USAvengers

This month, in Marvel’s March solicitations, we've got some surprising returns, a most welcome homecoming, and the Marvel Comics debut of one of the best superhero cartoonists in the business today.

The Marvel Universe is full of superhero teams, but when the United States of America is particularly threatened, there's one team dedicated to standing up for the nation: A.I.M. Yes, that's the same A.I.M. that made MODOK, but the super-science collective has already been revamped into a force for good in the pages of New Avengers, thanks to the efforts of Roberto DaCosta, aka Sunspot. And now Avengers Idea Mechanics (the New Avengers) is becoming American Intelligence Mechanics (the U.S.Avengers) for reasons that will only become clear in the series itself. Check out a preview of U.S.Avengers #1.

There's a lot of reasons right now not to feel super great about being an American, but one reason to celebrate is the impending release of Marvel's USAvengers by Al Ewing and Paco Medina. The new series sees Sunspot's Avengers Idea Mechanics go national and government sponsored, and to commemorate the first issue Marvel has over fifty variant covers by Rod Reis, one for every state in the union and some more besides.

When Marvel's new U.S.Avengers, by Al Ewing, and Paco Medina, launches in January, the first issue is going to have 52 variant covers by Rod Reis, depicting an Avenger for each American State --- as well as Puerto Rico and Canada. It's unclear (if unlikely) whether the characters will have any connection to those states in the narrative, but since there will be 52 of them, most probably won't even be in the book.

The current volume of New Avengers is a comic that I’d generally recommend in a heartbeat. Al Ewing’s cross-title examination of what it means to be an Avenger and a superhero in books like this, Mighty Avengers and The Ultimates have been some of favorites of the past few years. However, since the launch of the volume last year there has been one consistent problem with the book that hasn’t been addressed, and that is the continued whitewashing of Roberto da Costa AKA Sunspot.

Marvel's next big line launch was formally unveiled this week via a special edition of Marvel Previews, including new #1s for Avengers, Venom, Captain Marvel, and Star-Lord, new launches for Champions, Jessica Jones, Kingpin, Bullseye, Slapstick, and Solo, and new concepts in Occupy Avengers, Iron Fists, Mosaic, Infamous Iron Man, and Unstoppable Wasp. Following our roundtable discussion of DC Rebirth, the ComicsAlliance team got together to break down the highs and lows of the new Marvel NOW. Join Elle Collins, James Leask, Katie Schenkel, Kieran Shiach, and Andrew Wheeler as they pick out the books they're most excited about and the books they're concerned about, and discuss Marvel's approach to legacy heroes and the state of diversity at Marvel today.

Yesterday we reported on the leaking of Marvel Comics' Marvel Previews free magazine, unveiling their entire post-Civil War II line-up including comics such as The Unstoppable Wasp, Solo, Foolkiller and Prowler. Today, the magazine has officially been released via comic stores and online, confirming even more titles and creative teams, including a Kate Bishop Hawkeye book and the much awaited Gamora solo title from Guardians of the Galaxy screenwriter Nicole Perlman.

Marvel’s reveal of its Marvel NOW line of comics set for release in the wake of Civil War II has taken the form of a steady drip of announcements over the past week and a half, but now news is flooding in, and not all from official sources. Leaked scans of this week's Marvel NOW Previews magazine revealing the publisher's line-up for October and beyond have hit the internet via sites such as Reddit and 4chan. We’ve rounded up all the information we could find to give you a sense of the new landscape of the Marvel Universe this fall.

Yesterday, Marvel Comics gave us a hint at the post-Civil War II future of its line, and it seems the rollout of announcements has officially begun with the unveiling of a new Avengers title, USAvengers. Written by Al Ewing, USAvengers is led by Roberto Da Costa, AKA Sunspot, and features some of the Marvel Universe's most patriotic characters including Red Hulk, a new Iron Patriot and a Captain America from a possible future.