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And Here’s What’s to Become of the X-Men This Fall (Among Others!)
UPDATE: Here’s a gallery of all the covers for the new comics!
Marvel (with a little help from Bleeding Cool) has finally revealed their plans for the X-Men in their big relaunch this fall. There are still going to be a ton of X-Men comics, starring a variety of X-characters, with some new writing blood behind the wheel. I can’t necessarily say that any of these titles interest me right away, but I’ll probably give them all a chance.
The big news is that something has happened between mutants and the Inhumans that has them at odds, or at the very least, is shaping what this relaunch is going to be all about. We know that Marvel really wants the Inhumans to take over from the X-Men, but we’ll see how far they take that. Other important developments include the fact that the Young X-Men are still around, Cyclops has gone missing and Beast has taken sides with the Inhumans. Also, no sign of Multiple Man anywhere, in case you were as eager as me.
Extraordinary X-Men
Jeff Lemire and Humberto Ramos will launch a new X-title featuring old characters, and will tackle the Inhuman problem head on. Their team will include Storm, Iceman, Magik, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Young Jean Grey and Old Man Logan, who is coming to the Marvel Universe following Secret Wars.
You can read an interview with Lemire at ComicBookResources.
Uncanny X-Men
Cullen Bunn and Greg Land will be creating a villainous X-Team to take over the main title. Their series will star Magneto, Sabretooth, Mystique, Fantomex and Psylocke.
All-New X-Men
Dennis Hopeless and Mark Bagley will get to take over the Young X-Men, in a series starring the remaining teen heroes (minus Jean Grey), along with X-23. Word has it they’re going to all pile into a van to cruise around searching for their destiny.
Speaking of X-23, she’s going to be taking over as Wolverine. And Old Man Logan is going to get a solo series. And Deadpool will still be around.
Honestly, a ton of Marvel titles are dropping now, probably not necessarily at the speed Marvel wants. But that’s what Bleeding Cool does. Check out this Reddit megathread to find links to all of the announcements. There will be new comics for Daredevil, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Carnage, Silk, the Uncanny Avengers, Angela and many more. In fact, there’s also going to be a new Karnak solo series written by Warren Ellis. My brother will be excited to hear that.
Basically, there’s a whole lot of fun coming out of Marvel in the fall. Though I can’t say that anything has really caught my eye. I like Jeff Lemire and Humberto Ramos, but I can’t say as how I like any of those X-Men due to their heavy anti-Cyclops feelings as of late. I think those evil Uncanny guys could be fun, but it’s drawn by Greg Land. None of those solo superhero are any of my favorites either. Lots of neat stuff, and I’ll probably check a bunch of them out, but nothing has really hit me like lightning so far.
But there’s still time! And more comics to be announced!
What do you henchies think of these new X-Men comics? Or any of these new titles? Let me know in the comments!
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A Bunch More New Comics!
Marvel revealed several new comics at New York Comic-Con this past weekend, and while Ant-Man was my clear favorite, I figured why not talk about the others? These blog posts are free, after all!
The Spider-Man books are going to get a lot more crowded in the new year. Following Spider-Verse, 2014’s big Spidey event, we’re going to get new ongoing series for both Silk and Spider-Gwen!
Everybody else is loving all the female-led books, right?
Silk is Cindy Moon, a new character from Amazing Spider-Man who has the double distinction of being bitten by the same radioactive spider that gave Peter his powers, and having possibly my least favorite superhero name of all time. Silk?! Really? I realize that both ‘Spider-Woman’ and ‘Spider-Girl’ are taken, but Silk? There were no other spider-related words you could come up with?
Anyway, I like Silk well enough in Amazing Spider-Man, so maybe her own comic will be fun. It’ll be written by Robbie Thompson and drawn by Stacey Lee. And at least she’s got a new costume!
Spider-Gwen (which probably won’t be is official name) will be written by Jason Latour with art by Robbi Rodriguez, and it will follow the adventures of the alternate reality Gwen Stacy with spider-powers. I liked her in her brief one-shot appearance on the Edge of Spider-Verse, so maybe she’ll be a lot of fun in an ongoing series. She’s definitely a darling already with the cosplay circuit, that’s for sure.
Of course, her costume is just plain awesome.
Outside the Spider-world, there’s also going to be Gamora, penned by Guardians of the Galaxy screenwriter Nicole Perlman. If you’re going to do a comic about the Guardians of the Galaxy, she’s probably the best choice for writer.
She likes knives
Not much else is known about this Gamora series at this time. I’ll give it a shot, but considering how much I hate the other comic versions of the Guardians of the Galaxy, I doubt I’ll stick around for long. I don’t know what my problem is, but I can’t stand comic book Rocket Raccoon!
What else…what else…oh yes! Operation S.I.N. is going to be a 1950s period piece that sees Peggy Carter and Howard Stark having fun spy adventures. This 5-issue series will be brought to us by Kathryn Immonen and Rich Ellis.
The very definition of synergy!
It’s also going to feature the ‘Man on the Wall’ guy that preceded Nick Fury from Original Sin. Considering how much I hate that whole concept, I doubt I’ll brother with this series – though Immonen is pretty amazing. Still, I have zero interest in anything here. Watching Peggy Carter’s TV show will be more than enough for me.
There’s going to be a Wolverines weekly series, which seems to be about X-23 and Sabretooth fighting over who gets to be the new Wolverine.
Does anybody else love AoA Sabretooth?
That could be fun.
And the big reveal was a new Secret Wars by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic! It’s going to be a year-long event that takes over from Hickman’s ongoing Avengers and New Avengers, currently undergoing their big ‘Time Runs Out’ storyline. Based on the preview picture, it looks like some kind of epic battle between alternate reality superheroes?
Everybody loves callbacks
That would make sense. Considering Hickman’s is currently telling an epic story about the death of the Multiverse, why not pit a bunch of Multiversal heroes against one another? Sounds like a solid comic book premise to me!
Though isn’t that exactly what Multiversity is doing?
Anyway! Those are the new comics from Marvel for the upcoming year. What do you henchies think about them? I’ll probably buy a few issues of each to see what they’re like.
I don’t remember if DC announced anything new at Comic-Con. Their loss!
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Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past
I need to stop worrying about new X-Men movies. FOX knows what they’re doing. Ahead of X-Men: First Class, I thought it was going to just be a terrible, desperate attempt to hold on to the franchise – but it is now my favorite X-Movie. And I thought X-Men: Days of Future Past was going to be a mess of time travel and too many characters. Boy was I wrong about that one. X-Men: Days of Future Past is an enjoyable X-Flick, with a solid cast, an important plot and some quality, unique mutant action.
I wasn’t as blown away as some critics have been, but consider me a firm believer that the X-Men are in good hands.
Movie Rating: 7/10 – Good.
I think what Days of Future Past lacked, at least for me, was a uniquely X-Men story element to grab onto. There were some great super-powers on display, especially Quicksilver and Blink, but they were minor elements of the much larger, less captivating film. Instead of starring the actual X-Men, Days of Future Past was about the trio of Wolverine, Xavier and young Hank McCoy running around trying to catch up to the rest of the movie. The really compelling characters, the ones who drive the plot, are Mystique and maybe Magneto, but both of them are relegated to side character status.
Mystique may do something evil, and Magneto will definitely do something evil, and it’s up to Wolverine and his Amazing Friends to try and get there in time to stop it. Compare that to X-Men: First Class, which had the recruitment and training of the new students, the formation of the X-Men, and the evil Hellfire Club, all while really focusing on the Xavier/Magneto friendship. First Class had a lot going for it in terms of mutants and the X-Men, but Days of Future Past is just a movie about the heroes racing to save the day. Fortunately, it has some fun on the way there.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is not a disappointment, by any means. It’s a solid, entertaining entry into the X-Men franchise. But for me, I would have liked a bit more Adamantium on the claws – though not literally.
Join me after the jump for the full review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 2/8/14
What a fun comic book week this turned out to be! Four Marvel comics debuted their new #1 issues this week, keeping the All-New Marvel NOW! going strong. Will they be as good as Black Widow? Or will they tank like…some other comic that was so bad I can’t even remember what it was. You’ll have to read on to find out!
Or I could just tell you now. I think Loki: Agent of Asgard, Wolverine, Punisher and Ms. Marvel were all good comics, well made and with some direction in mind, but only Ms. Marvel stood head and shoulders above the rest as a legitimately exciting new series. Out of the four, that’s the only one I’m definitely going to be buying from here on out. Ms. Marvel lived up to all the hype and easily won Comic Book of the Week!
My fan fiction was never this good
As for the rest, it’s probably a matter of taste, and I’m sure other people will love those comics much more than I did. I’m sure people will keep buying Wolverine comics no matter what I say.
Comic Reviews: Forever Evil #5, Loki: Agent of Asgard #1, Ms. Marvel #1, Punisher #1, Wolverine #1.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 1/25/14
It’s another week of trying to break my wallet, but somehow I managed to hold on, read a bunch of comics and have a generally good week over all. I’m not quite as sick as I was for the past few weeks. That’s a plus, right? But here in Central New York, we’re looking at several straight days of single-digit to sub-zero temperatures. Go winter!
At least there were enough good comics to keep me warm! We’ve got new issues of Black Widow, Harley Quinn and Origin II already, and most of them are pretty darn good! Solid comics like Hawkeye and Wonder Woman are back, and we get the over-sized, over-sad finale of FF! Why do we live in a world where FF comes to an end after only 16 issues!?
Despite all those great comics, Comic Book of the Week has to go to Wolverine and the X-Men #40 because we’re finally getting some forward movement on the Cyclops/Wolverine Schism, and it’s everything I could have asked for.
Bromance renewed? We can only hope.
Comic Reviews: Batman #27, Batwoman #27, Black Widow #2, FF #16, Hawkeye #16, Harley Quinn #2, Origin II #2, Wolverine and the X-Men #40 and Wonder Woman #27.
Henchman-4-Hire 