10 Things We Learned From Marvel’s “All-New, All-Different” Relaunch
CM Punk has arrived!
This October, Marvel's multiverse-spanning mega-event Secret Wars will conclude, and in its aftermath, the publisher's main comic book line will be relaunched. While such sweeping changes have become commonplace at the "big two" comic book companies over the past several years, Marvel's track record of innovation and quality ensures that this huge shift will mean more great stories and more reasons to be excited about comics.
For those not abreast -- Secret Wars is the culmination of Jonathan Hickman's Avengers/New Avengers epic, wherein an infinite number of Earths collided, destroying universes in the process. Just before the final two Earths (those of the main Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe) collided, Dr. Doom whisked heroes from a number of worlds away to a planet of his own creation -- Battleworld. On Battleword, each "universe" has its own country and Doom is God. Clearly, it's going to take some doing to get back to the status quo, but there's always a future in Marvel Comics.
Information about the new launches and creative teams first started to trickle out in the month of June, but last week, the publisher completely unveiled its lineup -- 45 new #1s, with creative teams, promotional art, and taglines that raised as many questions as they answered. With as little as the company has revealed, going over all of the information at hand still reveals some very newsworthy items. Here are 10 things we've already learned from Marvel's "All-New, All-Different" relaunch, CM Punk's new "Drax" book notwithstanding.
10. Old Man Logan Is Part Of The Marvel Universe...
There have been many, many alternate futures posited in the history of Marvel Comics, but one of the most gripping ones presented in the past decade was put forth in Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's "Old Man Logan" storyline. Set 50 years in the future, it examines a world where supervillains have defeated the heroes and carved up the U.S. into a group of territories they rule. The titular character gave up heroics after being tricked into killing the rest of the X-Men, and now lives a quiet life with his family... until he's pulled back into his old business.
It came as a surprise that "Old Man Logan's" world would be featured in Secret Wars' Battleworld, but more stunning is the fact that the character is sticking around after the Earth is rebuilt, finding himself part of a Marvel Universe he remembers as a precursor to life-altering tragedy. With Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino crafting Logan's adventures, that pathos -- and a healthy dose of surrealism -- is sure to be explored.
Old Man Logan will also be a part of Lemire and Humberto Ramos's "Extraordinary X-Men."