Avengers Vs. X-Men #1 This is the it! Earth’s Mightiest Heroes against the Children of the Atom with the fate of the universe hanging in the balance. The Phoenix Force is speeding to Earth. Cyclops and Captain America clash over how to respond and two teams go to war.
Wolverine and the X-Men #8 A Beast Vs. The Beast! One of Logan’s best friends in a feral furious showdown with his greatest enemy!
Fear Itself: The Fearless #12 Heroes defeated. The Serpent’s greatest warrior set to unleash her vengeance. Valkyrie’s world tour of the Marvel Universe leads to this final showdown with Sin.
Brilliant #3 Seattle college kids cracked the secret of superpowers. Will one of them abuse his new power a forsake his friends. This book is a unique take on brainiacs, the birth of powers and how heroes and villains are spawned.
Archie Meets Kiss trade paperback A spell backfires unleashing monsters on Riverdale. Rock and Roll legends team up with the Archie gang to save the town in a supernatural showdown.
Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, C.B. Cebulski at Emerald City Comicon, ComicsBlend.com
The most anticipated panel for me at Emerald City Comicon was Marvel AvX featuring Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction, two of the writers on the epic series, and C.B. Cebulski were in Seattle’s big event just days before #1 launched.
Here are highlights:
Will Hulk and the Juggernaut fight? (I’m assuming the fan meant Colossus)
“Yes in issue #5,” responded Fraction.
Brubaker said that issues one through five, which he called “AvX‘s’ first act,” would normally be considered an entire event by most readers, and the remaining issues would be two years’ worth of stories for most publishers. Fraction added that issue five is so big, it feels like an ending, but it’s not — “There’s seven more issues after that.”
Avengers Vs X-Men #2 courtesy Marvel
Fraction followed up, “In issue #6, (Jonathan)Hickman has written Colossus as you’ve never seen him before.” (This will affect Peter and Kitty – see this previous post.)
The next fan asked Fraction if he had been planting seeds for AvX as far back as his Uncanny X-Men run, as there appears to be a connection between the them. Fraction said the connection was intentional. During an editorial retreat many years ago, when they talked about Second Coming, those attending decided it was a good idea for characters with Phoenix fragments to lose them in that time. He noted that when he was writing his earliest Uncanny stories where he has the Phoenix come to Emma and say, “Get ready,” he knew it would make him look like a “genius” in a few years.
“Who came up with Hope?” Brubaker said he believes it was Joe [Quesada], but no one on the dais could say for certain. They explained that the way ideas are batted around at editorial retreats, everything feels shared. Brubaker did say he distinctly remembered Joe talking about a scene that was to take place at the end of Second Coming where Emma was going to be holding the baby and realize it was Jean, but they didn’t end up using that or going in that direction. Fraction said that Axel [Alonso] was a big proponent of that idea. Brubaker mentioned how he recalled the inception of AvX taking place five to six years ago with Jeph [Loeb] and Axel pushing for the idea.
Will the Young Avengers appear?
“The Young Avengers are there, but not necessarily as the ‘Young Avengers,'”
“Young Avengers fans will be happy in the coming months,” Cebulski added. (Insert my personal joy here!)
On Tuesday, April 3, be among the first to see the first salvo of Avengers VS. X-Men! Over 1,100 stores worldwide will be participating in Avengers VS. X-Men early release parties, and some of them will host your favorite Marvel creators!
Participating comic shops with Avengers or X-Men-themed exclusive mini posters, buttons, variants, lithographs and more, but the only way to get them is to be there!
Showing my Mutant Pride with Emma Frost at ECCC, ComicsBlend.com
I will be at my neighborhood shop, Zanadu Comics, in downtown Seattle! There even have a special deal from 6-8pm, here’s a link to their Facebook page. I’m proud to say that Zanadu stands with the X-Men!
Here’s the link of stores hosting AvX launch parties worldwide courtesy of Marvel.com. Have fun, enjoy AvX and thanks for supporting your local comic shop!
Tony Stark breaks it down for Loki is a new tv spot for Marvel’s The Avengers. Tony’s ‘head count’ is a clever summary of his team mixed with action packed scenes and closer looks at Loki’s army.
Spinoff Online makes a great theory that these minions could be the Disir, exile Valkyries from Asgard.
A fan asked if AVX will reference the old X-Men vs. Avengers series. The short answer from the panel is..no.
Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, C.B. Cebulski at Emerald City Comicon, ComicsBlend.com
Matt Fraction recalled reading the original series when it first came out and said how it didn’t “fulfill” him as a Marvel fan.
“It was not what I wanted it to be. There’s a part of me that — the entire time I’m doing AvX — has been like ‘Do right by yourself as a nine year-old. Make this the book you [would] have wanted to see.’
“So you know what happens in this issue? The Avengers fight the X-Men.
“You know what happens in the next issue? The Avengers fight the X-Men.
“After that, guess what? The Avengers fight the X-Men!”
And the audience erupted with laughter and applause.
Hulk helped create the Avengers (thanks to Loki’s meddling) but didn’t stick around. When Marvel’s The Avengers hits the big screen the Green Goliath will be fighting with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes this May. Hulk Smash Avengers hits comic book stores that month too. The 5 part series will feature different teams telling tales of the big guy and his odd relationship with the team. Joe Casey and Max Fiumura reveal an untold tale of a clash between Hulk and the Avengers in issue two. Casey knows his continuity history and revealed when this story happens to Marvel.com.
“This story fits in very specifically with Avengers continuity, right between issues #182 and #183,” he says. “For anyone who’s as obsessive about their Avengers continuity as I am, they would know that those were the members that would be hanging around the mansion at that point. Captain America’s in there, too, but there’s a reason why he’s not directly involved in going after The Hulk.”
Hulk Smash Avengers #2 courtesy Marvel.com
“Like I said, I can be a nut about Avengers continuity, so I wanted to make sure this story fit perfectly into the timeline of a period that’s probably my favorite run of Avengers comics, the Michelinie/Byrne issues from the late 1970s,” he notes. “Those are the comics that really hooked me when I was a kid, so to find a way to fit our story into that continuity was extremely cool.”
For his entire interview and more awesome preview art by Fiumura here’s the Marvel link.
Geek confession: I had a subscription for the Avengers in the awesome Micheline/Byrne run and could kick myself for not saving them!
For an awesome retro X-Men tale by Casey – check out his Children of the Atom series with artist Steve Rude. Casey is appearing at Emerald City Comicon in Seattle this weekend.
Tom Hiddleston as Loki & Chris Hemsworth as Thor in Thor courtesy Marvel
Not only is Seattle comic book cool because we’re the home of Emerald City Comicon, Ed Brubaker, Fantagraphics and Soundgarden (their first song in 15 years will be featured in Marvel’s The Avengers!) but we have the Seattle International Film Festival.
SIFF Cinema is giving Avengers fans their own heroic festival to get caught up on the super team’s solo adventures. The Avengers Assemble series is April 30th May 4th at SIFF Cinema Uptown. You can see The Incredible Hulk, an Iron Man Double Feature, Thor in 3D and Captain America: The First Avenger in 3D.
And don’t forget the The International Film Festival starts May 17th.
Avengers Vs. X-Men #1 This is the it! Earth’s Mightiest Heroes against the Children of the Atom with the fate of the universe hanging in the balance. The Phoenix Force is speeding to Earth. Cyclops and Captain America clash over how to respond and two teams go to war.
