Marvel Says Canceled Milo Manara Variants Due To Scheduling Issue

Sometimes the best way to head off speculation is just to get right out in front of it with an explanation.

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Marvel did that today with regard to two canceled upcoming Milo Manara variants, originally slated to appear on Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #1 and Thor #2. The obvious knee-jerk reaction was to assume that Marvel wanted to steer clear of any further controversy involving the Italian artist, but according to someone who would definitely know — Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso — that is not the case.

In fact Alonso reached out to Comic Book Resources and used the word “unequivocally” while stating that the cancellations were due to a “scheduling problem”:

"The Manara covers were recast due to his schedule. He will be doing more covers for us, in fact he’s working on one right now that will be announced sometime soon … We overbooked him and the timing didn’t work out."

And sure, Marvel could just be saying that, but if it was gun-shy in any way after the Spider-Woman brouhaha, it would have just been easier to cancel that cover, no?

So this is probably the end of this, at least until/unless the mainstream media remembers that Spider-Woman #1 comes out in November.

(via CBR)