In Absolute Power: Task Force VII #1, Amanda Waller, who is leading the charge to depower and neutralize all the superheroes in the DC Universe, sends The Last Son, one of her power-absorbing Amazo androids, to steal the abilities of the Marvel Family.

But there's at least one member of the Marvel Family who has a unique chance against the power of Waller and her so-called Trinity of Evil, which also includes Failsafe and the Brainiac Queen: Black Adam. However, even he may be down for the count.

We've got an early preview of pages from Absolute Power: Task Force VII #1 by writer Leah Williams, artist Caitlin Yarsky, colorist Alex Guimarães, and letterer Dave Sharpe, showing off the first meeting between Black Adam and The Last Son along with covers by Pete Woods, Dave Raposa, Dan Mora, Stephen Platt, John Timms, and Brad Walker:

"SUPER NO MORE! With the assault on Metropolis's heroes complete, Amanda Waller's latest living weapon, the Last Son, sets his sights on the other most powerful supers in the DCU...the Marvel Family!" reads DC's official description of Absolute Power: Task Force VII #1. 

"Will their combined powers be enough to survive this terrifying threat? In this biweekly series we'll see the ABSOLUTE POWER event through the eyes of evil - as told from the point of view of the TRINITY OF EVIL!"

Absolute Power: Task Force VII #1 goes on sale July 10.

Check out the most important and impactful DC events of all time.

In Absolute Power, longtime DC writer Mark Waid and his ongoing creative partner Dan Mora, with whom Waid also creates the popular title Batman/Superman: World's Finest, are taking away the one thing that may be the most valuable to all the heroes of the DC Universe: their powers and their weapons.

With heroes like Green Arrow taking up surprising alliances, Superman suffering shocking consequences, and many others taken off the board, July 3's Absolute Power #1 has its share of twists and turns, and many more in store for later issues. 

To dig into it all, including what the events of Absolute Power could mean for the DC Universe going forward, Newsarama spoke with Waid, who opens up about his thought process in writing villains, how losing their powers could affect DC's biggest heroes, and much more. We've also got some unlettered pages from Absolute Power #1 by Dan Mora and colorist Alejandro Sanchez to show off.

Newsarama: Mark, right off the bat, Absolute Power is a very different DC event than a lot of the stories we've seen in recent years. There's no Multiverse, no time travel, all of those things are specifically cut off. How important is it to you to keep this story grounded? What's it like doing an event like this after so many other events that have been told on a grand cosmic scale?

Mark Waid: Those have all been great events, those big cosmic events. But that's just not what my wheelhouse is. So coming into this, I didn't have the energy or the ability to make this another giant cosmos-ending threat, and instead wanted to focus on a very personal threat to the superheroes - which is, not only are their powers being taken away, not only are they being stalked and hunted, they're having to confront a sense of loss that they have not had to feel as a group before.

That leads right into my next question. I don't want to get too spoiler-y, but Absolute Power is all about Amanda Waller's plan to deal with superheroes once and for all. It feels like she maybe has a little bit of a point about super powers going unchecked, even though her own actions are also an extreme and blatant abuse of power. As a creator and comic reader, what do you see as the line? How are you addressing that balance between the power superheroes have versus the responsibility they have to use it wisely?

Look, as a writer and as a reader, and as a lover of superheroes, I don't acknowledge that line. I just think it's a world of fantasy. And if you can accept that a man can fly, you can accept that people do good things for good reasons, and they're not a threat.

But Amanda doesn't see that. And she's not wrong - certainly not from her point of view. Where she's crossing lines is, she's had such little success in curbing and controlling these superheroes and these forces that she believes are out of control, that she's now begun stepping over that line. She's begun orchestrating situations to make them look bad.

She's been doing things too deliberately. She's not reacting to them anymore, now she's acting on them. Beast World was a great example, right? She set that up a few months ago just to make the Titans look like world menaces. And this is only part of what she's doing. She's exhausted.

You know, I like writing villains that have to come to the natural end of the way they've been doing things for all these years, who finally have a new way of attacking the problem. And that's exactly what's happening with Amanda. She's been doing this for a long time, and from her point of view, she's not made a dent, so it's time to break the glass and pull the emergency lever, and take superheroes off the board completely.

This story starts with Amanda Waller manipulating the media, which carries some themes that are very prescient to real life right now, in the comic industry and at large. How do you balance talking about themes in a way that fits in with a superhero story while also addressing some of how these ideas impact the real world?

Right? I mean, I'm no genius and no fortune teller to be able to say, when we started planning this out about a year ago, that I could see as were were headed, especially toward the 2024 election, that no matter what side of the political spectrum you're on, that this was going to be an increasing problem, that it would be an accelerant to fake news, to deep fakes, to AI in general.

I knew we were going to be out about the same time, and so that was important for me to get that in. Basically, I just wanted to take advantage of the fact that Brainiac Queen has the ability to invade every server on Earth, every source of news and information that there is, she can now control. 

So if Amanda wants to take out the superheroes, take them away from their resources, then taking them to a place where the humans of the world fear them and are hunting them is a natural evolution of that thought.

So on that note, there's a big change for most if not all of the superheroes in the DC Universe in Absolute Power #1. With that in mind, who do you see as the characters that will become the big heroes here? Who's stepping up in light of these changes?

I was really surprised because going into this, I figured it was going to be Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. And that's why I asked the writers of those books to tie-in to this story, and all of them were completely on board and all super gracious. Superman has a specific role, for example, but it's not shown entirely in the main Absolute Power series. The main series has 120 pages and 300 superheroes, so I have my limits.

But what that meant is, by taking Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman off the board for most of issue three, that really gives me a chance to elevate some of these other characters. To my surprise, Jon Kent became a key player. To my surprise, Dreamer turned out to be a key player. To my surprise, Nightwing became an even more important part of the book and of the resistance than I had anticipated.

And there are other B-level characters and C-level characters that will get a chance to step up and shine, and that thrills me, because I like writing all of them.

Speaking of the story's big characters, Green Arrow plays a very important and specific role in this story that's been building in his solo title as well. There's something about Oliver Queen that makes it feel like not so much a stretch to see him picking the side he chooses…

I'd say the same thing. I think Ollie has a long, long history of calling the Justice League on their stuff. He's quit the Justice League more than once, saying to them "You don't pay attention to the common man, you're not as responsible for your actions as you maybe ought to be. You're not as grounded as you think you are, you can't just be gods up in the sky."

This is not new, so it's not an enormous stretch to me that this left wing, liberal guy would swing all the way around and embrace the vaguely fascistic agenda of Amanda Waller. And if it surprises you that this happened as a reader, and you feel like this is coming very much out of left field, I would encourage you to keep reading and come back to me a few months later, and let's have that conversation.

That definitely touches on what I was going to ask. You hinted at what I was thinking, which is, I don't see this going the way we might expect for Green Arrow, in either direction.

Nope. Nope. That's the beauty of an event like this, where DC said "Look, take big swings and do some big things with these characters." So yeah, not everybody gets a shot like that very often, so let's take advantage of that.

You called Oliver Queen a kind of counterbalance to the Justice League - but there is no Justice League right now. Is Absolute Power offering up the proof that the DC Universe needs a Justice League? Are we looking at the catalyst for the League's big return?

The question about the need for the Justice League really is part of the conversation that they're having for sure. And certainly the idea that - I think we hit on this in the first issue - is that if the Justice League had been around, if the lines of communication had been more open as they were when the Justice League was active, then maybe the blitzkrieg that hit the superheroes might not have been as surprising and might not have been so indefensible.

You've got Dan Mora on the book with you, and I feel like he's the perfect choice for a story this big right now - you mentioned the hundreds of characters that will appear, and even Absolute Power #1 is jam-packed with characters. What has he surprised you with on this story so far? And what does having the longstanding creative partnership you have with him allow you to do in an event story like this rather than a monthly comic?

Well first of all, there's a level of trust there. You know, I would feel really bad about giving these scripts to somebody who's been drawing comics for only two years or something. Their head would explode, cause there's a George Pérez level number of superheroes in the story, and that cannot be helped. You can't do a story about the figurative death of superheroes in the DC Universe without showing a bunch of superheroes. So luckily, he trusts me not to overburden him.

At the same time, you're right, he's perfect, because what he's able to bring to it is an enthusiasm for drawing these characters. He puts in characters that I'd forgotten need to be there, because he just loves drawing these characters. 

It's also a slightly different look from our Batman/Superman: World's Finest book, because there is more of a brutality to this story. There is more of a grave threat, a potentially permanent threat to the DC Universe that comes out of this. And so it is a little darker, and he's embraced that.

This is a very different kind of event than you've usually done as it's very villain-focused, with Amanda Waller, Brainiac Queen, and Failsafe as the sort of inverse of the "Trinity" of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. What's your approach when you sit down to write about villains as almost the protagonists of a story, versus having heroes in the lead?

It doesn't come naturally to me, that's for sure. Everybody who ever says villains are more fun to write, I understand why they say that, but this is an alien language to me. I've never felt that way. But that said, that means having to get in the heads of these villains the same way I get into the heads of superheroes - understanding what they want, understanding what their goals are.

And at the end of every script, reading it back through the villain's point of view, to make sure that it's consistent, to make sure that's coming across is important. Because again, it's a cliche, but they're the heroes in their own minds.

You mentioned Jon Kent as a key player in this story. What does Jon Kent bring to the role of Superman that makes him different from Kal-El?

It's not just about Jon's role, it's very much about the Superman/Jon relationship, and things that happen to break it in this series that we've not seen before. They've always been very tight.  They've always been on the same page in terms of how to handle things, you know? This puts that to the test.

Absolute Power #1 puts big changes on so many heroes. It feels naive to assume all these changes are going to stick, but to what extent are we looking at a pivotal moment of real change for these superheroes and how they move in the world?

Yes, some more than others. But yes, you know it. You know, something can be undone, but not everything can be undone. And the consequences leading out of this are epic. There are at least three things I can think of just off the top of my head that lead out of Absolute Power that are going to be very important to DC in 2024, 2025, and on.

What do you want to say about Absolute Power to readers that you haven't been able to get out there yet?

I would say that my favorite cliffhangers are where the villain has won, and there is absolutely 100% no hope of winning against them. Those are my favorite cliffhangers, and that's what I've tried to bring to the table with every issue of Absolute Power. And if you dig that, then this is the story for you.

While you wait for Absolute Power to kick off, learn all about the most important and impactful DC events of all time.

Spoilers for Action Comics #1066 and Superman #15

Part 5 (published in Action Comics #1066) opens with the resolution of the cliffhanger ending of Part 4, which saw the Brainiac Queen take on the House of Lobo and seemingly wipe the Czarnians out. That's immediately confirmed here - all of Lobo's people are now dead, leaving Lobo and Crush as the last two Czarnians in existence once more. That's enough to force the Main Man into a new alliance with Superman. Still, despite the tragedy of losing his family, Lobo takes things pretty well - a fist bump with Superman and an acknowledgement that they are both "last sons" aside, he ends the arc cheerfully heading off on another adventure. Oh Lobo. Consider getting some therapy, mate.

Lex Luthor is the other person seemingly permanently changed by this arc. He may have helped Brainiac build the Queen in the first place, but it turns out that he was smart enough to leave a handy back entrance into its programming. He uses this to "become one with the master brain hive" and take control of Brainiac's network. The plan works - while Superman, Supergirl, and Lobo fight off Brainiac's forces, Lex is able to rescue his daughter Lena and erase the Hive Mind.

Unfortunately, this appears to have the side-effect of deleting Lex's own mind and personality in the process. The final frame of Superman #15 implies that he has no idea who he really is now. This is doubly tragic as the issue has made it clear that Lex has finally come to truly understand the importance of family, and even developed an affection for his former foes. The Lex we're left with at the end of the issue, however, appears to be a blank slate. He could turn out to be very good, or very bad indeed and it'll be fascinating to see how that all plays out, presumably after the Absolute Power event has all wrapped up.

The final big development in Superman #15 revolves around the bottled cities that Brainiac has been collecting. Fans will be well aware of Kandor - the Kryptonian city that was shrunk and kept in a glass bottle by Brainiac and which has been a part of Superman lore since 1958. Part of the 'House of Brainiac' arc has involved the villain collecting and bottling cities from other worlds, all of which are in jeopardy as Superman and Co finally defeat their enemies. 

Luckily, Vril and the other surviving members of the House of Brainiac who have turned on their patriarch are said to have taken and re-enlarged all of the bottled cities on a new world, dubbed Colu 2.0. It's described by Lobo as "a giant melting pot of a planet... going to be absolute chaos." Let's hope we get to see what that chaos looks like some day soon...

Both Action Comics #1066 and Superman #15 are out now from DC.

Find out where Lex Luthor lands on our list of the best supervillains of all time.

Matt and Margie Kraft Kindt have teamed up for Gilt Frame, described as "an eccentric and electrifying crime thriller starring the most unlikely detective duo in the history of murder mysteries." The three-issue whodunnit will be written by the two Kindts, with Matt also serving as the series' artist. It will be published through Flux House and Dark Horse Comics. 

You can check out the covers for each of the three issues in the gallery below.

In terms of plot, Gilt Frame is said to be a globe-trotting mystery taking place in locations as diverse as Paris, Hawaii, and Montenegro. It follows 20-something Sam and his crime-solving Aunt Merry. The duo have form for solving mysteries, but their latest adventure in France is "cut short when they stumble upon a murder scene so bizarre that only a raging psychopath could have produced it." 

"Although it is a privilege and thrill to collaborate with someone of Matthew's caliber and of his generation, the real joy and value is personal," said Margie Kraft Kindt in a statement. "What a bonus at this time of life, the gift and pleasure of so many hours and days in the company of a grown-up son, sitting across from each other at our partner table, settling into our chairs as we brainstorm plot twists."

Check out some finished pages from the first issue in the gallery below.

Margie Kraft Kindt went onto describe the unusual way that the duo worked on the book. "Each of us takes on the roles of our characters. I develop the energetic persona of the star of Gilt Frame, the take-charge Meredith Pearson – Aunt Merry to her beloved nephew and best buddy, Sammy – while Matt shoots out dialogue for him. We toss around how they would play off each other – so completely immersed in the exhilarating work we are both passionate about, that every once in a while, we stop and ask each other, 'Are you getting this down?'"

"Sam, the young nephew in Gilt Frame, is really the star of the show here," said Matt Kindt. "The voice of reason who generously gives old Aunt Merry just enough screen time not to embarrass herself. He's always looking out for her as they solve a real puzzle of a murder. It's not a locked room murder mystery. It's more of an unlocked…UNHINGED murder mystery."

"While we were working on this book it brought back memories of me when I was 10 or so…and Mom constructing pretend 'crime scenes' at home for me to solve," said Matt Kindt. "Follow the fake bloody footprints to figure out what happened. Pay attention to the broken clock. Why is that door open? That childhood memory actually explains a lot. Very formative. So of course it only makes sense for us to build another crime scene together. Brings me back to my roots and to what writing has always been for me – play. We're having fun."

Gilt Frame #1 is published by Dark Horse Comics and Flux House on August 7.

Check out our list of notable celebrities who have written and drawn comic books.

The final strip in the issue is one of the most striking. Harlem Zombos is a cross between Al Ewing and Henry Flint's much-loved horror comedy Zombo and the classic future sport saga Harlem Heroes - one of the very first strips published in the venerable anthology. We spoke with Ewing and artist Boo Cook about putting a fresh spin on two classic comics - and what the future holds for Zombo.

Newsarama: Al, you're back at 2000 AD for the first time in a few years with a story that blends Zombo with the Harlem Heroes. What makes those two strips work well together?

Al Ewing: Originally, putting these together was 2000 AD editor Matt Smith's idea, and once I'd sat down and re-read the original Harlem Heroes strips, I could see how they'd mash up – on a plot level, the Harlem Heroes are a classic "back from the grave" story. It has an aeroball team mostly killed in a deadly road crash – that reduces one of their number to being a brain in a jar – but then recovering from that to fight against both the rival teams standing in the way of the championship and more corrupt elements in the sport. 

So with just a slight tweak – having that road-crash half-kill the team in a different way – we can turn the Harlem Heroes into a squad of Zombos. Aside from that, there's a playful absurdity in the "future sport" genre that benefits from having the dials turned up a little in true Zombo fashion.

Boo, how was it handling the art duties for this strip?

Boo Cook: When I was asked to do the strip I was over the moon to say the least – but once that settled the terror of having to follow in the mighty footsteps of Dave Gibbons and Henry Flint set in. But there comes a point where you just have to suck it up and dive in. I considered doing some form of pastiche of the original Harlem Heroes strip artwork but quickly realised that was well out of my skill zone and would also have to factor in Henry's style, which is pretty far removed from Dave's.

In the end I opted to just try and do what I do to the very best of my abilities. I don't know if it was the reverence for the characters, the writer or the previous artists, but these are probably the tightest pencils I've done to date and I've enjoyed myself probably as much as it's possible to drawing comics. I've really tried to push myself hard on this one!

Do you both have strong memories of the original Harlem Heroes?

Ewing: I wasn't even born when the original Harlem Heroes made their debut, and to this day I haven't managed to track down copies of those first 50 issues of 2000 AD. In fact, there are some worrying gaps in my collection following a recent house move, so I may go out on the prowl for progs [2000 AD slang for issues - ed.] soon. My complete Star Lord run is still intact, thank goodness.

So the original strip had this kind of semi-mythic quality for me, though I didn't read it all the way through until very recently – it was one of the strips that started the comic off, and it was the one with the classic Dave Gibbons art. Later, of course, the late, great Massimo Belardinelli took over while Gibbons moved to Dan Dare – I know Boo has turned his hand to Belardinelli's characters before, so I'm certain it'll look both true to the original and fantastic in its own right.

Cook: My first memory of the original Harlem Heroes was one Christmas as a kid when I got the 1982 2000 AD annual – inside was an exposé of all the future sport strips currently running in the prog and I instantly recognised the Harlems as being so damn cool. 

I was living in a tiny village in Devon and this was drawing on influences way outside of my experience range at the time so I quickly whizzed up to my pal Tom's house and dived into his massive pile of progs for the backstory. I sort of missed the boat a bit, being late to the game, so it wasn't quite top of my thrill list – but it definitely ticked the Rollerball box of the zeitgeist at the time. As for Zombo, I've always considered him to be at the peak of what 2000 AD can produce, absolutely A1 comics.

Did you consider any other character mash-ups or was it always going to be Harlem Zombos?

Ewing: I wasn't about to question a command from Tharg – better droids than me have been melted down for less. But this is old home week of a kind for Zombo – he's already been mashed with M.A.C.H. 1 for the 40th birthday prog, and he visited Mega-City for long enough to annoy Judge Dredd, so this is just the latest in a series of classic 2000 AD thrills that are getting the treatment.

How does it feel returning to 2000 AD after a while? 

Ewing: I always like writing for 2000AD – I'm a bit of a lapsed droid these days, but it's where I got my start, and without Matt and Rebellion taking a chance on me early on, I wouldn't be where I am now, so I've always got time for the prog.

This is a currently one-off strip, but is there potential for more Zombo? Or more Harlem Zombos for that matter? 

Ewing: Yes to both – though that is somewhat dependent on me getting off my bum and writing that Last Zombo Story I've been turning over and over in my mind for years.

What other projects are you both working on now that you can talk about? 

Ewing: "That I can talk about" is the tricky bit – I'm in that zone right now of having just finished a bunch of projects, and having a bunch more in the soon-to-be-announced stage. Immortal Thor is ongoing and is about to enter some new and more myth-based phases, and Venom is coming up to Venom War, our slam-bang no-holds-barred Big Ending to a bunch of the threads we've been playing with for the length of the run. 

Also, my first work for DC in quite a while will be dropping for Pride Month in this year's DC Pride Special, a one-off tale of the Blue Starman. Aside from that – I'm not short of work, but sadly it's all under a veil of darkness until the time is right.

Cook: At the point this script arrived I was midway through art duties on Death Cap 2: Frontier Justice with Thistlebone's Tom Eglington. Set in the Dredd-verse, it's post apocalyptic psychedelic horror at its most effed up – and it's safe to say we're having a (puff)ball on this one. Now our protagonist Anita Goya has gone full blown shroom beast there are rampages aplenty as she winds her way across the Cursed Earth in search of a cure, meeting tons of crazed denizens as she goes, in a way which harks back to the relentless gatling gun of ideas and tropes in the original Cursed Earth Dredd saga – but with a LOT more fungus. Catch it in the Judge Dredd Megazine this autumn...

The 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special is published by Rebellion on July 3.

Eager to get started reading the fearsome future lawman? Here are the best Judge Dredd stories of all time.

For those not in the know, Batman: Wayne Family Adventures is an Eisner Award nominated webcomic all about Batman and his allies, including Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Barbara Gordon, Duke Thomas, and of course, Alfred, in all-ages adventures that focus on their dynamic as the so-called Batfamily.

Now, writer CRC Bloom and artist StarBite are bringing back the Clown Prince of Crime, and the Joker's return to the Wayne Family Adventures version of Gotham City is big enough to mark the comic's first villain to span all 50 episodes of the season.

Here's a gallery of images from the season three chapters released so far:

"The Batfamily has conquered many foes, but none so deadly as The Joker," reads Webtoon and DC's official description of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures season three. 

"When the Clown Prince of Crime returns to Gotham City, Bruce and his children will find their skills as vigilantes and their bonds as family tested," it continues. "As The Joker's dark plan takes its toll, the Batfamily must learn if they are ready to fly together - or fall alone."

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures season three is now releasing on Webtoon, with new episodes releasing every Thursday.

Check out our picks for the best Batman stories of all time.

A veritable teen idol of his own thanks to My Chem's beloved presence in the punk and emo scene, Way is tapping into a deep-seated love of both the TMNT and their personal favorite food of pizza for a story that captures the youthful energy of the Turtles in a way that only someone who was there for their meteoric rise and pop culture presence could.

"I was a massive Turtles fan as a kid! Being born in the '80s, wave one of Turtlemania hit when I was about eight years old, so safe to say I was all in," Way tells Newsarama. "My older brother was into the black & white comics early, so I was at least aware of the Turtles prior to that big boom, but my fandom really came alive with the original cartoon series." 

"Followed up by the Playmates toy line and then into the live action movie, it really checked every box imaginable for me," Way explains. "The characters and the world building had something for almost everyone. While I was initially into Michelangelo, (because of his name and the nunchucks) I grew into way more of a Raphael fan. He's got more layers as a character in my opinion."

Way's brother is, of course, Gerard Way, singer of My Chemical Romance and founder of the DC imprint Young Animal, which published Mikey Way's first comic, Collapser, which was co-written by Shaun Simon with art by Ilias Kyriazis. For TMNT: Black, White, and Green, Way collaborated with artist Nikola Čižmešija and colorist Lee Loughridge, whose art you can see in the newly revealed pages from the story seen here.

"I love Nikola’s style so much!," Way says. "He has this fantastic anime inspired quality to his work, and it lends itself perfectly to a Ninja Turtles story. I was floored by his pencils and he was a pleasure to work with."

As for the content of the story itself, it all comes down to something that many fans of the TMNT probably love as much as the Turtles do themselves: pizza. Way brings in a classic villain, Pizza Face, who first appeared in the original TMNT toy line in 1990 as a villainous pizza chef, before being revived in the 2012 animated series as a mutated pizza blob.

"I wanted to do a story that was an ode to '80s horror, with a nod to Candy Man or the urban legend of Bloody Mary," Way says of why he chose Pizza Face. 

"The character of Pizza Face fascinated me as a kid, because he looked like the mascot on most Pizza boxes mixed with a 'Freddy' or 'Jason'," Way continues. "That mythology I created in my head as a kid really stuck with me. When the opportunity arose to write a Ninja Turtle story, it was literally the first thing that popped out of my head."

And yes, Mikey Way does have a favorite pizza place: 

"Star Tavern in Orange New Jersey. Hands down the greatest there is, in my opinion."

Though Way's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Green story is only eight pages, Way does plan more comics to come very soon - though he's not quite ready to say exactly what just yet.

"I feel like I have more stories that I want to tell," he hints. "At the risk of sounding vague, I would say one can expect an announcement of some sort very soon."

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Black, White, and Green #2 is on sale now.

Check out our picks for the best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stories of all time.

Horikoshi confirmed the news online in a message to fans that reads: "Apologies for the two-week break! My schedule piled up... There are just five chapters left until the manga's end. Some might think, 'There's still five chapters to go?!' while others may think, 'Just five chapters left?!' but I'll do my best to make sure both camps enjoy these last five chapters with Deku and the others! It was a rocky road, but I was able to draw Deku and his friends for nearly 10 years thanks to everyone who kept on reading. It was a dream. Thank you so much! Well, let's meet again in Jump!"

Although the suddenness of the ending is a surprise, Kōhei Horikoshi has been hinting that he was close to wrapping up the story for several years now. He said back in 2021 that the series had run for longer than he'd initially planned, and thought that it might wrap up as soon as 2022. He said something similar the following year, and the series officially entered its epilogue stage with the recent publication of Chapter 424.

My Hero Academia launched in the pages of Weekly Shōnen Jump all the way back in July 2014 and quickly became a fan favorite manga. Collections of the series have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, pushing it into the ranks of one of the best-selling manga of all time. It's also spawned a hugely successful animated series, which has run for seven seasons so far, as well as three anime films, with a fourth - My Hero Academia: You're Next - set to debut on August 2, just days before the manga wraps up.

Keen to start reading manga? Here are 10 incredible ongoing series you should be reading right now.

With Peter nearly on his own against the so-called "Superior Spider-Colony," he's got his hands full dealing with J. Jonah Jameson, who has a pair of Otto's old arms, in addition to being mind-controlled, as well as Aunt May, and Robbie Robertson, all of whom are trying to turn Peter into another Superior Spider-Man.

We've got an early preview of pages from Superior Spider-Man #8 by writer Dan Slott, artist Mark Bagley, inker John Dell, colorist Edgar Delgado, and letterer Joe Caramanga, in which Peter comes face-to-face with his friends turned superior foes.

Check it out:

"SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN NO MORE! This issue contains more Superior Spiders than you'd expect," reads Marvel's official description of Superior Spider-Man #8. "But by the end, only one Spider-Man will be left standing. Dan Slott and Mark Bagley's entire run from Spider-Man to Superior has led up to this!"

Dan Slott has written more issues of Spider-Man than anyone, including Spidey's co-creator Stan Lee. Slott and artist Ryan Stegman initially introduced the Superior Spider-Man back in 2015, with Doctor Octopus having taken over Peter Parker's body. Slott and artist Mark Bagley, who has his own long pedigree with the wall-crawler, have since brought back the concept of the Superior Spider-Man, culminating in the current limited series.

Superior Spider-Man #8 goes on sale June 26.

Check out our picks for the best Spider-Man stories of all time.

But with the upcoming Venom War event, nearly every symbiote in the Marvel Universe will rally around the two Venoms, taking sides in a battle that will end with one Venom standing, with the main Venom War event title's writer Al Ewing promising "there can be only one."

Newsarama caught up with Ewing ahead of Venom War #1's August 7 release date, digging into his take on why Venom is so popular, what it means to crown the one true Venom, and what fans can expect as the crossover kicks off.

We've also got an early look at some unlettered pages by artist Iban Coello and colorist Frank D'Armata along the way.

Newsarama: Al, Venom seems to really captivate fans every time the symbiotes take the spotlight in the Marvel Universe. With Venom War on the horizon, what do you see as the qualities that have led Venom to become one of Marvel's most popular characters?

Al Ewing: It's very difficult to tell a boring Venom story. Even when our run's been at its timey-est and wimey-est, something about the symbiote demands a degree of all-out action, wildness, and weirdness. 

Venom and his hosts have a degree of inherent unpredictability - not to mention antisociability - that makes for all manner of thrill-power, and also a fair amount of gritty character drama as various humans have to work out their relationships with this alien goo-beast. (And the many other alien goo-beasts he brings along for the ride.)

You've focused a lot on the cosmic horror side of the Venom mythos in your run. How does that side of things come into play in Venom War?

Most of the horror comes from the Zombiotes - mindless semi-symbiotes who act like an infection, spreading violence and mayhem through NYC. 

How do they impact the central conflict between Eddie and Dylan Brock? Whose deeper plans have they been unleashed to serve? As Venom War hots up, all these questions and more will be answered in full.

Venom War has been billed as the showdown to decide the "one true Venom." Does that mean that either Eddie or Dylan Brock will be out of the picture at the end of the story?

There can be only one. All the main Venom hosts are involved in this to one degree or other, but only one host will get to be the Venom of 2025. Who will it be? That's a mystery we'll keep to ourselves for a little while.

Do you feel a push from fans or from the larger industry to try and focus on a single, definitive version of a character or concept, given how many heroes and even villains are sharing their mantles at this point? What do you see as the ups and downs of that approach?

We've been telling our intricate time-travel Tale of Two Venoms for a good three years at this point, and it was always going to end with the two ends of the story crashing into each other. 

In terms of sharing the mantle... it's been a long time since Venom was just Eddie Brock, and what makes this particular mantle unique is that gaining or losing the symbiote is never the beginning or end of someone's story - just a new chapter in it. So I think it's not so much about feeling a push for a definitive version as it is about knowing when to end one chapter and start the next.

You're working with Iban Coello on the main Venom War title. He's proven his Venom chops over the years. What has he brought to the art so far that has surprised you?

Iban's always wonderful, and every time I get to work with him he brings something new to the table. 

What I've been surprised by this time round is the sheer energy and fluidity of motion he brings to the action - he was always great for that, but he's on another level right now.

With Venom War encompassing its share of tie-ins, what are your big considerations as you're planning the event and figuring out where all the characters and subplots fit in?

Essentially, I provide a hub that everyone can revolve around. We're like a tree trunk that other stories can branch off - so I try to make sure there are no conflicts in the main book so everyone's as free as possible to tell wild stories shooting off from it... and sometimes looping back in for a big payoff.

It's no surprise that Eddie Brock tops our list of the best Venom hosts of all time.