Hello and thank you for choosing Glenbrook for your tourism needs. It is a big known existence out there and we appreciate that you recognized how special our little patch of land is!

We have big city attractions wrapped up in small town charm and friendliness and we trust you’ll love it here. Love it so much you may never leave? Well, yes, that is the plan!

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, let us help you get to know our charming hamlet. We promise you won’t regret it.

And please don’t upset…others. Because we are all so nice you wouldn’t want to. Especially….well, nevermind that ugliness. Just know that being nice is the key to getting along here. And you simply must get along while you are here.

TOWN SQUARE

The wonderful thing about our Town Square is that it feels wonderfully familiar, and yet fresh and new all at once. It’s like every place you’ve ever visited and no place you’ve ever seen before! How do we do it? Trade secret, friend-o! But we just know you’ll adore it. And if you don’t believe me, just ask an expert, Chairman of Tourism Al Ewing!

“Take a trip to the Town Square–the hub around which Glenbrook revolves,” he demands. “Whether it’s getting a period-appropriate suit for your newest alien slave–sorry, ‘geography teacher’–or clapping one of your entourage in irons for being insufficiently ‘in character,’ it all gets done here! Remember to remain in character at all times.”

See! Doesn’t that sound amazing? And important! Especially that last part.

GLENBROOK HIGH

I know what you are thinking, “Go back to high school? No thanks!” The thing is, you will be going here. You won’t be able to stay away in fact! No matter how you feel right now! A delightful architectural achievement—how many high schools do you know that are this pretty and this difficult to leave—Glenbrook High is where the shaping of young minds happens and the leader of tomorrow is born!

“Glenbrook’s seat of learning, and the place for all manner of wacky hi-jinks!” warns Ewing. “Students live in fear of a bad report card from the lovable principal, Mr. Waspwind–mainly because the report cards explode with intense concussive force, thanks to the borrowed abilities of the mutant human known as ‘Gambit.’ Remember, any mention of ‘Power Skrulls’ or the ‘skrull military’ will be seen as breaking character. Please stay in character.”

Goodness! If my high school was like that, I’m sure I would’ve ended up going to a top 10 school like my dad wanted and not let everyone down!

It may seem far-fetched to say, but we guarantee education has never been fun in quite this way before!

PAPPY GUGGENHEIM’S MALT SHOPPE

This location combines cool eats and hot treats, an expression that is wholly unique to Glenbrook and you’d do well to remember that.

If you want in on the hustle and the bustle of our delightful Burg, you HAVE to stop by here. It is an absolute MUST for all out-of-towners! Pappy is a local celebrity of sorts and his food simply cannot be beat. And no one should try.

Why?

Well, look, Al Ewing is back to tell you all about it.

“Why not enjoy a delicious malted milkshake–the traditional beverage of typical teenagers everywhere?” interrogates the Chairman. “Pappy Guggenheim will make them just right, or what we assume is just right. Taste is a difficult thing to gauge from TV signals transmitted through the depths of space, but we figure a ‘chocolate malt’ tastes somewhere between lizard and beetle. Anyway, Pappy knows the important thing is not to break character, so he rarely speaks due to his extreme terror of the dungeons. Don’t break character.”

Mmm, mmm, mmm, we wish we were slurping a malt right now. Yummy! And you’ll be declaring the same when you have one. Which you will. And you will call it yummy. Remember the rules.

THE SUBURBS

We’ve heard the suburbs get a bad rap elsewhere but we would NEVER EVER say that about our suburbs because we appreciate our lives and our well-being and the fun we have on our quiet but not too quiet streets where we live side by side with friendly but never nosy neighbors. With reasonably priced houses that always shoot up in value upon purchase—how does that work? DON’T ASK US!—and beautiful lawns and park spaces, this is suburban life as it has to be lived.

“Otherwise known as ‘everywhere else,’ the suburban streets of Glenbrook form the perfect backdrop to play out the comedy-dramas of typical teenage life–be they short humorous skits based around simple wordplay, or longer ‘special episodes’ like the time they all got drafted to fight in one of the human wars, and since humans don’t enjoy wars for some inane reason, that was bad,” Ewing cryptically observes. “Although try not to mention that you aren’t human, as that will break character. You don’t want to break character.”

Being a suburban human is just the best. We assure you, you will come around to our way of thinking on this.

THE DUNGEONS

We know what you are thinking. Well, we don’t “know” know. We’d never invade your mind like that, of course. But we assume you are thinking, “Odd that such a nice place needs a dungeon.”

Which…well…ok, we see that, but the thing is…

OH! Look, Mr. Ewing will explain. Take it, Chairman!

“The key point of interest in Glenbrook is the secure dungeon built under [REDACTED]’s haunted castle outside of town,” he reveals in hushed tones. “The castle is no longer used, because [REDACTED] is an unperson who broke character, but the dungeon has proved extremely useful. Here you will find all the other dangerous subversives who broke character, starving slowly to death with no food or water and with their shape-changing abilities locked down by hyperwave projectors so they can’t escape. That said, if you do find them, it’s because you broke character as well, so you deserve everything you get. Enjoy Glenbrook! And don’t break character!”

See. A delightfully wonderful reason!

To book your trip to Glenbrook immediately, please pick up the travel guide U.S.AVENGERS #12 by Chairman of Tourism Al Ewing and Chairman of Commerce Paco Diaz, available on November 29.

1917 to 2017: 100 years of Kirby.

Join us to celebrate Jack “King” Kirby’s 100^th birthday by learning about the characters and stories he created that changed comics forever. To commemorate Jack’s centennial, we’ve sat down with the modern-day creators he influenced—and the decades of work he gifted us all.

Over the years, Nick Fury amassed quite a number of enemies. Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and breakdown artist Howard Purcell introduced us to one of the more unusual ones in the pages of 1966’s STRANGE TALES #144–145: The Druid. A threat potentially more suited for series mate Doctor Strange, Druid debuted while conjuring up an image of Fury to his coven-like followers and calling for the S.H.I.E.L.D. leader’s death!

However, we quickly learned that at least some of Druid’s methods came from the world of technology instead of magic as he had a team working behind the scenes for him like a stage magician. Using these tools, the villain called for an “Egg of Satan” and sent it off to kill Nick Fury. The egg almost didn’t need to bother as the super spy had donned a protective suit to crawl through the wreckage of a plane from the previous issue in order to find the reactor. Of course, Fury would never let a little thing like potential immolation stop him and succeeded in his task!

Not long after, officials spotted the egg, but didn’t know where it came from. Following its command, the object made a beeline for Fury who happened to be driving with Dum Dum Duggan at the time. Thanks to good, old S.H.I.E.L.D. tech, the former Howling Commandos kept in the fight as the egg started blasting them with lasers. To end this particular skirmish though, our pair of World War II heroes grabbed themselves some blasters and shot the Satan’s Egg out of the sky. In the second part, another brand of S.H.I.E.L.D. standby debuted to help confuse any future egg attacks: Fury Life Model Decoys!

Strange Tales (1951) #144

• Published: May 10, 1966
• Added to Marvel Unlimited: April 28, 2007
• Penciller: Steve Ditko
• Writer: Roy Thomas, Steve Ditko, Stan Lee
• Cover Artist: Jack Kirby

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What is Marvel Unlimited?

Though the LMDs attracted the eggs more than once, Druid seemed wise to the ploy and used his devices to gather information on his quarry. Not wanting the game to go on for too long, the evil mastermind revealed himself to Fury and challenged him to a fight! As Nick knocked out the leader, his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents used their superior skills and tech to stop the remaining Satan’s Eggs, which had been developed into tanks and other weapons.

In the end, our heroes succeeded in not only capturing their opponent, but also putting an end to his immediate threat. The man known as Dredmund the Druid would eventually return to torment Captain America, even playing a role in the classic “Cap Wolf”storyline! While not exactly the kind of adventure you’d expect Nick Fury to get tangled up in, the story Lee, Kirby and Purcell worked beautifully together on offered a mighty Marvel espionage melee that must be seen!

Stay tuned to Marvel.com for more throughout Kirby Month and beyond! And join the conversation on all of our social channels with the hashtag #Kirby100.

In SECRET WARRIORS #8, something wicked this way comes. Or, rather, something sinister.

On November 15, Mister Sinister turns his torturous methods on the Inhumans! Marvel Legacy dawns as writer Matthew Rosenberg joins artists Javier Garrón and Will Robson to see the Secret Warriors combat this classic villain—and more discord within their own ranks.

We asked Rosenberg for a couple of hints about what to expect in the newest issue.

Marvel.com: Given the unique physiology of the Inhumans and how they develop powers, it makes sense that Mister Sinister would be interested in them. Creatively, though, what drew you to using him in your story?

Matthew Rosenberg: Besides me being obsessed with the X-Men? Okay.

I think he’s a fascinating villain because he can be a great example of the very simple—but very hard to pull off—idea that villains don’t act as the villains of their own stories. Sinister has a brilliant mind and, if pointed in the right direction, could be doing some of the most important work in the Marvel Universe. His desire to figure out how the world works and conquer it feels truly admirable in many ways.

But he is psychotic and sees no value in the normal morality of the civilized world. It has never been hard to imagine him as one of the Hanks, as a Reed Richards-type. But he has no interest, and that fascinates me.

Marvel.com: How prepared will the Warriors be for this new threat? What do they know about Mister Sinister?

Matthew Rosenberg: They will not be prepared at all. Daisy knows him simply because she studied her S.H.I.E.L.D. files pretty well. Karnak knows who him because crazy people all know each other. But the rest of the team has not prepared at all. And in issue #8 you will see just how unprepared for playing by his rules they will really be.

Marvel.com: From the cover of #8, we see Mister Sinister sporting an unexpected look. Can you describe artist Javier Garrón’s visual conceptualization of the character? How does it inform or compliment your take on Sinister?

Matthew Rosenberg: First of all, let’s just say this. Javier is brilliant and I love working with him. With that out of the way, one of my favorite things has been that he just really likes redesigning characters. I think his instincts and design sense are awesome, but more than that, I just love the idea that all these characters just change it up sometimes. I don’t wear the same thing every day. Actually, I kind of do. But I get that seems weird. But why should super heroes? I get that they have a brand consciousness and want to be recognizable, but even baseball teams have a few different uniforms.

I think Javier’s design of Sinister feels like a great update that really helped me realize who he can be in our story. Sinister, obviously a psychotic maniac, is also cultured, sophisticated, and smart. His grand designs may not be evident to everyone, but he tries to shape the future of the world and he has a plan. This isn’t some two bit villain in tights. Mister Sinister wants to reshape the course of the human race, so of course he’ll dress like a megalomaniac too.

But what do I know? I wear shorts 365 days a year.

Marvel.com: Unfortunately, in the midst of this, Karnak seems to be pursuing his own agenda away from the team. Can you offer any insight into what might be going on with him? What kind of dangers does he expose the team to when he leaves?

Matthew Rosenberg: From the start, Karnak has his own thing going on, as I think he always does. Only this time it seems like his plans might be working in almost opposition to his teammates. An alarming disconnect appears to the team as a result. But it’s Karnak, so he might be playing the game 10 moves ahead of everyone else. But he also has shown a willingness to allow suffering and hardships to befall the people around him in ways that many would find troubling. Those two factors combined put him somewhere between callous and evil. And that will be a big factor of what happens going forward.

Marvel.com: All things considered, what kind of odds would you give this team on being able to stay together and survive the battle with Sinister?

Matthew Rosenberg: 50/50.

Check out SECRET WARRIORS #8, by Matthew Rosenberg and artists Javier Garrón and Will Robson, on November 15!