Oh it’s a nerd-tastic milestone when your hometown comic book con unveils the programming lineup! Emerald City Comicon unveiled their 3 days of programming featuring celebrity guests, comic book legends and panels on everything from cosplay to starting your own webcomics.
ECCC announced more comic book creators today are coming to the big show March 1-3 including:
Brian Wood (Star Wars, X-Men, The Massive, Mara, Northlanders)
Garry Brown (The Massive, Creepy, Mass Effect: Homeworlds)
As we celebrate Black History Month in North America and the United Kingdom I was inspired to think about my favorite African-American superheroes. While these fictional characters are not as important as civil rights leaders, boundary breaking athletes and artists or scientists who made a powerful contributions to our world I think seeing diversity in comic books makes an impact…on everyone.
Before I reveal my top 10 I want to say this was tough and I know some of you have your favorites like Steel aka John Henry Irons, Batwing, Shadowhawk, Spawn, Photon, Static and not to mention non-superhero characters like Michonne and Tyreese of The Walking Dead, but these are the ten characters (+ one because I just couldn’t leave her off!) that I’ve loved and stayed with me.
11 Vixen Mari Jiwe McCabe grew up in remote village in the fictional African country of Zambesi. Mari’s family were holders of a mystical totem but he uncle killed her parents and stolen the totem. Mari moved to America, became an international supermodel, built a fortune and traveled to her homeland to take back her family’s totem and became known as Vixen. With the totem Mari can mimic the abilities of any animal on Earth. Mari a member of the Justice League. In the DC Comics New 52 relaunch Vixen was injured but recently seen as one of the possible new recruits Cyborg will call on to join the new Justice League.
Vixen: Return of the Lion #3 courtesy DC Comics
10 Spider-Man Miles Morales became a media sensation when Marvel revealed the new Ultimate Spider-Man was of African-American and Latino descent. Like Peter Parker, Miles is a science nerd bitten by a radioactive spider but his powers are slightly different. Miles recently met the Peter Parker of “our” Marvel Universe in the crossover smash, Spider-Men.
Spider-Men by Jim Cheung courtesy Marvel
9. Patriot Elijah Bradley is the grandson of Isiah Bradley, the first Captain America. (Isiah was among the black men who served as test subjects before the Super Soldier Serum was given to Steve Rogers. This story was told in the series Truth: Red, White & Black.) Eli became a founding member of the Young Avengers. These teen heroes wanted to fight crime and carry on the legacy of the Avengers who had disbanded at the time. I don’t want to give away the secet of Eli’s powers (told in the Young Avengers series) but his is a great story of young man trying to do right and honor his past. Eli is a great leader and strategist in the tradition of Captain America. A brand new Young Avengers series just relaunched but Eli is not on the team. I’m hoping Patriot will soon be appearing in the Marvel Now, maybe even joining the main Avengers?
Young Avengers Presents: Patriot #1 courtesy Marvel
Marvel is going big for this year’s Free Comic Book Day 2013!
Thanos. Hickman. Cheung.
Thanos is the big purple bad at the end of The Avengers movie.
Jonathan Hickman (Avengers, New Avengers) is the mastermind of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Jim Cheung (Avengers vs. X-Men, Young Avengers) is the artist (one of my personal favorites) that can fill panels with big screen action.
Marvel is teasing a cosmic clash with Fantastic Four, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men, Avengers, Inhumans, Spider-Man and more against the universe’s ultimate threat!
All-New X-Men #7 Mystique smells fresh meat! The sinister shapeshifter targets the young mutants from the past! First target: Cyclops! What’s her endgame?
Fearless Defenders #1 Valkyrie and Misty Knight? Two unlikely heroes in a brand new series by Cullen Bunn. The Asgardian warrior woman and the bad ass private detective team up against a new threat to Marvel Now!
Green Arrow #17Oliver Queen loses everything and becomes the target of the assassin Komodo! New creative team Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino take over send Ollie to the Seattle streets after learning a shocking secret about his father.
Judgement in the stars for the Armored Avenger! Tony Stark rockets into space in this week’s Iron Man #6. In this new arc Tony could face judgement for a cosmic crime in TheGodkiller.
Kieron Gillen talked about Iron Man’s team up with Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek fantasies, and Tony paying for his actions in Avengers versus X-Men with Marvel.com.
“Tony Stark is in space. Issues #1-6 are why he leaves. This is the story between Tony leaving Earth and hooking up with the Guardians of the Galaxy,” Gillen explains.
Cyclops went to prison but I believe Iron Man is in part to blame for the destruction caused by the Phoenix Five. It was Tony’s invention that deflected the Phoenix from Hope and into Scott, Emma, Colossus, Magik and Namor.
“What Tony did to the Phoenix during AvX catches up with him,” Gillen explains, “Tony is having a crisis of his beliefs. Fans know it’s because of AvX. Newcomers may be lost. We catch up here.”
Guardians of the Galaxy #1 courtesy Marvel
Space adventures are a big part of the Marvel Now with a brand new Guardians of the Galaxy series and movie on the way. The ultimate futurist will be part of the new space age.
“Tony is living his James T. Kirk fantasies. That’s how I put it, that’s how he puts it. He thinks he’s in a space opera, then it all turns badly,” Gillen teases, “Not only does Tony try to live out his Kirk and Han Solo fantasies, he’s keenly aware he is doing so. He wants to make out with a green lady. There’s a lot of space bar flirting in issue #6. Maybe he gets his Kirk moment, maybe it goes awesomely wrong.”
The Armored Avenger may meet the Guardians but don’t expect his fellow Mightiest Heroes around.
“You know how the Hawkeye book is about Hawkeye when he’s not in the Avengers? Iron Man is about Iron Man when he’s not with the Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s a question of what space means in the Marvel Universe. Brian Bendis and I are on the same page.”
Tony Stark may be the man who fell to Earth in the latest trailer for Iron Man 3 but in the comic books the Armored Avenger is going into outer space!
Godkiller kicks off this week in Iron Man #6! Tony Stark invented a weapon to contain the Phoenix Force in Avengers vs. X-Men. We know how that turned out! Will Tony pay the ultimate price for this cosmic crime?
Iron Man #7 courtesy Marvel
Marvel shared an ominous preview of next month’s Iron Man #7 by Kieron Gillen and Greg Land. To some aliens the Phoenix is a harbinger of death and rebirth while others worship the entity.
Smasher! Hyperion! Captain Universe! These are some of the new heroes that answered Captain America’s call for help. When a writer with a resume like Jonathan Hickman (Fantastic Four, SHIELD, Manhattan Projects) takes on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes you know they won’t be staying on our big blue marble for long! After a showdown on Mars in the first arc Hickman sends his team across the galaxy.
In this week’s Avengers #5 the team blasts off to battle an invading enemy. What will we learn about Smasher in this issue?
Smasher is the first human member of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard who appear to suffer a major defeat on an alien moon.
The Imperial Guard are a collection of alien warriors from the universe who serve the Shi’ar Empire. The X-Men have clashed and fought with them over the years. Imperial Guard leader Gladiator is now the Emperor and is currently recovering after a beating by the Phoenix Five in AvX.
Logan goes to Japan in The Wolverine. The berserker mutant trades in his leather uniform for a James Bond style suit in this new image courtesy Empire.
Producer Hutch Parker revealed more about the plot in this new issue.
“We pick up Logan in a very isolated state, full of self-loathing. He is sought out by a young Asian woman for reasons he doesn’t fully understand, who is asking him to follow her to Japan where he is meant to reconnect with someone from his past.
“And what you’ll come to find is that this is someone he spent prison-time with in Nagasaki. And the legacy of that experience – effectively Logan saved him – is that this man is on his deathbed, and is looking to give him a gift, to thank him for the life he’s had.”
“But this gift draws Logan into a very complex and very unexpected world within both contemporary Japan and, to some extent, the feudal history of Japan. He’s so in isolation, so out of his element. It’s a much more powerful distillation of his character than you’ve seen before.”
