Fear Itself The Fearless #12 by Art Adams courtesy Marvel and Comic Book Resources Exclusive First
I’ve been raving about Fear Itself: The Fearless. The action packed series stars Valkyrie in a race with Sin to recover mystical hammers. The Norse warrior woman defied the Avengers in search to recover the Asgardian artifacts. The legendary Art Adams provides stunning covers for the limited series.
I was thrilled to see two preview images in this week’s Axel in Charge column on Comic Book Resources. Valkyrie is ready to strike on the cover to the final issue and another image shows Storm and Danielle Moonstar (back in her Valkyrie form) confronting Val with a hammer ready to strike.
When a fan asked about Art Adams upcoming work with Marvel, Editor in Chief Axel Alonso responded:
Fear Itself The Fearless preview cover courtesy Marvel
“Fingers crossed we can find time for him to draw a story in “AvX: Versus.” I mean, how cool would that be?
Seriously cool! Adams starts creating covers for Secret Avengers, also featuring Valkyrie, next month.
AP Photo/Joel Ryan. Daniel Craig and the new Bond girls.
The Daniel Craig James Bond movies have been pretty serious with no sexual themed surnames for his leading ladies. The series that’s given the world Pussy Galore, Octopussy, Kissy Suzuki, Plenty O’Toole, Xenia Onnatop, and Holly Goodhead, that’s Dr. Holly Goodhead – may finally be loosening up and have little fun.
Naomie Harris – who is not playing the new Miss Moneypenny – plays an MI6 field agent named Eve in Skyfall. Harris was questioned about the secrecy of her character’s surname in an interview with STV:
“Will her name make people laugh? Um, yes. Yes, I suppose it will.”
Naomie Harris discussed how she prepared for the physical challenges of the role.
“Eve sees herself as Bond’s equal and she’s very active. I get to do lots of fighting and driving and stunt work and I’ve been training on the gun range most days. It’s been a lot of hard work. My body’s completely changed. I’ve got muscles where I never knew it was possible to have muscles, which is all very exciting. I’m very happy about that.”
I loved Naomie Harris as Selina in Danny Boyle’s neo-zombie film 28 Days Later. Harris proved she can handle herself with a butcher knife in that flick.
Back to Bond girl names – Gemma Arterton played Agent Fields in Quantum of Solace (she deserved more screen time!) Agent Fields was given the first name of Strawberry in the film credits as a gag.
DC Comics earned GLAAD Media Awards Best Comic Book Nominations for Secret Six and Batwoman. Kate Kane is the most high profile lesbian character that defies labels and stars in her own critically acclaimed Batwoman series. Scandal Savage and her girlfriend Knockout are the anti-heroines of Secret Six by superstar writer Gail Simone.
Teen Titans #3 from DC Comics. Art by Brett Booth.
There’s a new out kid in town to watch out for who wears his signature purple and attitude proudly. Miguel Jose Barragan code name Bunker is a Mexican teen wielding purple force field bricks. He debuted in the New 52 Teen Titans.
“If the comic book industry doesn’t create another white, straight male superhero, that will be ok,” Titans writer Scott Lobdell says in the latest Out magazine.
Bunker joins established young heroes Red Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, a revamped Solstice and Skitter, a new creation. The Titans are currently fighting Superboy.
“It never entered my head that people would object to the color scheme of his outfit based on whether or not he was homosexual,” says Lobdell of Bunker’s signature color and criticism of his flamboyance. Miguel does refer to his own ‘cute butt’ when he first appeared.
When asked about Bunker’s possible love interests? “He has love in his past and in his future,” Lobdell says, “and will have a healthy relationship life as all the other characters in the book.”
Bunker versus Superboy in Teen Titans by Brett Booth courtesy DC Comics The Source
If you’re reading this great title you know that there’s no time for romance as the kids are trying to survive a twisted version of Superboy and the mysterious organization N.O.W.H.E.R.E. that’s hunting down metahuman teens across the DC Universe.
Scott Lobdell has a history of creating compelling adventures with diverse young characters and groundbreaking stories. He had an epic Uncanny X-Men run in the 90’s and created Generation X – including Monet St. Croix who now stars in GLAAD nominated title X-Factor. M is not a lesbian. M is a diva.
Lobdell wrote the breakthrough Alpha Flight issue in 1992 when Northstar came out after years of being in the comic book closet due to editorial policy. The Canadian mutant is rejoining the X-Men later this year.
Writer Marjorie Liu and Artist Mike Perkins are the new creative team on Astonishing X-Men starting in March. Northstar and Karma are in their lineup. I’ve posted before about why Northstar should rejoin the X-Men now that Alpha Flight is ending. Jean-Paul Baubier and boyfriend Kyle’s relationship was tested in Alpha Flight and the tension isn’t over as the couple move to Westchester. I’m hoping Jean-Paul will be a teacher at the Jean Grey School. You can read about Liu and Perkins take on Northstar in this post.
Karma preview art by Mike Perkins courtesy Marvel and Comics Newsarama
Karma was a founding member of the New Mutants. She has the mutant power to possess the minds of other people or animals. Xi’an (pronounced Shan) Coy Mahn was born in Vietnam. During the Mekanix series Karma and Kitty Pryde reunited at the University of Chicago. This is when Xian came out as a lesbian, confessed her for Kitty but Kitty’s heart belongs to Colossus. (OK I know they broke up but they’re soul mates.)
Karma eventually returned to the Xavier Institute as their librarian and became a mentor to Anole, a young gay mutant boy. When the X-Men were based in San Francisco Xi’an’s leg was injured in battle, had to be amputated and replaced with a prosthetic. It will be exciting to see Karma on the Astonishing team and perhaps have a love interest.
Anole (Victor Borkowski) is a young mutant with an appearance like the reptile he’s named after. Vic’s powers include wall crawling and adaptive camouflage. Vic was a student at Xavier’s then regrouped with the X-Men in San Francisco and decided to attend Wolverine’s new Jean Grey School. Anole is among the student cast of Wolverine and the X-Men. Anole and Rockslide’s (Santo is straight with a mutant body made of rocks) friendship continues to be hilarious and inspiring. You can follow Victor on Twitter @_Anole_.
Goodbye to a great character actor. Ian Abercrombie died Thursday at age 77. I absolutely love Seinfeld. Abercrombie played Elaine’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) boss Mr. Pitt for only seven episodes but what an impact. The rich eccentric ate this candy bars with a knife and fork and was obsessive over Elaine finding him perfect pair of white socks.
Abercrombie has several roles comic book and science fiction fans might remember: Alfred, yes that one, on the short-lived WB Birds of Prey series, two episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, Army of Darkness, The Flash, Babylon 5 and Twin Peaks. I remember he played an assassin hunting Sunnydale’s finest and Faith on Buffy, The Vampire Slayer.
Abercrombie’s voice credits included Ganthet on Green Lantern, Chancellor Palpatine on The Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and the recent movie Rango. For his complete biography here’s his IMDB link. Thanks for the great performances.
Howard Stark was introduced a flying car in Captain America: The First Avenger. His son Tony will be cruising in what Collider reports as an Acura 2012 Stark Industries Super Car in Marvel’s The Avengers.
Even a Thunder God may get jealous of Iron Man’s wheels. This sweet ride comes with night vision bulletproof tires and anti-ballistic shielding body panels.
courtesy Collider
The Stark Industries creation has a $9 million + price tag but gets 234 mpg. For more exclusive photos and complete features visit this Collider link. Marvel’s The Avengers premieres May 5th.
AP Photo/Joel Ryan. Daniel Craig and the new Bond girls.
Daniel Craig has said he wants to go back to classic elements of 007 for the next James Bond movie Skyfall. In previous interviews he cited From Russia, With Love (Sean Connery’s second and my personal favorite) and Live and Let Die (Roger Moore’s first) as two classics he wanted to influence the new film.
Craig talks about classic Bond in a new interview with Hollywood Outbreak.
Here are some highlights:
“I think when Saltzman and Broccoli kick-started these movies, cast Sean Connery, spent the money they did, took the books – which are great had great stories… There was a huge amount of impetuous. Sean Connery has a lot to do with that.”
“They always made them about a family experience. They made them about going to your first movie as a child… ‘I remember my first Bond movie‘.”
“They continue to put the money on the screen. Whatever has happened, however good or bad [the movies] may be in the past, they’ve always put the money up there and have always had the ability to entertain. Barbara [Broccoli] and Michael [G. Wilson] are total lovers of this franchise and protect it fiercely and continue to do exactly the same thing as their father did.”
Thanks to MI6 for the story and their excellent coverage of all things Bond past and present.
My first Bond movie? Moonraker. Going to James Bond movies with my dad became a big tradition.
My dad’s favorite moments:
The fake horse’s ass lifting up to reveal a mini jet in the pre-credit sequence to Octopussy.
In A View to A Kill May Day (Grace Jones) dumping a man out of an airship then Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) saying “doesn’t anybody else want to drop out?”
Teen Titans is a blast. Engaging story. Dynamic Art. Action. Humor. FUN. I love deep dark mysteries and books that twist my mind and make me think. The new Teen Titans is a pure joy to read and it’s a fun, fast paced escape.
Scott Lobdell’s been building up to this showdown between the teens and Superboy and issue #5 delivers a kinetic, character building battle. There’s a moment between Tim Drake and Superboy demonstrating what heroism is all about. The new character Bunker and revamped Solstice are great elements in the team’s chemistry. The action builds to a conclusion that has me eager for the next issue of Superboy and Teen Titans.
