It’s the first week of a new year, so shocking absolutely no one, it was a pretty quiet one on the comics news front. But the show must go on, or return as it may be. That’s why in this edition of Comics Disassembled, we’ll only be exploring seven thinks I liked or didn’t like from the week of comics, led by a notable beginning.

1. A (Ne)X(t) Man, Revealed

Little is known to the public about what exactly Tom Brevoort’s era for the X-Men might look like, or who will be involved. So far, all we’ve officially been given is a teaser that suggests the X-Men will be coming From the Ashes and that the launch will be in July of this year. Take of that what you will. It seems as if Marvel’s trying to keep its powder dry for a big announcement about the titles and creative teams, which is a smart move.

But as you might see happen on occasion, they didn’t account for things outside their control!

Artist Greg Capullo innocently shared a pretty standard type of post for an artist on social media this week: a work in progress post. The page he shared smartly does not actually include any identifying characters on it. Unfortunately, there was one element that was either knowingly or unknowingly included. Whatever the intent was, it was there, which is the most crucial point. You see, on most art boards artists work on for comics, there are places where you can say the project name, issue number, page number, etc. Capullo’s page was no different, and this showed that the artist’s page was in fact for Wolverine #1. Now, he didn’t say it was Wolverine #1 for Brevoort or for a new ongoing or a one-shot or anything specific. But given the timing and Brevoort’s need for a big splash and the fact that you don’t hire someone like Capullo for a one-shot, it seems pretty likely that this is for that new era.

More to come when official announcements arrive, but it seems as if Greg Capullo will have a role to play in whatever comes next for the X-Men, at least to some degree, and that Marvel’s hoping he’s the best there is at what he does when he does it.

Side note: Why does it feel like Capullo already had a run on Wolverine? I went to his Wikipedia page fully expecting him to have done five issues or something in the Adam Kubert Era for the character’s solo book, and you know what? I was completely wrong! And genuinely surprised! I don’t know why I thought that, but I absolutely did.

2. Ram V, Hanging Up His Cape

While I’m a bit behind on it because I’m reading in binges, I know this: writer Ram V’s time on Detective Comics (with an assortment of artists, including Rafael Albuquerque, Ivan Reis, Jason Shawn Alexander, and others) has been a take I haven’t seen before with Batman, and one that has really worked. It differentiates itself nicely from the more straight(ish) superheroics of the main Batman title, offering a nice counterbalance with its operatic approach and the new things it brought to Gotham. But as they say, all good things come to an end, and so must Ram’s time on the title, with it concluding with issue #1089 later this year.

It seems that this was always the plan, as he went into the book with an overall 30-issue story mapped out. Which makes sense, both because that’s how Ram seems to think and also how DC has seemingly been shaping its titles of late. It’s weird to think that this has been the longest run the writer has ever had, if only because it weirdly feels like it’s still fresh and new, mostly because time is meaningless in 2024 — but also because he and his collaborators will have managed to deliver those 30 issues in around a two year span. It’s been a whirlwind, but also a run that I think will stand the test of time in a way few do these days. I could go for more big swings like this, DC! Give creators like Ram space and let them make magic happen!