kaiju researcher and a global kaiju-response lieutenant. But when you’re up against Godzilla, it’s hard to have a bigger “CRUSH.”
