thunderbolts
What Are You Reading?
Here at Hogwarts
Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly discussion about the comics we here at Robot 6 have been checking out lately. Today’s special guest is Lauren Davis, who blogs about webcomics at Storming the Tower and io9, and is the editor of the San Francisco comics anthology The Comic Book Guide to the Mission.
To see what Lauren and the Robot 6 gang have been reading lately, click below …
- March 20, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Who should be the next Thunderbolt?
Marvel Two In One #86
So for a few days now Marvel.com has been running a poll asking folks which villain should join the Thunderbolts. Choices include a lot of great classic villains, like the Absorbing Man, Batroc, Mr. Hyde and The Shocker, as well as some that aren’t quite so classic, like Dr. Demonicus.
I’ve changed my vote several times now, as I keep going back and forth on who really deserves the kind of redemption being a Thunderbolt could bring:
- I started out backing Sandman, because I always thought Flint Marko got a raw deal when they turned him back into a villain. The now-classic Marvel Two-in-One #86 was a quiet story where Sandman and The Thing hung out at a bar, trading tales and becoming friends, that set up the Sandman as the ultimate case of redemption. Marko eventually moving on to work for Silver Sable and even became an Avenger. I mean, look how happy he is here — doesn’t he deserve a second second chance?
- December 22, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
Smile
Happy holidays and welcome to What Are You Reading? Today’s special guest is Caanan Grall, creator of the webcomic Max Overacts and the Zuda strip Celadore.
To see what Caanan and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below …
- December 19, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Batman Incorporated #1
Welcome to another installment of “Food or Comics?” Every week we set certain hypothetical spending limits on ourselves and go through the agony of trying to determine what comes home and what stays on the shelves. So join us as we run down what comics we’d buy if they only had $15 and $30 to spend, as well as what we’d get if we had some “mad money” to splurge with.
Check out Diamond’s full release list if you’d like to play along in our comments section.
Graeme McMillan
If I had $15, at least $9 of it – okay, $8.98 – would be already spoken for. The first issue of Batman Incorporated ($3.99) and one-shot lead-in Batman: The Return #1 ($4.99) offer up the first glimpses of what Grant Morrison has in mind for his new Batus-quo and, after the way he brought the RIP/Return of Bruce Wayne storyline to a close, I’m pretty much on board no matter what. The remaining money…? It’s a tough one, but I’m going to go for Spider-Girl #1 ($3.99), pretty much because I like Paul Tobin’s writing, I like the Twitter gimmick (Somewhere, Joe Casey’s going “I did it first in Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance!” and I know, Joe), and, most importantly, the Spider-Girl short was my favorite part of last week’s Amazing Spider-Man relaunch issue. Who could’ve seen that coming?
- November 16, 2010 @ 04:00 PM by JK Parkin
Talking Comics with Tim | Jeff Parker
Atlas 5
Any interview in which I can ask a question that prompts Jeff Parker to damn me is a good interview in my estimation (read on to find the “damn” moment, it’s a fun-loving damn). We initially conducted this interview before last week’s announced demise of Wildstorm, but I gave him a chance to adjust his response when discussing the likelihood of a second Mysterius miniseries. I’m sad to see Parker’s series Atlas come to an end this week with the release of Atlas 5. It’s not often that a writer gets to end a series on his own terms, and yet that’s what happened for Parker with Atlas. While the Atlas series takes its final lap, last week marked the start of Parker and artist Gabriel Hardman on the Hulk monthly (and I loved their first issue [25]). While this interview does not cover all of Parker’s Marvel work, we definitely work in a discussion of his Thunderbolts work.
Tim O’Shea: You ended the ATLAS series on your own terms. When you wrote the final scene of the last issue was it upsetting, or was it fine, as you realize you can always find ways to work aspects of these characters into future Marvel books?
Jeff Parker: No, I was actually pretty happy as I wrote it, because I felt this was one of the most “Atlasy” of all the stories. It did its own thing and was exciting and defied expectations, which is what that book should do. I can probably have them pop up in other things, but I really prefer them in their own corner of the Marvel Universe.
- September 27, 2010 @ 03:30 PM by Tim O'Shea
What Are You Reading?
Starman Omnibus
Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading? Today’s special guest is STORM, who works at San Francisco’s Isotope Comics, is the creator of Princess Witch Boy (the second issue of which will be available at APE this year), reads Heroic Tarot with X-Men cards and is a member of Writers Old Fashioned.
To see what STORM and the Robot 6 crew are reading this week, read on …
- August 22, 2010 @ 01:40 PM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
The Man with the Getaway Face
Welcome to a special holiday weekend edition of What Are You Reading?, as we take a break from hot dogs and street festivals to take a look at what comics we’ve been reading this week. Our special guest this week is Vito Delsante, writer of FCHS and the upcoming Stray. When he isn’t making comics, he’s selling them at Jim Hanley’s Universe, located in New York near the Empire State Building.
To see what Vito and the rest of the Robot 6 crew are reading, click below …
- May 30, 2010 @ 03:17 PM by JK Parkin
Talking Comics with Tim: Jeff Parker & Steve Lieber
Underground #1
Getting to talk to Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber about their upcoming Underground project, I discovered one shocking revelation: Lieber is immensely funnier than Parker. I learned a great deal more than that in our email interview. Before starting the interview, here are the book’s vitals: “UNDERGROUND is a five-issue color series beginning in September from IMAGE COMICS. Written by Jeff Parker, drawn by Steve Lieber, and colored by Ron Chan, the story follows Park Ranger Wesley Fischer as she tries to save Stillwater Cave– and then has to save herself.” My thanks to Parker and Lieber for the interview.
Tim O’Shea: At what point did you pitch this to Image, had an issue already been drawn or was it still in proposal mode?
Jeff Parker: We showed the complete black and white art for the first issue to Eric Stephenson this year at Emerald City Comicon.
Steve Lieber: They said yes and we were off and running.
O’Shea: How much did the two of you enjoy the flexibility of revision, given that you work in the same studio?
Lieber: It’s a very natural collaboration. Everything’s done in the same room — script, line art, letters, and color. I love the sense of freedom that comes from being able to tweak things at any step.
Parker: And I love changing what Steve thought was right. On a whim!
Lieber: Obviously.
- August 17, 2009 @ 03:15 PM by Tim O'Shea
Thunderbolts: Rebirth?
Thunderbolts #137
As I’ve been following the current Thunderbolts run by Andy Diggle, particularly the subplot involving Songbird and her mission to take down Osbourn’s team, one of the questions that’s been on my mind is, “Where the heck are the rest of the original Thunderbolts?” It’s been awhile since we’ve seen Atlas, MACH-IV and the rest of that crew, and you figure if Songbird’s going to ask someone for help, wouldn’t it make sense to give her old friends a call?
Well, in issue #134, that call goes out.
As revealed in yesterday’s Cup o’ Q&A with Joe Quesada over at the main CBR site, the original team is coming back to help Songbird. Two other fans apparently had the same question that I did, and asked Marvel’s Editor in Chief about Baron Zemo — the team’s original leader — and the rest of his crew.
“It’s a great question, Steven and Mike, and I guess you can say you heard it here first,” Quesada responded. “Old school T-Bolts fans rejoice! Songbird is actually going to begin to assemble the original TBolts in issue #134. Her mission basically is to destroy Norman Osborn and his crazy pack of killers who have taken the good name of the original T-bolts. And yes, Zemo has been discussed internally, so stay tuned. We haven’t decided just yet… or maybe we have and I’m just not going to tell you. [laughs]”
From the artwork above, it looks like at least MACH-IV and Techno are back, teaming with Songbird and … well, if you’ve read the most recent issue (or even if you just recognize those bracelets) you know who they’re standing with …
- July 11, 2009 @ 06:40 AM by JK Parkin
Heroes Con + Wizard World Philly | Catching up on the weekend’s news
Longbox
This past weekend Philadelphia welcomed Wizard World, while Charlotte hosted HeroesCon. Two East Coast conventions, separated by more than 500 miles and a couple of states. If you were away from your computer, then you may have missed some of the announcements that sprang from both venues:
• For years people have been asking for an “iTunes for comics.” Well, it looks like we might actually get one. Rantz Hoseley’s Longbox will be a free download available later this year for PC, Macs and Linux. Comics can be download for a suggested price point of $.99 per issue, with the potential for block and subscription pricing. BOOM! and Top Cow have already signed on.
• Marvel had a lot of announcements at the show. Spinning out of the Uncanny X-Men/Dark Avengers crossover that kicks off any day now will be a series of one-shots that fall under the heading of Dark Reign: The List. Basically Norman Osbourn starts making a list of everyone standing in his way who he needs to do dirty, nasty things to.
The eight one shots and the creators working on them are:
Dark Reign: The List – Daredevil by Andy Diggle and Billy Tan
Dark Reign: The List – Wolverine by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic
Dark Reign: The List – Hulk by Greg Pak and Ben Oliver
Dark Reign: The List – Amazing Spider-Man by Dan Slott and Adam Kubert
Dark Reign: The List – Avengers by Brian Bendis and Marko Djurdjevic
Dark Reign: The List – Uncanny X-Men by Matt Fraction and Alan Davis
Dark Reign: The List – Secret Warriors by Jonathan Hickman and Ed McGuiness
Dark Reign: The List – Punisher by Rick Remender and John Romita Jr.
The project was announced at around the same time both in Philadelphia and in Charlotte. For more info, check out CBR’s interviews with Bendis, Fraction and Remender, as well as Pak, Hickman and Aaron. Also, Aaron talks a little bit about his Wolverine one-shot on his blog; it will feature both Marvel Boy and Fantomex, as well as a new Weapon XVI.
- June 22, 2009 @ 06:03 AM by JK Parkin
She’s come a long way, baby, since her wrestling days
Songbird
Much like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has transitioned from the wrestling ring to the silver screen, Marvel’s former female grappler, Screaming Mimi, has done pretty well for herself since ditching the squared circle and becoming Songbird, the former heart and soul of the Thunderbolts. And while her tenure with that group may be over, it doesn’t look like she’s fading into oblivion … in fact, she’s the latest playable character announced for Activision’s Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 game. Concept artist Dave Phillips talks about designing the character for the game:
Songbird was one of the easier characters to concept since we already liked her design a lot and decided that we really didn’t want to change all that much. We had lots of great reference material but ultimately it was Marko Djurdjevic’s cover art from the Thunderbolts (series #111-121) that really resonated with us. We felt that his overall art style and costume designs perfectly suited the look we were going for – A kind of gritty realism with more subdued colors and a great attention to detail. The covers are very beautifully painted and we wanted some of that illustrative quality to come through in our models as well. Additionally, we liked how Marko gave Songbird a harder look rather than being just another pretty face: her expressions are tense and serious. Of course, we still wanted to make Songbird attractive, but we tried to choose a likeness that conveyed her underlying emotions in a more believable manner.
- March 19, 2009 @ 09:53 AM by JK Parkin