Strikeforce #1 is due out 9/25/2019. — **Strikeforce #1** is due out 9/25/2019.

By Allison Senecal — If you weren’t aware, the one and only Tini Howard has signed an exclusive, announced back in April, with Marvel. Since then she’s had Thanos and Death’s Head limited series debut to critical success (and in the case of Thanos, with serendipitous movie synergy), as well as an Excalibur ongoing announced as part of the upcoming wave of Dawn of X titles.

Howard’s other announced ongoing comic, Strikeforce, was unveiled in June via a series of character reveals and teasers. Put simply, this book boasts an eclectic roster and seemingly hardcore premise. Howard’s partner in crime (and art) on this one is Germán Peralta, who I am a huge fan of from his gorgeous work on Prisoner X and Cable. Depending on colorists, Peralta’s work can have a few different looks, so I’m curious as to who he’s working with on this series.

Anyway, Howard excels at infusing darker storytelling with genuine heart and fun. So, what is essentially a Black Ops Avengers team (think Secret Avengers) seems like a perfect fit for her. Peralta tends to do amazingly-fluid action scenes, and his work can have a visceral feel to it. In other words, match made in heaven. Marvel have also put Andrea Sorrentino on cover duties, and phew, we all know he nails gritty aesthetics beautifully.

So, what are the nuts and bolts of this somewhat-mysterious and under-the-radar series?

The misfit team consists of:

Angela: Briefly Queen of Hel, Thor’s sister, extreme badass.
Jessica Drew: Spider-Woman, super spy, extreme badass.
Monica Rambeau: Former Captain Marvel, currently Spectrum, extreme — is this a trend???.
Billy Kaplan: Wiccan, magician, complicated.
Daimon Hellstrom: Son of Satan — no really, look it up, Hellcat’s ex — definitely look that up.
Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier, somehow not the biggest badass on this team, aaaaaaand…
Eric Brooks a.k.a. BLADE: Vampire-human hybrid, British, very cool.

God, I can’t wait to see these character interactions.

Based on information gleaned from the first couple solicits, it looks like Blade has put the team together to combat a secret unseen threat that he can’t even tell the main Avengers about! So it’s time to bring in his very own squad of heavy-hitters! Other details are slim, but the solicits also mention that the more people know about this threat, the more dangerous it becomes. Most definitely INTRIGUING. Hellstrom’s sister Satana gets involved in the second issue, so shoutout to all the under-fed Satana fans (like me): our time has come. Noteworthy: Spider-Woman is back in her classic costume, a huge plus. Wiccan is without Hulking for the first time in a while, so I’m curious to see this character’s “solo” showing.

Marvel have yet to release preview art for Strikeforce, and I haven’t even seen any teasers from Peralta on social media. Howard, however, has been feeding the internet some tidbits here and there, though she is also keeping it heavily under wraps. According to some extremely titillating vague tweets, the series is “steamy” (OH LA LA, what I love to hear), but it also sounds like it could be downright chilling. Half the fun here is in the mystery, and I can’t wait to see some previews. Hopefully we’ll get some in the coming weeks before the FOC for issue one.

The first issue of Strikeforce drops on September 25th.

Get EVEN MORE HYPED by checking out past installments of this series here.

Allison buys books professionally and comics unprofessionally. You can find her chaotic neutral Twitter feed at @maliciousglee.