Marvel announced several new series at its Next Big Thing panel at Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 26, and retailers got a more nuanced look earlier in the day when Marvel President Dan Buckley returned to San Diego for the first time in 15 years teamed up with Marvel Comics VP of Print & Digital Publishing David Gabriel and Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski to make the Marvel presentation at the Diamond Retailer Lunch. The three outlined Marvel's plans for the upcoming year, some of which build on elements discussed at the ComicsPRO meeting in February 2024 (see "Marvel President Dan Buckley's ComicsPRO Keynote Address").

The West Coast Avengers will return in a new series by writer Gerry Duggan and artist Danny Kim, with a new lineup, assembled by Iron Man and War Machine, that includes an apparently reformed Ultron as part of their new mission to help villains leave their evil ways. Spider-Woman and Firestar will also be on the team but are a bit dubious about their new colleague. West Coast Avengers #1 will drop on November 27, 2024, with a main cover by Ben Harvey and a variant by Danny Kim.

The most recent West Coast Avengers series was launched in 2018 (see "The West Coast Avengers Reassemble, Now with Two Hawkeyes").

Also in the works is Ultimate Universe: One Year In #1, a one-shot written by Deniz Camp, with a cover by Stefano Caselli but no interior artist named as yet. The on-sale date is December 11, 2024. "What we have heard from you all is that this has been sort of a game changer for the industry," Gabriel said at the Diamond lunch, thanking the retailers for their support. "It came out in January, when people were talking about malaise in the industry, that there was nothing exciting happening. It has been great to not hear that for the past seven months." Indeed, the launch issue, Ultimate Spider-Man #1, is in its eighth printing. Cebulski made a wry dig at DC, saying "The competitors have absolutely been inspired by what we've been doing here," a reference to the recently announced Absolute Universe.

Cebulski also noted that the Ultimate universe, which is happening in real time, will wind up in December 2025. "The line will still be kept tight," Buckley added, with one more series set to debut this year or next.

Gabriel outlined a number of free promotions, including the Marvel Must-Haves, which launched in March (see "ComicsPRO: Buckley Pledges to Support Retailers"), giveaway comics that align with upcoming trades and Marvel Studios productions. "We are telling you in advance what books are coming up that we're reprinting in this line, so that if you want to have trades in store, you'll be able to get them in advance," he said, addressing what has been something of a sore point in previous years. "I hope you've been noticing that you probably have much less of a hard time getting printings of trades," he said. "Trade paperbacks have been really well in stock for the past year, if not three years."

Marvel has also been sending free overship bundles to retailers, such as Phoenix #1; Gabriel recounted a conversation with one retailer who hadn't been planning on ordering any shelf copies but ended up getting three subscribers to the series thanks to the free overprints. "We are going to continue sporadically doing that on different issues," Gabriel said, but he cautioned, "Don't look for a pattern, and don't cut back your orders, because it's all random. We spend a lot of time trying to figure out what's going to be the best book and where you won't expect it."

Another initiative that came out of ComicsPRO is a new program of children's comics that will be sold in bundles of five comics for $5 per bundle and can be sold at the cover price of $3.99 or handed out for free (see "ICv2 Interview: Dan Buckley"). One series is Spidey and His Amazing Friends, based on the animated show and pitched at preschoolers, and a middle-grade series aimed a slightly older readers. The material was originally published in Europe by Panini and is appearing in English for the first time.

Fantastic Four promotions are also on the way, leading into the 2025 release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps (see "'FF4' Movie Gets a Title"), including a backup story by current Fantastic Four writer Ryan North and artist Alan Davis, which will run in all three of the Marvel Universe Halloween Trick-or-Read comics (see "Marvel Reveals 2024 Halloween Trick-or-Read Titles"). The story, titled "Fantastic Four: Yesterday," reprises the quartet's origin story and offers new readers a jumping-on point. More Fantastic Four products are in the works, including Thing! variant covers and facsimile editions of the entire first year of the original series.

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