Marvel heroes become homebodies in new comic series inspired by COVID-19 pandemic

(Image credit: Guruhiru (Marvel Comics))

Early on in Marvel Comics' history, the iconic Stan Lee described its stories as depicting "the world outside your window," referring to being more realistic and in touch with humanity. A surprise new comic book series is taking that approach directly while flipping it to showing the world inside your window.

Marvel Comics has launched a new comic book series that is not only digital-first but is exclusive (for a limited time) to the publisher's social media channels. It will showcase some of Marvel's top heroes as homebodies, so to speak, in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Titled Heroes at Home, new editions of the webserial by writer Zeb Wells and artist Gurihiru are scheduled to debut Sundays on the publisher's Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages.

"Baking can be a pretty...sticky situation. #HeroesAtHome" reads the text accompanying the debut installment.

According to ComicBook, the one-shot comics will be re-purposed as variant covers to upcoming Marvel books.

And Spider-Man isn't the only character that will be in the comic book; Wolverine, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Hulk, and Black Panther are confirmed to have their own one-off social media comics as well.

Here is a schedule provided by Marvel (via ComicBook):

July 26: Spider-Man story, to be printed as a Amazing Spider-Man #48 variant on-sale September 9
August 2: Wolverine story, to be printed as a Wolverine #5 variant on-sale September 2
August 9: Captain Marvel story, to be printed as a Captain Marvel #21 variant on-sale September 9
August 16: Captain America story, to be printed as a Captain America #23 variant on-sale September 16
August 23: Hulk story, to be printed as a Immortal Hulk #37 variant on-sale September 16
August 30: Black Panther story, to be printed as a Avengers #36 variant on-sale September 30

“It was fun imagining how our current circumstances would affect the merry Marvel heroes," Wells tells ComicBook. "When Nick [Lowe, Marvel editor] said he wanted to do some strips about being stuck inside in the middle of a pandemic, I shouted ‘How would I possibly know what that's like?!' Then I cried. Then I got to work.”

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)