what did five fingers say to the face?

Marvel started using bullet points. When you scroll through the list of comics debuting in April, there’s not a comic that has a paragraph-style description, it’s all just bullet points. Now, don’t get me wrong, sometimes those paragraphs all started to blur together after awhile and the slew of outrageous questions continues (“Who is this guy/gal? What’s going on? How will they survive?” etc.), everything has been distilled down to three or so talking points. Some of these talking points include story information like who’s appearing in these books, some just point out that this book will tie into another event like AvX, others just shout at you that this is the book where EVERYTHING CHANGES. Something tells me this says a lot about comic book marketing, but that’s for another time.

Right now, we’re looking at the April 2012 solicitations for Marvel Comics and hey kids, do you like… the Avengers? Marvel sure hopes you do, so let’s take a look at what the month before the Avengers movie debuts and EVERYTHING- well, you know.

Right off the bat, does any one think the X-Men are going to get a fair shake in this Versus event? Like, somehow, they might win this one or be seen less as the villains in the greater storyline? That’s the trick; in ‘sports entertainment’, when two face wrestlers go at it, there either has to be a sense of villainy from afar that’s making them fight or one of them has to slip into the Heel’s role and cheat or start showing a little too much pride. My guess is that the X-Men are going to be the boasting, ‘you people’ bad guys in this event because six out of the thirteen or so Avengers books published this month are AvX tie-ins and the X-Men are only getting two. We’ll be seeing more of a Avengers-centric point of view on this one, which makes sense. I mean, who’s got a movie coming out next month?

I don't think Cyclops will win this one...

The Avengers! We’ll be mere weeks away form the May 4 release of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on the silver screen and I’m sure you all know that this means the usual spasm of Avengers and Avengers accessories will be on display at your local comic shop. There’s a lot of books to side-step current goings-on if the idea of checking in on the Avengers in the midst of an ongoing event seems too distasteful or daunting, like Bendis’s Avengers Assemble and the delightful return of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Adventures. We’ll have reprints of the first Avengers #1 and a handbook detailing the Avengers’s salient points (like Charlie-27?) and what I’d like to think is a guide to all the varied titles in the Avengers line-up: “Plus: Avengers Academy, Secret Avengers, An Update On The Team Itself And A Full Feature Profile On Hawkeye (Clint Barton)!” I like the idea of a little road map to the different titles on display and why you might read one over another, but $4.99 seems a bit steep for new readers to pick up profiles on Avengers people might never see in the current books and some backmatter promotion. An Avengers dossier on current events at a cheaper price might have been the better way to go.

Speaking of price, 12 issues of AvX is going to cost you around 50 bucks (plus tax, minus LCS discounts, etc.). There are 40 copies of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 sold New on Amazon for $20.00 and up. Discuss.

On the flip side, the “Omega Effect” runs through Avenging Spider-Man #6, The Punisher #10 and Daredevil #11. A three-issue event with a clever idea that won’t end all life everywhere as we know it and will add character changing events that will last through their respective titles. I know these smaller events don’t get as much press as they should, but maybe if we vote more with our wallets and start keeping an eye out for the tiny tie-in, maybe we’ll see more of them.

It’s not that I don’t like heart-stopping adventure and the idea that this issue is where EVERYTHING CHANGES, but if you see the threat of death and destruction enough, you start to lose your appetite. Case in point:

Incredible Hulk #7 – “We Dare Not Reveal More! We Wouldn’t Want To Spoil What Is Sure To Be One Of The Most Exciting Comics Of The Year!”

The Twelve #12 (Of 12) – “All Your Questions Are Answered And Nothing Can Prepare You For What’s Next…!”

Thunderbolts #172 & #173 – “Now, The ‘Bolts Of The Modern Day Come Crashing Into Their Earliest Days – And Will Make A Decision That May Destroy The Marvel U – Or Save It!”

New Mutants #40 & #41 – “Can They Stop The Virulent Mutation Of The Animator Before It Engulfs The Whole World?”

It’s like the bullet point solicitations; yes, it’s an eye-catching news note, but it seems a little empty.

LOOK AT IT!

Speaking of eye-catching news notes, from Winter Solider #4: “Bucky Vs A Gorilla! You Heard Me, Look At That Cover.” See? Not everything has to shout or yell. Sometimes a guy fighting a gorilla with a machine gun is enough.

Also? Defenders #5: “How Does Namor’s History Intertwine With… Captain Nemo?”

from Giffen's Defenders mini-series

Hee, that’s gets me every time…

Meanwhile, there are two milestones that we’ll pass by in April: the changing of the writerly guard on Wolverine and the fiftieth issue of the (red) Hulk. Yeah, that last one surprises me; it doesn’t seem so long ago that Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness were punching out the Watcher and punking out Thor in space, but here we are. Jeff Parker has sort of turned that book around from the World War Hulks days and brought it towards the adventure smashing book Marvel has wanted for awhile. There’s not a lot of the Bill Bixby-esque drama, the man versus his inner nature pathos that comes from Bruce Banner so effortlessly. There is however fights and explosions, villains and heroes, robots and Nazis and it all really works. Sadly, I wish there was a better name for it and a different man behind the monster, but the Red Hulk is a pretty solid book now so I’ll certainly salute a 50th issue.

Wolverine #305

The other big change is that Jason Aaron is leaving Wolverine at #304 and Cullen Bunn is taking over in the same month at #305. Thanks to the bullet point style solicitation, I honestly don’t know a lot about Mr. Bunn; he’s a rising star and his previous titles include Fear Itself: The Fearless, The Damned and The Sixth Gun. That’s all they bother to say, which sells the guy incredibly short, especially when he’s taking over the solo title of one of Marvel’s most popular characters. How about telling us he was nominated for the Harvey Awards for his series The Sixth Gun as Best New Series and Bunn himself was nominated for Best Writer. Yes, this is the start of a new storyline, but can we give readers and retailers any more information?   Why is there no love for Paul Pelletier and his past work on War of Kings, Fantastic Four or Fall of the Hulks?  How about another picture idea that’s not Wolverine standing in/nearby fire? Jason Aaron’s Wolverine, in my small opinion, wavered between amazing to pretty standard stock stuff, so there’s no way to judge based on previous storylines how this is going to go. We know Aaron is going to finish out a fight with Sabretooth and then… I guess, Bunn’s Wolverine will stand knee deep in lava. Jason Aaron won’t close the door on this title without slamming it, so expect big things from Wolverine #304. As for the next issue, I guess we can all keep a tight watch over the comic news sites (like us!) for more on what’s ahead.

And speaking of promotion, the solicitation for Mark Millar’s new title the Secret Service reads as follows:

“Secret Service Is The Ramifications Of [How] America Is Struggling On The World Stage, Funding Is Being Seriously Undercut To Balance The Books And Some People Are Trying Their Best To Take Advantage Of The Fragile Global Situation. The Hero And Sidekick Guys Who Lead The Book Are, I Think, The Best Characters I’ve Written.”

I like the idea that there is nothing Marvel could say in praise that Millar couldn’t say himself.

Can you believe that there are something like 40-some trades coming out this month? Are you excited that Bendis’ early work Goldfish is getting a new printing? Who was asking about the Dazzler and Beast epic from 1984? And have we lost count on how many printings X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga has gone through? Take a look at the entire solicitation for Marvel Comics coming up in April and sound off below. Excelsior!

Not at all ominous...

Over what was most likely a perfect cup of Moroccan Mint green tea, Greg Rucka sat down for a discussion with Mark Waid and Steve Wacker about “The Omega Effect,” an upcoming crossover between The Avenging Spider-Man, The Punisher and Daredevil debuting in April.

In the story, the Man Without Fear will find himself in possession the Omega Drive, a file connecting five powerful criminal organizations — dangerous information that everyone’s going to want to get there hands on, right? That’s a well-used motive in our genre with the added twist of science; you see, Spider-Man is operating at the behest of Reed Richards, who invented the Omega Drive to begin with. So either Richards has been collecting dirty sheets on crime bosses in his spare time, or there’s something more delicate to what’s holding all this information in the first place. Remember all the math he used to keep in the basement telling him how to nudge society around? Yeah, this could get ugly.

That’s why we have the Punisher, who’ll go head to head with Spider-Man and Daredevil to put this information to good use — which, as we can guess, probably means shooting some fools. Waid and Rucka are more than willing to throw their supporting casts into the mix, as well as relevant story arcs that coincide with the trouble at hand. Spider-Man vowed that no one else would die on his watch, and that’s a hard vow to keep next to Frank Castle. Daredevil has had a long history with the Punisher, both falling on different sides of the very concept of justice. With his most recent fall from grace and return with a fresh attitude, how will the new Daredevil handle a man acting as judge, jury and executioner?

And the Punisher? Follow me on this one, guys, but what is Frank Castle going to get out of all of this?

(WARNING: Spoilers ahead for PunisherMAX #21 and Punisher #7, out this week.  Grab your copies and follow along!)

Yeah, he’ll get answers, information and his sticky little fingers into some Marvel Universe action. But really, what does a man like Frank Castle get from hanging out with the cape-and-tights set? Recently, I’ve wondered at the idea of the Punisher playing well with others, and I think that has a lot to do with the MAX line. The Punisher’s most modern character revival came at the hands of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, cementing the idea that the character comes along with some …. well, mature issues. Even Jason Aaron’s PunisherMAX #21, leaves one with a feeling of utter despair and the ugliest truth about Frank Castle’s ultimate destiny. If I could get a little spoilery for a moment — please read this series, it’s coming to a swift conclusion and is absolutely brilliant — through PunisherMAX #21, we see Frank experience flashes of his life before the Punisher; it was a lot of missed moments, a lot of actions taken that shied away from what would have been a happier, if not simply more normal, life. Being alive means something entirely different to the Punisher, like a means to an end — ab end that will never arrive.

from Punisher (2012) #7

Punisher #7 also came out this week and, in Greg Rucka’s own title, it’s very clearly stated to the readers and that one cop guy that “eye for an eye”-style justice doesn’t fly in a truly moral world. And, despite its grit and shades of gray, the Marvel Universe is a truly moral world because of the heroes that inhabit it. The Punisher works as a man outside the boundaries of where our heroes live. He’s a guest star at best, a morality tale for people who do have the luxury of friends, family and an alternate identity. Frank Castle works best when he’s not reined in or festooned with gimmicks, and he’s certainly not going to be joining the Avengers any time soon (please, dear God, no). His path is different and should certainly be less traveled by men like Daredevil and Spider-Man.

So why stand them all next to each other in this new story? Mark Waid in the discussion said: “I think we start with Spider-Man with something tonally that is very close to what Spider-Man is, but the moment the Punisher walks into the room, thanks to Greg, the tone shift. That’s part of the fun of collaborating on this thing; bouncing back and forth without it being jarring.”

These don't normally end well for others....

So we won’t have to change anyone’s M.O. to be there; Frank Castle won’t be held back, and Daredevil and Spider-Man get to be seen in a different light, one perhaps with a little more shadow. If anything, both Daredevil and Spider-Man are going to have to go up against (and possibly work with) a man who is the physical embodiment of some very personal issues. Spider-Man has shouted to the rooftops that “as long as he’s around, no one dies,” and that’s going to be challenged by the Punisher simply being nearby. Daredevil just got back from the darkest turn in his career, full of death and judgment. His recent brush with the dark side under the Hand and how far his own life had been pulling away from friends and family might bring some new facets in the relationship between Daredevil and the Punisher.

Sounds good all around until you wonder what the Punisher is going to get out of all of this. Sure, we’ll be seeing Spider-Man and Daredevil in the tonal shift that comes with having the Punisher guest star in your books. But how will their tone affect the Punisher? He’s going to give some different depth and development to the other two and, considering his co-star’s viewpoints, it would be easy to paint him as a villain (or more like … an anti-villain?) but there’s got to be something more.

The guys in charge are clearly thinking along the same lines, given what’s hinted at here:

I love Frank as a thinker, but the second we put him in 616, the second he’s not in a MAX world, he has access to 616 resources,” Rucka said. “In a couple of upcoming issues, he’s going to get his hands on a variety of resources. One of those is going to be incredibly useful to him. He will recover something from one of the people that he’s fighting that is going to make him — I don’t want to say bulletproof — but it will prove to be of great assistance.”

The story purposefully started small, but the reason ‘The Omega Effect’ story is placed so well is that Frank’s story is about to be big,” said Wacker. “He’s not only going to have to be bulletproof, he’s going to have to be SHIELD-proof as well.

Is he going to get a thing? Reed Richards’ famous mathematical sociology that charts the course of mankind? Some sort of terrible intel on S.H.I.E.L.D. that makes them look even worse that they did in “Dark Reign”? A device that bequeaths terrible cosmic powers?!!

Who knows (but I’m really not voting for the latter)? Most importantly, the Punisher will gain purpose in a world of gods, powered armor suits and super-humans. Maybe by getting him to play with others and socialize some, the grim future shown in PunisherMAX might change. From the plans they shared with us, fans will certainly find some new and fascinating corner of the character given light by two talented writers with a clear course into the unknown. April can’t come soon enough.

and that's when they asked Bendis to step back from the Avengers....

Did you know that there is a U.S. government website to help you complete common New Year’s resolutions? Seriously, take a look; it’s the “U.S. Government’s Official Web Portal” and there’s a lot of benign but helpful info about getting a passport or a story about a wedding dress made out of a parachute, but yeah, in the middle of that is a helpful list of the most common New Year’s resolutions with links to a website or brochure that could offer helpful information and suggestions.

Last year, when I carved my own New Year’s resolutions into internet stone, I was incredibly thankful for the comments left with the list. Helpful and commiserating readers shared ideas on how to succeed, suggestions on what to read and joined in fist-shaking at the lure of Apple products. So while I may not know how much your savings bond has gained interest, I can help out with some simple comic book reading resolutions and hopefully can inspire others to make their own. I also have a kick ass cosplay pic in lieu of a touching WWII wedding tale. So there’s that.

Want to know which resolution I miserably failed at last year? Keep reading, true believers!

Old Resolution: Give Fear a Chance

I had some serious misgivings about Fear Itself last year. There was no way someone offering me a “nice Hawaiian Punch” wasn’t going to end without a big sock to my face, so there was very little chance of another event book not spinning out into a bajillion titles, leave me feeling empty, and promising the moon only to find readers holding little of substance. Especially after Siege, the event book as a genre seemed so futile, and Fear Itself could have been just more doom and gloom situations for readers and characters alike. But I promised that I would give the book a fair shake and leave my judgments for when I had something to judge, rather than the grudges of yesteryear.

This was the right thing to do. Did you read our Top Ten lists this year? I love Fear Itself. I love it more than is probably reasonable and will defend it with my own Uru-enhanced hammer at all opportunities. Rather than focusing on fear, it focused more on how our heroes respond to fear, whether that’s with bravery, abandon or loss. There are still some vestiges of the storyline affecting out comics today and while I can’t know if they’ll stick around, I know the emotional impact that I read will linger.

She bothers me because I've read too many comics and that's not fair

New Resolution: Ease Up on Continuity

The hardest part about new ideas is that they are different, and I fear them. Let’s put it this way, when I heard that Moira MacTaggart wasn’t going to be a scientist or Scottish or have been Xavier’s college sweatheart or help Xavier discover the X-Gene or be the best example of how humans can come to understand and aid mutants on a personal level without having to be a mutant herself- okay, I’m reaching and could write a whole different article on how important Moira MacTaggart is in the X-Men legacy (2012!), but that’s my point. With a little thought and honesty, we all have an OTP or a classic element of our comics we’ve come to know and love since reading. It’s healthy for comics to stretch our imaginations and push the borders of our understanding, but those borders are there for a reason. Keeping to the traditional elements of our heroes and villains makes them long-lasting established icons of popular culture. On the other hand, challenging our conceits and providing new ideas are what make those icons interesting. So, for my part, I’m going to work as hard as I can to give changes a fair shake. I’m not going to judge the Avengers movie on what isn’t in it or AvX by House of M; it’s time to take things as they come and show no fear.

Old Resolution: Pick and Stick

Seeing the incoming deluge of Captain America and Captain American-accessory comics planned to hit the shelves ahead of the movie for the highest amount of market saturation, there was an inclination to try and get everything, or perhaps even be frustrated by so many tie-ins and features–enough to revolt and stubbornly buy nothing. The idea to combat this was to find a title I liked out of the incredible variety and stick with that one rather than be distracted by different reprints or mini-series and feel overwhelmed by the amount of choice. I was going to pick a title I liked and stick with it instead of having four #1 issues of Fear Itself events and feel like nothing was gained.

Again, can’t say this one failed me, but it didn’t work really well either. My heart was in the right place, but I’m going to be honest and admit that Captain America got away from me once we split to the new #1 and the Captain America & Bucky ongoing. I had picked and stuck with Fear Itself when it came to my “what is Captain America doing now” question and missed out on Brubaker’s ongoing narrative for the new hotness. On the other hand, I didn’t get a lot of Fear Itself side stories and enjoyed the the ones I did read. So it’s a 50/50. Now, how do I catch up on all the issues of Captain America I missed?

New Resolution: Read All the Comics

Take a moment and decide for yourself if you bought a comic in 2011 that you didn’t read. At any time have you looked at your weekly stash and thought, well, I’ll wait until I have three or four to read at once, only to forget which was the last issue you bought and then there’s suddenly holes in the story so why bother reading them anyway? Or have you ever (gasp!) bought doubles? As per above, Yours Truly eschewed the (probably) more important Captain America storylines for the larger picture of Fear Itself. I continued to get issues and still have them, right over there, waiting for me. It’s a hard thing to picture in today’s wrathful economy that one might have comics that weren’t immediately consumed upon purchase, but it’s something I’ve seen over the years with pull customers and more dedicated readers. The more you love a character, the more you want to know everything they’re doing and the next thing you know, Deadpool is in ever book.  If there’s a book on my pull list that I’m just not reading but buying out of habit or a hope that it “gets good again” (you know what I’m talking about), maybe it’s even time to let go.  Sometimes you might want a break from the drama of it all and that’s reasonable. Trades are fairly common by now for all the major titles, at least, so it’s easy to catch back up and get back in the game.

Old Resolution: Read Something New

This was a resolution mostly to get me out of my comfort zone. There are so many comics out there in the wide world that to simply draw a 5×5 square around Marvel’s 616 just doesn’t give the best understanding of what comics can do. So I vowed to read a wider variety of comics than I had the year before and I suppose I did. I can’t say much stuck out for me, nor can I say that I really went all that far away from my home stomping grounds. I found Batwing, previously thought to be doomed in the nu52, to be fantastic and Echo, despite some complications towards the end of the series, to be a marvelous example of how profound Terry Moore can be as a creator when handling his own self-published stories. I never did get around to Powers or Omega the Unknown, though, and I regret not taking some of your advice (and plugs!) for new comics to read in the coming year.

New Resolution: Jump Out Of Genre

Did you know that right here, on this very incredible news blog, are comics I have no understanding of in the slightest? The top ten list from 2011 is a Smorgasbord of creativity in a cornucopia of topics ranging from the esoteric to the intellectual. Some of them don’t even have superheroes in them! And while I normally eschew the hardcover, black-and-white, navel-gazing tropes of the indie comic, that’s just a bad bias to have as the world of comics gets larger and larger. It’s time to make time for one out of genre piece and see how it goes; luckily, I know a great place to start for recommendations.

Old Resolution: Keep Up My Pull List

I resolved to make sure I was direct and forthcoming with my own comics establishment and revise and review my pull list for added titles and changes as Marvel rolls me along. It wasn’t easy, but oh man. My pull list is tight as a drum, with only the comics I have dedicated my hard earned dollar towards. I have gotten caught off guard a couple times by a spare trade or a release that slipped my eye, but the diligence of ordering has left me room to squeak a copy into the mix or know that I’m going to have to wait. It takes a lot of paper and some clean fresh starts but keeping up a pull list is easy and fun, so I cannot recommend this brushing and flossing routine enough. Since my phone runs on Android, I found a helpful app that keeps track of what’s coming out when, will offer to track favorite titles and authors plus give you and handy dandy comic shop locator if you’re on the road. Living at my store takes care of most check-ups, but I found this kind of cool so I thought I’d pass it along.

New Resolution: Keep It Up!

To a toned and lean comic pull list in 2012!

Old Resolution: Read a Digital Comic

More honesty: This is my ‘lose weight’ resolution. The resolution that seems like such a good idea and you psych yourself up for, then it gets to be hard, it’s not fun, you give up and resent the institution of resolutions afterwards. My brother owns the iPad I thought I’d be able to read my first full digital comic on, and for some reason, we couldn’t get it to load. At Marvel.com there’s a web browser application that gives you access to their collection but it’s a clunky interface that I’ll feel awkward using. Reader Matt Duarte couldn’t have made it simpler for me and even wrote a review for the free comics available through comicxology.com! But despite some weak attempts, this is the resolution that just never got off the ground.

this comes with a free digital copy! the best of both worlds!

New Resolution: READ A DIGITAL COMIC

So this time, I’m going to do it! On the whole, this list helped me out a lot to give me some clear goals and an idea of what I want out of my comic reading experience. If I’m a smarter reader, I can be a smart shopper and this can only be a better experience for everyone. Sure, I missed my chance in 2011 but digital comics aren’t going anywhere in the new year. With day-and-date comics hitting comic stands and the interwebs all at the same time, it’s starting to get competitive and that’s going to make sure that the digital comic itself will get stronger and more refined so that even dunderheads like me can take advantage of their availability and convenience. I may not like them, but it’s only fair to give them a chance.

Like I said last year, these are just mine, but you may want to come up with your own Comics Resolutions for the New Year. When we get better as readers, open ourselves up to this new evolving world of comics, and we can understand it all in more detail when we hate things that don’t speak to us or a story turns out to be an utter sham. We can also appreciate what we like more and receive it readily. Feel free to face front and list your own resolutions below in the comments.

Excelsior!

That's right - I busted out my Dynamic Forces cover for you guys!

It’s okay to hate the holidays.

Really, no secret Santa brigade will beat you into being jolly. In fact, it’s perfectly natural to get a sort of dread around this season. The sun doesn’t shine as much, the weather outside is frightful, it’s the end of a year and the approach of a new one that we can only hope is better. As much as festive decorations, carols and family dinners might say otherwise, this is the season for frustrations.

Dear reader, I understand this feeling. I work retail. It’s perfectly fine to hate the holidays, and it’s perfectly normal to wish things were better. Charlie Brown Christmas Specials are all well and good, and it’s great to aspire to that Rockwell painting of a warm Christmas dinner, but let’s face it: that’s not reality. Reality sometimes is that a roast is burnt, the family just bickers and drinks, and all those Peanuts kids dance like idiots.

We can’t get the perfect Christmastime we want so badly, but sometimes we can be Avenged. We can take Christmas into our own hands, show some Scrooges what for and make them kinder. We can look at all the little things that make this time, if not perfect, uniquely special. And we can rocket a perverted uncle around in a frilly brassiere once we’ve shrunk him to the size of an action figure.

Folks, this is Ant Man’s Big Christmas.

I don’t sell a lot of holiday-themed comics this time of year, but I do love reading them. After awhile, however, they all sort of blend together (unless they’re written in the Silver Age and then all bets are off). Something about Santa, or orphans and kindness, family and togetherness and hey, Ben Grimm is Jewish! Spidey swings by in a Santa hat but is that really Christmas, or just the trappings? Ant Man’s Big Christmas, by Bob Gale and Phil Winslade, seems to be entirely devoid of all the mythology aspects to the modern-day media Christmas and focuses on the one thing that is essential: family.

Especially family that you hate, though hate is a strong term. Family that irritates you, makes you feel small in some fashion and generally puts a damper on your Christmas cheer and charity. I’m sure that even if you were raised by wolves, there would be at least one wolf-brother who peed inside the cave. Everyone can relate to a relative that you’d rather not spend a weekend with. Maybe you’re lucky and you can get through a family dinner in peace and tranquility, or maybe you’re married and now there’s two sets of families to try and make it through. This is where we find Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne somewhere around the turn of the new millennium, trying to figure out whose family is worse and simply cannot be tolerated for a Christmas dinner.

Neither one is exactly thrilled with the notion, and while they don’t fight with each other, they bicker in a familiar fashion. These are two people who love each other enough to fight about it. It’s nice and a little nostalgic to see a sassy Janet get fed up with the men in her life, and an oblivious Hank try and find ways of playing nice with others. They are saved from having dinner with either family and sent on a sort of Avengers “Make a Wish” request, where a young boy named Larry asks for an appearance at his family’s dinner to make Christmas a little more tolerable. With some prodding by Captain America (and the threat of having dinner with the Van Dynes), they head off to make a celebrity appearance.

After a bit of a reality check on how superheroes can’t just exactly bust in on a family without causing a scene, they eventually meet up with Larry in secret. Dazzled by his favorite heroes (really?), the heroes shrink him down and give him an ant’s high view of the world at Christmastime. He’s honestly amazed, and it is a true credit to Mr. Winslade as he’s got this great ‘fish-eye’ lens style when showing how a Christmas tree might look at the size of one of its bulbs, all very vivid and classically styled for a book that shows a 12-year-old boy torturing his extended family for being rude.

We should get to that: so the crux of the story is that Larry has the relatives from Hell and, because of a request made at his grandmother’s death bed, they have to see them every year for Christmas dinner. And we’re not just talking the aunt that pinches your cheeks too hard or that cousin who has a little too much to drink at dinner and sings carols a little too loudly, we’re talking vile people. Larry was hoping that if Ant-Man and Wasp showed up, then everyone would think he’s a big shot (size pun!) and might behave a little better for super-heroic company. “Being a ‘big shot’ is something you earn,” Ant-Man tells Larry, “from your own accomplishments. Just because you associate yourself with a big shot won’t make you into one.”

Instead, they devise a way to teach these relatives a lesson, shrinking each one to tiny size and terrorizing them until they are chased off and told to be more considerate. These are nasty and weird punishments, and even Ant-Man and Wasp are a little apprehensive at points until, well… they get into the Christmas spirit. I won’t go into the dirty details, but yes: a pervert gets shrunk down and taped to the inside of a brassiere and sort of whirled around like a NASA test subject. It’s all a little vindictive and childish, but hey! It’s Christmas.

Ah, Christmastime.

In the end, Larry decides that using shrinking gas on his family to extort better behavior through torture is the wrong way to go about this, despite hilarious results. No no, extortion wasn’t the answer: blackmail was. For the last and most vicious of his family members, two twin bully cousins, he lures them out into the garage, dumps tires on their heads to subdue them (feels a little Home Alone-y), then hog-ties them with Velcro to cover their pants in sugar water so he can unleash a horde of ants on them. And yes, they bite. He films their shrieks and humiliation, and says that if they come to the house next Christmas, they should behave or he’ll put the video on the Internet.

Now this all might seems a little… mean. Please keep in mind that Home Alone reference and that all slapstick comedies are a little mean, crude and horrible if you try to put them in a more realistic setting. Ant-Man’s Big Christmas came out as part of the original Marvel Knights line, edited by Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti themselves and certainly shows a kind of humor and self-awareness that seems odd on the shelves today.

Bob Gale wrote something unique for the holiday season, something that doesn’t pander to the great, all-perfect vision of Christmas, family and charity. He just wants us to be good, not for goodness’s sake, but because someone will humiliate and terrify you if you’re not. That there are consequences to your actions, be them large or small, that we can all take the reins of our holiday blues and make a difference as we come into the new year. You don’t have to have that blessed moment of holiday bliss to be a big shot, you can fight for your right to have peace in this house, just for one day.

Happy Holidays, everyone.

See? Even they're confused...

You’d be surprised by how many people don’t know how comics “work.” Really. Moms and aunts mostly, but a few granddads slide in or brothers or other assorted family simply don’t know or choose not to know. Mind you, it’s a little tragic to say that how comics work is unfathomable to anyone who, I don’ know, has functioning sight and understands how to read. You would think that the average Christmas shopper would be able to figure this out, but I stand before you as a retail clerk from a local comic shop and can announce with some shame that “how comics work” is apparently one of the mysteries of the universe.

With this in mind, it’s a little easier to understand how pop culture has accepted our sequential art and storytelling style. Comic book movies and TV shows (as we’ve gotten them in the new millennium) traditionally start at the beginning. People want to be there as our hero dons a mask for the first time or witness the tragedy of Uncle Ben’s death with them, any moment in which mortal man becomes …well, super. The idea that the new Amazing Spider-Man movie could bear the words “The Untold Origin” seems ludicrous since I’m pretty sure this is an origin well explored. But here we are anticipating a new story that’s the same story promising new information on what we already know.

Why? Because comic books are an impenetrable wall that no mere mortal can scale. Despite the fact that the tools are simple, despite the fact that basic characters and story concepts are now known around the world by the mass market, comics remain confusing. To the general public, the common knowledge may be there, but understanding lives underground with the Morlocks and Mole Men.

Recently in a Commentary Track for Uncanny X-Force #18 over at CBR, Rick Remender talks about fans trying to pick up his creator-owned book, Fear Agent:

“They’re like, ‘I bought issue #28 and I didn’t know what was going on.’ I reply, ‘That’s like watching ‘The Wire:’ season four, episode 2.’ I think you need to start at the first issue and move forward, because I don’t always write in a way where you can cleanly hop in later. I know no editor wants to hear me say that! [Laughs] Just go back to the first issue and move forward.”

“Go to the first issue and move forward” is about as simple as it gets, but it’s a daunting prospect to the non-comic fan. The first-time buyer is more likely to have a casual interest, pick up a couple issues and go, rather than something more studious in reading chronologically. Some casual readers developed that interest in the first place from movies, TV or a small news blurb on a hyped media event. It’s kind of weird how our never-ending serial fiction is notable to the public when it stops (The death of X!) and starts (X’s all-new #1 issue!). The #1 brightly emblazoned on a cover is a beacon for new readers, while I still get question about Captain America and how he’s supposed to be dead because they heard it on the news.

If Iceman should fail!

Comics from the Silver Age sold you quickly; availability was easy for kids, as comics were generally sold at a variety of local newsstands or convenience stores or what have you. Covers practically shouted story ideas to you from the racks, like a challenge to read it and find out what happens next. Normally, what was on the cover was also the story inside. You’d get a comic that asks you “If Iceman Should Fail!” You’d pick up the issue, learn that Iceman did not, in fact, fail (SPOILER!) and the story would be over. If the issue was cool, you’d pick up next month’s issue and be asked “Is the Mimic another mutant? — Or something far worse??”

Later, as comic shops became a viable form of business and back issues became a commodity, one could handle a longer-form story. After all, if Atlantis Attacks the X-Men in Annual #13, I now have an easier chance of finding the other annuals in the series to get the full story of how our heroes stopped Set from returning to Earth. Man, can you even imagine a day without trades and collected editions? Decompressed storytelling could not live without this new, thicker form of comic, sometimes taking the numeric order completely out of the equation to list story arcs and chapters on its spine.

In fact, decompressed storytelling is the leisure of the information age. Since information about comics and their creators is more available than ever, we learn not just about the longer form story, but the writers’ and artists’ intention behind it all as well. People can judge the work of Alan Moore or Mark Millar because these books and issues have been grouped together, whether in the comic shop or online, and the way a story is told becomes just as important as the characters themselves.

writers who have their own logo art

The good news is that comic readers gain a deeper connection to the books. They become Bendis’ Avengers or Claremont’s X-Men. We can follow that writer as he bounces through a few titles, or choose only the artwork we like and drop a book when it doesn’t live up to our aesthetics. Jim Lee art is a bankable idea that the Distinguished Competition is using to promote their characters. Books can become tailor made and rarefied through more and more specifics and details so that we, the audience, can make the most out of our experience.

So the bad news turns out to be that anyone coming into this vast resource of information and style can be completely bowled over by all of this. This? This is the impenetrable wall, folks. Rick Remender is right: it’s hard to come in to the middle of a series and know much. You might not know who these characters are, you might only have a small piece to a larger puzzle as far as story goes, you might not even know the people who made the book and won’t understand their particular voice or style. Lauded as he is, you either like Warren Ellis’ work or you don’,t and if you happen to pick up an issue of Astonishing X-Men thinking you’d get something like the movies, it’s just not going to happen. It’s like we comic readers have this very long conversation going with the House of Ideas about common topics. We agree with some of them and disagree with others, but we’ve talked and talked and talked about these themes or characters for ages. There is no easy way to jump into that conversation.

In a perfect world, not everyone would be in on that conversation. We can’t all think the same or stop a train of thought to let on new passengers every time someone wants to try it out and keep the medium how it is today. However, in a perfect world everyone would at least understand and use the method of conversation for any topic that came to them. A city girl like me knows nothing about fishing and would be completely lost in a bait and tackle store. The manager of said store could roll their eyes at my Spider-Man shirt and funny dyed hair and tell me to come back when I’m serious, seeing that I am clearly not in on the conversation of fishing. He could also, on the other hand, explain to me the basics and find me a starter kit. I could then go out with my kit and learn more about how to bait a hook or cast a line. My first fish would be all the more sweet from having learned how it all works.

I don’t know if there’s an easy way to teach a man to fish, but I’ve been learning how to teach a Mom to comic for over 10 years at Metro. It’s not easy and I can’t say it always works, but the rewards are spectacular.

I bet you Ben never knows what to get Franklin every year...

Perhaps your family gathering is going to have way more kids than previous years. Maybe the moment is right for you to hand down some traditional comics reading to a son or daughter. Is your significant other a little more receptive toward your choice of literature these days? You could have even pulled a co-worker at your Secret Santa office party who likes to talk to you about the latest comic book movie. Personally, my brother gave me his comic collection when I was a kid, and I always like to try and give him a couple new ones in return, as a way of saying thank you and reminding him of his roots.

We all have reasons for giving comics and comic-related accessories this holiday season. Comics have been vetted in popular culture, can cover a dozen different interests and physical forms, and always have been a perfectly wonderful gift for any age or interest. In fact, I think we’d all appreciate a little recruitment drive to keep comics at the top of the charts and off cancellation lists!

I’m not saying it’s easy, though. Well, it might be. For some fair readers, you could be looking at a big pile of gifts already wrapped under your Christmas tree, taking a deep breath of satisfaction. Then again, you could be strapped for cash, gift ideas and time to make sure that you don’t show up somewhere empty handed. Or worse, you could be the giftee and all Grandma knows is that you like Batman. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a guide to all the best gifts this year? Well, there is, the fine folks at CBR made up a Holiday Gift Guide, while we here at Robot 6 reached out to comic pros to see what they recommended, and I could recommend no finer list made by dashing and intellectual folks.

Then again, what if this is odd gift shopping? Working retail, I meet the clueless, the frazzled, the fearful and the confused for whom a simple and eloquently put-together list would not be enough. So for you, who will still be shopping on Dec. 24, to anyone who has ever gotten two Batman toothbrushes as a gag gift, to anyone who might be sent out into the cold for the first time to find a comic book, this guide is for you.

This is your Fear Gift-self shopping guide.

1) Don’t Panic

Not you, though. You’re a dashing and fearless person, Dear Reader. Your comfort with the comics medium is so high that you’re reading an article on a comic book website. But not everyone feels this way. For some, going into your local comic shop feels a little like going into a fish cannery. “I don’t know anything about comics!” is their fearful cry, and they mostly want to buy some sort of “thing” that represents comics rather than any actual comic books themselves. If you might be receiving comics this year from thoughtful friends and family, try to remember that they will have no idea what a Jim Lee is or what issues the Bat-Mite appeared in. If you’re giving comics and it all seems a little daunting, take a deep breath and relax. The goal here is to introduce comics to new readers, not to give them a collectable worth millions someday or be honored at a speech one year for giving them that One Special Comic they’ll never forget. Keep your expectations reasonable, your budget reasonable and take a chance on bringing in some new readership.

2) Be Informed

Try to find out more about who you’re giving the gift to. Whether that’s asking around to their family and friends, or hiring an undercover detective, that’s up to you. If they really like the X-Men, try and find out why rather than leaving it there. Are they fans of the ever-changing mutant drama cycle? Did they see the movies and find Hugh Jackman dreamy? Try and get what you know down to some base elements (They like Batman because he’s totally bad ass and fights! They like Batman because he’s a detective and solves crimes and also fights! They like Batman because Diedrich Bader voices him so well!) and you’ll be better prepared for your shopping day. As a giftee, you might want to let your family and friends in on what a comic book is versus, say, a graphic novel or a trade paperback, how much they run, that some issues cost more once they’re older, etc. Big clues and basic stuff for sure, but for the uninitiated, it’s all ancient Sumerian.

3) Encourage a List

Yeah, spontaneously perfect gifts are the Holy Grail of holiday shopping, but sometimes Grandma just wants a list. Sometimes an aunt or uncle who’s kind enough to send you a little something hasn’t seen you in years, so yes. Get them a list. Put it up on Facebook, make a little Amazon Wish List, talk avidly about the new Powers hardcovers and what the new editions look like so you don’t end up with one you already have. For you gift gifters who are more comic savvy, use a list like a selection of adjectives, and try and match what movies or TV shows they might be asking for into the printed medium. Which leads me to …

4) Referential Gifting!

Best and easiest way to give something new to someone you love: match what they already like to a comic. Sometimes it’s simple (Halo is to X-Box what Halo is to a Marvel Graphic Novel), sometimes it might take some work (friend watches Community, maybe they’ll like Ghost World?), sometimes it might even take a long train of references (they watch Big Bang Theory, Sheldon wears DC T-shirts, maybe a Flash comic in honor of that one episode where they all dressed up as the Flash?). It’s not easy or we’d all get perfect gifts for Hanukkah, but it’s a place to start. Your local retailer will likely be able to help with that as well.

5) Bring Back Stocking Stuffers

Did you know that if you take a comic, lightly (I said lightly!) roll it into a tube and place it into a deep enough Christmas stocking, maybe throw in some pre-packaged candy and an action figure, you’ve essentially won Christmas? That you’ll be heralded by everyone and they’ll throw a parade in your name and give you a key to the city? Okay, maybe not, but the idea is the same: this is fantastic way to keep it on the cheap, introduce comics to a new reader and make sure they are sugar-sated enough to say thanks.

6) The Big Guns: a Comic Subscription

Okay, this is the advanced class: go to your friendly neighborhood comic shop and ask to get a comic book subscription for someone instead of a gift certificate. This way, if you know they like the Incredible Hulk (like the one in the upcoming Avengers movie?), you can pre-pay for so many issues that will belong to them on New Comics Wednesday. Heck, know someone who already has a pull? Easy gift idea, bam! For new readers, this will not only ensure that they are getting the newest of the new and will be a present that can last for months of enjoyment, but this even teaches them How Comics Work and introduces them to the monthly episodic story. Like I said, this is the advanced class: you’ve really got to know who you’re shopping for to buy something sight unseen, but the benefits could get you that key to the city I mentioned.

Obviously this is not a comprehensive list of stuff to buy; that would be the Robot 6 Holiday Gift-Giving Guides, part one, two, three and part four, or the CBR list. This is more of a general list of tips, some ways to shop and think that might make the holidays a little brighter for everyone. Or maybe just me as I work in retail. Excelsior!

What, did you think I was going to show the panel? Go buy this book!

There is a page in FF #12 that would knock Jerry Springer’s socks off. Not in trashiness, but in the complexity of the relationships of the people on panel. Let’s see who we have here: there’s an alternate Reed Richards who came from a collective of Reed Richards..es. There is the time-traveling Nathanial Richards, his not-quite father. Doctor Doom sits collared by the machinations of alter-Reed, while Kristoff demands justice for his not-exactly father and the inherited name of Doom. Did I mention there’s a Wikipedia entry that has hinted that Nathaniel Richards might actually be Kristoff’s biological father? Yeah, wrap your head around this, because this is key: the relationships of these people on this page are why no one should be dropping this title due to the return of the Fantastic Four.

Potential spoilers for Fantastic Four #600 and FF #12 after the jump!

Last week Fantastic Four returned to publication under its full name and original numbering with Fantastic Four #600. You may have heard of this. Inside, Johnny Storm’s fate is revealed, Marvel’s first family grapples with Ronan the Accuser and the Kree armada as well as the creeping threat of Annihilus’ inevitable return. It is 100 pages of all-new story and art that furthers the goal that Jonathan Hickman started in Fantastic Four #570. It is deep, it is lengthy, it is surprising, and–to borrow a term–it is fantastic. So why is FF still on the stands? FF, short for Future Foundation, was a way to show the reader how Marvel’s first family adapts to a loss in number. Because let’s face it, they’re never the Fantastic Three for very long. No matter who leaves and who stays, they always bring the ranks up to four thanks to the immense variety of supporting characters and surrogate family in the Marvel U.

Because their supporting characters are so awesome, their villains so villainous, the stakes so high, on both personal and global levels, there is simply too much to fit into one book. Everybody loves Doctor Doom, but he can’t be in the book all the time, or else he loses something of what makes him such a great character. Being honest with ourselves, having his own book doesn’t seem to be a possibility either. Doctor Doom is simply at his best when pitted against his most enduring foes. FF allows breathing room for Doom, and other supporting characters, without crowding the Fantastic Four. This is what happens when your characters have been around for six hundred issues: you bring a lot of back story.

Like having kids.

Grade schoolers haven’t been this interesting in the Marvel U since Power Pack. In fact, a lot of kids of superheroes wind up in the gutters as they are sidelined for the more interesting adult adventures. We even skip their formative years by sending them into the future, putting them under some aging ray, throwing them in hell… man, Marvel doesn’t really like kids, do they? Stan Lee isn’t fond of teen-aged sidekicks, babies are often taken hostage, pawned off to nannies and sitters, or simply forgotten, to make way for people with their drivers licenses. Hickman has sort of broken the mold and continuously used the Richards kids as both plot points and secret heroes in their own right. Sure, Franklin and Valeria may not be ordinary kids, but having a childlike point of view on Hickman’s trademark cosmic-powered philosophy stories has enhanced the reader’s connection and enjoyment. I actively care about a couple of grade schoolers, and that’s a new one for me as a Marvel Zombie.

The Fantastic Four are a great team in which to watch characters evolve. Reed Richards has been called a futurist in the recent run of Fantastic Four comics. And so the Fantastic Four, while always scientifically minded, now have a stronger goal that unites not just them, but their family, and surrogate families as well. They no longer just want to protect the people of Earth, they want to protect mankind itself, which turns an eye to the future. Since Civil War, Reed Richards has caused more trouble for everyone as a “futurist.” No matter how much math he can do, no matter what machines he can create, advancements in technology, inter-dimensional travel, none of this tends to go well. It is ironic that an antagonist of the series is just Reed Richards himself. Sure, an alternate version, but you get the idea. The lesson to learn from this and to watch develop in the pages of FF is that you can’t control the future, you have to let it grow up on its own, and guide it to the best of your ability. The Fantastic Four will always be the world’s greatest magazine, and their heroes Marvel’s first family. The FF, and the Future Foundation as a whole, is a way for the next generation to grow into its own, without Reed’s direct hand. He can still look to the future, because it’s right beside him in the eyes of his children.

Our past is the foundation of our future. You can’t stop reading now.

In the future, all comics will look like this!

Holy hand grenade, it’s been a week of nasty cancellations over at the House of Ideas! Yesterday it seemed like it wouldn’t stop as smaller titles were stripped away seemingly far too soon. Ghost Rider feels like it only just got here, but that’s now ending with issue #8. X-23, a successful breakout character in her own right (and currently on my TV screen in Ultimate X-Men vs. Capcom 3) is gone with Kssue 20. We’ll also be saying goodbye to a personal favorite: Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive is ending as of #529. 2012 does not seem to be a good year for new ideas as, while I can’t say that a Kirby-created character and two male-derivative heroines are all that new, we’re losing some of the more fringe books while our core titles seem to be bringing up old fan favorites.

Then, while PunisherMAX is coming to a conclusion rather than a short and final stop, there’s a quote from a Marvel representative saying that “A big change is coming to the MAX universe and nobody can miss what we’ve got coming.” Couldn’t tell you why, perhaps it’s the littered canceled titles scattered before them, maybe it’s the fact that the MAX titles are a struggle to publish and promote, but this statement doesn’t rest any fears.

The marketplace is vast; I mean, have you seen a Diamond catalog? While I think it’s a little thinner that usual these days, that doesn’t mean it’s not a PHONE BOOK OF COMICS AND COMICS ACCESSORIES produced monthly. Sure, maybe a little more white pages than yellow, but that’s still a lot of published titles you may honestly never see. Or perhaps want to see, as the range and scope of subject matter extends far beyond super-heroes. Marvel itself publishes Halo and Sense and Sensibility comics, and then everything in between. And while I might think Jane Austen is a bore, someone reading right now might be willing to club me with a shoe for maligning the great Jane’s name (please don’t hit me with a shoe). One reader’s Gravity is another reader’s Sammi the Fish Boy. While every comic may have a fan, they might not always have an audience.

Marvel has canceled books before they hit the shelves, before retailers have had a change to order them, and I’m sure there’s even books pitched right now that might never see the light of day. What do we do? What can we do as readers to change such a system, and how do we keep the hope alive? Here are a few thoughts.

It's like she never left!

First, find out where that character is going. That’s why we’re in this, right? Ghost Rider is cool, and so we want more issues with Ghost Rider in them. X-23 fans are in luck because she’s going to be in one of the best Avengers titles around, Avengers Academy. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see her pop up in Wolverine and the X-Men for a guest spot or two. We know that the last two Ghost Riders will return for Ghost Rider: Cycle of Vengeance #1 in January, plus Matt Fraction’s got the Defenders in their own book now, so certainly there’s a potential to find the Spirit of Vengeance over in that book. Black Panther recently turned down the opportunity to be an Avenger again, but you know his wife’s going to sign up by Avengers #21. The man can change his mind. I know these shots aren’t the same as having your own starring title and in Alejandra’s case, it feels like this is all just a footnote to the Marvel Handbook. Still, it’s worth a try to go pick up a couple issues of the book your cancelled characters will be appearing in.

What if the change was too great? What if the characters weren’t the draw for you and kept you reading month after month? Then find the creators. Scour your comics for the title pages and take those names to Google. More often than not, your favorite writers and artists and inkers and colorists will have a website, if not a Wikipedia page where you can discover what they’re doing next. Maybe even what they’ve done before; did you know Marjorie Liu has a hit series of paranormal romantic thrillers? How about that Francesco Francavilla has done a lauded run of issues on Detective Comics? Did you know there are about a billion Rob Williams between the U.K. and the U.S.? Good news, the one who wrote Ghost Rider is also writing RoboCop for Dynamite Entertainment. Robocop! Make sure these great creators who you enjoyed don’t fall by the wayside without their canceled title. Sometimes following a favorite writer takes you into new and interesting places, places you’ll come to love just as much as where you found them. I used to read a lot of Star Trek novels as a kid and when I learned that Peter David did comics, I checked them out and picked up a couple despite my previous lack of interest in Spider-Man. The rest, as they say, is history.

Okay, so you’ve scoured for artist’s names and websites, you’ve flipped through pages to find out where Black Panther may be next, what else? This one requires the help of your local comic shop or, if not available, a friendly and helpful message board. If your favorite title is being canceled, try and dissect why it was your favorite title. Was it the artwork? What were qualities of that artwork that really drew you in? I mean, just get in there and find every adjective you can and be as objective as possible. Was the idea of a female Spirit of Vengeance something new and exciting? Was a young woman’s loss of humanity and the desire to gain it back touching? Was the use of shadow and light engaging to the eye as you read Black Panther? What was it about any title you’ve had canceled out from under you that really made you miss its absence?

the forums are kind of like this and sometimes, just as dangerous

Great, now take these adjectives over to your friendly neighborhood comic shop and tell them what you need. Any store worth their salt should be able to have recommendations ready and some selection to choose from, but the more adjectives and ideas that you have will help them form the best retail search engine and get you want you need. No local comic shop or worse, no good local comic shop? Welcome to the internet! Our own CBR message boards are full of people who create this vast Supreme Intelligence who may know a little something about what you’re looking for. Head over and find the right place to pose a polite inquiry; you might be surprised at what you find.

Lastly, write a letter. I’m not talking about petitions, I’m saying a simple heart-felt letter. Send it to the creative team, send it to the editors, send it to the internet. If any canceled book meant a lot to you, it’s worth it to let people know. Trust me, the writers and artists appreciate it and your support can mean a lot. Writing to editors is probably the closest the fan on the street is going to get to telling the top brass what distinguishes cult hit and cash-dollar success. And while some fan letter campaigns never work, but honestly, some times they do.

Check your favorite titles, my friends. Do they have Wolverine or Spider-Man on the cover? How about on the inside? Anybody soon to be in a movie in there? As, like, a guy? If no on all counts, please treasure them. As Comics Alliance put it, these are fan-oriented books, rather than market-oriented; in fact, fans are what makes them marketable in the first place. Marvel has to have the faith and trust in we the people to see a title like X-Factor through, with or without a guest spot with Wolverine.

But fighting the system only takes you so far. Swearing you’re never going to read Marvel comics again on a message board or a comment page doesn’t bring these titles back. The system is flawed, but it’s workable: just look at Deadpool. Obscure X-Force villain to multimedia oversaturated hit! It took awhile for sure, but with a little faith in the title from the company and a mighty fanbase working side-by-side, we can keep the more fan-oriented books alive.

How Ultimate is Ultimate!?

Have you ever seen a word so often that it starts to lose its meaning? Louis CK has a great bit on the word ‘hilarious’, go check the link (right about the 1:38 mark, NSFW language) and you’ll see what I mean. Because it feels like the word “Ultimate” means nothing to me anymore. I don’t know what Marvel means by it, I don’t know why it’s there now instead of a new label, but it’s been on a lot of comics. Just as a word, the adjective has five definitions, all of them relating to a finite point. They’re all various shades of getting to an endpoint.

So what shade do we call this particular line of comics? At NYCC editor Sana Amanat said that it wouldn’t be right to put one label on them all, but one general theme of the Ultimate comics was of identity exploration, with characters like Miles Morales and Nick Fury coming into their own. I don’t think that’s enough. Identity exploration happens in all comics, and labels help you sell those comics. The word “Ultimate” needs to have meaning. Seeing that name should let the reader know what they’re getting, after all, Diet Coke, Cherry Coke and Coke Classic are all different types of soda, but looking at the label, I know exactly what I’m going to enjoy (heaven forbid it say Pepsi!). I believe the Ultimate line started out with such a label, that they were a way to market a particular type of story to a particular type of reader at their inception, but just through time and ever-changing story, the Ultimate name has lost its luster and clarity. As an adjective it can mean five different things, and I’m not even talking about nouns (grammar humor!).

Right now, we have four titles united by one word, all different facets of their totality. Sit down and take note–I’m looking at you, Marvel Marketing–because I’m going to explain this and tie it all together.

We start with Ultimate Spider-Man, because that’s where we always start. No offense to Mark Millar, Andy Kubert, and the rest of the hard-working artists and writers who have worked on the Ultimate titles, but Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley are truly the founding fathers of the Ultimate line. Also, maybe someone in editorial (I kid!). The premise was easy: a modern re-telling of Peter Parker becoming Spider-Man, and there was a market for it. Kids wanted to read about Spider-Man, but not 600 issues and some questionable and confusing story content (coughCLONE-SAGAcough). A back-to-basics approach not only lured new readers to the stands, but longtime fans as well, who yearned for a more streamlined web-slinger. The writing was fresh, the art was classic, and this is the one of the few times I can say that decompression storytelling was used for Good. The term “Ultimate” was probably more of a marketing decision (Do the Dew!) but it helped guide readers to the right books. Soon, there were modern re-tellings for everyone, from the X-Men to the Fantastic Four to the inspiration for the Avengers movie we’ll be seeing in 2012. One can say that down the line the Ultimate titles jumped the shark; the clash between revamping classic ideas and genuinely new ideas ended in a turf war we call Ultimatum. There were casualties, and some of them were readers; no one is proud.

A fresh start was necessary, and so the Ultimate Comics era (Ultimate Comics: Spider-man, Ultimate Comics: X, Ultimate Comics: New Ultimates, etc.) started with all new #1′s and a different premise. If anything, these comics tried to shuck off their former revamped shell and work within their own creation. A lot of new ideas had come out of the original Ultimate line, and it was time to start exploring them in earnest and using the continuity that had been established for even newer continuity. Love it or hate it, it was hard to confirm exactly why we bought this line, instead of the normal 616 universe. This was no longer the modern retelling of Peter Parker, and more a story that required knowledge of past events to enjoy, even if it wasn’t a full 600 issues worth of prior history. In the end, we had this different, new universe from your standard Marvel set, but it was just as disconnected and complicated as anything you could read in Amazing Spider-Man.

So here we are again, currently at four titles (Ultimate Comics: All-New Spider-Man, Ultimate Comics: the Ultimates, Ultimate Comics: X-Men, Ultimate Comics: Hawkeye). Man, these titles are getting long. Anyhow, face value would say that these are all popular on the silver screen and in cross-market promotion, thus their own little boutique comic line. Everybody knows who the X-Men are, we all saw Hawkeye’s cameo in Thor (GO SEE THOR), the average movie-goer will recognize all of these titles and should be drawn to them.

But can we pull something deeper from the label, and find ourselves in a gooey caramel center of understanding? That’s my plan.

There are five definitions for the word Ultimate as an adjective, and right out of the gate, Ultimate Comics: Hawkeye easily fits the definition of “Maximum, decisive.” This book is extreme tactical action, with all the explosions and pull-down shades of any summer blockbuster. He will certainly cut a striking figure in the Avengers movie as an action hero, and Jonathan Hickman and Rafa Sandoval are bringing that character to you in these solo adventures.

Ultimate Comics: the Ultimates would be the “highest, not subsidiary” in the definition line-up. In other words, the Ultimates are EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES. That’s literally what that means. Out of the entire planet, these people are the mightiest and are not beholden to anyone above themselves. There is nothing these guys could not/should not be able to handle. Trouble stops here. I totally trust Hickman will be awesome in this book as well, for different reasons. His ability to think up fourth-dimensional problems for incredible third-dimensional superheroes will test these characters in a way that will not diminish their mightiness, and will provide some damned good stories.

Ultimate Comics: X-Men‘s story is the “last; furthest or farthest, ending a process or series”. After everything that has happened before, there is a true sense of finality to the battle between humans and mutants. In this book, you will see the last of the X-Men, they’ve skipped the lead-up to Days of Future Past, and brought mutant internment camps and Sentinels to our doorstep. This kind of story will make the characters desperate, so that decisions made now will not have a do-over. These are the last, furthest, and farthest acts of the end of a species.

And at last we come to the heart and soul of the Ultimate Comics universe: Ultimate Comics: All-New Spider-Man. This will be the book that returns us to our “basic, fundamental” roots. Peter Parker represents something in all of us, so shouldn’t the reverse be the same? Shouldn’t a little of the diversity of mankind be represented in Spider-Man? Even from the first few issues, you can grasp something of what made you identify and empathize with a smart young man from humble beginnings, gaining extraordinary abilities, and learning to use them responsibly and honestly.

These are our heroes, in concentrated form, and the Ultimate line should be the final word on who they are.

See, now you just know I’m going to talk about the X-Men!

How can you not, when they are the go-to comic book metaphor to play and experiment with all sorts of social issues. Fear of the future, minority oppression, youth activism, why there’s even this MAJOR SCHISM that divides their public on how to achieve their goals. In the blue states- I mean, Wolverine’s camp, we have a return to the foundation of education and the protection of the next generation. In the red visor camp, we have a more aggressive approach, the idea that war is inevitable and the way to meet a world that hates and fears you is with heavy hitters, young and old. They even have a handy chart to know whose side you’re on (ooh, deja vu).

If you take a look at Cyclops and his Extinction Team (Really? What a terrible name), Dani Moonstar and her friends are listed as “Clean-up,” which one would think means some kind of X-Force-like hit squad (X-Force being mysteriously absent from these breakdowns). It’s a strange sort of listing, and once you read New Mutants #33 and understand what exactly these characters want to do, you’ll see how this might just be the answer for an entire out-of-place generation.

WARNING: We’ll be talking about New Mutants #33, so spoilers and nostalgia to follow. Grab a copy and read along!

to be so young...

It’s weird how a very generic term has, in my mind at least, come to represent a very specific era in time: the original New Mutants were the first all-youth team that followed the older X-Men. The X-Men weren’t always the Fab Five, but they didn’t really set about creating that same sort of team again until Sam, Dani, Rahne, Xi’an and Roberto. While possibly not the most exciting bunch of teens ever to hit the four-color page, they were thrown into adventures and teenage angst that could easily become a cipher for ’80s teens as the generation grew older and bolder. Heck, they even got a character named Cypher. While Kitty Pryde called them X-Babies and they feuded with a rival school, got new members, lost their faith in the school & mentors and tried to force a new look and an extreme point of view, the characters from that first second class changed with the times and always rolled with the punches. They split off and took a new direction plenty of times, returning to the school, moving out west, going on road trips, all in search of that elusive answer to what they want out of life. Dani Moonstar alone has been a student, a Valkyrie, a SHIELD agent, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front and not just on a whim. These characters have been allowed to adapt and grow through the ’80s and ’90s and they really do feel like different people. Like all these characters are friends and have an amount of experience equal to their back issues. I’m not saying all of it was great, but it certainly feels like a lifetime.

All that experience allowed into continuity makes for some fine adults who can now come to these big Schism-y decisions with more than a personality trait and a list drawn up in editorial. New Mutants #33 sees some some people leave (Sam & Xi’an want to head back to the school for personal rather than ideological reasons) and some have nowhere to go, but all of them seem to have that alienated feeling. Heck, one of them is an alien.

Which brings us to now and New Mutants #33. In one issue, they move forward into a new direction, avoid the military feel of the powers-that-be, let some friends go, understand who they are and take up residence in what looks like the old Real World house in San Francisco proper. They have moved out into their community to make a stand and a difference in a way that understands that past attempts have not worked.

Dani Moonstar brings it all home by not just having a belief in the powers that be, but an understanding that the old guard isn’t working. That you can’t promote mutant equality by falling back to old tactics. “I believe in the struggle for mutant rights,” she says, “but I also believe that part of that fight is interacting with that world so you can change it.”

Heaven forbid I compare X-Men Schism to the political divide or class warfare or anything of the sort; however steeped in metaphor, it’s also entertainment. However, this idea that one could agree with a point of view and not live in that encampment, that the New Mutants-era guys continue to grow and have their own unique perspective because of how they grew up, that a diverse group of characters who could never be considered the poster children of the mutant cause are taking to the streets to make a difference on behalf of tolerance, well… it makes for good storytelling.

Oh Phoenix Force, we know you...

As most of you CBRians know, Marvel’s solicitations for January 2012 came out last Friday, so our look forward into the past is a little delayed. On the bright side, the first of 2012′s books seem like something that deserve a few more days reflection. After all, 2012 is the year it all comes together! You guys, there’s going to be an Avengers movie. A real, live action, big budget, A-list star Avengers movie! All Marvel’s rather crazy Hollywood ideas are paying off next summer and, with a little hard work, the House of Ideas could come to a beautiful fruition.

So while our celebratory May month is still off in the distance, the recently hung Chrismas decorations let me know that January is just around the corner. Can we get an idea of what next year will look like, through the first books to roll out at the start of the year? Let’s just read along and find out, shall we?

Alright, I’ve got some good news and bad news, and I’ll be honest: “brave” and “bold” are not words I’d use to describe January’s line-up. The Avengers, while obviously the focus of mainstream media in this blockbuster year, should be giving us something different. They should be at least “Road-to-Wrestlemania”-ing their way to the big movie.   By reading books now, we should get a sense of build-up to what May will be like. We had a bajillion Thor comics last year as we got close to the Thor film, showing different aspects of the God of Thunder; Captain America spread his patriotic heroism throughout several one-shots, miniseries and collections well before July, so that by the movie’s debut, there would be a plethora of material for movie-goers to feast upon. So far, January is starting out pretty slow. Yeah, you’ve got your Secrets, your Academies, your New, and Adjectiveless … there are plenty of types of Avengers out there, but what are they all doing?

For example, Avengers Annual #1 brings back the Revengers, returning to let the reader debate whether or not being a strong force in the world makes you a target.  The same idea seems to apply to X-Sanction, albeit with a different creative team and Cable. In Avengers #21, the team battles “the combined forces of Hydra, AIM, the Hand and H.A.M.M.E.R. under the leadership of Norman Osborne.”

Since Disassembled, the message is clear: DO NOT BE AN AVENGER. It’s all conjecture at this point, but January starts with the target squarely on the Avenger’s head rather than leading to a major threat or event (we’ll get to the Phoenix in a moment). They seem to be less “Avenging” and more “Defending,” but that’s a whole different book. If anything, it looks like the same holding pattern we’ve seen before, through seasonal restarts.

More of the X-Men will be inching their way toward box office gold as Cable will return from the grave to annihilate Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Wakandan queen Storm will be joining the Avengers and our pal, the Scarlet Witch, will finally be returning to mainstream continuity with an official game change across both teams. You know, you got your people will live, people will die, nothing will ever be the blah blah blah. Considering the big IT’S COMING teaser shot shown at recent conventions, let’s figure that if the Avengers or X-Men are going to fight something huge in that yearly big event kind of way, it’s coming from the cosmic entity known as the Pheonix Force, and Hope and Wanda are probably involved.

The rest of the X-Men have forgone ramping up for a big change and are instead hauling out the past to settle the Regenesis in a little bit. Remember, just in the month of January, the Phalanx return in an Uncanny X-Men one-shot, the Jean Grey School of Empty Graves will be in full swing in Wolverine & the X-Men, there will be a preview of the new Age of Apocalypse book in Uncanny X-Force, goddammit the Magneto clone Joseph is returning in the Magneto: Not a Hero mini-series, Exodus (really?) will show up in X-Men: Legacy, Havok and Polaris come back to X-Factor and oh yeah, the big looming threat is the Phoenix force.

It’s a lot of old ideas. Again, three months from now, maybe we’ll be hankering for a little slice of the ’90s (Joseph? Really??) but looking forward, I can’t say I can see a brave or bold future on the horizon. In fact, right now my big horizon line is May, not January, so maybe my eyesight’s gone a little funny.

With all the recent changes of the current year and the fallout still left to come, perhaps it’s better that we linger with the toys we have rather than throw them out in anticipation of what’s to come. I know that the Fearless and Battle Scars books will be handling their fair share of Fear Itself fallout and maybe, as much as the X-Men have restructured themselves again, we might want to go back to our roots and see how they fit in with our swanky new teams.

It can’t always be all new and all different. Sometimes, we still have pieces to pick up, ideas to finish, characters to haul out of storage and dust off a little and see if they still work. January seems entrenched in our past as a foundation for all that’s to come in the year and, while certainly not glitzy or glamorous, might be what we need.

Take a look through the solicitations (again) and share your thoughts. Excelsior!

“Fear, that’s terrible for kids to see, and all the violence, it’s just too negative for them,” she explained. I looked at the poster, wondering if there actually was something terrible on it but no, no gore, sexual situations or excessive violence. She actually had a problem with the title. I told her the title came from the quote that we have nothing to fear but fear itself, an appeal for strength. How every kid faces a fear at one time or another and why not show them how super-heroes handle theirs? “After all,” I told her, “… you know the good guys win.”

She thought about it and we talked about fear and being strong. In the end, I hadn’t changed her mind entirely but she did admit that saying the whole store was negative was probably a bit rude. The young customer bought something he liked and everyone went home happy. If a robot had carried in a cupcake for me, it would have been the perfect day.

But then again, nothing in this world is perfect, not even my unflinching adoration for one of Marvel’s finest architects (FRACTION 3:16!). But if you boil Fear Itself down to its base elements, you will find jewels of the human spirit expressed in the Mighty Marvel Manner. It may not be the best event book, but I’m starting to think that the core of Fear Itself is one of the most important stories you can read for inspiration.

(WARNING: We will be talking about Fear Itself, including this week’s cataclysmic issue #7, grab your copies and read along)

In an article talking about Doomwar, I said that event book essentials included: 1) a major villain, 2) a global threat, 3) assorted heroes unified to fight numbers 1 and 2, and the most important 4) the human element. When galactic threats bear down on the planet Earth, someone has to stand, look at the sky and shout ‘Holy cats, that’s a Terrible Thing!’ Heroes don’t often get this chance, as they are too busy being heroic and fighting the good fight to get in a word of astonishment at their own activities. Fear Itself is unique in that not only does the common man express his hopes and fears at what is quite possibly the end of the world, but the heroes express the weight of their down fears as they take on impossible odds. From gods to men, they all stare own adversity, face their own fears and dig deep to find the strength to keep going.

a dark father's love

Even when they’re not human. Odin tells Thor over and over that he doesn’t have to fight this mortal battle, and that he would see Midgard razed to ashes because, “A world is nothing for your son.” In a similar fatherly gesture, when Skaldi laments that their victory will cause the Serpent’s death, he tells her that when he falls, she will carry on in his name. “This is all for you, darling. This was always just for you.” Even our villain does not fear death and his own defeat, because he is giving his daughter the world in his absence. One man would see it burn, the other would serve it up on a silver platter, both for their children. Come on, that’s kinda cool.

Two human men demand not miracles, but tools and some level of accountability, from Odin himself. Tony gives up something of his own dignity by drinking at the doorstep of the All-father so that he could get the God’s attention, to arm his friends so that they may fight their own battle. When Captain America brings back the battered body of Thor before the final fight, he demands that Odin do his own duty. As much as Odin may want to burn the world to save his son, destiny demands otherwise. All of his efforts and machinations to escape his (and his son’s) fate come to nothing. By the end of the final story, Odin has not only lost Thor, but Asgard has become his tomb as he stands guard over the broken body of the Serpent until the end of time, his brother’s keeper at last.

There is a moment after all they’ve seen, and the oppressive weight of inevitable defeat is on their shoulders that Spider-Man bends to his own fears and leaves the front line. He is worried for his family, for his friends, and as terrifying as the end of everything is, one wants to be with the ones they love. I can’t fault the man, these are some impossible odds! He eventually finds Aunt May and she asks about her nephew Peter. There is some sideways dialogue possibly alluding to the idea that Aunt May knows exactly who Spider-Man is, but once she is assured that her nephew is fine, she tells Spider-Man to keep protecting him and others. “You have a great responsibility, you know, and it wouldn’t be right, me keeping you here away from it.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he tells her, and swings back out to continue the good fight.

Parallel to this, there is an everyman threaded through Fear Itself, a homeowner in Broxton who also runs back to his family to check on his wife and child. As they huddle together, this everyman makes his choice and heads back out to do what he can. “If this… if this is the end…? I don’t want to be afraid anymore.”

Later, Captain America has fallen in the midst of battle, and it’s this guy who helps him to his feet. And thus for the bravery of a balding middle aged man in the midst of costumed adventurers, do we understand the point of this seven issue series.

Fear can be many things. You can be afraid of spiders, afraid of heights, afraid of flying Nazis in powered armor. You can be afraid of losing your son, of losing your job, afraid of the end of the world, but those fears are incremental in comparison to what you do about them. Fears say less about a man than his strengths of character, and if there is anything I think kids should be learning about today, it’s that.

That's a strange amount of whimsy from Matt Murdock...

Now, I will admit that the Distinguished Competition has given this month an air of finality.  So many No. 1 issues, what could possibly come next? Tonight there will be drinks raised high and hands shaken to a job well done as their Wrap Party ends this publishing month at Golden Apple Comics.  And it does seem a little final, doesn’t it?

It’s the perfect mood for looking ahead to December, where the last of the Marvel books published this year will leave 2011 not with a bang or a whimper, but with a dawn of things to come.  I’m not saying it’s a very big dawn or a brilliant one either; right now, I will full admit things look kind of so-so for December at Marvel …

… then again, I have been wrong before, so let’s take a look at December’s books, shall we?

The twice-a-month rally continues as December will see 11 comics give us two issues in 31 days; they’re mostly X-Men titles (Uncanny X-Force, X-Factor, X-23 and technically Deadpool) with a few Spider-Man books (The Amazing Spider-Man, Venom, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man) and random guys (Hulk, Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive, Kick-Ass 2) in the mix for good measure. I’m still not sure how I feel about this because The Amazing Spider-Man has been twice (even three times!) a month before now and it really hasn’t slowed the momentum or been complained about where I work (Metro Entertainment, Santa Barbara’s best in comics, toys, games and more! /end cheap plug).  If anything it’s welcome as the “Spider-Island” story is moving briskly enough to start a few readers thinking about a pull list or special orders of the entire storyline. But that might just be the quality of the work rather than the gratification of having two issues a month, so the debate continues.  If you have a preference, go ahead and leave it in the comments below, but I am thrilled to get two issues of Uncanny X-Force a month.

The other twice-a-month book I didn’t mention was Fear Itself: The Fearless, which will be just shy of the middle of its miniseries, cleaning up the long-term weaponry hauled out in Fear Itself.  This and Battle Scars are specifically set in a post-Fear Itself universe, and handling the fallout of the big event. So, instead of throwing a banner on some books and anchoring the writers and artists into a “Heroic Age” or “Aftersmash,” Marvel has continued the party over in the next room and left the rest of the hotel of comics to sleep peacefully into the night.  Not a bad idea, but I can’t trust on them selling well, especially not twice-a-month for The Fearless. Hrm.

Your Defending May Vary.

Speaking of extra titles I’m not sure will sell well, we have two oversized issues coming out to tell young and old alike all about the Defenders, from a rockin’ recollection of their first adventures to a rollicking roll call of past members and enemies. Oh, and then there’s the new book Defenders #1, which will probably have very little to do with any of the above. I can see how publishing some history and cast lists might psych up a reader for, say, the Avengers, where their main motivation hasn’t changed much over the years, but the Defenders are crazy-unique in their place in the Marvel Universe. Funny, intellectual, a secret love letter to the Blue Oyster Cult, the Defenders are a pretty awesome book and have their highs and lows just like any well loved published entertainment.  I would think again — this is surely why I don’t work for Marvel — that one would want to let a new book stand alone and show off whatever new take Matt Fraction and friends are doing with it. Maybe the history and cast lists can come after it’s a hit as people start to look for more things that say “Defenders” on them.  Maybe it can all show up the month before, giving the curious and the well-read time to digest the fact that there’s a new team due to debut.  It just seems like a foot bullet to have two oversized books at $5.99 and $4.99 show up in the same month as your big debut. Then again, that’s why they publish the books and I just sell ‘em.

This, of course, would not be the end of Marvel’s 2011 if we didn’t get to see just a taste of the exciting new future that is The Avengers: X-Sanction #1 (of 4)! Cable is back, guns are huge, and apparently he has to “wipe the Avengers from the pages of history!” And we quote: “How has Cable been reborn? Where has he been since Second Coming? And what dark event has driven him to destroy the Avengers? The answers are just the tip of an iceberg that threatens to smash the Marvel Universe to smithereens!” Man, some guys really bring their A-game to these solicitations, don’t they? I’ve read that like five times and I’m still super-excited when I get to “smithereens”! Those aforementioned smithereens are the start of the next big change in the Marvel Universe, plus Joe Quesada will be whipping up some variant covers to the book, ensuring it as a must-read this December. It does make me wonder, though:  Norman Osborn seems to have a new team of “Avengers,” Wonder Man’s “Revengers” wanted to disband everyone and now Cable is back to wipe the Avengers from history itself? This is not a good time to be an Avenger.

Marvel Holiday Special 2011

The holiday season rolls along with Deadpool MAX X-Mas Special #1 takes over the Punisher niche of highly violent yuletide stories that are deliciously offensive.  The Marvel Holiday Special 2011 will collect a variety of digital stories that debuted this year just in time for a stocking stuffer, and the Art of Marvel Studios hardcover slipcase is the big ticket item that you can delight True Believers and Movie Fans with at the same time.  Well, maybe not all of them, as the $150 price tag is crazy steep for the younger set. So what do you get the kids this Christmas?  Why, The Muppets Presents: The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson, the previously-at-BOOM!-now-at-Marvel reprint! Yay!

Me? Why, I’ll just be settling for a new X-Club series with Simon Spurrier and the Avengers: West Coast Avengers — Lost in Space-Time premiere hardcover. One has done nothing but delight me at every one-shot and limited series during major events and Mr. Spurrier does a great job at making science adventurous and funny in the midst of a lot of mutant angst and greater drama.  The other is a book where Hank Pym attempts suicide and is stopped by a Catholic superheroine, and where Mockingbird threatens her marriage by letting a man fall to his death when … oh, just read it.

And read the rest of the December solicitations here and let us all know what you’re looking forward to.  Merry future Christmas to all!

X-Men: Schism - it's kind of like this

The sad truth is that comics aren’t real. While mankind may have actual mutations (and some of them are super cool), none of them really warrants a special school or a uniform. Fighting for acceptance and tolerance thankfully doesn’t come by fighting giant robots designed to kill you. And, I hate to say it, but declaring yourself a sovereign nation off the coast of San Fransisco takes more than just an OK from the mayor’s office. So there is no way for the X-Men to be real, and therefore we can’t hold them to a truly “realistic” point of view.

At the same time, however, we do need to be able to relate to these guys, and that’s something the X-Men do nicely with a theme of social justice, teenage angst and the ever-vigilant battle of acceptance. Recently, these basic concepts have been taken in much more broad of a sense than, say, when they first started. Characters have grown up, loved and lost, tried to sustain families, and had their numbers physically shrink and dwindle. And then Apocalypse drove a giant floating sphinx over their house. In ever-escalating stories, the base concept of the X-Men was devoured for bigger and more dramatic concepts. In today’s comic market, it’s hard to keep our interests, and some days you have to try something new on top of something else new to keep things fresh and exciting.

Then again, going back to basics doesn’t hurt either, and X-Men: Schism seems to be on its way into familiar territory. A clear example of how the world hates and fears mutants, Sentinel proliferation as a nice metaphor for our own nuclear-weapons issues, old villains returning with new faces and a clear motivation that is nothing but evil — this is starting to feel like the comics I used to read, just revved up with a new engine and a new coat of paint. Hope and her crew are a great way to keep close to heart the “youth against the world” sentiment of the X-Men as they fight for the future.

Everything seems to be right on track … so why is Wolverine out of his canucklehead mind?!

(WARNING: Spoilers ahead for X-Men: Schism #4, so grab your copy and read along!)

Here’s the basics: A huge super-Sentinel bomb thing is headed for its single-minded destination: Utopia. Nearly everyone who’s ever fought a Sentinel before is either off in another part of the world or out of commission. Cyclops, back in the “Prelude to Schism” books, decided and told everyone that Utopia would be where they drew their line in the sand, and he plans on defending their island. Calling out for as many X-Men as he can get, Hope and her crew, plus Rockslide, Anole and Dust, show up and want to fight as X-Men. The music swells, we all feel entirely inspired and ready for the battle to come when Wolverine arrives like a big wet noodle and demands they retreat.

X-Men: Schism #4

This is where things fall apart. Cyclops is ready to lead these teenagers into battle with this crazy mega-Sentinel bomb thing and do what it takes to hold their ground. Wolverine, on the other hand, refuses to see more children die under their watch and wants everyone off the island so badly he’s willing to blow up the whole place. They fight. The Sentinel looms over them and we have to wait for Issue 5 for the stunning conclusion.

Seems kind of weird, doesn’t it? I mean, isn’t Wolverine the “fight and/or die!” kind of guy while Cyclops is the traditionally more reserved character? Logan was not but six pages ago ready to lunge at this huge mega-Sentinel monster thing claws first. It blasted him back into the Pacific Ocean — but when has that stopped him before? Besides, if he’s so concerned about putting kids in harm’s way, well … Kitty Pryde and Jubilee might have a different view of things. Wolverine’s stance isn’t even tactically sound; where are they going to run? There are Sentinels everywhere, and this giant mega-Sentinel monster thing came out of a suitcase and built itself from surrounding material. It’s a pretty fantastic weapon, and I’m certain the people who made that wouldn’t just build one and call it a day.

Even worse for his point of view is that Hope and pals want to be there. They volunteered, and knew what they were getting into. Sure, a lot of these kids are untried, but there are three former New X-Men with them and they’ve survived one of the bloodiest class years in Xavier’s school history. Hope herself was trained by Cable and should know a lot about unbeatable odds. Idie Okonkwo was given a doll in the first issue of X-Men: Schism as Wolverine tries to give her something more age-appropriate than a mutant refugee nation. She has no connection to the doll, nor any connection to the more happy times of the first class of X-Men. Despite her obvious troubles and fear of herself, she tells him that she’s made peace with who she is. Not the most ringing endorsement from a girl who thinks she’s a monster, but certainly the acceptance of someone learning how this all is played. It’s like she’s read some old X-Men comics.

X-Men: Schism #2

But then again, how does she refer to herself? A monster. It’s one thing for Hope to want to be gung-ho and charge into the face of battle, it’s another thing to allow it. Did I mention that Dust, Anole and Rockslide came from one of the bloodiest school years at the school? I am honestly not sure there has been any attempts at education since they left Westchester. This started as a “Gifted and Talented” school, a way to help mutants not only learn how to use their powers but to do some good with them, to learn how to cope with being feared and hated, not to just kick and explode. The X-Men are falling further and further behind their original goals, and the one in charge is the one to blame. Wolverine’s motivation is to save kids, it’s really hard to argue against that.

So is this really the final straw between Wolverine and Cyclops, resulting in a wedge being driven between the X-Men themselves? Or, let’s face it, has this always been the wedge driven through the X-Men when a wedge needs driving? Let me put it this way: When has Wolverine ever been the big-picture guy? He’s the best there is at what he does and that involves stabbing, not delegating the needs of an entire nation. He’ll fight to the bitter end but if the fight’s unwinnable, Logan will find a way to survive until there’s nothing left. Scott Summers, on the other hand, has had nothing but the big picture to look at since he joined the X-Men. He’s the leader of the X-Men, from when it was just five awkward kids to when its roster is bursting with new mutants. Xavier taught him that from the beginning, along with a core foundation of idealism. The idea that we can make the world a better place together, so standing one’s ground doesn’t seem that far-fetched. Not to mention he’s got hope on his side, in both the upper- and lowercase- forms.

Issue 5 will most likely change the face of the X-Men comics are we know it, which is also a very familiar and debatably welcome sight to mutant-kind. I hope we survive the experience.

I’ve been pretty excited for this movie to come out on DVD since I saw it back in May. Despite Captain America: the First Avenger‘s incredible achievement in crediting Marvel Studios as a real-live movie-making studio rather than a tentative wing of a funnybook publishing arm, I still like Thor better. I love the tone of the film, I love the music and the actors, I love the costumes and the pageantry, and I wanted to take it all home from the moment I walked out of the theater.

A lot of movies I adore come out with special packaging for their big release, and chain and online stores will often stock a limited thingamajig with your DVD sale. Iron Man came in a metal case when you bought it from FYE, and when my friend bought the first “Bayocalypse” Transformers movie, there was a bevy of different boxes, statuettes and editions he could choose from. It’s a nice bonus to being a nerd sometimes: we get cool stuff for liking cool stuff.

When I went to FYE this Tuesday to grab myself a copy of Thor, we chatted about this as I bought my very plain edition of the Thor movie. No tiny hammer. No statuette. The box wasn’t even shaped like his head. The only extras were a digital copy (that refuse to ever work when I download them), some Avengers hype, an awesome little short on Agent Coulson (see it here!) and some interesting featurettes on how this movie was made. All of them seemed very short but were more than simply accolades for all the people working on the film. I actually feel like I learned something about the production’s process, which brings me to the best part of the DVD that isn’t the movie, the deleted scenes.

In the featurettes, they mention that the director Kenneth Branaugh would take a lot of “one more” shots, giving the actors new and interesting directions as they went along. Some of these off-the-cuff innovations weighted Thor’s more dramatic moments stunningly, but that got me thinking about the choices that didn’t make it into the movie. What did they want to do before they shot this scene this way? Going through the deleted scenes, you could almost use them as puzzle pieces, trading one exchange out for another to make a slightly different movie for a different audience.

Join me, won’t you, as I take a look at these deleted scenes from Thor and try to figure out what could have been.

Quick note: I don’t have all of the deleted scenes, but I did find some of them and added them into the overview. Just use your imagination for the others or go grab yourself a copy of the movie and watch along!

Thor and Loki Before the Coronation

Summary: A behind-the-scenes look at Thor’s coronation and a short introduction to two very different brothers.
What Movie This Scene Belonged In: Family Drama / Kids’ Flick

While Loki and Thor are really charming and their final words at the end of the scene are kind of heartwarming, it just feels a little too slow. Anything this scene did to establish Thor and Loki was done more seamlessly in other moments of the movie.
However, this moment does highlight the family aspect of the film and would have fit more in an Asgard-based movie. For kids, it’s a simplified version of who the main characters are to catch everyone up to speed. Speaking of which…

Warriors Three and Sif Turn Over Their Weapons

Summary: An introduction to Thor’s buddies, one by one, before the coronation.
What Movie This Scene Belonged In: Kids’ Flick

This was a bit silly. While I’m sure people had no idea that Hogun was indeed grim from the moment his name was announced, I’m sure they knew it by movie’s end. Yes, Volstagg likes food. He will like food through the entirety of the picture, so seeing it now won’t add anything.
However, it’s goofy and fun for the whole family, and kids can get a better idea of who these people are. A really nice choice for the DVD.

Thor and Frigga

Summary: The orange stage curtains return! Also: Thor gets a bit of a pep talk from his mom.
What Movie This Scene Belonged In: Family Drama

It’s short and sweet, and Branaugh does nothing but praise Rene Russo on her performance and just in general as a really great actress, so you know they wanted to do more with her in the movie. But our central theme in Thor is the relationship between father and son, so having a moment with mom just makes you wonder why she didn’t intercede on his behalf more often (more on this later).
However, there is so much good stuff in Asgard, this just helps cement more of that big family bond, that she is also with her son trough this terrible journey and that she loves him. Were this to be an Asgard-centered family drama, this scene would be essential.

Rah Rah (Extended)

Summary: Thor gets this crazy idea to take the fight to the Frost Giants, his friends and brother find themselves taken with the prospect and plans are made to evade Heimdall.
What Movie This Scene Belonged In: Family Drama / the Actual Movie

I actually kind of like this more extended version of the “tossin’ the table” scene. I think Loki comes out more manipulative but more relatable in a way, like he might not have actually planned for things to have gone this far, but hey! They talk about Heimdall and if there is one thing the movie missed out on was to explain more about how rad Heimdall is. Idrys Elba knocks it out of the park by making him awesome, so I can’t say I’m complaining, but someone just mentioning the idea that he can hear and see forever would have been nice. Branaugh says that there was “more reservation, suspicion and fun” in the extended scene and I agree.
However if I am keeping to a theme, I would totally use this scene as another way to highlight the bond between the brothers and just how far this whole plan could get away from even Loki’s schemes in a lunk-headed moment.

Hospital (Extended)

Summary: Foster and crew take Thor to the hospital after he’s hit by a car and tazed, Thor then fights off the orderlies. There’s a lot of orderlies.
What Movie This Scene Belonged In: Not really sure, Kids’ Flick?

I’d admit it, this goes on way too long. There are a lot of orderlies in that emergency room and Thor lovingly smashes into each and every one of them. Also, the reception nurse is a bad typist, which kind of doesn’t tell us anything about anything.
However, I am sticking to my theme and I’ll hazard a guess that kids would love to see a longer cut only to have it end with Thor getting a shot in the butt. It’s a guess.

Frigga Confronts Odin

Summary: Frigga wants answers as to why Thor was banished and Odin sums up why he took such an extreme action.
What Movie This Scene Belonged In: Family Drama / the Actual Movie

I wish they hadn’t taken this out; it’s so short and yet helps the audience along with the whole ‘Thor’s purpose’ portion of the plot. Yes, this was the act of an angry father, but at the very end (and I’m super sorry I couldn’t find a clip of this online), Odin tells Frigga that “His fate is in his own hands, now.” Thor’s eventual humility and self-sacrifice at the climax is his own actual choice, not a result of being chastised by his father or the machinations of his brother. We make our own fates as mortals, so for Thor to learn this in mortal form and to learn a finer aspect of being human makes his final face down with the Destroyer a little sweeter.
However, this certainly takes more time up in Asgard rather than where our main character is posted, though if you’re simply following Odin’s story, it bridges the gap nicely between banishment and Loki’s confrontation in the treasury.

Loki is Made King

Summary: Frigga comforts Loki and tells him a little more about his family when duty calls and Loki finds himself King of Asgard.
What Movie This Scene Belonged In: Family Drama
I should say upfront that this scene starts with the most awesome shot of the Odin sleep and really showcases that amazing chamber where he’s taking his godly snooze. Technically, this is an extended scene, as some of their dialogue is kept for the movie (telling Loki there is always hope for Thor’s return), so what you see in the movie is a lot tighter and more direct a version.
However, this scene also starts off with Frigga admitting she always knew about Loki’s true nature and wanted to tell him. When Asgard needs a king, she is the one to explain how he’s the next in line and even tops it all off with a “Do your father proud.” And then Loki spends the rest of the movie double crossing everyone to prove to his father he is a worthy son. This scene has the exact moment of where this went from “mischief made” to “villainy enacted.” Branaugh says that Tom Hiddleston shows a sort of “naked relish and glee” in Loki’s sudden new position and as far as Asgardian family drama goes, this is the centerpiece of that movie.

Selvig Sings with Thor

Summary: Selvig and Thor down some drinks, smash some cups and sing some songs before Selvig drops and Thor carries him home.
What Movie This Scene Belonged In: Kids’ Flick

Oh man, this is just silly. Interesting to note is that this is an actual Norwegian drinking song, translated and then “adapted” to better fit in with the movie. To me, that means there had to be some ribald lines that might not have fit in with the movie’s more family friendly tone.
However, guys drink and do a silly dance and then fall down. They were one animal reaction shot away from Kevin James territory.

Warriors Three and Sif Arrive (Extended)

Summary: Thor makes amends and the Warriors Three and Sif roam around town in search of him.
What Movie This Scene Belonged In: Kids’ Flick

More silly-fun kid’s stuff. Enjoyable, but not entirely missed. My one exception is that there is a moment in which Thor takes the time to replace the coffee mug he smashed in the beginning and apologize for his previous behavior. I think this brings us full circle and shows a change in Thor’s attitude before disaster strikes; again, it’s his choice to be a nice guy, no matter what other forces are at work.

However, a lot of this is geared more towards showing just how fun it is to hang with the Warriors Three. Volstagg helps a little girl get a baseball out from under a car, Sif continues to poke fun at the boys, Fandral: still dashing, Hogun: still grim.

Darcy’s Dog

Summary: intrepid sidekick Darcy rescues Baker the dog
What Movie This Scene Belonged In: Kids’ Flick/ The Actual Movie

I don’t know why they didn’t keep this in, it’s adorable plus it’s short, gives you the idea of a bigger evacuation and builds some tension. Fun fact: Kat Dennings bonded with the stunt coordinator’s dog who appears in this scene as the aforementioned Baker.

Selvig is Saved by Thor

Summary: Selvig takes a bad wound, and Thor saves him with Asgardian magic.
What Movie This Scene Belonged In: Kids’ Flick. Strictly kids.

This was really hokey. And apparently, this scene made it into the movie the longest before being cut. Thor uses one of the Warriors Three’s healing stones, crushes it over a large shard of glass that caught Selvig in the chest during their escape from the Destroyer. Strangely, by adding in magic, it takes away from the real magic of Thor’s return to grace. So I’m glad they removed it.

However, this goes a long way to tell kids that people don’t really get hurt in movies.

All in all, Thor is a great film and (with some cutting and splicing) could have been three great films, but I’m rather happy with the one we got.

…And if they do a super-special release complete with mini hammer pendant in six months, I’ll buy that one, too.

Fantastic Four #51 is titled “This Man… This Monster.”  It’s one of those inspiring cover blurbs like “Spider-Man No More!” and “This Issue: Everybody Dies!”  Phrases which catch the eye and demand you read the book.  “This Man…This Monster!” is about the struggle of man… versus also man; our darker parts or outer appearance versus who we really are, inside.  You’ll notice there is nothing between the man and the monster, just an ellipsis.  It’s not “This Man AND This Monster,” which would suggest two different people, nor is it “This Man, This Monster” suggesting they are one and the same.  Three little dots almost let the reader decide as to what exactly the inner struggle is.  And that’s kinda what I’ve been doing with the Incredible Hulk throughout my adoration of the book.

No matter who he fought, the internal battle is key.  It’s tortured scientist Bruce Banner versus his raging alter-ego in a never-ending stalemate over who gets to be human.  I can’t say this is always the thrust of an issue or storyline, but it IS the thrust of the really good ones. The ones that make you think, and linger with you long after you’ve put the book away.  We come for the “Hulk smash,” but stay for the “Hulk think.”  And then Incredible Hulks #635 came along and blew my freakin’ mind.

Because after six years, the struggle is over. (A few SPOILERS after the jump!)

*****

Greg Pak’s six-part story “Heart of the Monster” gets absolutely outrageous at times.  When you watch Fin Fang Foom cram gamma bombs into his mouth and threaten to take out… well, I don’t even know how much that would take out, but it would be a lot. When everyone is gamma-enhanced and explodes off the page with bulging muscles and radiating green power, when there’s magic and science and everyone and possibly their mother shows up, things get a little messy.  The whole crux of the story is based on a mystical wishing well.  Get to it, wish for something, and it will appear.  As always, there is a catch: the wishing well doesn’t exactly give you what you want, just an idea of it that has been kinda soured.  Wish for an apple, get a rotten apple, etc.  It doesn’t solve your problems, but could possibly make them worse.  So there are monsters and villains and family and explosions.  Doctor Strange shows up, the aforementioned Mister Foom, it’s just madness and the story does not stop until the epilogue of the very last issue; it’s loud, it’s violent, it’s exciting, and it all hinges on a very simple answer to the wishing wackiness.

In the end, Bruce uses the wishing well to give everyone what they wanted: all the monsters are defeated, Rick, Jen, and Betty all have control over their alter egos, and can become A-Bomb, She-Hulk and Red She-Hulk at will.  So, in a way, he wished for control: for his family and his foes to have control of their situation.  Control, of course, not meaning that everyone wins, but everyone gets some sort of stability.  Even the outrageous peril they had gotten themselves into had vanished into dust because really, escalation of that type was going to destroy everything.  Tyrannus might have told everyone he could rule from the ashes, but hey.  Magical wishing well, pal and you don’t always get what you want.

But here was Bruce Banner, a man who for years and for one selfless act, has been saddled with this terrible, destructive, shoot-you-into-space-because-you’re-a-danger-to-yourself-and-others, mind fracturing, loved-one-distancing, uncontrollable monster that, you would think, if you could get one wish it’d be to be free of that.

Yeah, it’s an evil wishing well.  So your wish to be free of it might still have some dangerous effects.  But you think it would cross his mind when Red She-Hulk (side note: please change this name!  The Red She-Hulk is ridiculous to say, ridiculous to type, and so derivative it makes me cross-eyed.  If they are serious about keeping her a gamma-powered creature, then let’s get the woman a serious name.) uses the last of the wishing power because she “.. wanted Bruce to get what he wanted.  Not the Hulk.”  You would think this would mean some sort of peace, stability of his own, at least some ice cream?  Something positive to come from all of this madness, smashing, and tragedy.

But that’s not the case.  Bruce DID wish for what he wanted.  Another selfless act from a selfless man.  The Hulk had nothing to do with it because he and the Hulk, while fractured, while at odds, while locked in tragedy, are merely facets of the same person.  There is truly an ellipsis between Bruce Banner and the Hulk; sometimes they are separate, sometimes they are together, but in the end it is for the reader to decide.  Greg Pak has given us six incredible years of Hulk stories.  This is the final issue of his run, and this isn’t a revelation he has come to lightly: that Bruce and the Hulk are really interchangeable.  From “Planet Hulk,” the physical absence of Bruce Banner on Sakaar should have been our first warning.  In World War Hulk, when the Hulk tells Reed that “I will never forgive you and will hate you forever. Almost as much as I hate myself,” that should have been our second clue.  This whole time, during Greg Pak’s story, he has been easing us into the new epiphany that Bruce and the Hulk, while still at odds, are no more different than you and I in our own frustrations.

"But we all deal with it. Just like you."

Because that is the Marvel way.  Ordinary people with extraordinary problems.  And while you can’t always get what you want, when you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.

Despite fan apathy, despite the louder bolder act from the Distinguished Competitor, Fear Itself is a mighty fine event book. It has a very easy premise that people unfamiliar with comics can get into (hey, you know Thor? It’s like all the bad guys are that strong now), it’s got that “Versus” style atmosphere where people can debate all day long on who should have really been the first down or defeated in the Worthy vs. Heroes, it’s got a super-powered upgrade coming up for us by Iron Man, there’s been some tragedy and some triumph, and coming up in October, we’ll have closure with an ending that multiple comics can build up or down from.

Fear Itself #7.1

Fear Itself #7.2

Fear Itself #7.3

Or maybe not.

Remember in the last Lord of the Rings movie when they just kept having to tie up so many loose ends or add so much finality to the main story that it just felt like the audience just didn’t know where to applaud in a well-made film? Or even worse, you drank a really big soda during a three-hour+ movie and really wanted it to have a firm sense of a finish so you could escape? Yeah.

So, thanks to some New Math numbering by Marvel, it looks like #7 of Fear Itself really doesn’t end so much for our heroes because come November, we’re getting a Captain America ending, an Iron Man ending and a Thor ending (Depending on how well you do playing through the game, does this unlock any achievements?) If your mini-series is seven issues long, you should be able to tell me a complete story between issues #1 and #7. Afterwards, if there is a banner theme running around the books as they’ve done historically since Avengers: Disassembled and even further with some of the old annual arcs, so be it. I think, as comic readers, we’re more familiar with picking up what looks good coming out of a major event and deciding for ourselves that hey, let’s see the prologue with a certain character after the book is finished. Even a Fear Itself: Thor #1 one-shot would be more preferable, because at least with some distance from the main series, it feels like we’re moving on and not buying a very sneaky issues #8, 9 and 10.

Yeah, it’s probably too much of a sour note to play against the backdrop of a very solid set of storytelling, but man. What a way to start November.

Let’s see what else is coming from the House of Ideas in November 2011, shall we?

pointedly Point One

Oh hey look, everybody! Another Point One book! Only it’s called POINT ONE point blankly and it seems to be an… anthology one-shot? From the solicitation: “Here are SEVEN all -new stories that set the stage for everything coming your way in 2012 from the biggest names in the comics industry. You CANNOT miss this. Catch a tease of the biggest change to the Marvel Universe in over 35 years!” Is this like a preview of upcoming books coming out next year, written by prospective creators and sold as a Whitman’s Sampler? Wow. Brevoort is even calling this “our Rosetta Stone to the future” for Marvel Comics at large. “It will harken back to what I think the Annuals used to be when everybody remembers them as being so great – the big special issue that would come out and blow your mind with all the craziness in it. That’s our goal with Point One. It is literally the first point in the next year or 18 months of Marvel publishing.”

All at 64 pages at $5.99. Oh. That’s… actually not a bad idea. Maybe the idea of an ongoing anthology series is not as sustainable as an annual look across the board at what everyone else is doing that will tell both old and new readers just what the heck is going on and maybe, just maybe, lure them into a book or an idea they might not have gone for when the Prelude to Such and Such starts. Huh. I am honestly pleased by this and am kind of excited to see how it goes. Sure, the price point is a little high, but considering the content, it’s (hopefully) going to be worth the money.

Can we just get rid of this “Point One” nonsense though? Decimals are not that much marketing gold, I’m just saying…

New Dark Avengers #18 (with more nougat)

Anyhoo, back to now … or maybe then. Either way, despite compartmentalized, “buzzword” numbering, there’s a whole big wide universe to talk about that’s still ever present and ever changing. Over in Avengers-ville, we have three all-new teams to sort out, with AVENGERS #19 debuting a roster of Captain America, Vision (I’m 98% sure he’s from the Young Avengers series), Spider-Man, the Protector, Black Panther, Spider-Woman, Wolverine, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel and Iron Man. A little of column A and B from both ‘Adjectiveless’ and ‘New’ books. Over in NEW AVENGERS #18, Norman Osborn is back and in charge with his new probably evil team, looking to include himself, Skaar, the Swordsman …. gosh, a woman with long hair? A guy in a half mask tied in the back, Iron Fist style? Is that Tarantula, maybe?

Over at THE INCREDIBLE HULK #2, it looks like Jason Aaron is taking the John Byrne approach and splitting Bruce and the Hulk for a time, only instead of Bruce Banner forming the Hulkbusters and setting out to contain/destroy his former alter ego, we’ll be doing the reverse this time and the Hulk will be trying to take down Banner. Hey, why not? Aaron’s been pretty genius in a wide variety of books about terrible people and maybe now, sans family and kingships, we’ll return to more books about the monster. Also, this makes the Defenders pretty useful as a way for Banner to ‘defend’ himself against old Jade Jaws so… yeah. Another pretty solid and intriguing little storyline to follow!  I am truly excited to a see a Hulk book for the first time in a while so hooray Team Marvel! As long is it’s not issue #2.1 next month, we are OK!

Anyone else notice a small proliferation of semimonthly titles this month? There’s 12 of them in November and I don’t seem to recall when it got to be so many. This wasn’t a sudden thing, Marvel has put out plenty of books like Amazing Spider-Man with a couple more issues a month, but 12 just seems like a new style that no one’s mentioned yet. Or I simply didn’t catch on to…

Avengers Academy, Fear Itself: the Fearless, Ghost Rider, the new Six Guns western book by Andy Diggle, not to mention the Thunderbolts and Amazing Spider-Man, are all two issues a month for your comic fan. This is a topic in and of itself, weighing the merits of extra books on the shelves and meeting a demand for a popular book with simply more like it than a piñata of mini-series and tie-in books, but here’s the real kicker: the other half of semi-monthly titles are just X-Books.

All these silhouettes are so slimming...

Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, X-Men: Legacy, New Mutants, Wolverine and X-23 are all serving up two issues a month realness in November and, unless Wolverine and the X-Men get top billing due to the fact that they have Wolverine right in the name, that means the Uncanny X-Men, traditional herald of the Mutant titles, is now twice a month with new numbering. Make of this what you will.

Of course, looking over the X-Books it’s kind of hard to see what exactly we should be considering the main story of Marvel’s merry mutants and what title simply gets Miss Congeniality. We have the Regenesis angle, where the X-Men have split into two camps with two respective guys in charge of said groups. Wolverine’s crew of ‘We hate Broccoli’ are heading back to Westchester to face off against more Hellfire Club guys and “the villain of the most important X-Story ever” going at them as well. Uncanny X-Men starts with XXXXX and Scott Summers (who may make it out of this intact) on the “We Think You Need More Vegetables in Your Diet” side figuring out what’s to becoming of them and oh yes, “the resurrected Mister Sinister” is also back as well. Either way, while nebulous as what this is all going to be about is, it make some sense that there will be a change of philosophies or betrayals, etc that will give you two camps of X-Men to follow each month.

And then there's these guys...

And oh yeah, X-MEN #20 & #21. The Adjectiveless book that will guest star Iron Man 2.0 to fight Sentinels with him. See, I just don’t get how this book fits into all that plot mentioned above. Is this an out of continuity book? Kind of Marvel Adventures style where you like the X-Men, you just don’t want to devote a collection to them? I’d buy that but then Iron Man 2.0 is there, telling me that now, this has to be all in continuity or that means everything else happening in the two main X-titles has nothing to do with the regular Marvel universe! Who are these X-Men anyway? What team is this? THIS IS NOT MY BEAUTIFUL HOUSE!

I suppose it doesn’t matter, or maybe it shouldn’t? Not to geek reference even harder than I have thus far, maybe I should think to myself it’s just a comic book, I should really just relax. At the end of the day, we’re all just reading stories and the amount of “importance” a book has or how much you should read in order to understand anything should really just come from the 28 pages of story contained behind the cover.

And on that philosophical note, I leave you to peruse for yourself the rest of Marvel’s Solicitations for November 2011. What are you looking forward to? What sort of numbering do you want to see?   Tell all below and hey, let’s give a hand to everyone who had a hand in the KAPOW! GUINNESS WORLD RECORD SPECIAL #1, a pretty special feat on its own.    ”In April 2011, Mark Millar, Frank Quitely, Dave Gibbons, John Romita Jr, Leinil Yu, Paul Cornell, Andy Diggle, Jock, Duncan Fegrado, Sean Phillips and over fifty other comic-book creators joined forces with Kapow to break not one but TWO Guinness World Records – the fastest comic-book ever produced and the biggest number of creators working on a single comic. The Kapow Special stars Superior and was written, penciled, inked and lettered in less than 12 hours.”  Hey, I may not dig Superior but I love Guinness World Records and the Yorkhill Sick Children’s Hospital, where all the proceeds for the book will be going to.  Great work, guys.

Excelsior!

Spider-Man can be on every team!

So, yeah, it looks like Fantastic Four, one of the most important comics to come from the House of Ideas, will return for its 600th issue. A momentous occasion to be sure, as a little less than a year seems to be about enough time for people to understand Johnny Storm’s place on the team, what makes the Fantastic Four different without one of its founding members and, hopefully, we’ll all appreciate him a little more now that he’s … well, on the cover. Gotta wait for the issue to be super-sure, but let’s give the boys in the Bullpen the benefit of the doubt and say that the Human Torch is back to stay.

Technically, he’s been gone for nine months, an auspicious amount of time as the rest of his team has somewhat given birth to an absolutely new idea: the Future Foundation. A sort of in-house Illuminati, if you will; the same old adventuring team paired off with its greatest villains, looking to safeguard all their interests at once. The white-and-black uniforms don’t really do that idea justice, do they? That’s a lot of gray area to be working with. And in the end, it was all masterminded by a little girl named Valeria.

The Richards’ kids have their own plot, their own motivations and their own secrets to keep. These two supporting characters have taken a lot of the center stage, both in Future Foundation and even in Fear Itself (seriously, go read Book Five and tell me these kids don’t deserve their own title). Franklin’s been around for years, an interesting new generation that actually was born and grew into an independent character as we read. He’s like the child actor who grows up and gets his own prime-time TV show.

Tell me that’s not cool. Tell me that seeing background or supporting characters step into the foreground and, sometimes, even get their own books is not a masterful trick of storytelling. Writer Jonathan Hickman wasn’t telling the story of the Death of Johnny Storm, he was telling us of the Rise of Franklin and Valeria. And now when November hits, Future Foundation stories will have gotten their foundation, so to speak, and support themselves as their own title while the newly reformed FF can go have a different style of adventure.

More about character balance, the size of your supporting cast and M.O.D.O.K. fighting Nazis after the break …

Character balance is difficult to maintain, not just in writing or artistic display, but in editing and publishing a book. The guy whose name is on the cover better be in the book or readers have a right to be angry. But on the other hand, sometimes the name on the cover requires a lot of help to keep up his reputation. Take the Punisher: Without someone to punish, he’s an angry guy with a gun going nowhere. Peter Parker could take a day off and his everyday life and struggles are enough to keep me entertained for 28 pages or so. But with Frank Castle, no one wants to see him do laundry. We want uncompromising justice. Certainly this spreads out more on the Marvel characterization map and, as Ray Stevenson said at the Comic-Con before Punisher: War Zone, was released, “No one should want to be the Punisher, but you should be glad he’s there.” So some of my favorite Punisher stories have been from the perspective of the hunted, the cops who show up after the scene went down, the one wronged voice in the night looking for someone to punish those who have done them wrong. The Punisher flourishes in a supporting cast, as everything he can’t be is reflected in the lives of those he comes into contact with. We can see more sides to him if we get more perspectives and, through those perspectives, we come to relate to him more.

from Hulk #38

Have you ever read a book with a main character you hate? My guess would be yes and that it, at one time or another, was an X-book. Readers seem pretty divided on those, and the sheer abundance of characters makes for a variety of your favorite characters getting never enough screen time. So you pick up an issue from time to time, hoping that Character A is just on the cover and Character L is the guy who has all the panel time.

Personally, I just can’t bring myself to like the Red Hulk. Not only does saying ‘Rhulk’ make me feel like a bad episode of Scooby-Doo, but Jeph Loeb’s introduction of him and my fond memories of the real Thunderbolt Ross from pages past don’t jibe and makes the current story, while masterly crafted by Jeff Parker, still taste a little sour. On the other hand, I thought Hulk #38 was ingenious enough for me to purchase and take home. Surprise! It had very little Red Hulk actually in it, and the two villains of his current adventures, Zero/One and M.O.D.O.K., take center stage and all of this rests in the backdrop of Fear Itself. Pummeled off screen thanks to the events of Fear Itself (tell me you’re reading this), M.O.D.O.K. and Zero/One meet in the rubble of Washington, D.C., where Nazi mecha roam the streets. Seeing that they have a common enemy and would rather conquer the world themselves than let these old gods have their way, they band together to destroy everything for the new science regime. It’s a little wacky, to be sure, but honest: After all, villains never like anyone else stealing their show. M.O.D.O.K.’s glee at killing Syn’s mechatroopers, Zero/One’s stand-off, that weird Black Fog guy lurking in the edges, all get their time in the spotlight while the Red Hulk is off-screen. I may not want a M.O.D.O.K. ongoing (or so I tell myself), but seeing him get some great moments and further the plot is far better to me than watching the Red Hulk punch someone.

nope, not from an Iron Fist book, from Iron Man 2.0 #6

And then there’s the Fear Itself tie-ins in Iron Man 2.0, in which the Immortal Weapons head to China to try and stop the Absorbing Man and Titania from getting one of the hammers of the Worthy. Between everyone and the hammer is a mythological creature known as the Monkey King, a formidable opponent to them all. In fact, Iron Man 2.0 #7 ends trying to lure you into following this story in the new Monkey King #1, due out in September. I think poor Rhodey has been done a disservice in this one, as not only has his more traditional moniker of War Machine been kicked off the cover — Iron Man 2.0 does not make me think of James Rhodes, sorry folks — but he’s been bombarded with a sudden and certainly non-traditional supporting cast, facing a foe that has apparently already has won (Avengers Academy says that Creel got the hammer), and it looks to be promoting a book that has nothing to do with his modus operandi. So, to recap: An originally supporting character (Rhodes) who earned his own title joined another supporting cast (the Immortal Weapons) to fight villains whose victory was assured in other comics, all to introduce a guy who will be getting his own series in September.

Sometimes background characters can go too far and drown out their title’s star. It’s a shame, and speaks more to me of editorial than any specific writer’s faults; if a book isn’t doing well, a few guest stars might liven it up. Too many guest stars and you have no idea what you’re reading. Like I said, character balance is difficult for everybody in the creative department, so seeing Hickman, Steve Epting and Tom Brevoort find a smooth transition from major cast to minor cast, weigh them both equally and then find two different titles so that the most story can be told to all of us, well … it’s pretty fantastic.

Vengeance #2

The weird thing about the internet and having a strong fanbase is that comics can often disappoint without even trying. Here’s my story: Last month I fell in love with a weird little mini-series called Vengeance. Artist Nick Dragotta and writer Joe Casey made this unclassifiable story that had all these weird touches to it, moments and names and items that jumped immediately to that place in my brain where I store the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Deluxe Edition, please). The story is set “nowish,” with characters seeing current Marvel events like Fear Itself played on bar TV screens and a few flashbacks setting the tone, like the Red Skull and Hitler chatting about the Red Army’s eugenics program. The appearance of Forge’s old gun that takes away a mutant’s powers being toted around by the new Ultimate Nullifier, the fact that the book opens up with the Red Ghost sitting alone at a bar somewhere, watching Captain America face down an angry mob, that anyone would remember Sugar Kane the pop star that dated Chamber in order to seem edgy to her public … I might have taken those for granted. But all these little morsels of info in a rather disjointed book left me enamored with it.

My esteemed, saintly and incredibly good-looking editor here at Robot 6 mentioned that an annotation of the Vengeance series might point out all these little things and bring them to the surface for more fans. So I spent a couple weeks going over the book, making notes, putting things in order and then… the worst part. I made conjectures. After all, you can’t put a bunch of puzzle pieces out in front of someone and not expect them to make a couple guesses, right? But then one guess turns into two and the more you dissect a frog to see how it works, well, you learn a lot in the process. But in the end the frog is dead.

So with Vengeance #2 on the stands this week, there’s all this new information to prove me wrong on everything I had assumed. Which was disappointing at first; after all, my ideas are pretty cool, why didn’t they go in that direction? If you bring out the Red Ghost in act one, he has to have monkeys by the end of the play, it’s integral! But then, is there a lot of disappointment running through comics sometimes? The flashed image of a character’s redesign can send fandom into fits. The lack of information on a missing character can start wars in convention halls. I can sit here, read Vengeance #2 and think, “This isn’t what I expected at all.”

First issues are like that, though. We don’t normally have all our ducks in a row for our introductions in modern comics storytelling. The boards have to be set up, players chosen, the rules in place and only then does the game begin. So how do Vengeance #2 and WWE tag team matches relate? Read on and find out, gentle viewer.

WARNING: Rampant discussion of the events from Vengeance #1, Vengeance #2 and 75% of WWE tag team matches follows. You have been warned.

Casey brings the bizarre and thoughtful to the page. Dragotta’s stylish graphics have a lot of freedom to how panels are placed, how sound effects come in, where the color is, that it makes me think I’m reading an independent comic. Throughout the first issue, there are some re-purposed characters like Miss America, who went from a pretty standard WWII adventure heroine to a pretty standard low-cut pants adventure heroine. The Teen Brigade went from the CB radio to the underground computer network, led by a cocky guy with a rather outrageous legacy, but certainly believable in a world where gods and monsters live in a downtown high rise. All of this seems like high science adventure thus far, looking down at the old guard like Magneto, who no longer have a villainous bone in their body, the appearance of the New Masters of Evil toward the end (last seen in the fantastic Dark Reign: Young Avengers mini-series). It gives you the idea that this is going to be a book about passing the torch, changing the idea of what you think is the standard line between hero and villain, and how they interact with one another.

And then there’s the weird things. Hey, was that Kristof Doom? What is up with the Nighthawk subplot? And that big stone face at the end there, declaring, “My idol screams across the extra dimensions… walking decay… and so I await my sacrifice.” Now we’re moving from high science to cosmic concepts, where re-purposing just doesn’t cut it. One of the many reasons I love the Annihilation comics from Abnett and Lanning is because these are not just characters with a new coat of paint. In fact, in some cases they could just be all-new characters to begin with. Cosmic stories are more conceptual than character-driven, and that fits this style, so bring on the cosmic adventure, guys!

Okay, issue 2 has none of that. It’s actually more of the first, reinvention, and less of the second, cosmic thematics. This book is all about the new Masters of Evil or as they are referred to here, the “New Generation of Evil Bastards.” It’s catchy.

While the Teen Brigade tries to make the In-Betweener at home, and Darkhawk and pals seem to hover just at the edge of the plot, the Young Masters buy a fairly high-tech base from a Devlin D’Angelo, who was last seen in an older Joe Casey book, trying to get Bruce Banner to fix the Super-Adaptoid (it didn’t work). From their new base, they break into a Extechop location, searching for their Fisher King: Bullseye. Now, I don’t know what Bullseye was supposed to be guarding or have that would relate him to the Fisher King story referenced by the Executioner earlier because they never had a chance: Lady Bullseye shows up, shares a tender moment with the corpse of her namesake and tells the kids the line on the cover of the issue, “Children at play… you have no right to claim here.” It doesn’t flow lyrically, but the Young Masters get the hint and book it.

Oddities still remain. Devlin D’Angelo, wasn’t he murdered by the Super-Adaptoid back in Hulk #469? Where’s the big giant head go? The big scary bats from last issue, those seemed ridiculously easy to fight off. The Red Skull shows up, I guess to show the reader how real evil works, and the Darkhawk gang pick at the edges of the plot. It seems to me that Casey and Dragotta are working incredibly hard at something I don’t quite understand.

And there’s some disappointment in that. After all, it’s hard sometimes to read comics without adding in your own two cents or trying to guess the next piece of the puzzle. Our expectations can disappoint us more than the work itself. There was a time when I could calculate the exact script of WWE tag team matches. With some adjustments, different characters and stakes, there is still an underlying core of how this dance is supposed to go: you can start at random but eventually, the weaker partner of the face tag team is going to get cornered. He’ll be drug through a long series of exhausting moves until after one last reversal, he’ll crawl his way to the corner and tag in the stronger face. The stronger face will clean house, taking on the heel opponents and getting revenge for beating up on his pal. Finishers everywhere, then the three count, normally in the face’s favor. Seen it once, seen it a million times, but the moment they go off-book or try something new to the formula, my regular routine of action is thrown off. Strangely, I would find myself more disappointed than challenged, and that is just a shame.

We love comics, no one disputes this. No matter how much they piss us off or change up our routine, we love them and keep coming back because the challenge is everything. The idea of “what comes next” is the cornerstone of serialized fiction. Each issue comes with the promise of something more than we had before. Even if we guess and make conjectures and research and put facts on the table, it’s not just the creator’s job to prove us wrong or right, but also to tell us a story so good that we can’t wait to do it all over again.

Fear Itself #7

You guys.

We did it.

This is, quite possibly, the best it’s ever going to get. Two opening weekends of more than $65 million from Marvel Studios movies this summer, Thor and Captain America, combined with the $55 million from X-Men: First Class … I feel like I want to go buy a jet ski! We really did own the box office this year, and I am so proud to see the House of Ideas forge their own path in Hollywood and come out on top for staying close to the stories we adore and yet still forging entirely new ones for a new generation.

Then there’s print media. I know, it’s a weird time to be looking ahead to October, because events tend to end around this time of year, if not simply reveal their catastrophically shocking twists. So the solicitations have shed a lot of words like trees shedding leaves, both leaving us with the bare branches of what will later flower in the spring with … well, whatever next big story will dazzle the public.

I will be honest with you, gentle reader; this one will be a little bare as a snapshot of Marvel’s titles in October. Add to this that I wasn’t at Comic-Con this year, so I can’t exactly report or add info I heard at the show. The good news is that CBR is the most dashing and handsome news site out there, so you can catch all the coverage here.

Thanks to the seasonal shift that event books create, there’s a lot of stuff we just can’t say or know about until we hold those issues in our hot little hands. On the other hand, you can’t keep everything a mystery without the public going to town on speculation, so let’s delve int the unknown of October and see what Marvel has around this corner.

First up is the last issue of Fear Itself. Marvel tells us stuff that’s been established from ads and Comic-Con (I hear that was nice): that Iron Man’s made some cool new armor for his pals and that Thor’s Day is the day that everything ends, plus the hint that there will be a “a little something extra for the keen eye.” Speaking of keen eyes, can I ask a general question about the front cover layouts? I’m kind of digging this middle title placement, the color-coded release months and the covers that, for all intents and purposes, show you directly what’s going to happen in this book. Considering past reformatting of the comic book cover, I think Fear Itself is a very well-designed package that was easy to sell customers and organize in the back-issue bins. Good job, guys!

Fear Itself: The Home Front #7

In other Fear Itself news, we’ll be wrapping up all sorts of bits and ends, from major battles (New Mutants #32), to character pieces set with in the main storyline getting their time in the sun (Invincible Iron Man #509), to old history being put to rest within the new history being created (Fear Itself: The Home Front #7, The Mighty Thor #7) and then, of course, good old-fashioned team formation/destruction. To be destroyed are the guys from Youth in Revolt, the “New Initiative” characters as they’re called, and what exactly we’re going to do with all of these people we stood up and brushed off for Civil War, then sort of forgot about when the bigger shinier toys came along. Don’t get me wrong, I grew to really like Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt after the first issue or so, but I don’t see this continuing. On the other hand, Fear Itself: The Home Front #7 is hinting that ” X-23, Power Man, Amadeus Cho, Thunderstrike & Spider-Girl” might “form an all-new team of young heroes” which is totally a book I see making it out alive. That’s nearly a Junior New Avengers league right there, with a lot of faces who have been breakout stars of other books, so there might be something young and hip rising out of the ashes of Fear Itself.

Journey Into Mystery #629 & #630 give both an idea of conclusion to the adventures of Lil’ Loki in Fear Itself and the start of maybe a Voltagg-centric run on the title. Sure, a one-off story on Volstagg could also be the case, but it would be neat to not only get an anthology book started for the ancient adventure that the Warriors Three, Valkyrie and other Asgardian characters bring, but have a permanent place for story ideas to germinate outside of major books. Want to write a Volstagg story, but it would get in the way of major title story flow? Put it in Journey to Mystery and see how much interest you can get. If it’s super popular, give him a mini-series and see how that goes. Want to write a Doctor Strange story but don’t want to take up all of the New Avengers’ time? Put him in Journey into Mystery and then later take that story back with you to the title he’s hanging out in. Maybe put a little yellow box on the panel it’s mentioned with a note from, say, an editor about what issue that mentioned story came from- nah, they’d never do that! Madness!

The Fearless #1 is going to be twice a month (yikes!) and $2.99 (not so yikes) where Matt Fraction, Cullen Bunn and Chris Yost will be giving us our post-Fear Itself wrap up of the Marvel Universe, as “CLASSIFIED.” I told you it would be a short one this week.

Incredible Hulk #1 will have the absolutely bone-chilling Jason Aaron teamed with the incredible art of Marc Silvestri to “CLASSIFIED.” Might be time to break out the Mad Libs.

Amazing Spider-Man #671

Oh hey! Over in Ultimate town, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #3 might tell us who is behind the new Spider-Man mask? Taking a step away from “CLASSIFIED,” the Ultimate universe does look to be shaping up from what it once was and what it eventually became. Aside from ol’ Webhead’s identity, the concepts seem to be boiling back down to something movie-styled (Hawkeye’s new look, the X-Men thought terrorists, etc.) and will certainly return to being a great stop for film fans looking to read a comic fresh off the stands. I have hope, gentle reader.

Spider-Island will wrap up in Amazing Spider-Man #671 & #672 (with a little Mary Jane gets spider-powers thrown into the mix), leaving two orphaned books of its own: Spider-Island: Cloak & Dagger #3 and Spider-Island: Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #3. These tie-ins are 50/50; on one hand, they could be ultimately superfluous and simple character pieces that will delight fans of these characters and/or might lure a few new ones in to the fold. On the other hand, they could be key issues later as to when these guys are showcased to their next book. Clock & Dagger always comes up as a title people want to see and Spider-Island could be the springboard they need to try out some solo stuff. Shang-Chi is even in the new Secret Avengers, so he might take some story with him out of his Spider-Island stuff. It’s tricky.

on the right, it's NIGHTCRAWLER!

Personally, I’m pretty sure the big news from Marvel in October is going to be the fallout and restructuring from X-Men: Schism. Most interestingly enough, X-Men: Regenesis has billed a choice I did not expect: “When the dust settles from the X-Men’s Schism, a line has been drawn, and every mutant must choose. Who will they follow — XXXXXX or Wolverine?” Bwaaaah? XXXXXX? Have we lulled ourselves into a false sense of security, thinking this fight was between Cyclops and Wolverine when really it was XXXXXX all along? If so, nice curve ball, guys, now my mind is a flutter for all the possibilities this new choice might bring! Magneto? Emma Frost? Xavier fits the amount of letters, but if he has to step in, what does Wolverine do to cause so deep a rift that the big guy has to get up and order him out? What about Utopia? See, this is a great solicitation because my mind is racing to keep up with what it’s delivering and I can generate interest in that back at the local comic shop.

Even better: Wolverine & The X-Men #1 as awesome silhouettes on its cover! OH HOLY CATS, NIGHTCRAWLER!? No one say a thing about ‘oh death is stupid didn’t he just die lol’ because this is exactly what death is for in comics. To change the game up, to give characters some recuperation time from their own continuity and for some fine dramatic revelation. Nice job, X-Guys.

What did you enjoy? Are you super-excited for the John Carter of Mars comics Marvel with publish along side Disney’s new film? Has the new Ghost Rider jazzed you enough that a confrontation between her and Johnny Blaze has you marking a date on your calender? Has the upcoming Avengers roster change started an office betting pool? Which reprint is more amazing, the Marvel Firsts: The 1960s trade paperback or the X-Men #1: 20th Anniversary Edition all the way from that ancient time they call 1991? Take a look at the solicitations for Marvel Comics in October and tell us what you think in the comments below. Excelsior!