Valkyrie Vs Storm! Fear Itself: The Fearless #9 featured a blistering battle between the X-Men’s Weather Goddess and the Warrior Woman of Asgard. This is one of the smartest written sequence with Ororo I’ve read in a long time. The power, passion and devotion of these women’s causes is felt in every panel.
We learn Valkyrie’s hidden reason for her mission to collect the Hammers. Doctor Strange and Captain America confront her with the truth when Sin’s forces strike. If Valkyrie is the haunted angel then Sin is the devil. I can’t wait to see these opposite forces finally clash.
I really love this book. As a longtime fan of Valkyrie – it’s great to see her in the spotlight and taking on the Marvel universe.
Katie Cassidy will play the love interest in Arrow the new television pilot based on DC Comics hero Green Arrow reports TV Line.
Cassidy’s character is an attorney named Laurel. No word on if “Laurel” will become Black Canary. Cassidy appeared on Gossip Girl, Melrose Place, Supernatural and in the Nightmare on Elm Street remake and Taken. Stephen Amell is playing Oliver Queen.
Black Canary by Adam Hughes courtesy DC Comics
I can definitely picture Cassidy working the Black Canary look! Black Canary was part of a short-lived Birds of Prey series on the WB. The new CW pilot is not based on the Oliver Queen that appeared on Smallville.
The Night of the Owls is coming this May. The Council of Owls tighten their claws on Gotham City and take on the entire Batman family. The secret society has an army of ruthless assassins to execute their plot. Batman artist Greg Capullo shares how he came up with the design for the Talon on The Source.
“I thought about owls for a minute, and the hooded owl sprang to mind,” said Batman artist Greg Capullo about the creation of the original Talon. “So I gave him a hood like an executioner. As for the lines of the suit, I let the thought of birds guide my hand. An owl design simply made sense.”
Jason Aaron previews his next Hulk story arc Stay Angry kicking off in Incredible Hulk #8. The Punisher, Wolverine, Kraven the Hunter and new enemies will help the green goliath stay angry. The 5 part story will have a diffent artist. Part one features art by Steve Dillon. Pasqual Ferry in on the next chapter.
“Hulk is a character like Wolverine where I can mix it up in terms of tone. It swings from being pretty dark to more crazy and outrageous. I really like going from one extreme to the other, often within the same story. It’s easy to do that with Hulk and that will continue.”
“Stay Angry flows out of the end of Hulk vs Banner, which has a big, shock ending that changes Hulk’s status quo and dynamic again. All I can really say is this is a five-issue story with each issue relatively self-contained for the most part, done by a different artist and in a different location.” -Jason Aaron
“Kraven is a character I have never written but always loved. Kraven’s Last Hunt is on my desert island list of Marvel comics. I remember being at the retreat when it was decided Kraven was coming back and being both excited and terrified. I’m glad I get to write him. His mindset is right in line with how it has been since he came back.”
Wolverine #301 arrives today. Part Two of Jason Aaron’s final arc sees a new Silver Samurai facing Logan. New writer Cullen Bunn is looking ahead to his first storyline on Wolverine’s solo title.
“If I were thinking about what I have planned in terms of a series of images, a number of things come to mind: Wolverine stalking through the stark hallways of an abandoned mental institution… having a conversation with a dead man… fighting for his life against both human and inhuman horrors on the grounds of a crumbling old mansion… having his guts ripped out and spread across a forest floor… meeting with a 150-year-old detective… battling alien hybrids alongside the daughter of a famous monster hunter… scaling a castle wall with his claws…
Wolverine #304 courtesy Marvel
I have a lot of action and high adventure planned, but I’m also excited to explore Wolverine as a character, too. He has a long and unusual history, and everything that has happened to him has helped to shape who he is… or who he thinks he is,” Bunn told Comics Newsarama.
“My first arc deals with some characters Jason introduced during his time with Wolverine. While I’ll be introducing some new story elements along the way, I’d be remiss if I ignored some of the fertile ground Jason left behind. In this first arc, I took some of the elements he created and started building and expanding them, and the resulting story should be a lot of fun. It’s important that I make my mark by telling Wolverine stories only I can tell, but I also want to make sure I honor and build upon the great stuff Jason did.”
Artist Paul Pelletier joins Bunn on Wolverine #304 this April. The duo is part of the team behind Fear Itself: The Fearless. Issue #9 of that limited series arrives today too.
Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi courtesy Dark Horse Comics
Did you feel the Force in 3D this weekend? Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was back in theaters. Fans will soon have the chance to experience all the films again in 3D.
If you want to go way back then head to the comic book shop this week for Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #1. Writer John Ostrander and artist Jan Duursema who created the Star Wars: Legacy series reteam to for this new Dark Horse Comics series.
This is how the publisher describes the series:
“On the planet Tython, in the center of the galaxy, an order of warrior monks strives to maintain peace and to balance the mysterious power known as the Force. But a stranger is coming–one who will destroy both peace and balance, and open the galaxy to exploration and conquest. This is where it all begins!” Continue reading The Beginning of STAR WARS?
Generation Hope #16 arrives today and marks the final story. I wanted to share some of this interview with former and current Generation Hope writers Kieron Gillen and James Asmus. They talk about the how Hope Summers has grown and her role in Avengers Vs X-Men.
“To state the bloody obvious, she’s had it hard. None of the futures she’s lived through have been in any way pleasant. She’s survived in some genuinely vile worlds, been chased through time and ended up coming back to Earth onto to have her Dad die in front of her. To be honest, she’d have every right to curl up in a ball and having a good old cry for the next 24 issues,” says Gillen.
“I like to think that—though she’d refuse to admit it—Cyclops has become a significant influence for her. Hope lost her father almost as soon as she made it to the present day Marvel Universe. So even though she had heard a great deal about the world she now lives in, she’s needed her fellow X-Men to actually get integrated and really start to understand her new world,” Asmus said.
“As for the tight-knit young mutants she runs with in Generation Hope, I think each one has brought something different out of our Mutant Messiah. If anyone really gets into Hope’s head and makes her think a little differently, it would have to be Laurie, aka Transonic. Kieron did a great job of setting Laurie up as an intellectual and philosophical person—in stark contrast to Hope’s more gung-ho, rough-and-tumble tendencies,” he continued.
AvX1 preview art courtesy Marvel.com
Hope’s role as the mutant messiah will make her the central role of AVX. What do expect to see happen to Hope in the event?
“I’m never anything but afraid for what could lie ahead for Hope. Even the absolute best that could happen could be pretty horrific. Her life’s an arrow, aimed at a target. Whether she hits it or misses it almost doesn’t matter. Either way, it could be the end of her,” Gillen replied.
“I am looking forward to [a] definitive and life-changing story for Hope. I can’t wait to see her completely confront her potential destiny, and to see her transformed by the process. I know that things are absolutely not going to unfold as people may expect and I’m thrilled to read how some of favorite creators are going to unfold it all for us,” Asmus said then had a dire prediction.
“As for my fears? I’m not sure if I’m more afraid that she’ll have her own heart broken by the events—or if she just might be the destroyer others fear her to be…”
Generation Hope #16 arrives today. AVX #0 arrives next month.
What will make Tony Stark give up being Iron Man? Writer Matt Fraction previews his next arc Long Way Down on Marvel.com. Salvador Larroca’s art sure looks like Tony will no longer be the Armored Avenger.
“As we’ll see at the end of Demon, General Babbage, [Tony’s] primary antagonist at the Pentagon, and Justine Hammer of Hammer Industries, present Tony with an ultimatum,” says Fraction. “Accepting it is the only way he can remain in control of the Iron Man without losing everything. And Tony very quickly finds that arrangement to be unacceptable. The ramifications of that are what ‘Long Way Down’ is all about.
“So basically…Tony quits.”
A mole inside Stark Resilient will be exposed. Fraction says expect dire repercussions:
“People start dying. Bethany Cabe starts earning her paycheck.”
Invincible Iron Man #517 courtesy Marvel.com
“All the pots from the very beginning of Invincible Iron Man are coming to a boil,” he says. “Mandarin and Stane’s alliance, the revamped and upgraded rogues gallery, the Hammer girls, Spymaster’s infiltration—‘Long Way Down’ deals with all of it.”
Fraction says there will be a new Iron Man. Who will wear the armor? For Fraction’s entire interview here’s the Marvel.com link. Long Way Down begins in Invincible Iron Man #516 this May.
Fraction and Larroca have been on the title four years – sounds like they’re ramping up to a swan song on the title. How cool would it be for this team to take on the Avengers after Bendis wraps up his run on the franchise!
