The weird weeks of comic news continue onwards, so let’s dig into another quirky one in the latest edition of Comics Disassembled, as I write about ten things I liked or didn’t like from the week of comics, led by an event for a far off time.

Armageddon, Thy Name is Chip Zdarsky

Not satisfied with breaking my heart by ending Zdarsky Comic News, now Chip Zdarsky is trying to destroy the Marvel universe. Thanks Chip! I guess I shouldn’t get too mad at him yet. That’s because we don’t really know what’s coming, beyond the fact a teaser hit this week for a new Marvel event that arrives next summer. It’s called Armageddon, and it will be written by Zdarsky. What’s it about? Bad things, man. Bad things. I think.

I’m not being vague about it, or at least not intentionally so. The announcement is just vague, which makes sense because it’s seven months before this event launches. They have a lot of time to reveal the details. What I can say is they’re really hyping it up already, as they said this story “will impact the entire Marvel Universe, changing the face of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in a way not seen since Avengers: Disassembled.” That’s a pretty big promise!

One other thing we know is it apparently will be built from Zdarsky’s run in Captain America — which makes sense — and the recently concluded Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion miniseries, which found Miles Morales returning with an Origin Box (one of the Happy Meals Iron Lad created in the Ultimate Universe to redistribute powers stolen by The Maker). The latter part adds up given that the teaser — seemingly designed by Zdarsky himself — has a paragon hero type walking around with Origin Box in hand as the graphic tells viewers to “Witness the ORIGIN of the end.” Ominous!

There’s a lot of hypothesizing going on about this one, with plenty of it orbiting on the idea that Zdarsky will take over Avengers after or during this event. I wouldn’t be surprised, to be honest. I’ve heard that Zdarsky has a rather significant role in Marvel’s 2026, although that could just be speaking to Armageddon itself. But before we get to the point of conjecture about an event that won’t arrive until next summer, I’d like to get, like, an artist first, maybe. That’s probably a ways out too, as, again, Armageddon is still seven months away.

But I will say, I’m cautiously optimistic about this. Armageddon at least feels like an event that will organically build in other stories instead of coming together for “we need an event” reasons. More than that, Zdarsky’s never tackled an event, and I suspect he’s going to be quite good at this. That’s a nice start. That won’t be what defines it, necessarily. But after a rough couple years, I’ll take a nice start.

UPDATE: After I had already finished this article, Marvel sent another press release that revealed why they shared a teaser for Armageddon so early. It turns out there will be a prelude series to that event starting in February called “Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon” that’s written by Zdarsky and drawn by Luca Maresca that finds Logan traveling the world to find an abducted mutant, which leads him into a conspiracy involving a super-soldier development corporation with the incredible name of PRIMEWARRIOR (it is actually in all caps. I hope it’s an acronym!). So, that all makes sense now. It still doesn’t say much about what Armageddon is, but I will say this: I love the cover design for its first issue! I hope that’s final! I have the weird feeling that’s designed by Zdarsky himself. I could be wrong, though.

The Digital Wars, Increasing in Intensity

Shots fired! Or, uh, digital comic platforms launched!

It was a big week for digital readers and for people looking to write about the ever-evolving digital comics landscape, as it brought us two rather notable deals (that even ignores a third in InkyPen taking its talents to Steam)…which were not picked up by pretty much anyone, as far as I can tell, at least as of this writing. Up first was Neon Ichiban, the new platform from Comixology vets (and DSTLRY leads) David Steinberger and Chip Mosher, exiting its beta and entering the world as a fully-grown app. So, no more testing, just selling digital comics for people to read, with other features to come and be expanded on. This was just a matter of time, but it was good to see this platform enter this increasingly crowded landscape in full. Now it’s time to prove itself, and to see if readers will move in its direction. TBD!

It was also fascinating timing, as it came the same week that Sweet Shop — another new digital comic shop that comes from Kenny Meyers and crew — launched its invite-only beta and revealed its 24 publisher deep lineup. It’s interesting to compare and contrast the approaches of these two platforms. Neon Ichiban’s press release was loaded with quotes from top execs at publishers while Sweet Shop’s mostly focused on creators like Kieron Gillen and Kelly Sue DeConnick, and the former’s publisher lineup was the biggest names while the latter leaned into, for a lack of better phrasing, a list of creator-driven publishers ranging from Image and Oni to Silver Sprocket, Avery Hill, and Fantagraphics. They’re different types of platforms. Neon Ichiban emphasizes collectability and one-of-a-kind digital remarques, while the latter’s whole deal is Steam-meets-Letterboxd but in the form of a digital comic shop. Both want people to buy and read comics, but there’s nuance there. Those are different models with different points of emphasis.

That’s not to say one is better or worse. Frankly, I haven’t really used either of them enough to make value statements, both because they’re new and because I’m not really much of a digital reader. But it feels like deliberate differentiation, which is smart by both given how crowded this market is getting. I applied for the Sweet Shop beta and have toyed around with Neon Ichiban a bit, but if you’re a digital reader and you explore either, let me know your thoughts! I’m curious as to how people respond to them.