Star Wars: Hidden Empire is the third and last part of a trilogy that began with Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters and Star Wars: Crimson Reign. It’s time for writer Charles Soule and artist Steven Cummings to give us a conclusion to this story focused on Qi’ra and the criminal organization Crimson Dawn.
As the official synopsis reveals, “The mysterious criminal syndicate Crimson Dawn and its leader, Lady Qi’ra, have become the galaxy’s most wanted, now that Emperor Palpatine has realized the scope of their plans against him and moves to destroy her. But Qi’ra still has tricks up her sleeve, and with the help of the Knights of Ren and her many other allies, she will not go down without a fight!”
Introduced as the next Dawn of DC milestone event, Knight Terrors is this summer’s massive crossover event at DC Comics. Horror is invading the DC Universe as Super Heroes or Super-Villains must confront their worst nightmares in a “Nightmare Realm.”
The main Knight Terrors event starts with the oversize special Knight Terrors: First Blood #1 from Joshua Williamson (Dark Crisis) and Howard Porter (The Flash). This introduction sees Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman find the body of one of their earliest enemies inside the Hall of Justice, their investigation takes them past the land of the living, beyond the land of the dead, and directly to a new villain called Insomnia, who uses his powers to engulf every single hero and villain in their own dark and twisted nightmares. The only way to save the world is to call for the help of an unlikely hero—Deadman!
What follows is the four-issue Knight Terrors miniseries written by Williamson with art by Giuseppe Camuncoli (The Joker), Stefano Nesi, and Caspar Wijngaard (Home Sick Pilots), in which Boston Brand—a.k.a. Deadman—serves as the supernatural tour guide. Everyone in the world is trapped inside their nightmares, and Batman and Deadman are trying to figure out who Insomnia really is…and why he wants revenge on the heroes of the DC Universe!
Then, Wesley Dodds, the Sandman, teams up with Batman and Deadman to uncover one of his oldest cases, which haunted him until the day he died. The trio are pointed in the direction of the Nightmare Stone, but Insomnia has unleashed his army, the Sleepless Knights, to hunt them down.
Most of the event is composed of a host of two-issue miniseries featuring the nightmares of superheroes, but also of villains.
To celebrate 35 years of the first appearance of Venom, the flavor of the summer ’23 at Marvel will be coming from space. It’s the Summer of Symbiotes! It will be Symbiotes crossovers after Symbiotes crossovers with even more Symbiotes. Yes, a lot of Symbiotes.
In fact, everything begins this spring with Carnage Reigns, a crossover that is presented as Miles Morales vs Carnage written by Alex Paknadel and Cody Ziglar and featuring art by Julius Ohta, Jan Bazaldua, Federico Vicentini, and Francesco Manna. Here is how it starts:
Cletus Kasady is back, and of course, he is more powerful and bloodthirsty than ever before! “With his soul trapped within the Extrembiote Armor created by Tony Stark during the King in Black event, Cletus has the means to level an untold amount of chaos and, well, carnage on New York City and the entire Marvel Universe. But like any good Tony Stark invention, the Extremis coursing through Cletus’ symbiotic veins needs POWER, and that means Cletus is HUNGRY. Good thing Brooklyn’s very own Spider-Man is there to stand in his way! If he survives their first encounter, that is.”
It’s been a while since Marvel gave us a Captain America crossover event. This one is a small one though, and it’s between the two Captain Americas! And more, of course, as it is presented as a battle between brothers.
Here is the official synopsis: Bucky Barnes, the newest player in a nefarious game that spans all of civilization, makes his most deadly move yet — teaming up with Sam Wilson’s nemesis, Hunter, the White Wolf! When Steve Rogers’ adoptive son Ian, A.K.A. Nomad, is abducted by someone Steve thought a friend, he suspects Bucky’s hand at work, and calls upon the people who know Ian best — Sam, Sharon Carter, and Misty Knight — to help him get to the bottom of the attack.
Why has Nomad been taken, and what does it have to do with a portal to Dimension Z opening over a secret battleground in Alaska? Has Bucky finally gone too far? And when Black Widow joins the fray, whose side is she on?
In 1999, Geoff Johns was not the DC superstar writer we know now, yet. Day of Judgement was the first event he had the chance to write, one that was going to open the way for his famous Green Lantern run a few years later.
This event is centered around The Spectre and involved the heroes and a few magical anti-heroes of the DC Universe. Here is the official presentation of Day of Judgment:
The story begins when Etrigan the Demon offers the fallen angel Azmodel freedom from captivity in Hell. If the fallen angel agrees to let the Demon rule Hell, Etrigan will give Azmodel access to the power to claim the ultimate prize: the destruction of Heaven itself! And the power in question? That of the Spectre who, without a human host, is ripe for Azmodel’s picking.
Published through January and February 1988, Millennium was the first event of the year, and certainly the most ambitious for the production department with one new issue every week, plus tie-ins—something that was simply not done at that time.
Written by Steve Englehart, with art by Joe Staton and Ian Gibson, Millennium was a story about choosing the New Guardians of the Universe. Everything starts with the Guardian named Herupa Hando Hu, and his Zamaron mate, Nadia Safir, as they arrived on Earth to announce to the world that they were here to select 10 persons who would become the new Guardians of the Universe, and give birth to a new race of immortals.
Back in the Chris Claremont days, Carol Danvers and the X-Men fought alongside each other in the original Brood Saga, a famous story that ended with Carol becoming Binary, and the X-Men making sacrifices.
The Broods are back for a double-story arc, “Revenge of the Brood” and “Lord of the Brood.” Captain Marvel is joined once again by the X-Men to fight the parasitic predators known as the Brood. They plan to infect the cosmos and the heroes must stop them.
Here is how Marvel officially introduces the stories:
In “Lord of the Brood,” the X-Men get a distress call from deep space and find that the galaxy’s Brood problem is not as solved as they’d thought! When the X-Men’s close friend Broo became the Brood King, he gained the ability to control the savage alien race he was both a part of and so different from. Now he is experiencing his own nightmare scenario—the Brood are killing his friends, and there is nothing he can do to stop it! Rogue Brood factions have begun running wild, and it’s up to the X-Men to get to the bottom of why!
In “Revenge of the Brood,” Carol Danvers is on an X-press elevator to her own personal hell! And the Brood Empress is determined to ensure the Captain and all of her friends make it to their destination. Rescuing their team and getting out alive has always been the goal, but the odds are more deeply stacked against her team than Carol can even imagine. Overwhelmed and trapped in the Brood’s backyard, Captain Marvel and her team are forced to sacrifice one of their own. But the Brood let Carol through their clutches once before, and in so doing, created one of their worst enemies. They won’t make that mistake again.
This Captain Marvel/X-Men epic cosmic story is coming from Kelly Thompson, writer of Captain Marvel, with art by Juan Frigeri, and Gerry Duggan, writer of X-Men, with art by Stefano Caselli.
Things never get easy for the X-Men. Right after A.X.E: Judgment Day and Dark Web, the Mutants are thrown into another crossover event, Sins of Sinister. This time, however, it’s an X-Men-only crossover.
The tagline is: “From his vaunted position on the Quiet Council of Krakoa, Mister Sinister has plotted and schemed. Now, at last, his plans come to fruition beyond his wildest dreams … and his darkest nightmares! Can the X-Men survive the experience? Can anyone?”
If we are to believe Marvel, Sins of Sinister is set in “a horror timeline that makes Age of Apocalypse look like the X-Men Swimsuit Special.” This story takes the Marvel Universe further and further into a dark future, dramatically escalating the stakes with each startling time jump. 10 Years … 100 Years … 1000 Years…
This crossover could be confusing because three current series are renamed for the occasion Immortal X-Men, X-Men Red, and Legion of X are—respectively—replaced by the limited series Immoral X-Men, Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants, and Nightcrawlers.
Current X-Men writers Kieron Gillen, Al Ewing, and Si Spurrier are in charge of writing the new titles, joined by artists Paco Medina, Andrea Di Vito, and Alessandro Vitti.
After concluding his Iron Man run with the Iron Man 2020 event, Dan Slott also choose to wrap up his four-year run on the Fantastic Four with an event! But not any event as The Reckoning War (penciled by Marco Checchetto) was, as Marvel said it, fifteen years in the making!
Here is the official synopsis: FIFTEEN YEARS IN THE MAKING – AND IT ALL KICKS OFF HERE! In a time before the Kree, Skrull or Shi’ar Empires. Before the emergence of Galactus. Before the birth of Asgard. There was the First War. The greatest war to ever rage across the Multiverse. Today, it is reignited. This is the Day of Reckoning. And all that stands between all of reality and revenge from the dawn of time are the heroes of Earth, the Fantastic Four and the mind of Mister Fantastic. Starring the FF, She-Hulk, Jack of Hearts, the Unseen, the Silver Surfer and everyone in the whole damn Marvel Universe.
Barely one month after the conclusion of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, the DC Universe is affected by another crisis. Writer Mark Waid teams up with Riccardo Federici, Gene Luen Yang, Billy Tan, Nicole Maines, Skylar Patridge, Francis Manapul, Dan Watters, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Josie Campbell, and more, for the Lazarus Planet, a Magical Crisis where heroes are transformed, secrets are revealed and powers are unleashed. Here is the official synopsis:
Following the events of Mark Waid and Mahmud Asrar’s Batman vs. Robin #4 this December, the Lazarus Volcano has erupted—spewing dangerous and transformative chemicals into Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in chaos across the DC universe! As these Lazarus clouds rain down upon the planet, people across the globe begin to develop strange new abilities, watch their already-extraordinary abilities change, and witness a whole host of chaos, unlike anything the DCU has experienced before!
A lot of DC characters are involved in this event, from the obvious Batman and Robin (Damian Wayne), but also Martian Manhunter, Red Canary, Jon Kent, Poison Ivy, Power Girl, but also Monkey Prince, Shazam/Billy Batson, Mary Marvel, and Yara Flor.
