NOTE: The individual opinions of each Roundtable contributor are their own, and is not representative of anybody but that contributor.
Geoff Johns will wrap up his FLASH run with issue #225, next arc written by Darwyn Cooke [Details: Flasharama]
ANDY “COMIC BOOK GUY” LOGAN: Well, at the risk of sounding ignorant, I’m not familiar with Mr. Cooke’s work – so I can’t comment on the replacement – but hearing how great the work that Geoff John’s was doing within the pages of FLASH is what drew me towards trying out the title in the first place, and it’s now one of my favourite books every month. I am going to miss his work that’s for sure, but in a way, it’s good he’s leaving now – it’s always better to go out on a high, and only be remembered for the good times.
IAIN “HOMER” BURNSIDE: Your comments about Geoff Johns should be written on a post-it note and stuck on Chris Claremont’s back. But who knows? Maybe in 20 years time we’ll be saying the same thing about Johns as he returns to FLASH… Anyway, what I really wanted to say was that Darwyn Cooke rules. I even splurged on that superfluous GREEN LANTERN: SECRET FILES 2005 just because it had a story by him in it. Fingers crossed this FLASH story will be both written and drawn by him because that’s when he truly shines. Andy, if you’re at all into classic superhero tales then you will love his DC: NEW FRONTIER mini. Check out the trades if you get the chance.
(Yes, trades. They split it in two, the bastards…)
ANDY LOGAN: Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll give them both a try…bastards…
“SIDESHOW” COREN: It’s not like they split a 6 book mini into two trades or anything, even though it was all one arc. Not DC, no, never…
KEVIN “LIONEL HUTZ” MAHONEY: Geoff is leaving FLASH? Pass the hankies. The man has added so much to the Flash mythos (new villains, a few supporting cast members, redefined the city, Zoom) that I’d do anything to keep him on it, including forget he changed Impulse to (ick!) Kid Flash. I read a few issues of NEW FRONTIER and I loved them, don’t get me wrong, but Geoff is the man. It just isn’t gonna be the same.
Topher Grace lands villain role in Spider-Man 3 [Details: Topherama]
COREN: Grace is either going to be Eddie Brock/Venom or the Scarlet Spider… although the latter wouldn’t necessarily be a villain. I guess this gives some perspective on all that Clone Saga stuff that was mentioned in Roundtable a while back.
IAIN BURNSIDE: I guess the Topher Grace thing lends further credibility to the rumour about them shooting Spider-Man 3 and 4 back-to-back. Whether or not he’s playing Brock or Reilly, either story would require more than one movie to contain it all. Movie #3 could have Sandman cutting loose and Grace’s character being introduced and foreshadowed, before the poopie hits the wind-propelling mechanism in movie #4…
And I’d f***ing love it :)
Marvel releases a list of trades for the rest of 2005
http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0505/23/marveltrades.htm
PAUL “MILLHOUSE” SEBERT: Whoo-hoo! ESSENTIAL WEREWOLF-BY-NIGHT! Now where’s ESSENTIAL SHANG-CHI: MASTER OF KUNG-FU?
ANDY LOGAN: X-FACTOR by Peter David, collecting Issues #71 – 75? Wow. I’m impressed. Can’t wait to get my sticky hands on that one – some of the quirkiest, most original and above all fun X-Universe stories ever written; utilising a cast of characters considered to mainly be (at that time) second string has-beens or never-weres. Second string they may have been at the start of the X-Factor run, but PAD injected them all (even Quicksilver, naitch!) with vibrant and interesting personalities the likes of which none of the characters (with maybe the exception of Rahne) had ever had before.
The only possible downside is that newer readers (I’m sure they’re out there, somewhere) who pick up the trade will realise just what a fun place the X-Universe can be when written properly, and will rebel in droves at the utter dross being served up by the many X-titles at this current moment in time.
Hmmm – maybe that’s no downside at all? Come on kids, let’s start a revolution!!!
Alan Moore leaves DC, takes LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN 3 to Top Shelf [Details: CBR]
PAUL SEBERT: Is anyone surprised by this. Anyone? @_@
I can’t wait for Moore’s falling out with DC five years from now just in time for the 20th anniversary of WATCHMEN.
Coming in November – NEW EXCALIBUR [Details: New Newsarama]
COREN: Damnit, I thought we got rid of EXCALIBUR. I’m sure calling it NEW EXCALIBUR will suddenly boost sales and make the book suck less.
JESSE “FLANDERS” BAKER: Well the big rumour is that the NEW EXCALIBUR is supposed to be based on the original 1988 EXCALIBUR series, so take it for what’s worth regarding Marvel trying to keep the title viable by bringing it back to it’s roots as opposed to resurrecting the name just so they can keep the trademark…
PAUL SEBERT: Really unless this is the Captain Britain, Nightcrawler, and Kitty Pryde having wacky adventures in the UK type EXCALIBUR… I’m not interested.
COREN: That’s what I was curious about too. Is this going to be the team with Kitty, Nightcrawler, Captain Britain (who’s someone new now, right?) and Phoenix? As if Marvel didn’t put people on too many teams as it is…
New X-Men title due in November, with added Juggernaut flavour [Details: Here]
COREN: Could this “new” title be the relaunch of the now cancelled EXCALIBUR (which they wouldn’t have known of at the time of this article)? And where the hell is Nocturne at?
JOHN “MONTY BURNS” BABOS: Just what we need. Another X-title. *Pheft*
JAMIE “KRUSTY” HATTON: I second the nomination to bring back Nocturne. Otherwise, as long as it’s not Claremont, I’ll probably buy it. God I’m a shill.
PAUL SEBERT: This is going to be that LOCKHEED: THE X-DRAGON title they’ve been hinting at for so long. I know it.
News on new post-COUNTDOWN titles for DC, including The Spectre and Jonah Hex [Details: All the Rage]
JOHN BABOS: The DC bits…
A new SPECTRE series makes sense post-COUNTDOWN. The question is will it be a back-to-basics supernatural-pulp-mystery-fusion or something else? A SPECTRE series with a dark artist, a la Mike Mignola or Ryan Sook (back on the character), could work with the right writer. Rucka or Byrne? Eh. Not sure if either is right for the part. Dave Gibbons as writer, maybe?
Luke Ross on JONAH HEX? His art style is very cartoony, but, maybe, it could work. I know DC has plans for reviving other of its Western properties if Hex works out, but Scalphunter? You can’t get much more anti-politically-correct than that. A Bat Lash title? Maybe. Scalphunter? Unlikely IMHO.
A new ESCAPIST series from DC? Possibly with Darwyn Cooke? Make mine DC!!
RUMOUR: Current X-Men book being ghost-written [Details: All the Rage]
COREN: Ghost writer on the X-men? Gee, I wonder which title he could possibly mean. No, really, I have no clue whatsoever. This isn’t sarcasm. I don’t even know what that is.
JAMIE HATTON: The inference is that it’s Whedon. I’m not ok with that. I will admit that Whedon has been hit on the characterization, but miss on the plot with me – although I do enjoy the Danger Room storyline (yet still have no opinion about the return of Colossus) – if this is true, I would be quite upset. Not scream and rant and rave… but kinda pissed.
COREN: Yeah, I caught the implication that it was Whedon too. But honestly, I haven’t really noticed that much of a change over time. The characters are so well done, and there’s still that Whedonesque humour that you recognize if you watch Buffy or Angel much. The only person I can think of offhand who might be doing it is Ellis, but that doesn’t make much sense.
WILL “LENNY” COOLING: If its Whedon, then Marvel are seriously f***ed. I mean really. People are in a large part buying this on his name value, if it turns out that it wasn’t him for some issues then their really going to have hell to pay (technically this would be a fraudulent advertising suit waiting to happen). To be honest that makes me think it isn’t him, it’s just too big and juicy. Other X-Men writers… hmm… Peter Milligan perhaps? That’d explain why some issues are really clicking with his fans and others aren’t.
Maybe Chuck Austen never left at all!!!
IAIN BURNSIDE: Oh, Marvel are gonna be just fine. There’s not really any way to prove this if it is indeed true. Personally, I don’t think it is – and certainly not for Whedon. They already delayed AXM for Cassaday’s benefit, I’m sure they would do the same for Whedon. After all, as good as the artwork has been this is most definitely the writer’s book. Hell, look at the leeway they’ve given to Millar/Smith/Ellis/Quesada and their ilk over the past few years. It definitely wouldn’t affect sales to any great degree, as Dark Horse saw with FRAY. Plus, this is Joss F’N Whedon. Sure, he’s making two movies but he isn’t actually filming either of them right now. At one point he was overseeing production of three TV shows simultaneously in addition to the odd bit of writing and directing. The guy thrives on being kept busy.
As for the rest of ’em, well… There’s no reason not to delay ULTIMATE X-MEN if Vaughan was running late and Claremont’s books are as characteristically laughable as always, leaving Milligan as the prime suspect. It’s more likely, however, that someone just started spreading this rumour because recent issues of Milligan’s (and Whedon’s, to be fair) X-book haven’t been as well received as the diehards would have liked. And if there had been any ghost-writing going on, I doubt it would have amounted to more than the odd bit of dialogue tweaking here and there in lieu of the post-HOUSE OF M mutant landscape…
MANOLIS “KARL” VAMVOUNIS: I’m quite a big Milligan junkie and I’ll admit his X-MEN run isn’t 100% up to scruff with his usual high writing standards, but that’s mostly due to the lukewarm introduction issue, as he has since produced some grade A work like the “lockdown” issue. I’m also of the opinion this is regarding Whedon, whose Danger Room goes whacko storyline hasn’t felt quite right…
JOHN BABOS: Um, last time I checked there was news beyond the X-Men. You X-o-files are so predictable. ;)
TIM “SMITHERS” STEVENS: Awwwwwwwwwwwww, snap! No you didn’t!
NICK “SUPER NINTENDO CHALMERS” PIERS: Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on, now.
You’re saying there’s more out there other than X-Men and X-Men related comics? Get outta here, Babos. Try pulling the other leg.
Next you’ll tell me there’s a Green Lantern movie coming out that’s gonna be a comedy with Jack Black.
COREN: Damnit, they didn’t cancel that yet?
JOHN BABOS: Uh, sorry. I meant to write “X-o-philes”. Does the “ph” help… you sick puppies…? ;)
Oh, I know a cure for the “X”…. read DC’s MANHUNTER! Quality storytelling at its finest.
ANDY “MATT GROENING” CAMPBELL: Just wanted you all to know that, due to the constant shilling of MANHUNTER by the Nexus staff, I finally bit the bullet and picked up all 10 issues. And you know what? You guys were right. Thanks!
TIM STEVENS: Yes… we do tend to be right.
ANDY LOGAN: Sorry, life beyond the X-Men? Nope, nope – you’ve lost me… not sure
what you’re talking about…
But seriously folks; X-Men are the family of titles that got me into reading comics all those years ago – I freakin’ loved reading anything with an “X” in the name – and it pains me to see just how much of a tepid, uninteresting franchise it’s become.
I’m sure we could go off on a tangent here about how it’s pathetic, dreary minded people like me who are responsible for the current state of the X-Universe. We hoovered up everything “X” that was thrown at us, simply because of the name and regardless of its worth, resulting in a general decline and downfall of quality that’s led us to the current parlous state… but we won’t, right folks? ;o)
(PS: For what it’s worth, I was young and foolish then, but I know better now, and my standards are way higher. Honest.)
IAIN BURNSIDE: For the record, I love tangents…
JOHN BABOS: Except the much maligned DC sub-print fifth week “event” the TANGENT UNIVERSE. Maybe we’ll see them Tangenters during INFINITE CRISIS?
Now how’s that last paragraph for a tangent?
Oh, and read DC’s MANHUNTER… more disciples wanted!
KEVIN MAHONEY: Did I mention I met Mr. W. at work last month? We were one of the few theatres in select cities screening that movie based on his cancelled series Firefly (Serenity?). He did a Q&A before the thing. Got a standing ovation from the fans (who began lining up like 5 hours in advance, the punks).
COREN: Wait, you saw Serenity (based on Firefly) already? Or at least, it’s been seen? Dammit!
How was it? I’m really excited for this one; Firefly was such a great series.
(And we continue down the trail of tangent)
TIM STEVENS: If it makes you feel better Coren, both Tim Sheridan and I have already seen it.
No…I don’t know why that would make you feel better.
IAIN BURNSIDE: It makes me feel angry. Then again, what doesn’t? Fluffy clouds and tiny kittens and hot chocolate… piss me off, the lot of them. Rotten smug little bastards. For I am Grumplord Bill, the grumpiest man in the Nexus Universe…
But yeah, a curse on all your houses. I’m gonna have to wait till October for the film to come out over here. Still, there was a rumour that they’ve got plans for a Serenity trilogy if this one makes enough money, which is cool. Still, it probably won’t make that much money, which just makes me angry again. Oh, Bill…
JAMIE HATTON: Who here loves pancakes? Because seriously, I love pancakes.
TIM STEVENS: They’re okay. Throw some chocolate chips in there though and… well… heaven.
COREN: No, no it does not make me feel better. Unless you have a copy? A copy a certain comic reviewer could borrow?
Pancakes are good. I like them with brown sugar.
KEVIN MAHONEY: Well technically I saw the first 30 seconds or so. I was working at the theatre (Loews Boston Common) at the time, and so couldn’t exactly hang out and observe. But our theatre is one of the flagships and we get a ton of cool events there (including screenings of things before wide release, premieres, and the occasional limited release event).
Word to the NE Nexus folk, I can get you free tickets!
Blueberry pancakes even trump chocolate chip ones. Especially if the berries are fresh!
TIM STEVENS: Blueberry better than chocolate? Somebody be all sorts of messed up in the head!
KEVIN MAHONEY: Hey! I resemble that remark! But I only meant in pancakes. I’d rather have a chocolate bar (or bunny) than a blueberry scone any day, but blueberry pancakes beat choco chip ones. It’s the exception that tests the rule.
PAUL SEBERT: For the record, I find cornmeal pancakes to be highly underrated.
Gail Simone talks TEEN TITANS [Talk: Here]
COREN: The anti-Titans storyline sounds interesting, but I really am not familiar enough with Hawk and Dove to get excited over their inclusion. Particularly since it’s partially based on a Liefeld work. I don’t much like his stuff, most of the time.
KEVIN MAHONEY: She relates this arc to her VILLAINS UNITED work (see synonym: unimpressive) and Rob Liefeld is involved? Can’t we just get a good writer to do a Robin-centric story once in a while? Not that I read TITANS all that regularly or anything, but this sort of stunt mentality ought to be reserved for the floundering books, not the successful ones.
JASON “TROY MCLURE” BEREK-LEWIS: Did I already mention that I am looking forward to this? I really enjoy Rob Liefeld’s work, and that’s the only reason I am picking up this DC book – my first since reading JLA in 1998.
PAUL SEBERT: “Simone understands and appreciates Liefeld’s style of art. ‘The thing about Rob’s art is, it appeals on a visceral level’ she explained.”
Oh, that Gail Simone and her wonderfully droll sense of humour. For the record the word “visceral” comes from the word “viscera” which means “guts.” Which is appropriate as Rob’s work gives me a feeling not unlike intestinal flu.
Also has anyone seen Rob’s “How to Draw Wonder Girl” section in the pages of this month’s Wizard?
Step 1: Don’t do what Rob Does.
RUMOUR: Marvel is bringing back the X-STATIX crew [Details: CBR]
PAUL SEBERT: Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!
KEVIN MAHONEY: The problem with this blurb is three simple words “in some form”. Does anyone remember the THUNDERBOLTS “Fight Club” style reboot? I do. The whole… everything is the same… but different line is not one I care to walk all that often. Unless the right writer is attached.
PAUL SEBERT: I find Kevin’s complaint ironic as the only reason that X-STATIX ever existed in the first place is that they did precisely that kind of “revamp in name only” treatment to X-FORCE.
In fact I honestly wish they let the team keep the X-Force name. Hate mail from Liefeld’s retarded fan-base was the best part of the book.
MANOLIS VAMVOUNIS: Oh, did you just hear that? That happy sound?
That’s me creaming my pants!
Marvel is doing something good nowadays!!!
JAMIE HATTON: Oh, this could be very bad.
Then again, this could be very good.
With the MAX line dissolving, I say make it a Knights book. The X-World has barely gotten the X-Treatment (DISTRICT X being the one example that shines. No I don’t count WOLVERINE). MK doesn’t have to be just ‘gritty and dark’ – why can’t it be just a little more viciously satirical than what we would expect out of the standard MU?
Would it have let them get away with the Princess Diana story? No – not in the least, but it definitely would have allowed them to explore the gay relationship between Phat and Vivisector more – brazenly attack corporate America – state political beliefs to the hills.
None of it has to hurt the fragile morality of the standard MU.
MANOLIS VAMVOUNIS: But X-STATIX was the first X-Title to make the jump onto Marvel Knights, along with WOLVERINE, right before the start of X-STATIX vs. AVENGERS, with the two-parter Vivisector story.
I hope Mike Allred is available to return to the project, as he is halfway through his personal project.
Director Matthew Vaughn leaves X-Men 3 [Details: AICN]
COREN: “Hey… didn’t Joss Whedon just finish SERENITY?”
Definitely my first pick. He’s already got a solid working relationship with Marvel, is writing quite a few of the major characters in ASTONISHING, and it’s quite obvious he has a knack for this type of thing.
IAIN BURNSIDE: I’d love to see a Whedon-helmed X-Men movie. I would sacrifice several barnyard animals to my pagan gods to make it happen… Please, Marvel, Fox, anyone, just make it happen! Screw Wonder Woman!! Give us Astonishing the Movie, dammit!!
JAMIE HATTON: If I may Rabble on this a moment…
“This is not a case of creative differences,” Avi said
Which translates to – “Sadly there have been some creative differences”
…and the new director, who may actually be someone who had circled the film earlier but who wasn’t available at that point.
“Hey, wasn’t McG the last guy on that Superman thing… give him a call! Screw Singer!”
“We think this is better than either part 1 or 2,” Avi said.
“I repeat – Screw Brian Singer!“
Sorry, it just really feels like this is all cover story. I’m usually the last person to scream about shadows in the corners, and I know that AICN will go out of their way to make any scrap of rumour sound really super nifty cool neato, but something stinks in this story. I don’t know whether I’ve been very wary of X3 since Singer left, or the mega-casting or what. If Joss gets it, I’ll dance a jig though.
IAIN BURNSIDE: According to the latest news, Brett Ratner is the man most likely to direct X3, with John Moore as the back-up choice. Moore’s apparently done Behind Enemy Lines and Flight of the Phoenix (ha!), neither of which I’ve seen. Ratner would be a perfectly fine choice. He’s not really done anything that’s totally bowled me over, but I thought Red Dragon was quite well made. Sure, he’s not Whedon… but he’s not Vaughn either. The more interesting news is with regards to the script… apparently lives will be lost, powers will be lost and there will be some sort of controversial sex scene… certainly piqued my waning interest in this movie!
COREN: I guess they’re playing the game of “shift out old characters so we don’t have to pay them exorbant sums to stick around”. If the franchise continues, I imagine the roster will have shifted to focus on some of the newer mutants like Beast, Gambit, etc. And Storm will probably be a casualty, as well as the Professor.
TIM BYRNE: Storm is gone at a million miles an hour, and good riddance to Halle Berry too. I actually think that they’ll get away with paying McKellen and Stewart ‘character actor’ rates to stick around for sequels.
