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With the summer in full swing, comic announcements and stories have been coming by the boatload. Major events such as Flashpoint and Fear Itself have taken over at DC and Marvel, with huge results. Now this only leaves our little corner of the universe, where asteroids collide and suns flare. Touring the Cosmos is going to take a look at some of the cosmic events coming in from Atlas, BOOM! Studios, DC Comics, and Marvel.

Publisher: Atlas Comics
Title: Phoenix
Writer: TBA
Artist: TBA

On March 2, 2011 Atlas Comics relaunched some of their more popular titles from the 70s. You see, back in the day, Atlas Comics was to be one of Marvel’s and DC’s biggest competition. Many big name writers and artists signed with Atlas to create a whole new universe worth of heroes and stories. In a fairly unstable industry at the time, Atlas did not last, but many of its characters were fondly remembered and have now been brought back. Grim Ghost, Wulf, and Phoenix are the first three characters to be re-released, with Iron Jaw next in store, and an appearance by Lomax elsewhere. Phoenix was one of Atlas’s more popular characters in the 70s, and he has been relaunched with a modern approach by Jim Kreuger, Brendan Deneen, and Dean Zachary. Phoenix features alien invasions, memory loss, entire populations disappearing, and a fresh new take on the Phoenix character. You can see a review of issue #1 here.

Not long after the launch of their titles, Atlas also revealed a teaser poster for a crossover event featuring all of their recently launched characters, plus a little tease about other characters showing up. Here is a look at the poster:

Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Titles: Soldier Zero, The Traveler, Starborn

Although nothing official has been released, BOOM! Studios and Stan Lee are definitely cooking something up. With three superstar creative teams on three different titles, BOOM! Studios’ brand new line of characters have recently been featured in each other’s titles. Soldier Zero is showing up in The Traveler, Starborn’s villains are showing up in Soldier Zero’s book, and with Starborn learning about Soldier Zero in his title, some big plans are definitely afoot.

In Starborn, Chris Roberson and Khary Randolf have been carefully crafting a beautiful tale of lies, tyranny, and power, all within a royal lineage which spans the cosmos. The title character, Benjamin Warner, was an average joe on Earth, who had grand dreams and wrote them into stories. When some of these stories start coming to life, he realizes that his dreams are much more real than he ever imagined. Realizing he is of a royal lineage, his adventures have only just begun.

Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and Javier Pina bring us Soldier Zero, which features wheelchair-bound war veteran Stuart Trautmann, and his symbiotic relationship with an alien battlesuit. While he battles with his own inner conflicts and the morals of the suit, he must also battle the alien forces that want him dead. With Earth being revealed as a planet of exile in Starborn, Soldier Zero is now having to do battle with new invading forces brought on by Starborn‘s recent revelations.

The Traveler may be last, but it is certainly not least. Mark Waid and Chad Hardin have crafted a masterful tale of time traveling, which features a plethora of interesting powers. On top of the very interesting title character, Waid has brought some deep drama. The whole premise of the story is based on relationships that have taken many twists and turns. Love lost, love gained, and literally love lost in time, The Traveler is now only recently being exposed to a world outside his own.

Publisher: Marvel
Title: Annihilators: Earthfall
Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Artists: Tan Eng Huat (Main story), Timothy Green (Rocket Raccoon and Groot)

The duo of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (otherwise known as DnA) have taken some obscure and otherwise unused characters, and brought them to the forefront of the Marvel U. DnA really take the core elements of a character and exploit them to the max, making for some very interesting character conflicts and stories. Starting from Annihilation: Conquest and coming full circle with last fall’s Annihilators, Earthfall is finally going to see these cosmic heroes come into contact (conflict?) with the heroes of Earth. DnA’s latest installment, Annihilators, fell slightly flat, with a fairly simple story for what seems like a hugely explosive cast. Hopefully Earthfall will bring with it some of the dynamics that have made DnA’s work so popular. Oh, and don’t forget about those great little backup stories featuring Rocket Raccoon and Groot!! Look for Annihilators: Earthfall to be in stores September 28, 2011.

These are some of the major crossover events coming up in the cosmic universe. Diverse characters and diverse casts with some great creative teams. Also, be on the lookout for DC’s major reboot in September, which features four brand new Green Lantern titles, which we will be taking a look at soon enough here at Touring the Cosmos.

Mike Parente
mike@comicattack.net