(CBR) It’s easy sometimes to forget about comic book teasers — after all, there are so many of them in any given month that informational overload is a definite possibility. However, looking back at old promo images can occasionally yield unexpected results when new information comes up. With Marvel Comics currently letting loose with a media blitz of one-word teasers in anticipation of New York Comic Con 2013, a Steve McNiven-illustrated image released in July to promote the post-“Inhumanity” All-New Marvel NOW! status quo can now be looked at in a new light. The image teased the return of Nightcrawler in “Amazing X-Men” written by Jason Aaron, and apparently contains more clues as to what else to expect when taken in conjunction with Marvel’s current campaign.
Perhaps the most obvious parallels to the teaser are the new series written by Dan Slott — a “Rad!” book with Mike Allred and “The End” of something with Giuseppe Camuncoli. While the silver “Rad!” teaser is almost certainly a Silver Surfer project, another aspect of McNiven’s image that’s clearly in Slott’s wheelhouse is Spider-Man — in his original blue-and-red threads, rather than the current “Superior Spider-Man” outfit. Is it possible that “The End” refers to the end of Spider-Ock and a return to seeing Peter Parker web-slinging across New York City’s skyline?
Meanwhile, the “Judgement” one-word teaser hyping “Guardians of the Galaxy” creative team Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli makes perfect sense given the content of the “Inhumanity” image, and it’s likely Angela and Yondu will play a larger role in whatever Bendis and Pichelli have planned for the next arc of “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
Even the most recent teaser — this morning’s “Atonement” image hyping creative team Nathan Edmondson and — makes more sense when applied to McNiven’s image. Edmondson is a near-perfect fit for Winter Soldier, Black Widow or both — though the red coloring of the word does seem like it could apply more to the Widow, who is said to have red in her ledger. While other teasers are harder to apply to McNiven’s image — such as “Mindbubble” by Rick Remender and Pascal Alixe (potentially “Captain America” related), “Sinners” by Charles Soule and Carlo Barberi (likely a “Thunderbolts” or “Deadpool” project), “Global” by Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer and Stefano Caselli (likely a new “Avengers” storyline), “Higher” by Kelly Sue DeConnick and David Lopez (very likely a new “Captain Marvel” arc or series), “Corporate” by Peter David and Carmine Di Giandomenico (likely a new “X-Factor”-related series) and “Trial” by Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen (likely a new arc of “All-New X-Men”) — there are still a number of characters that presumably haven’t been part of a one-word teaser thus far. Falcon, Thor, Iron Man, Black Bolt and Medusa (not to mention a new-costumed Wolverine) all feature heavily in the image and have not yet gotten any kind of obvious indication of an All-New Marvel NOW! one-word teaser. That said, it’s likely only a matter of time, as Marvel ramps up to its presence at NYCC 2013 and continues to reveal teaser images every day.
Check out the one-word teasers to date below.