Marvel Comics is about to witness the birth of some new cosmic beings in writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Valerio Schiti's upcoming GODS ongoing title. Marvel has been teasing the characters and concepts behind GODS for some time, and now the publisher has offered up an early preview of some interior pages, along with the first issue's main cover by artist Mateus Manhanini.
In the preview, two of those brand new cosmic factions of the Marvel Universe - the beings known as The-Powers-That-Be, and their counterparts The-Natural-Order-Of-Things - come together in a meeting with well-known Marvel characters including Doctor Doom, Reed Richards, Doctor Strange, and Clea.
Here's a gallery of the pages and cover:
"These groups learn of a Babylon Event, a rare occurrence that has the potential to upend the forces behind existence such as Eternity, Infinity, and the Living Tribunal," explains Marvel's announcement. "This cataclysmic threat will bring a eons-old war out of the shadows for the first time and shed light on long-guarded secrets of the cosmos!"
"The new series will dramatically transform Marvel’s classic pantheon of cosmic beings and introduce brand-new concepts and characters that operate at the crossroads of science and magic," it concludes.
Marvel has also released the official solicitation text for GODS #1, which raises even more questions about what's to come with its enigmatic portends.
"The infinite détente between THE-NATURAL-ORDER-OF-THINGS and THE-POWERS-THAT-BE nears an end," it states. "Old acquaintances are reunited during a Babylon Event. The Lion of Wolves throws the worst parties. Don’t look under the table. There’s a John Wilkes Booth penny on the ground."
For anyone who doesn't immediately recognize the name, John Wilkes Booth was the assassin who killed United States president Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Lincoln is the president depicted on the penny in the United States - meaning a "John Wilkes Booth penny" is a particularly dire inversion.
GODS #1 goes on sale October 4.
Check out the best Marvel Comics events of all time.
