Marvel Entertainment has confirmed that it will return to comic book stores at the end of this month, although not when fans might have expected — and with a severely revised release schedule intended to not overwhelming retailers as they reopen from COVID-19 shutdowns.
Although Diamond Comic Distributors has announced plans to begin shipping new product to stores on May 20, Marvel product won’t arrive in stores until the following week, with five titles shipping May 27: new issues of Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Marauders, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra and Venom. The following week will see no single issues released, but eight book collections, with the subsequent two weeks again alternating single issues and collected editions.
Heat Vision breakdown
The new schedule is a significant change from the pre-shutdown schedule — titles that had previously been scheduled for April 1 have been pushed across the next few months, with some disappearing from the schedule entirely. (Both Black Widow No. 1 and Taskmaster No. 1, featuring characters from the now-rescheduled Black Widow movie, are notable by their absence.) The two prologue issues to Marvel’s intended summer event storyline, Empyre: Avengers No. 0 and Empyre: Fantastic Four No. 0, originally scheduled to be released simultaneously April 1, are now scheduled for June 24 and July 8, respectively.
In its announcement of the revised schedule, Marvel describes the new lineup as “a balanced release schedule for its comics and trade collections as the industry continues to restart distribution and comic shops begin to reopen and adapt to current social distancing policies,” adding that the company is releasing new comics “in the most thoughtful way we can for fans, creators, and the industry during these unpredictable times.”
The full revised Marvel release schedule through July 8 follows.
Wednesday, May 27:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 43
AVENGERS No. 33
MARAUDERS No. 10
STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA No. 1
VENOM No. 25
Wednesday, June 3:
ASTONISHING X-MEN BY JOSS WHEDON & JOHN CASSADAY OMNIBUS HC
GHOST RIDER VOL. 1 TPB
MEPHISTO: [CLASSIC] TPB
SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK BY JOHN BYRNE OMNIBUS HC
SPIDER-MAN & VENOM: DOUBLE TROUBLE GN-TPB
SW DARTH VADER POSTER BOOK
THE AMAZING MARY JANE VOL. 1: DOWN IN FLAMES, UP IN SMOKE TPB
X-MEN VOL. 1 TPB
Wednesday, June 10:
BLACK CAT No. 11
DAREDEVIL No. 20
DEADPOOL No. 5
EXCALIBUR No. 10
MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN No. 17
NEW MUTANTS No. 10
Wednesday, June 17:
CONAN: THE BOOK OF THOTH TPB
DAREDEVIL BY CHIP ZDARSKY VOL. 3 TPB
DAWN OF X VOL. 5 TPB
IRON MAN EPIC COLLECTION VOL. 17 TPB
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE AVENGERS VOL. 20 HC
SILVER SURFER OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC (NEW PRINTING)
STAR WARS: AGE OF REBELLION HC
THE UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL: BIG SQUIRRELS DON’T CRY GN-TPB
Wednesday, June 24:
2020 RESCUE No. 2
CAPTAIN AMERICA: MARVELS SNAPSHOTS No. 1
EMPYRE No. 0 AVENGERS
IMMORTAL HULK No. 34
IRON MAN 2020 No. 4 FLUORESCENT
SPIDER-HAM No. 5
STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS No. 3
THOR No. 5
AMAZING FANTASY OMNIBUS HC (NEW PRINTING)
FANTASTIC FOUR EPIC COLLECTION: NAME IS DOOM TPB
IRON MAN: THE ULTRON AGENDA TPB
MARVEL-VERSE: BLACK WIDOW GN-TPB
MORBIUS THE LIVING VAMPIRE OMNIBUS HC
YONDU TPB (JAN201055)
Wednesday, July 1:
DAWN OF X VOL. 6 TPB
EXCALIBUR TPB
INFINITY GAUNTLET MARVEL SELECT HC v MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN VOL. 3 HC
MARVEL'S BLACK WIDOW PRELUDE TPB
TIMELY'S GREATEST: THE GOLDEN AGE SUB-MARINER BY BILL EVERETT - THE POST-WAR YEARS OMNIBUS HC
WHAT IF? CLASSIC: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION VOL. 4 TPB
X-MEN MILESTONES: MESSIAH WAR TPB
YOUNG AVENGERS BY GILLEN & MCKELVIE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION TPB
Wednesday, July 8:
BLACK PANTHER AND THE AGENTS OF WAKANDA No. 8
DR. STRANGE No. 5
EMPYRE No. 0 FANTASTIC FOUR
GHOST RIDER No. 7
MARVELS X No. 4
STRANGE ACADEMY No. 2
X-FORCE No. 10
X-MEN: GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS EXTENDED CUT No. 1
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN BY NICK SPENCER VOL. 7 TPB
IMMORTAL HULK VOL 2 HC
MARAUDERS VOL. 1 TPB
MARVEL MONOGRAPH: THE ART OF FRANK CHO TPB
MARVEL'S SPIDER-MAN POSTER BOOK TPB
MILES MORALES SPIDER-MAN (NEW PRINTING)
SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN: THE ORIGINAL MARVEL YEARS OMNIBUS VOL. 3 HC
STAR WARS LEGENDS EPIC COLLECTION: LEGACY VOL. 3
