Green Lantern #12 Preview!

Marvel announces new ongoings for November

A little longer than a year after DC Comics announced the "New 52" initiative, Marvel Comics is following suit by creating Marvel NOW! which will not necessarily reBOOT the Marvel Universe, but more reLAUNCH the main series. Last week, Marvel released teasers that teased eight new series by just one word each to describe the ongoing and announce the creative team, from "Invincible" to "Chimichangas." While most other comic news sites have been keeping track of them daily, I haven't. So let's take a look at the creative teams and the covers to the #1/November issues, shall we?

First up, "Captain America" from the creative team of Rick Remender and John Romita Jr.

I'm not quite sure what all the stuff in the background is, but it's Cap so it can't be awful, right? And with Remender (who wrote the phenominal Uncanny X-Force story "the Dark Angel Saga") and Romita Jr. on the series, I can't complain and it is certainly a title I will flip through in the store, read reviews, and consider buying. 

Next up is "Deadpool" from the creative team of Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan, and Tony Moore.

 

Okay. I've never heard of these writers, okay? And I'm sure they are amazing writers and will bring glorious comedy to Deadpool. If I didn't know the creative team at all, I'd probably say no thanks to this series. But I have seen Tony Moore's work on "Walking Dead" and I'm certainly interested in the first issue at the very least. And as for the story...what the HELL??? Haha. That looks amazing. Deadpool. Dinosaurs. Cats. I'm potentially in. 

Alright, changing gears to a more serious series, we have "Fantastic Four" from Matt Fraction and Mark Bagley.

Alright well it certainly seems to be bringing back the space aspect of the series. It'd be good to see the team heading back out to the stars on some interesting quests. Just as long as Johnny doesn't get locked in another dimension again, of course. Mark Bagley's art looks smooth and clean which is good and while I'm not a huge fan of the color scheme, I like Reed and Sue's outfits. Hopefully this series won't focus on the kids and the rest of the Future Foundation anymore and instead will focus on the original team. I might buy it. Maybe. 

Alright next up the new "FF" team of Matt Fraction and Michael Allred.

I just... I don't know what to say to this. This series looks...ridiculous. It looks like something straight out of the '50s. Whats up with the She-Thing? I mean Ant-Man and She-Hulk? Fine I get that. But who are the other two and why is one dressed up like the Thing? Who WANTS to look like that? Gahhh. No thank you, never gonna buy it. Ever. NEXT!

"Indestructible Hulk" from Mark Waid and Leinil Yu.

 Alright from what I've heard, Banner and the Hulk are gonna be kind of working together so that'll work out alright. Apparently it's just a Hulk reboot. Which they supposedly weren't gonna do. But whatever. It sounds alright but I've never been a fan of the Hulk. So no thanks.

Next is "Iron Man" from the creative team of Gillen and Land.

 I don't really know what this is besides Iron Man getting a costume redesign. Whatever works. That's fun. We see all the old suits behind him with a new redesign. 

Next we hit up "Thor: God of Thunder" from Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic.

Alright well it looks like Odin in the background and Thor seems to be kind of smiling so maybe we'll see a bright and happy Thor? I don't know. I've never really been much of a Thor fan either so that's okay. 

Lastly, we have "X-Men Legacy" from Simon Spurrier and Tan Eng Huat.

Since I have no idea what's going on in this series, let's laugh at me trying to figure out who those cut-outs are. Uhhh I think the one on the top might be Psyloche if she's like landing or dropping with her hair flying up. Upper left is definitely Wolverine since we can see the claws. Upper right is Cable I think. Lower right is Magneto from Jim Lee's "X-Men" #1 cover from way back when. I can tell that for sure. Lower left is hard...maybe Colossus from the color of the skin? I'm not sure. 

Well there you have it, folks. This is how Marvel NOW! is starting out and in my opinion it doesn't look nearly as appealing as the New 52 did.

The Dark Knight Rises Review

The Christopher Nolan trilogy of “Batman” movies comes to an explosive end in “The Dark Knight Rises.” Starring Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Tom Hardy, “Rises” picks up eight years after the events of “The Dark Knight” when Gotham is in a time of peace. The Nolan brothers deliver an amazing script, which the cast performs to near perfection. I have to say, Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Detective Blake are the breakout stars of the movie as no one really was sure how well their characters would end up being portrayed.

I felt as if I was on the edge of my seat for the entire movie, between the threat of Gotham’s destruction and whether Bale’s Batman would survive the movie kept me awake even to 3am when the movie ended. The editing was as smooth as silk, the directing was phenomenal, and the soundtrack fit the movie. My only issues with the movie were Selina Kyle and Bane’s costume designs. They were all right for what they were and they didn’t take much away from the movie, but they left something to be desired. While Bane had a larger threat to Gotham and Batman, no one could ever surpass Heath Ledger’s Joker from “The Dark Knight.” But in the explosive scene where Bane “breaks the Bat,” we see how dangerous he truly can be.

The movie was definitely meant to be seen as part three, so if you haven’t seen “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” you should definitely get them from Netflix, find them on youtube, or however else you might watch old movies. If you have an extra three hours this summer, and if you’ve seen the first two movies, I would suggest heading to the movie theatre closest to you and watching “The Dark Knight Rises.” Even though it is the definite end to Nolan’s work on the Batman, they still managed to leave a cliffhanger having myself and others wanting more. If I had to give it a score on a scale of 1-10, it’d be at least an 8.5.

Batwing, Earth-2, and JLI #4 Previews!

Batwing #12

Written by: Judd Winick

Art by: Marcus To

 

 

Earth-2 #4

Written by: James Robinson

Art by: Nicola Scott

 

 

Justice League International #12

Written by: Dan Jurgens

Art by: Aaron Lopresti

 

  

  

 

A Few Things Wanted Out of Marvel NOW!

With Marvel NOW! starting it a few months, I've examined all the attention I could find on websites like Newsarama, Comic Book Resources, and Comic Vine. So what do I want to see out of the whole Marvel NOW! initiative? Here's a few things.

New/Past Avengers
Between the main team on Avengers, the New Avengers, and Uncanny Avengers all having been announced (with potentially more Avengers titles to be announced), we have to assume there are going to be  tons of new members or old members coming back from the past. From old members like Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, to potential new members like Silver Surfer and Nick Fury Jr.

Don't Forget About Nick Sr.
With Nick Fury Jr. becoming what seems to be the "main" Nick Fury in the Marvel NOW! teasers, some might wonder what is gonna happen to Nick Fury Sr. He's the original and while he isn't really doing anything important recently, I don't think that we should just "forget" about him.


Welcome Back Cosmic Marvel...
The Guardians of the Galaxy movie is coming soon. Nova is in that Ultimate Spider-Man tv show. It's time to go cosmic with the Marvel Universe. Maybe a Silver Surfer ongoing, bring the Fantastic Four back out to space a bunch, Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova ongoings would all be a step in the right direction.

...And Don't Let the X-Men Disappear (With Maybe a Few Reappearing?)
With AvX ending soon, the two teams seem like they will be brought closer than ever, despite one of the teams losing. Thusfar we haven't seen any books starring the X-Men besides All-New X-Men starring the original X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel, and Beast) coming to the present time and seeing how much the world has changed. So one has to wonder, when will we hear about an X-Men series starring the current X-Men teams. But maybe at the end AvX, the Phoenix force will bring back a few X-Men characters...like Nightcrawler and Jean Grey?


Joe Quesada Starts Doing An Ongoing Series
Jim Lee did it with Justice League...why can't Joe Quesada start drawing an ongoing series? Maybe the new X-Men ongoing series? Maybe an Avengers team? Maybe a new Spider-Man series or Iron Man or Thor? I think it's time. Come on, Joe, start an ongoing series.

Fantastic Four Doesn't Get Forgotten
I know that Invisible Woman is on the Marvel NOW! poster that was released a few weeks ago, but that doesn't mean the whole team will have a major role. Sure, the Thing is currently a member of the New Avengers squad, and may or may not stay there post-AvX, but the rest of the team has been rather sheltered from the broad Marvel U. Maybe we could get Human Torch AND Invisible Woman on the Avengers or maybe Mr. Fantastic and the Thing on the team. Or have FF team up with the Avengers and the X-Men frequently.


Tony Stark Stays Iron Man
I know this is kind of obvious, but I don't want someone else in the armor. I think I heard something about him giving up and not being in the armor anymore recently and I was like "Well, no thanks." But I hope the man behind that armor on the Marvel NOW! poster is Tony because that's who belongs there.