Two more of Oni’s clever March Madness PR event with two more new books announced:

• Lion of Rora is a graphic novel by Christos Gage (Netflix’s Daredevil, Avengers Academy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine), Ruth Fletcher Gage (Netflix’s Daredevil, Law and Order: SVU), and Jackie Lewis comes out on August 5th. It’s based on the true story of 17th century Italian Joshua Javanel who leads a persecuted Christian sect known as the Waldensians against the oppression of a tyrannical duke.
“The Waldensians are Ruth’s ancestors, so the story of Joshua Janavel is a personal and important one to us,” said Christos Gage in a statement. “But it’s also a universal tale of the struggle for freedom, family and a safe place to call home. Jackie Lewis has done an incredible job capturing both the epic scope of the battles and the small moments that convey Janavel’s struggle between the simple man of peace he wanted to be and the brilliant general he became. We couldn’t ask for a better presentation than what Oni has given Lion of Rora. ”
We’re guessing you had not been familiar with the story of the Waldensians before, but after reading this, you’ll know all about their story.

• Oni’s main man Cullen Bunn is back with collaborators Drew Moss (Terrible Lizard), and Nick Filardi (Helheim, Brides of Helheim) with October’s Blood Feud a “Southern tale of vampires, necromancers, horrific spiders and family feuds that survive beyond the grave.” So add this one to the shelf of “southern gothic comics” along with Southern Bastards.
“Subtitled ‘A Vampire Yarn… With Spiders,’ Blood Feud is a book that means a lot to me on a lot of different levels,” says Bunn. “It’s a story that’s been with me for years, and the characters are, in one way or another, people who were important in my life, especially while I was growing up in rural North Carolina and Missouri. Spider Creek, the town in which this horrific little tale takes place, may be fictional, but it’s also very real. It draws bits and pieces from towns like Newton Grove and Dudley and Koshkonong and Thayer to form a place that might very well be the location for an invasion of blood-sucking demonic beasties. Blood Feud is also my chance to re-team with Drew Moss and Nick Filardi. This is a story of humor and horror in the vein of movies like Fright Night and Phantasm and Evil Dead 2, and I couldn’t think of two co-conspirators to bring this story to life!”
So there you go more good stuff coming from Oni and we haven’t filled out the brackets yet.
Who would win, Spider-Man or Ms Marvel? We may find out when they meet for the first time in October’s AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #7. Will Spidey share tips on how to get home in time for dinner while saving the world? The meeting of Marvel’s seminal “hero with problem” and the modern day “superhero for the people” should be an interesting moment, as captured by Dan Slott, Christos Gage and Guiseppe Camuncoli. Although this is billed as a team-up, in comics tradition, maybe they will accidentally fight first. The issue also introduces Spider-UK, a mysterious character with unknown ties to the Spider-verse. We’d guess crumpets and cricket but that’s to be seen.
The issue includes variant covers by Javier Pulido, Gary Choo, and a Deadpool 75th variant by Michael Golden. There’s also a Hasbro variant which is…for bagged comics I guess?




Last year, Marvel received a letter from the mother of a young fan, Anthony Smith, who had hearing difficulties, and had been told by doctors that he would require a hearing aid. The mother was wondering if there were any heroes who had ever had hearing difficulties, who might serve as the inspiring spark for Anthony to accept the hearing device.
On getting the letter, editor Bill Rosemann not only pointed her to Hawkeye, who has in the past suffered from hearing problems, but also spread the letter to the Marvel offices.
And that’s what led Marvel to create a new character called The Blue Ear, who doesn’t let his hearing problems stop him from saving the day. Created with Marvel staffers Manny Mederos and Nelson Ribeiro, the character is based on Anthony himself. You can read Blue Ear’s origin story in my original post announcing the character,
Now, though! That’s not the end of The Blue Ear’s work with Marvel. Last month Marvel held a special event honouring him, as they partnered with Phonak, a hearing aid supplier. Anthony and his family were invited along, as Marvel unveiled a new poster which will be distributed nationally, in which we see Iron Man meet a young boy who is being bullier for having a hearing aid. Written by Christos Gage and drawn by Paco Medina, the poster encourages people to never feel like they should be ashamed of their disability:

The event also saw Iron Man attend in person – awfully nice of him to teleport over from the 616 Universe – and meet Anthony. After receiving a copy of the poster from Iron Man, the Avenger also then gave him a second gift – an Iron Man costume of his own.

Which, he immediately put on.

As I said last time – isn’t it now time for The Blue Ear to join The Avengers?
Ms. Marvel can get all stretchy now? That’s… a new development.
You forgot a cover http://totallypopculture.com/amazing-spider-man-7-totally-pop-culture-exclusive-variant-cover-by-bill-sienkiewicz/
@Allen – This is the new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan. Carol Danvers has been Captain Marvel for quite a while now. Totally different power set (similar to Plastic Man actually) but still fierce and heroic and smart and completely deserving of the Ms. Marvel mantle.
It’s also a helluva fun read.
Wait. You’ve got Roma and Opal Luna Saturnyne, AND the Most Excellent Superhero of the British Empire Spider-Man, and they didn’t get Alan Davis to do a variant cover?!?
First Spider-Woman, now this… tch…