Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic have been deemed worthy to wield the power of THOR! Last week’s teaser sparked speculation. The new creative team is revealing their vision (and the cover to issue #1) for Thor: God of Thunder first to 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.”
Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises courtesy Warner Brothers
President Barack Obama gave Anne Hathaway a rave review after a star packed fundraiser screening of The Dark Knight Rises according to Deadline.
“She’s spectacular. I got to see Batman, and she was the best thing in it. That’s just my personal opinion,” the President said at the fundraiser co-hosted by Hathaway at the home of Harvey Weinstein.
Op/Ed: Best Supporting Actress Nomination for Hathaway as Selena Kyle? Although the crafty cat burglar is never referred to as Catwoman – here’s my take on Catwoman’s greatest cuts!
Archer & Armstrong #1The Valiant comeback continues as Obadiah Archer begins a quest to wipe out the ultimate evil. His target: the immortal Armstrong. The new origin of this unlikely heroic duo and their journey to uncover the dark history of the relaunched Valiant universe.
Batgirl #12 courtesy DC Comics
Batgirl #12Batgirl vs Batwoman!
Batman #12 The aftermath of the Court of Owls epic. Guest artist Becky Cloonan joins Scott Snyder for a stand-alone story of the girl who saved the Batman.
Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #2Inside the secret life of the world’s smartest man. Comic legend Len Wein returns to the epic he edited with Jae Lee at the top of his artistic game.
Daredevil Annual #1The Man Without Fear, Doctor Strange and Marvel’s strangest cosmic clan. Legendary Alan Davis brings back the ClanDestine to cross paths with Matt Murdock
Gambit #1The fan favorite X-Man is back to his criminal ways! Marvel’s ultimate thief and smooth talker is after a big score but it may end up biting him.
Kevin Keller #4Romantic hopes and hijinks at the London Olympics. Kevin reconnects with an old friend but will Veronica’s “help” hurt his chances?
The Massive #3 How can peace-loving pacifists hold on to their beliefs in dark new world where pirates rule the oceans and the civilized world is in ruins? The crew is on the run
The Mighty Thor #18 courtesy Marvel
The Mighty Thor #18 Can the God of Thunder and Kid Loki save the Nine Realms from a dark war? Everything Burns is Matt Fraction’s final Thor story with the legendary Alan Davis on art and crossing over into Journey Into Mystery.
New Avengers #29 The Illuminati are back! Some of the most powerful players in the Marvel Universe gathered in secret for years on covert missions – sometimes with dire results. In this Avengers vs X-Men tie-in the group gathers once again to see if they can defeat the Phoenix.
Update: Deadline is reporting that Fox denies is interested in a character rights swap.
Original story:
A street level vigilante in exchange for a massive alien and his cosmic herald? Daredevil for Galactus & Silver Surfer doesn’t sound like a fair trade if your role-playing but we’re talking film franchises here. Fox and Marvel are talking swap according to Variety.
Fox’s rights to Daredevil are ticking away. The studio has until October 10th to reboot Matt Murdock on the big screen or the rights to back to Marvel. Variety also reports Fox is talking with Joe Carnahan about directing a Daredevil reboot based on the Frank Miller era. According to the story Marvel will extend the deadline if Fox gives up two characters from the Fantastic Four universe: Galactus and Silver Surfer. Fox is working on a Fantastic Four reboot with Josh Trank (Chronicle.)
Fantastic Four #72 courtesy Marvel
What could this mean? Marvel wants to use cosmic level threats like Galactus and Silver Surfer in their upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film or Avengers sequel.
Geek Question: What about Annilius? The Fantastic Four villain wasn’t used in previous FF films and plays a key role in the formation of the modern Guardians of the Galaxy? Time will tell.
Op/Ed: I still dream of a Daredevil/Iron Fist/Luke Cage team up against the Hand on the big screen after three solo smashes. Kind of a Marvel Knights movie if you will.
Kieron Gillen and Greg Land leave Uncanny X-Men for Iron Man when Marvel NOW! relaunches the Armored Avenger. The writer tells Marvel.com why he left Utopia and Asgard (Journey Into Mystery) for the high-tech, globe-trotting world of playboy genius Tony Stark.
“It just seemed like an interesting way to mix things up a bit. It wasn’t just the fact that [Tony Stark is] such a tech hero, because beneath some of the stuff I’m doing in UNCANNY X-MEN there is a modicum of science even though I often fire it through quite a few filters. This is actually the first solo hero I’ve ever written. The THOR run really doesn’t count because it was a bit strange; every book I’ve written has been a sort of team book. Loki, abstractly, is the lead [of JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY] but in practice he isn’t and, on a larger scale, has gone 23 issues and hasn’t hit anybody. That’s not a traditional Marvel super hero. This is different, this is the iconic Avenger.”
When I started writing Wolverine in UNCANNY X-MEN, I called my mom once and told her what I do for a living and she said “Ohh, I fancy that Wolverine.” When you’re writing characters that members of your family fancy you’re in an interesting place and, in the case of Iron Man, that’s totally it.
When Marvel NOW! came around, I had reached a suitable place in UNCANNY X-MEN to move off of, and there were a variety of options with Iron Man [which sounded] really interesting. Of the major Marvel characters he’s the one most aligned to me philosophically, as in he’s a very straightforward person, and in terms of the heroes, there are none more forward than Tony; that’s what attracted me to [him].”
Invincible Iron Man #1 Extremis courtesy Marvel
Gillen reveals his grand scale plans for Tony Stark involve the women of Tony’s complicated life.
“Oh hell yeah. It’s actually a key part of my second theme. I’m going to explore Tony and his relationship with women. I’m interested in Tony’s selection of women in everything, from his mom, to Pepper, to the random people he’s sleeping with and everything that relates to them. He’s a complicated guy and he does bad things occasionally without thinking. Well, not [without] thinking exactly but he’s not always thinking about the right thing. He’s not the distracted genius but he always has something else going on.
Matt Fraction did a brilliant take on the corporate figure and his run is a defining arc, so I’m staying away from it. Tony is still a scientist and will still be working on the armor but it’s all about him going out into the world and the whole grail-knight comparison. All the traditional corporate motifs are there but they’re not the primary drive of the book. Tony will be in the armor a lot, he’ll be going out into the world.
Iron Man #1 by Greg Land, courtesy Marvel
The first five issues will be single stories that will share [both] a defining motif and a plot but it will be Iron Man facing new instances of technology and each is basically a new villain. Each issue will illuminate something about Tony and they’re all very different. Issue two is a lot like the Bruce Lee Kung-Fu Island story; it’s like a joust, it’s all about the knight imagery, essentially going to a tournament. Issue three is like a ninja story, Tony Stark trying to be a full-on stealth master, issue four is a horror story and issue five is something a little more romantic and scientific but I’m going to keep that one under wraps.
I really want to mix it up with single issue stories because I think that quite a few people are feeling the same way.Single issues are an exciting place to go and anyone can jump on with any of the first five issues, not just issue #1. [In] each of those issues I introduce Iron Man; I say something meaningful about a character that you may know already and I want it to be accessible and to pop. That’s the thing with Greg Land: his photorealistic style really pops and it’s a glamorous book in that way.
Gillen revealed he will be using Extremis, the creation of Warren Ellis, early in his run on Iron Man. The Extremis storyline is part of the basis for Iron Man 3 currently in production.
The new Iron Man team debuts this November. Matt Fraction is ending his long run on Invincible Iron Man with Salvador Larroca to take on the Fantastic Four.
For the entire interview here’s the Marvel.com link. By Editor
The GEEK will be celebrated and SHE has earned it! GeekGirlCon will recognize the contributions of women to geek culture. What would our culture be without Wonder Woman, Lt. Uhura or Batgirl? But what about the women behind the scenes creating the comics, books, movies, television and games? What about the women at the comic book shops and behind the consoles?
The first celebration of female geek in Seattle was a smash. The women behind GeekGirlCon are dreaming bigger with this year’s event. I asked Susie Rantz about what’s new for their second con.
“We sold out so quickly last year, so we moved into a bigger space that will allow more people can take part in the fun. The reaction to the convention last year was fantastic. People not only had a great time and got to meet their favorite writers and actors, but they made connections that bettered them as people. Companies and websites even launched as a result of GeekGirlCon.
“We want this year’s convention to build from those successes. For the second year, we have expanded our gaming and exhibitor hall. We now have a whole floor for tabletop and console gaming, as well as some really fun workshops. We also heard from convention-goers last year that they wanted more opportunities to network and connect with one another, so we added GeekGirlConnections, a room where people can plan their careers, network with women who work in their desired career fields, and learn about job opportunities that exist.
Finally, one of the things I find most exciting about GeekGirlCon is the fact that our convention truly reflects what our fans want. In the spring, we put out the call for panel submissions. Virtually every panel being offered at GeekGirlCon ’12 is a result of the amazing ideas submitted by fans — ideas like talking about how we discuss disabilities in pop culture and comics. That means every year, our convention could focus on different topics and fandoms.”
Whether on our second or 20th convention, we will remain true to our mission of supporting and celebrating women who love science, comics, technology, video games, and any other geeky topic.”
Batgirl #4 courtesy DC Comics
Returning guest Gail Simone blazed the trail with her runs on Birds of Prey, Secret Six and now Batgirl at DC Comics. 2012 has seen a number of comic book success stories championed by women. Ms. Marvel just got promoted to Captain Marvel with Kelly Sue DeConnick writing and the first issue sold out! Marjorie Liu’s Astonishing X-Men is a critical and commercial success and gained mainstream headlines for the gay wedding of Northstar. Womanthology demonstrated the true meaning of geek girl power. With these recent successes I asked this Susie is she felt this is a “breakthrough year” for women in comics?
Captain Marvel #1 courtesy Marvel.com
“It certain feels like women are making some significant breakthroughs in the comic book industry. Gail Simone is a fantastic leader in this field. Not only is she a great writer, but she stands up for and handles herself with so much grace. I think women are seeing what she’s been able to accomplish and realizing they can make that same future for themselves.
The success of Womanthology certainly shouldn’t go unnoticed, either. For those who don’t know a lot of about the project, Womanthology is a 350-page comic anthology created entirely by women, with all proceeds going to charity. The project was originally posted on Kickstarter, where the creators raised $109,000, making Womanthology the most successful comics project and 25th most successful Kickstarter of all time,” she continues.
Special Guest Renae De Liz is behind woman behind Womanthology. De Liz will be at the Seattle con to share how she did it on her own terms. I asked Rantz if the special guests and programming could inspire the next geek girl success story?
Womanthology courtesy IDW Publishing
“I sure hope so. We are not simply dedicated to celebrating geeky women and girls — but that is certainly one important piece of this convention. Of course, we want people to have fun! However, we also know there are a lot of people out there looking for ways to further dive into what they love and apply it to their careers, or simply explore hobbies in new ways.
The great podcast website Geekquality actually formed as a result of our convention last year. This year, instead of simply coming as attendees, they are presenting during a panel (“Geekquality Presents: Navigating Geekdom as an Outsider,” Saturday from 3:30 – 4:20 p.m.). This is just one example of the fire we hope to ignite among attendees. For others, it might be as simply as taking a class on programming, or volunteering as a mentor at your child’s school.
As I mentioned above, we did hear from a lot of attendees last year that they wanted more ways to learn how to break into various businesses or succeed in their desired career fields. And that is why we are so excited to have panels featuring women from EA and PopCap and BioWare, or others that talk about how to land technology jobs, like “Tech Jobs You Never Knew You Wanted” and A Career as a Lady Coder II: Getting the Job.” That’s also why we added the GeekGirlConnections room, which will be filled with people from NASA, SEOMoz, Dark Horse Comics, and other great companies.”
Power Girl before The New 52 makeover courtesy DC Comics
There have been costume changes to female comic book characters that still make them sexy but not blatant cheesecake. Ms. Marvel is now Captain Marvel and wears a flight suit instead of a one piece bathing suite, Power Girl’s hole in her chest is covered, Psylocke is no longer wearing a thong and heels. What do girl geeks think of these changes? Does how a heroine look matter?
“That’s funny you bring up Power Girl, as someone I follow on Twitter recently shared the cover of DC Comics’ Ame-Comi Power Girl book, where the hole returned! But I do think there are enough people speaking up for a more realistic version of “sexy” when it comes to female comic book characters. These voices have really made a dent and have forced the comic book industry make some corrections.
In fact, Kelly Thompson, a comic book fan and journalist, wrote a great article titled, “She Has No Head! – No, It’s Not Equal.” The article demonstrated how women were put in untenable poses and clothes. The article certainly could have made people defensive, but it was presented with clear examples — and the comments from all genders were positive.
You hear over and over from comic book publishers that they are marketing to men and boys because that is who buys their products. Yet, I read an article that quoted the owners of comic book store Comicopia, who said around “thirty-five to forty percent” of their customers were female. That is probably a shocking stat to a lot of people, because most assumed the figure might be more like 5 percent. I think women and girls are sometimes afraid to speak up and say, “We like these things too.” But they are finding their voices now, and are seeing there actually IS a community behind them, supporting them.”
Along with Gail Simone and Renae De Liz, a powerhouse group of writers, artists and entrepreneurs will meet that community:
Writer/producer Jane Espenson (Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Warehouse 13, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Once Upon a Time.)
Ashley Eckstein, voice of Ahsoka Tano on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and owner of fangirl gear site Her Universe.
Comic book writer Jen Van Meter (Hopeless Savages, Black Lightning: Year One, Black Cat.)
Comic book writer and novelist Greg Rucka (Gotham Central, Wonder Woman, Queen & Country, Whiteout, Stumptown, Elektra) is acclaimed for his portrayal of female heroes and will be featured in the panel Why Men Write Women Poorly and How to Get a Clue.
Geek culture is not just about iconic female characters. Celebrate the women who create and love it. Guys are welcome. I wouldn’t miss it. GeekGirlCon 2012 August 11 and 12 at the Conference Center in Seattle. Click here to buy passes.
The Cajun X-Man in his own series. Gambit #1 by James Asmus (Captain America & Bucky, Generation Hope)and Clay Mann (X-Men Legacy) debuts this week.
“This story will break Gambit out into the larger Marvel Universe. We are trying to make it as accessible to new fans as well as everyone who loved Gambit in the past,” teases Asmus.
Before he was a hero, Remy LeBeau was a master thief. Remy’s criminal past came back to haunt him – especially his connection to Mister Sinister and the Mutant Massacre.
“He’s one of the greatest thieves in the Marvel Universe,” Asmus continued and confirmed Rogue will play a part in the series.
This Geek’s Opinion: I’m a big fan of James Asmus and Clay Mann’s art. I love Gambit but as part of a team. Remy is currently part of X-Men Legacy, where’s a slow burning attraction building with Frenzy and the smooth talker shares a flirtation with Cecelia Reyes in Astonishing X-Men. Who knows which or if Remy will end up on a team in the Marvel NOW! relaunch. Gambit, Asmus, Mann – I’ll definitely give Remy’s new solo series a shot.
Black Panther in Fantastic Four #607 courtesy Marvel
Black Panther will survive and apparently thrive after Avengers vs X-Men!
“Black Panther is hugely important to Marvel NOW!” said Marvel Editor in Chief Axel Alonso,” and you’ll find out where in days to come!”
That’s was Alonso told a fan on this week’s Axel-in-Charge column on Comic Book Resources.
T’Challa recently returned to Wakanda in the pages of Fantastic Four and FF to reclaim his throne. The King gave refuge his fellow Avengers refuge in Wakanda and his nation and marriage is in shambles.
This declaration from Alonso is great news for Black Panther fans and fuels the excitement for a potential solo movie or having him join an Avengers movie.
