Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: 22 Gimmicks, carlos magno, David Pepose, marvel, savage avengers

David Pepose, Carlos Magno Relaunch Marvel's Savage Avengers in May

It seems like it was just last month that Marvel Comics canceled Savage Avengers, the book that started as a Mike Deodato vanity project but lived on after the artist's Marvel departure to get the most out of that Conan license they paid so much for by bringing the barbarian into the Marvel Universe to join a team of the grimmest and grittiest Avengers to battle Kulan Gath across 28 issues. Well, that's because it *was* just last month when the so-called final issue of Savage Avengers hit comic book stores. Well, that's long enough, because Marvel has just revealed plans to relaunch the series with a new creative team, new number one issue, and semi-new cast of even grimmer, even grittier characters.

Writer David Pepose makes his Marvel Comics debut (congrats!) alongside artist Carlos Magno for Savage Avengers #1, coming this May. Conan is still on the team, of course, joined by Daredevil (The Woman Without Fear), Anti-Venom, Black Knight, Cloak and Dagger, and Weapon H (aka Hulkverine). An evil Deathlok will pursue the team as an antagonist in the new series, according to a Marvel press release, though the cover to Savage Avengers #1 by Leinil Francis Yu and Sunny Gho seems to picture the murderous cyborg as part of the team.

Canceling a series and relaunching it with a new number one issue just a few months later is, as we all know, one of Joe Quesada's 22 Cheap Sales-Boosting Gimmicks That Always Work. But that's no reason to hold it against the All-New, All-Different Savage Avengers if Pepose and Magno deliver on the concept laid out in the press release:

Since his exile from the Hyborian Age, Conan the Barbarian has conquered the most dangerous foes the modern Marvel Universe has to offer—but what happens when this hard-edged Cimmerian finds himself on the run from the cybernetic soldier of the future known as Deathlok? Outgunned and outmatched, Conan must turn to an unlikely group of loners, berserkers and killers if he hopes to survive the night—but can these Savage Avengers defy Deathlok's murderous manhunt, or will they become the next targets in the crosshairs of tomorrow?

Pepose gushes:

Making my Marvel debut with SAVAGE AVENGERS is like getting drafted to the Yankees and then being told you also get to play for the Rangers on the weekend—not only do I get to write Conan the Barbarian, one of the most iconic characters in sword and sorcery, but I get to throw him into the wildest adventures imaginable alongside a brand-new crew of Marvel fan-favorites! Teaming up Conan with Daredevil, Anti-Venom, Weapon H, Black Knight, and Cloak and Dagger allows so much personality and potential to this series, and artist Carlos Magno delivers showstopper after showstopper as he brings these characters to life—I can't wait for readers to see what sparks fly when Conan and company are pitted against the most dangerous Deathlok of them all. Get ready to experience an epic battle of Cyborg versus Cimmerian, because this May, only the Savage will survive…

And Magno sums it up:

Working on SAVAGE AVENGERS is like a baptism of fire. It's like David Pepose and I are dealing with nitroglycerin.

Savage Avengers #1 hits stores on May 4th.

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