The End of an Era phrase doesn’t even begin to describe this week’s Captain America #19. Artist Steve Epting returns to the title for Ed Brubaker’s grand finale issue. This is definitely the end of a major creative era for Steve Rogers. I starting buying and loving Cap again because of Brubaker.
It was an era of dark espionage and redeemed heroes that redefined Steve and his supporting cast. Steve Rogers became an agent of SHIELD, discovered Bucky was alive and serving as a brainwashed assassin for the Russians and fought with his oldest friends over the Superhero Registration Act in Civil War. I loved the rise, fall and comeback of Steve Rogers during this run but what I loved most was the surprising return and redemption of Bucky Barnes.
Brubaker even killed Cap and replaced him with Bucky – and the series got even better.
Brubaker’s epic run ends with a heartfelt issue that reflects back on all the great moments that defined Steve Rogers. Steve Epting helped define this era of Rogers and Barnes in the dark spy game underworld. It’s fitting to have Epting return for this flashback filled issue.
Ed Brubaker’s Captain America will be remembered as a perfect connection between creator and character in comic history. Thanks for eight glorious years and for making me love Cap again.
Iceman melted. The attack of a fake X-Men. Wolverine back in his “Patch” get-up. New York City under threat of attack. It’s a showdown in Madripoor. Marjorie Liu and Mike Perkins deliver an action packed but often frantic chapter of this team’s war with Susan Hatchi in this week’s Astonishing X-Men #55.
We know Hatchi’s connection to Karma. Mike Perkins draws a beautifully haunting flashback showing Hatching’s hate for Shan and lays the seed for her endgame. I love how Liu has skillfully created plot within plots. Hatchi’s manipulations and vicious attacks on the team have led to this fateful encounter that may finally free or damn Karma.
My one fault with this issue in this is how the loss of a teammate is nearly forgotten. Only Warbird lashes out but then it’s over. I realize the action is fast and furious as they try to prevent Hatchi’s deadly scheme but I think the death of an X-Man by another would have been weighing heavier on the team.
I love Phil Noto’s cover demonstrating how Hatchi has turned the X-Men into her own personal weapons in a family feud.
Bruce Wayne in a death grip. Merlyn and some of DC’s greatest assassins assembled. Leviathan’s grip on Batman’s home is getting tighter. Good thing there’s a new dynamic duo in Gotham City!
In this week’s Batman Incorporated #4 Bruce Wayne’s global crime fighting franchise goes to work against the forces of Talia Al Ghul’s League of Assassins. Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham give members of Bruce’s army great screen time and moments. This issue features the debut of Wingman and Redbird – this twist is a great example of how the creative team deliver crazy comic fun mixed with drama, violence and sharp humor.
Morrison and Burnham have been building to a huge showdown between Bruce’s Batman Inc versus Talia’s Leviathan for the soul of their son.Just as the war is coming to a head Bruce makes a decision in the final panel that may seal Damian’s fate. It’s another entertaining chapter that ends with a “WTF?!” moment.
The Children of the Atom are mutating again. Will a blast from the past reinvigorate the future for 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 he did not want to bring the Professor X of the past into the here and now “I considered Professor X like a wet blanket”
The way this story is structured is that since Xavier won’t be there, he won’t be able to “mind-wipe” the X-Men.
All-New X-Men #4 courtesy Marvel
I have openly said AvX should have been called Operation: Let’s Make Eveybody Hate Cyclops. The leader now sits in prison (for his actions as the Dark Phoenix) even though he was right about the role of the Phoenix Force and the restarting of the mutant race. Bendis revealed how Scott will not be left rotting in prison and off the burner.
“To the world at large, the public doesn’t know Cyclops killed Xavier,” revealed Bendis. “Even though everybody saw it … everybody saw a different thing. To the public, there was a very cool guy named Scott Summers [who changed the world], did it and then suddenly disappeared.” Bendis said Cyclops will become a very public face of a mutant revolution. “When I say these things, it’s not everyone. There are some people who really like him, there are some who really don’t.” The X-Men will be forced to change their roles and everyone has very different ideas on how to handle Cyclops.”
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.”
In Uncanny X-Men #20 Kieron Gillen wrapped up the story of Cyclops’s Extinction Team. It was a satisfying ending, set up some characters for their new roles in the Marvel Now and left some intriguing possibilities for others.
You could say Gillen was back for a post-op in his final X-Position (a must read each week for me) on Comic Book Resources. I wanted to share some of the best answers and my thoughts on them.
Colossus has been a tortured soul for years. Peter was possessed by Cyttorak, became the Juggernaut and it cost him Kitty Pryde. Colossus became a member of the Phoenix Five and created hell on earth with Magik. Turns out Peter was being tortured by his twisted sister the whole time. A fan asked if Peter was the only member of the Phoenix Five who regretted his actions in the Avengers vs. X-Men conflict.
“Well, Colossus does like having a big ol’ whine.
More seriously, I think you’re a little hard on the Phoenix Five. Colossus is most openly repentant, but just because Scott would do it all again doesn’t mean he doesn’t wish it went a different way. I’ve written him openly suicidal in “Consequences,” for example, and that’s not a man who is entirely at home with what he’s done. We’ve seen very little of Emma and absolutely nothing of Namor post-Phoenix Five. And even when we have seen them, they’re two incredibly proud individuals. Even if they did have regrets, who would they admit it to?
And Magik keeps her cards close to her chest. She kept the fact she was torturing her brother secret for 25 issues. Who knows what’s going on in the be-banged head of hers.”
Magneto joined the X-Men because he believed in Scott for uniting the mutants on Utopia. How does the Master of Magnetism connect to Cyke now?
“You’ll see more of Magneto in “Consequences” shortly, but while he’s certainly hurt mutants’ reputation, he’s also brought them back. There will be a future mutant race. You have to suspect that Magneto will respect that.”
Avengers vs X-Men #6 courtesy Marvel
I’ve always thought Scott’s drastic actions have been because he was possessed by the Void. Emma and then Scott kept this sliver of Robert Reynolds (aka The Sentry’s) evil dark side in the minds. A fan asked if Cyke was possessed or if he truly became the new Magneto.
“I think Scott’s route to where he is now was taken a step at a time. I don’t think he’s Magneto, even now. I think there’s still a sliver of idealism in him — which is something I explore in “Consequences.”
You’re right to bring up the concept of possession though — how much is Scott to blame for it? I’ve said that Logan considers he really is, as he was of his right mind as he went along that road. But, once he’s started, he’s definitely being influenced. That Scott held himself together for as long as he did is no small thing.”
I believe Cyke was right but what does Gillen think about Scott’s stance in AvX?
“Scott was right in many ways. However it’s also worth stressing — and I suspect this is the thing which most pro-Scott advocates are skirting over — is that if we did everything like Scott said, the Earth would have been destroyed. Hope wasn’t ready. She was ready eventually but that required time.
(That said, there’s also the reading that Hope was always fine and could have dealt with it if she had too. I think that’s a bit of a reach — but we’ll never know.)
Scott’s position was always a fatalistic, providence-heavy one. The Avengers’ resistance was all part of the universal plan. Scott taking the Phoenix for as long as he did allowed Hope to be ready. It all worked out.
That’s the thing which makes Scott’s mono-vision more questionable, for me. By believing it all worked out in the end does mean you remove the possibility that it could have worked out in a better way.
Though I suppose when you’ve killed your mentor and father figure, that’s a question you may want to avoid for as long as possible.”
Gillen is taking over Iron Man with Greg Land and said Tony’s role in AvX Consequenceswill foreshadow what he’s had planned for the Armored Avenger.
Gillen is also launching a new Young Avengers with Jamie McKelvie and said he will use a member of the New/Young X-Men team.
Indestructible Hulk #1 smashes into the Marvel Now on November 14th. Mark Waid and Leinil Yu take the Green Goliath in a new direction – as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D?
“The reasons why he is–and exactly the deal he cut to become–an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a mystery that will build out as the story goes,” Waid teased on Marvel.com.
How do you bring a freshness to an iconic character for new readers while paying homage to the rich past?
“On the surface of it, its hard. It’s a less human, street-level book, so all the things that worked in Daredevil were harder to duplicate in Hulk. The commonality in the two books is that Bruce Banner, much like Matt Murdock, reaches a point in his life where he realizes the things he’s been doing have not been working. ”
“What Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did back in the day was they created the world’s first persecuted super hero in the Hulk. Bruce Banner was the seminal morose, tortured super hero. 50 years later, you can go to a comic shop, pick up a random stack of super hero comics, and most of them will probably feature tortured super heroes,” Waid explained.
Indestructible Hulk #3 courtesy Marvel
Bruce Banner will take command in an effort become known as a man of science instead of the “Hulk Smash” guy.
“Banner realized that the Hulk is not something he can stop. It’s something he can control to a degree, but “Hulk happens,” as he puts it. So when he comes out, S.H.I.E.L.D. points him where they want him to go. Think of him as a cannon, not a bomb.”
Maria Hill will be Banner’s handler.
“S.H.I.E.L.D. has what they believe is a fairly tight leash on the Hulk, but they’re mistaken. That’s part of the fun of writing Maria Hill and Bruce Banner, they both have different perspectives on the situation.”
What about those shots of the Hulk in armor? Waid says that’s really intended for Bruce. And as for that floating robot head – who looks like Widget of Excalibur? He’s part of the leash S.H.I.E.L.D. thinks they have on the Hulk.
Maid said to expect Hulk to fight Attuma, Frost Giants, a new version of Quintronic Man and a big bad secretly behind the upcoming year’s mystery.
In case you missed an earlier interview – I loved what Waid said about Hulk being his favorite character in The Avengers movie.
“I can watch the Hulk ragdoll Loki all day.”
Indestructible Hulk hits November 14th. Here’s the entire liveblog on Marvel.com.
Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin in Iron Man 3 courtey Marvel
One of Iron Man’s greatest enemies finally appears on the big screen and shreds Tony Stark’s world. The first trailer for Iron Man 3 is online and the tone is definitely darker. Ben Kingsley portrays the Mandarin. Tony’s seaside mansion is blown up. Tony’s suits of armor blow up. Tony may even lose Pepper Potts (Gwynneth Paltrow.)
In the comic books the Mandarin was an child who discovered an alien spaceship, learned to master the science and tech on board, and kept the ten rings of various powers as his weapons. In the first Iron Man film Tony was kidnapped by a terrorist organizaton called the Ten Rings. There is a clear shot of the ten rings worn by Kingsley.
Iron Man Annual #1 courtesy Marvel.com
I love Kingsley’s line “some people call me a terrorist. I consider myself a teacher. Lesson number one. Heroes. There is no such thing.”
The trailer also features a smirking Guy Pearce as scientist Aldrich Killian who develops the Extremis and sells it to terrorists and the Iron Patriot armor.
What part of the trailer has you most excited for Iron Man 3?
