yasmine putri

It’s that blessed time of the year where we all try to take stock of what we’ve done with our lives and what other people have created that we enjoyed. That's right, it's time to start putting together our "Best of 2016" lists, and today we're going to take a look at the Best Marvel Covers of 2016.

Marvel unveiled its July variant cover theme at C2E2 this past weekend, and the pictures definitely tell a story. As a follow-up to March's "Women of Power" covers, which highlighted the strength of Marvel's heroic women, the July covers are dubbed "Mighty Men of Marvel." While "covers with men on them" might seem like an unremarkable theme, given that it describes most Marvel covers already, it's clear from the art released thus far that the concept was meant to be more bold than that --- but it's equally clear that Marvel missed its target.

Well, this is weird. Mary Jane Watson, model, nightclub owner, and ex-wife of Peter Parker (it's a fact, you gotta deal with it) is making a transfer to the Iron Man supporting cast in the fourth issue of Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez's Invincible Iron Man this December. Marvel made the announcement on its website today, declaring that she will take on a new, "unexpected" role.

Starbrand & Nightmask. It sounds like a two-stage rejuvenating skincare treatment, but it's actually the title of Marvel's newly announced ongoing series from writer Greg Weisman and artist Dominike 'Domo' Stanton, starring former Avengers writer Jonathan Hickman's young Marvel Universe versions of two New Universe concepts. These are characters who used to spend their time wiping out alien armadas with a blink of an eye, now they'll be enrolling on university courses and going on adventures. It's all a little unexpected. Settle in, and I'll try to explain.

She's a brilliant young mutant who grew up in the superhero game. He's a roguish adventurer from the wrong side of the universe. Together, Kitty Pryde and Star-Lord are one of the most surprising and popular new couples in the Marvel Universe, known to their fans as 'Starkat'. But now, with the coming of Secret Wars, their universe is ending, and that's a big challenge for any relationship. ComicsAlliance can exclusively reveal that the next stage of the Starkat story will take place in a new Secret Wars 'Battleworld' book called Star-Lord And Kitty Pryde, written by Legendary Star-Lord writer Sam Humphries, and drawn by Marvel newcomer Alti Firmansyah, with the first issue cover by Yasmine Putri. We spoke to Humphries to learn more.