by rory midhani
After this summer’s Secret Wars Mega Crossover Event, Marvel is resetting itself with its All New All Different rebranding. While it’s not as much of a reboot as DC’s New52 was, there are still going to be some pretty big changes (Miles Morales is in the regular 616-Universe! Laura Kinney is the new Wolverine! Inhumans are now more important than mutants?) and a whole new slate of comics, including a whopping 19(!) female-led titles! Needless to say, I’m super excited that there are this many titles starring women, and you know I’ll be reading a bunch of them. With that in mind I wanted to count down the list of how much I’m excited for each title, starting with the one I’m most pumped for.
Even if a book is low on my list, it’s still probably going to be more fun to read than most of the male-led titles out there.
Cover by Erica Henderson.
1. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
This was my favorite superhero comic before the relaunch, and with the same creative team behind it, I’m expecting it to keep that position in it’s new form. Ryan North and Erica Henderson are making one of the funniest, freshest, smartest and most action-packed comics out there and if you’re not reading it already, here’s your chance to start.
Cover by Brittney Williams.
2. Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat
Okay, I know I’m probably gonna get some hate for putting this above Ms. Marvel, which has been one of the consistently best comics around since it’s first issue, but I’m excited about everything about this book. I love Hellcat the character (if you don’t know anything about her, check out the recently way-too-short She-Hulk series); I love the premise (Patsy is a twentysomething superhero whose mother used to write “weird romance comics about her teen years and her childhood frenemy has reprinted them”); I love Kate Leth, the writer and I love Brittney Williams, the artist. I honestly can’t wait for this book to come out.
Covery by Takeshi Miyazawa.
3. Ms. Marvel
See? I didn’t put Kamala too low on this list, and really, these top three are in many ways interchangeable. Ms. Marvel is a super incredible book about a Pakistani-American Muslim teenage girl who’s kind of a nerd and totally a hero. Few people have been able to write teenage superheroes as well as G. Willow Wilson. This is a must-read book.
Cover by Amy Reeder.
4. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
Seriously, how cool does this book look? It’s about a preteen genius named Lunella Lafayette and her friend, a giant red t-rex named Devil Dinosaur. Like come on, this is like the dream comic of 12-year-old me.
Cover by Julian Totino Tedesco.
5. Angela: Queen of Hel
Marguerite Bennett is one of my favorite writers, and I was a big fan of the previous Angela: Asgard’s Assassin series, so I can’t wait to see this book, which will feature what I can only assume is going to be gorgeous art by Stephanie Hans. It seems like the main drive of this series is about Angela’s quest to save her gal pal Sera (one of the few trans characters in comics and a perfect foil for Angela) from the titular Hel.
Cover art by Kris Anka.
6. Captain Marvel
Now, this is way lower than I thought it would have been. Kelly Sue DeConnick’s run on Captain Marvel is one of my favorite things to happen in comics ever. I don’t know if any other superhero comic made me cry as much as that one did. So now that she’s gone I’m a little nervous, but I hope the new writing team of Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas (from Agent Carter) can do the character justice.
Cover art by Ramon Perez.
7. All-New Hawkeye
Again, here’s a title that’s going to have to follow up what’s probably the best run in the character’s history. Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye was the stuff of legends, but Jeff Limire has been doing a pretty good job of writing the character for the past few issues, and this one looks like Kate Bishop is going to be taking on a larger role, so that’s incredibly awesome.
Cover art by Kenneth Rocafort.
8. Ultimates
I’m pretty pumped for this team. It’s got Captain Marvel, Spectrum (Monica Rambeau, the former Captain Marvel) and America Chavez, as well as Black Panther and Blue Marvel. How cool is that? On the initial team there are more women than men and only one white person who is a woman. Not only is it cool to have such a diverse team, but the people on the team are cool characters who I can’t wait to read (especially America Chavez, my favorite marvel superhero).
Cover art by Victor Ibanez.
9. A-Force
Spinning off of the super great Secret Wars mini-series, G. Willow Wilson and Kelly Thompson reunite to write this series starring She-Hulk, Nico Minoru, Captain Marvel, Medusa, Dazzler, Singularity and Medusa. I loved the mini-series, and I love these characters and these writers, so I’m pretty pumped for this series.
Cover art by Helen Chen.
10. Silk
Before the All-New, All-Different Marvel relaunch, Silk was a really fun book. While it wasn’t my favorite, I definitely did look forward to reading it every month. Now it looks like our hero is turning into a villain, or at least a criminal, making me a lot more interested in this book I would already be interested in.
Cover art by Robbi Rodriguez.
11. Spider-Gwen
Now we’ve gotten to the last book that’s on my pull list. I’m gonna be honest, pre-All-New, All-Different, Spider-Gwen never really lived up to the premise and awesome costume design for me, but we’ve already seen the new issue #1 and it introduced this universe’s version of Captain America and it was incredible. I’ve got a newfound excitement for this book.
Cover art by Russell Dauterman.
12. The Mighty Thor
I love the look of the new Thor, I’m really excited that she’s stuck in the role for this long, and I do think about reading her solo title, but for now I think I’ll just stick to reading her in All-New, All-Different Avengers.
Cover art by Javier Rodriguez.
13. Spider-Woman
I love Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman’s altar ego) when she’s hanging out with Captain Marvel or Black Widow and Spider-Girl, so I guess maybe I love her when she’s being written by Kelly Sue DeConnick? But I’ve never really been able to get into her enough to buy her solo series.
Cover art by Paul Renaud.
14. Mockingbird
Again, here’s a character where I like her in other things, she was great in the previously mentioned Hawkeye and I like her in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show (but come on, she really should be queer), but I’m not really sold on her solo title.
Art by Logan Faerber.
15. Blade
I think it’s really cool that the new Blade series is going to be focusing on the original daywalker’s daughter, a 16-year-old girl named Fallen Grey. On the other hand, I’ve never had a connection to the character before, so I’m not exactly champing at the bit to add this title. I might check this one out and see if I like it.
Cover art by David Lopez.
16. All-New Wolverine
First Thor, then Captain America, then Blade, now Wolverine??? I mean, also The Hulk is the Korean-American Amadeus Cho and Miles Morales Spider-Man is going to be taking over the main universe Spider-Man title, so pretty much everywhere you look people of color and women are “stealing jobs” from white male superheroes. However, Wolverine is one of my least favorite X-Men, so there’s that.
Cover art by Chris Samnee and Matt Wilson.
17. Black Widow
Black Widow is another hero I never really fell in love with. I’m sure this will be a great series though, it’s got a terrific creative team, with artist Samnee and writer Mark Waid.
Cover art by Kevin Wada.
18. Scarlet Witch
In what turns out to be really bad luck for me, the other female superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is another one I don’t love. Especially now that she’s not a mutant. Kevin Wada’s art is gorgeous, though.
Cover art by Mike Norton.
19. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
I watch the TV show and every week it makes me pull my hair out that even though it has a ton of female characters who are cool and tough, all of them are not only frustratingly not queer, they’re all in love with men and they shove that down our throats every single week.
New Releases (October 28)
Princeless Vol. 4: Be Yourself TPB (Action Lab)
Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest #238 (Archie Comics)
Adventure Time 2015 Spoooktacular #1 (Boom!)
Over the Garden Wall #3 (Boom!)
Power Up #4 (Boom!)
The Spire #4 (Boom!)
Batgirl #45 (DC)
We Are Robin #5 (DC)
ODY-C #8 (Image)
Avatar The Last Airbender: Legacy HC (Insight)
Angela: Queen of Hel #1 (Marvel)
Silk Vol. 0: The Life and Times of Cindy Moon (Marvel)
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 (Marvel)
Welcome to Drawn to Comics! From diary comics to superheroes, from webcomics to graphic novels – this is where we’ll be taking a look at comics by, featuring and for queer ladies. So whether you love to look at detailed personal accounts of other people’s lives, explore new and creative worlds, or you just love to see hot ladies in spandex, we’ve got something for you.
If you have a comic that you’d like to see me review, you can email me at mey [at] autostraddle [dot] com.
This is pretty much the same for me, though I do read Thor and Black Widow, and I don’t read Silk. I’m curious about her, but I haven’t encountered the character in any other Marvel comic so I know exactly nothing about her.
I have also switched to only buying trades since my wallet was sad, so I can keep an eye on reviews and pick up whatever looks really good after the fact. Blade/Scarlet Witch/Wolverine could find places on my shelf in the future.
And as excited as I am for Ultimates, it is a flippin’ CRIME that America Chavez doesn’t have a solo title.
Yeah, I hadn’t seen Silk in anything else, but I saw the art, which I really loved and decided to give it a try since it was a solo title for a woman of color and like I said, I really enjoyed it!
And totally! Every time they announced a new group of titles eagerly looked for an America Chavez solo title, and I’m sad that we don’t have one.
Ugh gah I am intrigued by any number of these, but I have severe comic commitment issues (I’m working on a limit-series-only policy) and am still getting over my superhero burnout. My poor empty wallet and I are considering picking up the inevitable Swords of Sorrow trade once it exists, though.
But man, this is tempting. Angela written by Marguerite? Oh, man.
Yes! The writing on Angela is so great!
What a great list! Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat is one of the funnest books I’ve read in YEARS.
thank you! you’ve read it already?
Yeah! And I’m also interested to see if her being queer in the Jessica Jones netflix series will carry over to the new comic! :)
Don’t forget The New Avengers! Squirrel Girl, Songbird and White Tiger, as well as Hulkling and Wiccan.
According to this interview, the line for New Avengers includes 5 male characters (Sunspot, Power Man, Wiccan, Hulking and Hawkeye) and 4 female characters (Pod, White Tiger, Songbird and Squirrel Girl, so it doesn’t quite count as a female-led title. But I do think it looks intriguing!
So many of these look amazing. I’m especially excited for Patsy Walker who has always been one of my favorite characters.
And yes, I agree with you about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I mostly love that show, but earlier on, it seemed like they were going to do surprising original things with romantic relationships. Like, Skye and Ward seemed like the obvious thing, but then he sleeps with May and turns out to be evil. And then it seemed like it was a sure thing that FitzSimmons would happen, but she didn’t feel the same way. And then Bobbi shows up and she and Simmons flirt HARD in their first episode together. But then, she starts sleeping with her dumb ex again and eventually Simmons does start to have feelings for Fitz. And now Daisy is in love with the most boring character that’s ever been on the show. So, it went from doing things that pleasantly surprised me to doing the same things any other show would do. Sigh.
In a perfect world, Simmons would be with Bobbi and Fitz would be with Mack.
YES. The current relationships on the show are boring me so much! I feel like they went and picked all the most boring, predictable, blah pairings and I just don’t get it! and 100% agree with Bobbi and Simmons and Fitz and Mack, 100%.
Ooo, I’ll be bookmarking this list! I’m excited for Hellcat and Spider-Gwen (that OUTFIT!). Something about X-23’s Wolverine outfit doesn’t work for me, though. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe because it’s so closely associated with Logan that to just put it on X-23 seems lazy. She should have an outfit that pays homage to the original Wolverine, but is also her OWN.
Yes, I really hope they modify that outfit a bit after the initial, “Hey, look, it’s a female Wolverine!” splash because as of right now, it just seems super uninspired. I think Sam Wilson’s Captain America and Jane Foster’s Thor are much better examples of a character stepping into another’s role and still looking unique. This one just kind of looks like X-23 took one of Logan’s outfit to a tailor.
I think my heart may burst from my ribs or something from all the awesome.
And a holla to francophone surnames being represented in American media.
So, as someone who know ZERO about comic book publishing or buying (like, the last time I bought a comic I was roughly 9 and it had Betty & Veronica on the cover), I desperately want “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” but have no idea how to go about getting it. Can someone who’s a comics/ graphic novel regular help me out?
Did the title come out already and I missed it or is it still upcoming? How would I know when it’s released (is there a blog or something I should be checking)? AND how do I go about buying the darn thing? Are comics mostly bought/ sold online these days or should I be scoping out my local comics shop like its the late 90s again?
Thanks in advance for your help! I really want to support the black nerd girl comic, but I’m so out of my depths here!
Hi! That series hasn’t started yet, so you haven’t missed it! You have a few options actually! One of them is, like you said, to go to a comic book shop and ask them to preorder it for you. You can ask them to keep on ordering it for you each month, and then you go in when the comic comes out. Also, if you want to keep reading this column, I’ll be including Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur on my list of comics at the end, so when it coming out It will be listed there with a link to where you can buy it online. Also, you can go to comixology.com and subscribe to the series there and then you’ll get digital copies of the issues as they come out.
So useful! Thanks, Mey!
Also, even if you had missed the print edition of the single issue, you’d still be able to get it in digital or TPB (trade paperback, which is multiple issues collected into a bound edition, sold indefinitely rather than being a one-time print like the single issues are) format
And if you find that digital comics are a bit unwieldy to read on a computer screen, I find they’re a lot more intuitive on tablet apps (the main one being the comixology app)
Do I spy X23 taking over as Wolverine!? I’ve loved her e since I first came across her! ^_^ I approve. Also that pretty much confirms they’re not dropping the X-Men from the relaunch like I was afraid of, nor are they doing a DC new 52 style wipe-the-slate-clean-and-start-a-new-timeline like I was afraid of *let’s out breath* And there’s a lot of other stuff here that I’m really excited about too :)