Once upon a time there were 5 original X-Men (including Jean Grey fresh from her Phoenix cocoon!) in a book called X-Factor. Fans of the title have been on a long strange trip with a wide diversity of team members, leaders and twists in the team’s mission.
Peter David took over the book in the 90’s and X-Factor became the government sponsored mutant team with Havok, Polaris, Quicksilver, Madrox, Wolfsbane and Guido (the Strong Guy!)
The team evolved with different writers and new members (including Forge, Mystique, Sabretooth) but the title came back to Peter David where X-Factor evolved again.
Jamie Madrox founded X-Factor Investigations. The mutant detective agency was born out of the House of M: Decimation and this has been the book’s concept since then. M, Layla Miller, Longshot, Shatterstar and Rictor, Siryn (now Banshee) joined Jamie’s team.
On January 16 the title reached a huge milestone and kicks off a new arc! Marvel shared Clay Mann’s variant cover for X-Factor #250 featuring past and present members of the team in all its variations.
Hell On Earth kicks off in X-Factor #250 on January 16th.
The Joker’s plot against the Batman family creeps into this week’s Teen Titans #15 and Red Hood and the Outlaws #15. Batman’s closest friends and allies are sentenced to die in Death of the Family. The Teen Titans rush to save a kidnapped Tim Drake. Jason Todd (aka Red Hood) may have a surprise for the Clown Prince of Crime.
“I think that the readers are going to be as surprised as the Joker is, to discover that his usual bag of psychological tricks that in the past that he has played on Jason no longer work they way he wants them to,” writer Scott Lobdell tells MTV Geek.
“The Jason that the Joker faces off against here isn’t the same angry young man who was lashing out over issues related to Bruce and Joker. And part of that is because he’s actually developed these strong relationships with the two outlaws who have been close friends and confidants since they’ve started hanging out together. Unfortunately what that means is that the Joker has to dig even deeper into his bag of psychological tricks — and what he comes up with will shake Jason to his core!”
In Avengers Arena #1 X-Men villain Arcade and writer Dennis Hopeless showed they meant bloody business! Young heroes of the Marvel Universe (including Avengers Academy and Runaways) woke up in a Murder World with orders to kill each other in Battle Royale style games.
In this week’s Avengers Arena #2 who will face Deathlocket? Is that a freaky as I think it is? Will another young hero die? And we meet a crew of kids with a connection to Captain Britain.
It’s the confrontation we’ve been waiting for! Scott, Jean, Bobby, Warren and Hank confront Scott, Emma, Magneto and Magik in this week’s All-New X-Men #4. The modern Beast brought the original five X-Men from the past into the Marvel Now hoping the idealistic young originals could be the key to preventing what could be the end of the mutant race.
If you think the modern Cyclops is a match for his younger self think again!After last issue I developed a theory about the mutant race post AvX. Tell me what you think.
In 2013 NOVA #1 blasts into the Marvel Now with a new hero under the helmet. Jeph Loeb revealed his pans for the new Nova and how all the cosmic heroes are important to the Marvel’s future on Marvel.com.
“Ed McGuinness and I are huge Nova fans, particularly of the Nova Corps. When we read Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning’s Thanos Imperative, it was amazing and heartbreaking. It was the end of Nova. We rose up for the Nova fans, who know are legion, and came up with an idea that we brought to editor Steve Wacker, who championed our cause, and Sam Alexander was born.”
“We’ve seen where Sam is present day in AvX and Point One. He’s the only Nova that he knows about. We’ve seen the responsibilities of taking on the helmet and being Nova. The legacy of Rich Rider will hang a heavy shadow.”
“We’re going to go back six months to where Sam was an ordinary kid living in a small town in Arizona, never believing there was anything beyond his backyard. Now his backyard is the entire universe.”
Nova #2 courtesy Marvel
Loeb likens the new NOVA to another teen hero with great power and responsibility:
“If we’re lucky, we’re taking on the type of stuff Peter Parker did in the earliest Spider-Man stories trying to be a super hero and a normal kid.”
“That story of Sam Alexander being 16 years old and already having given up is something I think people can relate to. But in the Marvel Universe, when we’re at our worst, that’s when the hero comes forward.”
Marvel is betting big on their space-faring heroes. Guardians of the Galaxy will be a movie and new series by Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven.
“The relationship between Nova and the Guardians of the Galaxy is very important to where we’re going. Brian Bendis and I have talked about it since the beginning. It’s on the first page of the first issue. It’s really cool to see Ed drawing the Guardians.”
“It will be a little bit of a surprise who Sam is up against in this first arc, but it’s very much in the world of Nova, yet a bit next level. By the end of the second issue you’ll know what’s at stake, who the villains are and what will be threatening all of Earth.”
Nova, Gamorra, Rocket Raccoon courtesy Marvel
You could call Richard Rider (the original Nova) Marvel’s eternal teenager until recently. Loeb explains the difference between Rich and Sam:
“What would you do if you found Iron Man’s armor and Tony Stark wasn’t around to explain how it worked? After Thanos Imperative, there is no Worldmind, there is no Nova Corps and there is no Rich Rider.”
“We’re telling the story of a 16 year old kid. You can tell a very dark and adult story about that, but that’s not the story we’re telling. From the beginning, Nova was a fun character. Rich Rider loved being Nova. We want to keep to the spirit of that character. You don’t get to be a rocket and not smile about it at some point.”
NOVA #1 by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness launches this February.
For the entire liveblog here’s the Marvel.com link.
Will Batman be stripped of his friends and allies by the time Death of the Family is over?
Warning!
Spoilers Ahead:
In this week’s Batman #15 Bruce was confronted by Barbara, Tim, Dick, Jason and Damian. The Joker claims to know the identities of Gotham City’s crime fighting “family” and that Batman will be responsible for killing all of his friends and allies within hours. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have redefined the Joker. The Clown Prince of Crime is more horrific, sadistic and creepy than ever. The creative team is redefining Batman and the heroes of Gotham City. We will soon know what the story title means. I wanted to share this part of Snyder’s interview with Comics Newsarama about how Bruce’s conflict in Death of the Family about being Batman and head of this family.
Batman #15 courtesy DC Comics
“What The Joker is saying, essentially, is “you don’t want them around for that reason.” And “deep down, you wish you weren’t responsible for them. You want to just be Batman. You don’t want the father figure role that is more of a Bruce Wayne role.”
“Well, the thing the Joker does, that I think makes him the greatest villain of all time, is he sees the things you’re afraid are true about yourself, and then brings them to life.
So they don’t necessarily have to be true….. Having young children, I was thinking about Bruce’s position as someone who’s responsible for all these younger allies and how much he is a father to them, and how in some ways, that would make him — especially coming off of the Court of Owls where he was so reliant on them — both proud of them and incredibly attached to him, but also make him worried. Not just for them, but also worried that he does rely on them in ways that he didn’t before.
The Joker, as his villain, hears that. You know what I mean? Not in a supernatural way, but in a kind of metaphorical way. He hears it and says, “I know what you’re feeling. I know you well enough, darling, to know that you just said you want the family dead, and you want to go back to being me and you.”
And Batman is saying, “No, I didn’t say that. I never said that.”
But Joker is like, “Sure you did. When you said you wanted to stop worrying about them, that’s what you meant. You’re not willing to say it, but deep down, that’s what you’re thinking.”
The Batman Family of books could be radically changed by the time this is over. Would you want to see a Batman completely on his own in a war on crime? No Robins. No allies. Batman a complete lone wolf?
Death of the Family rolls into Nightwing #15 and Red Hood and the Outlaws #15 next week. Batman #16 is Bruce’s showdown in Arkham Asylum.
I admit – I’m not a big Cable fan. Way back in New Mutants when we first met Cable I thought he was going to be this cool non-mutant warrior who wanted to help train young mutants because he lost his mutant son. New Mutants became X-Force, which led to X-Cutioner’s Song which led to lots of crossovers and mini-series and a very confusing future origin story.
My favorite Cable moments were in Mike Carey’s X-Men run when Nathan teamed up with Rogue’s squadron and in Second Coming. Yes, my favorite Cable moment is when he “died” to save Hope. The writing of the difficult Nathan, Scott, Hope dynamic was powerful.
You can’t keep a bad ass cyborg down for long!
Nathan blasted into the Marvel Now in this week’s. Dennis Hopeless. There’s a huge threat and only Cable and his team can stop it – but they’ve been branded terrorists. Hopeless talked with Marvel.com about the Summers family connections – given that Cyclops has become a revolutionary
“I play with that early on. I’d like to do stuff with Cyclops at some point, and we probably will. The plans for that are out [for now] because of what Brian [Michael Bendis is] doing with those characters over in All-New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men. He needs some space to deal with all that. I’m getting the Summers tie and the “What the hell are you doing to our family name?” with Havok. Because Cyclops is off doing this thing, and because of where Havok is, I have him sort of obsessed with the idea that, “obviously whatever Cable is doing is not what it looks like, but I have to be the one that brings it in and figures it out. I need to be the one who solves this problem, because by God the Summers name is not going to be this sullied.”
Cable and X-Force #3 courtesy Marvel
Havok and the Uncanny Avengers appeared in the premiere issue.
“Yeah, Rick [Remender] was very adamant when I talked to him about Uncanny Avengers being a part of the book, that they’re not cops. They’re not going to just assume that this stuff is all what it is on face value. Because number one, Wolverine’s on the team, and he just led an X-Force where they did a bunch of killing, so they’re not going to immediately think someone that they know to be a hero has turned into a villain. At the same time, Cable refuses to explain himself, and he makes it very difficult on them to accept that what he’s doing must be good, and there are story reasons for that. He’s seeing the future, and the more he explains it, the less likely it is to happen as he’s seeing it. In his mind, everything he’s doing makes perfect sense. [Laughs]”
Hawkeye by Matt Fraction and David Aja is one of the best books out there. Marvel shared this teaser for Hawkeye #9 that may mean Clint Barton is getting a new nemesis. “You’re dead now, bro” by Fraction accompanies the simple, stark cover by Aja.
Is this a new assassin stalking the Marvel Universe?
