Posts Tagged ‘ Avengers ’

Over the course of SDCC, Marvel has been revealing pre-production art of the Avengers – and they fit together…

(Click to make a bit larger)

Black Widow, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Nick Fury, Maria Hill and Agent Coulson all look pretty damn good here – and honestly, I’m getting a little excited by next year’s movie especially after the post-credits bit on Captain America…

Oh, and if the Skrulls are in the movie as rumored, I’d say the chances of Coulson being one are pretty damn high, no?

According to Marvel’s panel yesterday, Avengers Academy will be relocating to the old West Coast Avengers compound (although for some reason I thought that had been foreclosed on towards the end of that run; maybe it was just deemed unsafe due to being trashed all the time by Goliaths.

More interesting than the relocation (although I do hope the compound still has those big Doc Ock-like tentacles underneath the grounds for security) is the fact that the team will open its doors to other young heroes of the MU – such as, potentially, the Runaways – and that Julie Power is one of the first up.

I love Power Pack; the team of kids has a special place in my heart and was one of the best book Marvel put out in the 80s, a hidden gem. I like that Alex Power graduated to the New Warriors (the best book Marvel put out in the 90s) for a while, and that he now shows up in FF (definitely not one of the best books Marvel puts out right now) as part of the Future Foundation kids, even if he appears to have been deaged a bit.

Julie Power, though – Julie was awesome. She was always the smart one, the level-headed one with an inner strength. The heart of the team. She’s also apparently gay or bi, judging from a comment on the panel yesterday, which is news to me.

Any way, I’m glad to see Julie back (even if she does now appear older than Alex) – although it looks like the Avengers Academy team is short Reptil, Veil and Striker, unless this is half of a two-part cover. It looks like someone else will be joining – someone who looks a little like White Tiger, and a little like Black Panther; a White Panther?

Anyway, can we now just rebrand as the West Coast Avengers? Please?

I mean, really boring.

I know that Avengers is still shooting, and Amazing Spider-Man will still be in post, but come on – you can do better than a boring old logo or symbol tease, right?

Marvel has released a second ‘It’s Either In You Or It’s Not’ teaser which shows Dr Strange and all the stuff that makes him him –

Coupling this with yesterday’s Iron Fist pic –

- I am forced to conclude that this post-Fear Itself announcement is either somehow related to a mystical-ish team of Defenders-types, probably made up of The Mighty (hey, why doesn’t Wolverine get a glowy Tron outfit?) appearing in the FI mini or the final, inevitable return of Typeface to conquer the Marvel Universe.

Yeah, I’m going with my Typeface theory.

The latest (and, I think, last) Captain America: The First Avenger trailer has been released. I don’t know about you, but I’m buying Chris Evans as Steve Rogers more the more that I see.

That said, they’d be wise to drop the ‘heroes are made in America’ bit for the overseas audiences. A little self-aggrandizing, there.

IDW’s new Godzilla comic launches today – but it’s by no means the first foray the King of Monsters has had into the US comic market. Yes, he had some Dark Horse series in the 80s and 90s, but – more memorably he also had a 24 issue run from 1977 to 1979 as a fully integrated part of the Marvel Universe.

And that Godzilla series will forever beat all challengers for these simple reasons…

1. Eating the Seattle Space Needle!

Well, I’m assuming he’s eating it, as opposed to going in for some lovin’. It’s been a while since I read the series.

2. Fighting the Champions! (of Los Angeles!)

That’s right, Godzilla threw down with the short-lived 70′s hero team that inexplicably hung out together for no real reason. Hercules! Black Widow! Angel! Ice Man! I guess it was Ghost Rider’s day off. And this was back when Hercules was really incredible. Like, towing-the-island-of-Manhattan-incredible.

3. Hunted by S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Godzilla’s not much of a conversationalist so the primary human content of the comic came from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s mainly inept attempts to capture him. Lead by Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones and Jimmy Woo – yes, that Jimmy Woo – the organization kept trying and, largely, failing to capture (or even keep track of) the green behemoth. Will the same be said of IDW’s Godzilla? Clearly not.

4. Red Ronin!

Red Ronin, people. Red Ronin is certainly not a Shogun Warrior, just in case you were wondering. Designed by S.H.I.E.L.D-advising Japanese scientists Tamara Hashioka and Yuriko Takiguchi in conjunction with Stark International to battle Godzilla, Red Ronin was usually piloted by cheeky 12 year old Rob Takiguchi because, let’s face it, the person you want controlling a 100ft tall robot warrior is definitely a 12 year old boy with raging hormones.

5. Being kidnapped by aliens to fight other monsters as Earth’s champion!

Is it just me or did that seem to happen a lot to Marvel characters in the 60s and 70s?

6. Cattle rustling!

Will IDW’s Godzilla be falsely accused of cattle rustling and chased by a bunch of angry cowboy types? I don’t think so.

7. The Incredible Shrinking Godzilla!

Obviously having a 100ft tall lizardKing of Monsters traipsing around the US pretty much unhindered (not to mention cattle rustling) would be a bit of an embarrassment for S.H.I.E.L.D., so Godzilla was miniaturized using the ever-popular Pym Particles (Hank Pym, is there anything you can’t do?!?) which led to a whole other set of adventures as he slowly started to grow back to normal…

- he got molested by Dum Dum Dugan! (Oh, come on, you were never really going to trust a man with a hat and mustache like that, were you?)

- he fought rats!

- he wrestled on the docks!

Bet IDW’s Godzilla doesn’t throw down with rats under 8th Avenue.

8. The Fantastic Four!

Eventually, if you’re in the Marvel Universe and you’re a big-ass monster chances are good that you’re going to throw down with the Fantastic Four, if only so the Thing can lament about how he’s just a monster too. And let’s face it, he did that a lot back in the 70s.

9. Devil Dinosaur! (And Moon Boy too, but nobody likes him)

There’s certain super-hero tropes that you can’t get away from, like fighting another hero over some silly misunderstanding then teaming up against a greater threat. Thing is, when you’re Godzilla, fighting another hero should really only last as long as it takes for you to stand on them – unless you’re Devil Dinosaur. Moon Boy, though? He should probably have just been trod on.

10. A real ending!

It takes low sales (or the lapsing of the license, whichever came first) to finally put Marvel’s Godzilla book to rest, but Big Green went out fighting the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and S.H.I.E.L.D. before finally heading off out into the Atlantic to hibernate.

What that means is that – licensing aside – Godzilla is still out there. Sleeping. Waiting. Dream on that, Merry Marvelites!

What’s that you say?

That’s only 10 reasons why Marvel’s Godzilla rules, but the title said 11?

11. J. Jonah Jameson vs Godzilla.

Nuff said.

I hate retcons.

Not all retcons, mind you, just the retcons that reveal ‘events so shattering that when they come to light, EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE!!’. You know the kind I mean. The kind that Marvel often do.

Like Professor X having a whole other team of X-Men that he left for dead, including Cyclops and Havok’s other brother.

Like Wolverine, Sabretooth, Wolfsbane and pretty much every other vaguely feral mutant not actually being a mutant but being part of another race.

Like Nick Fury forming a team of Avengers way back before the actual Avengers first formed, consisting of these guys:

That’s Sabretooth, Kraven, Namora, Dominic Fortune, Ulysses Bloodstone and Dum Dum Dugan, for those keeping score, and they’re showing up on the cover of the upcoming New Avengers #12. It’s not actually a bad team, and one that makes a certain amount of sense.

And to be fair, it’s not like all Marvel’s retcons are bad; Marvel: The Lost Generation may have been ignored by pretty much everybody, but it was a neat idea that accounted for a period of time in the MU that was now hero-less thanks to Marvel’s ever-shifting timeline that keeps the debut of the Fantastic Four and Spidey as being ‘about ten years ago’ (although that may be twelve years now).

Similarly, the 1950s ‘Avengers’ that debuted in a What If..? story have been neatly incorporated into mainstream continuity as the Agents of Atlas – after adding Namora to the roster.

Finally, First Avenger Ulysses Bloodstone showed up as a member of the Monster Hunters for a short run in the fun-while-it-lasted Marvel Universe. In fact, fellow First Avenger and Agent of Atlas Namora was also added to the roster of the Monster Hunters in an issue of Marvel: The Lost Generation.

So perhaps I don’t hate all retcons after all – I’m hoping that this falls into the latter type of retcon rather than the former – the type that adds a fun layer to the history of the MU, rather than the type that becomes some kind of devastating secret that changes a bunch of stuff.

And now that I think about it, I need to go and write a story about Namora being some kind of unstable nexus point in the MU that allows her to show up in every decent retcon going…

A new trailer for Thor has hit, expanding on what we’ve seen before. This time out, we start off more Earth-bound…

For me, this is still the movie to beat this summer. Yes, X-Men First Class looks better than expected, but I still have my doubts about Captain America – and Green Lantern looks like it could be a huge disappointment.

This, though – this I rank highly for three reasons; firstly, Kenneth Branagh can do no wrong in my eyes – none at all; second, Natalie Portman remains one of my favorite actresses dating back to Leon (that’s The Professional to you Yanks) and the hugely underrated Beautiful Girls; and thirdly, I was damn impressed with Chris Hemsworth’s five minutes of screen time at the start of Star Trek – the guy has charisma by the bucketload and I think he really sells me on the part in this trailer.

So yes, the gauntlet – well, hammer – is thrown down. For my money, this is the one to beat.

Marvel has released the official Captain America movie poster – and I’m not really sure what to make of it.

First thing’s first, I still like the uniform, and I can understand the reasoning behind keeping Chris Evan’s face exposed instead of putting it under the helmet-come-mask.

What I’m not so sure about is the pose, the ash, and the word ‘Avenge’ when all three of them are taken together. I’m sure you know why – but it does make me feel slightly uncomfortable somehow. It’s probably just me.

Still looking forward to the movie – and my main concern is about the depiction of World War II. All the location shots I’ve seen show Hydra soldiers, not Nazis, and I can’t help but wonder if the flick is aiming for a slightly sanitized version of WWII (someone pointed out to me that action figures with swastikas are a tough sell). I hope not – but at this point I guess it’s a wait and see.

NOW UPDATED WITH THE OFFICIAL PIC

It’s a day for it.

Here’s a grainy look at Chris Evans and his padded crotch as Captain America from the upcoming movie…

The outfit looks pretty good – and usable – and I can’t help notice his crotchholster, meaning that it seems Cap will be armed. I also like the flying helmet-type thing under the Cap helmet (wings and all!).

Those suits at the back look terrible though. More Hydra soldiers, I expect. Will this version of World War II have Nazis at all?

Via

No really, I am.

Hope everybody had a good holiday season – as usual after visiting home I end up needing another vacation. No rest for the wicked or, apparently, those that have moved across the Atlantic. So tired that I don’t expect to be up to full blogging again until next week.

Is there a reason behind the Bruce Campbell book cover on the front page of the blog or below, I hear you ask…

Well, no, sadly – except that I really enjoyed his first book and have yet to pick this one up even though it’s been out for years. Plus, it’s a great cover.

And, you know, Bruce.

Oh, and as I received absolutely no entries for the Avengers Academy contest, I take away at least some of the following:

1. Nobody cares if comics get canceled;
2. Nobody like free stuff;
3. Nobody likes free stuff that means they have to spend $3 and 5 seconds taking a picture;
4. Nobody reads the blog.

Tossers.

As I said last week, I’m jumping on single issues for Avengers Academy at writer Christos Gage’s behest – and to encourage you to pick up issue #7 out today in the US, I’m running a comp through the end of December.

All you need to do is:

(1) buy Avengers Academy #7 between now and December 31st

(2) take a (creative if possible!) picture of it being read and tweet it to me or email it to me.

That’s it! Time to break out the Dr Doom mask and take that pic!

The small print:

– The HC comes out in February. I’ll preorder it from Amazon and have it shipped directly to the address you supply.

– Entries will be posted here so, er, nothing too porno please.

– I might pick the picture at random or I might pick the most creative. Or I might take a poll in it. Haven’t decided yet.

– Entries accepted through 12/31/10. That means I’ll sticky the competition from next week.

Like I said before, please enter because I just feel foolish when you don’t…

Vulture is reporting that Jon Favreau will not be directing Iron Man 3:

It’s unclear whether the impasse was financial or creative or both. One informed source hears that he was frustrated with Marvel’s urge to stuff more of their in-house heroes into the next film in the wake of The Avengers. In a recent interview with MTV News, Favreau explained that based on his conversations with Marvel Studios executives, he had no clarity as to what a third Iron Man film would even be about. “In theory, Iron Man 3 is going to be a sequel or continuation of Thor, Hulk, Captain America and Avengers,” said Favreau at the time, “This whole world … I have no idea what it is. I don’t think they do either, from conversations I’ve had with those guys.”

Favreau was widely credited with making the first Iron Man the success it was and lobbying hard for Robert Downey Jr as the lead. It was rumored that he wouldn’t return for Iron Man 2 – which suffered somewhat from trying to set up the rest of the Marvel U Movies – but eventually he reached an agreement with the studio.

Given Favreau’s comments last week and Marvel Studios’ tendency to be on the conservative side, cash-wise, I can’t say this is too much of a surprise – but I do think it’s a big loss for the franchise. We’ll have to wait and see if his replacement can fill his shoes. What does concern me slightly is this snippet from the article:

In fact, one Hollywood player familiar with Marvel’s playbook theorizes that the company had been pushing a confusing and packed vision of the third film as a tactic to provoke Favreau into leaving the project.

‘Confusing and packed’? Because it was such a good idea to foist Venom on Sam Raimi for Spider-Man 3?

But, er, Favreau will be back as Happy Hogan, right?

Because who else will carry Tony’s armor around?

Alright that may be hyperbole – it’s not in danger of cancellation yet, according to writer Christos Gage, but his tweets over the last few days have made it pretty clear that the sales numbers are giving him cause for concern…

Hrm. Not liking the Avengers Academy sales trends. Folks, if you dig the book, please tell a friend to check it out/pre-order the TPB…

Again, to be clear, Avengers Academy is in no danger. I would just like for sales to be better. Sorry if I scared anyone.

He even went so far as to lay out the next few issues and what’s going on:

8 ties into Bendis’ Avengers and 9 features Taskmaster. And in 10 Speedball returns to Stamford. So they’re cool too, if less flashy.

11-12 have a big massive battle guest-starring all the Avengers (Thor, Iron Man, etc.) and bringing back a HUGE classic villain.

He gave some hints about the villain, saying he/she/it appeared pre-Avengers #200 and was strong enough to take on Thor. Sadly, he shot down my Red Ronin guess, so my money’s on Graviton. But I digress.

Issue 13 is the Superhero Prom. And 14 has awesome high-profile villains & ties in with Big Time Secret Event Rich Johnston Is Wrong About.

Rich Johnston wrong? Perish the thought.

Anyway, after reading his tweets I’ve decided to reverse my buying policy and instead of waiting for the trades from now on, I’m going to be picking the book up monthly from now on. Simply put, I’m looking forward to getting started on the Avengers Academy trades much more than any other book I’m waiting for. Gage’s run on Avengers: The Initiative, both as co-writer and later when went solo, was fantastic. In addition, I’ve liked pretty much everything that I’ve read of his from Union Jack (well I would, wouldn’t I?) to Civil War: Casulaties of War to Quasar.

The reaction?

You RULE! RT @richl1: Due to your tweets, I’m going to singles instead of trade waiting on Academy. Loved A:TI, want AA to stick around.

And then –

Inspired by @richl1 I make this offer: whoever does my favorite thing to bump up Avengers Academy sales will be named in an issue.

Well, awesome. The next issue of Avengers Academy – #7 – is out next week so why not pick it up?

And Now The Competition Bit

As an added incentive, if you pick up Avengers Academy #7, take a creative photo of yourself – or someone – with it (and not at the comic store!) and either tweet it to me at my twitter account or email it to me at rich@richlovatt.com then you’ll be in with a chance to win the HC of Avengers Academy Volume 1. The small print:

Please enter. I hate running competitions that no one enters as it makes me feel silly. And unloved.

These days, if you read Captain America it’s a fair bet that you think that Ed Brubaker is, to put it in colloquial English, the dog’s bollocks. And he is – but reading comics over the past twenty plus years, there are two other writers’ runs that I prefer on the book. Not because they’re ‘better’ writers, necessarily, but because they’re the ones I grew up with.

Don’t get me wrong, Brubaker’s run has a great hard-edged tone to it and takes extraordinary risks – such as reversing one of Marvel’s two previously untouchable deaths (Peter David had less success with kind-of reversing the other one around the same time). The comic today has an almost espionage-like tone, and that’s no bad thing – but when I was a lad, someone else was writing the good Captain as an out-and-out superhero and his name was Mark Gruenwald.

Gruenwald was a well-respected writer and editor for Marvel prior to starting his Cap run, but it’s arguable that, alongside Squadron Supreme, that it’s Cap that he’s most remembered for. His run spanned Captain America #307-443, and although not without it’s rough spots (such as Cap-Wolf and ‘Fighting Chance’) it also included a number of classic story lines.

Luckily for all of us, many of those story lines are now being collected as Marvel want lots of product on the shelf when the star spangled Avenger’s movie is released next year…

#308 is in the Secret Wars II Omnibus – okay, so this is a ridiculously oversized (and some would say overpriced) collection, and it includes only one issue of Gru’s Cap run – but it’s worth pointing out for completeness sake. Cap tries to settle back into his old life, but runs afoul of new villain the Armadillo – he’s also shadowed by the Beyonder, who is so impressed with him that he makes himself an identical body to saunter the Earth in.

Until, of course, changes his hairstyle…

Moving on…

#318-320, #358-362 is currently the first real collection of Gruenwald’s run – although the issues collected are separated by a few years. They’re in Captain America: Scourge of the Underworld – collecting the Scourge saga (also included is the Gruenwald-penned U.S.Agent mini-series, plus Scourge’s other appearances), where the eponymous vigilante is eliminating the deadwood of the villain circuit, including the infamous Bar With No Name massacre which took out a whole host of D-list villains.

#332-350 (along with Iron Man #232) are collected in the mammoth Captain America: The Captain - surely Gruenwald’s finest hour on Cap. Steve Rogers resigns as Captain America rather than work for the shadowy government Commission, leading them to replace him with John Walker. While Walker and his new partner serve as the new Captain America and Buck- er, Battlestar – Rogers eventually adopts a modified uniform and calls himself simply ‘The Captain’. (Cap #339 is also collected in the upcoming Fall of the Mutants Omnibus).

#357-364 are collected in Captain America: The Bloodstone Hunt; think of it as Cap as Indiana Jones and Diamondback as Marion Ravenwood and you won’t be far off. This story also introduces the Red Skull’s lackey, Crossbones, currently a major player in Thunderbolts.

#365-367 are collected as part of Acts of Vengeance Omnibus. Essentially a story of villains switching opponents to take down the Avengers, Cap’s issues have him fighting against Iron Man villain the Controller. These big omnibus collections are pricey, but for me are a perfect snapshot of Marvel at that time – and worth it purely on a nostalgia level, but your mileage may vary.

#398-399 and #400-#401 are included in Operation Galactic Storm Vol 1 and Vol 2, respectively.

For my money, OGS was one of the better inter-title crossovers that Marvel did around this period. Centering on the wide-spanning Avengers family of books, the story features the team – and most of the reserves – stuck in the middle of an interstellar conflict between the Kree and the Shi’ar. A spiritual successor to the classic Kree-Skrull War (and spiritual predecessor to War of Kings, for that matter), the story results in a schism in the team with Cap leading the more idealistic Avengers while the Black Knight and Iron Man head up the more…well, ‘realistic’ is the wrong word when it comes to space wars with superheroes, but you get the idea. Good, solid, comics.

#402-408…well, there’s not a lot you can say about Captain America: Man and Wolf that the cover above and this cover doesn’t say for you:

Captain America becomes a werewolf and, er, runs around the MU encountering people like Wolverine and Cable. Oh, and the conclusion ties in to the lackluster Infinity War, just to top it all off. Probably the low point of Gruenwald’s run.

#425-437 are collected in two volumes, Captain America: Fighting Chance – Denial and Acceptance. The Super Solider serum in Steve Roger’s veins begins to kill him, forcing him to evaluate what he wants to do with his final months (before suiting up in armor, obviously). I’ve got mixed feelings on the storyline, myself. On the one hand, I appreciate what Gruenwald was trying to do – and I have a fondness for Jack Flag (lately starring in Guardians of the Galaxy) and Free Spirit – but I don’t think it quite works.

There are some other storylines in Gruenwald’s run that deserve collecting – Streets of Poison (#372-378) springs to mind especially – but right now the best of his run (and, oddly, the worst) are either available or will be shortly.

As for the other writer that I like? That’s a whole other post…

My usual Lost from the Start post is delayed this week due to a couple of real life reasons. I hope to get the update – which this week will be 1×17 ….in Translation, a Jin-centric episode and one of my favorites from the first season – done by Thursday but it may slip till next week.

In other news, Bob Harras is the new Editor in Chief at DC, eh?

As was pointed out to me when I tweeted a question last night, Wonder Woman and Black Canary are already well on the way to looking like they belong on the Harras-era Avengers team…

I mean, Booster Gold‘s chalkboards?

Pfft.

Like Marvel would lift something like that wholesale and plunk it into their books…

…oh.

According to CBR the above page is from Avengers #5, so it looks like I’m wrong…

Anyway, let’s have a little breakdown shall we?

Going from left to right along the timeline…

• Siege

– Well, we know what that is, I guess. It seems to be quite a way before the next events, at least one of which takes place prior to it. Probably an aspect of time being broken in the arc the panel appears in. Or an editorial slip.

• Captain America Reborn – Again, aside from placement no surprise here. There’s a little side note asking ‘What did Cap see???’ referring to his vision at the end of the series, which bore some resemblance to the War of the Worlds-esque (or Tripods-esque, depending on your frame of reference) alien invasion from Killraven‘s alternate future.

• Nine Worlds in Disarray -this presumably links into Matt Fraction’s upcoming Thor run, which will apparently deal with the nine worlds of Norse mythology, of which Asgard is only one. Again, the timeline appears slightly skew-wiff as this presumably takes place before the next notation…EDIT: Apparently Avengers Prime concerns the Nine Worlds being in disarray – thanks, Kunstgriff!

• The Heroic Age Begins! – I guess there’s not much mystery there.

• Three! – a reference to the upcoming Fantastic Four arc which apparently promises the death of one of the core characters (because that’s never happened before).

• Hope Returns!? – presumably referring to the recent Second Coming in the X-Men books featuring the return of Hope from the future.

• There’s a dotted line leading down to the next comment that I can’t quite make out “Spider on the …” Horizon? Horror? Whatever it is, it seems to begin with HO and end with ON. Horton? I’m guessing this is Spider-Man related…

• Man Without Fear – no real secret here, either, as Black Panther is becoming the new Man without Fear and taking over Daredevil’s book.

• Throwbacks! - Okay. I have no idea what this refers to. Any ideas?

• Chaos! – The upcoming Chaos War event, of course.

Next slide, please…

• EDIT: There’s a bunch of equations including the words ‘Similar Form‘ and ending in ‘Paired‘. Not sure what this could refer to but open to suggestions!

• Five Lights – A not-so subtle reference to the current Five Lights arc in Uncanny X-Men leading to Generation Hope.

• Who is Worthy? – 9,9,9, – these linked comments outside of the timeline presumably refer again to Thor‘s nine worlds and perhaps an indication that someone else is going to try hefting mjolonir for a while – or that Thor himself may not be worthy? We’ll see.

• EDIT: Crossed out below this is something else I can’t make out: What Wouldn’t Do ?????? Any suggestions?
  Back on the timeline…
  • What is Where Asgard Should Be? – Thor again. A valid question; if Asgard’s in Oklahoma, what’s occupying it’s old position at the end of the rainbow bridge?
  • Master of Kung Fu – Shang-Chi’s making a comeback in Shadowland, and there’s a new Heroes for Hire series on the horizon – so maybe he’ll have a part in that? Or will there be a new Master of Kung-Fu? Replacement heroes are all the rage, you know.
  • Nova Antiquus – perhaps an earlier bearer of the Novaforce will be making an appearance wherever Nova himself ends up?
  • Academy Traitor! – I’m guessing there’s a traitor in Avengers Academy?
  • Return of the King – There’s a few people this could refer to; Magneto has been referred to as a king a few times in the past; the Black Panther’s in exile of some sort from his own country; the Kingpin perhaps? Or it could (hopefully) be the return of Black Bolt who died at the end of War of Kings. In any case there appears to be a King. And he appears to be returning.

  Off to the side of the timeline -

  • EDIT: The one I couldn’t quite make out earlier is The Drumm of Revenge – presumably pointing towards a Dr Voodoo (Jericho Drumm) story – or perhaps his dead brother? Either war I’d put money on this happening in New Avengers.

  And back on the timeline again –

  • Night Falls – Well that’s not ominous at all. A sign that something bad is coming? Perhaps it’s horror-related somehow? Who knows.
  • Iron Lad Returns – Looks like everyone’s favorite young Kang/Young Avenger is on his way back through the timestream somehow, presumably in the the Children’s Crusade mini.
  • All Hope Lies in Doom! – Well, when doesn’t it? Sounds like Doctor Doom is going to be getting some pagetime, maybe in the Fantastic Four, maybe in an Avengers book – but somewhere.
  • Schizm! – Sounds like there’s going to be a split somewhere along the line. Could be in a team, could be in reality, hell, could be anywhere. Or it could be some new character causing trouble – but my money’s on the first option. I think there’s going to be a falling out between characters somewhere again.
  • Stark Resilient – I’m guessing that’s a reference to the current Invincible Iron Man arc of the same name, in which case that book is ahead of the curve.
  • Where is Wanda? – Probably the end of the current Avengers: The Children’s Crusade mini series starring the Young Avengers that’s running right now.
  • Galactus Seed – That just sounds…wrong. More likely to be another arc in Hickman’s Fantastic Four than about Galacta, which is a shame.
  • ST….365NRATS – I have no clue. As long as it’s not Marvel’s answer to Lab Rats.
  • Fear without Man – I suspect that this will be an arc either following Daredevil Reborn (or perhaps that series itself) or simply an arc in the Black Panther’s run.
  • What’s in the Rings?!?! – Despite the earlier Return of the King reference, I guess this isn’t about bringing Gandalf and co to the MU. Instead, I think we’ll see the Mandarin’s rings being explored somewhat – mainly because I can’t think of any other rings of note in the MU.
  • Steve’s Vision! – Sounds like that vision we were talking about earlier is going to come to pass relatively soon.
  • Ultron War – Is Hank Pym’s greatest mistake coming back? Again? Honestly in light of the Ultron Imperative and Annihilation Conquest, any more Ultron stories seem redundant.
  • Yesterday’s X-Men – Possibly referring to that teaser of dead X-Men that popped up recently? Or something else? It’s off to the side of the main timeline so it may not take place around this time.
  • Born To Burn – Given that I think Johnny Storm will be the missing FF member at the end of ‘Three’, I would guess that this would be his return to the fold.
  • We Are Here – The point at which Avengers #5 takes place.
  • Kang’s Forces – I think this refers to a big ol’ timewar that’s going on in the Avengers book, which I’m getting in trades, and probably not the big Kang War we had at the end of Kurt Busiek’s run. Or, sadly, The Crossing (which I’m expecting to get the big Omnibus treatment any day now…).
  • Scorched Earth? – Sometimes the only way to win is to destroy what you’re fighting for. Whether a reference to the Kang thing, the Killraven thing, or something else I don’t know. EDIT: Apparently Jeff Parker’s first storyline in (Red) Hulk, starting with this week’s #25 is called – wait for it – ‘Scorched Earth’, named for the Intelligencia’s plan. Safe bet that this refers to that.
  • 3PION - Well, not a ‘P’ but a Punisher skull symbol. Probably not the return of Lynn Varley and the other Punisher stand-ins, sadly. EDIT: I’ve read that this could be deciphered as 3SkullION or Triskelion – which would be the Ultimate Avenger’s HQ over in the Ultimate Marvel U. Is there a crossover in the offing?
  • INFINITE FUTURES!! Again, I suspect this has to do with the future being hazy after the Kang thing wraps up. Or that Marvel hasn’t had it’s 2012 editorial retreats yet.

  Lots to clear up here, and lots of hints.

  But Booster Gold still did it first!

  Continue Reading »

Look, you know me. I’m a sucker for a good crossover and all that it entails including tie-ins. Tie-in issues that happen between the panels of the ‘main event’, or tie-ins that barely qualify to have the trade dress on the cover (AKA red sky tie-ins) – they’re all okay by me. Hell, the much-reviled Secret Wars II got me into Marvel Comics, and I’ve picked up the Inferno Omnibus and the Inferno Crossovers Omnibus in spite of having all the original issues because I love the story so much, and the fact that it reached out and touched so much of the Marvel Universe.

So picking up this was a no-brainer, wasn’t it? I hadn’t picked up the original Dark Wolverine tie-in issues and despite being irritated at Marvel’s shrinking trade sizes, I decided to pick this up – especially as I got it 50% off through Midtown Comics.

Collecting Dark Wolverine #82-84 (a whole three issues!), New Mutants #11 (also collected in the Siege: Thor trade, and New Mutants Vol 2) and the Siege: Storming Asgard – Heroes and Villains one-shot (which I’ll get to later), the book clocks in at a lightweight 128 pages.

Even so, 128 pages of good comics is 128 pages of good comics so for $10 I was willing to give it a shot.

Unfortunately, the main event here – the Dark Wolverine issues – can’t remotely be described as ‘good comics’. Daken – the son of Wolverine, for those not in the know – was introduced in Daniel Way’s Wolverine: Origins series before graduating to a starring role in the Dark Avengers and taking over one of his father’s other ongoing series. A bisexual, amoral, scheming, pheromone-emitting killer, Daken attracts the attention of virtually everyone he comes into contact with and always has a hidden agenda – even while he’s working alongside Norman Osborn’s Avengers.

In the three issues presented here, he heads to Asgard along with the rest of the team as Osborn – falling apart – has decided to take the battle to the Norse gods at Loki’s urging. Once there, Daken attracts the attentions of the Fates who consider him vitally important and go about showing him what consequences his decisions have.

You realize at the end of the first issue when Daken kills Norman Osborn what consequences these decisions will have for the reader: none. Everything that Daken does ends badly when he chooses to follow his instincts, so the Fates keep rewinding and giving him the opportunity to make different choices.

That’s right, it’s the comic-book equivalent of ‘and it was all a dream!‘.

Not only that, but this happens in every single issue. I counted three resets at the hands of the Fates, and each time Daken snarls a bit and begrudgingly chooses another path. The art is passable, the dialog readable, but the story here is so repetitive and pointless that it gives crossovers a bad name, because quite simply: nothing happens.

At the end of the three issues, we’re not far off where we started: Daken is in Asgard doing Osborn’s dirty work. I’ll say it again: nothing of note has really happened and – worse – it’s been boring while that nothing has not been happening. These are three dull, dull, dull issues.

Now I grant you, it’s possible – possible – that if I were a regular reader of Daken’s own book I might find the issues enjoyable, and see that he’s a changed man following the Fates’ intervention but – and this is crucial – I’m not a regular reader. And if these are any example of what I can expect when I pick it up, I never will be.

Unforgivably bad.

As far as the additional material goes, New Mutants #11 is good enough but available elsewhere, and the handbook-style issue makes the tragic error of not containing any handbook-style information. Call me old-fashioned, but when I read a handbook I like to read up on the past of a character or team, not get fictional characters’ opinions of them.

Avoid this trade. Avoid it like the plague.

Siege: X-Men is available on Amazon and elsewhere but I wouldn’t get it if I were you…

From the stage at SDCC2010 – the cast of the Avengers movie – (L-R) Robert Downey Jr (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner), Joss Whedon (Director), Kevin Feige (Marvel Studios).

Do I have my concerns about this? A few.

But right now?

I’m just pretty damn excited about it.

Via

What, too soon?