TL;DR (3-Minute Overview)
- Marvel’s July–August 2025 slate is headlined by Doomed 2099 #1 and Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe #1—both live up to their blockbuster hype.
- DC closes out summer with the long-teased Hush 2 finale in Batman #163 and a landmark Detective Comics #1100 celebration.
- Image’s re-energized Witchblade Vol. 2 and Spawn Origins Vol. 31 prove 1990s nostalgia sells—when paired with modern storytelling.
- BOOM! Studios owns the crossover space (again) with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III #1.
- Dark Horse goes big on franchise mashups (Turtles of Grayskull) while quietly launching new creator-led experiments such as Powers 25 #1.
- Macro trend check: Kaiju stories, legacy numbering, and vertical-scroll digital exclusives are shaping the back half of 2025.
Scroll on for the full, spoiler-light reviews and the industry shifts every retailer, collector, and casual reader should watch.
Marvel’s Summer Swing: Double Doom & A Giant Lizard
Doomed 2099 #1 (Frank Tieri & Delio Diaz)
Marvel gambles by making Victor Von Doom fight… himself. The time-hopping premise could have felt gimmicky, yet Tieri taps classic 1990s 2099 lore while Diaz amps the body-armor spectacle for 2025 tastes. Clever dialog about destiny versus self-determinism grounds the pyrotechnics. Verdict: A confident 8/10—especially for fans of Al Ewing’s Immortal Doom run.
Fantastic Four Fanfare #3
Dan Slott continues his love letter to Marvel’s First Family with an anthology-style format that makes on-ramping painless. Marcos Martin’s retro-modern line art is museum-ready; the Sandman/Thing team-up is pure Saturday-matinée joy. Casual readers may shrug, but silver-age aficionados will grin.
Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe #1
Gerry Duggan and Javier Garrón manage the impossible: slotting the King of the Monsters into Earth-616 without reducing Avengers cameos to cheap fan service. The tie-in with Vibranium politics hints at Wakanda Forever-level stakes for issue #2. If kaiju fatigue exists, Marvel didn’t get the memo—sales trackers already flag the debut for second printings.
Mutant Appreciation Day one-shots
Marvel minted an unofficial holiday (July 24) and flooded stores with character-driven 20-pagers—Storm, Jubilee, Synch—priced at $2.99. The tactic mirrors Free Comic Book Day buzz while still collecting full MSRP. Expect repeats.
Trend watch—Event Fatigue or Event-Proof?
July alone saw 42 new single issues and 11 collections from Marvel. Yet Diamond sell-through remains robust, buoyed by trade-dress variants and TikTok “mystery bag” culture. The takeaway: collectors may groan, but they’re still buying.
Dark Knights & Daring Reboots: DC’s August Highlights
Batman #163 (Loeb, Lee, Williams)
The Hush 2 endgame sticks the landing. Jim Lee’s kinetic double-splashes echo the original 2003 storyline, while modern coloring lets Gotham’s neon grime pop. The emotional core—Bruce confronting the cost of a life lived in masks—hits surprisingly hard. Essential reading before The Batman: Year One Hundred event solicited for December.
Detective Comics #1100
An anthology with a who’s-who of Bat-artists. 56 pages for $8.99 is steep, but the physical foil variant is already a wall-book darling. Retailer reports show a 35 % bump in subscription box adds this month.
DC vs. Vampires: World War V #12
Matt Rosenberg closes the chapter with a meta splash of Superman wielding a red-sun scythe. If you bailed mid-arc, the final issue is shockingly new-reader-friendly and sets the stage for September’s Elseworlds relaunch.
Green Lantern #26 / Green Lantern Corps #7
“The Starbreaker Supremacy” goes full kaiju with Emotional Spectrum entities the size of moon bases. Fans of Dragon Ball Z-scale fisticuffs will feel seen; purists may wince at the retconning of iconic color entities.
Indie Gems You Shouldn’t Overlook
Image Comics
- Witchblade Vol. 2 TP (Andolfo & Bigarella): Slick revenge-noir that retells Sara Pezzini’s origin for Gen-Z, balancing body-horror armor transformations with #MeToo commentary. Buy for the art, stay for the surprising emotional resonance.
- Spawn Origins Vol. 31: Todd McFarlane’s Hellscapes get a high-definition re-color pass; the Al-Simmons-versus-Mammon arc reads tighter in binge format.
- Unnatural: Blue Blood TP: Mirka Andolfo’s alt-anthro fantasy remains the most aesthetically Instagrammable book on shelves. (Still NSFW.)
BOOM! Studios
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III #1: Ryan Parrott turns nostalgia into plot gold, riffing on 1990s arcade sensibilities without cheap meme bait. The book deftly juggles 12 main heroes, Lord Zedd, Shredder, and new Cyber-FootBots.
- Dune: Age of a Crysknife #1: Herbert & Anderson expand the Fremen mythos; Andrea Scalmazzi’s desert vistas practically blow spice in your face.
Dark Horse
- Masters of the Universe/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles of Grayskull TP ― pure Saturday morning sugar, perfect for kids and kidults. Freddie E. Williams II delivers muscular pencils that belong on lunch boxes.
- Powers 25 #1: Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming resurrect their creator-owned procedural with fresh detectives—an ideal onboarding moment before Amazon Prime’s rumored adaptation.
Digital First, Vertical-Scroll, and the Webtoon Wave
Two months ago Webtoon and Dark Horse tripled down on licensed IP—Critical Role, The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077, and Legend of Korra will launch as mobile-native series in Q4.
Why it matters:
- Upsells print trades—Avatar’s vertical comic amassed 13 M views, driving a 40 % lift in 2024 trade reorders.
- Opens a zero-shelf-space entry point for younger readers overseas, especially in bandwidth-rich but comic-shop-poor regions.
- Introduces panel-by-panel motion assets, which studios can quickly repurpose for TikTok trailers.
Macro-Trends Shaping Late-2025
A. Kaiju Craze
Between Marvel’s Godzilla, DC’s Green Lantern kaiju embodiments, and BOOM!’s dune-sized Shai-Hulud, giant monsters equal giant dollars. Expect Funko exclusives by New York Comic Con (October 9–12). (,
B. Legacy Numbering & Anniversary Issues
Detective #1100, Powers 25, Spawn Origins 31—publishers leverage high numbers to signal prestige, then wrap them in $8–$10 packages that double direct-market revenue per unit.
C. AI-Assisted Production
Small-press Kickstarters increasingly list generative AI for background plates and flat colors. Nothing major from the Big Two yet (publicly), but watch for credits like “AI Ink Assist” before 2026.
D. Cover Economics
Foil and chromium are back, but the real sleeper is “mystery bag” variants—unmarked blind bags that randomize 1:10 ratio covers. Retailers love the low spoilage; speculators chase the lotto.
What This Means for Collectors & Retailers
Retailer Checklist (August 2025)
- Order 20 % above pull-list for Batman #163 main cover—Jim Lee sells.
- Secure at least one 1:100 variant of Doomed 2099 #1; early eBay comps hit $250.
- Allocate shelf space to BOOM!’s Dune #1—it’s the sleeper hit with BookTok synergy.
- Test vertical-scroll marketing: run QR codes for Webtoon launches near the YA manga wall.
- Push trade bundles—Image’s Witchblade and Unnatural TPs share a demographic; offer a two-for-$30 promo.
Collector Hot-List
- Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe #1 (first Marvel Godzilla since 1979)
- Detective Comics #1100 (multiple cameo firsts)
- Powers 25 #1 (series relaunch + 25th-anniversary variants)
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/TMNT III #1 (cross-franchise first appearances)
- Spawn Origins Vol. 31 (low print-run trade, McFarlane signature incentives)
Key Takeaways
- Summer 2025 isn’t slowing down; cross-publisher output is up 12 % year-over-year, but demand is keeping pace thanks to nostalgia-powered crossovers and kaiju spectacle.
- Marvel and DC maintain blockbuster dominance, yet indie publishers win on experimental form factors (vertical scroll, 90s reboots) and aggressive franchise cross-pollination.
- Collectors chasing ROI should track foil “event finale” issues and blind-bag variants, not just first appearances.
- Digital vertical comics are no longer side projects—they are feeder systems that prime audiences for premium print and streaming adaptations.
- Expect the “giant monster” trend to climax around NYCC; watch solicitation language for “oversized,” “city-level,” or “interdimensional behemoth” as clues.
Parting Panel
If the past few years taught us anything, it’s that comics thrive on reinvention. From a cyber-witch wielding the Witchblade to Godzilla invading the Baxter Building, 2025’s latest releases prove there’s still fresh ink to spill on old icons. Whether you’re bagging and boarding or double-tapping panels on a phone, the only wrong way to read comics this summer is not to read them at all.
À la prochaine,
Sophie Lambert