Marvel is launching a new miniseries starring The Thing. Book bans target children’s books. Marvel teases status quo change for Fantastic Four.
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Episode Transcript:
The Thing clobbers his way into Marvel miniseries
Book bans target children’s books.
Marvel teases Fantastic Four status quo change.
This is Comic Book Club News for December 10, 2024.
New The Thing Miniseries Coming From Marvel:
Okay, here’s The Thing: Tony Fleecs and Leonard Kirk are tackling a new, five issue limited series starring the Ever Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing, clobbering its way into stores from Marvel next year.
Said Fleecs via press release provided to Comic Book Club: “What I love about Ben Grimm is that he’s just a regular hardworking guy–who happens to have super powers. He’s Jack Kirby. He’s not easily impressed by all of the outlandish, cosmic stuff constantly going on around him. The fun thing about this book is trying to figure out– ‘okay, then what WOULD surprise the Thing? What WOULD catch him off guard?’”
In the series, Ben tries to take down a criminal conspiracy that has ties to Yancy Street. And along the way, he’ll battle everyone from Bullseye to the Juggernaut. That’s pretty surprising!
The Thing #1 hits stores on March 5.
Book Bans Inordinately Target Children’s Books, Studies Find:
Unfortunately, book bans are back in the news, thanks to a study in the Mississippi Free Press. And not only do they inordinately target children’s literature including graphic novels, and characters and authors of color… But they’re getting worse.
Per the study, the OGN Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe is still the most banned book in America. And book bans grew exponentially, from 3,362 in the 2022-2023 school year, to over 10,000 during the 2023-2024 school year. Florida and Iowa alone accounted for 8,000 of those book bans.
Perhaps the most interesting and revealing bit of data in the study? Per the report, “while most book bans occurred in counties with a Republican majority, they were even more likely to occur in counties where that majority had decreased over the previous two decades. Districts where the majority had increased or grown stronger since 2000 were less likely to ban books.”
To the point of this podcast, as noted by SKTCHD in a recent column, book bans in the United States are expanding to include things like banning all manga, a wildly alarming trend.
We’ll have more on this as it develops.
Marvel Teases Fantastic Four Status Quo Change:
Next year, the Marvel universe is about to experience One World Under Doom. And in a shocking twist of events, in One World Under Doom #2 (of 9), the Fantastic Four do not defeat Doom and save the day, seven issues before the end of the series. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Said writer Ryan North via press release: “Things really kick off in One World Under Doom #2. Doom is consolidating his power, and of course, the only thing that’s really standing between him and his ambitions is the Fantastic Four. So, Doom simply solves that problem. The way he does it will have repercussions for the FF for quite a while! This issue in particular is basically a surprise secret issue of Fantastic Four – and anyone reading that book will not want to miss it.”
If you’ve been paying attention, it seems like in One World Under Doom #1 the Avengers take on Doom, who is now Sorcerer Supreme and has declared himself Emperor of Earth… And failed. In One World Under Doom #2, it’s the Fantastic Four’s turn. Unfortunately for them, they “confront their archenemy—with disastrous consequences. Proving no match of Doom’s augmented magic, it’s a brutal defeat that will redefine Marvel’s First Family for the foreseeable future.”
The issue hits stores on March 19, 2025.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And that was like a Fantastic Four sandwich!
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