Month: April 2012

New Captain Marvel Series Update

 

Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel courtesy Marvel

   A little more news at the C2E2 Marvel Next Big Thing panel about the upcoming Captain Marvel series. Kelly Sue DeConnick will helm the new series starring Carol Danvers with art by Dexter Soy and cover by Ed McGuiness.

  In issue #2 DeConnick will introduce the Banshee Squadron- which sure sound like villains. DeConnick said her pitch for the new series was “Carol Danvers as Chuck Yeagher” and focus on her as a pilot so may these are high-flying female threats or allies to the former Ms. Marvel. In the panel the writer likened them to a new school Howling Commandos.

 “I love Mystique so much,” was DeConnick’s response when a fan asked if the mutant shape-shifter would appear. 

 Here’s the link to my interview with Kelly Sue DeConnick at Emerald City Comicon about Captain Marvel and the new costume.

  It was revealed DeConnick will team with Terry Dodson for an upcoming arc of Avenging Spider-Man. Issue #9 will guest star Captain Marvel.

By Editor

Sabretooth Reborn

 

Wolverine #310 courtesy Marvel.com

Sabretooth is back! At the Marvel Cup of Joe panel at C2E2 it was announced Jeph Loeb and Simone Bianchi will reunite for Sabretooth Reborn picking up where they left off in Evolution. The team take over Logan’s solo title with Wolverine #310 this July. Cloak & Dagger will be part of the arc.

 

Wolverine #311 courtesy Marvel

Logan beheaded his archrival with the muramasai blade, which negates their healing factor. Sabretooth turned up in Jason Aaron’s final Wolverine arc and in Wolverine and the X-Men, where Victor Creed is working for the new Hellfire Club.

  To see the entire panel transcription here’s the Marvel.com link. By Editor

Wolverine’s Choice in AvX

 

Wolverine and the X-Men #10 courtesy Marvel

  Many of our favorite X-Men and Avengers stories are going into tie-in mode for AvX. At Marvel’s Avengers vs. X-Men panel at C2E2 Jason Aaron talked about the arc in Wolverine & The X-Men” saying he’s focusing on “Logan’s long, dark night of the soul” where he battles with himself over what side to choose.

“Logan makes his choice, but just because he goes that way, it doesn’t mean that everyone else at his school will make the same choice.”

Aaron notes that Iceman and Rogue will play a major role as well. The book will also feature Gladiator who will cross with his son Kid Gladiator in issue #13.

 I love Kid Gladiator and his bodyguard Warbird (she’s appearing in Marjorie Liu’s Astonishing X-Men arc.) I’ve always been a huge fan of Gladiator and didn’t know his new Shiar status.

For the entire panel here’s Marvel.com panel link.

Hawkeye Series by Fraction & Aja

Hawkeye #1 courtesy Marvel.com

  Matt Fraction reunites with David Aja for a brand new Hawkeye series debuting this August. The duo (along with Ed Brubaker) last worked together on The Immortal Iron Fist. The announcement was made at C2E2 in Chicago.

  Aja told Marvel.com his lifelonglove for the Avenging Archer is what led to the reunion.

 “Hawkeye was one my favorite characters when a kid,” he recalls. “One of first Marvel comics I read was Avengers #25, and I [fell] in love with [the] guy; he acted as real person, was a complete jerk, so I suppose I identified with him.”

 For Fraction Hawkeye represents a challenge after taking on the X-Men, Iron Man, and Thor.

 “Never had the chance to write a character like him, or to do a book like this before,” the writer reveals. “And I wanted to chronicle him in an ongoing series because it’d keep me from getting bored. Repetition bores me to death. I had this idea for how to do a book that wasn’t like anything else we’d seen him in before, wasn’t like anything I’d done before, and couldn’t stop thinking about.”

Hawkeye #2 courtesy Marvel.com

 Fraction went on the describe this series as Clint’s life outside of team and what drives him after the events of AvX. I was excited that Kate Bishop (you could call her Lady Hawkeye of the Young Avengers) will be in the series.

  “She’s his junior partner, his apprentice,” says Fraction. “It’s a very Avengers relationship—meaning Steed and Peel—and she’s as adrift as he is. What the hell are these two doing with their lives? Turns out, helping people is what they have to do to get through the night. In costume, in life, doesn’t matter. Good guys don’t punch a time card at 5:00.”

For the more quotes from Fraction and Aja here’s the Marvel.com link.

Fraction is one of the luckiest writers at Marvel. Iron Man and Thor movies were released during Fraction’s early runs on the those series. I don’t remember his clever quote exactly (at an Emerald City Comicon panel) but I think it went something like “nice of Marvel to do a million dollar promo for my comic book.”

  Hawkeye awareness will be at at all time high with Marvel’s The Avengers out May 3rd and then Jeremy Renner (who plays Clint Barton) is on the big screen again in August for The Bourne Legacy. Good timing for a Hawkeye launch.

  Hawkeye is currently leader of Secret Avengers under Rick Remender but that book is changing direction to tie-in with AvX. I hope after the event Hawkeye and his covert team return to their secret missions and Remender can continue The Descendants plotline he started.

By Editor

James Bond Action and Emotion in “Skyfall”

Skyfall photo courtesy Empire

  When the Oscar winning director of American Beauty takes on 007 fans might be worried that James Bond may be getting emotional instead of kicking — but Daniel Craig tells MTV not to worry. The actor says he and director Sam Mendes found a balance between action and drama in Skyfall.

  “I sat down with Sam Mendes two years ago, three years ago — now it’s getting on four — and we discussed what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it, and he’s one of the biggest Bond fans around,” said Craig.

Skyfall set photo courtesy Empire

“He’s not out to do an angst-ridden movie, some chamber piece about people’s emotions,” Craig continued. “It’s a Bond movie. But we both agreed that if he cast the film, which he did really well, and we brought in older characters and new characters, that we’d have something really rich and sort of exciting to watch.”

For the full story and video here’s the MTV link.

 

AvX: A Geek Divided

  I am a geek divided and torn. When it comes to AvX– there’s no doubt, I want the X-Men to win. They were my first comic book. They are the characters I can identify with the most. I love Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Luke Cage and more Avengers but I’ll always love mutants more.

 I’ve been declaring “Cyke is Right” and now I realize how close that is the “Magneto Was Right” t-shirt worn by Quentin Quire and other radical young mutants.

  Cyclops has been the leader the mutants needed. Even Professor X and Magneto have bowed to him. With AvX even Erik is questioning Scott. I think in her heart Emma Frost may be too.

Avengers vs. X-Men #2 interior preview art courtesy Marvel, a Comics Newsarama exclusive

  I just saw a preview of AvX #2 Marvel provided Comics Newsarama. The way this is written, the way the other characters react to Scott – it just made me think even more about a theory of mine – Cyclops is under the influence. He still has a remnant of the Void locked in his head. Scott is a great leader and strategist but is his zealot like attitude against the Avengers due to that sliver of evil that existed in the Robert Reynolds/The Sentry?

  Maybe the Phoenix can burn the Void out of him? I hope the X-Men win but I believe Cyclops will pay a terrible price for victory.

Get America’s Got Powers

America's Got Powers courtesy Image Comics, Jonathan Ross, Bryan Hitch

  If you think kids killing kids in The Hunger Games is twisted – add more violence, foul language, killer bots and take out the love triangle and enjoy the wicked fun that is America’s Got Powers #1.

  The biggest game television show on Earth features super powered teens in death matches for fame and fortune. Tommy Watts is part of the comic relief sideshow in the world’s most violent reality series until the competition goes tragically wrong and he’s thrust into a role he’s only dreamed of.

  This is from the minds of writer/comedian Jonathan Ross and artist Bryan Hitch and Image Comics. The story takes familiar elements and turns them into something twisted and new while skewering society’s obsession with youth, violence as entertainment, reality television. I’m intrigued by the promise of the conspiracy behind this television show and invested in Tommy, reluctant young everyman hero who may be a terrifying super-man.

 By Editor

Michael Fassbender’s Android Inspiration for “Prometheus”

Michael Fassbender in Prometheus courtesy 20th Century Fox

  Michael Fassbender plays an android named David in Ridley Scott’s (it has Alien DNA) Prometheus. Viral marketing (under the guise of a commercial from Weyland Industries) revealed David is a product of Weyland, the company that connects Alien and Prometheus.

  Pocket-lint makes a great point: You might assume that Fassbender based his performance on Ash (played by Ian Holm) in Alien or Bishop (Lance Henricksen) in Aliens. But the actor says he looked to another Ridley Scott directed sci-fi classic and…Olympic medalist Greg Louganis?

“I watched Blade Runner,” said Fassbender during a Q&A in London that Pocket-lint attended. “I watched The Servant with Dirk Bogarde. Laurence of Arabia. The Man Who Fell to Earth. And Greg Louganis.

“It’s the way he moved. When I was younger, his weird walk made me laugh.”

“It’s very centred,” he continued. “There’s an economy of movement. I thought that would work out.”

Thanks to Pocket-Lint.com for the story. I just discovered this site – very cool, great layout!

This story makes me picture Fassbender uttering that famous line, “If you could see what I’ve seen with your eyes.”