The new X-Men team leaders — and some of the teams — have been revealed in this week’s Women of Marvel #1. It’s Superman’s birthday! Marvel is sticking to $3.99 as a price tag for most comics. All on Comic Book Club News for February 29, 2024.
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Episode Transcript:
New X-Men teams revealed.
It’s Superman’s birthday!
Marvel holding the line at $3.99.
This is Comic Book Club News for February 29, 2024.
New X-Men Teams Revealed In Women Of Marvel #1:
This Wednesday saw the release of the annual Women of Marvel #1. And while you should pick up the anthology issue anyway for great stories written by Gail Simone, Sarah Rees Brennan, Erica Schultz, and more, the surprise stand-out is the final story, “The Future Is Here,” written by Celeste Bronfman with pencils and inks by Leila Leiz. Because the story reveals a whole lot more about the post-Krakoa-era X-Men teams.
In fact, the teams are teased in a forward by Angélique Roché, who notes that “Rogue and Kate Pryde will each be leading a new X-Men team – more to come as details on the summer 2024 X-Men launches are released.”
And then in the short story, we get to see Madame Web taken captive by Mister Negative. While he wants her to show him his future, she instead does one of those classic “here’s what’s coming from Marvel in the next year” type pages. Most of what we see has already been reported on this podcast, like Spider-Gwen getting trapped in the main Marvel Universe, or Jackpot and Black Cat getting their own title.
But the main event is three glimpses at the future of the X-Men. The first shows Rogue leading a team that includes Gambit, Wolverine in the classic yellow and blue, and Nightcrawler. The second shows Kate Pryde punching through the ground in front of Emma Frost, with three shadowy figures behind them. And the final glimpse is Storm back in her mohawk era, giving some sort of speech while a crowd looks thoughtfully on.
While this is far from “here’s your new X-Men and Uncanny X-Men titles,” it is a surprising drop of highly speculated-about information in an unexpected way. And it just made Women of Marvel #1 a must buy.
Happy Birthday Superman!
Today is February 29, aka Leap Day, which occurs once every four years. You knew that. But did you know that February 29 is also Superman’s birthday?
While there’s a fair amount of debate and contradictory information about this, Leap Day was first named Superman’s birthday in World’s Finest Comics #164 from 1966. Assistant to the Editor E. Nelson Bridwell answered a question about Superman’s birthday, based on a storyline in a recent comic, in the letter’s page of the issue. There, he revealed Superman was born on a Kryptonian day that coincides with February 29.
That’s the actual origin, but the birthday didn’t really catch on until 1976’s Super DC Calendar, which listed birthdays for all of the DC characters, as well as assorted holidays. In fact, according to the calendar Bruce Wayne was born on February 19, Hal Jordan was born on February 20, and most hilariously in a space next to Superman’s birthday on February 29 there’s a picture of the character we now call The Captain that says “Captain Marvel chose February 29 for his birthday, too!” Which I don’t think is a thing you can do? But anyway.
Letter’s pages and merchandise calendars aren’t actually canon, though, all apologies to letter’s pages and calendars. But the date was canonized in 1985’s Superman Annual #11, one of the greatest Superman stories of all time. Written by Alan Moore with art by Dave Gibbons, the story, “For the Man Who Has Everything…” establishes right at the top that Superman’s birthday is February 29 when Batman and Wonder Woman visit him at the Fortress of Solitude.
There have been other dates mentioned. June 18 was the date the Kents celebrated Clark’s birthday in 1973’s Superman #263. And April 18 is the day DC says Action Comics #1 hit stands, so that date has been used as Superman’s birthday in comics, as well.
But ultimately, those have fallen by the wayside. Happy birthday, Superman!
Marvel Holding To $3.99 Price Tag For Most Comics:
Way back in 2011, DC Comics made a catchphrase out of their comic book pricing with the maxim “hold the line at $2.99.” While that didn’t last, Marvel is making a similar promise to retailers and fans, that going forward they’ll hold the line at $3.99. Except in a bunch of cases where they won’t.
The news, via ICv2, came during Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley’s speech at this past weekend’s ComicsPRO, which I promised I was done talking about here on this podcast, but I straight up lied. In his keynote, Buckley stated that, “The bulk of the line will be $3.99… Number ones and top titles with top talent and top characters will be priced at $4.99.” He added that event books, one-shots, and anniversary issues, which currently sometimes stretch as high as $9.99 will also surpass $3.99, but will be more consistent in their pricing across the board.
Honestly not as catchy as what DC did, but we’ll take it.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And if I’ve done my math right, Superman is 22 years old today. Weird.
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