Category Archives: Comics
Holy Cow, Marvel NOW! Just Got Awesome!
Behold, the new Fantastic Four!
I’m speechless at how awesome that picture is. Ant-Man!? She-Hulk? Medusa? Miss Thing!? Drawn in the amazing pop art style of Mike and Laural Allred? I am sold! Marvel NOW! finally has something really far out and fascinating to offer, instead of just the same old same old with Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and the bunch.
Don’t be too alarmed though. That’s actually the cover of FF#1, the Fantastic Four’s sister title. The actual comic Fantastic Four will still star the usual team of Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and the Thing.
Both titles will be written by Matt Fraction, who gave an interview to USA Today that you can read here. Basically his plans for the normal Fantastic Four comic, drawn by Mark Bagley, are the usual family-based stuff. The two kids, Franklin and Val, will be with them. So that’s cool, I suppose. At least they’re keeping the white costumes. I love those. I don’t have much interest in Fraction’s take on the traditional Fantastic Four.
It’s his wacky take on the Future Foundation that I can’t wait to read!
Whereas the Fantastic Four is about the Richards family having all-new adventures, FFis about an all-new Fantastic Four getting to meet the team’s greatest hits, Fraction teases. “Suddenly, there are imposters to the throne and they come out of the woodwork for these guys.”
Ant-Man has an agenda of his own, too, in addition to protecting the world. He blames Doctor Doom for the death of his daughter and, with the power of the Fantastic Four and the Future Foundation, wonders what would happen if they declared war on Latveria and devoted all their time and resources to eliminating Doom once and for all.
“It’s a dark twist on what the Fantastic Four is about — it’s the other side of the coin,” Fraction says. “We have this Fantastic Four with a specific mission in FF and how can he direct and bring these people along with him?”
Basically the premise is that in the main title, Reed is going to take his family on this giant vacation through time and space, which will lead to some awesome adventures. They’ll be gone for exactly 4 minutes. And should something go wrong, Reed has everyone pick a replacement. Reed picks Scott Lang, Ant-Man, Sue picks Medusa, Ben picks She-Hulk, and Johnny…well Johnny forgot, and so he just randomly picks the babe he slept with the night before they leave. That’s Miss Thing, a brand new character who’s wearing Thing armor.
And I guess beyond that, something does go wrong during those 4 minutes, and this is the new Fantastic Four.
I’m very, very excited about this one, folks.
Comedian to Write Deadpool
This has to be the coolest news of Marvel NOW! so far: actual stand-up comedian Brian Posehn is going to write Deadpool.
Posehn will be joined by fellow funnyman Gerry Duggan, with art by Tony Moore. I think that’s just fantastic. I’m all for finding new, unique writers to tackle some of Marvel’s comics, and who better to write Deadpool than someone who is actually funny? And better yet, Posehn is a huge comic book geek. So much so that he played the priest in the Fantastic Four sequel who married Reed and Sue. The guy has geek cred coming out the wazzo.
Warlord of the chess club
Will he write a good Deadpool? I don’t know, but I’ve got my hopes up, and am definitely interested in the possibilities. I’ve never been as big a Deadpool fan as the rest of the Internet, but I’m tempted to now pick up issue #1 just to see what Posehn can offer. Will he be as funny on the page as he is on the stage?
My biggest problem with Deadpool is that I don’t like it when he stars in a wacky comedy book. Deadpool himself is already overly wacky and comedic, and it just isn’t all that funny when he’s on wacky and comedic adventures, when everything around him is just like him. Deadpool’s brand of humor works best when he’s the only wacky and comedic element in an otherwise serious story. That’s why I think he works so well in Uncanny X-Force. That way Deadpool’s attitude and personality stand out as something unique and special.
Because if everyone is wacky, then no one is.
Hulk Trades ‘Incredible’ for ‘Indestructible’
I guess there’s going to be a difference?
Even though “The Indestructible Hulk” doesn’t have the same ring to it, the Marvel NOW! relaunch of the Jade Giant is going to be written by Mark Waid and drawn by Leinil Yu. He’s also going to be wearing armor from now on, for reasons that will apparently be explained in the comic.
This one I think I’m actually going to pick up. Just like with Iron Man and Thor the past two days, Waid gave an interview with Marvel.com that you can read here. I like the ideas he has for the character because they fit what my ideal Hulk is about: a focus on Bruce Banner. I like my Hulk a certain way, and if it doesn’t match those criteria, I simply won’t buy the Hulk. It’s been that way for awhile now in the comics, and I haven’t bought Hulk regularly in years.
My ideal Hulk is the one we’re seeing in the movies. There’s a focus on Bruce Banner and his burden of the Hulk, and everyone appreciates his power. I simply like Banner more than I like Hulk. And for the longest time, Hulk was the main character in the comics. Then there were several years when there were a dozen or more Hulks, including the Red Hulk, She-Hulk, Red She-Hulk, several different She-Hulks, several different Sons of Hulk; it was ridiculous. I prefer it when Bruce Banner is the only Hulk (with an exception for She-Hulk). It dilutes his brand and his power if there’s a whole bunch of Hulks running around. And then the current Hulk series by Jason Aaron switches the dynamic, and has Banner as the evil monster with a normal Hulk who is trying to stay angry and not turn into Banner. No thanks, not for me.
So I like Waid’s approach of putting the focus back on Banner. And I like what he has in mind for Banner:
Different than we’ve seen in a long time, maybe ever. Again, we don’t want to give away too much, but our Bruce Banner is…evolved. Enlightened. He’s had an epiphany about his condition, and it affects everything. All I can say is that once upon a time, The Hulk was unique in comics because he viewed his condition as a curse, not a blessing; but now, 50 years later, a lot of super heroes feel that way. When I was most recently at DC that was the whole philosophy handed down editorially: that heroes should carry a great burden. Now, personally, I feel like if you can fly, then I don’t want to hear you whine about your problems, but I get it—that’s the “New Mindset.” So with Marvel’s permission, we’re taking The Hulk down a road that’s as unique for him as his persecution complex was in 1962.
The series is also going to star Maria Hill, because Banner is going to start working with SHIELD. That sounds pretty cool. I’m definitely looking forward to Mark Waid’s Hulk!
Somewhere a Marvel Marketing Exec is Giggling
I told you guys yesterday about the new Iron Man series, well now it’s Thor’s turn, complete with cover image and interview with writer Jason Aaron. Why is someone in Marvel marketing giggling? Because they’ve been drip feeding us these reveals over the past two weeks.
So that’s Thor: God of Thunder #1, written by Jason Aaron (who knows I exist) and drawn by Esad Ribic. You can read their full interview here, if you’re interested. Personally, I’m not a big fan of Thor, so I doubt I’ll be picking up this new series. I just feel like telling you guys all about this stuff in case you’re interested.
And because I’m now finding it all very giggly.
Marvel has this big Marvel NOW! initiative coming out in the fall. It’s nothing too fancy. Basically they’re just putting out a bunch of new #1 issues, with some new creative teams on the popular characters. They do this every couple of years, but each time they want to make it sound super fancy so that people will buy it. That’s fine. People gotta buy comics. But now Marvel marketing has the task of letting everybody know about the new series coming out. How do they do that? By flooding the comic news sites day after day after day.
Every day last week, Marvel released a little teaser image that gave a hint about the new series as well as the new creative team. They looked like this:
Why yes, I am very worthy, thank you
And every major comic book news site – except for me – put those banners on their front page. They were also able to figure out what comic it would be. Worthy = Thor. And Marvel released one a day until Friday, where it just dumped the remaining four.
Flash forward to this week, and it seems that Marvel is once again releasing this stuff one day at a time. Yesterday was Iron Man, today is Thor, and tomorrow will probably be Deadpool.
So I’m just picturing some Marvel marketing exec who decided that rather than reveal all the comics in one big announcement, they’d instead drip them out one day at a time, thereby ensuring they would have major placement on all the news sites each day. That guy is probably giggling and slapping himself on the back. He may even ask for a raise. There isn’t really a point I’m trying to make, I just think that guy is silly.
And yes, I recognize the irony of posting this stuff every day it comes out. No need to point that out.
Iron Man Now Has Something More in Common with Black Sabbath
As everybody knows, black is the coolest, most badass of the colors. So maybe that’s why Iron Man is ditching his traditional red and gold armor in favor of a new black and gold variant this fall as part of his Marvel NOW! relaunch. Because why not take this opportunity to make him look different from the multi-million dollar movie version?
Title on the bottom? You’re crazy, Marvel Comics!
Marvel Comics is finally rolling out information about their new comic initiative, or at least more than they have in the past. I skipped over a few creative team announcements last week because I just never got around to it. Now that we have some pretty covers to look at, I’m all over this. Hopefully we’ll see some more this week.
The new Iron Man will be written by Kieron Gillen, with art by Greg Land. Despite a lot of dislike on the Internet, I’m a fan of Greg Land’s work, and I have no problem with the tracing he often gets picked on about. I think that will work well in the world of Tony Stark. I’m less familiar with Gillen’s work, having only really read his Uncanny X-Men stuff, and then not really being able to tell the different between his X-Men work and everybody else’s X-Men work. But I’m sure Gillen is up for the task.
They are replacing a stellar run on Iron Man by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larocca, which started just after the first Iron Man movie, and has been kicking total ass. I’ve been a big fan of that series, so maybe, just maybe, I’ll be willing to give Gillen’s a try this fall. I usually buy my comics based on the character, and I’ve never particularly cared for Iron Man. I bought Fraction’s comic on a lark, and just happened to like that lark enough to stick around. So it’s also possible I may just not pick up Gillen’s version.
You can click here for an interview he gave Marvel.com about what his series is going to feature.
The symbolism that I bring immediately into the book [is] a lot like the Arthurian concept of the grail-knight: the idea that Tony Stark is the grail-knight, or at least aspiring to be the grail-knight. When we meet him he’s left Resilient and he’s digging into what’s going on. Pepper has a line in the first issue saying, “Oh, you’re not having a midlife crisis are you? Just buy yourself a suit of armor.” That’s where we start and he begins to ask questions.
The story will focus on him questioning things about himself and trying to find out exactly how the universe ticks, what’s this all about and why he does this anyway. It’s going to be one of the major themes of the book going forward. It’s actually a key part of my second theme. I’m going to explore Tony and his relationship with women. I’m interested in Tony’s selection of women in everything, from his mom, to Pepper, to the random people he’s sleeping with and everything that relates to them. He’s a complicated guy and he does bad things occasionally without thinking. Well, not [without] thinking exactly but he’s not always thinking about the right thing. He’s not the distracted genius but he always has something else going on.
Gillen also says his opening arc will feature a few stand alone stories as he spreads his wings with Iron Man.
The first five issues will be single stories that will share [both] a defining motif and a plot but it will be Iron Man facing new instances of technology and each is basically a new villain. Each issue will illuminate something about Tony and they’re all very different. Issue two is a lot like the Bruce Lee Kung-Fu Island story; it’s like a joust, it’s all about the knight imagery, essentially going to a tournament. Issue three is like a ninja story, Tony Stark trying to be a full-on stealth master, issue four is a horror story and issue five is something a little more romantic and scientific but I’m going to keep that one under wraps.
I really want to mix it up with single issue stories because I think that quite a few people are feeling the same way. Single issues are an exciting place to go and anyone can jump on with any of the first five issues, not just issue #1. [In] each of those issues I introduce Iron Man; I say something meaningful about a character that you may know already and I want it to be accessible and to pop. That’s the thing with Greg Land: his photorealistic style really pops and it’s a glamorous book in that way.
So yeah, maybe that kind of stuff interests you. We’ll find out this fall.
I just think it’s a silly idea to have him wearing black armor, especially considering he has a big new movie coming out next year. Is this going to be the case where Iron Man is in the black armor just long enough to have a big “Return of the red armor” comic in time for the movie? Because that reeks of editorial insanity.
Not that black armor is without precedent. In Matt Fraction’s current storyline, Tony Stark has given up on being Iron Man, but it’s all part of a big plan to defeat the Mandarin. In his place, James Rhodes is posing as a new Iron Man who is supposed to be unaffiliated with Stark. It helps that everybody thinks Rhody is dead. And this new Rhody-controlled Iron Man has a black armor…but it’s not the same black armor that we see in this new Iron Man #1 cover. So why does Tony start wearing a new version of Rhody’s black armor when he returns to being Iron Man? Is there a reason for not going back to red?
Maybe I’ll have to pick up the new #1 to find out…
Henchman-4-Hire