This week we’ve got nine new issues/bind-ups this week, so let’s get going!

New single issues:

The swordsman has been resurrected! But there are more secrets than what lies beyond the grave… Join Swordsman and his son, Quoi, as they embark on a journey of discovery here on Earth – one they can’t walk back from!

This ties into the new Empyre storyline, so I’d recommend getting this if you’re currently following that! If you try and read it without the background story, you’re probably going to be very confused!

THE STORY YOU’VE WAITED DECADES FOR: THE ORIGIN OF MAESTRO!
Almost 30 years after the landmark story Future Imperfect, legendary INCREDIBLE HULK scribe Peter David returns to the far-future version of the Hulk known as Maestro – the master of what remains of the world. With astounding art from HULK veteran Dale Keown and up-and-comer Germán Peralta, Maestro will answer questions that have haunted Hulk fans for years – and inspire some new ones. How did the world fall and the Maestro rise? What happened to the world’s heroes in between? And where is the Hulk we know and love? Find out here!

If you have no idea what Future Imperfect is, then look no further than August 5th’s release blog! I would recommend reading that first, but I reckon you could probably get away with starting here too.

Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Spider-Man #1
In 1990, superstar AMAZING SPIDER-MAN artist Todd McFarlane wanted to stretch his creative muscles as a writer – and the result was a brand-new SPIDER-MAN book that needed no superlative! Boasting one of the most famous comic-book covers ever drawn, the record-breaking first issue sold over two million copies – and inside, McFarlane’s Spider-Man looked more extraordinary than ever. But why has Spidey’s classic foe the Lizard begun a brutal killing spree? As the pounding drums spell doom, the torment is only beginning for Spider-Man and Dr. Curt Connors! It’s one of the all-time great Marvel comic books, boldly re-presented in its original form, ads and all! 

This is a reprint, so if you missed out on this storyline back in 1990 like I did, now is the perfect time to start collecting and reading!

The bind-ups:

The further adventures of two of the New Agents of Atlas! Elemental forces of nature clash when Shanghai sensation Aero meets Filipina super heroine Wave! On the outs from Triumph Division, Wave must regain her team’s trust – and Aero owes her a favor. The two heroes team up to investigate AlonTech, the shadowy company that gave Wave her powers. But who is the Sea Hunter, and what is her connection to a strange undersea race? Then, Sword Master’s search for his father brings him to America – and into the crosshairs of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu! Lin Lie’s magic sword makes a tempting target – but when Ares, Greek god of war, claims the weapon for himself, can the heroes wrest the sword back to its rightful owner? Or will they have to cut a deal with Ares – and face the gods of Madripoor?

I’m going to put my hands up and say that I have no idea just who these two are, but, this covers both of their origins, so there’s no better place to start!

Continuing the series of graphic novels handpicked by Marvel Editorial to showcase pivotal story lines written and drawn by some of Marvel’s most acclaimed creators! Out of the ashes of ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST, Marvel’s sci-fi heroes unite to protect the cosmos! Back-to-back cataclysmic conflicts have weakened the boundaries of our reality. Dark gods and monsters are seeping through the cracks. In the face of terror, who stands to defend a desperate universe? Star-Lord and his squad of butt kickers – the modern-day Guardians of the Galaxy! Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, Groot and Mantis – plus Quasar and Adam Warlock – are a dysfunctional team with a big future…unless the Universal Church of Truth has its way! But why are the 31st-century Guardians of tomorrow – Major Victory and Starhawk – here too? Bug, Moondragon and Cosmo the space dog join the fun even as a fresh war looms – in an entertaining and action-packed story that revitalized the Guardians for a new era!

Like the synopsis says, this is a handpicked, pivotal storyline to the Marvel universe. But, this comes out of the Annihilation event, so you definitely need to read that first!

The FF embark on a voyage to the one place in the universe they’ve never been! Long ago, the Fantastic Four’s fateful choices forever changed the destiny of a planet 44 light-years from Earth. Everyone knows the story of the brave souls bombarded by cosmic rays and transformed into superhuman beings, how they became their world’s first line of defense against all alien threats. They are…the Unparalleled! Seven super heroes who now must fulfill their destiny by defeating the fearsome, foretold forces of the Fantastic Four! Wait. What?! Johnny Storm’s world will never be the same again – and as if the fate of an entire planet weren’t enough, one of the biggest FF secrets of all time is finally revealed!

This is a series continuation, so I’d definitely read the first four volumes (Fourever, Mr and Mrs Grimm, Herald of Doom and Thing Vs Immortal Hulk) in this series first. I’ve started this series and can highly recommend it – it’s slightly cheesy, but it’s great fun, especially if you grew up with the original Fantastic Four films!

He’s back, baby! With a reputation like Cosmic Ghost Rider’s, it’s only a matter of time before the law catches up to this flame-headed future version of Frank Castle and tries to put him in chains. Too bad for the cosmic cops that chains are Castle’s new weapons of choice! On the run with a rogue hitchhiker in tow – the young Earth woman named Cammi – Frank must take on one of the biggest crime syndicates in the cosmos! But with his soul hanging in the balance, will he damn the whole galaxy to hell to get what he wants? Plus: A new short story from Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw, the crazed minds who kicked off the madness and introduced Cosmic Ghost Rider in the first place!

This one sounds very interesting to me, but I’ve been a fan of Ghost Rider since I was a kid, so I’m a bit bias. But, this, again, has a couple of stories (Cosmic Ghost Rider and Baby Thanos Must Die) to read before this volume.

The Spider-Verse is full of amazing arachnids – none more anthropomorphic than the Spectacular Spider-Ham! The porcine protector from a world of animal adventurers swings into action in these mighty “Marvel Tails” – including Peter Porker’s dynamic debut, taking on the Masked Marauder and the Gopher Gang with Hulk Bunny and Captain Americat along for the ride! Meet Mary Jane Waterbuffalo as our hammy hero tackles the Hobgobbler! Then, Spider-Ham joins Peter Parker, Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen and Spider-Punk in a cross-reality team-up – and embarks on a multiversal quest to round up his deadliest foes! All this plus – at last – Spider-Ham meets Howard the Duck!

I’m going to admit it – this series is not my favourite. But, it can be an interesting look into the various worlds of the Spider-Verse.

The biggest and best adventures of Marvel’s mighty mutants – these are the X-Men Milestones! The vampiric Selene is on a mad quest to devour enough souls to ascend to godhood and commence a terrible reign over the planet! The X-Men, X-Force and New Mutants stand ready to oppose her, but the Black Queen has brought backup: an undead army of the X-Men’s deceased friends and foes! Meanwhile, on the graveyard island of Genosha, Selene’s real plan begins: to resurrect Genosha’s entire mutant population – and suck the life right back out of every single one of them! Can the X-Men defeat their zombified enemies and stop Selene’s bloody power play?

This is part of a larger series which covers all the biggest X-Men storylines, but currently, I’m not entirely sure if you can just pick this up and read it without any other context. I currently can’t see anything online to say that this can’t be read as a standalone, but don’t hold me to that!

And that’s everything coming out this week! What’s on your pull list this week?