Fresh Start (comics)

Teaser poster for the "A Fresh Start" relaunch. Art by Jim Cheung.

A Fresh Start is a 2018 relaunch of comic book publications by Marvel Comics after Marvel Legacy.^[1]

Changes to the Marvel Universe

The relaunch will see the return of Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Logan, Odinson and Bruce Banner to their classic identities of Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine, Thor and Hulk respectively. All those characters had been replaced by legacy heroes in recent times. Stark ended up in a coma in Civil War II, and his armor would be donned by the reborn-villain Doctor Victor von Doom in Infamous Iron Man and by fifteen year old African-American female genius Riri Williams in Invincible Iron Man. Sam Wilson, a longtime ally of Captain America as Falcon, took the mantle in All-New Captain America. Laura Kinney, the female clone of Logan who is also viewed as Logan's daughter became the Wolverine in All-New Wolverine. Jane Foster, a secondary character of the Thor comics, became a female Thor in Thor vol. 4. Bruce Banner died in Civil War II, with Korean-American Amadeus Cho becoming the new Incredible Hulk. It will also see the return of Marvel's first family the Fantastic Four ever since it was broken up following the conclusion of the Secret Wars storyline.

The A Fresh Start initiative will include a new incarnation of the West Coast Avengers that will consist of Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, Gwenpool, America Chavez, Quentin Quire, and Kate's boyfriend Johnny.^[2]

The teaser poster featured Jessica Jones and Miles Morales, characters created by Brian Michael Bendis. Bendis had recently moved to DC Comics; the poster confirmed that Marvel would keep publishing them.^[3]

On April 18, a sampler collection was published, similar to Marvel Legacy #1 from the previous year, titled Marvel Universe Magazine that contains previews about most of their forthcoming new #1 issues.

Many writers have been assigned with new titles whom include: Amazing Spider-Man's Dan Slott, Deadpool's Gerry Duggan and Avengers' Mark Waid etc. will not be working on the same comic.

Titles

Criticism

David Barnett from The Guardian pointed out that most of the characters involved have appeared in recent films or TV series, or are about to do so, and criticized that effort to emulate the feel of those productions instead of taking full advantage of the capabilities of the comic book medium to produce fantasy and sci-fi without the constraints of special effects budgets. He also considered that Marvel may be stepping back from its attempts to make comics featuring diverse female, black, Asian and LGBT characters, trying instead to appeal to its most conservative readership.^[4] Graeme McMillan from The Hollywood Reporter pointed out that Marvel has been announcing wide relaunches annually since 2012, but have provided limited changes.^[5]

However, several titles have gained acclaim early on for providing a fresh take on the character like The Incredible Hulk, Venom, and Black Panther. The Incredible Hulk is acclaimed for its new horror outlook, Venom is acclaimed for justifying Eddie Brock's return and creating a new origin for the symbiotes, and Black Panther is acclaimed for feeling so different despite keeping the same writer.

References