The Marvel Thread

[SickAlice]

Thanks t like I said I read it. I'll just quote Bendis from last week here then:

Just so we say it on the record -- it's coming from my mouth to the pages of Comic Book Resources -- the X-Men line is not cancelled. It is not near cancelled, no book that I'm writing is cancelled. We are planning, in fact, the day before New York Comic Con, I am going into Marvel -- just myself -- to sit and lock down all the things we have planned. That includes four or five big questions we're just going to lock down. That's going to happen.

The following Saturday, there's an X-Men panel! It is focused on "Death of Wolverine" because that is the X-Men event, and we do -- even when I was on "Avengers," we had a "Secret Invasion" panel, not an Avengers panel. It doesn't mean that Marvel hates the Avengers, it's the subject that will get people in. We will be covering and showing stuff, but Wolverine is an X-Man and it's an X-Men panel!

I feel bad that some people online are making other people online nervous or feel bad with half-truths or just misreading, "Oh my God! There's no X-Men on the cover of this book, Marvel hates the X-Men!" There are characters that Disney has an investment in their future. But the X-Men are a very vital part of publishing and are treated so all the way through. There's no one working on this book that isn't an A-List talent. The art is amazing top to bottom. The best artist that was working on DC that wasn't working at Marvel was Andrea Sorrentino. The minute they became available, I was offered him. To me, that says everything! They didn't say put him on "Guardians," which is obviously the book. They said, "How about him and you doing an X-Men project?" and I said, "I know which one to do where he can do everything that he does!"

You go online, and I just think, "You're wrong! You're looking at a cover and I'm telling you look at who they're putting on the books." I just wanted to reiterate that, and it kind of hurts my feelings a little bit. I literally write X-Men every day and then people go, "You guys don't care about it." Sometimes I have tears in my eyes while I'm writing this stuff. I care so much! I've never been on a book where people were so sure there was a conspiracy and were so wrong.

- Brian Michael Bendis

I had to check it over three times in case it needed to be edited as Bendis tends to curse a lot, lol.

[detourne_me]

Of course the X-Men aren't going anywhere. Including Deadpool comics, that line is 1/3 of all publishing revenue. Greater than any other line, including Avengers. The thing that troubles me is that the mutants are still being sequestered off into their own group. Then when events roll around like AvX, the supposed villain of the story, Cyclops, can say things like "the Avengers have never been there for mutants" and be completely right.

Maybe the concept of mutants as a hated and feared race of people just doesn't work within a shared universe. They actually have to be marginalised in order to be marginalised.

[SickAlice]

I don't know about anyone else but none of the NYCC news really got me excited. I'm " looking foreward " to a lot of things but most were upcoming stuff that's already been revealed either by the press, in universe or both. I like the new Silk costume and the news of her and Spider-Gwen getting their own series (moreso the latter) but not jumping off my hooves excited. The Archie Vs Predator one got an eyebrow raise but to me the whole contrast Archie against a darker opposite thing has lost it's luster in becoming cliche'. When they did it with the Punisher what was so appealing was the fact that it was so out of left field and unexpected. I suppose in the digital age it's nearly impossible to be surprised nor should one have an expectation for it though. The Secret Wars thing looks interesting too. I really haven't been steered wrong by Hickman so I'm sure to digest it. Again since I'm reading the books it's not really shocking news either since a merging of alternate realities has been the going rate since NOW! began.

Oh, and is it just me but does the Black Vortex header kind of look like something out of a Don Bluth animation?

[JeyNyce]

Has anybody been reading the new HULK series?  It's pretty good and I like the way Marvel is cleaning up the Hulk characters that have outlasted their welcome.  You'll know what I mean if you read the last few issues, but just in case you haven't...

Spoiler

The Hulk or Doc Green as he is called is curing all the Gamma infected heroes.  First he started with A-Bomb (Rick Jones) and the went after Skarr.  Next on his list are the Red Hulks and then he's going to deal with She-Hulk, which I think is going to be the most interesting meetings of them all.

[trebean]

Has anybody been reading the new HULK series?  It's pretty good and I like the way Marvel is cleaning up the Hulk characters that have outlasted their welcome.  You'll know what I mean if you read the last few issues, but just in case you haven't...

Spoiler

The Hulk or Doc Green as he is called is curing all the Gamma infected heroes.  First he started with A-Bomb (Rick Jones) and the went after Skarr.  Next on his list are the Red Hulks and then he's going to deal with She-Hulk, which I think is going to be the most interesting meetings of them all.

Yep, personally hoping Betty's next

Spoiler

Which is probably more than likely looking at the last few pages

[Podmark]

I've read the first couple issues of Axis and I'm quite liking it. The 2nd issue dragged a fair bit though, but the ending made up for it.
The funny thing is the first issue felt much more like the end of a story, not the beginning. This is mostly because it was a direct continuation of Uncanny Avengers.

[SickAlice]

I think it's digestible. Enjoying Spider-verse more. Magneto is my favorite character in AXIS so far, not a hard grab since he's center stage.
Favorite moment:

Spoiler

Cyclops and Havok bro moment. Hit me in the feels.

[JeyNyce]

First Fantastic Four, now She-Hulk...

https://games.yahoo.com/news/three-books-come-end-january-160300551.html

[SickAlice]

This is sort of amusing. Have you ever Google image searched " Marvel Secret Wars 2014  " ? This is what came up, just a big block-out of the same image. Note where my slider is at.

[SickAlice]

I should probably let it run for a bit before making a final call but I'll say now for how cliche and flat the concept itself is Death Of Wolverine is decent reading. Maybe I'm swayed to see characters like X-23 and Mystique get more attention but of the mini itself the story is a solid Wolverine one and the art is especially gorgeous. The surprise in the end did make the hairs on my neck stand up and brought back nostalgic feelings about Fatal Attractions. In the least I'll say it didn't come out the ham I was expecting.

[BentonGrey]

INTERESTING!:
https://games.yahoo.com/news/marvel-teases-x-men-92-143300812.html
This could actually get me to buy a mainstream comic again.

[JeyNyce]

Interesting crossover:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=56813

[SickAlice]

^ YA!!!

[SickAlice]

Just finished ASM#9, the kick-off of Spider-verse. Every page had me bouncing about on my seat

Spoiler

- Loved that Peter (616) finally got some due (the most important Spider in the Multiverse). He's been kicked around so much, the last time I can even recall him getting a shining moment was AvX.
- Sad to see Bullet Points Spider-man didn't get more panel time if for any reason that I like the variation.
- Noticed a Watchmen " Rorschach " Spider-man, a Grifter (Wildcats) one and a Tarzan one in the Web Of Life and Destiny fold-out. Lol, awesome!

[Silver Shocker]

I on the other hand, thought it was mostly terrible, aside from Oliver Coipel's art, which was pretty great for the most part. I don't think I really spoken on the subject here but I'm grown quite tired with the current run of Spidey as late, to the point that nowadays I'm just picking up the book for a friend who still likes it and I read his copies.  I could write paragraphs about this and the last few years of Spidey, but I'll just do a tl:dr version and say: The whole thing reads like a really inept fanfic, and with the heavy abuse of the C-List Cannon Fodder trope, I'm finding it hard to figure out why I should care.

[EDIT] Also since it hasn't come up here and I've really been meaning to vent about it to some capacity, that Spider-Girl backup last issue really was, IMO, atrocious and a spit in the face of the character's 8 year run. Even SG writer Tom Defalco has publicly said the characters deserve better (though, to be fair, in the form of a "polite version" that quite probably hints at a cosmic reset button at the end of the arc. Not that that excuses poor writing, of course).

[EDIT] Also, in the interest of sprinkling in some positives, I might as well say, since this is probably the only time I've ever find myself saying this, I actually kinda like Spider-Ham in this.  I should also mention that I found the humble-but solid "Spider-Verse Team-Up" book out this same week far superior to the main book.

[JeyNyce]

I though ASM was awesome, not so much for the story but see all the different Spideys...

Spoiler

When did Bruce Banner become Spider-man?  And it was great seeing Mayday again.  I just finish reading the whole Spider-Girl series, and I'm glad to see her again.

[JeyNyce]

As I said before in an earlier post, you guys should be reading the new series, it's pretty good.  Nothing too complicated, but the storyline is very good.

[kkhohoho]

I though ASM was awesome, not so much for the story but see all the different Spideys...

Spoiler

When did Bruce Banner become Spider-man?  And it was great seeing Mayday again.  I just finish reading the whole Spider-Girl series, and I'm glad to see her again.

Spoiler

That happened in Bullet Points, an AU series where the Nazy spy who shot Professor Erskine instead shot him 24 hours earlier on a plane, which not only killed Erskine, but a young Uncle Ben in the process. As a result, Steve Rogers never got the Super Soldier Serum, and Peter never had an uncle telling him all about great power&responsibility, and that's just the start of it. One bullet is all it takes to turn the entire Marvel Universe on it's head, including Steve Rogers becoming Iron Man, Reed Richards becoming the director of Shield, Peter Parker becoming the Hulk and, yes, Bruce Banner becoming Spiderman.

Spoiler

[crimsonquill]

Looks like MARVEL dropped a big easter egg with their teaser for the upcoming SECRET WARS event in 2015..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FQRDW3IaZ4

As I figured it's apparent that some "big entity" (*cough*Beyonder*cough*) is going to try to fix the time/alternate reality problems by creating this BATTLEWORLD to save the alternate realities while saving the Prime reality.

But how many of you are going to pause the comic covers to see which realities are being forged into BATTLEWORLD. I totally noticed that X-MEN '92 isn't just an extended season of the cartoon but one of the realities that might be merged into the prime reality. Please discuss which reality are you most excited about seeing in the teaser.

- CQ

[JeyNyce]

Looks like MARVEL dropped a big easter egg with their teaser for the upcoming SECRET WARS event in 2015..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FQRDW3IaZ4

As I figured it's apparent that some "big entity" (*cough*Beyonder*cough*) is going to try to fix the time/alternate reality problems by creating this BATTLEWORLD to save the alternate realities while saving the Prime reality.

But how many of you are going to pause the comic covers to see which realities are being forged into BATTLEWORLD. I totally noticed that X-MEN '92 isn't just an extended season of the cartoon but one of the realities that might be merged into the prime reality. Please discuss which reality are you most excited about seeing in the teaser.

- CQ

The one where Peter is still married to Mary Jane.  That was the reason why I stopped collecting comics for a while, when I heard Marvel was going to break them up.

[kkhohoho]

If they're going to have Alternate Universes beat the crap out of each other, then they might as well include Squadron Supreme, MC2, Marvel 2099, Marvel 1602, and Killraven. If you're doing to do a multiversal brawl, you should at least get the classics in there first.

[JeyNyce]

Isn't Marvel 2099 just Marvel 616's future, or did Marvel change that too?

[kkhohoho]

Isn't Marvel 2099 just Marvel 616's future, or did Marvel change that too?

Yup, they did. As of recently, Spiderman 2099 just traveled from the future and accidentally created Alchemist in the present, thus rendering his own time an alternate future, as Alchemist isn't supposed to exist until several decades from now.

[SickAlice]

No and yes. It's a potential alternate future, much as their are potential alternate presents and pasts. There are other potential alternate futures that branch off from the alpha timeline tree. So technically they are all and aren't all the future to come. However the past is the the same past to the alternate futures. Unless of course that changes then it becomes the alternate futures true past whereas the current 616 canon becomes it's alternate past.

Take Timestorm as an example. Not to long ago a deviation in the past caused the 2099 alternate future as anyone originally read it to cease to exist (technically, hold that thought). A new 2099 took it's place, designated Earth 2099-2099. This new 2099 has different versions of the 2099 characters we knew or different characters all together. For example Miguel was now a youth much more akin to the Ultimates design. That change was never undone however just because it had happened didn't dismiss the previous 2099 as a potential alternate future nor the fact that it had existed and therefore did in some time and space. Hence the Miguel we knew was able to travel back from his experienced present future to his known past and Superior vice-vera. Added to that mix is a 2099 Spider-man from Exiles, whom we read about in Exiles naturally and saw recently in the Spider-man 2099's cross-over. His potential version of the future continues to exist as well as a branch. None however are slated to be the true future until the day one of them actually becomes the present.

Phew.

* Edit: @Silver_Shocker: Sorry this is late. That's a respectable position I think. Slott Spider-man in my view is a take it or leave it kind of series and mainly the leave it end tends to fall on readers who have read the series/character exploits for a duration. Like much of the dissonance with BND current Spider-man stories tend to really mix things up and radically change the base story elements which naturally does not appeal to all long time readers. For myself it mostly rules out. Not in every comic but when it comes to Spider-man I just like seeing his antics. Keeping things streamlined yet traditional doesn't really factor in for me with Peter as it does normally for other characters. Kind of like Deadpool. There's a few factions of fans there that tend to head butt over which version of the character Deadpool is currently behaving like. I didn't feel any end of the spectrum myself as I don't feel it's relevant enough to said character. Spider-man more so is a lot like the Ninja Turtles for me though where I came to know the character initially through mixed media forms so I'm able to enjoy him now in a more universal way and regardless of whether continuity is minded or not. Spider-girl is non for me as well because I really didn't get into MC2 (like the character but didn't care either way) and at best the presence of her character was a bit of a tick because it kept a blot on Spider-man's history (at the time) in the form of Peter and MJ's daughter in then present continuity.

Speaking of that my negatives here:

1.) Continuity is not minded: I'm taking that from the get with a big grain salt though. The big selling point was " every Spider-man ever " of course for the arc here. I laughed even when I first read that because let's face facts, while one can say they're going to write every character ever they're not going to be able to actually do it and the result is going to be that characters are more just " accounted for ". Additionally those other Spider-peeps aren't going to get their histories and stories focused on properly because not only would that be a ridiculous task to manage but more the actual character whose series it is needs to be minded first and above all else in this case Peter of 616 of course. So noting most of the Spider-people we've see now, they just show their face, do exactly nothing significant to either their own stories or even 616 for that matter and then either die or hang out as back drop. I just don't see it being written any other way than keeping the focus on the currently written character and the ones that have new series slated. So effectively there's no real disappointment for me here as I see the story being told as it should be.

2.) Slott can't write Peter Parker or at least he's hesitant to do it for whatever reason. A generally statement about his run and not as much this event, and yes I just made a poop but I see it enough that it stings my experience with his run. Slott seems to either 1.) Try and write any other character but Peter Parker and at the same time try and push Peter into the backdrop where he doesn't belong, sort of like writing a Spider-man "World " or " Tales Of " book rather than the traditional mold 2.) Up and write a different Spider all together, this event of course widening that gulf and/or 3.) Write Peter but not as Peter but instead a character that resembles him. I don't know what the deal is here but the result is the major component that ends up lacking is the inspirational side of Peter being the life's lessons he learns and the ones he in turn teaches. He instead is sort of just there wearing a shirt that says " Hey I'm that guy " rather than being the character in the 3d dimensional sense. Granted Slott does hit the character mark but it seems rarely and that isn't really agreeable when it's a character driven story, at least it isn't for me.

[JeyNyce]

Has anybody read Thor #2 yet?  It gave big clues as to who is the new Thor.  Comic view has an article about it:
Be warned, it contain spoilers!

http://www.comicvine.com/articles/five-developments-from-thor-2/1100-150385/

[JeyNyce]

Great week for comics, Axis, Superior Iron Man, Spider-verse, All New Captain America and Captain America and the Mighty Avengers.  Next week is going to big too, Spider woman #1 will be coming out!

[kkhohoho]

Honestly, from what I've heard of Superior Ironman, it raises Tony's level of dick-ish-ness to heights not seen since Civil War. Considering what that did to Tony's reputation for the next few years afterward, (such as those various pictures of Tony photoshopped with a Hitler mustache...) I can't say I'm really new keen on this new 'Superior' take on Tony...

[JeyNyce]

I read somewhere that they wanted Superior Tony to be like RDJ in the movie, but after reading the first issue, I think RDJ would say that this guy is a total D-bag.  For some strange reason I like Tony like this because when we gets his dues, you'll know that he deserves it.

[SickAlice]

I have the Iron Man issue sitting there, need to get on that. Read Spider-verse #1. My only complaint could be there stories are either too short or too crammed together so they play out that way. I'd would liked a little more time with Manga Spider-man as well the new Steampunk Spider-girl though I'm certain with the latter I'll have it given Marvel's recent female Spider character push. Read Axis #5. I haven't been too enthusiastic with this book so far but this was a decent issue with some substance to it. The writers take on Spider-man was very entertaining as well. Getting Cap and the Mighty Avengers and Spider-woman, unsettled on Cap. I'm interested in Sam (though it seems like they made him Cap only to make him into a humongous jerknob?) but I dropped the series when it was Steve only three issues deep so I'm apprehensive as well.

[JeyNyce]

I think Sam would have been a great Captain America if it wasn't for the whole Axis storyline.  Expect Cage to start acting like a jerk too in the Mighty Avengers.