Mark Millar is teasing a new Marvel Comics project he says will be bigger than Civil War. Chris Condon and Alessandro Cappuccio are doing something for the Ultimate Universe. Absolute Batman reportedly has sold over 200,000 copies to comic book stores.
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Episode Transcript:
Mark Millar teases new Marvel project.
Chris Condon joins Ultimate Universe.
Absolute Batman debuts big.
This is Comic Book Club News for September 27, 2024.
Mark Millar Teases New Marvel Comics Project:
Mark Millar is teasing a new Marvel Comics project. And because he can’t stop, won’t stop, he is claiming that the idea he has is bigger than Civil War. To be clear, Civil War the Marvel Comics series, not the American conflict from the 1800s. Something bigger than that would be very bad. Though it’s possible this comic might also be bad, as Millar was very light on details.
The news was revealed during Millar’s recent appearance on the Word Balloon podcast. During a rambling story about some big ideas he’s been alluding to for a while, Millar explained that he had an incredible idea for a Superman story, signed up to do it for DC Comics, and then also had an amazing idea for a Marvel Comics story. After someone told him that Superman would be public domain in a few years, pulled out of his deal with DC, and pivoted to the Marvel story instead.
Said Millar recounting speaking to EIC CB Cebulski “I said to CB, I only want to do something at Marvel if I can make it bigger than Civil War, or else what’s the point? I’m not going to come in and do an Iceman series or something like that. I only want to come in and do something that’s going to be bigger than Civil War, and the thing I have is way bigger than Civil War, and Civil War is the biggest-selling graphic novel Marvel’s ever had. The biggest in history.”
First, rude to Iceman. Second, though Millar will continue to do his work on Dark Horse’s Millarworld comic books, he claims he’ll also be spending 12 weeks working on this series bigger than Civil War. What is it about? TBD, but knowing Millar I’m guessing it’ll be Spider-Man but he’s inside out or something. More on this as it develops.
Chris Condon And Alessandro Cappuccio Are Joining Marvel’s Ultimate Universe:
Here’s a merry Marvel mystery: what are writer Chris Condon and artist Alessandro Cappuccio doing in Marvel’s Ultimate Universe? Specifically, why are they listed as creators on Marvel’s Ultimate Universe: One Year In?
While the issue, which checks in on the villains of the rebooted universe, was originally solicited with writer Deniz Camp and artist Jonas Scharf, Condon and Cappuccio have been added to the roster. Condon himself teased the addition on X (formerly Twitter), with a screencap of a fan asking about his involvement, the cover, and a little thinking emoji.
When Condon was asked what he was cooking, he mysteriously replied, “Just a lil somethin something.”
So is that something assisting the main team on the issue? A backup story, perhaps? And could it spin off into a new Ultimate Universe series? We’ll know more when the issue hits stores on December 11, 2024.
Absolute Batman Reportedly Debuting To 200,000 Orders:
Absolute Batman is about to have an absolutely huge debut, fitting for the extremely large take on the character from writer Scott Snyder and artist Nick Dragotta.
Per Bleeding Cool, the first issue has topped 200,000 copies ordered by comic book shops and may surpass 250,000 thanks to an as-yet-unannounced second printing. According to the site, the sell-out and second printing will be announced for a final order cut-off date of October 7 and hit stores on October 30. It will feature several covers by Dragotta, Mike Deodato Jr., and more.
If accurate, that’s a pretty quick turnaround from the first printing going on sale on October 9.
Also of note here, these are orders by comic book stores, not actual sales to customers, though some may have pre-ordered the book. How Absolute Batman #1 actually sells is TBD. And complicating things in terms of deciding how big this is, most companies don’t report actual sales numbers.
To give some sense of scale, IDW revealed that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 in July sold over 300,000 copies to comic book stores. And Dynamite trumpeted 170,000 copies for ThunderCats #1 in February. However, according to ICv2’s charts, which track sales at select stores to customers, both of those issues came in second to those months on units sold to Marvel comic books. Since we don’t have figures from Marvel, either Uncanny X-Men #1 and Ultimate Spider-Man #2 were massive best-sellers, or the amount of copies being pre-sold to stores does not equal copies being sold to customers.
Either way, this is a promising sign for the kick-off of DC’s new, Absolute Universe. We’ll see how it all pans out over the next few months.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And in inside-out Spider-Man. What will Mark Millar think of next?
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