Updated: Marvel Comics Hopes for a “Fresh Start” in its Long-Rumored Line-Wide Relaunch
Big Changes—and Familiar Faces—are Coming to the House of Ideas in May
Main Art by Jim Cheung
Marvel Comics has been no stranger to line-wide initiatives in the last five years, frequently rebranding direction alongside scattershot title relaunches, new characters taking over familiar titles and shakeups in the wake of events like Civil War II and Secret Empire. Most recently, Marvel restored many of its titles to “legacy numbering,” counting all (or most, anyway) issues of a title published across multiple volumes, suddenly jumping new series like Mighty Captain Marvel into the triple digits. This May, however, Marvel is going even bigger with a line-wide relaunch, long rumored in industry circles, as teased by the “Fresh Start” video released this morning.
It’s not clear if “Fresh Start” will be the relaunch’s official title, but the announcement video, which features clips from Editor in Chief C.B. Cebulski and Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada, teases “new series, new creative teams, new directions [and] new beginnings,” with Quesada promising “Fresh Start” will be the perfect jumping-on-point for both new fans and lapsed readers, a clear correlation to DC Comics’ successful “Rebirth” relaunch that began in 2016.
Marvel “Fresh Start” Promotional Artwork by Jim Cheung
The teaser image, with art from Marvel mainstay Jim Cheung, mostly centers characters with a high multi-media profile, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s newest star, Black Panther; upcoming MCU headliners Ant-Man, Wasp and Captain Marvel; and Netflix favorites like Punisher, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. Rather than bold new redesigns, Cheung’s promotional art finds Captain America, Iron Man, Thor Odinson, Spider-Man Peter Parker and the Bruce Banner Hulk in more iconic looks than they’ve sported in recent years. Popular recent additions like Ms. Marvel, the Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider and the Miles Morales Spider-Man are prominently displayed, but there’s a notable absence of characters like Moon Girl, Falcon, Ironheart, the Kate Bishop Hawkeye, Amadeus Cho, Gwenpool and Squirrel-Girl, all of whom disrupted the white-male dominance of mainstream comics and received big pushes by Marvel in recent years. And while mutants are ably represented by Wolverine, Jean Grey, Gambit and Deadpool, no Inhumans aside from Ms. Marvel have made the cut.
Full title and creator information for the May relaunch should arrive in the next two weeks, as solicitation text for that month will feed to retailers soon. IGN has the first scoop to kick off the new era: Marvel Legacy writer Jason Aaron and artist Ed McGuinness will helm the flagship Avengers title, featuring a line-up of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor Odinson, Black Panther, Jennifer Walters (who may be going by Hulk or She-Hulk), Captain Marvel, Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider and Doctor Strange, who is said to be in a rotating role on the team. Avengers will split its story between the modern-day team and the prehistoric Avengers from 1,000,000 B.C. that were revealed by Aaron and Esad Ribic in last year’s Marvel Legacy #1 one-shot.
CBR also has first details on Venom from the new creative team of Doctor Strange and Thanos writer Donny Cates and Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows artist Ryan Stegman. Stay tuned to Paste for more information on “Fresh Start” as it becomes available.
Update as of 4/3/2018:
Here’s everything else we know about “Fresh Start” as February comes to a close:
Black Bolt’s Saladin Ahmed and artist Eric Nguyen will helm the five-issue Quicksilver: No Surrender.
Matthew Rosenberg (Phoenix: Resurrection) will resurrect another character: Multiple Man Jamie Madrox, with JLA artist Andy MacDonald.