Posts Tagged ‘ She-Hulk ’

This weekend Marvel teased a Fantastic Three project

It ain’t the first time…

…the book bore this banner following Reed Richards’ ‘death’ in #381 of the original series – until Ant-Man Scott Lang showed up to provide the brains a few issues later.

In fact for a family team book, the FF have had quite the cast of members – Sue took time off during both pregnancies, replaced the first time by Crystal while the second time she stayed around the background. She was also replaced by Medusa during a separation from Reed.

Years later when both she and Reed left the team to try and have a normal life (they ended up joining the Avengers briefly before returning to the FF so you can see who well that turned out) they were replaced by Crystal and Sharon Ventura, then Ms Marvel and later the She-Thing. Recently the couple took a leave of absence once again to repair their marriage following the superhero Civil War, and were replaced by the Black Panther and Storm.

The Thing has been out of the team at various points too, whether he be depowered (although at times he stuck around in a Thing robotic suit), on the Secret Wars Battleworld or simply in a huff. He’s been replaced by Luke Cage and the She-Hulk.

There have also been a lot of almost-members, hanger-ons who have stuck around for a while but never been officially on the team – Nova (Frankie Raye, not Rich Rider), Namorita, Nathaniel Richards and Kristoff spring to mind – so in fact the only person who hasn’t taken an extended leave of absence at one time or another is the Human Torch.

So – can we expect a Torch-less FF soon?

If Kevin Huxford and Bleeding Cool are to be believed, all these ‘We are the X-Men’ ads are leading to the adjectiveless X-Men book (currently Legacy under Mike Carey) being about X-Men vs Vampires.

And yes, that certainly looks like a vampire Jubilee with Nate Grey up there. The rest of the ads feature Gambit, Elektra, Hope, Blade, Magneto, She-Hulk (Llyra) and Psylocke and Spider-Man.

So…really?

I’m not against it per se, since rumor also has it that Victor Gischler will be writing (although Rick Remender does have that rumored X-Men project) and I’ve been enjoying the hell out of Deadpool Merc With A Mouth, so I’m okay with that.

Furthermore, does anyone think a team using those characters with that premise is going to be around too long? It’ll be an arc or two then done.

In the meantime we can only hope we get something like this:

Speaking of which, I fully expect the next all ages Power Pack series to be Blade and Power Pack. Just because.

I’ve been silently (and occasionally not so silently) mocking Marvel for their recent influx of ‘Dark’ versions of their pre-existing characters.

Dark Wolverine. Dark Ms Marvel. Dark Hawkeye. DarkSinister Spider-Man…

And so forth.

I have to admit that when I saw that the Hulk and Thundra’s daughter from the throwaway Raging Thunder one-shot was coming into the Marvel U as the All-New Savage She-Hulk, I groaned because obviously this was just another attempt to create a dark counterpart to an existing character.

Well I can admit when I’m wrong. Much to my surprise, the All New Savage She-Hulk was a great mini that introduced Lyra in to the fold without compromising the Jen Walters She-Hulk. And Jeff ParkerFred Van Lente (EDIT: My mistake! I think Parker wrote Raging Thunder though. Maybe.) even went and made a joke about it.

So, okay. I hold my hands up. I like the new She-Hulk and chances are that I’ll be following her into the pages of Incredible Hulk #601.

But I do think I’ll miss Jen a bit – and I worry about what Jeph Loeb’s going to do with her especially after the new Red She-Hulk debuted at SDCC.

In spite of myself (and how stupid I think Red Hulk and Red She-Hulk are), I find myself thinking that World War Hulks may be interesting after all…although, seriously, Red Hulk? Still stupid, okay?

Better late than never – and still ahead of this week’s releases, which is good.

Action Comics Annual #12 – A steaming pile of crap. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve read a worse comic in a long time. Where to begin? Perhaps the grating, omniscient third party narration? Perhaps the fact that their origins are contrived? Perhaps the fact that we may know their history but we don’t really know them? If you haven’t bought it, don’t.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #1 - The store I went to didn’t have it. I choose to take this as a sign that it is not destined to be a monthly pull of mine. Alternatively, I may pick it up this week.

Outsiders #19 – Not bad, not good, just forgettable. The good news is that it has Vandal Savage (who’s always fun, in spite of Morrison’s makeover) and it also has Ra’s Al Ghul. IN A BEAR HEAD-HAT.

Power Girl #2 – Aaand I’m out. Well, that was quick. I’ve been looking forward to this comic since it was announced over a year ago, but I’m done. Two issues in and I get half an issue dedicated to the origin of a villain I don’t care about? Not only that, but the book suffers from serious verbal diarrhea. It’s the opposite of decompressed storytelling – which is fine until you realise that you don’t really care about the story anyway.

Supergirl #42 – Solid issue, with Lois reliably under control mourning her sister’s (apparent) death. It’s funny, but for all the fuss about Supergirl being back on track (and it is), I kind of view this book as the home of the Superman supporting cast right now – Lois, Sam Lane, Lana, Cat Grant; they’re all here. And the book’s the better for it. Oh, and Jamal Igle’s art on here is fantastic. He and Sibal are really working well together.

All-New Savage She-Hulk #3 – A great fun little mini. I find myself liking this more and more, and having the original She-Hulk punch out the Sentry is icing on the cake. Although…who wants more tiny little Normans running around? Sure, Harry’s okay, but the two-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken weren’t enough? Although…would a Norman/Lyra mix still have his brillo pad hair?

Amazing Spider-Man Family #7 – A Roger Stern-penned Spidey tale is always a must, even if it is about Aunt May and Uncle Ben first getting together – but on the eve of May’s wedding, its a nice little retrospective. Throw in Spider-Girl (still entertaining) and Fred Hembeck’s l’il Peter Parker meeting the Brothers Voodoo, and you’ve got a nice little book.

Cable #15 – The whole Messiah War thing has basically become one big fight scene. Enjoyable fluff, but no depth to it.

Captain Britain And MI 13 #14 – I mentioned how much I liked this last week – but allow me to add this:
Heh.

Dark Reign Fantastic Four #4 – The more I read this book, the more concerned I am with Hickman taking the reigns of the regular title. Reed is back in ‘fix everything’ mode (which is the title of Hickman’s first arc), Ben, Sue and Johnny are supporting characters, and Franklin and Valeria are funny but kind of brattish – and they really shouldn’t be one of the main focuses of the book in my opinion. On the plus side, Norman Osborn is reliably crazy and the end of the issue promises a great smack-down which will, no doubt, not be delivered.

Invincible Iron Man #14 – Apparently I missed last issue which is why , but I’m all caught up now. Fraction handles this book much better than he does Uncanny X-Men. Focused, smart and funny, he’s on fire here, and Sal Larocca’s work is gorgeous. I’m a bit confused about Crimson Dynamo as I thought Dmitri was out of the suit, but that’s not enough to put me off.

Mighty Avengers #26 – Better than last issue, which isn’t saying much. I’m still not entirely on board but I want to see how this plays out. Honestly, though, the book needs a better art team than this.

Punisher #6 – Didn’t pick it up. So its been moved to the trade list!

War Of Kings Ascension #3 – This issue turned the spotlight on Chris Powell as opposed to Darkhawk and was the better for it. The art’s a lot less confusing without the two Darkhawks running around, and I feel like I’m getting to know the protagonist. And the book has finally dovetailed with War of Kings.

X-Men Legacy #225 – A decent enough wrap up to Xavier’s arc, but after a year and a half of him as the central star, I still don’t really care about him. So I suspect that the book’s failed, really, in spite of solid writing on Carey’s behalf. Nice art though.

…because he continues to be a great artist (not darkly realistic, but with a great comic style) but he continues to be dragged into Jeph Loeb-penned messes like Hulk.

Why, Ed, why?

(Although the more I look at that cover the more I think it looks like Paul Pelletier, but my point still stands…)

I was just over at the Newsarama site looking at their preview of All-New Savage She-Hulk #1 and one of the first posts there was bemoaning new characters taking over existing character’s names.

Because that never happens.

I guess the difference here is that the regular She-Hulk, Jen Walters is still knocking around, even if it’s only in Jeph Loeb’s Hulk and that’s where the difference is for this character.

Most times where a character takes over an existing character’s name, the original character is either dead or has retired, or whatever – but for some reason, readers seem a lot more reluctant to accept change when it comes to Marvel characters than when it comes to DC characters (except for Hal Jordan, obviously).

The sole exception to this seems to be Bucky’s assumption of the mantle of Captain America. Here, because the arc took so long to happen it feels like this has been pretty much universally accepted.

Is it because DC’s Silver Age reintroductions of the Flash and Green Lantern set the tone for successive characters using the same name? Or is it just that people don’t like new characters co-opting names of characters that they like?

I mean, if this wasn’t called the All New Savage She-Hulk, would you be more inclined to give it a chance?

I see from Newsarama’s October Marvel solicits preview that She-Hulk is going to be a part of a new Lady Liberators team, including clearly-not-dead-despite-Fantastic Four-solicits Invisible Woman, perennial guest star Thundra and gratuitous ass-shot Valkyrie…
Because nothing sticks it to male chauvinist pigs like a gratuitous ass shot of a woman in chainmail.

Bullet points!

• About 36 tie ins including the World War Hulk mini, but you won’t need them if you don’t want to read them.
• Peter David will be writing the one-shot Prologue
• WWH mini has 5 interlocking covers: #1 v Black Bolt & Iron Man; #2 v FF inc Reed & Sue; #3 v the Army; #4 v Dr Strange and a mystery #5 – maybe vs Thor? Or Sentry?
• WWH: X-Men #1-3 by Christos Gage and Andrea DiVito will take place within WWH #1 – Hulk wants words with Prof X and doesn’t care that there aren’t many mutants around amymore…
• The core Hulk title will explore some allies – an image showed Hulk with Hercules, Angel, the new Scorpion and Namora. Namor will also appear.
• Front Line: WWH will run 6 issues by Jenkins and Bachs, with 3 stories per issue – and no crappy war analogies!
• Titles tying in will be: Ghost Rider; Ant-Man; Heroes for Hire (Humbug can talk to bugs…and Miek and Brood will be around); Iron Man; Avengers : The Initiative. Young Avengers will have a one-shot tie in.
• And Dan Slott also wants everyone to buy She-Hulk #18 – which leads straight in to WWH

Occasionally I drift off into a little world of my own and start thinking about comic characters that I’d like to take to film. As a lot of the good Marvel ones are already there, this tends to be DC-skewed. Plus, the lists tends to change around pretty regularly.

Anyway, in lieu of a real post, here’s today’s top ten:

10. Guy Gardner – yes, there’s the kick-ass CGI ring powers, but that’s not the draw; how often do you get a lead character who’s a complete ass? I love the Beau Smith-era Guy and those couple of issues he spent completely without powers and that’s the time I’d focus on. I’m willing to admit he might work better as a back up character in #4 ‘s movie, though…

9. The Atom (Ray Palmer) – I’m willing to admit that it’s probably as a result of reading Power of the Atom recently, but I can’t help but think a movie about a shrinking hero would be cool. The villain, of course, would have to be Chronos.

8. Stargirl – she’s a teenage girl with a pet robot (kinda) and a hi-tech rod trying to live up to a legacy she didn’t know she had. Think Buffy and iVeronica Mars and you can see where I’m heading with this.

7. Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady) – #10+#9= no brainer!

6. She-Hulk – you have built in name recognition, a touch of legal drama and killer super-heroics. Pitch it as the Hulk meets Ally McBeal. What’s not to like?

5. Nick Fury – David Hasselhoff’s version doesn’t count. I’m not talking about the Sam Jackson-alike Ultimate version either, or the MAX’d out Ennis version. I’m talking Sgt Fury, WWII troop leader who takes the assignments nobody else can. A big war drama on a scale not seen since Saving Private Ryan - only with killer Nazi robot.. End with him losing his eye and taking control of S.H.I.E.L.D. and you’ve got a set-up for a 1950s period-spy drama. How great is that?

No, no, no, no, no!

4. Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) – a fearless fighter pilot inherits an alien ring, goes crazy and has to reclaim his status as protector the universe that he almost destroyed? That’s a trilogy right there! Star Wars by way of Top Gun and Indiana Jones. Too bad Harrison Ford’s too old for the role…

3. Daughters of the Dragon – Colleen and Misty are made for movies. Hell, they have their origins in the movies of the 1970s, so how could this fail? Drop the bionic arm and play it as this generation’s Thelma and Louise as bounty hunters tracking down supervillains, cast a couple of bombshells who can act and you’re made.

2. Heroes for Hire – see #3. Because kung-fu+blaxpoitation flicks=beyond cool. Set this one in the 70s, tie both Luke Cage’s origins and Iron Fist’s business into Bushmaster though and I’d be all over this. I hear that Luke Cage is possibly in development, and there’s been rumors of Iron Fist for years but stick these guys together – dynamite.

1. Birds of Prey – forget the TV series. Spin this out of the new Batman franchise, throw enough money in for cameos from Christian Bale and Gary Oldman and it’s a done deal. You’ve got Oracle, Huntress and a non-screaming Black Canary as the leads going after the Joker following his escape from Arkham. He gets involved with the mob that killed Huntress’ family to bring her into the story, and Canary is Barbara Gordon’s friend and a part-time Bat-sanctioned vigilante. Sold, sold, sold!

Okay, so a day later than planned but still…here we go! Some spoilers may happen if you haven’t read stuff yet…

52 #11 – Okay this is better! Batwoman makes a splash and we focus on two of the more interesting sub-plots (Renee & The Question and Ralph Dibny) rather than the dull ones. Good work, and enough to buy me in for another month.

Battle for Bludhaven #6 – this series was a mess, and this issue is no exception . BUT – two good things came out of this; Captain Atom seems now to be sealed in the old Monarch armor from Armageddon 2001 (he was originally supposed to be the villain there, but DC changed their mind at the last minute) and secondly, what lies beneath Bludhaven has sparked my interest – I mean, I thought this had been introduced into the DCU in the most recent Superboy series, but I’ll take it here instead…Command D!

Flash #2 – And we’re done. I’m sorry, but as much as I kinda like Bart, I have zero interest reading him as the Flash right now. Sorry guys, but this book just isn’t working for me. A pity, as I was on the first volume solidly since Mark Waid’s first run, but….see ya.

Justice League of America #0 – Alright, I liked this. More a book about the trinity than the JLA, this still worked well – and I dug the flash forwards – let’s see what the future might hold: Hal Jordan’s wedding – and Bruce and Diana are already hitched – maybe to each other? Luthor fighting the trinity over Connor’s death; Clark mourning Pa Kent – and sealing up the tunnel from his room to the edge of Smallville (hey, wasn’t that pre-Crisis Superboy’s tunnel? Interesting…); Diana giving up her immortality to be with her man (who isn’t Batman, so who knows?); the Trinity sundered – maybe permanently – following someone’s funeral; the discovery of a second Earth (so Earth-2 take three?); Batman finally dies in a similar way to the Dark Knight Returns? Wow. It’s a hell of a read and a great pre-cursor to the new title. Great stuff.

Manhunter #24 – So-so issue; if Dr Psycho has been on trial and is now apparently powerless OYL, why is he popping up all over the show (Wonder Woman and somewhere else I don’t remember). I’m glad the book is going to get to #30 but I’ll be surprised if it lasts past that…

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #20 – This is a nigh-perfect superhero book but it somehow leaves me a little bit empty sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sticking with it but I’m not quite feeling it at the moment.

Star Wars: Rebellion #4 – Its Star Wars. What’s not to like? Looks like the Tank sub-plot is drawing to a close…and I actually didn’t see that coming with Jorin Sol. Fun book. Although I wish Solo was in it.

Cable and Deadpool #30 – hee hee! Deadpool getting beat by Squirrel Girl! Cable meeting with Cap! And Daredevil….or is it?…with a really cute clue as to his real ID (unless its a fake out):
From Cable & Deadpool a few months back…

and from C&D #30:

Thanks to the guys over at CBR forums!

CIVIL WAR #3 – this is shaping up to be great, and neither the pro or anti sides are coming up smelling like roses; on the anti, Cap zaps Iron Man and on the pro, Iron Man beats Cap severely. Can’t anyone play nice. Best bit in the issue for me was not the return of Thor (although I’d like to know why he’s pro-reg!), but the great characterization of Hercules rushing to Cap’s defence (“Out of my way you filthy traitors!) Plus Cap has a ‘tache in his new secret ID!

CIVIL WAR: X-MEN #1 – the first bum note in CW for me. I didn’t like this much at all, but I’ll get it because I’m lame.

DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON #6 – great end to a great series. I’ll be getting 5 if it carries on in this vein – Colleen and Misty have never been better!

SHE-HULK #8&9 – yes, Chris is posting me #8 first print but I decided to pick up the second print too – and I’m glad I did. Loved seeing Justice and Rage again, plus check-ins on the other warriors, and Shulkie’s marriage to John Jameson was really good fun. I also loved the dinner with Jolly Jonah, too – Slott really has a handle on comic book humor! And finally, I loved Pug’s wishful thinking – and I’m not entirely sure he’s wrong…

FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #10 – Wow. In all the fuss over Amazing, I’m fairly sure this book is getting over looked a lot at the moment – and that’s a damn shame; PAD and Ringo have brought back Uncle Ben (not ‘our’ Ben, before you get your knickers in a twist!) and then added more twists – now we have Ben knocking about in the core reality, but its not even clear that its the Ben who was brought here from another reality – confused? Read the issue and you will be!

X-FACTOR #9 – A good week for PAD fans as X-Factor not only confront Quicksilver but also the Astonishing X-Men in a really, really good issue. Madrox’s face-down of Cyclops was classic, as is Madrox’s rescue of Aegis (a New Warrior I never liked from the second crappy series). Add to that X-Factor taking a stand against the registration act, and you’ve got one great issue.

UNCANNY X-MEN #476 – Ed Brubaker’s second ish continues on his strong start, as the team talk with Cyclops and steal a ship. And Warpath – like I said, a character I’ve always liked – is turning into a real star here. Plu, Billy Tan just keeps getting better!

It’s been a pretty strong week (and a big one) for me -but I’ve dropped Flash, Supergirl & LSH needs to pick up, and I’m dubious on the Uncle Sam etc series thanks to Bludhaven.

Time to go see if I can fit them somewhere…