Amazing Spider-Man Ends of the Earth teaser courtesy Marvel.com
Amazing Spider-Man #682 Doctor Octopus holds the planet hostage in part one of Ends of the Earth. Spidey’s old foe unleashes a new Sinister Six but Peter Parker calls in the Avengers for backup!
Batman #7 Batman barely survived with his life and sanity after The Court of Owls first attack. The secret society is plotting their next assault. Secrets exposed in this issue will change Bruce’s world.
Last of the Greats Volume 1 Humanity’s last hope hates us. He’s the lone survivor of a superhero family and the only force that can save Earth from destruction but he despises humans. This is the Zanadu Book of the Month our group is reading.
Supercrooks #1 From the creative force behind Kick Ass and Marvel’s Civil War and Old Man Logan comes a a team of supervillains out to pull off one last big score in Europe.
Uncanny X-Men #9 An outer space prison break unleashes an army of alien criminals on Earth. The mastermind is a wicked cross between CP-3O and Hannibal Lecter. A disaster like this brings the X-Men and Avengers together for their last teamup before the Avengers Vs. X-Men war erupts.
Emma Frost may be the most sought after woman in the Marvel Universe but her heart belongs to Scott Summers. Namor, Tony Stark and Sebastian Shaw (once he regains his memory)all want the former White Queen.
Two of Marvel’s richest heroes are caught in battle in a new Avengers Vs X-Men #2 image by John Romita Jr. Emma and Tony Stark are trading quips and he’s taking a diamond packed punch.
I had predicted that an X-Woman might fall in AvX. I hope it’s not Emma. In an earlier teaser Emma was battling the Hulk. Never underestimate the former White Queen.
The gorgeous Question tattoo on the fabulous Margaret of our Comic Book Group! ComicsBlend.com
Seattle comic book fans from diverse backgrounds and with even more diverse tastes gathered for the third monthly gathering at Zanadu Comics Downtown to share and talk comic books, news and creators.
“Rachel Rising” by Terry Moore was our book of the month. (It’s like Oprah’s book club for geeks!) A girl crawls out of a ravine after being buried alive, tried to uncover what happened in that lost time. Dark, gritty art mixed with an eerie mystery reminds me of “Twin Peaks” and “The Killing.” The possible theme of a doppelgänger and that the heroine could be in the wrong body came from the group.
courtesy Terry Moore
“I like the way he writes women,” and “he does not overexplain,” are among the comments sparked an exploration of Terry Moore’s other work, “Strangers in Paradise”, “Echo” and “Love and Rockets.”
The 6 issues of “Rachel Rising” are being collected into a trade collection coming out later this month and a preview will be in this month’s issue of “The Walking Dead.”
“Moebius is a God,” said Casey as our panel leader took a moment to recognize the death of the influential French artist. This continued our exploration of European comics which are called albums not issues and are treated like fine art. Comic book artists in Europe are celebrated as national heroes and commissioned to create public art.
More of this week’s picks from our panel:
“Whispers in the Walls” is a beautiful and creepy graphic novel in the style of Guillermo Del Toro’s work mirroring a slow descent into madness.
“Corto Maltese” a trade collection of rare European pulp adventure strips by Hugo Pratt.
“Archie Meets KISS” was “weird, hard to get through but a fun different take on Archie but you have to commend the publisher for pushing boundaries with stories about gay characters, interracial romance and breast cancer.
Avengers Children's Crusade #7 by Jim Cheung courtesy Marvel.com
“Avengers Children’s Crusade” reached a finale about 3 years and was just beautiful art and storytelling and “incredible to feature two gay couples so prominently in the storyline.”
“Emitown” is an anime style collection from a Portland, Oregon based creator that’s semi autobiographical comics about Emi’s daily life. One panelist called it “a comic book about the cool girlfriend you wish you had.”
“Week in Hell” is an experimental comic book by a woman who locked herself in a New York City hotel room and “turned off her mind and drew.”
“Womanthology” is a mammoth book of stories featuring more than 140 female creators. It became a sensation before it was published. Women artists and writers have been underrepresented in the industry for a long time. One female editor took editor and raised the money on Kickstarter to secure the printing of these tales by published and brand new female creators.
“The Last of the Greats” is next month’s book of the month to read. Once there were seven heroes with the powers of Gods now there is only one to save an Earth on the brink of destruction.
Every month with this group I discover so many comic books beyond the traditional superhero type. While the latest with X-Men, Avengers and Batman is always in the discussion, it’s the sharing of never before experienced (new and old) creators, comics and themes that make this a great experience with fellow fans. Come join us next month!
A driven Captain America. A battered but defiant Cyclops. The latest AVX teaser image by John Romita Jr on Marvel focuses on the two generals in the war of superhero teams.
Cap will lead Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in an invasion of Utopia to seize Hope when he gives the order, “Take the beach.”
Two great leaders, master strategists, both devoted to their causes will clash. The big question is just how much will one leader sacrifice to win the war?
Why would Protector betray the Avengers? A killer image by the legendary Walt Simonson and an ominous teaser for Avengers #27 was revealed in the June solicitations on Marvel.com.
“With the events of AVX raging around them, an Avenger betrays the team”
The young Kree stands with guns blazing over a disassembled team. This awesome tease brings up a lot of question. How does this connect to teaser for Captain Marvel returning in June and the Secret Avengers #27 cover showing Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel and Protector. Or could this ‘betrayal’ be the plot twist I thought might happen: that the X-Men have a wild card inside Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
This is a clash of titans when Red Hulk and Colossus fight in Avengers Vs X-Men #2 by Jason Aaron and John Romita Jr. Marvel released this new promo art with a boastful quote from the RULK.
This Geek’s Opinion: I want Peter to smash the RULK into he’s only red blood on the shores of Utopia. One Hulk is enough. I’m not a fan of the Red Hulk. I’m not a fan of the new Colossal Juggernaut but I know it makes for good development for the character. If Peter and Kitty were together in wedded bliss then I’d probably be bored. Peter is on a dark path serving as the avatar for Cyttorak. It’s becoming easier and easier for Peter to summon the evil force to enhance his power. To defeat the Red Hulk, Peter may have to reach a dark level he may never come back from.
Marvel unveiled the first of six new movie posters for The Avengers. Captain America (Chris Evans) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) are ready for battle in this new design.
Steve Rogers and Clint Barton have had an often rocky relationship in the comics. The boy scout from an old-fashioned era and the hot-headed bad boy with a criminal past didn’t always connect. So far all we know is this cinematic Hawkeye is a good soldier and SHIELD operative that follows orders. Hopefully we learn more of this Clint’s back story on May 4th.
The Avengers director Joss Whedon says his original cut of the film was 3 hours which he trimmed down to a 2 hours and 15 minutes. What got cut out?
“There’s a lot of me that got cut out, but I think part of the process in a situation like this is you make the movie, you make your movie, then you remove yourself out of the equation. At some point you stop looking beyond The Avengers movie at your own stuff, you don’t look at that horizon you look at this movie and you go, ‘You know what, The Avengers are more important than I am so these things that I’m obsessed with aren’t necessarily moving the story forward, and therefore they are baggage.’ You can do that in a TV show, you can bring your baggage and sort of lay it out because you have a season to do it, but in a movie you actually have to remove yourself from the equation a bit and when I was finally able to do that, I saw a much clearer road to how to get the best experience for the audience.”
And again Whedon denies the appearance of two Marvel’s most infamous alien empires as Loki’s army.
“I will say only this: It is not the Kree or the Skrulls… Those two aliens are Marvel mainstays and have enormous backstories. They have a big life of their own that just could not be contained in a film where I already had seven movie stars… The Skrulls — they can shape change. That’s a whole thing. I’ve already got Loki. He’s got magic. Once you got magic along with your Iron Man and your Black Widow — it’s a real juggling act.”
