Tag: Mike Allred

Fantastic Fraction: The Four and the “Other” Four?

Fantastic Four #1 courtesy Marvel

  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!

By Editor

Mike Allred on Daredevil

Daredevil #17 courtesy Marvel.com

  Marvel is welcoming Mike Allred to the already stellar art team of Paolo Rivera and Chris Samnee on Daredevil. The Madman creator brings his signature style to Daredevil #17 out this August.

 “Daredevil is my favorite current title. I’ve always been a huge fan of Mark’s, and he knows that. I don’t think he’s ever been given his due. He’s always been acclaimed, but never to the degree I think he’s deserved. It’s thrilling to be a part of this with these artists. As an outside observer, I felt like I had to let somebody know how special I thought this title was. To be able to join in even some small way is incredibly thrilling,” Allred tells Marvel.com.

  Writer Mark Waid has thrown some old school and non-traditional enemies at Matt Murdock. Waid is bringing back a classic for Allred to draw.

  “The villain for Mike’s issue is Stilt-Man. Of course it’s Stilt-Man! He’s the perfect villain for a Mike Allred story. On the surface of it, a goofy costume and goofy powers. On the other hand, if you were at the bottom of the Hudson River pinned down by one of those legs, he doesn’t seem so goofy,” said Waid.

For the entire liveblog plus more preview art here’s the Marvel.com link. 

By Editor

X-Men Wedding Follow Up: More Gay Mutants in Love

  Northstar’s upcoming wedding in Astonishing X-Men next month and the reintroduction of a gay Alan Scott Green Lantern inspired my story X Marks Diversity – which looked back at how the X-Men have always been groundbreaking when it comes to characters of different races, cultures, religions and sexual orientation.

X-Statix Volume 1 courtesy Marvel.com

I made a glaring omission. As I was reading today’s Axel-In-Charge column on Comic Book Resources  CBR’s Kiel Phegley reminded us that current Marvel Editor in Chief Axel Alonso was editor of the Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather. This Marvel MAX series relaunched the Wild West hero as open and flamboyantly gay drew criticism from anti and pro gay groups more than a decade ago. This led Alonso to remind us of two other gay heroes.

  “There are plenty of gay characters in Marvel Comics that fly under the radar. Take Phat and Vivisector, for instance: teammates on the [Peter] Milligan/[Mike] Allred X-Force/X-Statix series that were also lovers. I don’t remember them provoking any controversy and I don’t think Rawhide Kid paved the road for them or any other gay characters; the opportunity was always there. Whenever you create a new character, the details of their interior or private life – stuff like their sexuality – will at some time become relevant.”

  Northstar’s proposal is Marvel history now. Alonso revealed how recent events affected the storyline.

 “Our best stories reflect stuff that happens in the world outside your window. When the Twin Towers fell, we did the Spidey black cover issue [“Amazing Spider-Man #36”]. when New York State legalized gay marriage, we wondered how Northstar – an openly gay super hero who’s in a long-term monogamous relationship – would respond to that development.

 The world outside New Yorkers’ windows is one where gay marriage is recognized. But remember: For Northstar and Kyle, getting married is just the beginning of the story – the easy part. Marriage isn’t about the week’s vacation in Tahiti – it’s about the weekend trip to the K-Mart. A year from now, who knows – we could be looking at the historic divorce issue!” [Laughter]

For more of today’s column – a Friday must for me and I recommend for Marvel fans- here’s the link.

  I complete forget this mutant couple and this X-Force reboot from two gifted creators! The title was so different at the time – I always thought of it as an X-Men book by Vertigo.

By Editor