Marvel Reveals Its Free Comic Book Day Titles for Next Year

Arts & Culture, Books

Free Comic Book Day is set for May 3rd, 2025. Here’s a sneak peek at what readers can look forward to next year.

What’s Happening:

Next year, Free Comic Book Day is on May 3, and Marvel Comics is celebrating this exciting event by providing something for every fan. Readers can look forward to fresh starts for the Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man, a sneak peek at an upcoming X-Men storyline, and an introduction to the first event in the newly launched Ultimate Universe.For the second consecutive year, Marvel will offer a Star Wars title for Free Comic Book Day, delving into future narratives within the beloved galaxy. Additionally, a special edition of Marvel’s Voices will highlight creators and characters from diverse cultures, communities, and identities. Finally, there is an ideal introductory comic for children with the new Free Comic Book Day: Spidey & His Amazing Friends.

Comic Books Available for Free Comic Book Day:

Free Comic Book Day 2025: Fantastic Four/Giant-Size X-Men #1

Written by Ryan North, Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, and Chip ZdarskyArt by Humberto Ramos, Edgar Delgado, Chip Zdarsky, and Iban CoelloAs Marvel’s First Family prepares for their cinematic debut this summer, Ryan North and Humberto Ramos present a unique storyline where the FANTASTIC FOUR answer an interdimensional summons. This coincides with the introduction of the All-New, All-Different X-Men and a new mutant, whose identity will be revealed by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing. Additionally, readers can expect a surprise from Chip Zdarsky.

Free Comic Book Day 2025: Amazing Spider-Man/Ultimate Universe #1

Written by Joe Kelly, Deniz Camp, and Cody ZiglarArt by John Romita Jr. & Jonas ScharfJoe Kelly and John Romita Jr. capture the essence of Peter Parker and Spider-Man, along with an exclusive prologue for this summer’s Ultimate event by Deniz Camp, Cody Ziglar, and Jonas Scharf.

Free Comic Book Day 2025: Star Wars #1

Written by Alex Segura, Charles Soule, and Marc GuggenheimArt by Phil Noto, Luke Ross, Stefano Raffaele, and Madibek MusabekovLuke Skywalker confronts pirates in a den of criminals while Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Tensu Run pursue the villain Corlis Rath. The mysterious Vanee raises questions about his connections to Darth Vader and Kylo Ren.

 Free Comic Book Day 2025: Ironheart/Marvel’s Voices #1

Written by Justina Ireland & MoreArt by Julian Shaw & MoreBestselling author Justina Ireland sets Ironheart in historical Chicago, showcasing Black innovation. Check out last year’s Voices anthologies, featuring the wedding edition of Mystique and Destiny, the return of Patriot, a new Ghost Rider debut, and more.

Free Comic Book Day 2025: Iron Man & His Awesome Friends/Spidey & His Amazing Friends #1

Join Iron Man, Iron Heart, and Iron Hulk in this exciting new comic featuring characters from the upcoming Disney Jr. series. Team up with Spidey, Ghost Spider, and Spin as they battle villains causing chaos in New York, complete with engaging activity pages and accessible narratives.

More Marvel Comics News:

Feature: Chinese, British scientists help tea farmers tackle climate change

Science and Health

This photo provided by Yunnan University of Finance and Economics shows Chinese and British scientists discussing issues in a tea garden in Fengqing County, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Nov. 10, 2024. (Xinhua)KUNMING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) — Li Shaojuan, a female meteorologist, has been regularly visiting muddy tea plantations in China’s southwestern mountainous region over the past decade, in her bid to help local farmers cope with climate challenges.Li, a professor at Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, visits the plantations in Fengqing and Baoshan counties, Yunnan Province, four to five times a year to do field studies aimed at better climate forecasting and service solutions.As one of the core origins of tea trees in the world, Fengqing was part of the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and features tea gardens that are harvested three times a year — in spring, summer and autumn.Climate change is becoming a growing concern in terms of both the quality and yield of its tea crops. “Especially in spring, the likes of cold snaps, hail and drought make the most precious spring tea period unproductive,” said Zhang Guoqin, who runs a local tea company, adding that in summer, excessive rainfall fosters wet diseases, while higher temperatures and humidity fuel the spread of pests.”We interviewed local tea farmers, and distributed questionnaires to them, hoping to understand their specific needs in detail,” Li said. The scope of the interviews also included consumers, tea processing factories, refining factories, dealers, trade companies and more.Li is among a group of Chinese and British atmospheric scientists who aim to use their expertise to provide tea farmers with more accurate weather forecasting services — and help them better adapt to frequent meteorological disasters.These scientists have developed mathematical models based on data revealing meteorological factors that affect tea tree growth and tea production. “We need to understand how these factors influence tea cultivation and production before determining what type of weather forecasting to provide,” Li explained.Annual predictions of both tea yield and quality can guide farmers in purchasing agricultural insurance to protect their income and ensure a stable market supply. Subseasonal-to-seasonal forecasts can help farmers determine the optimal timing and strategies for activities such as harvesting fresh leaves, initial processing, fertilization, and pest and disease management, she said.”We hope our predictions will give farmers insights into climate trends and anomalies, helping them plan production and field management to ensure consistent tea harvests,” Li added.However, this process is far from straightforward. Li revealed that inconsistencies between their initial research and real-world conditions often require them to revisit their models or conduct additional field studies.”We’re not just studying data — we’re studying living tea trees,” Li said. “It’s a challenging process, but also one full of joy, because scientific research is about the constant pursuit of truth.”Li’s work is part of a larger collaboration between China and the UK. The Climate Science for Service Partnership China (CSSP China) project, launched in 2014 by the UK Met Office, the China Meteorological Administration, and the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, aims to build climate-resilient services for economic and social development.With more countries facing extreme climate events, there is an urgent need to improve international collaboration and build services to enhance society’s resilience in the face of the impacts of climate change, Rowan Sutton, director of the UK Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Science and Services, said at the CSSP China annual workshop held early this month.So far, this initiative has developed several climate service prototypes, including seasonal rainfall forecasts for the Yangtze River Basin, the maize yield in northeastern China, and the tea industry in Yunnan Province.Li’s research in Yunnan Province is being complemented by similar studies in the UK. “We’re conducting case studies in Devon and Scotland, and we hope to complement our research by doing comparative studies between the two countries, where tea trees are grown in different environments,” said Stacey New, an expert from the UK Met Office.The team has found that the impacts of climate change on the tea industry vary widely depending on location, elevation and farming practices.”Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for climate change adaptation in the tea sector, and climate services need to be tailored and customized to the specific circumstances and needs of the stakeholders,” said New. The team’s research results have been detailed in a paper recently published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.”The CSSP China project is a good example of Sino-British cooperation to jointly address climate change,” said Zhou Tianjun, deputy director of the IAP, adding that the experience gained could be expanded to other tea-growing regions and may even apply to other crops like coffee and sugarcane.In addition to weather forecasting, Li has also been looking into ancient farming practices in her quest for answers. She recently discovered an ancient tea plantation in southwest China, where the tea trees are hundreds of years old but still produce harvestable leaves of good quality. What sets this plantation apart is its natural and biodiverse ecosystem, which has made it more resilient to climate extremes.For example, among the diverse tree species in the ancient plantation, the alder tree plays a key role as a nitrogen-fixing plant, enhancing soil fertility. Additionally, the ground beneath tea trees there is typically covered with grass and a thick layer of humus, which helps retain moisture and regulate temperature, enhancing tea trees’ resilience to adverse weather conditions, she said.Li believes this ancient approach could hold valuable insights for modern tea farmers. “The ancient tea garden is an ecosystem that resists climate change,” she said. “I hope to integrate this wisdom into today’s tea cultivation practices to help more farmers adapt to climate challenges.”In Chinese character glyphs, the word for tea depicts a person between a blade of grass and a tree, symbolizing the harmony between humans and nature. “Perhaps the answers to many of our scientific questions are hidden in these ancient practices and the wisdom of the ecosystem,” Li speculated.”A closer integration with nature could be the key to addressing climate change in the future,” she added. ■This photo provided by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences shows tea trees at a tea garden in Fengqing County, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Aug. 7, 2024. (Xinhua)

NASA Selects Former Langley Research Director as New Leader of Space Technology

Technology

Clayton Turner will lead the Space Technology program in Washington, D.C. (NASA)HAMPTON ROADS — NASA announced on Monday that former NASA Langley Research Director Clayton P. Turner will serve as the associate administrator of the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.
According to NASA, Turner has served as the acting associate administrator of STMD since July. In this role, Turner will continue to oversee executive leadership, strategic planning, and overall management of all technology maturation and demonstration programs.
“Under Turner’s skilled and steady hand, the Space Technology Mission Directorate will continue to do what it does best: help NASA push the boundaries of what’s possible and drive American leadership in space,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “I look forward to what STMD will achieve under Turner’s direction.”

As NASA embarks on the next era of space exploration, STMD leverages partnerships to advance technologies and test new capabilities helping the agency develop a sustainable presence on the Moon and beyond. As associate administrator of STMD, NASA said Turner will plan, coordinate, and evaluate the mission directorate’s full range of programs and activities, including budget formulation and execution, as well as represent the programs to officials within and outside the agency.
Turner served as NASA Langley Research Center Director since September 2019 and has been with the agency for more than 30 years. He has held several roles at NASA Langley, including engineering director, associate center director, and deputy center director, and has has worked on many projects for the agency.
NASA noted Turner has received many awards, including the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal. He is also an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and a Board of Trustees member of his alma mater, Rochester Institute of Technology.

To learn more about Turner, click here.

Comment: Convincing business travellers to prioritise sustainability can be an uphill battle

Travel

Diversity Travel’s Alastair Dickenson assesses the corporate travel outlooks as the COP29 summit focuses on tourismToday marks a landmark moment in the travel and tourism industry’s journey to net zero and to a more sustainable sector. For the first time in history, there will be a thematic day dedicated to accelerating climate action in tourism. COP29’s ‘Tourism Day’ is a welcome and much-needed development to our journey towards net zero.Back in June of this year, I shared that the industry experiences “disappointing representation” at global climate policy events, such as the UN Climate Change conference in Azerbaijan right now, and that we also have a credibility crisis on climate change that needs to be addressed.Having the spotlight put firmly on travel and tourism should give encouragement to those who are pushing for swifter environmental action, like Diversity Travel, but as we have seen with the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, progress can be slow and it needs support from across the entire sector to be effective.In short, effective action is collective action, and we hope all parts of the travel and tourism industry are represented in today’s discussions, including business and leisure.Business travel is on track for a record year in 2024, according to a recent report by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). Global spending this year on business travel is forecast to reach more than £1 trillion which is 6.2% ahead of pre-pandemic levels.This was further reinforced by research published this week by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) which found that 86% of business travel buyers and travel suppliers say that 2024 met or exceeded their expectations from the start of the year.Looking ahead to next year, more than half of buyers are expecting higher travel budgets to spend and we anticipate continued growth in the number of trips.Reasons for concernBusiness travel is booming and there is widespread optimism, so why am I concerned?While it only makes up roughly an eighth of all trips, business travel is a significant contributor to global carbon emissions. The sector has an important role to play in accelerating progress towards the overarching aim of net zero by 2050, and I don’t want to see us fall back into business-as-usual.The aforementioned GBTA survey found that less than one in five (19%) corporate travel programmes next year will strategically prioritise sustainability. To compare, almost half (49%) of organisations say they will prioritise the return-on-investment of travel in their programmes and 42% say traveller experience and wellbeing is a strategic priority.There has been excellent progress made in reducing global emissions across travel and tourism in the past few years, but we need to continue to build momentum into 2025. Tourism Day will present a unique opportunity for the industry to be front-and-centre of global climate discussions, bringing forward creative solutions and reaffirming sustainability commitments.Organisations across the travel sector have an obligation to echo these shared commitments with both business and leisure travel clients next year.Earlier this month, I held a sustainability workshop in Rotterdam, Netherlands, with a number of our clients and suppliers, including major European airlines, where we discussed ways to reduce the carbon impact of travellers, and how to implement these. And next year, we will be announcing a series of product developments that will further empower our clients, including corporate travellers, to make well-informed, sustainable travel decisions throughout an entire journey.If we are to capitalise on this landmark day, accountability and engagement is needed from all parties across travel and tourism.

Supporting Female Scientists Today by Nurturing STEM Careers for Women

Science and Health

Inspiring Female Scientists Today Through STEM in Philadelphia Philadelphia is working hard to help students, especially young women, get interested in STEM careers, which include science, technology, engineering, and math. Events and programs across the city are providing hands-on experiences and inspiring the next generation to explore these fields. At Penn Medicine, a special event…

Romanian Political Scientist: If Simion Wins Presidential Elections, Country Will Enter Illiberal Pro-Russian Camp

Science and Health

If nationalist leader George Simion wins the presidential elections in Romania, the country will move closer to the Hungarian scenario and will enter the illiberal pro-Russian camp, Claudiu Craciun, professor of political science at the National School of Political and Administrative Studies in Bucharest, told BTA in an exclusive interview.If Simion wins, Craciun expects a big shift in Romania’s foreign policy. According to the latest opinion polls, the leader of the nationalist party Alliance for the Union of Romanians will make it to the runoff and will face the current Prime Minister and Social Democratic Party (SDP) President, Marcel Ciolacu.
Craciun does not rule out surprises on election day, as the margin between the main candidates is too small. 
“It seems that Romanians expect a lot from the president, maybe too much given his constitutional prerogatives. I think Romania needs an inclusive head of State who does not maintain privileged ties with just one party. Romanian society is plural, bridges need to be made to all groups”, the expert said.
Asked to what he attributes the big drop in the result of the independent candidate Mircea Geoana, who was initially the favourite for the presidential elections in all polls, the political scientist pointed to two reasons – his long and controversial political career and the lack of a party to support him.
“The big mistake of the independent candidate Mircea Geoana is that he has not built a political movement to enter parliament with,” Craciun argued. 
He assessed the electoral campaign as “short and personalized”, without clear political programmes. As for the electoral calendar, he said it was designed by the two major parties and former coalition partners, the SDP and the National Liberal Party (PNL), to maximize their chances of victory.
“The continuation of the current alliance between the SDP and PNL seems the most likely option after the December 1 parliamentary elections, but it all depends on the number, strength and agenda of the parties that make it to parliament,” Craciun noted.
He also commented on the first LGBTQ+ candidate in the Romanian parliamentary elections.
“This is an extraordinary signal of normality. I hope in four years we will see more candidates from this community, in all parties,” the expert adds. 
Romania’s presidential elections will be held in two rounds, on November 24 and December 8, while the parliamentary elections are scheduled for December 1.