Category: Books

IRON MAN 3 Update

Iron Man 3 courtesy Marvel Studios

  Iron Man is getting a major upgrade on the big screen! Marvel announced Iron Man 3 will be released in 3D when it hits theaters May 3, 2013. Robert Downey Jr returns as Tony Stark in a new film directed by Shane Black and based in part on Iron Man Extremis by Warren Ellis and Adi Granov.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

  In the comic book world Invincible Iron Man is coming to an end next week. Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca are moving on after an amazing run. Kieron Gillen and Greg Land will launch a brand new Iron Man series next month.

By Editor

X-MEN LEGACY Preview

X-Men Legacy #1 courtesy Marvel

  One of the biggest Marvel Now surprises is the announcement of a new X-Men Legacy starring Legion. Professor X’s son has been central to many storylines but as a supporting character but now he’s the leading man. In the aftermath of AvX it makes more sense that Legion assume a greater role in mutant affrairs except that Daniel Haller isn’t the most stable guy. Legion’s mental instability and drastic actions created the Age of Apocalypse and Age of X. Professor X’s son will struggle with his psychic demons while trying to save his father’s dream. November’s X-Men Legacy #1 really takes on a personal and literal meaning.

 

X-Men Legacy #1 courtesy Marvel

  Writer Simon Spurrier (X-Club) and Editor Daniel Ketchum shared their vision for the series on Marvel.com.

  “It’s kind of the black sheep of the X-Men family,”Spurrier says of the book and star, “is he going to step up and try to fill his father’s shoes? Is he going to go in a completely opposite direction? At the same time, how are the X-Men going to feel about this?”

X-Men Legacy #1 courtesy Marvel

 “How do you feel when you’ve grown up in the shadow of a great man?” Legion is someone who has largely defined himself by who his father was,” Spurrier said of Professor X’s son.”

 You could call Legion an enemy of the X-Men because of the evil personalities that took over David but Spurrier plans on giving him his own voice.

X-Men Legacy #1 courtesy Marvel

“It was wonderful to give Legion a voice & get into the nittygritty about what he is all about.”

   Legion will confront the X-Men in issue #4 and questions their decision to keep mutants closed away at a school.

  How will Legion react to meeting Cyclops – the man who murdered his father?

  “I haven’t written Cyclops yet, let’s just say that,” Spurrier replied.

  Since Legion grew up on a small island off Scotland Spurrier said he will give him a slight Scottish accent. Spurrier said he’s a fan of Chamber and Blindfold is a “brilliant and broken character” who will have a big part to play. Wolverine, Storm and Frenzy will appear in the series.

What about Legion’s famous hairstyle?

As you can see from the interior art by Tan Eng Huat, Daniel’s classic hair is staying.

X-Men Legacy #1 arrives November 14.

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

Uncanny X-Men Endings and Beginnings

Uncanny X-Men #20 courtesy Marvel

Kieron Gillen has been keeping secrets all along via three manipulative members of the diverse cast of Uncanny X-Men: Volume 2. Gillen delivers a satifying ending to the Uncanny X-Men series for a second time. The writer masterfully gives us six characters in 3 powerful revelations. Cyclops is imprisoned in a SHIELD facility when Kate Kildare, his superhero PR specialist, pays a visit. Gillen delivers an Ace he’s been holding since the series relaunched and it’s a helluva reveal. Kate’s real identity is a shocker and could lead to a whole new adventure for Scott and perhaps his greatest enemy.

Unit may be my favorite creation (he first appeared in S.W.O.R.D.) of Gillen’s run – I have already pleaded with the writer to use the android against Tony Stark in his upcoming Marvel Now relaunch of Iron Man. Unit and Danger’s final confrontation is beautiful and cruel. Those last panels of Unit are a perfectly chilling sendoff of the creature Gillen called aptly called a hybrid of C3PO and Hannibal Lecter.

Uncanny X-Men #9 interior art of UNIT courtesy Marvel

Gillen managed to make the most bizarre brother/sister dynamic in comics even more tragic and strange during this Extinction team era. Illyana confronts a brooding Colossus on the ravaged Phoenix farms in Siberia. Magik takes Peter to Limbo for one last act and revelation that leaves him free of the Cyttorak and vowing to kill her. Illyana’s last line is cold and demonstrates the little snowflake has long been burned away. Colossus will turn up again in Cable and X-Force but I would love to see where Gillen would have taken Peter next.

Uncanny X-Men preview art courtesy Marvel.com

Uncanny X-Men #20 could have packed in Storm, Psylocke, Magneto and Hope but their fates will be featured in other X-books. I was satisfied with the three big reveals. The only missing? Where was Emma Frost?

By Editor

The Dark Future Is Guttertown Massive

Guttertown Massive by KC Silver and Dimi Mac

Get the squid! The cover for Guttertown Massive seduces right away. A brutal beauty with bloody, bandaged fists is surrounded by a techno squid. Welcome to the twisted future created by K.C. Silver (aka Casey Silvia) and artist Dimi Mac. This urban sci-fi fantasy is pulsing with cyberpunk influences.

Imagine refugees from the twisted futures of  Mad Max, The Matrix and Johnny Nmenonic all fighting for fame and survival in a crowded industrial underworld. Davron and Reno are competitors in a war of beats. K.C. plants the seed for a bitter rivalry in a massive futuristic party scene in a dark, crowded world that the youth yearn to escape. Born in the gutter – these desperate artists hope to blast their way out on the fame of their beats.

After the creepy colored cover turn inside for the black and white world of the gutter. Dimi Mac packs the panels. The pages are bursting with dark energy. I think the crowded art reflects the overcrowded world these ravers are fighting to find their way out of. Find you way to Guttertown Massive and experience Beat fighting yourself. Expand your horizons and take a dose of this.

You can see and learn more about the world of Guttertown Massive Facebook and Tumblr pages. Get a copy in the Local Comics section at Zanadu Comics in Downtown Seattle.

By Editor

Go Purple For Spirit Day

  Hawkeye. Psylocke. Huntress. The Wonder Twins. Bunker. Heroes from DC and Marvel Universes work the purple!

Fellow comic book fans take inspiration from these stylish heroes to make a statement. Wear purple on October 19, 2012 for GLAAD Spirit Day to help speak out against bullying and show your support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. Follow the stories and support with #SpiritDay with GLAAD on Twitter.

Thanks for sharing this and showing you support on Spirit Day.

By Editor

Superior Spider-Man Kissing Mary Jane?

 

Superior Spider-Man #2 courtesy Marvel

  Amazing Spider-Man will end with issue #700 but Superior Spider-Man #1 launches in 2013. Artist Ryan Stegman shared his insight on the new Spidey on Marvel.com but first I have to talk about his cover to Superior Spider-Man #2. Is this new guy under the mask making a move on Peter Parker’s main gal? This sure looks like Mary Jane getting a kiss from the new webslinger.

Back to Stegman who shared why his style is perfect for Dan Slott’s darker take.

 “My style has been edging darker anyway. My favorite styles are sort of cartoony with a certain amount of looseness to the finish. It allows your work to cover a wide range of expression. So when it needs to be light it can and when it needs to be dark it can.

I’ve found that my style slightly changes on almost every book I do to suit what it is that I’m working on. It’s not always overt, and it’s certainly not conscious. But I just finished a run on FANTASTIC FOUR and I think my style on this has been different even though I never consciously decided that. It’s just that the tone of the writing is different.”

Slott and Stegman are throwing a new Sinister Six at the Superior Spider-Man.

“I re-designed Overdrive. But for the most part we stuck with classic designs. I think one of the great things about the villains in this book is that the ones that stick generally have pretty cool designs. For example, the Living Brain is something that I would never design. It’s blocky and crazy looking. But somehow it’s awesome. So I didn’t want to fiddle with it. I just wanted it to look exactly like it always did.”

  Back to that famous redhead, Stegman calls MJ the most important supporting cast member.

  “I’ve always wanted to draw her. And I want to do her justice as all the great Spidey artists have done. Especially Romita Sr. That’s a huge part of Spider-Man to me. Without Mary Jane this book probably wouldn’t be everything that it is.”

For his entire interview here’s the Marvel.com link.

Superior Spider-Man #1 swings into the Marvel Now in January.

By Editor

Justice League Movie Summer 2015?

Justice League #1 DC Comics, Art by Jim Lee

  The Summer of 2015 could be a superhero showdown between DC’s Justice League vs. Marvel’s The Avengers!

  Warner Brothers is expected to move ahead with a Justice League movie following the result of a battle over Superman rights according to The Los Angeles Times. The studio would shoot next year for a Summer 2015 release. A script is already in the works.

  So what could the big screen roster look like?

  If Man of Steel is a success we can assume Henry Cavill will reprise the role of Superman in sequels and in this Justice League film. Armie Hammer was attached to play Batman in George Miller’s attempt at a Justice League film before his star rose and is said to be a front-runner to play the Dark Knight in this team film.

  The current DC Comics The New 52 Justice League comic book roster also includes Cyborg, Aquaman, Flash, and Wonder Woman (she and Superman are becoming a romantic couple after their passionate kiss in Justice League #12.) Green Lantern Hal Jordan just quit but other Lanterns could join the movie. John Stewart was in the Justice League animated series.

Justice League #3 from DC Comics. Cover by Jim Lee

  Personally I would prefer to see DC Comics Trinity only – Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman – in a clash against Darkseid.

The Summer of 2015 could be Avengers (2) vs. Justice League at the box-office! Marvel’s sequel to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes opens May 1, 2015.

By Editor

Captain America’s New Enemies and Costume

 

Captain America #1 courtesy Marvel

  Rick Remender, John Romita Jr and Klaus Janson relaunch the Sentinel of Liberty in a brand new Captain America #1 next month.  Marvel.com shared a first look inside the premiere issue and acclaimed artist talked about the adjusted design of Cap’s uniform.

  “I don’t think it’s a full redesign. You still know it’s Cap, you can see things in it that are Captain America. But there’s a difference, absolutely. I think the spandex and the spandex shorts have gone the way of the dodo only because they were overused and so on. This is a little more realistic. You’ll see seams on pants, you’ll see shoelaces on boots etc. And I enjoy that.

 

Captain America #1 courtesy Marvel

  Arnim Zola is the first major villain of this new volume that sends Steve into Dimension Z – which means new characters to design.

  “There are a couple of characters that are unnamed. Well, there’s one that’s named. If you watch the Phrox, these outer worldly creatures, I designed them visually. They’re interesting. The minions of Armin Zola are interesting also. And Rick wanted to use a reference from Jack Kirby’s version of the characters, and that’s good and bad. Great because I love Kirby’s stuff, but bad because I didn’t just want to completely base it on Kirby’s stuff, so I went a little bit in a different direction.

  Arnim Zola’s minions are not the aberrations that they were from Jack Kirby’s days. I went a little bit more demonic, so to speak. And then the other outer worldly characters have to be different. Everything looks different and we have species, but yet each species has eyes, nose, ears. They walk, they crawl, and they have legs. So I tried to do that with these two sets of species.

  You have Arnim Zola’s strange characters and you have these Phrox and I tried to give them at least one tiny bit of commonality, so there’s a little bit of an armor look, and a little bit of a lizard-demonic look to them that might be a little bit of commonality. At least in my mind, they’re from completely different planets, and yet they’re on the same planet. That’s probably too much thinking, but I can’t help myself. I’m always trying, and I don’t always succeed, but I’m always trying to do something different than I have done in the past. And if it doesn’t work out that way, it’s not from lack of trying.”

Captain America #1 courtesy Marvel

  Salute a brand new Captain America #1 on November 21st. The cover for issue #3 features a shaggy Steve Rogers against an alien warrior – a minion of Zola in Dimension Z. The warrioer looks like he could have been on Planet Hulk.

Captain America #3 courtesy Marvel

For more of his interview here’s the Marvel.com link.

By Editor