Marvel's not been afraid to champion the female side of their roster recently, but now they're going whole hog with a new anthology collection that will gather stories from their most prominent female-led comic series into one collection.
Rolling under the banner of A-Force Presents — named for the upcoming all-female Avengers team that will debut in Secret Wars — the collection will tie together single issues from across Marvel's female-driven comic series, ongoing or otherwise. The first volume contains the first issues of Thor, Ms. Marvel, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Black Widow, Captain Marvel and the dearly departed She-Hulk, which came to a close recently. Here's Marvel with a brief explanation of what they're doing, as well as the cover for the first Volume:
A bi-monthly series focusing on the strength, courage and power of Marvel's female heroes, A-Force Presents collects a new selection of Marvel's critically-acclaimed female led titles for fans to explore. Targeted towards young adult readers, each volume of A-Force Presents includes 6 issues and offers a clean entry point into the Marvel Universe through some of the most popular titles.
Releasing this September, the first volume, A-Force Presents Vol. 1 collects the critically acclaimed first issue of Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel,Thor, She-Hulk, Black Widow and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Don't miss your chance to jump on board with Marvel's mightiest superheroines when A-Force Presents Vol. 1 bursts on to the scene later this year!
It's an interesting way of doing a collection; instead of collecting a major arc or event, it's a multitude of disparate stories gathered together as a sort of snapshot at what's currently happening with female superheroes in Marvel's comics.
There's plenty of questions though — will it continue these stories in each successive volume, or will it just be teases for full series they'd rather you go out and subscribe to after buying a collection? The second volume's cover means we know that at least Ms. Marvel, Thor and She-Hulk will continue, but what about the rest? And will people realize they're getting a sampler of each character rather than a full story run of them? Will they be willing to wait the two months to carry on reading? But it's not really a collection aimed at the regular avid comic reader — it's more like an introductory guide for newcomers who've heard about these series on the news or thanks to the MCU, and want to come dip their toes.
It's an interesting angle for Marvel to take with how they're presenting their female characters. Only time till tell to see if it introduces more people to their comics.
A-Force Presents Volumes 1 and 2 are available for pre-order on Amazon, ahead of releases in September and November. Each collection will sell for around $15 each.
[via Comics Alliance]