Marvel Action: Avengers # 1...

Main cover by Jon Sommariva

On December 26th, Marvel Action: Avengers # 1 hits stands! The second in IDW's new line of all-ages comics, this project is one in a long line of dream books for me. The series is a monthly ongoing title, one we hope will appeal both to new readers as well as longtime Marvel fans. Expect lots of crazy major and minor Avengers' villains, starting with a focus on some of the rogues in Iron Man's particular gallery.

Variant cover by Sara Pitre-Durocher

I provided the script which was brought to life by the lively pencils of my collaborator Jon Sommariva. You might remember that Jon and I paired for the six-issue Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures miniseries a few years ago. Jon is built for this type of book, really helping put the "action" in "Marvel Action." Jon was under a tremendous deadline for this first issue, and nevertheless put in some of the most stellar work of his career. Colorist Protobunker lent a great vivacity to Jon's finished artwork, and letterer Christa Miesner did a great job putting up with both my -- and Tony Stark's -- verbose tendencies, as did editors Bobby Curnow and Megan Brown.

Variant cover by Sophie Campbell

There are lots of fun variants for this issue, including foil and regular retailer incentive covers by artist Gabriel Rodriguez and colorist Nelson Daniel:

You should see it in foil!

There's also a great exclusive cover from Stadium Comics (limited to just 1,000 issues!) that connects with the other two Marvel Action titles, Black Panther and Spider-Man. You can pick one up (or all three) here.

Stadium Comics variant cover by artist Alex Milne and colorist Paris Alleyne

Still curious about the issue? You can find some preview pages as well as some interviews at Syfy as well as Newsarama.

Tidewater Comic Con exclusive variant cover by Jerrett Williams

Hope you all have a great holiday season, one chock full of avenging.

To be continued...