Since he received such high praise..
I give you another pointless crossover here
The column that breaks the internet into sixty-fourths
So, before we get to the news, let me invite in our special guest this week. A man who rules an entire nation of people, and deserves our respect and praise. He is… BLACK BOLT!
BLACK BOLT: …
So are you glad to be here Bolt?
BLACK BOLT: …
What are you reading right now?
BLACK BOLT: …
It’s gonna be a long column – and there was LOTS of things that happened this week.
AND THEY CAME FROM THE SUMMIT… AND SPOKE THESE WORDS
Provided by Newsarama
Baltimore Comic-con has come and gone, and as with Baltimore Comic-con there is also the Retailers Summit. It’s where retailers get to meet up with Diamond and some publishers. In doing so the retailers get to hear new strategies for selling their books, as well as some juicy little tidbits. Here are the ones we got from this past years… and there are some doozies.
– The reveal of Neil Gaiman’s next Marvel project – something related to the Eternals though little further was revealed – however, with the hardcover coming in summer, a safe bet of Gaiman’s Eternals project debuting around the same time can be made.
Okay, take immortals. Take Gods. Take the confusion of Gods and immortals on Earth. Add in a dash of Neil ‘I love mythic Gods’ Gaiman, and you have what is next year’s Eisner winner. Yay! Gaiman!
BLACK BOLT: …
– Next summer’s event – “Planet Hulk,” the seeds of which are planted in November’s Hulk issue.
This is the story where Hulk opens up a bunch of chain resturants with such amazing things as ‘Ripped pair of purple sweatpants #2,532’ and ‘What’s left of Bruce’s car’ on the wall. More on this story as it develops.
– X-Men: The 198 by David Hine and Jim Muniz, also debuting in January.
…198…. umm.. 198 what? I’m not going to post spoilers or anything right here, but if you’ve been following the rumor mill on House of M, you probably can figure out 198 what.
Sprinkles on Wolverine’s ice cream cone! Nuff said!
– The slightly retitled Supreme Power: Squadron Supreme debuts in March.
BLACK BOLT: …
Bolt, why are you opening your mouth? Are you going to speak!? BOLT YOU KNOW IF YOU TALK YOU WILL DESTROY US ALL! Look, I know it’s a bulky title that is so much less cool than ‘Supreme Power’. I don’t know why they feel the need to change it, and I don’t like it either, but that is no reason to destroy the entire world.
BLACK BOLT: …
Thank you.
– One of Mark Millar’s upcoming projects is entitled 1985, which will combine photography, art, and digital art. Reportedly, the story follows a kid through the year 1985 in the Marvel Universe.
Looks like Millar wants some of that ‘Mark Waid’ fame… I can’t say the concept is a bad idea, and I bet it specifically relates to a very special time when he was reading comics – because off the top of my head I can’t think of anything all that important that happened in 1985 at Marvel. I’m probably wrong, and I’m going to get 3,000 emails about ‘Jamie that was the year that Iron Man did heroin’.
Send in what happened in 1985 at Marvel?
(remember Watchmen and Dark Knight were DC…)
GENERATION M”¦ SAME KIDS… NEW LETTER
Provided by Newsarama
Interview with Paul Jenkins’ at: Comic Book Resources
Written by Paul Jenkins, with art by Ramon Bachs and covers by Stuart Immonen, the miniseries has been described as a post-House of M tour of Marvel’s mutants, checking in on them in almost a vignette fashion.
So the story, if you read the rest of the article, it explains how the story is being told from a ‘Village Voice’ like writer. Sounds like Jenkins couldn’t get Jessica Jones out of the bullpen long enough to use her. Then again, from the description of the story, it sounds like he wants someone a bit closer to the human side of things.
Out of all of the House of M things I’ve heard about, this is the one that I’m most interested in. Dani has been chomping at the bit, especially since THIS is the probably cover of issue #2.
DECEMBER SOLICITATIONS!
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #26
Who’s buried in Namor’s Tomb? Okay, and if I’m to assume it’s Namor, who is that Aquaman lookin’ sunuvabich coming at me? Given the standard promise to change everything, Millar has made UFF an enjoyable book – so I’m going to give it a whirl.
ULTIMATE X-MEN / FANTASTIC FOUR
This one looks like a good ol’ fashioned rumble. Probably meaningless in the scheme of things – but like the Ultimate books have proven, they do fairly decently about working within their own continuity.
ULTIMATE WOLVERINE / HULK
So, as Season Two of Lost opens up, who was shocked to see Hulk come out of the hatch? If you don’t watch Lost that joke is ignorable. So, Marvel continues to cater to TV/Movie writers, and it seems to be doing well for them – so who am I to argue?
FRIENDLY NEIGHBROHOOD SPIDER-MAN #3
MK: SPIDER-MAN #21
AMAZING SPIDERM-MAN #527
So through the previews, we get that Morlun is back and kicking Spidey’s ass – Spidey must do something insane to defeat him – and something in a cocoon opens up leaving us changed forever. Now, I’m going to assume that Spider-Man is the one that was IN the cocoon, so when he comes out, changed to defeat Morlun something about him will be drastically changed. We shall see.
PUNISHER: SILENT NIGHT
First off it’s written by Andy Diggle, and second off Punisher faces Santa Claus.
BLACK BOLT: …
He’s the representative of Christmas.
BLACK BOLT: …
Nonono… Santa Claus is. Punisher’s a gun-toting madman.
MARVEL ZOMBIES #1
This is by far the book that screams to me ‘Book of the month’. I will be reviewing it. I need to review it.. braaaaaaaaaains…
braaaaaaaiaiinnsssss….
GLX-MAS Special
Apparently Dan Slott now has the right to use the GLA however he chooses, and after his last run with them, good. Fun stuff. Dr. Tannenbaum.. teehee.
NEW AVENGERS #14
Spider-Woman’s dark secret revealed? Who knew she had one! Add in Frank Cho art, and I hope she used to work in a brothel.
NEW WARRIORS #6
The last of their mini-series, and with one of the best covers of the month. New Warriors is fun, and hopefully we’ll see them again. It’s not being written by Sean McKeever, so it’s promise to return after trade sales are high is questionable. Let’s see if someone else can get what I will henceforth refer to as ‘The McKeever Treatment’.
RUNAWAYS #11
The kids are in New York, so of COURSE they are going to meet Spidey. I’m looking forward to hearing how Vaughn handles Spidey. Plus, Runaways is an amazing book, and everyone should be reading it.
SHE-HULK #3
In her 100th issue…. hard to figure that out, but I guess it’s probably right – and even if it’s not, Slott’ll make sure we know. Given that this story is about somebody possibly removing her from the time stream.. this has GOT to be fun.
SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE
In Ben Morse’s ‘Most Unintentional Funny Title Award’ winning book. Dani gets to scream happily. I get to read a great book. You get a book that is not only, probably great – but something you can give to your family and friends at holidays. Who will Mary Jane choose? Peter or Spidey?
WHAT IF!
WHAT IF…CAPTAIN AMERICA FOUGHT IN THE CIVIL WAR?
WHAT IF…DAREDEVIL GREW UP IN JAPAN?
WHAT IF…THE FANTASTIC FOUR WERE RUSSIAN?
WHAT IF…NAMOR DIDN’T GROW UP IN THE WATER?
WHAT IF…THOR WAS GALACTUS’ HERALD?
WHAT IF…WOLVERINE GREW UP IN CHICAGO INSTEAD OF CANADA?
Some of these are kind of weak. Actually, most are kind of weak. They all seem to follow that ‘Fish out of water’ scenario and I am not as excited for these I was the last batch. Ah well.
Also, if you want a more in depth look as to what is going on with this year’s “What If” books, go check out this discussion with Mark Panniccia about why the stories/characters were chosen this year.
YOUNG AVENGERS SPECIAL #1
Seems we finally might get some answers as to where these kids came from and how they are related to the Avengers. In what has been one of my favorite pure superhero books this year, this is a natural pick for me.
BLACK BOLT: …
No, we’re almost done.. I promise. Hey, how come now I can understand what you are saying like Luke and C-3PO?
EDIT: I meant R2D2… geeks. (Thanks Beadle)
CABLE/DEADPOOL #23
In a book that has almost reached the 2 year mark, it openly states it’s going to break the Internet in half. Nice. Consistantly funny, and self-referential.
EXILES #74
A NEW EXILE! Woohoo! It’s been awhile since a team change up (unless of course we get one at the end of the House of M story) – and from the cover it looks like it’s going to be Longshot. Longshot, the guy who in fact never ever stays on a book as long as you want him to. So I expect him dead within 5 issues.
GENERATION M #2
I mention this only because it does, in fact, have Jubilee on the cover. Danielle would be mad if I didn’t make a mention of that.
NEW EXCALIBUR #2
I’m going to be sucked into this…
I’m going to be sucked into this…
The story may suck, but it’s got Nocturne, Pete Wisdom, and the cover art looks so nice that I won’t be able to say no.
UNCANNY X-MEN #467
Mmmm Bachalo Covers…
Ewww Bachalo noses….
“GREY’S END” seems to be a story about how some outer space group (The Shi-Ar mayhaps?) are after the Grey family now. Don’t these people have anything better to do than pick on the most tragic family in Marvel? Geez Claremont.. let it go.
X-FACTOR #2
Seems that Layla Miller, the odd character from House of M finds her way over to X-Factor. Every solicit for this book makes me want it more. Monet is in it now too… Come on!
X-MEN UNLIMITED #12
Given the ‘dirtiest cover of the month’ award – it would have been sexier if it wasn’t for the fact that it was Wolverine on the cover. More standard Wolverine stuff, bleh.
BLACK BOLT: …
Yes, we’re done… wow! That took awhile. I love Preview week.
THREE BOOK PREVIEWS – NOW WITH ART!
Provided by Newsarama!
Over at Newsarama they have preview pages of FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDEY, GHOST RIDER, and WHERE MONSTERS DWELL.
All three look excellent. All for different reasons. Peter David’s writing is sooooo nice to see again with Spidey, and it looks like he hasn’t lost his touch in the slightest. The art for Ghost Rider continues to amaze me. Monsters seems like it’s a minorly fun diversion.. all in all, I’m way to positive this week about what’s coming out of the house of ideas.
To be honest, I probably wouldn’t even grab ‘Monsters’ but it has that great Silver Age sheik thing going for it.. so who am I to say no. Maybe I’ll just read it on the racks like a bad fanboy.
THE MOVIE PANELS!
All movie info brought you by: Comic Book Resources
You can go take a tour of the set — here!
Not only are these photos non-spoilerish… they could be taken anywhere, and you wouldn’t know the difference. Weird.
Also, Charmed actor ‘Eric Dane’ will be playing Jamie Madrox.
Yeaaaaaahhh – that’ll work.
So there was apparently some great stills from the FF:Animated that got into the hands of CBR… Marvel told them that they were bad monkeys and had to take them down. I’ll do my best to find em’ for you.
BLACK BOLT: …
Thank you Black Bolt… I’m not sure if this is the ONLY shot and this is the ONLY size… but here is what I got. Enjoy.
In an interview with Jessica Alba, she reveals that in the first 20 minutes of Fantastic Four – Sue and Reed get married. Making them easily the First Family. She also giggles that she might have revealed too much. Jessica… until I have a full frontal shot of you… you can never reveal too much.
FEEDBACK ALERT!
I asked for feedback a couple of weeks ago, so I could put in this new feature in what is already an astoundingly long column. I did recieve some and actually forgot to add it in last week. So here is Nexus’ own Iain Burnside with his thoughts on my column.
I’ll give you feedback….
Horse.
Carrot.
Inflatable.
Poland.
Taramasalata.
Reagan.
Diversion.
Charles Montgomery Burns.
There, now you have feedback.
Iain, thank you for your kind words.. and in response, I’ll let Black Bolt handle the commentary.
BLACK BOLT: …
Thank you Black Bolt – I knew I kept you on this column for a reason.
Also, I received praise from a couple other Nexus’ites on me bringing in Deadpool.. I guarantee that praise won’t translate for Black Bolt.
SMALL PREVIEWS FOR SMALL PEOPLE IN A SMALL WORLD
EXILES #70
What happens when House of M finds one of the craziest mutants that ever walked the planet?! Oh it’s Proteus baby, he’s back and he’s bad. With special appearances by people that died! Exiles are now moving into a new track and I’m liking it.
MARVEL 1602 NEW WORLD #3
This book has such potential… the problem is that it can’t be a cookie cutter book. You can get away with that, and get away with a decent book with generic symbology. This book needs to stand above all of that and give us things to think about and ponder over. Given its daddy is Neil Gaiman, the book we’re getting instead is nothing special. That makes me sad.
NEW AVENGERS #10
When I write, I break the fourth wall alot. It’s just in my nature to play with the boundaries between the book and the writer. Bendis is doing the same in this story, and I have to say that I am really enjoying it. The ramifications of Sentry being in the Marvel U are starting to show, and I’m sure will ONLY really show in Avengers.. but hey, continuity glitches? Make Mine Marvel.
RUNAWAYS #8
They grow up so fast… one of the original team is going away. She’s left wide open to come back for some guest shots or a story in the future. My only concern with this title right now is that it doesn’t really have the same focus that its predecessor did.
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #23
ZOMBIES! YES YES YES! Mark Millar through us a little swerve when the crossover story had nothing to do with the real MU – and now he has to fix it. With an ending that left me wondering what his considerations were for the new characters – he’s the first writer that’s made me care about this title.
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #1
Look for my review of this title later this week. High on the art. Low on the story. Did I mention the art? Wow.
ULTIMATES 2 #8
Over the last few months of Ultimates, the traitor has been teased and now it’s revealed and it’s… CAPTAIN AMERICA?!?! No, we’re getting swerved. My prediction, Nick Fury. My roommate’s prediction is Black Widow. Given that next month is the wedding between Stark and Romanov, he’s probably right.
BOOKS I HAVEN’T READ YET:
WOLVERINE #32 – Go for Black and White…
SUPREME POWER HYPERION #1 – Mmmmm JMS…
HOLY CRAP IT’S OVER?!?!?!?
In my longest column to date – I wanted to thank you all for reading this far. Keep sending those letters, and we’ll see you next time, where I will continue to degenerate into gimmickry. Black Bolt, any last words.
BLACK BOLT: Nah, I’m good…
