Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Marvel Comics | Tagged: defenders, marvel masterworks

Tom Brevoort & JM DeMatteis On The Marvel Masterworks Cancellations

Tom Brevoort and J.M. DeMatteis on the cancellation of the Marvel Masterworks line of books from Janaury 2026

JM DeMatteis has posted to his blog, confirming last weekend's Bleeding Cool report about the Marvel Masterworks line being put on hold indefinitely, from January 2026's scheduled titles. Including the latest Marvel Masterworks volume of his The Defenders collection. He wrote, "It's recently been announced that the long-running Marvel Masterworks line has been put on hiatus. This won't impact the upcoming Captain America and Ghost Rider Masterworks that collect work of mine, but it does cancel the next Defenders Masterworks that was slated to come out in January."

Tom Brevoort, Marvel SVP and Executive Editor, has answered questions about the cancellation on his Substack, after being asked "Do you think the 1980s is a natural end point to this series of reprints? Was the cleaning up of the artwork too much of a cost issue and do you think other formats will be able to do the same?" he replied "The central issue was pretty straightforward, JV: sales on those volumes had dropped to the point where they were no longer financially viable. So while I like the format, if the audience for the books isn't there, then they're going to go on hiatus at least. And yes, I was responsible for restarting the program in the late 1990s and getting it running again after its first hiatus. The same thing may be possible here, but we'll need to see what happens over time."

J.M. DeMatteis had been hired to write the introduction for the now-cancelled Defenders Marvel Masterworks Volume 10. And in the spirit of waste not, want not, has posted that as well. Including telling us;

"The Beast is back for "Rising"—Hank McCoy's arc building on a story I began in Avengers #209—but the heart and soul of the tale is another obscure character I adored: Daimon Hellstrom. Defenders was a book that flew under the radar—not only were our characters from the fringes of the MU, but our sales, while never warranting cancellation, were on the low side—and the aforementioned Powers That Be weren't paying the same attention to us that they would have paid to the Big Guns. How else to explain a Christmas tale that features the crucifixion of Satan's son and a scene where the devil reveals that he and God are one and the same? Take a look at Daimon's face—expertly detailed by Perlin and Sinnott—as that shocking, illuminating truth sets in: a truth that changes his character—if not forever (it's comics, after all), then certainly for the remainder of our run.

You can read the rest of the planned introduction here… this is what would have been.

Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders Vol. 10 HC
The era-defining run of revered writer J.M. DeMatteis' Defenders continues! Doctor Strange. Hulk. Namor. Valkyrie. Beast. Hellcat. Gargoyle. There has never been a team of super hero misfits quite like the Defenders. As a result, Marvel's "non-team" title was afforded a greater range of creative experimentation—the results were groundbreaking and utterly compelling. In this Marvel Masterworks volume, J.M. DeMatteis and Don Perlin unfurl massive cosmic sagas and delve into the eldritch and the occult. They'll explore the connection between Valkyrie and the Enchantress, Hellcat and her father and life and death. Speaking of death, Nighthawk dies…or does he? All the wonder and weirdness coalesce in a giant, multi-part battle between the Defenders—joined by the Silver Surfer, the Vision and the Scarlet Witch—and the Squadron Supreme! Collects THE DEFENDERS #103-115, CAPTAIN AMERICA #268 and AVENGERS ANNUAL #11. Hardcover · 376 pages · $75.00 · Case Bound · Dustjacket Cover

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