You can always tell when a new Marvel movie is coming by the way that Marvel Comics suddenly had a desire to publish the solo adventures of characters who rarely headline their own series.
On the last day of New York Comic Con, the Axel-In-Charge panel was used to announce two new Marvel titles: Hawkeye and Ant-Man.
Technically, Hawkeye already has his own comic series by Matt Fraction and David Aja. However, Fraction and Aja’s Hawkeye has been plagued by numerous delays. Despite that, their Hawkeye comic was a cult favorite that received critical acclaim.
The new Hawkeye creative team will be Jeff Lemire and artist Ramón Pérez. According to Marvel, both Clint Barton and Kate Bishop will once again share the Hawkeye codename and the spotlight in the new comic book series when it debuts in Spring 2015. Note that Avengers: Age of Ultron will come out around the same time, which is probably not a coincidence.
As for Ant-Man, this is the second Ant-Man monthly comic, but the first one to feature the second Ant-Man, Scott Lang. Back in 2004, Lang was killed in the Avengers Disassembled storyline, which helped pave the way for Eric O’Grady to become the third Ant-Man in The Irredeemable Ant-Man comic. I have always suspected that Lang was resurrected solely because Marvel Studios is using him as the primary character in its Ant-Man film.
The other big news out of the Axel-In-Charge panel is that Fantastic Four writer James Robinson acknowledged that the series is coming to an end… for now. This news had been rumored for months and the speculation intensified when an advance solicitation of the final Fantastic Four trade paperback was released last week.
Robinson promised that Fantastic Four fans would not be disappointed in his final story. Fantastic Four will also resume its original numbering system before coming to an end. But like most Marvel cancellations, there will definitely be a new Fantastic Four comic book coming down the line. The question is just how long Marvel wants to wait before pulling that trigger.
