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by Edie Nugent

 

The events of “The Blitzkrieg Button” fresh on her mind, Agent Carter distances herself from Howard Stark and reinvests herself with SSR just in time to prove her worth and lead a rollicking mission to Russia.

When Agent Carter show runners Butters and Fazekas revealed last week that newcomer Dottie Underwood (Bridget Regan) was a product of the Black Widow program, we suspected the next episode might delve into some of that back story. “The Iron Ceiling” wasted no time in doing so: opening on a flashback to Russia in 1937 that finds pre-teen Dottie among a group of young girls handcuffed to their beds in an unnamed location. We watch the future Soviet spy as she goes about her day: sharing bread with another recruit, being brainwashed by a film reel of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, then snapping the neck of her bread-buddy on command during a fighting exercise.

When 1946 Dottie’s eyes snap open it’s impossible to tell if this memory haunts or emboldens her. This makes her budding friendship with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) an intriguing mystery, will she always be working against Carter or might there be a collaboration in their future? For now, Dottie plays dumb with the best of them at her lunch date with Peggy — easily swiping Carter’s room key. Was it Peggy’s brooding over her recent betrayal, or Dottie’s comment that Carter sounds “just like Captain America” that distracted her? Either way, it seems a good sign that Carter refused Dottie’s offer of half her bread roll. Carter also refuses to hear Jarvis (James D’Arcy) out when tracks her down, attempting to plead Stark’s case. He contends that Stark may be devious, but he at least appreciates her value unlike the SSR. It’s the wrong tack to take with Carter, who refuses to stake her future on a man without honor. She leaves determined to make her own luck.

Back at SSR she does just that, handily deciphering the message the Leviathan typewriter spat out at the close of last week’s episode into coordinates for a rendezvous in Belarus. The meeting concerns the purchase of something called the havok reactor for 100k: payable to Howard Stark, now officially enemy number one for all the SRR Agents, Carter now included. Emboldened, Carter doesn’t ask Chief Dooley (Shea Wigham) to go to Russia, she tells him so relating her many qualifications. This being 1946, however, her extensive European CV won’t suffice so she uses her war-time affiliation with the Howling Commandos to seal the deal.

The Commandos meet up with the SSR agents just outside Russia’s border. Among them are Dum Dum Dugan (Neal McDonough) and Jim Morita (Kenneth Choi) reprising their roles from Captain America: The First Avenger. Agent Thompson (Chad Michael Murray) is suitably impressed, but Dugan saves his awe for Carter. Finally able to speak to an officer who values her opinion, Carter divulges to Dugan that she’s pretty sure they’re walking into a trap, but is unsure what the endgame is. The coordinates put our heroes right back where the episode started: the creepy Soviet-spy school for girls that is Dottie’s alma mater. The place seems deserted, but they stumble upon one remaining little girl who Dugan mistakes as harmless just before she stabs him. Stealing Dugan’s gun, the girl kills SSR Agent Li (Eddie Shin) and escapes.

The group warily proceed through the building, finding two prisoners in a cell. One is chatty, the other quiet & seemingly insane. The chatty one claims to be a psychiatrist tasked with treating his crazy cellmate, Nikola, who is a genius with light waves. Leviathan wants him to help build a weapon from stolen Stark blueprints. The team frees them as Leviathan soldiers close in. Carter leads the escape, but not before Nikola takes a hostage and tries to negotiate with the enemy. The Doctor shoots him and a magnificent shoot-out ensues where Carter comes alive in the heat of battle which is convenient, as Agent Thompson freezes completely. This was a pretty surprising twist.

Before returning home, Carter decides to bring the Doctor with them back to SSR, which seems an odd choice. She knew the encoded message was a trap and was proved correct, so it stands to reason Leviathan planted the prisoners there to be found. The Doctor himself seems somewhat suspect in his eager affect and was all too ready to shoot Nikola. Only time will tell. Back at SSR, Carter has clearly won the respect of her fellow Agents and joins them for a long overdue post-work drink.

Meanwhile: Dottie snoops around Carter’s room, Agent Sousa (Enver Gjokaj) finally connects Carter to the Blond woman the photograph taken in the season premiere but keeps quiet and Chief Dooley does some old fashioned police work and turns up a connection between Stark, a Russian massacre and a recently dead General.

Favorite moments:

• Carter’s speech to Jarvis in the rain recalled Steve Rogers chastising Natasha Romanoff for her secret agenda in the opening scenes of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. 
• Carter blew off Jarvis, stood up to Dooley and saved Thompson’s bacon but invading the boys’ locker room in 1940’s America may have been her most impressive feat this week.
• Dottie finds Carter’s picture of Steve and it’s pre-super solider Steve! What a gal, that Peggy. Dottie also may have stolen her knockout lipstick. Can’t wait to see how she uses it.
• “Yeah, I miss him too.” Dugan, you’re all heart.
• 50 shades of Dottie? Handcuff security blanket?

 

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by Edie Nugent

If Marvel was hoping Agent Carter would improve on its ratings from last week’s 2-episode season premiere, they must be somewhat disappointed this morning. While Agent Carter still snagged second place behind NBC’s Parks and Recreation, it’s ratings are still down 21 percent from last week.  Marvel should be interested in more than just ratings, as the show has received considerable critical acclaim.

Agent Carter opens with a summary of last week’s events and the show’s premise: Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell)  lost “the love of her life” when Captain America’s plane went down in the Arctic. It also mentions how Carter fought side by side with Cap during WWII only to be demoted to answering phones when the war ended. It’s a nice callback to the displacement many women who joined the workforce during WWII suffered in postwar America.

“Time and Tide” builds off of last weeks’ two part premiere and finds Agent Carter confronting the beau of her neighbor Molly (Laura Coover) as he attempts to pull a Montague by climbing to her windowsill. He finds the end of Carter’s gun instead, and shakily apologizes for choosing the wrong window. These antics get Molly kicked out of the women-only Griffith housing block the following day, making way for Dottie Underwood (Bridget Regan) who Carter ignores but seems as if she may come to be important to the series.

The attempted break-in reminds Carter of another, more successful break-in: the heist that saw Howard Stark’s “bad babies” taken from his vault. Here this episode subverted my expectations: I assumed the pursuit of Stark’s dangerous inventions would lead to a bad baby of-the-week style plot. It was a pleasant surprise when Carter doubled back to Stark mansion to do some good old detective work, exploring how the tech was stolen in hopes of revealing more about who took it and why.

Before she can fully explore the sewers beneath the vault, however, the SSR’s Agent Thompson (Chad Michael Murray) appears at the door & questions Jarvis about the license plate to Stark’s car found at the implosion site of the Roxxon plant. Carter hides herself while Jarvis claims the car was stolen and that he filed a police report. Thompson drags Jarvis to SSR headquarters for questioning where he threatens to reveal Jarvis’ dishonorable discharge for treason. Now back at SSR, Carter plays dumb: telling Thompson she’s found the police report the SSR pretended to “lose” on Stark’s stolen car within earshot of Jarvis – forcing them to release him. This serves to confirm the SSR’s suspicions of her incompetence, and she receives a public dressing-down from Chief Dooley (Shea Wigham).

It was a nice touch to see Carter shaken by this experience, which reflects well on her character: SSR may be a cover job that condescends to her regularly, but it’s still something she takes pride in. It doesn’t slow her down, though, and on her return to Stark mansion she deduces that the sewer floodgates beneath it’s vault provided the smuggler’s route. Sure enough they discover a tug boat moored right outside of the sewer floodgate flying a flag bearing the symbol we saw scrawled in the dirt by Leet Brannis (James Frain) before he died last week.

Upon inspection of the boat, they discover a large cache of Stark’s bad babies. While Jarvis calls it in to SSR, Carter is set upon by a thug presumably garding the boat and engages in a fabulous fight scene where she takes as many punches as she throws before Jarvis hits the thug in the arm with a muscle-contracting invention of Stark’s. Sirens wail in the background and Carter & Jarvis flee the scene. The SSR team arrive and Agent Krezminski (Kyle Bornheimer) is tasked to bring the thug back to headquarters. On that drive, the thug reveals to Krezminski that an “English broad” is responsible for his beating. This seems to seal the Agent’s fate; only moments later an unidentified hitman kills both the thug and the Agent.

A somber workplace greets Carter the following day, with the SSR now pledged to pin both the Roxxon destruction and the killing of Kresminski on Howard Stark. “Time and Tide” is a tightly written and compelling episode of Agent Carter. A great deal of the show’s appeal is how it continues to function on three levels. You have the hardboiled cop-style narrative of the SSR Agents, contrasted with the spy-thriller of Carter and Jarvis’ adventures, set against the lives of Peggy and her roommate Angie: women empowered during WWII searching for their place post-war. I find myself wishing we had more than just 5 episodes left. We can only hope that Marvel and ABC see Agent Carter’s value in more than Nielsen’s ratings and grant it a second season.

Favorite moments:

• “Mr. Stark would trust a shark not to bite him if it was wearing a short enough skirt”
• Jarvis’ house husband by-day, Agent by-night routine is a lovely play against gender expectations
• The back-story on Jarvis’ treason to save his Jewish wife following the war was lovely

What do you think of this week’s Agent Carter? Let us know in the comments!

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WHOA — Marvel really did announce a Captain Marvel movie for 2018, and Black Panther for 2017, with Chadwick Boseman (42) joining Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans on stage.

Today’s Marvel presser was roundly liveblogged, and it was apparently a tumultuous event at the Disney owned El Capitan theater. The entire Stage 3 line-up was announced and it goes like this:

 

Captain America: Civil War for May 6, 2016 — huh what could THAT refer to. Spinning out of Avengers 2 no doubt. Captain America was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

 

Doctor Strange November 4, 2016. Directed by Scott Derrickson. No official Cumberbatch confirmation. Doctor Strange was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

 

 

Guardians 2 moved up to May 5, 2017. The Guardians of the Galaxy created by various people, including Jack Kirby, Bill Mantlo, Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin.

 

A third Thor movie: Thor Ragnarok July 28th, 2017. Thor was created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee.

Black Panther starring Chadwick Boseman on November 5, 2017. Black Panther was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Avengers: Infinity War in TWO PARTS, just like Harry Potter for 2018 and 2019, while Chris Evans is still in shape.  The Avengers created mostly by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Captain Marvel for July 6th, 2018. Carol Danvers was created by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan; in her role as Captain Marvel she was developed by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Dexter Soy.

And as predicted, the Inhumans for November 2018 The inhumans were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby because there is like, nothing they did not create.

 

Also released, this sweet concept art for the Black Panther:

If you’re keeping score at home….well, this is a BIG chart. Collating. As several folks pointed out, DC revealed thei rmovie slate at an investors conference and mostly to keep investors happy following the failed Rupert Murdoch takeover and shaky stock earnings. Marvel held a popular event where fans were present and involved.  A lot of people don’t want to get into the WB vs Disney thing, but I can assure you, it is real.

Also, aren’t you glad that Marvel settled with the estate of Jack Kirby so that his legacy with these characters can be fully explored going forward? Yes you are.

 

 

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WHOA. It turns out that Civil War tease Marvel sent out was just the prelude to the real blockbuster news: Robert Downey Jr. will play a major role in Captain America 3 which will feature the Civil War storyline.

Variety has all the details. It seems RDJ was negotiating for Iron Man 4, and a smaller role in Cap 3, but now it’s war:

The new pact is significant for the Marvel cinematic universe considering the plot will pit Stark against Captain America’s alter-ego Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans, as they feud over the Superhero Registration Act, which forces anyone with superhuman abilities to reveal their identities to the U.S. government and agree to act as a police force for the authorities.

Stark supports the program, but Rogers does not, saying it threatens civil liberties, causing sides to be taken and Rogers, among others, to go on the run to avoid arrest. The moral question and battle with his Avengers teammate essentially makes Stark a villain of sorts in “Captain America 3,” providing Downey with a meaty role he could play out into future Marvel films, including a fourth “Avengers.”

Captain America 3 comes out on May 6, 2016.

According to Variety, Downey’s larger role in Cap 3 riled up Ike Perlmutter, who didn’t want to pay Downey a hefty salary. Ike ordered Iron Man written out of the script completely, until Kevin Feige insisted on staying the course with his plans for the MCU.

It’s worth noting that RDJ is th eonly person in Hollywood who is brave enough to publicly call Ike out, as he did over the summerwhen commenting on negotiations for his return.

“It’s down to Kevin [Feige, Marvel Studios president] and Ike [Perlmutter, CEO of Marvel Entertainment] and Disney to come to us with what the proposal is, and that’s on us to agree or disagree,” Downey said. “When things are going great, there’s a lot of agreement.”

 

Devin Faraci at Baddass Digest has more on the story, including how the Russo Brothers will not only direct Cap 3 but are the favorites to pick up Avengers 3 and 4 which will continue the Ultron and Civil War storylines.

I’m not clear on how the Civil War story will play out, since the Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t have secret IDs to reveal, but I can tell you this: the fallout of Avengers: Age of Ultron is going to be huge in this movie. There is a lot of destruction in that film. It makes an impact. 

More than that, Marvel is looking at Cap 3 as Avengers 2.5. It’s going to be another ensemble picture, and it could feature Cap’s new team from the end of Age of Ultron. Last I heard (and they haven’t shot this scene yet, so it could change) that team is Falcon, War Machine, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and Black Widow, as well as probably The Vision (although I have been told Black Widow will not be much of a presence in Cap 3). And once again the events of a Captain America movie will reshape the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Could the Marvel Cinematic Universe get any more like a comic book?

As I noted in my previous piece, Civil War, in which Iron Man and Cap butt heads over whether individual freedom should be surrendered for the greater good, is very much a product of the post 9/11 mindset, but the comic itself remains a Marvel best seller. t would certainly make for an interesting movie storyline, although it would be interesting to see how the context changes.

All that said, Mark Millar, you’ve done it again.

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Did you know that Falcon is Captain America now? Just thought it worth mentioning ahead of time, so this article doesn’t confuse you. He’ll be the lead in a relaunch for Mighty Avengers in November, you see, with Al Ewing and Luke Ross on as the creative team for the series.

 

The team, as you can see, seem largely to have remained intact. Monica Rambeau is up there, along with Blue Marvel, White Tiger, and I think Luke Cage with rocket feet.

You’ll also see Spider-Man trying to catch up with them in the image – having annoyed all of them back when he was inadvertently ‘superior’, one of the first storylines will see him attempt to rejoin the team, to the particular dismay of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.

Sam Wilson will be the lead role in the book now, as he assembles the team once more specifically for himself to lead. Starting in November, Captain America & The Mighty Avengers will be an ongoing series.

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by Alexander Jones

Marvel’s Avengers & X-Men: AXIS panel is officially getting underway here at San Diego Comic-Con International. Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso is hovering near the stage about to get ready. In the background there is a line of people getting ready for the show. Name placards for the panel are all lined up as follows; Senior Editor Nick Lowe, AXIS writer Rick Remender, and Executive Editor Mike Marts.

Senior Editor Nick Lowe is moderating the effort. Jordan D. White, the Editor of Deadpool made an appearance at the show as well. As soon as that was done the group jumped right into some of the new announcements from the show.

All-New Captain America is given an official name and features the art of Stuart Immonen.

Remender stated that the new comic is going to have a completely different tone for this new series. He stated that having Steve and Sam working together is going to add some new dynamics to the title. A new Alex Ross cover for the book was also shown here at the show. Remender states that writing more lighthearted characters in the book adds a sense of fun to the storyline. Ian Rogers is also revealed as the new Nomad in the comic book series. It was also stated that Hydra is being built up again in a way that apparently we have not seen before. Marvel vaguely stated that they are doing something completely new with Marvel’s premiere terrorist organization.

Remender talks about how Immonen takes the story to a nearly perfect level. He was wondering “what drugs were being put in Stuart Immonen’s water supply,” as the panel were shocked that the artist was able to give such detailed work and deliver it to the publisher on time. Captain America #25 is also going to have a bit of Stuart Immonen artwork towards the back half of the title featuring the brand new incarnation of Hydra. Unfortunately this also means that Stuart Immonen is departing fan-favorite title All-New X-Men

The Avengers: Rage Of Ultron Original Graphic Novel was then announced. Rick Remender is once again writing the storyline along with artist Jerome Opena and Dean White. The new story is an in-continuity original graphic novel that has an April 2015 release date. Alonso stated in a joking manner that Jerome “is so much better than Stuart Immonen.” This event takes place in a post-AXIS environment, which “leads to some very exciting things that are coming down the line.  The under-appreciated hero known as Starfox is heading back to the surface in the brand new graphic novel. The Red Skull is also going to tie into the big Avengers & X-Men: AXIS storyline with the March to AXIS titles including Uncanny Avengers #24 and Captain America #24 which sees the final fate of Jet Black and observe what has been happening with the Red Skull.

The panel then revealed Avengers & X-Men: AXIS Issue #1, whose first is entitled The Red Supremacy. The title contains artwork from Adam Kubert. The group shared that the Vision is being toyed with once again. He is said to play a part towards a major moment in the upcoming AXIS and Graphic Novel storylines. We are also shown the debut of the brand new Jim Cheung cover for Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #2 pencilled by Kubert again. The third issue was revealed as well, which is being drawn by Leinil Yu.

The focus then shifted over towards the AXIS: Carnage mini-series from Rick Spears and the AXIS: Hobgoblin mini-series by Kevin Shinick and Javier Rodriguez. Where the group explained that there are exciting things to come from both series. AXIS: Revolutions features writing from Dennis Hopeless and Simon Spurrier with art from Ken Lashley.

There were even more small issues that were announced including Uncanny Avengers Issue #25 and Deadpool #36. Remender and artist Daniel Acuna are covering the final issue which is born out of the conflict with Scarlet Witch and the Red Skull.

Magneto #11, Loki: Agent of Asgard #7, All-New X-Factor #15 were all also announced to tie into the event.

When the floor turned over for Question and Answers from fans, a young man named Rory dressed up like Captain America asked a question about the Fantastic Four. Alonso stated that an upcoming event storyline is going to be more focused on the team. Another fan asked about certain X-Men characters joining the Avengers, and was wondering why there is less cross pollination happening with X-Men becoming Avengers

Lowe elaborated that the X-Men is categorized in that group based on their genetics. White noted the amount of cross-over and talked about books like Danger, Longshot, Mimics, and some of the other comics’ characters that have been featured on both teams. It was announced that Brevoort was really the one that had the idea of the Onslaught motif powered by Professor Charles Xavier. Remender said at first he sort of rejected the idea, but then started to re-think it towards the past few minutes, and it all came into a notebook for him.

Remender interjected that he is trying to mix both of these separate continuities to blend together shaking up the status quo for each hero. Another fan was curious about why there is a lack of X-Men material at the show, while there are many Avengers and X-Men panels that are featured here at the show. Nicke Lowed Jokingly stated to the group, “Put the hack Brian Michael Bendis on the book.” The panel explained that fans had nothing to worry about as AXIS is going to feature a heavy amount of X-Men material. On the topic of unworthy Thor, Remender stated that he had spent hours on the phone with Aaron talking about how they can tie the storyline into AXIS.

A comic book reader asked point blank whether Cyclops was going to be killed in Avengers vs. X-Men. The panelists explained that the idea might have been “floating around in the room, but never entertained for too long. “It was also announced that Jason Aaron was the one who had actually had the idea of the female Thor.

 

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By Steve Morris

Via that very best of methods: the Dustin Weaver giganti-cover. The covers for issues 1-3 of Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers relaunch have been revealed by Marvel today, establishing that more X-Men have moved over to Cap’s Crew. While there are no surprises about which members of the Avengers movie cast made it into the series (all of them), the cover does still hold a few surprises. So! Who’re The Avengers?

Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Hulk and Thor are all members of the Avengers – unsurprisingly – and they’re joined be fellow non-surprises Spider-Man and Wolverine. But also in amongst the shiny heroes are Sunspot and Cannonball from the New Mutants, as well as Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman and Falcon. This represents perhaps the first time that two minority characters males have been on the main Avengers at the same time, I believe, although that still feels a bit of a low ratio for what’s meant to be a world-spanning team. No sign of Redwing yet either, which is a worry.

There’s also some whizzy technology in the background, suggesting that Hickman will be basing the team in Nick Fury’s helicarrier. The most intriguing part, however, looks to be the mystery character on the far left, silhouetted by the explosion Steve Rogers is manfully walking away from. For my money, this looks like it’s meant to be Shang Chi, but.. well, it could be anybody really. Anybody else got a better guess in mind?

Hickman, artist Jerome Opena and colourist Dean White will start the series off in December. There are still several more characters yet to be revealed as team-members, so don’t lose hope yet, Jarvis fans!

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Well look, news is flying out the internet like four and twenty blackbirds from a regal pie. Following USA Today’s teaser images showing Matt Fraction on Fantastic Four come two more images, this time teasing what look to be Captain America NOW and X-Men NOW.

iFanboy have the Captain America teaser image, which places Rick Remender and John Romita Jr on the title this November. This is, of course, coming as Ed Brubaker starts to cycle away from Marvel and towards more creator-owned work, as his long run on Cap ends later this year. Some sites are suggesting this teaser is actually for Winter Soldier, but it’s unlikely that Brubaker would leave Marvel completely, and so suddenly. This will be the Captain America relaunch.

Spurrier’s image on MTV Geek, meanwhile, looks to be playing off X-Men Legacy, the Mike Carey/Christos Gage book which has a terrible title. If Marvel were looking to calm down their X-Output, then it’d be an excellent idea for them to replace the cancelled Legacy with something else. Rumours still abound that Brian Wood’s excellent run on the current adjectiveless X-Men may be coming to an end already, which would seem to be the best place for this creative team – if true.

Spurrier will be joined on this book, whatever it is, by artist Tan Eng Huat, and will likely string together some incredible adjectives before we even make it past the first panel. Very exciting news for X-Men fans, because Spurrier’s X-Club miniseries was brilliant.

Any minute now, Heidi is going to post a teaser image with ‘TIDY’ on it. I can feel it in my bones. Stay steady, Pixie-fans!

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Marvel Now! was always going to claim some victims before relaunching, and now it’s made revealed (through that most sneaky of revealers, the solicitations listing) that nine of their current books will die in order for Marvel Now! to live.

Those nine titles are: Captain America, Fantastic Four, FF, Incredible Hulk, Invincible Iron Man, New Mutants, The Mighty Thor, Uncanny X-Men and X-Men Legacy.

This isn’t completely surprising in every case, because Brian Michael Bendis already said that Uncanny would end and several of the other books were winding up long-standing runs with big name creators. Matt Fraction was already set to leave Invincible Iron Man, while Jonathan Hickman and Ed Brubaker were both already known to be leaving the Fantastic Four titles and Captain America, respectively.

What does this mean for the characters? Well, Captain America, Thor and X-Men Legacy’s Rogue are all in a team together anyway, while Iron Man will surely find a place in one of the Avengers titles. But what of the Fantastic Four? They’ve completely dropped off the map, apparently, and the World’s Greatest Superhero Family look set to pack up their bags for a one-way trip to the one place they’ve never been before: comic-book limbo.

It’s interesting to note that most of these books were handled by the ‘Architects’ of Marvel, and that some low-selling titles like the beloved Journey Into Mystery have survived this new purge. Dan Slott’s Amazing Spider-Man also escapes the destruction, so that much-teased ‘big change’ in issue #700 isn’t going to see the book cancelled, thankfully.

Three X-Men books are chopped, including flagship Uncanny X-Men. Which is a massive surprise, because most were predicting that the pointless titles – adjectiveless X-Men and Astonishing X-Men – would be the two to go. New Mutants was expected to go, and does. But it’s still surprising to see just how big a change Marvel seem to be making. What new books are going to replace these ones, which surely were the backbone of the Marvel Universe?

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While there are some things we can complain about with the system Marvel Studios has in place for its movie assembly line, there are some thing they do really well. Like release trailers that continually build excitement. And the new one for Captain America — while telling the whole story of the movie — also includes some awesome action shots that have everyone on the net raving.

+1

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In addition to showcasing the Tron 3 trailer as performed by the Black Eyed peas, Super Bowl XLV also featured the debut of the Captain America trailer, showing Chris Evans in action as Cap, and a glimpse of the Red Skull, played by Hugo Weaving.

Everyone is talking about the unveiling of the Red Skull:

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July’s Captain America film starring Chris Evans just got its first poster. Looks gritty.

Also, the first photo of Bucky was released yesterday, to massive disinterest.

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This grainy scan from tomorrow’s EW is running around the internet. We smell something, and it smells like The Rocketeer.

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some vigilantes just don’t know how to share…

As soon as Capee-tan America turns his head to see the the baby in distress Batman pointed out to him…b.m pulls a fast one on old capeetan.. Oh that sneaky sneaky Batman…

This is probably the closest thing I will ever get to doing any kind of fan art. I was going to do a turkey for this weeks quick sketch and color but by tomorrow afternoon (and for the next few if you’re hosting) I bet you’d probably be up to your gizzards in turkey. So instead here’s a little homage to a couple of my fave characters growing up…

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY THANKS GIVIN! ENJOY!

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We managed to get hold of a pdf of today’s EW story on Captain America and we won’t be stinkers and post the whole thing in readable form, but there are LOTS of pictures including

Proof that Chris Evans worked out — AND got a chest wax.

Evans in GI gear, with a costume peeping out.

Stanley Tucci plays the scientist father figure role, Hugo Weaving is the Red Skull

There will be motorcycles

And a love interest, Sharon Carter, played by Hayley Atwell. And a shield-shaped shield. How’s that for irony?

According to the piece, the story involves the Cosmic Cube (aka a tesseract), and Nazis and a lot of realistic action.

The film opens July 22, 2011.

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'Captain America' (a.k.a. star Chris Evans decked out in his red, white and blue costume graces the cover of Entertainment Weekly, giving fans a first look at the big budget Marvel adaptation coming to theaters this summer) - Vevo 'not trying to be... Read the rest of this post

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This week’s EW debuts Chris Evans in actual Cap clothing, which turns out to be similar to the outfits that were leaked a while ago. The online excerpt includes Evans discussing his fear of the role, and director Joe Johnston going firmly back into ROCKETEER territory:

“The interesting thing about this character is that he’s an everyman who in the course of a few minutes become a perfect human specimen. That has to create some interesting personal issues,” says Johnston. “I saw it as an opportunity to make a superhero movie that felt real, that didn’t have to rely on an overabundance of fantasy elements.

The issue goes on sale tomorrow.

UPDATE: Via PR from EW, here’s more of Evans’ take on the role:

Yet Evans says he turned down the role at least three times. He worried that audiences wouldn’t accept him as another superhero. He worried that Marvel’s request for a nine-movie commitment—a Captain America trilogy, an Avengers trilogy, and appearances in three more Marvel movies to be named later—would leave little time for other things, He worried about what would happen to his career if the movie flopped. “I’ve made some spotty films in the past, and I didn’t want another one on this scale,” says Evans, who most recently appeared in two franchise nonstarters, The Losers and Push. At the same time, he worried about the cost of fame if the film succeeded. (“I remember telling a buddy of mine, ‘If the movie bombs, I’m f—ed. If the movie hits, I’m f—ed!’ ”) Even after he succumbed to Feige’s repeated pleas to take a meeting at Marvel HQ—and even after leaving that meeting intrigued and moved by Captain America’s character arc and dazzled by Johnston’s plans and designs— Evans was wary, but he really didn’t know why. And then it hit him. “I was just scared,” he says. “I realized my whole decision-making process was fear-based, and you never want to make a decision out of fear. And so one weekend, I just said, ‘F—it. Let’s do it.’ ” (It helped that Marvel agreed to settle on a six-picture deal.) Feige says he was actually impressed by Evans’ reluctance; he believed it reflected a maturity befitting Steve Rogers. Adds Johnston, “He has really brought a whole different level to the character that I didn’t know existed—more real, more complicated, more vulnerable.”

Evans began prepping for the role by doing what anyone would do in his situation: He went online and read what the fans thought of his casting. The takeaway: He needed bigger muscles. So he worked with a personal trainer to pump his biceps and tone his abs, all of which are on full display during the Project: Rebirth sequence. (In order to show Steve Rogers as a scrawny runt, Johnston plans to use a combination of clever camera angles, costume trickery, and special effects that will digitally reduce Evans’ body or even put his face on a skinny actor.)

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'Twilight,' Tom Cruise and lots of bleeping (dominated the MTV Movie Awards last night. Also Sandra Bullock accepted the MTV Generation Award. Understand the PR move, but anyone else feel like this was an odd fit? New York Magazine asks the same... Read the rest of this post

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Well I'm really excited because ImaginOn just picked up a new Comic Book Series to carry and man is it fun!!!! I just got finishing reading the first issue we received, so I thought I would write about it:

Marvel Adventures Superheroes #12 "Featuring" Captain America by Scott Gray, Matted Lolli, Roger Langridge and Craig Rousseau - This issue features Captain America in both the past and present. In the first story we find Cap trying to find his way in the modern world after he has been rescued from being frozen in time sense the end of World War II (1945). His friend and government assigned liaison Rick Jones is trying to explain modern computers and the internet to him when a terrorist organization known as HYDRA strikes. Cap and Rick are sucked into HYDRA's Web Page and find themselves fighting for their lives in a virtual world that is to strange to describe. The second story takes place during World War II and stars Cap and his teenage sidekick Bucky. While on leave from the War, they run into a sadistic German killing machine right here in the good old U.S. of A. Two fun stories that I really enjoyed. If you can get ahold of this comic at a library or comic book store, I highly recommend it.




Another thing I'm excited about is another Bone book by Jeff Smith that has just been put out by Scholastic.


Rose by Jeff Smith and Charles Vess - I thought the series was over with Volume 9 Crown of Horns, but Jeff Smith wrote a prequel to the series with Charles Vess doing the art work entitled "Rose." Now if the name Rose does not sound familiar how about Gran'ma Ben (Rose is Gran'ma Ben's name). The story basically focuses on Rose and her sister Briar. They are both in this story training to master the ways of the Veni-Yan who are seers into the Dreaming. Rose proves to be more adept in learning their ways much to the displeasure of Briar. The Veni-Vang have felt through the Dreaming the coming of an emancipator of "The Lord of Locust" and fear that Rose or Briar may be this entity. Through the story we learn who the emancipator is and the events that lead up to the first Bone GN Out from Boneville. What is really special about this story is we get more insight into Gran'ma Ben's relationship with her sister Briar and we see the mistakes Gran'ma Ben makes that lead to her becoming the heroic figure we know from the Bone Series. We also get to see some familiar characters in The Red Dragon, a young Lucius and the Rat Creatures along with meeting some new ones in Cleo and Euclid (Rose's two hounds that she can talk to) and the evil River Dragon Balsaad. I highly recommend this book for both Bone fans and those who are not yet.

Well that's all I have for now all you hepcats so peace,

Bill

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CAPN' AMERICA getting cooked by a lethal MODOK MINDBLAST....
Decidedly gruesome.

For more MODOK fun, rush on over to: MARCH-MODOK-MADNESS!
Lots of great Modok Fan art...over the whole month of MARCH..
Check it out.

Hope you dig
P

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Do you like Comic Books? Do you like Graphic Novels? If you do there are two men you need to know about for whom without their involvement in the creation of Comics, the landscape as we know it today of Comic Books and Graphic Novels would be much less interesting. The Comic Book Creators Series has two biographies that have recently come out that focus on two giants of the industry Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Stan Lee: Writer & Creator by Sue Hamilton - Stan Lee, if you have never heard of him, created such comic characters as Spider-Man (with Steve Ditko), The X-Men ( with Jack Kirby), The Hulk (with Jack Kirby), The Fantastic Four (with Jack Kirby), Iron Man (with Larry Lieber), The Avengers (with Jack Kirby), and many, many more superheroes that you probably read stories about and see at the movies now. Stan Lee created Spider-Man with Steve Ditko way back in 1962. He wrote his first comic in May of 1941 (which happened to be a Captain America Comic). He has been everything from a writer, editor, publisher, movie maker to “Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Comics” in his long career in the comic’s field. He is a living legend that all whom love comics should love and respect. Read this book to find out even more about this man.

Spider-Man’s first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 Aug. 1962 for a mere 15 cents. Today this Comic Book is valued for as much as $32,000. It should be noted that this cover was drawn by Jack Kirby.

Jack Kirby: Creator & Artist by Sue Hamilton - Jack Kirby, also known as Jack “The King” Kirby, was an illustrator of comics who worked with such men as Stan Lee among many others and created such famous comic characters as Captain America (with Joe Simon), The Fantastic Four (with Stan Lee), The Hulk (with Stan Lee), The X-Men (with Stan Lee), The Mighty Thor (with Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby), The Silver Surfer (with Stan Lee), The New Gods and many, many more that you probably read stories about and see at the movies now also. He worked on his first comic around 1938/1939, but his budding career was interrupted as with many Americans, when World War II broke out and he joined the military. Jack Kirby served under the famous General George S. Patton. When World War II was over he returned to illustrating comics. He worked for both giants of the Comic Book Industry Marvel and DC among other companies and is looked upon, even today, as the King of all Comic Book Illustrators. Read this book and be amazed at this man’s amazing and productive life.

Captain America Comics #1, which was the first appearance of Captain America as created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, was first published in 1941 and sold for 10 cents. Today this Comic Book is valued for as much as $80,000.

One last thing I would like to share with you guys is that one of the gentleman, John DaCosta, who performs the Comics Camps we have once a month at ImaginOn has illustrated an Aesop Fables story The Fox and The Crow. Just click on the title to check it out. I think its pretty sweet!!!



Well guys I don't want to overstay my stay, so peace and take it easy,

Bill

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I did this back in 2002 for a project that never was completed. Thought it was appropriate. Not only for the fact that it's Cap, but the most ridiculous conspiracy theory. The ultimate What if? What if Captain America Became a Real Estate Broker?

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