The Superhero Debate: Stan Lee 1974

I found this in Origins of Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and thought it fit the superhero debate which has recently reared it's head in blogdom today. So without further ado here are Stan Lee's words of wisdom:

He calls comics "a remedy, a pictoral tonic to relieve the awesome affliction that threatens us all; the endlessly spreading virus of too much reality in a world that is losing its legends- a world that has lost its heroes."

Preach on Stan....Preach On.....

Of course in his closing he makes me miss the Marvel of old as he says, "Therefore, let's not consider this a conclusion. Let's rather call it a beginning, the beginning of an ever-continuing journey into the realm of Marvel mythology- a realm where all, regardless of color, sex, or creed, are truly kindred souls, united by a common love of adventure, fantasy, and just plain fun. Perhaps, just perhaps, that's what Marvel's really all about."

I so wish I could believe that again, but Marvel and comics in general has become, no not become...has been a only a business for ages. Stan was a master at making things appear as something else. He has a magic to him that is more contagious than any virus. He can make you believe that you are part of something big and wonderful. He can make you care no matter what went on in the business. Thats what superhero comics are missing these days. Not controversy, not pranksters like Quesada, not new miniseries, epic events, or relaunches. What they need is a little bit of magic.

What I Bought: Back Issue Extravaganza Part 1

I went to my favorite book shop, "The Old Book Shop", here in town to buy some back issues today since I got off work early. Here is what I managed to pick up:

Books
Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights by Burt Ward

Origins of Marvel Comics by Stan Lee

Back Issues
Ruins Book 1 of 2 by Warren Ellis (Good Warren Ellis series about a sequel to Marvels where everything goes wrong)

Starman #59-71 (completes the series for me)

Elementals #1-8 (good superhero stuff from the 80's by Bill Willingham)

Secret Origins #2 (which explains the origins of all the Blue Beetles)

Secret Origins #50 (the last issue of the series)

80 Page Giant Even More Secret Origins (which has the origins of Eclipso, Green Lanter, Hawkman, Kid Flash, Blackhawk, and the Jimmy Olsen/Robin team)

Swamp thing #63 by Moore and Vietch

Hawkman Secret Files and Origins #1 (one of the few Hawkman issues I missed.)

The Question Quarterly #2 by Dennis O'neil and Joe Quesada

Marvel Team Up Annual #4 (featuring Moon Knight, Iron Fist, Power Man, Daredevil, and Spiderman vs. The Purple Man- This was just too good to pass up)

X-man #63 by Warren Ellis, Steven Grant and Ariel Olivetti (I think I might have this already, but I wasn't sure so I bought it again)


All that for only $50. I love that store. I'm going back the first saturday of next month for their 50% off sale. I'll post what I got last week tomorrow as well as some comments on the issues I bought today. I'll also have the rest of my reviews from this weeks buys. Stay tuned.

Same NearMint address, ummm same NearMint ummm posts or something. That joke went nowhere. Peace.

Ummm? This is strange.

Mercury Studios pointed me towards this article which states that scientists have finally grown human breasts on mice. If you read any farther than that it states that this was done to help study cancer's causes.

To do this they:

"took fibroblast tissue from women who had undergone breast reduction surgery. They blasted half the fibroblasts with X-rays, injected both healthy and irradiated cells into mouse mammary glands, and grafted human epithelial breast cells alongside."

Well, duh, that would have been the first thing I tried.

Charlie Adlard's The Walking Dead

Newsarama has a preview up of some of Charlie Adlard's art to The Walking Dead #7 as well as his character sketches. Here is the page that they have mislinked at the time this was posted. I like his work. The only thing I dislike about seeing the work is that it looks like the preview they show is a pretty major scene in the book. So even though I kinda figured it was coming, it kinda spoiled that plot point for me. View at your own risk.

More Comics in Bookstores

Via Thought Balloons:

Source Interlink, "the nation's largest distributor to major bookstore chains and independent retailers," has signed a deal with Marvel to distribute comics to some 8,000 stores in North America, including Barnes & Noble, Borders and Waldenbooks. Here's Interlink's president and COO James Gillis:

"The distribution of comic book publishing provides us with an additional strong growth opportunity. This agreement reflects our commitment to expand our core specialty distribution market beyond magazine publications. Marvel serves as the leading comic book publisher, and we are excited to effectively broaden the reach of Marvel's popular characters and plot lines to the specialty market."

This could be great news, and if they display them properly and with the right material, could expose a lot of people to comics.

What I Thought: Ultimate Universe

Ultimate Fantastic Four #4- The Fantastic: Part 4

Well it took a while, but we are now officially up to about the middle of the first issue of the original Fantastic Four. I'm not saying I'm not enjoying it, but god these Ultimate stories move slow. Talk about longified (I was told not to use the term decompressed anymore) storylines. I'm hoping Warren will spice things up again when he jumps on the title. The book still manages to show the fantastic in the Fantastic Four though. Invisible Woman's first appearance lived up to the wonder evident in the first appearance of Human Torch, The Thing, and Mr.Fantastic last issue. Like most of the books in the Ultimate line, this is the FF done as a blockbuster movie. The ultimate line has it's pros and cons, but one thing is certain...this isn't the old FF.

Ultimate Spider-Man #55- Hollywood: Part 2

This is Spider-man's first real arc with Doc Ock in my opinion. The first arc didn't really center on what made Ock tick. It seems to be the main focus of this arc. What makes Ock tick is actually the same as in the regular universe. Revenge on Spider-man and anyone who does wrong by him. Bendis establishes early on that Ock has lost his marbles in such a way where you have no idea what he's capable of. This makes a dangerous villian. I also like how he portrays Avi Arad as not really caring about the character as much as caring how to make a buck off the character during the movie scenes. All in all it's a good issue, though Gwen's tantrums are getting kinda old.

Coming Soon:

What I Thought: Marvel Universe
Incredible Hulk #69- Dead Like Me Part 4
Hulk Gray #6
Cable and Deadpool #1- If Looks Could Kill Part 1
X-treme X-men #44- Prisoner of Fire Part 5
Avengers #80/#495- Lionheart of Avalon Part 4

What I Thought: DC Universe
Hawkman #26- Blood on the Wings
Robin #123- Die Screaming Boy Wonder
Robin #124- Unmasked

What I Thought: DC Expanded Universe
Kinetic #1
Wildcats v3.0 #19
The Losers #10

What I Thought: Others
Lone #4
Conan #2
Devil May Cry Book One
Phantom Jack #1
Common Grounds #3

Grrrrr...My Rant on Marvel's Ads

Marvel is pissing me off. Not because of their stories or characters or even normal everyday Marvel hijinks. None of that bothers me. It's because of their advertisements in the comics.

I'm sure most people bought Ultimate Fantastic Four #4 this last week. Take it out and open it up to the nice two page spread of Mole Man and Sue walking around underground. What two page spread you ask? Can't find it? Oh, then just open up to the giant card board ad for NBC's "TOONS!". See that thing behind it. That's a two page spread. Nice work eh? What's that? You can't read it easily because the ad gets in the way? Really? Why oh why does Marvel do this? I don't get the whole thing with "annoying" marketing and how it works. Why would people watch this show due to marketing like this? Why do people buy products that they see on pop-ups? Do you own a spy cam?

Second question...Why is this a company wide ad? It's for a cartoon show. The age range for today's comic is somewhere between 14-40 years of age. Why would these people be the prime market for an ad about a NBC cartoon show? I could maybe see this if it was adult swim. Just as an experiment lets take a look at the ads in this UFF comic:

front cover inside- "Xenosaga for PS2"- hits targeted demographic
page 5- "Scooby Doo 2" - borderline demographic
page 7- "X-treme Jello Pudding Snacks" - I would say borderline, but everyone likes Jello Pudding
page 9- "Campbell Soup"- This would fit, but for the fact they have a 12 year old or younger kid looking excited and a younger kid in a pool in the background, missed demographic
page 11- "Haircuts for Heroes"- Marvel comics Clip N Trim Shavers- kid in advertisement, still borderline
page 15-16- "Toon Card"- missed demographic
page 23-24- "Final Fantasy XI"- hits demographic
page 26- "Spider-man and Incredible Hulk toys"- hits demographic only because the audience often collects these
page 28- "Scholastic children's Literature The Day My Butt Went Psycho"- misses demographic
page 31- "Marvel Subscriptions"- hits demographic
back cover inside- "Got Milk"- hits demographic
back cover- "Audigy2 Graphics Card"- hits demographic

So lets total these up:

hits=IIIIIII
misses=IIIII

Well the hits win it my a narrow margin, but the fact that there are any misses at all is a significant factor when a lot of the revenue for the book comes from ads. Without successful ads then the advertisers won't come back, which means less money for the book. I don't really know where the problem lies. Is it Marvel's fault for misrepresenting their demographic? Is it the advertisers fault for ignoring Marvel's demographic. I can't answer that without being privy to Marvel's business practices. I do know one thing though. I hate those freaking cardboard inserts!!!

Joe Kelly Talks About Enginehead

Joe Kelly talked to Newsarama about his upcoming series from DC, Enginhead. Kelly layed out the groundwork for a typical problem this new character may face.

“He’d have to figure out how can he stop a kid from being run over in the street when he can clearly see that the ensuing lawsuit against the driver of the truck and its company will put 50 people out of work, and five of them will kill themselves. He can see all of those connections, how one seemingly isolated incident causes another, and another, and another. In this case, is the one life he will save more valuable than the five that it will cost?”

And for another bone to chew on, try putting a character with that motivation in the DCU, a place filled with capes whose day is not complete until they do rescue a little kid from being run over in the street.

Damn if that doesn't sound pretty interesting. Take that premise and combine it with six people [Professor Emil Hamilton (from the Superman series), Automan (an older robotic hero who’s been in mothballs most recently), Rosie the Riveter (from Demolition Team), Dr. Cyber, Brainwave, and Ford Corrado (a new guy, created for the series)] who volunteer to become one mind for this Robot and you have what seems to be a thought provoking book.

Preview of Uncanny X-men #444

Millarworld posted the Uncanny X-Men #444 Preview, from Marvel Previews for our viewing pleasure. Alan Davis' art is as good as ever and it's nice to see the X-men back to being a family again. I've missed that being an old school X-men fan. Don't get me wrong, i've loved Morrison's run, but I like this too and I think they both fit together. It's just that Morrison and other writers show a different aspect of the X-men. Anyway, enjoy. There is also one preview page from Astonishing, that while looking nice, doesn't exactly show much.

Uncanny

page 1

page 2

page 3

page 4

page 5

page 6

page 7

Astonishing

Page 1

Thanks to Fanboy Rampage for pointing this out.

Warren Ellis on Blue Beetle...

In his question and answer thread on Millarworld, Warren Ellis was asked what he would do if given control over DC's Blue Beetle. This is his reply:

For a start, you have to pick your version. There was the one who rubbed his magic scarab and said his magic word -- "Khajida" or something similar -- to turn into the superpowered Blue Beetle. Or there was the rich young electronics genius with his gadgets and flying beetle, whom Alan and Dave riffed off with Nite Owl II in WATCHMEN.

So we're assuming I've been offered a stupid amount of money to think about this (rather than using it as a warm-up exercise in the pub, which is what I'm actually doing).

It begins with what I want to talk about, and whether I think the character can carry it. What themes are suggested by Blue Beetle that are worth discussing? With two Blue Beetles, there's the generational option that Alan played with a little, but that kind of bores me. It's not big enough. No space to move. For me, one of the primal elements of the superhero is The Change, the point where they take on their aspect. For that reason, the original appeals to me more -- the flash of light, the emergence of the superhuman. In the original, it's achieved through an archaelogical artifact. What was that doing just laying around in ancient times? Is there a new angle to be had on Egyptian mysticism and the "forbidden archaelogy" field? I've got a book by David Hatcher Childress in the attic called FORBIDDEN ARCHAEOLOGY, all the "pyramids were made by aliens" stuff. I'd read. As I mentioned earlier, Lovecraft had a thing about pyramids. Read that too. The guy who found a slot in one of the pyramids that was supposedly designed to funnel the light from a particular star down into the guts of the building -- re-read all that. I'm going to need research on the symbolism of the scarab beetle in the period. To a great extent, magic was science in that era, all part of Chaldean priestcraft. Along with fiddling with little boys, but we'll gloss over that for the moment. Why would the savants of the era create a voice-activated device that transformed the holder into a superhuman?

Do some reading on celestial precession: what stars were in the sky of ancient Egypt? In what configuration?

Deep time. Lost knowledge.

What's on the scarab? The Rosetta Project is an effort to encode every world language on an indestructible disc. Are those really scales on the scarab? Or are those marks the encoding of an entire scientific system? Incised by a team aware they were living in politically volatile times and terrified that all their work could be wiped away in an instant? Perhaps they couldn't make it indestructible -- but they could lock it onto the device their spear-resistant superhuman would possess.

It's about The Change (as opposed to Change in general). It's about lost knowledge and deep time. It needs the human element and, being superhero fiction, it needs some form of dramatic conflict. What does someone with the scarab do with The Change? This is such old ground now. This is one reason why it's hard for me to write superhero fiction. It's such a stripmined seam that finding new jewels in it is just a pig of a job. It's got to have the ring of the new to it, or it's not worth me doing it. I don't want to go too deeply into the archaelogy riff, for fear of repeating PLANETARY, but the thing is starting to demand a theme of Exploration to me. Which suggests the conflict of a post-exploratory society. People who don't even want the knowledge for themselves. the worst kind of ignorant people -- they don't want to know, and they don't want anyone else to know. People who'd rather kill than know something. The sort of people who don't even read evidence of climate change.

Ignorance is the enemy. Three thousand years ago people died to preserve their knowledge for us, encoding it on a blue stone scarab that rendered its protector superhuman, so that we may take their gift and become great. But the more things change, the more they remain the same; and the holder of the blue beetle has his own mad kings to fight.

I think that's the general direction I'd head in.

Damn if I wouldn't buy that book given that the Blue Beetle has always been my favorite character.

Slow Day

Since it's a slow day I'll take this opportunity to showcase one of my little past-times I have. I take photos and redraw them as vector art using Adobe Illustrator for fun. Below are some samples:

Actors and Musicians:

Kurt Cobain

Trent Resnor

Marlon Brando

The Deftones

Jim Morrison

Comic Characters:

Alex Maleev's Typhoid Mary

Thomas Jane as The Punisher

What I'm Buying

March 24, 2004

PREVIEWS PUBLICATIONS
PREVIEWS VOL XIV #4 PI

DARK HORSE
CONAN #2 $2.99
STAR WARS REPUBLIC #62 $2.99

DC COMICS
CAPER #6 (Of 12) (MR) $2.95
HAWKMAN #26 $2.50
HUMAN TARGET #8 (MR) $2.95
KINETIC #1 $2.50
LOSERS #10 (MR) $2.95
OUTSIDERS #10 $2.50
WILDCATS VERSION 3.0 #19 (MR) $2.95

IMAGE
COMMON GROUNDS #3 (Of 6) $2.99
INVINCIBLE #9 $2.95
PATIENT ZERO #1 (Of 4) $2.95
PHANTOM JACK #1 $2.95
WANTED #3 (Of 6) (MR) $2.99

MARVEL
AVENGERS #80 $2.25
CABLE DEADPOOL #1 (RES) $2.99
HULK GRAY #6 (Of 6) $3.50
INCREDIBLE HULK #69 $2.25
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #4 $2.25
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #55 $2.25
X-TREME X-MEN #44 $2.99

OTHER COMICS
DEMO #5 (Of 12) (MR) $2.95

McSweeney's Journal of a New COBRA Recruit

I don't know if everyone has seen this before or not but it's pretty funny. It was originally posted at McSweeney's and was published in The Best American NonRequired Reading 2002 edited by Dave Eggers. If you get a chance pick up the book as well as the 2003 edition. It's great stuff.

Journal of a New COBRA Recruit

By Keith Pille

Here is a taste of what to expect.

June 21, 1986
Awful exciting day today. First we got to do our airborne training. They loaded us up into a plane, and we flew up and then jumped out. Our chutes had the big, scary COBRA symbol on them. It was awesome. But it was hard, because we were supposed to keep yelling "COBRA!" all the way down. It was tough to get enough breath to yell right at first. Sarge says it just takes practice.

After that we finally got to do weapons training. About time! They gave me a rifle and pointed at the target. I held the rifle up to my cheek and sighted down the barrel, just like I did when I went deer hunting with Grampa. Boy, did Sarge go apeshit over that! Got in my face and started yelling at me, asking how I expected to scare someone if I just stood there all quiet-like and shot so carefully. Sarge is a great teacher because he doesn't just criticize. He showed the right way to shoot. What you do is you start shooting your gun wildly and run towards the target as fast as you can and, in your scariest voice, you yell "COBRA!" We worked on that all afternoon, and just before we broke for dinner, I actually hit the target! Sarge and everyone else were so happy for me that they were about to cry. Told me I'd just set the record for marksmanship in COBRA boot camp. I wanted to call Mom and tell her the good news, but she thinks I work for the phone company.

Movie News, though not from Hell sadly.

Moviehole.net reports:

In the horrible idea for a movie category we have The Love Boat. According to Variety, Paramount are bringing back “The Love Boat”, only this time – unlike the recent TV revamp starring the late Robert Urich – it’ll be a film in the satirical style of ‘The Brady Bunch Movie’.

Parker Posey is set to star in "Frankenstein" a new TV show for USA. Posey will play a female cop who unravels the myth of Frankenstein, alongside her partner, through a seemingly standard homicide investigation. The weekly series finds doctor Victor Frankenstein and his creature residing in present-day Seattle, having survived the past two centuries through the doctor's genetic tinkering. Impressive talent is lined up for the show as the executive producers are Martin Scorsese, author Dean Koontz and Tony Krantz. Marcus Nispel from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is set to direct.

Pierce Brosnan talks about Bond:

Pierce: Well, the dance...we seem to have taken a break at the moment. The producers have reached an impasse, as far as I can tell. They don't know what to do. They don't know how to move on. A sense of paralysis has set in. So, for me it's business as usual. I shall just carry on with creating work for myself. I certainly would love to do a fifth Bond and then bow out, but if this last one is to be the last one, then so be it.

Marsden talks Preacher:

Marsden says, "Almost two years ago I got a phone call from my agent, offering it. I was like, 'What is Preacher?' They were very vague. So I ask some of my friends, and they're like 'They offered you Jesse Custer? Preacher? Wow!' I got a couple of the graphic novels and I was captivated, it was some of the best writing that I'd ever read. I just found it an amazing piece of literature. Right now it's in development hell. When you have an independantly financed film, it's getting harder to get them made. We're gonna try to go this summer. I kind of wanted to wait another year so I could get more wrinkles and get even more weathered. If there was ever a role that I wanted to do some method acting, this would be it. My wife read every single one of the issues in two days, she was in love with 'em.”

Charlize Theron will star in and produce the big screen adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis' graphic novel “Jinx”.

Jack Black is in talks for a small role in Peter Jackson’s remake of “King Kong”.

Avi Arad sees Kevin Nash as Thor?

Jeph Loeb talked about the character Adam from Smallville and Bruce Wayne:

"Smallville" writer Jeph Loeb said Sunday that there are no plans for Bruce Wayne to appear on the show, due to the Caped Crusader swinging his way towards the silver screen. Rumors that another character was meant to be Bruce Wayne were just that, said Loeb.

Superhero Hype! reports that special effects/production company the Orphanage has come aboard to produce a feature adaptation of Bill Sienkiewicz's graphic novel Stray Toasters. Penned by Sienkiewicz, Renfroe and Thorsson, story is a futuristic noir thriller about a mentally unstable detective who is investigating a series of bizarre murders of housewives and their young children. His quest takes him deep into the decaying metropolis where he begins to suspect that the killer might not be human.

Halle Berry talks Catwoman and makes me want to roll over and die.

"First of all, she's a totally different character. Her name is Patience Philips, not Selina Kyle, which lets fans know that the film is going to be entirely seperate from BATMAN RETURNS. The biggest difference is that this is Catwoman's film. She's the hero and she doesn't have to rely of Batman, or anyone else..."

"The costume tells you a lot about the character. Patience is murdered and resurrected by an Egyptian Mao cat, then Patience becomes a cat and is in conflict between her human self and her cat self...the costume reflects that."

"No, this isn't about Batman. We're telling fans that we're starting brand new with CATWOMAN. The thing about her is that she's so independent, she doesn't need a man to take care of her."

Obviously she doesn't know the Selina Kyle character at all.

Comics2Film links to an interview with Ron Perlman, star of Hellboy. They also have a look at the set for Constantine.

Thank You!

This post is just a quick shout out to my top referers so far this month. Go visit these great sites. They all have great content.

Comic Book Weblogs
CreationMatrix
Miraclo Miles
Ringwood Ragefuck
The Johnny Bacardi Show
Pop Culture Gadabout
Dewey's World
All Too Flat
Motime Like the Present
Mercury Studio
Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
Progressive Ruin

A heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone helping to promote or even just reading the site. Thanks.

We interrupt... Part 2...

Peter David talks about the ending of his Captain Marvel series with issue #25 and asks his fans to not try to save the title and instead to be,

"supportive of some of the best writing I’ve done in my life, beat the drums for “Fallen Angel” from DC. The trade paperback comes out this summer, the current storyline culminates in issue #11 with one of the most heartbreaking sequences I’ve ever produced, and I’d really like to see that series continue. "

I second this recommendation. This is the best Peter David book I've read. It still has his trademark style and humor, but it's different as it's a darker humor. I really feel he let go and really poured his all into this book. Go buy the new trade as soon as it's released. Thats an order. :)

Oh and he's returning to the Hulk. :P

We interrupt this trip through news hell for this special bulletin...

Jim Henley makes a great defense for the Superhero genre over at AFF's Brainwash. Here is an excerpt that I thought of as well when I was reading articles on this argument elsewhere.

It is certainly true that, with few exceptions, "People don't dress in funny costumes and run around on rooftops beating each other up—they don't gain superpowers and devote themselves to the common good—they don't form clubs and societies to combat evil scientists and giant purple starfish." But would they if they could? If people gained superpowers (our speculative extrapolation), would anybody dress up and fight on rooftops, devote themselves to the common good, or try to take over the world?

I can't see why they wouldn't.

Here's a core truth I've noticed about the Real World: people are as outlandish as they can afford to be. No, not everyone. Not even most people, most of the time. But did you watch the Super Bowl halftime show? Seen Croc Files? Made a casual study of rapper aliases and street gang names? Noticed the proliferation of volunteer fire departments and neighborhood watch groups? Browsed the latest fashions on the runways of Milan? Heard about the guy with the beard in Central Asia behind some globe-spanning conspiracy to restore the glories of "The Caliphate" with himself at the head?

We are an outrageous planet. If some of us could fly or shoot rays from our hands, I wouldn't put anything past us.

We might suspect that most people with these awesome powers would keep it to themselves, or find some legal way to turn them to their advantage or, if too dull-witted to manage that, use them for illegal gain. But the world does not lack for do-gooders or busybodies (take your pick) as it is. A world of superpowers wouldn't either. And you tell those stories for the same reasons you tell the ones about outer space and FTL drives—to reflect back on the world we know.

Thanks to Franklin's Findings for spotting this.

A Little Bit of the Lesser Hells

DC has a pretty cool project planned to honor Julie Schwartz's life and work. They plan on releasing a series of specials focusing on stories based off of Julie's best-known editorial trademark, the cover-driven story.

So far these titles are planned:

DC Comics Presents: Batman
The cover to Batman #183, lovingly re-created by Adam Hughes, features a seeming "couch potato" Dark Knight. The stories are by Geoff Johns with art by Carmine Infantino, with inks by Joe Giella; and by Len Wein with art by Andy Kuhn.

Geoff Johns with Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella inking
story 2, Len Wein & Andy Kuhn pencilling/inking

DC Comics Presents: Mystery In Space
Alex Ross pays tribute to the cover of Mystery in Space #82, featuring Adam Strange’s dilemma of having to decide the fate of two worlds. By Grant Morrison with art by Jerry Ordway and Elliot S. Maggin with art by J.H. Williams III.

DC Comics Presents: Green Lantern
Brian Bolland reinterprets the cover of ,b>Green Lantern #31, where the Emerald Gladiator offers "Power Rings For Sale." By Brian Azzarello with art by Norm Breyfogle & Sal Buscema and Martin Pasko with art by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens.

DC Comics Presents: Hawkman
José Luis García-López illustrates Hawkman’s battle with a winged gorilla from the cover of Hawkman #6. By Kurt Busiek with art by Walter Simonson and Cary Bates with art by John Byrne.

Four more specials will ship weekly in August, featuring Superman, the Flash, the Atom, and the Justice League of America. Creators contributing to the August-shipping specials include: Stan Lee, Darwyn Cooke, Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen, Dennis O'Neil, Doug Mahnke, Jeph Loeb, Dave Gibbons, Mark Waid, Peter David, Harlan Ellison, and others.


Millar releases plans for his Millarworld titles including the art lineup for his Wanted:dossier project:

The run down (and status of the pieces from Millar) goes like this:

COVER : JG JONES (IN)

Three page introduction from Millar explaining how Wanted came to fruition.

THE KILLER : TIM BRADSTREET (IN)
WESLEY : JOHN ROMITA JR (IN)
THE FOX : MARC SILVESTRI (IN)
FUCKWIT : FRANK QUITELY (IN)
SUCKER : JOE QUESADA
IMP & NS : CHRIS BACHALO (IN)
PROFESSOR : DAVE JOHNSON (IN)
D-MASTER : BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
COUNC of 5 : ASHLEY WOOD
HEROES : KEVIN MAGUIRE
SHITHEAD : BILL SIENKIEWICZ (IN)
MR RICTUS : JAE LEE (IN)

Plus text pieces for each of the above.

He also talked about his work for Marvel as he talked to Newsarama.

”As for now, I'm writing Spider-Man for Dodson, The Ultimates Vol 2 for Hitch, Wolverine for Romita Junior and planning two other Marvel projects. One of these will almost certainly be with Mister Jae Lee and another will have something to do with one of Marvel's most famous characters with an artist I can't talk about yet. Details on these last two will be spilled at the end of the year.

”Once these are wrapped up (I'll be finished Summer 05) I'm plunging straight into Millarworld Phase Two for that Jan 06 release. The Marvel work and the two superhero movies I'm working on will keep me busy in the meantime. And the kids' book, of course.

”Speaking of which, already lined up four of the five artists for phase two in Jan 06, three of whom are on the above list. Every penny made from these books and the exploited movie/ games rights is split right down the middle with the artists. JG, Peter, Ants, etc, get exactly what I get and I promised them I'd never fuck them. Thanks to the word getting out that there's gold in these thar hills, some very big names came forward and made themselves available for the next little wave. I think you're in for a few surprises.

”Details spilled in Summer 05.”


DC released some info on upcoming series at their panel at Wizard World LA:

The Teen Titans will make an appearance in Chuck Austen and Ivan Reis’ Action Comics. Austen’s first storyline, as show in the preview backups already released, will return the villain Gog from Kingdom Come storyline to being an active threat for the Man of Steel.

Also, as shown in the previews, Superman will have to deal with changes within the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit in Greg Rucka and Matthew Clark’s Adventures of Superman

Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and Karl Kesel write and draw, respectively, a four issue Majestic miniseries, which will continue the hero’s adventures in the DCU following his appearances in Abnett and Lanning’s “World Without a Superman” arc.

Micah Wright and Carlos D’Anda’s six issue The Vigilante miniseries launches in August.

Rick Veitch and Tommy Lee Edwards’ six issue miniseries The Question launches in September.

Carlos Pacheco will illustrate an arc on Superman/Batman.

DC’s Bob Wayne teased Batman, pointing out that Judd Winick and Dustin Nguyen’s run on the series concludes in July, but did not name the next creative team to take on the series. In lieu of naming the new team, Wayne did hint that a large Bat-storyline is in the works for later this year.

Eddie Campbell and Darren White’s Batman: The Order of the Beasts is due to ship in July.

Sam Kieth’s five issue Scratch miniseries tells the story of Batman as he investigates a small town with a dark secret.

Wayne confirmed the return of Doom Patrol by John Byrne with inker Doug Hazlewood. The team will include Robot Man, Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, and Niles Caulder as well as a group of new heroes.

Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke’s 12-issue Justice League Elite begins in July, after spinning out of June’s JLA #100. As the storyline of issue #100 (and maxiseries) features The Elite, as first seen in Action Comics #775, DC is offering a new printing of the issue in June as well.

Kurt Busiek’s Astro City will return with a special in September, followed shortly thereafter by Astro City: The Dark Age, a 12-issue maxiseries set in the ‘70s, which tells the tale of the Silver Agent.

All Hell Breaks Loose at Marvel Part 2

Newsarama has posted an interview with Allan Jacobsen about the new Invaders series that will spring out of the upcoming Avengers storyline by Chuck Austen.

In this interview Jacobsen takes a look at the cast he's dealing with:

Captain America – Well - "a" Captain America. Wait and see. This character was part of the Invaders project before I came along. I admit I was hesitant at first about precisely how he fit in. After writing Invaders #1, he has quickly become one of my favorites. This is a man passionate about his commitment to his personal beliefs. Fiercely pro-soldier, though not necessarily pro-war. He's complex and extremely compelling to write.

Longtime fans, take a deep breath, and repeat to yourselves and keep this in mind: “Allan loves these characters and respects their history." Trust me. It's all good! New fans hold on. Invaders #1 hits the ground at break neck speed, and this Captain America is going to be a big part of it.

Sub-Mariner - Namor will be appearing in the regular series until Marvel wrenches him from my cold dead hands. We need him. He's the power and nobility of the Invaders. He's an Atlantean Monarch---an outsider with an outsider's view of air-breather politics. In fact, the Atlantean Nation plays a tremendous role in the series. In the past, when Atlantean Soldiers turn up, they're usually antagonists led by Attuma or something. They're with the good guys here.

Jim Hammond - Come on! This guy is Marvel's original super-hero! He's on the cover to Marvel Comics #1. He's been killed off, resurrected, replaced, stripped of his powers, and kicked around for sixty years. With Invaders, we are raising the Torch! This guy is an A-list player, and it's about time he got some serious attention! No more standing in the Fantastic Four's shadow for this Torch! He's gone through a lot, and we're going out of our way to provide a visually distinctive and interesting character. During the conceptual stage, my original working title for the series was "Liberty's Torch". Expect big things from Hammond!

The female Human Torch from Chuck's stories will be present as well. I really wanted Hammond in the series. For me it was essential, and at first this other Torch seemed like a redundancy, but she's not. She's cool. Wait and see.

Union Jack - The good one! Joseph Chapman is an everyman hero hailing from Great Britain. He's the successor to the Union Jack mantle, a traditional identity established during World War I. Union Jack is one of my absolute favorite characters, and I'm thrilled to be able to work with him. Everyone seems to love his costume. It's a classic, and he's got a built in rogues gallery that dates back to the original Union Jack's World War II adversary, Baron Blood. Amongst this incredibly powerful cast of characters, Jack provides a breath of fresh air. Before becoming a Super-Hero this guy was an art student. Before that he was a street tough. He's the kind of guy that's the first to start swinging in a bar fight, and the first to buy you a beer after he cleans your clock.

Spitfire - Lady Jacqueline Falsworth is a speedster, a World War II era heroine restored to the fullness of her youth. Union Jack and Spitfire have a complicated history, and an even more complicated relationship. She's the mother of his best friend, and he is the successor of an identity begun by her father. That and the fact that she's gorgeous. It makes me think of the Fountains of Wayne song, "Stacy's Mom.” Spitfire is the ultimate hot mom---an older English noblewoman in the body of a twenty-five year-old.

Blazing Skull - A mystically empowered powerhouse who was briefly a member of the Invaders during the 1990's revival. Chuck brought him back and dusted him off. His backstory is that he's a pacifist, chosen as the ambassador of a bizarre Tibetan cult who have replaced their faces with blazing skulls to remind them not to judge others on appearance! When he shows up in Avengers, the former pacifist is suddenly a sadistic loon with powers we've never known him to have and a penchant for spouting one-liners. Believe it or not, he's the same guy! You'll see. The poor guy has been through a lot.

The Thin Man - Oh yeah. Laugh it up. This guy has an edge. Literally. He can flatten himself to a nearly two-dimensional state, making his entire body a lethal, razor-edged weapon. He can appear and disappear at will by warping his body through sub-dimensional space. He comes from a technically advanced society of other-dimensional explorers that were wiped out by the
Nazis. The Thin Man has been hunting war criminals and perfecting his superhuman abilities for sixty years, and he's not in a good mood.

There are others. The day-to-day operations of the Invaders headquarters is managed by Admiral Peter Noble, a swashbuckling WW II hero with an enchanted sword.

All Hell Breaks Loose at Marvel

Jeez, you take a weekend off from blogging and all hell breaks loose in all three of the topics I post on. We got comic news, movie news, and design news coming your way.



Over at Newsarama you can read Joe Quesada's Cup'o'Joe@Wizard World LA. In it he pulls a pretty dumb prank on Dan Didio and DC which leads to the charge that Marvel is the child to DC's mature adult over at Millarworld (thanks to Fanboy Rampage!)

Among those topics he touches on are:

There will be new Masterworks

Identity Disc had originally been titled Sinister Six, but they didn't want people to confuse it with Ultimate Six. I guess they wanted to confuse it with another company's product instead. Oh and isn't Utimate Six supposed to be over already? Oh, thats right, I forgot IT'S LATE!!!

There will be new characters coming in light of the X-Men Reload event.

About DC, Quesada said, “I look at the sales figures for every month, and I know who wins.”
I guess he doesn't look at the secondary markets.

A writer has expressed interest in Cloak and Dagger

JMS’ upcoming Amazing Spider-Man arc, “Sins Past,” – “stuff comes up and bites Peter in the ass. If you think the Avengers controversy is something, you…just…wait.” The mystery-story arc, according to Quesada, will shake Peter Parker’s life to its foundations.

There will be some link to the new Spider-Girl character in Amazing Fantasy to Peter Parker, but not much.

“When we [Quesada and Bill Jemas] took over at Marvel, there had been a lot of traditional storytelling in the way of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. We had to worry less about continuity, and get back to telling great stories.”

Quesada also said that in the near future, readers should see a return line-wide of a return to more Kirby-esque art.

As for what that means perhaps one safe specualtion could be…four words: Kirby didn’t draw manga.
This is actually some good news.

Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley added that from August onwards, a lot of classic material, i.e., from the ‘70s and ‘80s, will see reprint action as soft covers. Buckley said that Marvel is “reloading” many of its classic heroes, for a lack of a better word.
Also good news.

On decompression of stories: “There’s no conscious effort, no mandate here. This is the world we live in – we live in the world of trade paperbacks…I think the way we’re writing stories is drawing people in. It has a lot to do with Hollywood, movies and television. I think that’s just the way writers are doing it. It’s something in the air. I like that.”

Quesada said that he is trying to get Ultimates back on a monthly schedule.
That is the funniest thing i've heard in a good while.

He also said that there will be a couple more solo X-Men books coming.
Well thats suprising. (sarcasm)

According to Quesada and Buckley, there is an all-out crusade against typos in Marvel titles, with a new two-day earlier final proof process.
Heh heh heh.

On Peter David’s new book: “I can’t tell you, but you’re going to love it.”

On Peter David's Captain Marvel: “It’s probably going to be going the way of the dinosaur.”
I hope someone else can reboot the Captain Marvel character. Of course David reboot it so many times in the series I have no idea who he is anymore. I still read it every month though, so he's doing something right.


At the Bendis Panel they announced that he has signed at Marvel till 2006.

Brent Anderson, acclaimed artist on Astro City, will be the new regular "The Pulse" artist.

Avengers #1 will hit in November.

Bendis also announced the writers on the other Avengers titles scheduled for the relaunch:

Mike Oeming on Thor
Robert Kirkman on Captain America (on his Image Comics messageboard, Kirkman has said that his stay on the book wil last four issues.)
Mark Ricketts on Iron Man

He also shed some light on the other books launching in the line as it will spawn two Avengers titles, and Allan Heinberg, a writer of The OC will write the second Avnegers title. All three books will tie together.

Marvel will release the Ultimate Spider-man script book in June.


Finally Rob Leifeld will relaunch X-Force with Fabian Niceiza. I'm too bewildered to comment on this right now.