Good news for Superman fans!

...because there hasn't been much good news if you're a fan, right? Not since Grant Morrison's run on All-Star Superman at least.

Possibly the biggest news is that Chris Nolan is confirmed as the producer of the upcoming Superman reboot film. Let's all hope he can work his magic on the Man of Steel in the same way he did for The Dark Knight.

Of course, there's still no word as to who's directing. The press clip mentioned that David Goyer's treatment would be the basis for the story. Personally, I still can't understand why Hollywood hasn't taken any interest in Mark Millar's proposed Superman trilogy. Nearly every time he talks about it he's wagering his credibility that his story would achieve legendary status.

The other great news is that J. Michael Straczynski is scheduled to begin writing SUPERMAN at issue #701. He claims that Superman is the character he's always dreamed of writing, so if his ideas for the old blue and red are anywhere near as grandiose or imaginative as the work he did for THOR, it should end up looking like a pretty stellar run.

Spider-Man on the Huffington Post

An article on Spider-Man's recent unemployment was posted today on the Huffington Post with some quotes from Joe Quesada on how this happened and how this status is going to affect him.

I always find it kind of funny when events in comic book universes make the news, like all the hubbub that occurred when Captain America died. I assume most of these readers or viewers don't actually follow the comics. So do they actually care about hearing things like this presented as news? I'm also vaguely curious about what other sorts of events have made the news in the past. Did Spider-Man's unmasking during the Civil War make the news? What about the Hulk declaring war on all the heroes? The near extinction of mutants during the House of M?

Still, I could see it as a little bit disheartening that a fictional character losing his job is making the news as opposed to stories about real people who are actually unemployed.

No surprise: Wolverine is a New Avenger

Just as I predicted yesterday, it was announced today @ CBR that Wolverine will remain as part of the new New Avengers lineup.



Other predictions for the team:

- A new Ronin
- Iron Fist
- Moon Knight
- Marvel Boy
- Songbird
- Mockingbird

I swear I'll post something not related to New Avengers soon!

Another New Avengers Announcement

This time, the announcement (from CBR) is that Spider-Man's going to be on the New Avengers roster.


I figured it was safe to say that a lot of the more modern, more gritty characters that have been members of the New Avengers previously are going to be in the relaunch. We have Luke Cage and Spider-Man, and Wolverine seems like a safe bet as well. However, it has been confirmed that Bendis favorite Spider-Woman is going to be on the ordinary Avengers team.

But seriously... "I take responsibility for my actions"? What a square.

Just how many Avengers books are there going to be?

Marvel has announced that in May, after the conclusion of the events of Siege, a new age at Marvel is going to begin... The Heroic Age! (cue a trumpet)

Allegedly all the grimness that has been going on over the last 7 years, like Avengers:Disassembled, House of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Dark Reign - events that generally showcased conflicts and disagreements among the major superheroes of the Marvel universe, will all be in the past as a new age is ushered in that shows the heroes at the top of the food chain again. Awesome! All I can say is that I sure hope this starts off with a Heroic Age one-shot that shows the whole Avengers roster having a big picnic together.

This announcement was accompanied with the news that all of the current Avengers titles would be canceled (New Avengers, Dark Avengers, Mighty Avengers, and Avengers: Initiative) with a new Avengers title debuting in May that would be titled, well, just Avengers. It's going to have a brand new #1 issue, be written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by the dependable John Romita Jr., and (from the looks of it) be a bit more of a classic-feeling Avengers title. The current Avengers era is going to get it's own personal goodbye in a one-shot issue entitled New Avengers Finale, and is said to wrap up a lot of the plotlines that have been developing since the title began.

Okay! One Avengers title instead of four!

Then, shortly afterward it was announced that there was going to be another title: Secret Avengers. It's going to be written by Ed Brubaker and just about anything about the roster or the concept behind it is all hush-hush (a secret, get it?). Judging by Brubaker's history with the crime and spy genres, however, it does seem reasonable to suspect that the book is going to have an espionage flavor. And just for the record, I'm willing to bet money that Steve Rogers is going to be on the team.

Nobody was surprised that a second Avengers title was announced, as it's now one of Marvel's biggest selling franchises. But then just today, news were announced at CBR that there's going to be another title, and it's going to be entitled.... New Avengers?


So, how is this different from Avengers? Or Secret Avengers? What does this have to do with the New Avengers title that is ending in May? And for that matter, just how exactly does Bendis have time to write all these books anyway?

SIEGE #2 Review

I hate eating my words.

It was when Marvel was publishing [i]Secret Invasion[/i] that I decided a rule that I thought would better my reading experience, my comic book spending, and my emotions all at once. I decided I was going to boycott major comic book crossover events forever.

They all came out the same way: Civil War, World War Hulk, Secret Invasion, what have you. They start with this hook that gets you reading, you get curious enough to buy some tie-in issues, and a few issues in it starts to run out of steam. I kept buying issues, thinking it might get better, only for the remaining issues to be total disappointments that made me regret buying into the hype in the first place. The final issues would always contain these cop-out endings that really, in the end, were just marketing teasers for books being published after the event.

I mean, look at Civil War #7. Each page was almost an advertisement for a different title. "Spider-Man's in black! The Punisher is going to become the next Captain America! The Initiative is being assembled!" The end of Secret Invasion: "Norman Osborne's in charge! Look at how many books this is going to affect! Don't forget to buy the Dark Reign one-shot!" The gist of each of these endings? Buy more books. And each time I think: This is what the pressure was leading up to? This is what I've been conjecturing about for months? The experience is almost akin to that moment in A Christmas Story when Ralphie eagerly decodes a secret message from Little Orphan Annie only for it to read "Be sure to drink your ovaltine."

But then along came Siege. I'm a little older, a little wiser, so I know not to buy into this "AN EVENT SEVEN YEARS IN THE MAKING" bullshit. Sure, it may use the last seven years of continuity, but I highly highly doubt that seven years ago, the whole reason why Bendis was disassembling the Avengers and planning the House of M storyline was just so he could have Norman Osborn and company invade Asgard.

So why am I buying this then? The event just seems like too much fun not to. The whole concept - Norman Osborn leading the Dark Avengers up against Thor, the Asgardians, and the Avengers, will only lead in disaster. Everyone knows that this enormous hubris is going to end with his ass getting handed to him. Even Bullseye, possibly the most fearless allies Osborne has, were like "Hell no!" when Osborn gave the orders. It's like when Hitler tried to invade Russia.

This whole event has been really well paced. It's been packed full of action, illustrated by none other than the amazing Thor artist Olivier Coipel, whose art is so big and yet so clean that he even rivals greats like Bryan Hitch and John Cassaday. Thor was taken out in the first issue, and now the recently revived Steve Rogers is leading the Avengers after a rousing speech about taking back America. And in this issue, we see just exactly how powerful The Sentry really is. Turns out that whole power of a thousand exploding suns thing wasn't just an expression.

Looking forward to seeing how this pans out. Check back after Siege #4 is released to see if I end up resuming my boycott on crossover events.

Review: Ages of Thunder

Comic book fans aside, who the hell wants to read about Thor?

Aside from his silly colorful costume and winged helmet, he's a freakin God for Chrissakes. An actual Norse god. What the Hell is he doing in the Marvel universe? Not to mention the fact that he says "thou" enough to make you wish he could get kicked in the gnads a few times.

Most people that haven't read comics don't want to read about a character like that, which seriously makes me wonder if the Thor movie will have any success with a mainstream audience. People want to read about badass superheroes with cool costumes and powers. People want to read about Wolverine and Spider-Man. People don't want to read about a character that wears an American flag on his costume, a blaxpoitation superhero, or a kung fu superhero that compresses chi into his hand.

And yet, a funny thing has happened at Marvel over the last 5 or 6 years. Imagine if Republicans started coming out in support of gay marriage and supporting socialized medicine and Democrats reacted by merely slapping the cover of a leatherbound bible with the backs of their hands. It would be a topsy turvy world, which is exactly what was happening with the characters at Marvel. Loser characters were being handled by the best talent in the company and consistently making the top 10, whereas staples like Spider-Man and the X-Men stagnated and slipped into the 50,000's in sales.

Bendis started throwing Luke Cage into all his books and made people realize he's actually cool. Fraction and Brubaker took on Iron Fist and turned a campy 70's kung fu hero an turned his book into a multi-generational mythological machine. Brubaker started scripting and "death and return of..." story for Captain America that brought people to tears. And just a few years ago, J. Michael Straczynski took on the Norse god of thunder in a revamp for the ages. The book sold in the 100,000's, earned JMS a "Best Writer" nomination at this year's Eisners, and had people scrambling for collections of the classic Thor stories from the heyday.

Thor was cool again.

I must confess that as much critical acclaim as JMS's new THOR reboot has been garnering, I still haven't read beyond the first six issues. I know, I know... that's a big blow to my credibility as a comic book blogger. But I just have a sneaking suspicion that his whole run (which will be concluding shortly) will be collected in a giant gorgeous hardcover omnibus edition. One so pretty that all my friends will want to come over and just look at it, touch it. Okay, maybe not. But I do like to fantasize about things like that sometimes.

But then, at a comic book store, somebody warned me that there was critical plot information contained in the series of one-shot Thor stories that Matt Fraction had been writing, all collected in the Ages of Thunder volume. So I had some catching up to do. I also kinda figured I could pretend I was a real scholar researching a mythological figure while I was at it.

Now, Thor was an entertaining read and all, but he still seemed like a goody two shoes. I mean, what the hell was a god doing on Earth on the Avengers, getting involved with Earthly drama? It just doesn't seem like a god's style. Then, I read these stories, which take place in Asgard before Thor ever got involved with the Earth.

Man, was that guy badass.

This guy puts every man to shame. You could write more facts about this guy than you could about Chuck Norris. I can't remember how many times his face got completely covered with the fresh blood from a Frost Giant's corpse. And as if leaping through a Frost Giant's head with his hammer wasn't enough, I just can't tell you how awesome it was when Thor single handedly won a war against entire armies of the Undead when he single handedly piloted a giant Blood Colossus.

Oh man. Just that image slowly sinking into the blood from the battlefield, about to rise within the Colossus's skeleton. Chilling, I tell you. Chilling!

But the biggest surprise wasn't Thor's toughness. Everybody knew he was strong. What this story surprised me about is that the guy was actually a huge asshole. The three one-shots contained within are all essentially three acts about Thor's arrogance and the detriment it has on Asgard and the humans of Midgard. I mean, during Asgard's famine, the guy had hoarded golden apples and refused to share them with his starving comrades. What a cold-hearted bastard.

The climax of the book is actually the match of eternity. Thor vs. his own father, Odin. If you thought Thor was menacing, just look at the fully armored Odin brandishing his gargantuan sword. Holy shit.


Pick up this book if you'd like to see an awesome badass big mythological fall from heaven type of story. Matt Fraction, I salute you.