#al ewing

The Press Release: The world’s largest LGBTQ+ comics and pop culture convention is coming to Broadway! Flame Con arrives at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square on Saturday, August 15 and Sunday, August 16, 2026. Produced by the New York-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit Geeks OUT since 2015, Flame Con will celebrate 12 years in 2026. After three years in Brooklyn, Flame Con crossed the bridge…

In September, Al Ewing and David Messina continue the series of one-shots pitting Doctor Doom against some of his greatest enemies. This one shows us an untold early chapter in Peter Parker’s career, when Doctor Doom sought out a young Spider-Man for a world-dominating scheme. "No" was not an option ...

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First, we take a moment and raise our glasses as we honor our friend KJ Eldridge. From there we cover a slew of books, including a First Issue-O-Rama with Jonathan Ball and GMB Chomichuk’s The Eye Collector from Image; Blüdwire by Paul Allor, Ermitis Blanco, and Brittany Peer; 100 Bullets: The US of Anger by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso; and Blood of the Wolf Man by Joshua Williamson,…

Nice attempt Ewing but this makes the situation better but it doesn't fix it. a) Peter is still framed as being somewhat in the wrong here when he did nothing wrong b) He is trying to justify MJ's treatment of him as PTSD, which doesn't work because she doesn't have other PTSD signs c) The backstory still borks the core concept of MJ's character and makes a lie of their relationship, damaging it. Even if it was believable its something you just shouldn't do, much like how DeFalco, a MJ shipper, had Peter smacking MJ across the room be realistic and beleivable in context. That doesn't justify actually DOING it. d) This is happening in a comic book which makes MJ Venom e) If MJ believed Peter was dead 2/4 years in the the apocalypse it still means she got with him and with him real quick afterwards. Peter took the better part of 2 years to grieve Gwen and fall in love with MJ and even then he had to sort through his feelings between the two upon being confronted with a seemingly alive and well Gwen Stacy. So, why was MJ moving on so quick from someone she was MUCH more deeply invovled with than Peter was with Gwen? Why was she never presented as torn between her old feelings for Peter and her new (but not legit love) feelings for Paul? Because obviously that wasn't the intention. f) Would MJ even believe Peter would be dead? Like I get it, his being dead is the only reason he wouldn't come for her...except...she was held hostage for over 6 months by her stalker and he still came for her. g) Peter has literally died and come back multiple times, including in Superior, so why would him being dead even mean he is for sure not coming back for her?

General Context - Infinity/Uncanny Avengers

The alien tyrant Thanos has invaded the Earth searching for his son, previously kept secret from him. In pursuit of this goal he attacked the Inhumans, a genetically manipulated offshoot of humanity with incredible powers. This prompted the detonation of the Terrigen Bomb, an Inhuman weapon designed to release the Terrigen Mists which empower the Inhumans across the Earth. The bomb succeeded, and the Mists are now travelling across the Earth awakening the powers of long lost descendants of the Inhumans spread throughout Humanity. Now the Avengers and the Inhumans are trying to find these newly awakened Inhumans to ensure they receive help with their new powers and aren't exploited by any malign entities.

Janet van Dyne is the Wasp, one of the original Avengers with the power to shrink in size and to fly and shoot bio-electric blasts while shrunk. She was an Avenger for years and is one of Earth's most experienced heroes, but seemingly died a few years prior to this when an alien pretending to be Hank Pym, a.k.a Ant-Man/Giant-Man and Janet's ex-husband, manipulated the Pym Particles which allow her to change size to make her a living bomb. In truth, she was trapped in the Microverse, an alternate dimension only accessible via shrinking. After an extended period surviving there by herself, Janet was able to signal the Avengers, who rescued her and brought her back to Earth.

Wanda Maximoff is the Scarlet Witch, a mutant with the power to wields hexes which can manipulate probability. A few years before this story, Wanda lost her mind due to the grief of losing her children and began tapping into dangerous, reality-altering power, a path which culminated in her nearly destroying the Avengers and almost wiping mutants from the face of the Earth. She was thought dead after this, but ultimately her survival was discovered and, after a conflict with Dr Doom, she dedicated herself to redeeming herself for her past failures (though without reality-warping power).

Simon Williams is Wonder Man, a former actor who was transformed into Ionic Energy and, after a short stint as a villain, became a superhero with powers of flight, enhanced physicality, and energy projection. After dying on a mission, he was brought back to life by the Scarlet Witch during her descent into madness, though at the time it was thought that he was always alive, Wanda just recombined his separated aspects. Following this he would remain a standard hero for a time, but would slowly begin to buckle in this face of numerous tragedies and failures for heroes. For a time he came to the conclusion that the Avengers as a whole were the problem and forcefully tried to stop his former allies, but ultimately he came to the conclusion that it was Superheroes' violent methods that he opposed, leading to his becoming a pacifist.

All three are members of the Avengers Unity Squad (shown in the 'Uncanny Avengers' series), an Avengers team dedicated to representing unity between mutants and the rest of Earth's superheroes through a combination of mutant and non-mutant members. In this team, the three have clashed around their complicated histories and conflicting motivations.

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Terrigenesis, the process Inhumans undergo after exposure to the Terrigen Mists, involves entering a cocoon like the one shown.

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Part of the concept of the Avengers Unity Squad was that they were a public facing team, which is likely why Dennis is quite familiar with Simon.

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Lord Gouzar is a tyrant from the Microverse. Janet's inadvertently caused his downfall when she contacted the Avengers to rescue her from the dimension, as the team (including Janet) clashed with and deposed him.

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Simon is familiar with Gouzar as he was on the Avengers team that rescued Janet.

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Earth-616 Maria was the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D at this time. This is the first time we've seen her as leader of Mondo City, with its previous appearance just seeing it ruled by the Boss Enforcement Council without a singular leader. Her role as Big Boss is a reference to Dredd's Chief Judge, while the Council of Seven is a reference to Dredd's Council of Five.

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Excalibur going dull against living tissue is a new feature - while it has been shown to have healing properties, it has also been used for combat on a number of occasions.

"Shokk" is likely a reference to "Drokk", a made-up swear used in Judge Dredd comics as a rough analogue for "Fuck" (though it is also similar to "Shock" used in Marvel's 2099 comics for much the same purpose).

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Judge Dredd frequently calls others "Creep".

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"Stromm" is likely a reference to "Stomm", another Judge Dredd expletive (this one being akin to "Shit").

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The Genetic Decency Act is a reference to Dredd's Genetic Purity Act of 2079 which forbids mutants from living in Mega-City One.

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"And Mine is a Faith in my Fellow Man" is the next line in 'Between the Wars'. The song is speaking in favour of goodwill and the welfare state, in response to a government more concerned with war and fear of the outsider than care for its people. While it was written in response to the Thatcher government's deconstruction of the welfare state, Ewing is likely using it in reference to the debate around immigration which was becoming increasingly prevalent in the UK at this time, particularly with regards to the Brexit referendum which occurred a few months after this issue (though given the motif of walls throughout the issue it is likely also a response to Donald Trump's promised wall between Mexico and the USA).

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