C2E2: What the Women of Marvel have in store for 2019

2019 marks the 10th year of Women in Marvel panels, but C2E2 2019 proved that there’s more in store from writers and artists alike.

During C2E2’s 2019 Women of Marvel panel, writer Eve Ewing (Ironheart) noted that she’s one of only five black women ever to write for Marvel Comics, and the other four have joined the publishing house in living memory. The panel also acknowledged that progress has been made — moderator Judy Stephens said that she couldn’t even fit all the Marvel titles currently being written by women on a slide — but there was also a note that there is more to be done, citing “community” and those who have come before as inspiration.

In terms of more to be done, though, there’s also work that Ewing, Tini Howard (the upcoming Thanos: Zero Sanctuary), Jenny Frison (covers, X-Men: Red), and Ashley Witter (covers, Doctor Aphra) all have coming up, and even as they’re extending hands out to those posting on social media, they’re also making their marks on different titles.

Howard got to announce a new Death’s Head miniseries, showing off some pages from the first issue. They were gloriously neon, owing to the fact that there’s a punk show involved. She also noted that the “freelance peace-keeping agent,” as he likes to call himself, will be teaming up with Wiccan and Hulkling, working with issues of “obsolescence” and name-checking “Video Killed the Radio Star” as a touchstone. “Also, they kill like, a thousand robots.”

She’ll also be working on the previously-confirmed Thanos: Zero Sanctuary, which tells the story of Thanos adopting Gamora more from Thanos’ side of the story. She mentioned that the Black Order will appear, including Ebony Maw and Proxima Midnight. That goes on-sale this April.

Ewing, meanwhile, is continuing her work with Ironheart, but also has Marvel Team-Up #1 arriving April 4. Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel will work together in a three-issue arc that Ewing dubbed “ridiculous,” and the first issue will essentially be two issues in one, where you can read it from either Peter Parker or Kamala Khan’s perspectives. “Some variants,” she added, “will have two covers … you can flip it around.” Pages from that issue also introduced a new character, a scientist, and confirmed the Jackal as appearing.

That wasn’t all the art, though; Frison and Witter also had some new work to show, including the covers for X-Men Red #7 and Doctor Aphra #31, respectively. Stephens called attention to their differing styles. Frison talked about how she focuses on characters “feeling their feelings,” and the Storm cover had plenty of emotion in it — even as she looked glorious and majestic. Stephens praised Witter’s lighting, and the Doctor Aphra #31 cover is, to put it mildly, beautiful. Witter’s X-23 #12 cover was starkly lovely, too.

Finally, another woman will join Marvel Rising. Heart of Iron, and that drops April 3.

These five women emphasized the power of social media — and continuing to build what women have done for Marvel. Kelly Sue DeConnick of Captain Marvel fame got name-checked often — but this writer thinks you should know the names of these four writers and artists, too.