Uncanny Avengers leads the Marvel NOW relaunch this week. Rick Remender and John Cassaday kick off a new kind of team made of Avengers and X-Men to face a classic enemy. Captain America, Wolverine, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Rogue and Havok assemble to take on the threat of a reborn Red Skull – now with an anti-mutant agenda.
In the issue #3 preview Marvel teased the super-villain’s new power to incite anti-mutant violence around the world. In the teaser for issue #4 Thor appears to have turned against his friends. Is he under the influence of the Skull?
Could the Red Skull have been reborn as a mutant somehow? There’s nothing like self-loathing to fuel an insane criminal’s fury!
Uncanny Avengers is the publisher’s effort to lower the barriers between franchises. It makes sense that have Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the Children of the Atom working together – especially in light of new mutants being born in the aftermath of AvX.
What I enjoy even more is the fact that a villain doesn’t have to always fight the same heroes.
Brian Michael Bendis took the Spider-Man villain and elevated him to a major threat to Avengers. Norman Osborn eventually took control of the Avengers and SHIELD, attacked the X-Men and Asgard.
It appears Rick Remender is going to make the classic Captain America enemy the new number one enemy of the Marvel Now! Can Sin be far behind?
If the Red Skull’s new reign of terror is a hit with comic fans perhaps we’ll see Hugo Weaving reprise his role and be the big bad guy of an Avengers 3?
By Editor
I’m getting a sneak peek at Uncanny Avengers #1 tonight! Watch for a review soon!
Batgirl #13 features a first time meeting and a deadly reunion for Barbara Gordon this week! Batgirl and Catwoman will cross paths for the first time in The New 52! Will Barbara and Selena Kyle connect or clash? Artist Ed Benes joins Gail Simone for the latest chapter.
In Batgirl #9 Gail Simone wrote one of my favorite tie-ins to the Batman: Night of the Owls crossover. The Talon Barbara faced on the Night of the Owls is back with a vengeance in this issue too!
Batman’s greatest enemy is back this week. The Joker, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. You could call it a dream team. Call it Batman’s nightmare. The most infamous villain in comic book history returns in this week’s Batman #13 from DC Comics .
When publisher relaunched with The New 52 in September 2011 the Joker met a horrific fate at the end of Tony Daniel’s Detective Comics #1. The Joker’s face was carved off and nailed on a wall in Arkham Asylum. The clown prince of crime has been missing ever since.
Batman #13 by Snyder and Capullo kicks off the “Death of the Family” storyline. DC teases the classic villain will be used in “dark, horrifying, unnerving” way and the return will affect Batman, the Bat-family and Gotham City.
“Joker is my favorite villain of all time,” Snyder told on The Source. “Not just in comics. In everything – film, books, TV. He’s the greatest, hands down. So this story is something extremely important and personal to me – something I’ve been building in my head ever since I started working in Gotham.”
“When Scott told me that he’d written a Joker story for our next arc, I couldn’t contain my excitement,” added Capullo. “Talk about a dream come true! For me, the Joker is the ultimate rogue and the villain I most wanted to draw. I gotta tell you, after hearing what the story is about, this isn’t a dream come true. It’s a nightmare! A macabre and bloody, flesh crawling nightmare. We hope you’ll have the nerve to face what’s coming. Warning: It ain’t for the faint of heart!”
Given the cliffhanger of Detective Comics #1 could the classic villain be sporting a new face?
“Wait ’til you see him,” Snyder said. “Greg’s sketches literally gave me chills. Point blank: This is Joker like you’ve never seen him before. He has a mission. He has a secret. And he has a serious axe to grind with Batman. It isn’t going to be pretty, but it’s going to be a wild ride.”
This will be the first major story with the Joker in the relaunched DC continuity. The story title makes you think of the classic “Death in the Family” story in which the Joker killed Jason Todd. The Joker will target everyone in the Batman family: Nightwing, Batgirl, Catwoman, Red Robin and more. With a title like “Death of the Family” could the Joker’s new plot be to destroy Batman’s alliances with the other heroes of Gotham City? Could the Joker have been masquerading as another character this past year in the New 52?
Batman #13 courtesy DC Comics
Since the Joker’s face was carved off in Detective Comics #1 Snyder tells Comics Newsarama that means Capullo can create a new look for the classic villain.
“He really is going to, obviously, have a new look,” Snyder said. “At the same time, we want it to echo his iconic look. So it’s Joker in a much more horror movie fashion. But, without giving too much away, you will see the iconic face and the grin, and he might look a little bit different and scarier. But you’ll find that he’s still himself at his core. And he’s really here in his blood-stained clothes going to work.”
Capullo has a warning for readers.
“I would say that if you have any kind of heart conditions, or any kind of medical issues that could cause seizures or what-not, that you should check with a doctor prior to buying this story arc, because we don’t want to be responsible. DC does not want to be responsible for any fatalities or hospitalization or young or old people who may encounter this story and it just simply be too much for their system.”
Death of the Family with Capullo’s Joker redesign begins this Wednesday in Batman #13 and continues for five issues with tie-ins in other Batman family books.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #14 courtesy Dark Horse Comics
This week Buffy, The Vampire Slayer Season Nine #14 introduces a new twist on the famous vampire killer. Jane Espenson and Drew Greenberg will introduce Billy: a gay male without “slayer” powers.
The series went off the air in 2003 but adventures in “Buffyverse”continue in Dark Horse Comics. Joss Whedon (The Avengers) executive produces the continuing comic book series. In Buffy mythology only young girls are “chosen” to become slayers so why Billy?
Espenson says she developed the character while working on her web series Husbands.
“I already knew [the character] Cheeks, and he has a line in Season 1 of Husbands, that Brad [Bell] wrote, that really struck me about how Cheeks has an ‘exotic femininity’ that’s equated with weakness,” she told OUT.
“I thought: ‘Gee, all the work we’ve done with Buffy is about being female, and how that doesn’t mean that you are lesser’. It suddenly struck me: If being feminine doesn’t mean that you’re lesser, then liking guys also doesn’t mean you’re lesser.”
“For very good reason, we’ve focused on the female empowerment part of Buffy, but I wondered, ‘Did we leave something out? What if someone in high school is looking up to Buffy as a role model, and we’re saying: You can’t be a slayer’.”
Billy is a new character who trains himself to fight like a slayer.
“He may not have the actual powers of the slayers, but he’s determined to be his own kind of hero, one who’s sort of modeled after those who do have the power, and he sets out to make due with what he has,” said Greenberg.
“Batman doesn’t have super powers. He wasn’t gifted with an exotic foreign birth. So we take the Batman route; Billy is earning the Slayer mantle,” Espenson adds.
Billy’s introduction is the latest chapter in GLBT characters (Willow and Tara)and storylines of the “Buffyverse.”
“We’re hardly pandering when we make a comic book,” Espenson said. “There’s always growing pains when making progress, but I think cynicism in the face of inclusion may not be a profitable route in making progress.”
Editor Scott Allie tells Comic Book Resources part of Billy’s introduction is tied to the wedding of Northstar in Astonishing X-Men and revelation of Alan Scott in Earth 2.
“It’s funny. When we started seeing what Marvel and DC was doing, we thought, ‘Damn. They’re racing to get these stories out one after the other, so it’ll look like we’re chasing them. But we’d had this story planned for quite a while,” Allie said. “But I think you can see this as a natural extension of stuff Joss has done all along. Getting a gay male character doesn’t seem unusual for ‘Buffy.’ And it wasn’t so much that we wanted to get a gay character out in the mainstream for whatever reason. It was more that this is a story that Jane Espenson and Drew Greenberg wanted to tell. When you read the story, you’ll see that it’s responding to things in the culture beyond just representing gay male characters. There’s a bit of a response to the whole ‘It Gets Better’ campaign in a way that’s more than subtext. For Jane and Drew in particular, with the kinds of stories they’re used to telling and what they care about, the Buffy mythos was an extremely appropriate place to empower this young guy who needed to find a way to stand up for himself.”
Buffy, The Vampire Slayer Season Nine #14 comes out Wednesday.
Dan Slott, Ryan Stegman, Humberto Ramos and Giuseppe Camuncoli are creators named in a tease for Superior coming in January 2013. Is this a brand new Spidey comic?
Amazing Spider-Man will end with issue #700. All the creators named have worked on Spidey’s flagship title recently and the colors are in Spidey’s traditional red and blue.
Update: So this is when geek worlds collide. Star Trek popped into my head: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan when Khan’s second in command said “yours is the superior intellect.” I thought of clones, then the Spidey clone saga and thought what if Superior was about another Spidey clone since the Jackal recently came back and Scarlet Spider is a hit?
A new era for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes begins this December. New writer Jonathan Hickman and Editor Tom Brevoort revealed the future of the Avengers in today’s Next Big Thing on Marvel.com.
Avengers #1 kicks off a 3-part Avengers World story establishing the team’s mission statement with Jerome Opena on art.
“We will see the back story of how Iron Man and Captain America have been quietly building a contingency plan for the day that comes in issue #1,” Hickman teases of the huge event that requires a bigger team that will reflect our modern world.
“One of the first things we all agreed on is that the roster should look more like the world. So far we’ve seen the biggest and most iconic characters, but as we reach issues #7 and #8, we’ll see more new characters and characters we’re reviving or recreating. Eventually there will be 24 characters. 12 will be either female or minority characters,” said Hickman of the growing roster.
Hickman will be writing a new New Avengers – a new version of the Illuminati. This new secret cabal working behind the scenes will be Captain America, Iron Man, Doctor Strange and Beast. Black Bolt will return and Namor will be involved.
“It’s about the guys who quietly, secretly run the world. It’s thematically much different than Avengers. The plan I’ve worked out is that the Avengers are the utopian Avengers, the ideal ones we want, whereas the New Avengers are real world, they live in the dark, apocalyptic world as it is,” revealed Hickman.
“The books will work in tandem. You don’t have to read both, but they are two sides of the same coin. Two different stories,” he added.
Wakanda was devastated by Namor’s invasion during Avengers vs. X-Men. Hickman says T’Challa’s home will be rocked again. In the original Illuminati stories Black Panther refused to join the inner circle but he will need them in the Marvel now.
New Avengers #1 courtesy Marvel
“The catalyst is an event in Wakanda with Black Panther, the only man who told the original Illuminati it was a mistake. Something occurs so earth-shattering he sees no other course of action than to call on them,” Hickman teases, “This event is so huge than even the people in the Illuminati who do not currently like each other are forced to put differences aside.”
Hickman recently sent the Fantastic Four to Wakanda. It looks like Hickman was planting the seeds for his upcoming Avengers run.
“Going into Fantastic Four, Jonathan hadn’t even wrapped up Secret Warriors. Going into this, people know from FF what a big thinker Jonathan is and how he plays the long game. It’s an even bigger canvas here,” explains Tom Brevoort.
“My Avengers pitch probably could have gotten approved as is on its own, but if I hadn’t done FF, I don’t think there’s any way my New Avengers would have gotten approved. I think it’s gonna be a sleeper hit. It’s so cool. I’m so jacked that I get to write it,” revealed Hickman.
Some of the most surprising and exciting additions to the new team are New Mutants Sam Guthrie and Roberto Da Costa.
“You’ll get an issue where Cannonball and Sunspot get to spend time with Captain America,” Hickman revealed, “I’ve always really liked them. I wish it was more complicated than that. I pitched a Bobby and Sam in Mojoworld book, and somehow it got made.”
One reason I love Sam and Bobby getting this “promotion” is that they never got to rise up to true X-Men status.
“Cannonball and Sunspot are at least chronologically younger characters. It’s always good to have those types of figures in Avengers to bring a fresh viewpoint. That said, they’re also established Marvel characters,” Brevoort said, “When Brian Bendis brought Luke Cage and Spider-Woman into the Avengers, they weren’t the most popular characters, but they had legitimacy. I think it will be the same thing with Cannonball and Sunspot.”
“When we get to 24 characters, their will be several subgroups of characters, and one tier will be a group of younger, more idealistic people like Cannonball and Sunspot,” Hickman explained.
New Avengers courtesy Marvel
Hickman confirmed the logo with the Avengers A and the Omega symbol is the logo for the New Avengers.
“Avengers is the day book and New Avengers is night. Avengers is how we want the world to be, New Avengers is how it is. One book is about life, one is about death. The logos reflect all this,” he said.
The new era begins in the aftermath of AvX, bad blood and old rivalries between some heroes.
“I don’t think people will be surprised to learn that even as these guys go about their job, some will grow to hate one another,” Hickman explained, “This is not a cheery happy story. This is the ‘Death Avengers.'”
I’m thrilled to see T’Challa as a central character in the Marvel Now. He’s a single man now. He’s the leader of a broken country.
“Black Panther is the lynchpin character of New Avengers. The central character. He’s very important to the Avengers franchise as a whole,” Brevoort explained.
“Black Panther is certainly the moral center of New Avengers,” adds Hickman.
Hickman explained the leadership hierarchy of this new Avengers.
“Cap is in charge, of course, and he has two vice-captains in Captain Marvel and Iron Man. For bigger stuff, it splits into three teams. There are other factions within that, but generally, that’s the command structure. In New Avengers, they all think they’re in charge and none of them are,” explains Hickman.
Hickman confirmed Avengers will start with the 3 big arcs then 3 stand-alone stories and he’s creating new villains. Mr. Fantastic and Beast will be on New Avengers. Hyperion will be part of the team. Eden Fesi of Secret Warriors will be in the Avengers.
Avengers #1 and #2 arrive this December. New Avengers #1 and #2 arrive in January.
Comic book pros Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie will be dealing with Amateurs in the Marvel Now. Marvel is teasing this new team’s book is coming out in January 2013 but what will it be?
Gillen is leaving Journey Into Mystery which starred Kid Loki but Lady Sif will take over the lead character when writer Kathryn Immonen takes over the book. There’s no word on a book starring the Young Avengers yet either.
courtesy Marvel
Gillen and McKelvie were the creative team on this Point One teaser showing Kid Loki getting smacked by Miss America Chavez from Joe Casey’s Vengeance series. This anthology comes out later this month.
Kang the Conqueror (as Iron Lad) played a critical role in the creation of the Young Avengers. It would be an interesting parallel to have Kid Loki be a factor in the rebirth of the team. I loved Gillen’s work on Generation Hope and would definitely enjoy his take on the younger generation of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Famke Janssen as Jean Grey/Phoenix in X-Men: The Last Stand courtesy 20th Century Fox
Famke Janssen holds a very special place in the heart of this devoted geek. The beautiful Dutch born actress beautifully played two roles in two genres that are very important to me. I’m thrilled to see her back on the big screen in Taken 2 out this week.
In Pierce Brosnan’s first 007 film Goldeneye, Janssen played my all time favorite James Bond villainess. Xenia Onnatop was a Russian femme fatale who could slink across a casino in an evening gown, pilot a military helicopter, get turned on while she’s killing and strangle a man with her thighs. Pure evil.
Janssen brought Jean Grey to life in X-Men, X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand. She was perfect as the good girl attracted to the bad boy and always holding her power and passion in check – until the final film.
Janssen reprises her role as Liam Neeson’s ex-wife in Taken 2 but will we see her as Jean Grey in a future X-Men role? Janssen talked about her directorial debut Bringing Up Bobby with MTV News and was asked about returning to the X-Men movies.
“One never knows,” she said coyly. “Jean Grey, the Phoenix … she finds a way to reincarnate herself constantly, so one never knows.”
“I have no idea,” she said. “Stay tuned.”
In the comic books – the original pre-Phoenix Jean Grey is returning to the Marvel Now in All-New X-Men.
The X-Men: First Class sequel is based in part onDays of Future Past. Patrick Stewart has hinted he may appear in that film. If the film follows the comic story Hugh Jackman could appear as a Wolverine of the future. I’d love to see Janssen and James Marsden return to erase the events of The Last Stand and restart the franchise. If all this talk is making you nostalgic let’s take a look at Famke as Dr. Jean Grey in the trailer for the first X-Men movie.
For giving us Jean and Xenia I will always love and welcome Famke Janssen on the big screen!
