Marvel Knights Relaunch Announced at SDCC 2018

The Marvel Knights imprint began twenty years ago and in order to help celebrate it’s 20th birthday, Marvel took to San Diego Comic-Con to announce the fact they’re starting up the fan-favorite comic book line once again.

Not only will Marvel Knights comics be back, the imprint will be led by fan-favorite writer Donny Cates, who will be responsible for assembling the creative teams for the books. According to Newsarama, Cates extended his exclusive deal with the House of Ideas in order to “showrun” this new venture.

While the exact books have yet to be revealed, Cates did name three of the creatives that will be involved — Tini Howard (Captain America), Matthew Rosenberg (Multiple Man), and Vita Ayala (Wonder Woman).

After a struggling Marvel Comics filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1998, the House of Ideas needed a way to draw more readers into their comics so they approached comic writer/artist Joe Quesada about creating a darker, more gritty line of books under the Marvel Knights banner.

The initial Marvel Knights lineup included Daredevil, Punisher, The Inhumans, and Black Panther, with many characters receiving some all-time fan-favorite comic runs under the Marvel Knights banner. Before the line wrapped up 2013, the imprint included well over 300 issues.

For his role in helping create the fan-favorite line, Quesada was eventually made Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics before being promoted to Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment, a position he still holds today. Quesada also serves as an executive producer on most of Marvel Television’s current properties including Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Agents of SHIELD.

After his promotion to CCO, the EiC position was filled by Axel Alonso, who explained what Marvel was trying to do with the Marvel Knights line.

“These stand alone stories won’t just challenge readers to re-think their favorite Marvel legends. . . . Oftentimes, we’ll focus on characters that are off the beaten path — boiling these archetypes down to their cores,” Alonso explained. “We want to build on the tradition of limited series like Ennis and Crain’s Ghost Rider, Frank Cho’s Shanna, the She-Devil and Robert Rodi and Ribić’s Loki — each of which offered very distinct visions for Marvel characters, and each of which — judging by sales numbers — were embraced by fandom.”

Are you excited for a fresh new Marvel Knights run? Which characters do you think should be featured? Let us know in the comments below!

These stand alone stories won’t just challenge readers to re-think their favorite Marvel legends. . . . Oftentimes, we’ll focus on characters that are off the beaten path — boiling these archetypes down to their cores. We want to build on the tradition of limited series like Ennis and Crain’s Ghost Rider, Frank Cho’s Shanna, the She-Devil and Robert Rodi and Ribić’s Loki — each of which offered very distinct visions for Marvel characters, and each of which — judging by sales numbers — were embraced by fandom.[4]