Robert Downey Jr. plays the Armored Avenger in a clash with the Mandarin in Iron Man 3 opening this Friday on the big screen.
In the comic books this week writer Kieron Gillen begins exploring The Secret Origin of Tony Stark. The acclaimed writer recently sent Tony into deep space in the Godkiller arc and now brings Avenger down to Earth and starts uncovering the Stark family history.
“There’s a really big idea at the core of it. When I had that idea, I was walking around the airport. I was thinking about Tony in space. Marvel had just emailed me and said that the 50th anniversary [of Iron Man] is coming up and maybe we can have a story that harks back to the beginning of Tony. I was immediately thinking “how on Earth could I possibly do this?” I have Tony Stark in deep space at this point! I stopped and laughed. I shook my head and took a couple of steps. I pitched this really big idea and Marvel looked it and said it make sense. And that’s what’s scary about it. It leads towards stuff that fundamentally changes Tony’s idea of self. That’s where it kind of came from,” Gillen told Marvel.com.
Infinity begins this Summer! Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers and New Avengers have been building to the epic return of Thanos. Marvel’s top writers and editors shared news, art and teases of what’s coming in the Marvel Now to Infinity panel at C2E2 in Chicago. Here are some of the highlights:
Uncanny Avengers #10 in July by Rick Remender and Daniel Acuna. Remender confirmed the “return” of Sentry, Daken, Grim Reaper and Banshee, who will be the Horsemen of Death.
“The Apocalypse Twins take the corpses of these dead heroes and infuse them with Death Seeds, resurrecting them and turn them into Deaths–servants of Apocalypse,” said Remender, “This is going to mean nothing good for the super heroes but we want nothing good to happen to them.”
The panel turned to Secret Avengers featuring a team including SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson by Nick Spencer.
“We’re taking the concept of this off the grid team of Avengers in a kind of grey area,” says Editor Lauren Sankovich, “We’re putting them through the action ringer and the emotional ringer.”
“This book was a dream come true for me,” says Spencer, “There’s a lot of shady stuff going on in this new world and our heroes are struggling with how to deal with it. The fallout’s going to be pretty catastrophic for the entire team… so lots of drama coming soon.”
Spencer was recruited by Jonathan Hickman to co-write Avengers in the march to Infinity.
Kieron Gillen announced Young Avengers #6 is a one-off issue with artist Kate Brown, a UK artist that will focus on Prodigy saying “Prodigy is basically working in the equivalent of a dead end job and he’s wasting his talent,” and later the team will go on a cosmic backpacking trip.
Avengers Arena #14 courtesy Marvel
The cover of Avengers Arena #14 showing X-23 in an homage to a classic Frank Miller Wolverine cover. The first season concludes in a story beginning in #14. The story is called “Boss Level.” It’s all about who lives, who dies and who wins.
Jason Aaron and Simone Bianchi are exploring the origin of the villain of Infinity in Thanos Rising.
Issue #4 hits in July and “It’s as sick and twisted and dark as you’d hope in the depths of your heart that it would be,” said Editor Ellie Pyle.
Thanos rises again in Hickman’s big event Infinity.
The Infinity Free Comic Book Day (out next Saturday) issue features a new 10 page story by Jonathan Hickman and Jim Cheung.
Infinity will be 6 issues total from August to November. There will be Prelude to Infinity stories in Avengers in August. #14 and #15 by Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer and Stefano Caselli. Continue reading From Marvel Now to Infinity
Robert Downey Jr. plays the Armored Avenger in Iron Man 3 next week while The Secret Origin of Tony Stark begins in the Iron Man comic book. In other Marvel films like Captain America: The First Avenger we saw Tony’s dad playing a role with the U.S. military.
Kieron Gillen and Dale Eaglesham explores the past of Howard and Maria Stark. Some fans may worry that the upcoming arc will change continuity. Marvel Editor in Chief Axel Alonso took on those concerns on Comic Book Resources.
“Let’s be clear about one thing: This story doesn’t totally change Tony Stark’s origin. It reveals a heretofore-unrevealed pocket in his origin that, shall we say, deeply illuminates who he is and his relationship with his mother and his father. It also introduces a major new character who’ll be very important to Tony’s future — I can’t emphasize enough how important. You will look at Tony very differently at the end of the story.
The Secret Origin of Tony Stark begins next week in Iron Man #9.
Iron Man has been branded Godkiller for his actions in Avengers vs. X-Men. An alien race that worshiped the Phoenix Force took Tony into deep space and put him on trial for executing their deity.
Time for alien justice in Iron Man #8 this week! What kind of punishment
Tony Stark is a self-described futurist but Kieron Gillen will explore Iron Man’s hidden past in The Secret Origin of Tony Stark.
“Howard Stark has a secret. A dirty dirty secret,” Gillen kicked off the Marvel.com liveblog.
“I was walking through the airport thinking I wanted to do
something meaningful that hearkened back to the beginning of Iron Man for his
50th anniversary and also spliced in some stuff with the Guardians of the
Galaxy. I thought to do all that would be impossible. Then I had an idea. Then I
laughed, because I couldn’t do that. And now…”
Action, teen angst, hooking up and making out! Marvel has a new teenage dream! Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie with Mike Norton rebuild Earth’s Mightiest Teens and infuse Young Avengers #1 with the hormonal energy, fury and fun of electric youth!
The creative team have HUGE shoes to fill. Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung’s Young Avengers run was perfection. Excitement, anticipation and maybe a little trepidation has been building since the announcement of this series. Gillen and McKelvie deliver the heart of the original but give this new “assembling” of teen heroes an edge.
In the finale of Avengers: The Children’s Crusade the team called it quits. In the premiere Wiccan and Hulkling are struggling with their vow to stop the superheroics and Kate Bishop is enjoying an “out of this world” new boyfriend when classic foes attacks. Kid Loki, Noh-Varr and Miss America infuse the teen soap with passion and danger and Gillen delivers one mother of a cliffhanger!
My most anticipated Marvel Now book overdelivers. Young Avengers #1 is packed with fun, heart, humor, action in a stylish narrative packed with promise and substance.
An all-new Young Avengers #1 arrives this week. Kid Loki assembles the teens for a nefarious purpose. Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie shared their plans for the powerhouse kids on Marvel.com.
Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung’s Young Avengers is highly acclaimed and loved (especially by yours truly.) Gillen revealed how this new team and title are different.
“Any time I try to describe Young Avengers I sound like I’m having a full neurotic breakdown. I loved Allan Heinberg’s Young Avengers and would never try to duplicate it. That was a book about being 16, looking up to the Avengers like parents. This is a book about being 18 and entering the world on your own terms.”
The Heinberg/Cheung team broke up after Avengers: The Children’s Crusade. The new kids are brought together by Loki (like the original Earth’s Mightiest Heroes) but with a wicked twist.
“The other Avengers books are about big organizations. Young Avengers is about the ideal of Earth’s mightiest coming together.”
“At the end of Children’s Crusade, the traditional Young Avengers agreed they shouldn’t be doing this anymore. The prime mover in getting everybody back together is Kid Loki. He’s recruiting Miss America and people to essentially kill Wiccan.”
One of the new faces is Miss America from Joe Casey’s Vengeance series.
“Miss America is very…violent. She’s been a super hero longer than anybody knows, and she’s not doing it to be famous. The question of what she knows about Wiccan is the big mystery of the book.”
Young Avengers #1 courtesy Marvel
The earlier volumes were recognized by GLAAD for their portrayal of young gay heroes Wiccan and Hulking. The troubled teens in love will be part of the new team.
“Wiccan and Hulkling are the core romantic couple of Young Avengers. Wiccan is phenomenally powerful in ways people don’t understand. He makes a mistake early on and that drives the book. It’s almost a Hank Pym plot in how he creates all his own problems.”
“Hulkling is creeping out at night to do super hero stuff. He figures he has a talent and should be using it.”
“I love drawing Wiccan and Hulkling, their emotional interactions as well as the punching,” added Jamie McKelvie.
Kate Bishop was attracted to Patriot but Gillen has recruited the fiery former Marvel Boy to be on the team and her potential love interest.
“Kate Bishop starts the book off to one side with Noh Varr. They’re a B-plot to the first part. Noh Varr has been kicked out of both the Kree and the Avengers, but he’s back on Earth, because nobody ever told James Dean what to do. He’s a hipster alien.”
Gillen stresses this book is not just about teen romance.
“I’m trying to create a book that covers anything connected to youth in the Marvel Universe. I have ideas of a larger infrastructure down the line. I don’t want to over promise though. It’s a book with a focus that can move. You’ll see with issue #6.”
“I knew how the book felt before I knew what the story was. I saw Marvel Boy and Hawkeye waking up. The first night with a strange new boy. She pulls the curtain and they’re in orbit. It’s a perfect metaphor. You take teenage emotions and transform them into the hyper real.”
Young Avengers #1 courtesy Marvel
Gillen wrote about Kid Loki’s search for identity in Journey Into Mystery and will continue exploring that them in this book.
“The question of ‘who can I become?’ remains key to Loki and to the book. Not quite in the same way it was in Journey Into Mystery, but still there.”
Wiccan is on the team but what about his brother: Speed?
“Hopefully. There’s a reason he’s not there to begin. I didn’t want to overload the cast and not just have somebody there to have them there. I like them Speed. I plan to come back to him around issue #6. Where he is gets covered briefly in the first issue.”
Like most teens the young heroes will have a hangout – a diner.
“Super powers is the most important thing in Young Avengers. The second most important thing is breakfast.”
Young Avengers #1 courtesy Marvel
The Young Avengers often clashed with their elders in the previous volumes. Will the kids meet the adults in the new series?
“The Avengers are in issue #2 briefly. It’s hard to explain without giving away the plot…where the Young Avengers are going, they can’t be helped. I don’t want to say much more than that. Parents and growing up are key to the book.”
For the entire liveblog here’s the Marvel.com link.
This week one of my favorite teams relaunchs with a new writer, artist and new members in the Marvel Now. Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie assemble some of Marvel’s best teen heroes into a brand new Young Avengers in 2013.
Gillen and McKelvie succeed Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung who guided the teens through two volumes and the Avengers: Children’s Crusade mega series. Gillen reveals how he got the job on Marvel.com.
“[Marvel Editor-in-Chief] Axel [Alonso] bullied me into it.
I’m not even joking. When it was floated, I wasn’t sure. YOUNG AVENGERS was a book with such a unique and singular vision from [co-creators Allan] Heinberg and [Jim] Cheung, and at least a big part of the vision was simply not what I do. It’s a book which was kind of a love song to Marvel Comics’ continuity, playing games and celebrating equally. I dug the book, but I knew that’s just not what I would do. I would never base a story around that. It’s just not how I think.
Then Axel basically beat my head against the floor a few times and said “Seriously, give it a proper think.”
So I did, and I managed to find a way to make it work for me. It was such a personal book for Heinberg; I realized the heart of it had to be trying to make it just as personal for me. And since we’re different writers, we have to be personal in our own way. I realized a big part of that had to be gathering together the creators I most trusted, and try and build something entirely bespoke. Which lead to Jamie McKelvie and everyone else, and the pop-song-as-super hero-comic you see before you.”
Young Avengers #1 courtesy Marvel
This is Gillen’s third book involving younger heroes: Generation Hope and Journey Into Mystery starring Kid Loki. Gillen was asked about what it takes to be a young hero in the Marvel Now.
“I previously wrote GENERATION HOPE, which was basically me taking a bunch of relatively realistically rendered teenagers and dropping them into a serious, 00’s-style super hero universe. It was about showing how the personality rubbed against the craziness of their lives. With YOUNG AVENGERS, I’m flipping that. In my own style, I’m doing what classic 60’s Marvel did, and using the super hero elements as a device to specifically illustrate the characters’ challenges and thrills. So when we first meet one character who’s much cooler than most of the cast, she’s in Earth-212, which is basically a dimension which is basically an infinite New York. Normal Earth is a bit downmarket for her—which is using the super heroic element to turn her into the equivalent to the person who moves from New York to your small town. They have a glamour you simply don’t. Or, at least, that’s how you feel.
So, to answer your question, teenagers deciding to use their superpowers is really about human beings blossoming and trying to work out how best to behave, trying to see where their talents will work in. Puberty is basically a superpower experience. It changes you totally. What are you going to become? What are you going to do?
That, bascially.”
courtesy Marvel
Familiar members Kate Bishop aka Lady Hawkeye, Wiccan and Hulkling are joined by Miss America, Loki and Noh-Varr (formerly known as Marvel Boy and Protector.) Loki brings the team together in the upcoming Point One.
Gillen reveals where the teens are when the story begins.
“When we actually join them, they’re not a super-team. They’re not even superheroing. Wiccan is still basically in the emotional place he was where everyone last saw him. He’s completely burnt out on super heroics. He’s worried he’s just going to get more of his friends killed or their lives destroyed. However, unbeknownst to him, his boyfriend Hulkling has started to be a super hero on the down low. Our story basically starts when Wiccan discovers this—which, through our super heroic prism, is basically akin to “you were cheating on me!”
Hulkling says some choice words. Wiccan realises something—and then makes a mistake.
Our status quo quickly follows.
And they’re equally swiftly on their own.”
The big question: where are Patriot and Speed?
By Editor
For the entire interview here’s the Marvel.com link.
