Superman and Wonder Woman shared a passionate kiss in Justice League #12 but this February Clark and Diana aren’t the only lovers to watch out for DC Comics revealed.
An all-star team of writers and artists will create heroic Valentine tales in Young Romance: A New 52 Valentine’s Day Special #1. Diana consults the God of Love over her feelings for Clark, Batgirl and Nightwing may find new loves, Catwoman rekindles her flame with Batman, Apollo and Midnighter are separated on the big holiday and Aquaman shows he knows how to woo a spouse.
The giant issue full of romantic tales comes with Valentine’s Day cards with DC favorites. Are you in love with this cover by Kenneth Rocafort?
All-New X-Men #1 The original five X-Men are yanked from the past into the Marvel Now – and they don’t like what they see! How will the young Scott, Jean, Bobby, Hank and Warren react to seeing how their lives and Professor X’s dream went so horribly wrong?
Batman #14The Joker is back with the vengeance! Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo managed to make the ultimate villain even creepier and horrifying! What has the Joker done to Batman’s oldest ally?
Fantastic Four #1 Marvel’s First Family relaunches into the Marvel Now. Matt Fraction and Mark Bagley send Reed, Susan, Johnny, Ben and the kids on the ultimate vacation through time and space.
Saga #7 The beautiful and disturbing sci-fi hit begins a new storyline. Two lovers from warring alien races fell in love, had a baby and became targets of a the most sinister hunters in the galaxy. What will the family find in the darkest corners of uncharted space?
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation 2 #7 Which is the greater evil: Borg or Cybermen? Doctor Who and Captain Picard’s new friendship is tested as they try to stop the threat to the Federation. In this chapter the Time Lord travels back to Starfleet’s greatest defeat in order to save the future!
The announcement was a big surprise. The lineup with packed with surprise members. Now we know more about the upcoming Justice League of America by Geoff Johns and David Finch.
Steve Trevor recruits Green Arrow, Catwoman, Katana, Hawkman, Stargirl, Martian Manhunter, Vibe and Green Lantern (Simon Baz) for this brand new series. DC Comics revealed the first arc will be called World’s Most Dangerous and hailed Martian Manhunter as the most dangerous of all. Why does the world need this team and what’s their mission? Find out in Justice League of America #1 this February.
Yes, you read right. Vibe is back! Geoff Johns will also co-write (with Andrew Kreisberg) a new Vibe series premiering the same month with art by Pete Woods. The unlikely comeback continues.
Katana (JLA and Birds of Prey) gets her own new series this month too by Ann Nocenti and Alex Sanchez with the ex-assassin out to restore glory to her former team, the Outsiders.
Tony Stark rockets into outer space in the second arc of Iron Man in February. Kieron Gillen talked about Iron Man’s team up with Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek fantasies, and Tony paying for his actions in AvX and more on 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.”
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.”
“We are in space with Tony, so we do not find out what is going on back on Earth with the supporting cast. People have been asking me a lot about why the supporting cast was not in issue #1, and it’s because I knew he was going into space. We’ll see them when he comes back to Earth. However…there is a connection between Pepper and Tony even when he’s in space.”
“This is about the way that Tony sees the world. What can reason do? What are the limits of what my thoughts can be? That’s what I mean about Tony and faith.”
“There are a lot of real hard wake-up calls for Tony in God Killer. A lot of things will make him go ‘Hmm.’ This really picks at Tony, at who he is and why he does things.”
Uncanny X-Men #9 interior art of UNIT courtesy Marvel
I loved how Gillen used UNIT in his Uncanny X-Men run and I’ve asked if Tony will encounter the sinister android.
“You never know. There’s an interesting pairing. I will say Death’s Head shows up in this arc. He’s our Boba Fett.”
Tony will build a new suit of armor seen on the cover art above.
“He built the suit to travel. He travels with everything he needs. He’s in tune with the holistic nature of what is needed to support Tony Stark. The suit is designed to go into space as an adventurer, an explorer and a hero. The only thing he doesn’t really have is his support network. I would be surprised if we don’t see him ‘in the cave’ metaphorically speaking.”
I personally feel Steve Rogers and Tony are partly responsible for the action of the Phoenix Five because their interference created them. Gillen reflects on Tony’s actions in the mega series.
“I’m of the position that if Tony hadn’t disrupted the Phoenix Force during AvX, it would have killed everybody on Earth. I’m not sure he would agree with me. He made leaps of faith in Fear Itself and AvX and wasn’t comfortable with either. He’s been avoiding thinking about it. He’s not depressed, but he’s hungry to discover things he hasn’t thought about previously. He’s driven.”
Iron Man #1 just came out last week with Tony trying to recover the Extemis nanotechnology. God Killer kicks off in February.
A brand new X-Men Legacy series starring Legion? This is one of the most surprising titles of the Marvel NOW relaunch. Writer Simon Spurrier and artist Tan Eng Huat create this week’s X-Men Legacy #1 starring one of the most powerful and dangerously unstable mutants in the Marvel Universe – the son of Professor X.
X-Men Legacy #1 courtesy Marvel
Writer Simon Spurrier (X-Club) and Editor Daniel Ketchum shared their vision and plans for this new 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.
Op/Ed: 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. It may seem very unorthodox but this new X-Men Legacy #1 really takes on a personal and literal meaning.
The Joker’s comeback campaign against the Batman family rips through Batman, Batgirl and Batman and Robin books this week! DC Comics is teasing the final issues of the Death of the Family storyline coming in February 2013.
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo deliver the final showdown between the Joker and Bruce in Batman #17. Who lives, dies and laughs last?
The Joker will have his own cult? In Detective Comics #17 Batman will track down the League of Smiles and encounter new villains with ties to Arkham Asylum.
Batgirl #17 courtesy DC Comics
Gail Simone has Barbara Gordon dealing with the aftermath of the Joker’s reign of terror in Batgirl #17 and looks to pull the trigger on a storyline she’s been building up to: the attack of Barbara’s own brother. DC promises this issue will change Batgirl’s status quo in The New 52.
Death of the Family will have a devastating effect on the men who were Robin. In Nightwing #17 how will Damian Wayne reach out to a defeated Dick Grayson. In the aftermath of the storyline Bruce will confront Jason Todd in Red Hood and the Outlaws #17 by Scott Lobdell.
A serial killer…of GODS? The writer who gave fans vicious stories in Scalped, Wolverine and Ghost Rider is letting loose a cosmic level killer in this week’s THOR: God of Thunder #1.
Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic have been deemed worthy to wield the power of THOR! The Thunder God will track a trail of blood in the past, present and future after a new villain called The GOD BUTCHER.
What else can you expect in this new series starring the Avenger’s heaviest hitter? The creative team shared their plans with Comics Newsarama.
Aaron is describing his story as a simultaneous “Year One,” present-day adventure and Dark Knight Returns-esque tale — re-teaming with his Dark Reign: The List — Wolverine collaborator Ribic and his love for Mangog. Aaron created a new villain ominously called the God Butcher.
Aaron is taking over after Matt Fraction’s long run on The Mighty Thor and cites a Fraction story as part of his inspiration.
“I remember when [Matt] Fraction did his first Thor stories a few years back in the Ages of Thunder standalones. I remember reading those and thinking for the first time as a writer, “Oh, Thor’s really cool. I could see me writing Thor.” But I never really thought much more about it, other than enjoying the book as it was coming out. But suddenly, once Thor was on the table, that’s the one I instantly gravitated towards. Before I even had a story, I just kind of made my play and tried to plant my flag. “Stay away! I want Thor!”
Aaron’s story will be set in 3 eras similar to Ages of Thunder.
“In part. I do flash back and show a young Thor in action, but he’s actually just one of three Thors that I want to focus on. This first story is an epic tale that plays out over the course of thousands of years. So we spend time with young Thor in the Viking age — the young, hotheaded god of the Vikings, who loves to come down to Midgard and get into trouble.
In the present, we see Thor the Avenger on a journey that takes him to the far corners of space, interacting with all sorts of new space gods and wondrous new locations.
And then we also see old King Thor, who’s the last king of Asgard, thousands of years in the future, where something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.
Linking all these eras and Thors together is one villain, an all-new character, who is basically, at least initially, a serial killer of gods. He’s a guy with a serious axe to grind against all immortal beings in the cosmos, and he’s going around doing his best to kill them all off, one at a time, as brutally as possible. That villain’s story unfolds over the course of all these different eras. He starts as a serial killer of gods, but by the end, he has become something even more frightening.”
Aaron calls Gorr, the God Butcher a “serial killer” of Immortals but he has a classic villain on the horizon.
“This first villain is all-new, but man, I can’t wait to do a Mangog story. I’ve had a Mangog statue sitting on my desk for months now, and he begs me every day to write him in somewhere. Soon, Mangog, soon.”
Will a blast from the past reshape the future of Marvel’s mutants? In All-New X-Men #1 Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen bring the original five teen mutants from the past in the Marvel Now. Bendis and X-Men Editor Nick Lowe talk about the time twist and how it will affect the mutants on Marvel.com.
In many ways All-New X-Men is a twist on Chris Claremont’s Day of Future Past. Scott, Jean, Hank, Bobby and Warren of the past have arrived in what to them is a horrific future. Their mentor is dead. Cyclops is in prison for the murder. Anti-mutant hate is raging. The X-Men are without a leader. How will the meeting of past and present X-Men affect the mutant and Marvel universe?
“I am fascinated by the power and responsibility of abusing time travel for your own selfish purposes. I do believe it will create a butterfly effect,” Bendis said, “something that happens in All New X-Men will create a cosmic stir.”
After Schism – Logan rebuilt the a school for mutants. I’m a huge fan of Wolverine and the X-Men by Jason Aaron. The staff and students of the Jean School will be front and center in the new book.
“The time traveling X-Men will be trained in the Wolverine school is different and unique ways,” Bendis said, “Hate is very interesting to write but someone appreciating you for your differences will be explored.”
All-New X-Men #2 courtesy Marvel
Bendis revealed that the core of the new book is not just old X-Men.
“There’s a lot more going on in the book than just the five coming here,” he said. “A lot of it has to do with modern day Cyclops and who his alliances are with. That will take shape very quickly in the first issue — a very new X-Men idea. What he’s going to do is a completely different shape akin to when the Avengers moved from Avengers Mansion to Avengers Tower.” “There’s new X-Men. We’re not calling it ‘All-New X-Men’ for nothing. There are all new X-Men debuting in our first issue. Brand new characters, you’re welcome Fox. They’re going to be representing a new look at mutants … a very modern take. All this is going on in every issue going forward.”
During his Avengers run Bendis’s stories (“No More Mutants” in House of M, The Dark X-Men and formation of Utopia in Dark Reign) had a huge impact on the mutants. Expect Bendis’s X-Men stories to affect the entire Universe. The
“I want to make the X-Men a part of the Marvel Universe proper,”he said. “you’ll see the X-Men interacting with The Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy.”
This is exciting news. The mutants have a stellar (pardon the pun) tradition of conflicts with alien races (The Shi’ar, The Brood, The Skrulls) and there’s a rich history of family connections (The Starjammers, Vulcan, Phoenix – Jean and Rachel, Deathbird) with those alien empires. Bendis is writing a brand new Guardians of the Galaxy series. Maybe we’ll revisit the infamous M’Krann Crystal?
Bendis said to watch out for a certain shapeshifter!
“A very big, positioned antagonist is going to be Mystique,” Bendis said. “She’s going to be very interested in the past X-Men coming here.”
