Matt Fraction Words. Mike Allred Art. Medusa. Ant-Man.
Fraction send Marvel’s First Family into space in Fantastic Four #1 with Mark Bagley. Fraction isn’t leaving the Earth defenseless. She-Hulk, She-Thing, Ant-Man and Medusa form the new FF in FF#1.
I love the Inhumans. Black Bolt and Medusa are one of Marvel’s most beautiful and tragic couples. Seeing how Medusa’s story in FF play out is just one of the tempting reasons to check out the book.
FF #1 courtesy Marvel
I love the story of Scott Lang too. This Ant-Man was destroyed by the Scarlet Witch in Avengers Disassembled then brought back to life to see his daughter killed in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade. Fraction previously teased how Lang will carry out a plan of revenge against Doctor Doom for Cassie’s demise.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m a She-Hulk fan and I’m curious about She-Thing but my heart belongs to Medusa.
FF #1 courtesy Marvel
Thanks to Marvel.com for these new images by the Astonishing Allred!
The Cast of X-Men: First Class courtesy Marvel.com
Hoping you will see an Avengers team up with the X-Men or Fantastic Four on the big screen – think again. Looks like Twentieth Century Fox is looking to hold on to the film rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchise and they’ve hired a comic book powerhouse to guide those franchises forward.
Writer Mark Millar has been hired as a creative consultant on the studio’s upcoming projects: Director James Mangold is now shooting The Wolverine with Hugh Jackman in a story based on the classic Chris Claremont/Frank Miller story of Logan in Japan. Matthew Vaughn is directing the X:Men First Class sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past. Josh Trank (Chronicle) is attached to direct a reboot of Fantastic Four.
Mark Millar co-created Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. Millar’s The Ultimates were a modern take on the Avengers and he created that line’s version of Nick Fury based on Samuel L. Jackson. You could say Marvel’s The Avengers were more like Millar’s Ultimates than old school Avengers. Millar also created Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four.
The Ultimates #1 courtesy Marvel
In main Marvel Universe Millar wrote the epic Civil War and Old Man Logan, Enemy of the State arcs of Wolverine.
Millar went on to create Millarworld titles Kick-Ass and Wanted – both went to become box office hits.
“As someone who has spent his entire life obsessed with both comic books and movies, this is essentially my dream gig as it’s a unique combination of both,” said Millar. “I spent ten years working at Marvel and am really happy with the work I did on the comic side of things so the idea of working with these characters now in a brand new medium is enormously exciting for me. I really like the Fox team, love this bold new direction they have for their franchises and am proud to be working alongside some of modern cinema’s biggest talents. James Mangold is incredible, Matthew Vaughn’s one of my closest pals and Josh Trank gave us, in my opinion, one of the greatest superhero movies of the last decade with ‘Chronicle.’ The invitation to join this crew was maybe the coolest phone call I’ve ever had.”
Op/Ed: Before directing X-Men: First Class, Matthew Vaughn directed the big screen version of Kick-Ass so if Millar has that kind of creative relationship with Vaughn then I’m excited to see how they will develop the X-franchise. I think Millar will guide the Fantastic Four reboot into darker territory instead of the most comedic tone of the previous films.
Matt Fraction and Mark Bagley take Marvel’s First Family into the Marvel NOW. Reed, Susan, Ben, Johnny and the kids take a cosmic vacation across space and time.
Marvel.com shared 4 images by Bagley from Fantastic Four #1.
Fantastic Four #1 courtesy Marvel
The first image looks like a new interpretation of the iconic moment when the four were first bombarded with cosmic rays. Ben Grimm is in human form but the kids are in the picture so…
Fantastic Four #1 courtesy Marvel
This must be a dream as we see Franklin wake up from a nightmare. A sign of things to come?
Fantastic Four #1 courtesy Marvel
The final shots show the family in what looks like prehistoric times complete with a dinosaur….always welcome in an adventure in time and space!
Fantastic Four #1 courtesy Marvel
Fantastic Four #1 by Fraction and Bagley arrives this November.
Marvel’s First Family is blasting into outer space but Reed Richards is hiding the motivation for their far out family getaway. The replacement heroes are targeted by a classic villain. Marvel revealed covers and teasers for Fantastic Four #2 by Matt Fraction and Mark Bagley and FF #2 by Fraction and Mike Allred.
FF #2 courtesy Marvel
Fantastic is the classic cast but FF is She-Hulk, Ant-Man, Medusa and She-Thing? What’s interesting about the Allred cover is the reflection showing the Richards/Grimm/Storm clan but with an old man – is that Nathaniel? Franklin?
How will Dragon-Man and other members of the Foundation react to the new FF?
Matt Fraction is sending the Fantastic Four into space and forming a new FF to hold down the fort here on Earth in the Marvel NOW relaunch. One member is planning some serious payback against Doctor Doom but it’s not who you think.
Scott Lang aka Ant-Man (along with Medusa, She-Hulk and She-Thing) are the new FF lineup. Fraction tells Comics Newsarama he’ll follow through on a tragic moment from Avengers: The Children Crusade.
SPOILER WARNING:
IF YOU HAVEN’T READ AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE (READ IT- I LOVE THIS STORY!) THEN YOU MAY WANT TO STOP NOW.
SERIOUSLY.
HERE IT COMES.
OK.
FF #1 courtesy Marvel
“Doom killed Scott’s daughter. There’s no other way to put it, there’s no other way to phrase it, there’s no skirting around the issue. Because of his actions, Doctor Doom killed Cassie Lang. What this book is going to be about is Scott and his replacement Four, and the Future Foundation, aiming their resources right at Doctor Doom. The premise he presents to the Future Foundation is “End Doom.” And not just kill him, but eliminate him from human memory. That would be worse for Doom than dying. And that’s the payback that Scott ultimately wants.
This is their macro arc, this is their reason to being, this is their constant through line: “Let’s remove Doom from the equation of life on Earth, and see what happens.” But concurrent to that, every FF villain that ever was comes out of the woodwork, gunning for these imposters, thinking now’s their time to take their shot. So you’ve got these people who have not been the Fantastic Four longer than 10 minutes having to fight off all of the latest and greatest versions of the characters you know and love the most. Whereas Fantastic Four is constant new stuff and new places we’ve not been before, FF is the greatest hits performed by a brand-new band.”
I LOVE the Young Avengers. Scott was killed by the Scarlet Witch (kinda) in Avengers Disassembled. The amazing and inspiring Cassie carried on her father’s legacy as Stature in Young Avengers. The time twisting events of Avengers: Children’s Crusade led to a brief, heartwarming and heartbreaking reunion between father and daughter. I’m thrilled that Fraction will continue Scott’s story. Hurt Doom, hurt him bad!
This is Cassie by Young Avengers artist Jim Cheung. Hope Marvel will have Cheung create a variant for this story.
Defenders by Matt Fraction cover courtesy Marvel.com
Matt Fraction is taking on the Fantastic Four and FF this November as part of the Marvel NOW! relaunch. Fraction revealed to USA Today that he will leave The Defenders and that series will come to an end with issue 12 in November.
Fraction took the Defenders concept into a strange and fun new direction with Dr. Strange, Iron Fist, Red She-Hulk, Silver Surfer and Namor as his team. I hope Fraction will get the chance to write Dr. Strange again – he has one of the most unusual and realistic takes on the Master of the Mystic Arts.
I recently wrote In Defense of the Defenders part 3 – Case Closed. I had no idea how soon it really would be closing time but this franchise seems to roar back to life every few years. Maybe next time we’ll see a reunion of Valkyrie and Hellcat in a new Defenders book!
After writing X-Men, Invincible Iron Man and The Mighty Thor, Matt Fraction is taking on Marvel’s First Family and their extended family. This November get ready for Fraction and Mark Bagley’s Fantastic Four #1 and Fraction and Mike Allred’s FF #1.
The Marvel NOW! relaunch sees Reed, Susan, Ben and Johnny taking the kids on a cosmic vacation in Fantastic Four while a select team of heroes stands in for them back on Earth in FF. Fraction tells Marvel.com why he’s chosen the Richards bunch.
“The family unit of it all; adventure dad, adventure mom, that whole thing, when you’re a kid, is great. And The Thing. Greatest comics character of all time, or super greatest? Now I’m struck that in 102 issues, Stan and Jack pretty much built a universe. That’s a tall order, creatively, an impossibly high bar.
I want to tackle that kind of challenge, to take on a book whose mandate, whose creative soul, means to invent wildly and with reckless abandon.”
FF #1 courtesy Marvel
Fraction follows an epic run by Jonathan Hickman. What is the tone of the new title?
“The Incredibles.” That “The Incredibles” was kind of the perfect modern Fantastic Four story and wasn’t a Fantastic Four story is, like, a provocation of creative war, y’know? Again, talk about impossibly high bars, but there you go. Can there be a Fantastic Four that’s wildly new, wildly inventive, and that appeals to everybody that might encounter it, regardless of their age or how many comics they’ve read? Let’s find out.”
For more of Fraction’s interview here’s the Marvel.com link.
My Geek Wish: Reed Richards vs. Dr. Nemesis in a mental clash of the scientific titans! I loved how Fraction wrote the X-Club on his Uncanny X-Men run. It would be great fun to see Reed put the arrogant genius in his place!
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.
