DEADPOOL Kills the Classics!

Deadpool Killustrated #2 courtesy Marvel
Deadpool Killustrated #2 courtesy Marvel

Will Marvel’s Merc With a Mouth and writer Cullen Bunn send an army of comic book geeks into the library and save classic literature?

Maybe not but Deadpool fans with savor a series of merciless mashups in Deadpool Killustrated, the followup to Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe.

Last week Bunn unleashed Wade Wilson on Moby Dick in the premiere issue. Deadpool will target Sherlock Holmes and The Three Musketeers in the series. Bullen tells Marvel.com why these classic were ripe for a mashup with the merc.

  “Some of these books are favorites, yes. And I’d be lying if I said in some cases I’m not exorcising some demons left over from my college literature courses. There were a couple of other driving forces, though. First, I wanted Deadpool’s targets to be visually interesting and exciting. Second—and most importantly—I wanted to be able to connect the literary figure to the Marvel character—or characters—he or she might have inspired. Even though Deadpool is rampaging through the works of classic literature, we get to see the connection to the Marvel Universe in a strange way.”

  “There are no rules. This idea is ridiculous, I know, and Deadpool is traditionally a funny guy. But KILLUSTRATED, like KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE before it, is a horror story. No one is safe.”

Deadpool Killustrated #2 courtesy Marvel
Deadpool Killustrated #2 courtesy Marvel

From this art by Matteo Lollo is appears Wade is taking on Dracula and his vampire brides in the next issue.

Cullen Bunn begins a new arc for Flash Thompson called Toxic in Venom and will launch a brand new series Fearless Defenders next month starring Valkyrie and Misty Knight!

By Editor

 

YOUNG AVENGERS #1 Review

Young Avengers #1 courtesy Marvel
Young Avengers #1 courtesy Marvel

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.

By Editor

HULK FUN!

Indestructible Hulk #3 courtesy Marvel
Indestructible Hulk #3 courtesy Marvel

It’s not too late to jump on one of the most enjoyable titles of the Marvel Now relaunch. This week’s Indestructible Hulk #3 is the third outstanding example of how great storytelling has made one of oldest icons fresh and fun again.

I definitely have to call this book cinematic. If you enjoyed Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner and the Hulk from The Avengers then you’ll enjoy the ride Mark Waid and Leinil Yu will take on in this new series.

Banner is now working for S.H.I.E.L.D. Bruce gets to be a great scientist. Maria Hill gets a big green W.M.D. After showing up Tony Stark in a battle of the brains with his new invention, Bruce HULKED OUT on Iron Man to prove a point.

Maria Hill has given Bruce a job, a lab and the chance to show Tony and Marvel’s other big brains that he’s their scientific equal (or perhaps better as the series go along!) In this issue Maria recruits Banner’s lab team. Seriously who would want to work for a boss who could become a monster?

While science geeks audition to be part of Banner’s think tank, Bruce goes on a mission against A.I.M. and discovers a technological blast from the past that could pose a new threat. Waid and Yu craft a confrontation packed with action, humor and moments that may inspire a “awesome!” from you.

This is the best issue so far in a new series that’s big on action and fun.

By Editor

 

Mark Millar: Challenges of X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

Uncanny X-Men #141 courtesy Marvel.com

The comic book writer who launched Ultimate X-Men and The Ultimates (which influenced The Avengers movie) is now the Creative Consultant for the Marvel movie franchises controlled by Fox.

I wanted to share part of Mark Millar’s interview with SciFiNow about the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past. Bryan Singer returns to the X-Men franchise to direct the film based on the classic storyline set in the past and a dark future. Turning that beloved X-Men story into a film is ambitious.

“I know how it’s done, so I’m not worried. I’ve been in all these meetings and talked about it at length with everyone, and everything I hear sounds incredibly mainstream. It’s no more difficult than The Terminator, or whatever, there’s one element of time jump in it, but other than that it’s absolutely fine.”

One of the biggest challenges in turning comic book teams into big screen teams is screen time for fan favorite characters and deciding who to cut. Millar compared what he faced writing Ultimate X-Men with the development of the X-Men movies.

“I remember when I was writing Ultimate X-Men and people were saying ‘I want to see Gambit, I want to see Rogue, I want to see…’ Everybody has a list, and at first you think ‘I’m going to please everyone’ and then you realise you’re pleasing no-one by just throwing in ten second cameos, you know.

I think that was the major problem with that first Wolverine movie and X-Men 3. Bryan Singer did such an incredible job with that original movie – it’s quite like Star Wars in that there’s Episodes IV, V and VI, and we’ve got the Matthew Vaughn prequels, and I love that – I love the fact that it simplifies so well. X-Men in the Nineties was so convoluted in comic-book terms, and Bryan drove a knife through it and make it work and simplified the whole thing.

I’d like to have that same approach and if we are bringing in a character then it shouldn’t just be for a trailer or to get a picture up online, get people excited, it should actually have a point in the story.

The trick with that is to try and keep the cast relatively small so that you actually care about them.”

For the entire interview here’s the ScifFiNow link.

Bryan Singer has revealed Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and Hugh Jackman will reprise their roles. Kitty Pryde is critical to the original story but no word on it Kitty (played by Ellen Page in X3) will be in the film.

If you missed it – here’s my X-geek wish list for the next movie!

By Editor

 

THANOS RISING: A Bad Guy is Born!

 

Thanos Rising #1 courtesy Marvel
Thanos Rising #1 courtesy Marvel

   He was the big purple bad revealed during the first ending of Marvel’s The Avengers that made some in the audience go “huh?” or “OH —-!”

  Thanos was behind Loki’s alien army in the movie but in the comic books the super villain once wiped out half the universe.  

  The comeback of Thanos continues in a brand new limited series Thanos Rising this April by Jason Aaron (Wolverine and the X-Men) and Simone Bianchi. Aaron talks with Marvel.com about why he wants to delve into the origin of the death worshipping God of Titan.

  “The chance to do as dark and creepy a story as I’ve ever done for Marvel. This is not a super hero story. There are no good guys swooping in to save the day here. This is the origin story of a very bad dude. A cosmic mass murderer.”

  Aaron says the story begins on the day Thanos is born and “things start to get weird right from the get-go” and as for the women who influence the Titan Aaron says “Thanos has dangerous taste in women.”

  The series will introduce new characters and classic characters like Mentor, the father of Thanos and show us how Titan “was a sci-fi paradise when Thanos was born. A place without weapons, without the idea of murder. But that all began to change…”

 For the entire interview here’s the Marvel.com link.

  Thanos killed half the universe in the classic story The Infinity Gauntlet. The gauntlet was seen briefly in the movie Thor. In the pages of the new New Avengers the member of the Illuminati are searching for a lost Infinity Gem. Could these upcoming comic book stories be setting the stage for what we might see in Avengers 2: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes against Thanos?

By Editor

Shanna “Matches Wolverine’s Savagery”

Savage Wolverine #1 courtesy Marvel
Savage Wolverine #1 courtesy Marvel

In this week’s Savage Wolverine #1 the X-Men journeys to the Savage Land in a brand new series by writer/artist Frank Cho. The creator tells Marvel.com once he knew the setting he knew Shanna the She-Devil had to be in the book.

  “Once I decided on the Savage Land setting, everything clicked into place. I needed a female lead that can keep up with Wolverine and match his savagery. And Shanna fit that bill.

The writer/artist explains why Shanna is the perfect co-lead for this story.

  “It was easy. I made Shanna a complete badass just like Wolverine. I also “enhance” the character and have her “bond” to the Savage Land. I’m not going to give anything away but Shanna gets a complete and total upgrade in issue #4 by an unlikely Marvel character.”

  Savage Wolverine #1 is out this week. Logan takes the kids from The Jean Grey School on a field trip to the Savage Land in Wolverine and the X-Men #25. A new Wolverine series by Paul Cornell and Alan Davis hits later this year.

By Editor

Jason Aaron Gives BIRTH in the MARVEL NOW?

courtesy Marvel
courtesy Marvel

Jason Aaron. Simone Bianchi. BIRTH. April 2013.

The Marvel tease machine is rolling out the hits this week but I suspect this latest round of teasers are big storylines and not new Marvel Now titles.

SMASH signaled a Thor guest appearance in Indestructible Hulk with guest artist Walter Simonson.

BIRTH could mean Simone Bianchi is joining Aaron on a new arc of Thor: God of Thunder or Wolverine and the X-Men. BIRTH is in purple so it could signal a new book or arc starring Galactus, Thanos, Purple Man – he wishes!

By Editor

Marvel’s EXPLOSIVE New Superhero Couple

courtesy Marvel
courtesy Marvel

Marvel is teasing this hot new romantic hookup! So hot it’s explosive! Elektra and Punisher are sharing a passionate embrace in this tease for Thunderbolts this March.

Daniel Way and Phil Noto (who just wrapped up Rick Remender’s final Uncanny X-Force arc) are the creative team on the superhero pairing of anti-heroes so bad they’re good.

Will Frank Castle find love with Daredevil’s ex?

No word on if fellow T-bolts Red Hulk, Deadpool or Venom were in the running!

What do you think of this pairing? Continue reading Marvel’s EXPLOSIVE New Superhero Couple