Category Archives: Comics
The Future of the Ultimate Universe Revealed!
Saints be praised, Miles Morales lives! In an article with the Associated Press, Marvel has revealed that the Ultimate Universe will continue beyond the current Cataclsym storyline, and it will be re-branded in April as Ultimate Marvel NOW!
The line will continue with three comics:
1. ‘Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man’ written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by David Marquez. The book is going to be about Miles’ continuing struggles as Spider-Man in the new post-Cataclysm world.
Said Bendis:
“You can look at this as kind of his Bar Mitzvah of sorts and, now, he has to take the reins of Spider-Man under the new world he finds himself in. His entire life as a human being has changed.”
2. ‘All-New Ultimates’ written by Michel Fiffe and drawn by Amilcar Pinna.
This book will feature Miles and a team of young superheroes trying to pick up the pieces after whatever happens to the regular Ultimates. Along with Spidey, the team will feature Cloak, Dagger, Kitty Pryde, Black Widow and Bombshell. So it looks like the little team Bendis has been building in Ultimate Spider-Man will get to live on after all! I’m very excited. Hopefully Fiffe can write them as good as Bendis.
3. ‘Ultimate FF’ written by Joshua Hale Fialkov and drawn by Mario Guevara. This book will be the Future Foundation, not the Fantastic Four. It will feature four of the world’s smartest people, including Sue Storm and Tony Stark, as well as a fifth, psychopathic genius – which probably means Reed Richards.
Those are the new titles coming out of Cataclysm. Based on the article, it appears that something monumentally tragic is going to befall the Ultimates, leading to this change in lineups.
Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso said this:
“Once again, we’re destroying something and building something new, but there’s an end game in sight,” he said of the move, noting that Marvel’s so-called Ultimate universe has always been noted by readers, writers and artists and editors for its “elasticity” and experimentation.
“We created the line to take chances,” he said.
“Dead is dead,” he said, so don’t expect any miraculous resurrections. “The long and short of it is this: The Ultimate (universe) benefits from a good, old kick in the butt.”
My guess is that Captain America is probably going to sacrifice himself to save the day in Cataclysm, along with a few other characters. That would definitely warrant the ‘dead is dead’ declaration, not to mention a shakeup to the Ultimates themselves. It also appears that Spider-Woman might die too, which would be a crying shame. She’s one of my absolute favorites!
But I like what I’m seeing here. I might even start reading All-New Ultimates when it comes out!
What do you guys and gals think? Let me hear it in the comments!
Hail to the Doop, Baby!
In what is either the craziest or most brilliant comic book idea since the beginning of time, Marvel is giving Doop is own mini-series. The little floating booger is going to debut with All-New Doop #1 in April, written by co-creator Peter Milligan. Though why we need the words ‘All-New’ in the title are anyone’s guess.
He’s sexy and he knows it
The mini-series is going to be set during the recent Battle of the Atom crossover, telling the untold story of what Doop was doing during the big battle, and how he probably actually caused or saved everything. That’s usually Doop’s style. David Lafuente will be on art.
Marvel revealed the series in an interview on their website. Said Milligan:
Doop is a character who lives mostly in the margins, and this story takes place, if you like, in the margins of Battle of the Atom. It shows what happens in those moments just before or after or behind the main storyline. And though Doop seemed to play no part in the original Battle of the Atom, this story reveals the truth. And the truth is very surprising, in a very Doop kind of way.
I’ll definitely be checking this one out. The more Doop in this world, the better.
Review: All-New X-Factor #1
Sometimes you’ve just got to be careful what you wish for. The comic I was most looking forward to in the All-New Marvel NOW! has arrived in the form of All-New X-Factor #1, writer Peter David’s latest revival of his long-standing, moderately popular superhero team. Free of past continuity and characters, PAD has been given free reign to re-invent X-Factor as he sees fit, with a new cast, a new purpose and new momentum. So it really is a shame that this issue fails on every conceivable level.
X-Factor #1
All-New X-Factor #1 is as generic and mediocre a superhero comic as you could get in this day and age. From a boring plot to random characters to a premise that reeks of missed opportunities, every aspect of this comic is uninspired.
Comic Rating: 4/10 – Pretty Bad.
The last time PAD relaunched X-Factor – whether you count the MadroX mini-series or X-Factor #1 – the writer clearly had purpose. Built around the reinvention of the wildly underused Jamie Madrox, PAD’s vision included noir sensibilities, the mysteries of Layla Miller, shadowy villains and a cast of characters with rich histories together. Back then, PAD clearly had ideas. And he had heart.
But all of that is missing in All-New X-Factor #1.
The new relaunch falls victim to Marvel’s recent trend of just piling a bunch of random superheroes together and calling them a team. Again and again, Marvel has done this, whether it’s some new Avengers spin-off or multiple versions of X-Force. And maybe if one of your favorite characters is on that team, you’ll love the comic. But most of these books are just generic superhero stories starring random superheroes, and that’s exactly how the new X-Factor reads. Even the interesting new premise, that X-Factor is now the first corporately-owned superhero team in the Marvel Universe, is painfully generic.
The potential for some interesting ideas or styles is present, but time and again, PAD either skips right over them or doesn’t play them up nearly enough. He could get so much about of All-New X-Factor, but PAD and Marvel seem fine with settling for mediocrity.
I don’t give this comic a year.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review.
Peter Parker the Amazing Spider-Man is Coming Back!
Some way, some how, Peter Parker is on his way back to comics in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man, possibly as early as March! Behold, this image of Marvel Previews that has started circulating around the web!
Marvel haven’t released anything about what this means or implies, only that Dan Slott, the chief Spider-Man writer for years and years, is still going to be on the book. There’s no word on whether or not Superior Spider-Man will be cancelled or continue telling its own story, but this is pretty substantial proof that not only is Amazing Spider-Man coming back, but Slott is bringing Peter back as well. There’s no way Doc Ock would look so cheerful.
We all knew it was going to happen eventually.
Next Marvel Big Event Comic Kills the Watcher!
The next Big Event comic from Marvel has been revealed as Original Sin, a story where the Watcher is killed and all of the dirt he’s been gathering on the heroes of the Marvel Universe leaks out.
Because of course the Watcher can be killed by a gun to the head
Sounds like a neat idea to me, I suppose.
Original Sin will be 8 issues long over the course of four months, starting in May. It will be written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Mike Deodato, and I’m a fan of both of those guys.
According to the article on USA Today, the story will be about Nick Fury putting together a team to solve the murder mystery, consisting of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and a few others. Meanwhile, another group will conduct their own investigation (for some reason), and that group will consist of Punisher, Doctor Strange, Emma Frost, Ant-Man and Black Panther. I like the second group more already.
Here’s what Tom Brevoort has to say about the whole thing:
“It’s all the skeletons, all the dark things that you never know, all the interesting and intriguing information — not all of it even bad. And it will all expand out into dozens of stories that will cut to the core of who these characters are.”
So yeah, that’s the next Big Event comic. Sounds like a solid story, I suppose. And they say it’s going to be more personal than Infinity, so that’s good. Plus now I’m dying to see the team of Punisher, Doc Strange, Emma Frost, Ant-Man and Black Panther. That’s going to be the bee’s knees!
Unless, of course, it’s just an excuse to retcon a bunch of stupid, ‘controversial’ secrets into some of these characters’ lives. That just sounds terrible.
Henchman-4-Hire 