The Marvel Thread

[BlueBard]

In other news Slott either spoiled the identity of the Superior Spider-Man or he's playing with fans (I'm guessing the later). On twitter he apparently accidentally made a private post public that referred to

Spoiler

Miguel, presumably Miguel O'Hara the Spider-Man 2099.

If that's true, they might just as well have entitled it -- 

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Spider-Man: The Next Generation

Or even if it isn't true.

[Randomdays]

Story about Marvel Now with some covers over at CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/06/showbiz/marvel-then-now/index.html?hpt=hp_rr_7

[detourne_me]

I haven't gone through my stack from this week yet (an insane number of comics to get this week! WATX, Batman, Walking Dead, Saga...)
But has anyone else read All-New X-Men?

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I really like this direction,  and I actually enjoy seeing Scott as a proactive Mutant Terrorist...   He's like the anti-establishment Greenpeace movement of the '70s
The three teams they have set up seem to work really well too!

[Silver Shocker]

Yeah, I liked it too. Bendis' worst writing quirks seemed to be in check, and I think Immonen's gotten a lot better since Fear Itself.  Though...

Spoiler

1. I'm worried about Beast

2. I find the ideas for the new mutants a bit redundant. We've got a white hetero girl with time-manipulation powers (similar to the powers Sway had in Deadly Genesis) and a black guy who looks kinda like Prodigy with healing powers (yeah, let's not USE Elixir, let's just create a new character with the exact same power set. On the plus side, the X-Men universe now has at least three characters who can heal others (including Angel) so they have no excuse now). And NEITHER of them look like exotic aliens! I just wonder if a little more diversity might have been preferable, yaknow since X-Men is a franchise based entirely around diversity. That's all I'm saying.

[Podmark]

Yeah I quite liked All New X-Men, looking forward to more.

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I'm liking Cyclops direction too DM.

[detourne_me]

Well, about diversity... There is in the new WatX

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A Brazilian girl wereshark, an Alabaman white boy crawdad, and numerous other misfits...although they are part ofa new Hellfire School...we think.
Wasn't there also the Chinese butterfly girl too?

[Previsionary]

Read All New X-men. Much better than I expect it to be. I was shocked. Not getting the thing about Beast though. I assume that's an artifact from the ton of stories I missed?

Also, I read that janet is back alive. How'd that happen?

[crimsonquill]

Also, I read that janet is back alive. How'd that happen?

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Jan was apparently shrank down into a subatomic universe when she tried fighting the Skrull super virus they put into her Pym particles. So while Thor was pulling all of the overload energy from Jan and everyone believing she was sacrificing herself she was dropped into the other subatomic world and living as a freedom fighter against the army that controlled that realm she was trapped in. It was just blind luck that an old communicator frequency finally was able to be detected by Pym and Tony Stark to locate her.

[crimsonquill]

The post-AVX storyline seems to be setting up roots for the infamous Summers Rebellion which sends Cyclops off into a deeper relationship with Emma and having kids with her including Ruby (who was part of an alternate earth storyline with Madrox and Layla in X-Factor). I'm all up for having Scott striking off to prove himself with his own X-Men team and loving the idea of young Cyclops and old Cyclops clashing over their methods and maybe ending up with the younger Cyclops trying to step up and not make the same mistakes.

- CQ

[Podmark]

The post-AVX storyline seems to be setting up roots for the infamous Summers Rebellion which sends Cyclops off into a deeper relationship with Emma and having kids with her including Ruby

Actually Bendis has said Emma and Scott will be breaking up in Uncanny.

[Previsionary]

Thanks Crimson for the Janet info. Oi. Vey. It's weird that she "wasn't dead" when I clearly recall seeing her in hell, but then again, Mighty Avengers negated that appearance first, lol.

Podmark, did he now? The possibility of Scott/Emma heading towards the timeline we saw in X-factor was actually amusing, and I could get on board with that. Current Scott actually fits Emma more than any other character as of this moment. Of course, he'd be better off alone, me thinks.

[Silver Shocker]

Amazing Spider-Man #698:

Spoiler

Peter Parker has been left for dead. Long live Doc Ock in Peter's body (with Peter in Otto's, which is in cardiac arrest)

I was pretty sure this was coming up, I'd heard extensive speculation about it online. That being said the issue is really well done. And while it has a fill-in artist, the guy's really good. Like one of the best fill-ins I've ever seen. Also Sha-Shan makes a brief appearance as Aunt May's physical rehab nurse. Neat.

Storyline has me intrigued, interested in seeing where it goes. But Otto making the moves on MJ? Yeah, eww.

Haven't read anything else from this week yet, so pop in later once I have.

[murs47]

How is Cyclops no longer incarcerated?

[Podmark]

How is Cyclops no longer incarcerated?

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Magneto, Magik, and Danger busted him out on Cyclops' orders. This occurred in AvX Consequences #5. I'm assuming they busted Emma out afterwards.

[BlueBard]

Amazing Spider-Man #698:

Spoiler

Peter Parker has been left for dead. Long live Doc Ock in Peter's body (with Peter in Otto's, which is in cardiac arrest)

Storyline has me intrigued, interested in seeing where it goes. But Otto making the moves on MJ? Yeah, eww.

Waitaminit...

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Doc Ock is the new Spider-Man?  Seriously?  Isn't he one of the bad guys?

Now I'm confused.  I should hope that's not going to be permanent, and that they have a logical 'out' already prepared in advance...

[laughing paradox]

So I just wanted to express my love for Hawkeye, Uncanny Avengers and All-New X-men.

They've been great. That is all.

[XStream]

Reading over the thread, and I believe Prevs link to the USA Today article screams Spiderman 2009! Look at the talons on the hands and feet, and the use of black over blue. This could be a real possibility... Maybe Pete's near death experience will lead to another retirement (ahem... vacation). Only thing we are missing is the web cape. [color]

[detourne_me]

So I just wanted to express my love for Hawkeye, Uncanny Avengers and All-New X-men.

They've been great. That is all.

Heck Yeah!
and I really love X-men Legacy too.

[Podmark]

Reading over the thread, and I believe Prevs link to the USA Today article screams Spiderman 2009! Look at the talons on the hands and feet, and the use of black over blue. This could be a real possibility... Maybe Pete's near death experience will lead to another retirement (ahem... vacation). Only thing we are missing is the web cape. [color]

Personally I'm predicting the Superior Spider-Man is:

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Peter Parker
...

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in the body of someone else most likely Miguel O'Hara or Norman Osborn. Not sure how it happens but that's what I'm expecting.
Doc Ock will continue to control Peter's body I think.

Thus far I'm really enjoying the Marvel Now era. Bendis has impressed me on All-New X-Men, and I'm really enjoying Uncanny Avengers, Hawkeye, Uncanny X-Force, Wolverine and the X-Men and Amazing Spider-Man.
Looking forward to Uncanny X-Men, Superior Spider-Man, and Hickman's Avengers. Avengers starts next week and I have pretty high expectations.

[bearded]

i just read an old one, onslaught reborn, from 08. the story was good, and i thought the art was superb. it is the best work I have seen liefeld do. so, i sent him an email, telling him this. and he replied!

I had a blast doing that series. Glad you enjoyed. Thx, Rob

Spoiler

[Podmark]

In the latest issue of All New X-Men it finally happened...

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Beast is no longer a cat 
A new secondary mutation, likely triggered by the Phoenix restoring mutants, has turned him into what X-Men editor Nick Lowe calls Gorilla Beast. You can see it here.
I like it, the pants are nice. But I was a huge fan of Cat Beast and I am very sad to see it go.

Been really enjoying All New X-Men. Only real complain might be that the pace is a little slow, but that's fairly common in modern comics.


And here's a few other tidbits about comics I've been reading:

Venom has really dropped off in quality since Rick Remender left both in art and writing. I'm still picking it up for now.

On the same note the Minimum Carnage crossover was pretty poor. Just a complete lack of anything interesting, and far too much Microverse.

I've been super excited about Jonathan Hickman's Avengers and New Avengers, but the results thus far have been mixed. I like the stuff with the actual Avengers, but the villains have done nothing for me so far. Really neat team in Avengers though, very interested in the new Smasher and Captain Universe.

The premise of Avengers Arena, with teen heroes forced to fight each other to death by Arcade, has been very controversial for many fans including myself, but so far I've found the series very engaging. But it has killed a character in each of the first two issues, so controversy is definitely justified thus far.

[Talavar]

Avengers Arena - the best done comic I don't like.  Two issues in, both very well done, with strong writing and an apparently good understanding of character, but I don't think I can get past the core concept - it just offends me.  And Arcade getting all Dr. Light-ed

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by that I mean becoming suddenly deadly competent and monstrous after years of being pretty much a joke

doesn't do much for me either.

[murs47]

+1 to Beast's new look.

[BlueBard]

Just wanted to share my thoughts about the spoilers for ASM #700 and the coming "Superior" Spider-Man.

Spoiler

Marvel has ruined Spider-Man for me forever.  I cannot accept Otto Octavius as Spider-Man, especially the vile way the deed has been portrayed.  Otto possessing Peter's body, impersonating Peter, murdering Peter, and essentially stealing Peter's life and relationships... it's just horrible and sick, no matter how they end up spinning it.

Oh, I'm sure that eventually "Peter" will probably be back... somehow.  It's not like Marvel didn't leave themselves enough of an "out" from what little I've read.  How they're going to have a Doctor Octopus character going forward is another question.

But this storyline, among others, marks what I feel is the dark and twisted mind of present-day Marvel.  They've corrupted characters who stood for something better, to satisfy the egos of writers who think they can top everything that has gone before.

It's pretty simple.  Peter was a survivor who was also a hero -- a rare combination.  Now he's dead and he's been replaced by a murderer who's deluded himself into thinking he can become the hero.  And he's not the only one who's deluding themselves, if Marvel thinks this is a great story.  This was even worse than Brand New Day, and it's the last nail in Spider-Man's coffin as far as I'm concerned.

'Nuff said.  Goodbye, Peter... you deserved better.

[detourne_me]

http://www.spiderfan.org/faq/dead.html

read that, it might make you feel a little better.

Anyway, in my opinion it was truly an excellent story, you can really tell that Slott has nothing but the utmost respect for the history of Spider-Man when you actually read his run on ASM. More than once I've cried while reading it this year.  Tears of joy, nostaligia, and awe at the heroism that Slott instills in the character. For the past 2+ years Peter's rallying cry was "Nobody dies!"... we'll have to see how this story plays out.

The only other superhero comics in which i've openly wept for this year have been the Hickman F4 issues when Spidey joins the FF and when Reed and Ben share a beer at the end.

[Podmark]

I really enjoyed ASM 700 as well, Det.

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It was a very gripping story and I really didn't know how it would end. My favorite part was at the end where Peter turned certain defeat into a victory, by making Ock relive his memories and take on Peter's responsibility before Peter died. That moment actually felt like a pretty perfect cap to Peter's life to me.

I'll be surprised if Peter's not back within two years (I can think of at least 3 easy outs) but in the meantime I'm very interested in seeing how Superior plays out.

[BlueBard]

http://www.spiderfan.org/faq/dead.html

read that, it might make you feel a little better.

Nope.

Look, I know comic book characters die and that death is normally about as permanent as jello.

But this is not Spider-Man.  This is "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" Marvel-style.  Doesn't anyone else find this creepy?

[Talavar]

http://www.spiderfan.org/faq/dead.html

read that, it might make you feel a little better.

Nope.

Look, I know comic book characters die and that death is normally about as permanent as jello.

But this is not Spider-Man.  This is "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" Marvel-style.  Doesn't anyone else find this creepy?

I do.  I have no interest in reading about the current Spider-man for this reason. 

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Otto, even trying to do good, is not a heroic character; at best they've made Spider-man into some kind of anti-hero, and I'm not interested.

[BlueBard]

So here's my main problem with this.

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It's not so much the fact that Peter has been replaced.  That's been done before.  Various Marvel characters have at various times been cloned or impersonated or possessed.

Most of the time, we don't know for sure that the character has been replaced, or how, or why until the big reveal.  We're not really involved in the private life and thoughts of those characters... mostly we just see the public persona.

This is vastly different.

Marvel expects their readers to experience Peter's life through Doctor Octavius' eyes.  They will KNOW every step of the way that this isn't really Peter Parker, that Otto has stolen Peter's body and his life.  We're being cordially invited to live Peter Parker's life through the mind of a psychopath.

This is sick and twisted.  There's nothing beautiful about it. 

I certainly wouldn't want my children exposed to that version of Spider-Man, and it makes me very uncomfortable with the exposure they already have with Spider-Man because I have no idea how far Marvel will go in tainting it.  How would I even explain something like this?

[Previsionary]

The twist of Spidey 700 has already been "tamed" in the first issue of Superior from what I've seen. That's all I'll say about that.

Beast's new look is like a mix of his old look and his cat look. It's whatever.