Podcast (MMM)

Make Mine Multiversity #141: "New Avengers" (2005) #27-37 with Clayton Cowles; or, Don't Throw the Baby Out with the Skrulls

A book by Bendis? Brian Bendis? That Bendis? Brian MICHAEL Bendis? Bendis!

From "New Avengers" (2005) #27.

Welcome Back to Make Mine Multiversity: A Marvel Podcast! Each episode we’ll be looking at Marvel books, old and new! We discuss fun Marvel comics, Marvel news, Marvel history and, now, are putting the "mine" back into Make Mine Multiversity.

Make Mine Multiversity was a twice-monthly podcast that premiered on the first and third Friday of every month. Now we're shooting for monthly every fourth Friday.

Welcome to the first official episode of 2026! I've got some wild episodes for y'all this year. For those who're new, each month I talk with a guest about a Marvel comic that's memorable to them. Sometimes they're personally meaningful, sometimes it's "I read this a few months ago and its still sticking around."

This month I'm welcoming on letterer extraordinaire Clayton Cowles (pronounced like Coals or Kohl's.) We're talking "New Avengers" (2005) #27-37, which I probably said was from 2004 because that's when the first issue was first on stands. But who am I to argue with cover dates and the Marvel Wiki?

For some bonafides, Clayton is the Eisner-award winning letterer of so many books. You probably know him from most Kieron Gillen joints: "The Wicked + the Divine," "The Power Fantasy," "Journey Into Mystery," "Eternals" Vol. 5, "Die." Did you know he does both "Batman" books? What about "Star Wars?" "Helen of Wyndhorn?" Thompson & co.'s sadly now ended "Birds of Prey?" So many great books!

Creator Credits

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Leinil Francis Yu
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Letterer: RS & Comicraft’s Albert Deschesne

Reading along?

Here are some places to find the issues! It's pretty accessible, thank goodness. They are listed in (what I presume is) decreasing availability, besides Marvel Unlimited. Marvel lets things go out of print so fast.

Next time

We should be reading the original "Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars" from 1984! All twelve issues. Get ready for a fun one folks. You can find it collected as "Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars" or on Marvel Unlimited.

The Wind-Down

Elias can be found writing here at eliasrwrites.ghost.io. Clayton can be found wherever comics are sold, on Bluesky @claytoncowles.bsky.social, and via his newsletter.

Our theme music is “Excelsior” by Carol Romo and our audio editor is me, Elias. If the episode is too quiet or, maybe, too loud, or even too full of page turning foley, blame him.

The show is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, (Stitcher is apparently dead and buried) and other places so please subscribe! You can also listen above or download it here.

Until next time, excelsior!