Jason Aaron is temporarily taking over Action Comics at DC Comics for a new anthology approach on the series. Marvel is teasing a new Ultimate Universe, the End of the Krakora era, a vampire themed crossover and more. And Lore Olympus is ending at Webtoon. All on Comic Book Club News for October 16, 2023.
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Episode Transcript:
Big shakeups on Superman.
Marvel teases upcoming storylines.
Lore Olympus ending.
This is Comic Book Club News for October 16, 2023.
Jason Aaron Takes Over Action Comics For DC (Temporarily):
In case you’ve been living under a rock, this past weekend was New York Comic Con. And publishers pulled out all the stops to cut through the noise, in order to try and reach even those living under rocks. One story that did make waves? Or break rocks? A big shakeup on DC Comics’ Superman titles.
There’s a lot to sift through, but the short version is that writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson is leaving Action Comics after his three-year-long run. And Jason Aaron, previously of Marvel’s The Avengers, is taking over, temporarily. And the overall line will get a rebranding as “Superman Superstars” for the year.
Aaron’s story will kick off in Action Comics #1061, along with artist John Timms. Titled “I, Bizarro,” the story will run three issues. Next up, Joshua Williamson takes over in Action Comics #1064, with artist Rafa Sandoval, paying off the Braniac story Williamson has been teasing for the past few years across various titles.
Johnson isn’t quite done with Superman, though. On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Johnson revealed that he’s “not going anywhere, and I’m not even done writing Superman. The threads we began in the Warworld Saga are leading to something big, bigger than just one character, one series or even one writer.”
And in fact, it seems that Action Comics will continue to rotate every three issues or so, with top-name writers and artists taking over for new stories. Not quite an anthology, but something along those lines. So, which Superman Superstar team will be next?
Marvel Teases Ultimate Universe, End Of Krakoa Era, More:
Saturday was a big day for Marvel, with a ton of announcements coming out of the House of Ideas.
First up, as previously reported on Comic Book Club News, Marvel’s Ultimate Universe line is back in a big way. In addition to the previously announced Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto, two other titles will join the line-up. Bryan Hill and Stefano Caselli will tackle Ultimate Black Panther; and Peach Momoko will handle both writing and art on Ultimate X-Men.
Then there’s the end of the X-Men’s Krakoa era, which Marvel officially confirmed will begin in January. The Fall of the House of X will follow the present timeline, with the mutants trying one last ditch effort to stop villains Orchis. Meanwhile, Rise of the Powers of X will pick up 10 years later with Orchis victorious, and ready to bring on the Big Bad Phalanx and destroy the world. And in the middle will run Resurrection of Magneto. Which will… Resurrect Magneto.
That wasn’t the end of the announcements, though. Chip Zdarsky and Daniel Acuña will visit a future without Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Avengers Twilight, starting in January. Blood Hunt pits the heroes of Marvel against vampires, a big crossover event starting next Spring. And most importantly, Marvel’s digital comics animals including Alligator Loki, Jeff the land-shark, Captain Marvel’s flerkin Chewie, and Lucky the Pizza Dog will team up for a new title called Infinity Paws. Which is very close to a pun, but not a pun.
I would have gone for Infinity Paw-nlet, but I don’t work for Marvel so whatever.
Lore Olympus Ending:
…and in what is arguably a bigger story than both of the previous two, Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus is ending at Webtoon.
After winning her third consecutive Harvey Award for the hit series at New York Comic Con, Smythe announced the series is coming to a close. The romance comic is a retelling of the relationship between Hades and Persephone, so it was always going to have an end point. But in the intervening time, Lore Olympus has nabbed over 1.5 billion views on Webtoon, and reached #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List multiple times thanks to print editions from Penguin Random House.
“It has been such a joy to see the world of Lore Olympus resonate with readers worldwide, and I’m so grateful to the fans for their continued support of this series year after year,” said Rachel Smythe via a press release provided to Comic Book Club News. “It has been an incredible journey building this story on Webtoon, and to have my work recognized by my esteemed industry peers during New York Comic Con is an absolute honor.”
The final arc of Lore Olympus will be serialized on Webtoon starting on November 24, and run throughout 2024. After the series’s conclusion, it will remain available for Webtoon subscribers. And presumably available at some point after that in a trade collection.
Lore Olympus also has an animated series in development with The Jim Henson Company, so don’t worry, there’s plenty lore to come. I mean, more.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And you can go back under your rock again.
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