A bit late to the party once agian! All this past week or so anyone worth their mettle in the comics industry was in one place: C2E2! The Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo. There were tons of nuggets of information revealed but I'll summarize some of the bullet points that I think are important:
- Several artist shake-ups are on the way for Marvel, including Ryan Stegman hopping from Scarlet Spider to Fantastic Four, and Jamie McKelvie jumping on Defenders. Koi Pham will take up the mantle of Scarlet Spider
Marvel announced some new mini-events in the works, including "Everything Burns" spanning across The Mighty Thor and Journey Into Mystery, and "Minimum Carnage" where Venom and Scarlet Spider team up to take down Carnage. Over in the Ultimate Universe, the previously announced Spider-Men is joined by "Divided We Fall"; an event spanning all three of the Ultimate books and involving the return of Captain America.
- Finally, Marvel announced two new ongoings, Hawkeye and Gambit. Rumor has it these two characters will become important players during AvX, justifying their respective solo titles.
DC was much more tight-lipped during the event, but they did announce a slew of new digital first titles to flesh out their catalog; including another Batman title (this one with revolving creative teams a la Astonishing X-Men), as well as Ame-Comi Girls, a comic featuring anime stylized versions of DC characters based on the Ame-Comi statues that are available.
Coming from the cinematic front, news of Iron Man 3 and beyond have recently cropped up. Despite director Shane Black claiming Mandarin is a no-go for Iron Man 3, it's been confirmed filming will take place in China; with Bob Kingsley set to play an "unnamed villain". Put two and two together, folks.
Additionally, the schedule of Marvel films post-Avengers was fleshed out a bit. Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 are set to release in 2013, and Captain America 2 is confirmed for an April 2014 release. However, up to two other films will be released in 2014 alongside Cap, with odds pointing to Ant-Man and Dr. Strange. That leaves the announced films Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, and The Inhumans tentatively pinned down to 2015, as well as a possible S.H.I.E.L.D. movie thrown in there somewhere, all setting up for The Avengers 2 in 2016. Quite a long wait!
Of course, this is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to news pouring out of C2E2; but this info will get you started. Keep an eye on the DC Source blog or the main Marvel website if you want to find out more.
Moving on to this week's releases, DC is quickly building up to next month's two line-wide events: "Night of the Owls" and "The Culling". As exciting as that is, their are also numerous cancellations finally coming to fruition with Mister Terrific and Northlanders releasing their final issues, along with Deathstroke and Grifter getting wrapped up and shipped off to Liefeld for his glorious method of bastardization. It's not all bad though; DC quickly replaces them with two new titles: Smallville: Season 11 and Green Lantern: The Animated Series. The latter is an expansion of their "DC Kids" line, taking place in the same universe as the new tv show.
Marvel does something similar and launches it's "Marvel Universe" branding, featuring comics set in the worlds of Avenger's: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the Ultimate Spider-Man tv shows. Not to mention the beginning of the much anticipated cross-over: "The Omega Effect". With all that going on, it could be hard figuring out where to spend your hard earned cash. Here are my personal Top 5:
#5 - Secret Avengers #25: The gripping conclusion to the current arc focusing on the Robot Revolution. The art isn't my favorite here, it can get kind of muddled and hard to decipher sometimes; but that's really the only complaint I can think of for this issue. Loving the old-fashioned characterization for the original Human Torch, and I hope to see him again soon. This storyline is clearly setting up for something big, and it's quite a shame that the flow has to be interrupted to make room for AvX.
#4 - The Unwritten #36: Another great issue to a severely under-rated book. A lot of what I love about this title isn't the story itself, but the world. They've managed to create a story where fiction itself is a living character. It's a detour issue and doesn't even include the main characters, but that's no detriment. The premise of a wave of nothingness that destroys fiction is superb. Is it the readers forgetting, or the creator erasing? I'll be tuning in to find out!
#3 - The Shade #7: Throughout the course of this maxi-series, The Shade has quickly become my favorite DC character. There is just nothing bad I can say about him or this book. James Robinson manages to weave a tale that spans great leaps of distance and time and yet I don't feel like the book is stretched too thin. This isn't the best issue of the series by far, but it's still better than most of what DC's shipping at the moment. Buy it now!
#2 - Avenging Spider-Man #6: The first chapter of "The Omega Effect". The art is great, but maybe a bit too clean for Punisher. The story builds well and the dialogue is full of the wit and smarm that makes Spider-Man so loveable. His interactions with the rest of the group made me literally lol as he tries to mediate between Punisher and Daredevil. And the bit where he is introduced to "Punisher-ette" is brilliant. Look here, AvX, this is how you do an event.
#1 - Fantastic Four #605: After all the mind-boggling cosmic battles and time-travel wankery that's gone on in this book recently, it's ironic that such a laid back issue would become my favorite of the run. It's thoughtful, tragic, touching, and it provides crucial character development that allows Reed Richards to step back from his own ego for a second and just chill. It's a great moment. Hickman is absolutely killing it, it's the best run I've ever seen on FF (EVER) and I'll be seriously saddened when the creative team is switched over this fall. You owe it to yourself to get this issue. Heck, you owe it to yourself to get Hickman's entire run!
And those are my Top 5 recommendations for this week! Be sure to let me know what you think of this week's books in the comments section below. I'm back to the daily grind, but I'll be back on Wednesday to chime in on this week's hero shows with another iteration of "Golden Age/Silver Screen" (Dat Venom!)
Until next time comics fans, stay tuned, and stay golden!
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