Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man | Tagged: brian michael bendis, falcon, joaquin torres, Joshua Cassara, Marvel Comics, miles morales, Misty Knight, rodney barnes, Sam Wilson, spider-man, spy-d, superheroes, The Patriot
'Falcon' and Miles Morales' 'Spider-Man' Cancelled in June
With Marvel's June solicits breaking today, two titles are notably absent from the lineup. Rodney Barnes' Falcon and the departing Brian Michael Bendis' Spider-Man (Miles Morales' book) are nowhere to be seen in the June output from the House of Ideas.
Unfortunately, neither is especially surprising. The fan of the Falcon and Barnes' take on the character that I am, this book had all the warning signs of a book with a short shelf life. Sam hasn't had an as the Falcon before, it isn't selling especially well, it handles social issues, it's a book I like, it stars a hero of color–a lot of those seem to correlate to a book ending after a relatively short run.
Meanwhile, talk of rebranding Miles Morales– possibly with the awful name, "Spy-D"— has been floating around for a while. Plus, he is a very popular character and Marvel won't likely leave him to rot for long.
As for the future of characters involved, I'd expect Miles to return sooner than later with whatever his next book is called. Plus, he has the Champions. I'd expect Sam Wilson to return to Captain America soon to rejoin Steve Rogers, possibly after Ta-Nehisi Coates takes over the book. Misty Knight has always had a hard time staying in a title regularly despite being absolutely amazing. The new Patriot and the other Falcon, Joaquin Torres, aren't guaranteed spots on Champions, but they seem to be coming and going from the team based on covers. Plus, I could see either of those characters and maybe even Misty Knight popping up in Captain America too.
So those are more solo heroes of color books being axed, even if one of their books will likely returning soon. Meanwhile, Riri Williams is likely to relinquish Invincible Iron Man to Tony Stark soon. There are still options like Black Panther, Ms. Marvel, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosuar, and Incredible Hulk (for how much longer that last one goes with Bruce Banner returning), and Champions mostly consists of young heroes of color. However, it's still frustrating to see Marvel backslide like this. Plus, I still hold that Falcon is a damn good book, but that couldn't save it in the end.
Also, Falcon: Take Flight is getting a TPB release in June for those who want to collect the series in trade. It contains what will be all eight issues. The branding seems to want to retroactively brand the series as a mini or a graphic novel instead of what was initially intended to be an ongoing.