NOTE: The individual opinions of each Roundtable contributor is their own, and is not representative of anybody but that contributor.
Rob Liefeld confirms that Marvel has green lighted a second X-Force mini-series
Mike Maillaro (The Nexus’ Sexiest Man Four Years Running”¦even though we’ve only been in existence a couple months): While I wasn’t too impressed with the first issue of the new X-Force, I definitely enjoyed the second one. X-Force was one of my first comics, and it holds a special place in my heart, even if it isn’t always that good.
Ben Morse (Co-Editor-In-Chief of The Nexus & writer of The Watchtower): ARGH”¦this means that Liefeld is not relinquishing the reigns to Fabian Nicieza anytime soon and that Cannonball won’t be headed back to Uncanny X-Men where he belongs”¦damn.
And the worst part is that I have nobody to blame but myself”¦myself and others like me, who know that X-Force is awful but are picking it up out of a horrible sense of nostalgia. I haven’t seen anywhere this book has not been critically panned, but sales are fine thanks to morons like me.
Jamie Hatton (Writer of Diner Talk & Nexus reviewer): WHY! WHY IN GODS NAME… I’m so fed up with this I can’t even begin to fathom it. The fact is that I don’t even think Liefeld and Nicieza are writing these stories wholecloth. They read too old. I’m starting to believe that the stories (like the art) is just rehashed from older books that never came out. So Liefeld gets to see whatever sick demented little vision he had in 93 come to fruition. They’re not being fair to the excellent stories that came AFTER them, relating to Siryn and Warpath, Boom Boom and her family, Cannonball’s yearn to lead yet inability to get the job done, Pete Wisdom’s great conspiracy, Domino’s ability to lead this team all by herself without being Cable’s lackey.
It’s utter crap.
Jason Berek-Lewis (Writer of A View From Over The Edge): I’ll play the dissenting voice here. GO ROB! I really love his art. And I am the first to admit that the story is “dodgy” and it seems like Fabian has had to alter the script around repetitive fight scenes – etc … But it’s a Liefeld comic. That’s what Liefeld comics are about. Some people loathe them, others love them – count me in the latter!
The only let down to this announcement is that the Youngblood: Bloodsport 10th Anniversary Commemorative Book will actually be issue #2 of the series!
AAARRRGGGHHH!
Paul Sebert (Just a boy, just an ordinary boy): The fact that the cold hard sales numbers of the direct market allow this, yet won’t let Sean McKeever do more issues of Sentinel… or even let Dwayne McDuffie do a Static Adventures comic when he had the number 2 Saturday morning cartoon in the nation truly does destroy what little faith I have left in humanity.
RUMOR: Marvel to reprint/publish Miracleman and Neil Gaiman’s conclusion within the next eighteen months (credit: All The Rage)
Mike Maillaro: I’ve heard nothing but good things about this series, so I
can’t wait to FINALLY get to read it. And Gaiman is a very good writer, so I think he will do the ending justice.
“Starman” Matt Morrison (Writer of Looking To The Stars): And Marvel, wisely, has put forth this announcement about Miracleman and Neil Gaiman writing for them so those like me, wise enough to have never purchased an X-Force in their life, will not form a posse to burn and raze their offices to the ground for this abomination.
Yay and hurrah for them FINALLY getting this book off the ground.
RUMOR: A Death movie is in the works at New Line (credit: All The Rage)
Matt Morrison: Optomistic yay for the Death movie finally starting. I wonder if any of Neil’s script for it will be used…?
Jamie Hatton: From what I originally heard (Now this was when this announcement was first made, like 5 years ago.. and then nothing happened..) the script is hand catered with Gaiman. A big reason was because (as Gaiman said it) if you take the entire story, keep every bit of dialogue and every panel for panel translation – the movie would be 45 minutes.
From what I’ve seen Gaiman makes sure his hand stays inside his own properties and doesn’t let go. More power to him.
Morrison: Yes, I know Neil has been very protective of the rights to a Death movie. Understandably so considering what they did with the Sandman movie.
Let’s just say I find it ironic that Jon Peters, the man who complained about how dark Tim Burton’s Batman movies were… the man who didn’t want Superman flying or doing anything really super… HE wanted The Sandman in tights, slugging it out with the Corinthian on page one….
For an account of where the last attempt went wrong, along with the not-too-bad script go here.
Relative unknown Brandon Routh cast as Superman
Jamie Hatton: Okay, put away your Identity Crisis bingo card and pull out your ‘Who will play Clark’ bingo card. Anyone have Brandon”¦Brandon Routh?
The guy looks right. If he ends up with it, let’s just hope he can do the damage. Given the state of the universe right now, the next Superman movie better have the perfect person cast in it. If this movie had come out last month, people would have watched it as it’s own film with only normal comparisons to the originals – but now after Reeve’s passing the critical eye is going to be honed hard on whomever takes up the mantle.
Matt Morrison: I hope this is true for two reasons.
1. As Christopher Reeve (may he rest in peace) proved, it would be better to take a risk on an unknown in the role then to deal with a big-name star who would be more likely to make demands of the material being changed for them instead of adapting themselves to the material. The fact that Singer is willing to do this speaks well of his intentions in creating a movie that is true to the spirit of the books.
2. I want to see Mark Millar choke to death on the crow he’s going to have to eat if this IS true.
New Green Arrow art team: Caper penciller Tom Fowler & inker Rodney Ramos
Matt Morrison: Right. Well, that just killed the last reason I was still getting Green Arrow. The art.
Good ridance.
DC Comics releases January solicitations (courtesy of CBR)
Mike Maillaro: I almost freaked when I saw no Fallen Angel, but thankfully the book is still coming out, just in February. Nice of DC to leave the creative team hanging on whether the book was cancelled or not.
Paul Sebert: Can anyone really explain to the the difference between Batman: Gotham Knights and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight? Honest people complain about the over-load of Spider-Man related books but at least I can tell the difference between Spectacular Spidey and Marvel Knights Spidey as unique products.
And the cover of Robin #134 is provided by Little Billy Smith of Mrs. Jenkins 3rd grade class. Let’s all give him a hand. Speaking of which…considering all the stuff that Tim Drake is going through as of late, it feels like the folks at DC comics have taken a “dropping a hydrogen bomb on a mosquito” approach to character development.
Action Comics #823: It’s Supeman vs. Mr. Green Jeans… and only one can walk away.
Bizzaro World: Oh dread… am second anthology of Bizzaro Comics. Me Hate Bizzaro Comics. Me Hate Bizzaro Comics me am going to have to reserve this.
JSA Strange Adventures #6: Wow… it appears Johnny Thunder is sodomizing Thunderbolt on this otherwise beautiful cover.
Richard Dragon #9: Holy Crap it’s Kung-Fu verses an army of giant glowing crabs. MY PICK OF THE MONTH.
Seven Soldiers of Victory Archives Vol. 1 HC: Wow… the DC folks must have really hit the bottom of the barrel when searching for archival stuff. This is even more obscure than “The Essential Super-Villian Team-Up.” On a side note, there’s only six characters on the cover here… so they’re really messing with our heads.
Teen Titans Go #15 – BOOT TO DA HEAD! Love the cover and seeing as how this issue includes the return of Kitten from the hilarious “Date with Destiny” episode, I’ll be sure to pick this one up.
The Incal Vol. 1: The Epic Conspiracy – On one hand I love just about anything Mobius draws… but on the other hand, it makes my heart sink knowing that right now some idiot who knows nothing about art is on the DC message boards asking “what’s this Manga-looking crap.”
Holy Crap there’s lots of Constantine movie merchandise. A pity having a movie about an American John Constantine makes as much sense as an Eskimo Luke Cage.
Wow… a composite Superman/Batman action figure AND a Cassandra Cain Batgirl figure. My collection is suddenly lonely.
LOTS of Indy-flavored and manga stuff this month headed to the bookstores which looks promising.
The Monolith cancelled with issue #12
Paul Sebert: Sad story as I read a couple of the early issues and well, it seemed like a pretty decent little book. Hope Phil Winslade gets a good project after this.
In other news, Rich Johnston of “Lying in the Gutters” fame has just announced a rumor that The Monolith is indeed The Identity Crisis Killer.
Avi Arad says there will be more Spider-Man movies after the third and confirms there is interest in Joss Whedon as the director for X3 and that a second season of the animated Spider-Man cartoon is in development, but not for MTV
Matt Morrison: Why do I have a sinking feeling of doom? Could it be because everyone who had something to do with what has made the first two Spider-Man movies SO GOOD has already said they won’t do any more past the third one?
As for the cartoon… meh. Maybe they’ll find a more suitable home than MTV, but if it’s anything like the first series… I’ll give it a miss.
RUMOR: Bryan Singer looking at Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, Jude Law as Zod, Patrick Stewart as Jor-El and Evangeline Lilly as Lois Lane (credit: CBR)
Matt Morrison: This would be cool if true. Kevin Spacey has been bandied about as a name for the role for years. Jude Law is a great actor just now starting to get the attention he deserves. Patrick Stewart, I’m kinda iffy on if only because of the inevitable fan-fic about how Captain Picard retired to Krypton, changed his name….
And I’m sorry… Evangeline who? *runs off to IMDB.com*
Ah, okay. Some woman with five credits to her name, who is on a TV show I don’t watch. Mmmm… well, she looks the part. Anyone here a fan of “Lost” who can shed some light on her acting chops?
Ben Morse: All of these sit quite well with me except for that I’d prefer the Charisma Carpenter as Lois Lane rumors to be true; she was born to play that part.
Identity Crisis reaches fifth issue with the seeming deaths of Jack Drake (Robin’s father) and Captain Boomerang
Ben Morse: And this, right here, is why I can’t honestly see any redeeming value in Avengers: Disassembled when books like Identity Crisis are hitting the stands. In the course of one issue, Brad Meltzer had me near weeping over the death of Jack Drake, a character I never gave more than two thoughts before Wednesday; yet Brian Michael Bendis kills off Hawkeye, a character I’ve loved for years, and I could care less.
A decent writer can shock you at every turn, a great writer can tell you what’s coming from the minute you see the cover and you still care when it happens.
And after consuming the entire run of Suicide Squad in the last month…R.I.P. Boomerbutt.
Power Pack re-launching as a Marvel Age title in February, recently cancelled Inhumans and Human Torch series to be collected as digests in the near future
Paul Sebert: Whoo-hoo Power Pack! It’s about time.
Ok, I’ll admit in it’s original incarnation Power Pack was never really that great a book… but, well, to be honest, after seeing a summer of technically well-written, but soul-chewingly downbeat stories, I think this is just what the market needs.
As for Inhumans, and Human Torch they weren’t the best titles from the ill-fated Tsunami Line, but I found them rather enjoyable and well… more trades of anything by Sean McKeever and Karl Kessel can’t be a bad thing.
The Pulse provides preview of New Thunderbolts #1 with commentary from Kurt Busiek & Fabian Nicieza
Paul Sebert: You know I wouldn’t put it above Busiek & Nicieza to bring in that guy from “Fight-Clubderbolts” just to screw with our heads.
