4 min read
Recent Marvel Events to Spec
Last weekend had so much goodness in regards to Spec. It was good to eagerly anticipate Hall H at SDCC again. While Marvel definitely brought the heat there were a few more things announced that were interesting. In our scoop information starved spec world many of the MCU announcements were not news. Namor had been known for a while and if you missed out on picking up his keys you were paying for them Sunday. What I found interesting and maybe where I will spend my money on the cheap side of the spec is with the Marvel Comic Announcements. The Comic announcements are a good way to see what Marvel believes in, which new characters are they giving their own comic, or if a costume change going to be important. A few announcements caught my eye but didn’t move the needle as much as I hoped.
- Tiger Division is getting its own comic.
- Gold Goblin – Norman Osborn and Peter’s new friendship/relationship is explored
- Fantastic Four – Might have an East and West Coast Division
- Judgement Day – Hickman does another huge event. Secret Wars was huge and has MCU love now so maybe?
These will all be heavily ordered and worth grabbing a copy, but I want to look back at another event that didn’t get as much love.
Death of Doctor Strange
This mini-series was strategically planned to coincide with all the movie hype. I rarely pick up these mini-series because I have been burned so many times on the spec. I am exhausted by big event comics that crossover multiple comics, but in hindsight, this was a good crossover event because instead of crossing into a bunch of currently running series and messing with the creative team they created one-shots that highlighted seldom used characters.
I don’t really care about the main story, though it was good. I will focus on the One-shots. One-shots can a good indication of who Marvel believes in, but is not quite sure if they are ready for a full book.
I am not going to cover every book on the list. A list like this is usually the reason I subscribe to Marvel Unlimited to make sure I read all the books in order. I am focusing on the 3-4 characters who are getting newfound spec love.
Death of Doctor Strange: X-men/Black Knight #1
In this story, you get to see the recently introduces Jack working with her father the Black Knight to fight demonic X-men. Jack was introduced in the Black Knight: Ebony Blade storyline. At the very end of this issue, you find out that she is also a mutant and she doesn’t know. Similar to how they ret-conned Ms. Marvel as a mutant in the show.
Death of Doctor Strange: BloodStone
This issue was no secret. Bloodstone has been a highly specced upon character. Just do a quick search on the site and you will find multiple articles about her. Marvel still can’t figure out how to give her own comic book series, but in this issue, they added to her family. She now has a long-lost/forgotten sister with some serious power. This was the only one-shot with an incentive and a 2nd print. I have multiple copies of the gorgeous Nakayama cover.
Death of Doctor Strange: White Fox
In this issue, you get some of White Fox’s origin story and another appearance of the Tiger Division with a little Agents of Atlas sprinkled in. With the newly announced Tiger Division story, I want to secure a few copies of their first appearance and this is their 2nd appearance.
Strange Academy Presents: Death of Doctor Strange
This book has some unwarranted hype because key collector declared it a first appearance of Howie even though he had more appearances early on in the Strange Academy series. They have since treated the book as an “identity reveal”??
I like the book because all the students at Strange Academy are sent home and you see their home life. Del Mundo illustrates a brilliant Weird World tale for the enchantress’s sons.
Each student gets a Skottie Young story from a different artist.
Wrap Up
I didn’t highlight all the books just the ones that interested me. The ones that touched Spiderman and the Avengers didn’t have much to spec on. Usually, things that happen to main characters don’t have long ramifications in their main stories. The new characters don’t have enough back story so any new information helps add to their story and will have an influence on their future development.