Captain Marvel vs. Captain Marvel? Former Captain Monica Rambeau is back in Captain Marvel #7 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Dexter Soy in November. Is she Carol’s friend or foe?
Avengers #227 courtesy Marvel
Ms. Marvel recently was promoted to Captain Marvel but it was New Orleans Harbor Patrol officer Rambeau who was the first female Captain Marvel. Monica was Cap back in the Roger Stern era of the Avengers (Under Siege is epic!) and later took the code name Photon, appeared in Next Wave and Marvel Divas. While Mar-Vell and Carol’s powers were of Kree origin, Monica’s powers were created by a human scientist.
By Editor
Thanks to Comics Newsarama for the early November solicits from Marvel.
One of the big topics at GeekGirlCon in Seattle this past weekend was the lack of female comic book writers and lead characters. Somebody is listening. This week two creative announcements should geek girls and (any fan of great writing and characters) celebrating.
Marvel Comics revealed Kelly Sue DeConnick will be the new writer on Avengers Assemble. This a newer comic book designed to appeal to fans of the blockbuster movie.
“These are the AC/DC Avengers. When I saw the movie, I managed to keep in together until Iron Man came onscreen and Back in Black blared. I bounced up and down in my chair. That’s the moment I’m writing for,” declares DeConnick.
DeConnick will be the first female writer on an Avengers title.
“I’m very interested in making sure women knowing that wanting to work in this industry is not peculiar. There is not anything in heroism or sci-fi that is exclusively masculine. The hero ideal is as important to my daughter as it is to my son. But I don’t want to represent all women in comics…particularly because I blow things sometimes!” says DeConnick.
For longtime Executive Editor it’s about having the right writer on Marvel’s biggest franchise.
“It’s a nice factoid, but I didn’t hire a woman to write Avengers, I hired Kelly Sue to write Avengers for the same reasons I’ve hired and will continue to hire writers,” said Brevoort
DeConnick will add Spider-Woman and Captain Marvel to the team. Last month Ms. Marvel was promoted to Captain in a brand new book written by DeConnick too. Captain Marvel #1 was a sold out smash.
Journey Into Mystery #646 courtesy Marvel
Marvel made another announcement this week. Kathyrn Immonen will take over writing Journey Into Mysterywith issue #646. Lady Sif will be the new lead character of this book set in the Thor universe. Kid Loki was the previous lead character. Lady Sif is an Asgardian warrior and Thor’s great love.
“We talked at length as far as what her story could be, and it came down to a single question: What does she want? For Sif, what she wants above all is to be a better warrior. How far would she go for that? She makes some terrible decisions and puts a lot of people in peril,” Immonen spoke of her protagonist.
At GeekGirlCon 2012 there were a few geek gals in Thor costumes. Maybe next year we’ll see a Lady Sif or the new Captain Marvel?
Two of the biggest success stories celebrated at the con were Batwoman and Wonder Woman. Along with Batgirl these three DC Comics books starring female leads are solid sellers which could lead to more female driven books. These two iconic heroines are joining forces. Wonder Woman guest stars in this week’s Batwoman #12.
Batwoman #12 courtesy DC Comics
After attending GeekGirlCon I thought this week’s announcements were ironic and inspiring. The big publishers appear to be listening to the fans.
Avengers Vs. X-Men #10 Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are cornered. Is Hope’s last hope joining forces with the Scarlet Witch? Is the mutant messiah/chaos magic alliance more dangerous than the Phoenix Force?
Before Watchmen: Rorschach #1 The back story of the vicious vigilante. Brian Azzarello takes on the dark past and reveals what made Rorschach the ruthless anti-hero he became.
Captain Marvel #2 Carol Danvers soars as the new Captain (#1 was a sold out smash!) but her past is coming back to challenge her. What is the Banshee Squadron?
Fatale #7 Cults, sex, drugs and killings in 1970’s Los Angeles. Demonic secrets stalk the heroine Josephine into her new life as the second arc of horror/crime comic continues.
The Walking Dead #101The last issue was one of the shocking and brutal moments of the series. How do the survivors go on when the heart of group has been sadistically ripped out of them?
Kelly Sue DeConnick and Stefano Caselli are the new creative team on Avengers Assemble. Spider-Woman and the new Captain Marvel are joining up too. DeConnick and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort talked with Marvel.com about new members and tone of the movie-friendly title.
“These are the AC/DC Avengers. When I saw the movie, I managed to keep in together until Iron Man came onscreen and Back in Black blared. I bounced up and down in my chair. That’s the moment I’m writing for,” Kelly Sue DeConnick said.
“These will be tight ‘get in, get out’ adventures, focused mostly on the classic, ‘public’ Avengers from the movie, drawing in other characters as it demands. Big impact.” – Tom Brevoort added.
The inclusion of Spider-Woman on the teaser image sparked excitement for a bigger role…movie role…for Jessica in the Avengers sequel.
“I really really like Jessica Drew. I like how crazy and broken she is. She’s a character I really wanted to write,” DeConnick revealed.
“I don’t ever want to be in direct competition with Brian Michael Bendis. I might be able to beat him up, that’s possible. We’re different writers with different takes. We do have a similar sense of humor and love for banter-y dialogue. I have been a fan of Brian’s for many years long before I knew him. But I’m writing my Avengers book,” DeConnick said of following Bendis.
“The first arc is kind of an Amazing Race thing where the Avengers are teaming up and competing with each other. Spider-Woman is with Hulk and Thor with Iron Man,” DeConnick said of her initial story.
DeConnick just relaunched Ms. Marvel as the new Captain Marvel and now becomes the first female writer on an Avengers title.
“I’m very interested in making sure women knowing that wanting to work in this industry is not peculiar. There is not anything in heroism or sci fi that is exclusively masculine. The hero ideal is as important to my daughter as it is to my son. But I don’t want to represent all women in comics…particularly because I blow things sometimes!” DeConnick said.
“If Cap or Thor or Hulk are there, you can have Quasar or Machine Man or Triathlon standing next to them in context. They may not be in the movies now, but wait until Avengers 9!” – Tom Brevoort said of upcoming guest stars.
For the entire livelog here’s the Marvel.com link.
After a week of reveals the Marvel tease machine cranked back up with a new image that sparks a ton of speculation over the future of the Avengers and which new hero may join an Avengers 2 sequel.
This Marvel.com teaser looks like Kelly Sue DeConnick (Captain Marvel) and Stefano Caselli are taking over Avengers Assemble in November. This is the “movie friendly version” of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes book.
Could this be a sign that Spider-Woman may join the lineup in the Avengers 2 sequel or series being developed by Joss Whedon?
Marvel’s ultimate boy scout in the hands of the writer known for chronicling the bad boys and gals of Marvel. Rick Remender (Punisher, Venom, Uncanny X-Force, Secret Avengers) is launching a brand new Captain America #1 this November with legendary John Romita Jr. Remender is following Ed Brubaker’s acclaimed and extensive run. The writer tells Marvel.com his own history with the Sentinel of Liberty.
“SECRET WARS is what brought me into comic books. That was my first contact with Cap. That led me into his ongoing series, around #294-295 when The Red Skull and his daughters were hatching their big plot against Steve. That was great stuff; a lot of interesting stuff to get pulled into. There was plenty of history there and how they were handling the Red Skull and Captain America relationship—I remember being very grabbed by that. A few issues later Captain Britain showed up and that’s when I started falling in love with that character, too.”
What does Cap stand for?
“Tenacity. The character, in my head, was always about [that at] his core. He never gives up, he never quits. He’s a role model. That’s a term that comes a little bit clichéd and trite I suppose, but that’s sort of the beauty of who he is. He’s a patriotic soldier directed by a personal ethical compass, belief in the American dream and faith in his fellow man. At the same time we’ve seen that he’s very clever and roguish, quick with the drill comment on occasion, but he’s also a leader at the core of it. That was something that I definitely wanted to dig into when I took on the new series and we will be quite a bit.”
Expect a change in tone with Remender. While Ed Brubaker focused on SHIELD and spies, Remender will turn up the sci-fi factor.
“It’s almost like “Kirby Sci-Fi Indiana Jones.” High adventure dipped in sci-fi spy fantasy with heavy focus on the man under the suit. Steve’s fabric and his relationships drive our story and the action is the byproduct. Tonally it’s very serious. You want to make sure the characters go up against things that feel like real threats and [put] them into interesting situations. It’s a lot less of the connection with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the spy work and more big high adventure super hero stuff with sci-fi that I tend to lean into. It’s obviously a big challenge following a beloved run like Ed’s. I guess that’s what was also appealing because it was a challenge; it wasn’t safe. You’re working with new people.”
Uncanny Avengers #1 courtesy Marvel
Remender is also writing the flagship Marvel NOW! relaunch book Uncanny Avengers and says expect a crossover.
“There will be a lot of new characters cross pollinating [between the two books]. The first 10 issues of each are going to be their own thing—you want to get that train out of the station and really solidify what the books are about and what’s going on in them. Then we’ll start to see characters from one pop up in the other and a little more cross pollination. I spent some time on the phone with Jason Aaron about how to incorporate some of his new THOR: GOD OF THUNDER ideas in UNCANNY AVENGERS as well, and I want to do the same with Jonathan Hickman and I know Kieron Gillen and I will talk, too. We’ll try and do our very best to make it cohesive and not like it’s a bold new direction where everyone is doing their own thing. We want it to feel like a bold new direction where everyone is doing their own thing and swapping toys out, trying to build something that feels cohesive because that’s such an important part of the shared universe experience.”
Remender tells IFanboy that part of the sci-fi focus will be bringing back Arnim Zola and sending Cap to Dimension Z?
“One of the mandates I have to myself is, I don’t want to touch the World War II stuff. I think that that has been done, now, and it’s been done perfectly. To go back and to keep focusing on Cap in World War II at this point, again, would be following too closely to what Ed has already done. What I’m doing is spending a lot of time in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the 20s and 30s, showing Steve grow up. The first arc is 10 issues, and it’s called “Dimension Z.”
I don’t want to give away too much, but a big portion of it is Cap dealing with Arnim Zola in Dimension Z. I’m trying to take Zola and do with him, what we did with Apocalypse over in Uncanny X-Force. Where we take what’s there, re-imagine it, build a new mythology and really expand Zola, and try and build Zola into a very, very big and important character.
The other half of it is going to be a lot of flashbacks to a young Steve Rogers growing up in Depression-era Lower East Side, and getting to know his family and his friends, and how this 98-pound weakling became such a tenacious, strong person; focus on the fiber and the integrity of who he is, and really develop that for the first time.”
Op/Ed: Brubaker’s run is beloved. The Winter Soldier is what got me buying Cap again. The writer taking on Cap probably has the biggest challenge in the Marvel NOW! relaunch. Remender is one of the most ambitious and fearless writers out there (Hello –Dark Angel Saga) so I’m excited to see where he’ll take Steve.
For the entire interview here’s the Marvel.com link.
Captain America (under the guidance of writer Brian Michael Bendis) attempts to reconvene the Illuminati in order to stop the Phoenix Force in New Avengers #29. A secret group (Tony Stark, Namor, Doctor Strange, Reed Richards, Professor X and Black Bolt. Black Panther declined) went on covert missions. Bendis revealed the secret history of his this covert team had saved Earth in critical points of Marvel history. The group eventually disbanded.
Cap hopes this Illuminati reunion might lead to the end of Avengers vs. X-Men. What I love about this tie-in issue is how it goes right into the minds and weary hearts of the heroes caught up in this epic battle. Bendis really captures what I expected Professor Xavier to be feeling. This a father figure anguishing over what his children are doing and what he must do to stop them. Bendis creates great moments for Professor X and Reed Richards who questions Cap’s desire to stop the “good work” of the Phoenix Five.
The heart of the story is Cap and his relationship with Namor. Will the Phoenix possessed ally show up and poses a great moment: can a lifelong friendship hope to defeat the cosmic power of the entity?
Artist Mike Deodato paints a somber portraits of beleaguered heroes. His shadowy art is perfect for the covert proceedings and the dark places these characters must go.
This issue takes me back to the first story featuring the secret group of heroes. Here’s a link to New Avengers: The Illuminati if you’d like to check it out.
