I have to give a big recommendation for what may be my favorite non-superhero comic book that you may not be reading: The Massive.
The Massive #6 courtesy Dark Horse Comics
Here’s what you need to know:
The Crash ravaged the planet. After a series of disasters cities are underwater, marine life is dying, economies have tanked and civilization is crumbling.
The crew of the Kapital sails the oceans searching for supplies and their friends on their sister ship, The Massive. As the they try to survive they dodge ruthless pirates and corruption.
How do dedicated pacifists and environmentalists hold on their values in a dangerous new world like this?
Callum, Mag and Mary are the heart of Brian Wood’s thrilling and thought-provoking saga. As the crew search for supplies and their friends we learn about their lives before they joined the Ninth Wave conservation movement.
Captain Callum Israel is a man trying to redeem for his past as a mercenary. As an employee of Blackbell PMC Callum’s ‘assignments’ become darker, bloodier and eventually he changed his life. In this ruthless new world his past keeps haunting him.
In this week’s The Massive #6 the crew find what may be a derelict ship with needed supplies but it a trap and boarding this ship could shatter the moral code they’ve adopted. We learn more about Callum and Mag’s violent pasts and what led to them to change their ways.
Brian Wood has created a brutal new world that could be very real. Through Callum and crew he makes us question who we are, what are our values are and how long can we hold on them when survival may mean blurring the moral line.
Grab the first issues while you can – I think this would make a gripping television series or movie. The Massive is published by Dark Horse Comics.
I’m excited to share that Dirk Benedict is coming to Emerald City Comicon next year! The actor played two notorious ladies’ men on two iconic television shows of my youth. On the original Battlestar Galactica Benedict played Lt. Starbuck. The Colonial pilot blasted Cylons, seduced ladies but Apollo and the fleet could always count on him when they needed him. I admit I had the Starbuck action figure along with a Colonial Viper and Cylon Raider.
Benedict then played Templeton Peck aka Faceman on the classic series The A-Team. This was another great role to showcase Benedict’s charisma, charm and comic timing. The Montana native attended college in Walla Walla, Washington and performed in Seattle theatre productions before becoming a pop culture icon with two classic characters.
Benedict will be appearing all three days. Emerald City Comicon is March 1-3, 2013 at the Washington State Convention Center. Tickets are on sale online or visit a local comic book shop selling tickets – and pick a book or three while you’re there!
This may be the biggest surprise announcement in the Marvel Now relaunch.
X-Men Legacy #1 takes a complete 180 in terms of concept but it’s never been more appropriate.
Who is Legion:
One the most frighteningly powerful and unstable mutants ever. David is the son of Professor Xavier and Gabrielle Haller and was raised on Muir Island.
He was born with multiple mutant powers.
He suffers from multiple personalities each controlling a different power.
He has the worst haircut and costumes (if you call pajamas a costume) in comics. You think one of his personalities could be a stylish gay man saying ‘oh we’re getting a haircut and makeover!”
David has victimized the New Mutants and X-Men over the years.
David caused major dimensional rifts: Age of Apocalypse and Age of X.
X-Men Legacy #1 courtesy Marvel
Simon Spurrier and Tan Eng Huat and the X-Editors have a huge challenge. How did they do?
X-Men Legacy #1 begins with Legion in therapy and unaware that his father has been killed by Cyclops. David’s interactions with this guru are at times bizarre and moving as he questions his father’s motive for leaving him alone. There is a whole other therapy session going on in this issue! This “complex” may or may not be in Legion’s mind or minds with visuals that reminded me of Prometheus and Casanova Quinn series. There is a key moment back at the Jean Grey School that could be a scary omen from Blindfold, who will be a supporting character in the series.
This is definitely different from every other X-book out there. It’s a bold move to take minor character and give him the spotlight but I’m intrigued. David will try to succeed his father and continue his dream in a way only he could. How that will affect the factions of X-Men and Marvel Universe will make for the drama, fun and wonder of this series.
I’m rooting for you David!
Now if only they would get ride of that dried paintbrush hair!
Matt Fraction and Mark Bagley launched Fantastic Four #1with heart, humor and thrills. Reed is taking Marvel’s First Family on a new adventure through time and space but he’s hiding the real reason behind the sudden trip – and it’s a heartbreaker.
Before Reed, Sue, Johnny, Ben and the kids blast off they must recruit a new FF to take their place. Marvel shared preview art for Fantastic Four #2. We Medusa, She-Hulk, Ant-Man and She-Thing will take over for them in a brand new FF title by Fraction and Mike Allred. This next issue shows us how Reed recruited his “replacements.”
Fantastic Four #2 courtesy Marvel
I’ve always been in love with Medusa. She may be my favorite redhead in comics (maybe after Jean Grey?) The Queen of the Inhumans will be a perfect mother figure for the kids of the Future Foundation.
Fantastic Four #2 courtesy Marvel
I’m loving She-Hulk and Ben Grimm pumping iron! Jennifer served as Ben’s replacement back in the John Byrne era.
Fantastic Four #2 courtesy Marvel
Ant-Man (Scott Lang) may be the one friend Reed can share his secret with? The two men share a bond of science and being fathers. Scott could find the key to cure Reed somewhere in the microverse?
A major character will die in February 2013 according to the Marvel Solicitations. The victim will be killed by an Avenger in Uncanny Avengers #5. This is the same issue that brings Sunfire, Wasp and Wonder Man to the team. The Grim Reaper strikes and Havok’s leadership is called into question is this issue too.
Is the killer a member of the Rick Remender’s Uncanny Avengers or Hickman’s Avengers? Who bites it? Who kills?
My first guess is Rogue takes a life. Here’s what Remender said in a pre-launch interview about the X-Woman and her history. Rogue seems like the wild card of the team…and she took out an Avenger before (ok she didn’t kill Ms. Marvel but left her in a coma.)
In 2013 Cyclops’s son is back with a brand new team in a brand new book – and they’re branded Marvel Now’s most wanted! Dennis Hopeless and Salvador Larroca launch Cable and X-Force this January. Domino, Forge, Colossus and Dr. Nemesis join Cable on his new adventures. Hopeless and Editor Nick Lowe shared his take on the team and shared new art on Marvel.com.
“You get dropped smack dab in the middle of a pretty horrible situation on the first page of Cable & X-Force #1. You see our X-Force team and a bunch of dead bodies. They’re surrounded by the Uncanny Avengers who have just arrived on the scene. Things do not look good,” said Lowe.
“Cable and X-Force have tried to stop something really bad from happening and it’s gone as bad as possible. Cable has one last job to pull before he can retire from being a crazy time-hopping Askani’son. It goes awfully,” says Hopeless, “Cable comes up the team and he’s the one they have to trust, even though he doesn’t say much.”
Lowe confirmed Hope Summers plays a huge role in the book.
“The crux of my original pitch and the emotional core of the book is that Cable and Hope both want to be done with the craziness and live normal lives, but neither are very good at it,” said Hopeless of the mutant messiah and her father.
“Hope plays a unique role early on. She’s not strictly a member of the team, but in my mind, Cable doesn’t think of this as X-Force, just people who can help him with a problem. The news call them X-Force, which Cable finds asinine,” says Hopeless of the team name.
Cable and X-Force #2 courtesy Marvel
You can see Cable has a new look including an eye patch but the disease that’s cursed him since birth is gone.
“Cable no longer has the T/O virus. His arm is messed up and he’s never had to use his powers like this. He recruits Forge to help him with that, and we’ll explain why he’s not quite as crazy any more,” explains Hopeless.
Cable’s team will be on the run from Marvel Now’s newest supergroup.
“The supporting cast is basically the Uncanny Avengers. If this book is ‘The Fugitive,‘ they’re Tommy Lee Jones,” Nick Lowe explained.
Cable and X-Force #1 courtesy Marvel
“In my mind, Havok is the reason the Uncanny Avengers get pulled into this and become obsessed with finding Cable. Things have gone bad for the Summers family. His brother is in jail and now his nephew appears to be a terrorist. Rick Remender has made it very clear to me many times that they are not jackbooted thugs. There’s an interesting dynamic between the two teams,” said Hopeless of the crossover elements.
“Early on, the Uncanny Avengers are the big problem. The situations that lead to the job are less villain-based, more ‘something awful is going to happen and we have to stop it.’ We’ll roll into who caused this situation as the series continues,” he adds.
Cable has one of the most complicated backgrounds in comics. Personally there are moments when I love him and when I wish he’s stayed dead.
“Cable is an interesting character because his past is so varied. He’s not a guy who likes to talk about his feelings, but here he’s the guy with all the answers. He’s a complicated sort of guy. He’s a person who wants to make the world a better place and be a good father to his daughter, but he’s also really good at using big guns and breaking into military bases. We’re going to play with all his incarnations.”
I love this description – it’s a good way to explain who Cable is:
Cable and X-Force #1 courtesy Marvel
“Cable is Steve McQueen in the body of the T2 Terminator. He’s a super hero version of Parker. I tried to surround him with interesting characters who are really good at solving a certain kind of problem, but they don’t get along. There are some elements of the classic X-Force, but it’s wrapped around a crime story and an emotional story about a father and his daughter.” – Dennis Hopeless
Every incarnation of X-Force has had an outlaw element.
“We wanted to take the idea of X-Force as the intense paramilitary X-Men book to a new level,” said Lowe.
There will also be a new Uncanny X-Force in the Marvel Now. The X-Editor explains the difference:
“Cable & X-Force is about fugitives on the run from the Marvel Universe, criminals and murderers as far as the world can tell. Uncanny X-Force deals with the dark underbelly of the Marvel Universe and a lot of moral quagmires.”
Warpath was the angry big rebel in the first X-Force. After AvX Colossus is free of his demons but full of hate and anger.
“Colossus ends up on the team partially because where he is as a person after AvX. Things are not great. He gets sucked into all this in a way that is very much not what he plans or what he wanted,” explains Hopeless.
“Colossus is the muscle. A veteran. A guy who doesn’t get shaken under pressure,” adds Lowe.
It will be nostalgic to see Nathan and Domino together again. She was part of his Six-Pack team of mercs before joining his first X-Force.
“Domino can get you in and out of any situation,” said Hopeless, “Their relationship is interesting. They were together at one point and since then have both been through a lot. Cable was in the future for years and had a wife who died. Domino calls him on his crap, but they’re not going to jump in bed together just because they’re in the same room.”
Cable and X-Force #3 courtesy Marvel
After a long run on Invincible Iron Man Salvador Larroca is back with the Children of the Atom. You can definitely see how his style has evolved – a mix of his X-Men era and what he developed on Iron Man which is perfect for Cable and his crew.
“We talked about what roles the characters would play and then let Salva loose on the new costumes. We knew we wanted to limit the color palette and have them look not too much like super heroes, but keep the trappings. Cable needed a big mech arm because the loss of the T/O virus ravaged his body,” explains Lowe of the new designs.
“There is a story reason for why most of the characters are wearing what they are and why they have the tech they do. Salva deserves all the credit,” adds Hopeless
Hopeless confirmed the X-Force teams will interact.
“If you’ve got Cable in one book and Bishop as a villain in the other, that’s a big deal,” said Lowe.
For the entire liveblog here’s the Marvel.com link.
IFanboy scored this teaser image from Marvel that strongly suggests Paul Cornell (MI-13) and the one and only Alan Davis will team up on a brand new Wolverine series!
Alan Davis is on my list of (I MUST MEET THEM) comic book creators! In fact I could program an entire Alan Davis Comicon based on this amazing career which includes X-Men, Excaliburruns as writer/artist and artist with Chris Claremont writing.
Alan Davis recently brought back his ClanDestine in several Marvel Annuals including Wolverine, drew Ed Brubaker’s final volume of Captain America, If you can get your hands on his Wolverine graphic novel Bloodlust– grab it!
Here’s a radical thought: What if this was a Wolverine-led family book also starring Daken, X-23 and Dog, soon be seen in Wolverine and the X-Men? Davis drew an awesome X-23 (in Fang costume) during an Uncanny X-Men run in the early 2000’s.
The evolution of the X-Men books really mutates in February 2013. In the just released solicitations for February 2013 Marvel calls X-Men #41 the final issue with Seth Peck writing a last story of Storm’s “security unit.”
This title was born with “Curse of the X-Men” and the vampire/mutant war. My favorite run was Brian Wood and David Lopez’s “Proto Mutants” saga. Seth Peck just took over with this month’s Domino solo story guest starring Daredevil.
This is the final month of the Marvel Now! relaunch so it seems this adjectiveless X-Men book will not relaunch.
Uncanny X-Men (deja vu?) relaunches this month with 2 issues helmed by Brian Michael Bendis and Chris Bachalo. Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magneto and Magik are rescuing and recruiting new mutants to their cause. Are they heroes or terrorists? There is a mole on the team! Who is betraying this team and why?
