Marvel Comics September 2017 Solicitations Analysis

Even with Secret Empire coming to a close in September it does not mean the Marvel machine will be slowing down. Rather than just going back to focusing on monthly ongoings we are going to see Marvel have several major events running in the Fall with Generations and Venomverse starting in September. Along with those events we are going to be getting some major developments for Captain America, Daredevil, Iron Man, Spider-Man and more. Let’s take a look at what Marvel just revealed with their September 2017 solicitations.

Exploring Legacy With Marvel Generations

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When Marvel Legacy was announced I was very excited for what it could potentially mean for the Marvel Universe. I even wrote about it when it was first announced (read here). Now that we are seeing the solicitation for September Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic’s Marvel Legacy series has a lot of potential for being exactly what Marvel needs. Aaron has proved through his work on Doctor Strange, Thor and X-Men work that he knows how to deliver epic tales that explore the various eras of a character’s history. And with Ribic on board Marvel Legacy is sure to look great.

I can’t say the same thing about the Generation comics that will be coming out during September. Given that we have seen Miles Morales, Riri Williams, Kamala and other second generation heroes interact with those that inspired them in the present these comics don’t have a lot of appeal. The fact that we are not getting new talent getting the opportunity to tell stories with classic and new versions of the characters interacting with one another the one-shots are missing that something that would make them special. One thing that would’ve helped would’ve been to see new talent or old talent that hasn’t written for Marvel like Ed Brubaker write these titles to feed into the nostalgia that Generations should be about. Or even having writers swap like Slott writing the Iron Man and Bendis writing Ms. Marvel would’ve given each one-shot a unique hook.

Who Will Be Captain America Post-Secret Empire

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Secret Empire has severely damaged the name of Captain America. And it looks like the end of Secret Empire won’t redeem the name of Captain America as Nick Spencer places Steve Rogers on the road to redemption. So far Secret Empire isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, though there are some serious problems with the Marvel event. Now a lot of the interest to where Spencer goes next with Steve Rogers will be on how executes the ending of Secret Empire. Given that Secret Empire Omega #1 features Steve’s Hydra armor breaking to reveal his classic Captain America costume the road towards redemption is where Steve will be for a while.

On the other hand it looks like the damaged caused to the Captain America name will have Sam Wilson return to his Falcon identity, given the cover for Avengers #11. This will be an interesting move to see how it goes over for fans that have come to like Sam as Captain America. Not only would that be a big move for Sam but it also puts into question where Joaquin Torres, the second Falcon, may be after Secret Empire. Could he possibly the big death Marvel likes to have in every event? It wouldn’t be surprising if the Avengers #11 cover is any clue.

Marvel Building Towards An Iron Man Event

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It looks like the end of Secret Empire won’t mark the return of the real Tony Stark to the Marvel Universe. But even though AI Tony will be sticking around it looks like both Infamous and Invincible Iron Man are going to be building towards a big Iron Man-centered event starting in September. It won’t be surprising if that event has to do with the return of Tony Stark in 2018. With Marvel promising we won’t have a major event for at least 12 months after Secret Empire ends, Tony’s return may end up being a crossover between Infamous and Invincible Iron Man. Though with Avengers: Infinity War coming in 2018 don’t be surprised that Tony’s return will be made an even bigger deal with a bunch of different tie-in comics.

Venom Taking Over Marvel Universe With Venomverse

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Talk about big surprises when it was announced that we would be getting a big Venom-centric event with Venomverse in September. That has to be one of the biggest unexpected events that we could get from Marvel. Though Venom #150 sold over 100,000 copies his normal ongoing sales numbers have been between 30,000-50,000 since relaunching. Historically Venom is a average at best seller for Marvel so having the character headline a big event is surprising. With Venomverse being an event that takes place over a little over a month it won’t be surprising if there is a big drop between each issue’s sales. Still, at least Marvel is still trying to make Venom a bigger deal then he probably should be. And maybe Venomverse could be a surprise hit and show us that Venom is actually big enough to justify his upcoming solo movie.

September Is Not Kind To Miles Morales

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Miles Morales is in store for a bad September as he learns a big secret of the other “Miles Morales” that existed in the Marvel Universe Spider-Men II and gets arrested in his solo ongoing series. The mystery behind the other Miles Morales was the big cliffhanger of the original Spider-Men. So with Spider-Men II #3 solicit it looks like who this Miles is won’t disappoint and could lead to even bigger changes to the status quo for the character. Hopefully that is the case as it’ll give Spider-Men II an even greater sense of importance than just being a story for fans to geek out about like the first mini-series.

Old Spider-Man Villains Re-Emerge

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With everything that has happened recently in Amazing Spider-Man it is looking more and more like Dan Slott and Chip Zdarsky are going to be returning Peter Parker back to a more iconic form. That return now looks to include Norman Osborn going back to being the Green Goblin after his failed plot in “The Osborn Identity.” That is something that the character has needed for a while and hopefully sticks moving forward as Marvel has bounced him around from just being Norman to being the Green Goblin the last decade.

It’ll also be interesting to see who Zdarsky is going to be using in his Peter Parker: Spectacular Spider-Man series. There are a lot of unused Spider-Man villains and with Clone Conspiracy bringing some back to life Zdarsky has a big Rogues Gallery to choose from. I’m hoping that it is someone like the Chameleon, Kraven or Tombstone.

Daredevil Takes His Brand To China

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Charles Soule and Ron Garney’s Daredevil solo ongoing has been quietly one of the better Marvel ongoing comics. It’s easy to see how it has been overshadowed by what is going on across Marvel. But now it looks like the character is in store for yet another change as Daredevil takes his talents to China. China isn’t a setting we normally see for an extended period so this should lead to some intriguing new stories for Daredevil.

Old Man Logan And Hawkeye Reunite

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One of the best things out of the original Old Man Logan story was the dynamic between Logan and the blind Hawkeye. Now we are going to get the chance to see the characters reunited in a slightly different way with Logan teaming up with the younger version of Clint Barton. Though the main Clint Barton is different from the blind version in Old Man Logan, there is a lot of potential in making Logan’s dynamic with him different. And with them going up against Maestro they will sure have their hands full along with all the banter they are sure to have with one another.