Marvel Monsters Clash With Marvel Heroes In ‘Monsters Unleashed’

Several weeks ago, Marvel cryptically teased an upcoming event codenamed "MU," eventually revealed to stand for Monsters Unleashed, a new event comic scheduled for January 2016. Today, Marvel released more information about the event that sees classic Marvel monsters such as Fin Fang Foom, Goom, and even Groot clashing with the heroes of the Marvel Universe.

Announced via Entertainment Weekly, Monsters Unleashed promises that every Marvel Monster from before the Heroic Age of Marvel will team-up to take on the heroes that supplanted them in the print hierarchy, although I doubt that's their motivation. According to Marvel's editor-in-chief Axel Alonso, this event will be a great opportunity for the heroes of the Marvel Universe to unite against a common enemy after the events of Civil War II tore them apart.

The event is described as a tribute to Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the other creators that kept Marvel going before the publisher struck big with Fantastic Four #1. Colloquially, many of these monsters are referred to as Kirby Monsters, and his 100th birthday would have been in 2017, so this is a timely celebration of his extraordinary creativity.

The event will be written by Uncanny X-Men's Cullen Bunn, with art split between superstar artists Steve McNiven, Leinil Yu, Adam Kubert, Salvador Larroca, and also Greg Land. Each artist will draw a particular issue, similar to the X-Men event Schism from a few years back, and the event will be published bi-weekly beginning in January.

Editor Mark Paniccia promises, "If you’ve got a personal favorite, chances are very good you’ll see them causing some mayhem in this series." So I'll be keeping a very close eye out for Spragg The Living Hill.

Gallery: The Best of Jack Kirby's Marvel Monsters