Marvel and Serial Box partner for new serialized stories for Thor, Black Widow + more

The world of Marvel Comics has expanded out into just about every form of media possible at this point, from movies to video games to prose novels to podcasts, but there are still new formats for the Marvel Universe to play with — and the House of Ideas just announced a new partnership that will take its characters to yet another kind of storytelling. 

Marvel just announced a new partnership with digital publishing platform Serial Box, which produces stories in simultaneous e-book and audiobook formats for serialized release, to craft four new tales based on four of the most popular Marvel heroes: Thor, Black Widow, Black Panther, and Jessica Jones. 

The Serial Box model is similar to the production of a television series, with a "showrunner" and a team of writers working on each book to develop a story bible and write installments of the overall story, the idea being that content will then be produced "five times faster than a traditional book." Weekly installments are created to last the length of an average commute, and readers can switch between reading the story and listenting to it at the push of a button without losing their place. It's a publishing model that both takes advantage of the speed of digital releasing and adapts to a world in which people are sometimes moving too fast to sit down with a book. 

"Over the last 80 years, Marvel has grown to become a lifestyle for every kind of fan around the world — but it all started from serialized storytelling," John Nee, Publisher of Marvel, said in a statement. "We were impressed by the quality and creativity of Serial Box’s content, and we are excited for both Marvel and Serial Box fans to experience these new stories together each week.”

So, let's get to the stories themselves. The line of serialized Marvel novels will be shepherded by showrunner Alex de Campi (Dredd: Final Judgement, Archie vs. Predator) and will begin rolling out this summer, with the Thor book apparently arriving first. De Campi explained a bit more about what we can expect via her Instagram. 

Yes, Mandy co-writer Aaron Stewart-Ahn will lead the writing team for the Thor novel, which includes Brian Keene (The Rising), Yoon Ha Lee (Machineries of Empire), and Jay Edidin (best known for the fan-favorite Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men podast). 

So, if you just can't get enough Marvel stories, and you're looking for something else to fill that long ride in to work, you won't have to wait much longer for Serial Box's take on the Marvel Universe.