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Say hello to the newest member of the Marvel family.

Reviewing Bendis' and Marquez's latest foray into the Marvel limelight.

Civil War II is a Marvel comic so big that one prequel issue can’t possibly cover all the details of the conflict’s catalyst. This event, which pits Captain Marvel against Iron Man, is the latest in a long line of Marvel summer blockbuster comics.  It is also a spiritual successor to the 2006 event by writer Mark Millar (Fantastic Four) […]

Marvel teased Civil War II with a postcard last October, but no more information has been revealed. However, a calendar for retailers had the project as the calendar girl for April, and Lucas Siegel got them to fess up: it will be written by Brian Michael Bendis and Drawn by David Marquez, basically the current […]

As per Marvel’s announcement through EW this morning, writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Alex Maleev have signed up to put a Batman Incorporated spin on the man in the suit built in a cave with a box of scraps.  International Iron Man, set to debut early next year, will feature Tony Stark at his most outwardly […]

The weirdest thing happened in Marvel last week. The publisher’s landmark Secret Wars event has been delayed repeatedly, but Marvel is moving ahead as scheduled with their full line relauch, giving birth to the All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe. We at Comics Beat are dedicated to praising great comics, and with so many potential winners out there it […]

Last weekend’s announcement of Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez taking over the reins on the second announced “All-New Marvel” title, Invincible Iron Man, was the biggest headline of NYCC Special Edition. The Eisner winning writer and his collaborator on Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man taking over the adventures of Tony Stark mark a brand new era for one of Marvel’s premiere heroes, and it’s a title that’s sure to grab readers’ attention from its inception.

Today, The Beat had the opportunity to sit in on another of Marvel’s “Next Big Thing” conference calls, this time with Invincible Iron Man‘s new creative team, along with Marvel’s EIC Axel Alonso and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort.

Marvel was also kind enough to provide the following preview art to give readers a sneak peak into Bendis and Marquez’s take:

We’ll be updating this post live as it happens! Stay tuned!

The call opens with Marvel’s Chris D’Lando giving an overview of the series discussing the new status quo of the “8 month later” time jump of the series post-Secret Wars. He informed everyone on the call that Justin Ponsor, the colorist of the most recent run of Ultimate Spider-Man, will also be joining the team. Thusly, the entire Miles Morales team will be on board the new book.

Chris first asks Axel Alonso what they want fans to take out of these new promo images that have been released and what you see above. Alonso states that he wants fans of the character to know that Marvel is “all in” on Iron Man, especially given the high quality of talent that has been enlisted for the book.

Tom Brevoort then informs us that this is the first Iron Man book he’s been editing since the first iteration of “Marvel Now!”. Brevoort then, when asked why Bendis was the ideal writer for Iron Man, stated that his celebrated run on Daredevil and its ability to bring out new facets of the character long made him a desired option to take over Tony Stark’s adventures. The issue at hand, he states, was that the timing was never right. But, with his X-Men run wrapping up, we finally get the opportunity to see Bendis “take Tony Stark into places we’ve never seen before, much like he did with Daredevil ten years ago”.

Bendis then chimes in and jokes that he isn’t planning on doing any of that. On a serious note though, Bendis cites that the Fraction run and other runs the preceded him are difficult to live up to, but he looks forward to the challenge.

The discussion then turns to the new armor that Marquez designed and he states that “it’s an all in one kind of tool, it’s any armor you want it to be”, with multiple different abilities including the ability to change shape, which he said was one of the big points they wanted to cover along with being bold and fresh. He also cites that the armor was slimmer, which follows the general trend of technology in our own world. Bendis states that this similar line of thinking led to Warren Ellis’ Extremis storyline: this idea of Tony building himself the best toys.

The call then turns to Tony’s adopted parentage, where the previous run by Kieron Gillen had revealed this new piece of information about his past. Bendis stated that this particularly strikes a chord with him as two of his own four children are adopted and that Kieron set this up angle up for him perfectly. “We’ve got this cool new armor, and almost a whole new man in Tony Stark, who’s got to figure out who he is.”

A discussion about villains then came up, with Bendis highlighting that Iron Man’s bench is not as deep as Spider-Man’s, and during the planning phase of the new run he went into Marquez and said “show me the villains in your sketchbook” and they pulled from much of Marquez’s ideas. Bendis says “you’ll see all the new villains all at once” and they’ll be built up over the course of the new year, though a marquee Iron Man villain will appear in the first issue.

Bendis also mentions regarding Tony’s rather storied love life…he may have finally met his match in this run, additionally he teased a new supporting character that will become a major player in the book as well that hasn’t been involved in Tony’s life before.

The call then turned to press questions:

– Will Arno Stark, Tony’s brother, appear?

Yes! Though Bendis could only reveal a one word answer regarding Arno’s involvement in the book.

– With the entire Miles Morales team coming over to this new book, has the workflow of the team remained the same?

Bendis and Marquez both highlighted that they are excited to build the book from the ground up and that they are excited to continue the partnership that’s work so well in the past.

– How much will the new book build off of Tony’s personality in Tom Taylor’s Superior Iron Man?

Bendis says that everything will be touched upon from Taylor’s just concluded (as of last week) run. Nothing will be ignored or pushed aside according to the writer.

– Will we see a resolution of the future Tony that was set up in his previous Avengers run?

Bendis says that this long awaited resolution is still to come, including the idea of Tony Stark as the “Sorcerer Supreme”.

– I asked how long the first arc will be, will it be composed more of stand-alone stories or will it be a larger arc of 12-13 or more issues?

Bendis replied: “Not unlike my work on Spider-Man or Daredevil, you’re gonna be looking at a long, multi-year storyline that’s gonna be easily digestible in chapters. As one drama brings itself to a conclusion, another one pops up. Tony’s got so many balls in the air that even if he knocks one villain down, there’s another one coming. For anyone who’s read Spider-Man, the structure will be very similar.” He stated that those are the kind of books he likes to read and buy.

– On two related questions, Bendis was asked if Invincible Iron Man would cross over into other books and if any of the All-New Avengers would appear in this title?

Bendis says there are currently no plans for a crossover and that he is excited to just be writing Tony solo for the first time. He wants this series to specifically stand on its own. But, he said that the new Avengers team will appear, though he had to be coy to elaborate further.

– Will we see any of the relationship between Steve Rogers and Tony get defined or re-defined in the new title?

Bendis emphasized that he really likes their relationship and how they challenge each other, and that readers can expect to see him touch upon that dynamic.

– Outside of comics, what are you drawing from, both in terms of design and writing?

Marquez answered that he draws a ton of information of television, anime and manga. While Bendis felt like his biggest influence for this run was a shot from Iron Man 3, where Tony picks up a screwdriver out of the rubble of his house. He’s inspired by the idea that Tony can build himself up all over again despite his life often falling apart. Bendis calls this his “Iron Man 4″. He also said that the book “On Intelligence”, which speaks to why humans can’t program A.I., is a big part of the reason why he was able to get on-board with Tony’s character in the first place.

– In my favorite question of the call, one of the comics press asks, with all the changes occurring to Thor, Captain America, etc…why is it important that Tony remains Iron Man?

Bendis states that Tony himself will be undergoing changes, which while they may not be cosmetic as the other books, they will definitely be there.

– I asked if this is Bendis’ Iron Man 4, is it too much to ask that we may finally get the Marvel Comics version of Trevor Slattery?

Bendis laughed, and said “yes”. I am saddened.

– Is the idea that Tony is his own worst enemy, as we’ve seen in films like Avengers: Age of Ultron, important to this new version of Tony?

Bendis gave a great answer here when he said: “A futurist is someone who can look ten years ahead and see what the world will need and build it.” He elaborated further on this point by stressing: “Tony’s got to pick the thing that he thinks will work the best, and go with it. Not to make a King Arthur reference, but heavy is the head that wears the crown.”

The team then revealed that it was Brevoort’s idea to bring back the Invincible portion of the title, as well as returning to the red and gold design.

And speaking to a question regarding the overall accessibility of the book to new readers, Bendis states that “everyone knows Iron Man” and that’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t know him at any age at this point given the feature film success. He says that his current mindset is about taking what people like and adding to it and that Iron Man is the character most associated with Marvel today akin to how Spider-Man was in the 60’s and 70’s.

Invincible Iron Man hits stores in October! Big thanks to Chris D’Lando for having The Beat take part in this great discussion.

There were quite a few announcements the NYCC Special Edition Marvel panel. We learned of the fall launch of a new line of $1 comics featuring women of Marvel, saw new pages from the upcoming Lando Calrissian limited series, and were told of a new post-Secret Wars Iron Man series from Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez.

But perhaps the most interesting moment of the panel was when Bendis, speaking on the dais with Marguerite Bennett (A-Force) and Charles Soule (Inhumans: Attilan Rising), said that Secret Wars was “never planned to be a reboot” to the Marvel Universe, and that “no continuity would be damaged or reversed.” Bendis explained that Secret Wars was always meant to be part of on-going continuity.

Bennett received loud applause when speaking to a fan during the Q & A portion of the panel who asked her what advice she had for women and girls interested in the comics industry. “Don’t be scared,” Bennett replied, “I’ve had one of the worst weeks of my life with hate mail and it doesn’t matter.” Bennet said she would “prove through her work, I’m not going anywhere.”

Sound issues plagued the presentation, which alternately found Bendis yelling into his mic and audience members having to approach the panel and speak into their mics to be heard over a panel in the adjacent space (separated only by a curtain).

Keep reading for panel exclusive images of forthcoming series, including those never before seen pages from upcoming Charles Soule penned series Lando!

The new “True Believers” line of $1 comics debuts in September 2015, and will feature a women of Marvel theme for it’s first 10 issues.

Marvel also showed art from their forthcoming variant covers, including several images from an upcoming line of Manga variants. A House of M variant cover was shown, drawn by Katsuya Terada (Blood: The Last Vampire).

Marvel’s variant announcements continued with images of a line of variant covers honoring the fast-growing cosplay scene.

Artist Alex Maleev joins Soule for the upcoming Lando limited series. Soule said the series would have “a lot of twists and turns” but that it would be the charming, “smarmy” Lando we all know and love, as Con-exclusive images were shown on the big screen.

“New Armor, new villains,” promised Bendis of his upcoming Invincible Iron Man series, scheduled for release following Secret Wars. He promised the series’ first issue would have a “whopper of a last page,” and reveal the identity of Tony Stark’s biological parents. He also confirmed that, despite internet rumor, it was indeed Stark inside the Iron Man suit. Though he wouldn’t confirm how many limbs Stark still had following the events of Secret Wars.

When a fan approached the panel to ask “how important are the X-Men” after Secret Wars, Bendis joked, “it’s almost like Marvel is screwing around with people who have X-Men paranoia.”

Writer:

Brian Michael Bendis

Artist:

Andrea Sorrentino

Colorist:

Marcelo Maiolo

Letterer:

VC’s Cory Petit

Wolverine is grizzled, dirty, and tired — but Old Man Logan is downright nasty. Logan’s resolve is killing now in the midst of Secret Wars, his motivations are questionable, his ‘costume’ is covered in blood — welcome to the new Old Man Logan #1.

Author Brian Michael Bendis has a knack for writing characters like this, likely affected by the heroes of his youth portrayed on the big screen. It’s impossible not to feel the vibes of characters like Sam Spade of The Maltese Falcon burning off the pages of this issue. This incarnation of Old Man Logan doesn’t even pretend to care that it’s walking in the footsteps of the original series with Mark Millar and Steve McNiven, the comic is devoted to getting down to the core of the Wolverine character and reminding us why he’s so damn cool in the first place.

Andrea Sorrentino’s art was always stylish — incorporating elements that pushed the medium further with really dynamic color flourishes and poses. Steve McNiven’s more polished pencil set is really hard to live up too from the previous series, and that’s where Sorrentino’s really shines as a creator — he forges his own path in this comic. In fact, the different tricks of the medium and elements of coloring and lettering that make this tale so organic is perfectly weaved within the narrative. I’m not sure where the talent of colorist Marcelo Maiolo and Sorrentino intersect, but I never ever want them to stop working together! When the story breaks free of the regular style of art and thrusts into the lush splash page, we’re introduced to the versatility that Sorrentino’s own art that has grown ever since his time spent on projects like Green Arrow. He’s become more bold since then, and is now unafraid to take even more risks as the story goes on with Maiolo.

One of the best parts of this issue is how the reader really isn’t sure if Logan has gone crazy or not in this story. He definitely seems to be pushing against some line of morality, seemingly now playing the role of The Punisher within his own story. It’s also great to see the character of Logan finally get a bit of a break. We’ve been living in a culture with a Logan on virtually every team within the Marvel Universe. When Charles Soule finally let wolverine die, the character may have found the solace that he needed. Now that we have Logan back in a different sort of capacity I can actually appreciate the character for who he is.

Old Man Logan isn’t a particularly nice dude, but with his family ripped apart and evil continuing to prevail, he doesn’t really have a lot to be happy about. Thankfully, this story isn’t a nuanced character study, it’s an exploration into the dark parts of Wolverine’s psyche that allows him to kill. It’s interesting to see how the Marvel Universe at large is integrated into this story, at the same time, the way that the greater Marvel world was developed within the original story was some of the greatest strengths of the original volume. We need to see the pieces of the Marvel Universe sparingly, but we still need to see them lightly developed within the story structure of Old Man Logan. The only gripe I have in this comic is that one scene in particular plays a little too close for comfort in how it adapts Emma Frost into the Wolverine mythos — other than that, it’s all peaches and cream.

The light ties to Secret Wars are standard at the moment, but effective. Just a slight mention of Secret Wars seems to legitimize whatever sort of tie-in currently inflected within the titles themselves. Sorrentino and Bendis have crafted a tale worthy of Millar and McNiven’s tenure on the title. If we had to have any sort of continuation of Old Man Logan, this is an excellent new path for the title to embark on. Through utilizing circumstance and really making use out of the little moments of mythology conducted in the Marvel Universe during Secret Wars, Old Man Logan #1 is a successful tie-in. Continuing the legacy of one of the grumpiest and oldest superheroes ever further utilizes the strength of Marvel’s flagship event that is dedicated to exploring the outcasts, rebels, and Sam Spades of the Marvel Universe.

For those excited about the upcoming Playstation Network debut of Powers, the live action adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming‘s superhero procedural, here’s an 8 minute featurette detailing how the production came to be and lots of new footage.

Powers, which stars Sharlto Copley and Susan Heyward, will be the Playstation Network’s first original series. It should make for a fascinating experiment for the network going forward, particularly to see how many viewers opt to pay the per-episode rate rather than get a Playstation Plus subscription.

Powers will be available on PSN starting March 10th.

By Davey Nieves

The hour glass containing the remaining days of the Marvel Universe as we know it continued to drip grains of information today as the company announced the first of the books to be under the Secret Wars : Battleworld tie-in banner. Ultimate End #1 with the creative team of Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley will be the first to enter the fray. It’s only fitting that the duo who began the Ultimate universe way back in Ultimate Spider-Man #1 would be there for the end.

In additon to the Battleworld news, it was also revealed that April’s Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man 12 would be branded under the current Time Runs Out and Secret Wars Banners. The issue was solicited as the end of the series and many speculated that it would be a lead in to Secret Wars.

This lovely David Marquez variant cover for Ultimate End #1 was also shown off today.

We’ll have more info as it comes out of today’s call…

Here’s what we know from today’s call with the creative team:

• It’s definitely coming in May.
• While Ultimate End will be the definitive end of the Ultimate Universe the series will see crossover with Marvel 616 characters.
• The events currently talking place in Bendis MM: Ultimate Spider-Man series will lead the character into Secret Wars. If you pay close attention then you’ve already seen some hints to the upcoming event and post Marvel U.
• The Marquez variant cover featuring the Ultimates and Miles gives you a clue as to who will play prominent roles in the book. Yes, Ultimate Captain America will be in the series.
• Bendis when asked who he’d like to have in the series from any universe replied “Batman, Bagley does an excellent Batman”
• More books featuring the Battleworld banner will be announced in the coming weeks, no word on what universe they’ll come from.

Marvel as usual kept everything as close to the chest as they could, so no major story details about the series were revealed. We’ll talk later today about the reflections Bendis, Bagley, current editor Mark Paniccia, and former Ultimate editor Ralph Macchio had on the coming end and the legacy of the Ultimate universe.

Via Brian Michael Bendis’ Tumblr page, here’s your first cast photo from the upcoming Playstation Network series Powers, based on the former Image, now Icon title by Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming.

The series will be free to Playstation Plus subscribers, but all Playstation owners will be able to view the pilot for free when its made available later this year. The pilot was written by Charlie Huston (Moon Knight) and directed by David Slade (30 Days of Night).

Powers centers on Detectives Christian Walker (Sharlto Copley) and Deena Pilgrim (Susan Heyward) as they investigate cases involving superheroes and supervillains, working in a special homicide division called “Powers”. The cast also includes Michelle Forbes as Retro Girl, Eddie Izzard as Wolfe, Noah Taylor as Johnny Royalle, and Olesya Rulin as Calista.

The original Bendis-Oeming collaboration was a critical smash when it debuted, winning the Eisner Award for Best New Series in 2001.

Just like in professional sports, comics often recruits talent from outside the U.S. Case in point, Marvel’s “gun for hire” Gabriele Dell’Otto. The Italian native started doing work for marvel’s European division in 1998. He officially began working for the core Marvel Comics line when he was brought on to draw & paint Secret War, written by mega-popular writer Brian Michael Bendis. After that, Dell’Otto produced a bunch of covers for the Annihilation crossover, and illustrated the mini-series X-Force: Sex & Violence.

Currently, Gabriele Dell’Otto is one of Marvel’s top artists, and you can see his work on the latest issues of the Spider-Verse cross-over, and Miracleman.

Here’s a link to the Italian fan-site for Gabriele Dell’Otto, if you’d like to browse more of his great artwork.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

Today we stroll down memory lane to 2005. People were going to theaters to see Anakin lose his limbs in Revenge of the Sith, the last Star Trek movie wrapped up, and Harry Pottermania was well underway, And four young comedians were making us laugh on SNL as repertory players, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis and Kristen Wiig.

At Marvel, House of M was all the rage, as Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel explored a world drawn the imagination of the very powerful mutant known as The Scarlet Witch…events which would spill over the Marvel U for years to come.

In this image by Jorge Molina, Magneto, Wolverine, Gambit, The Hulk Psylocke, Ms. Marvel and that darned Spider-Man are all battling…something. And you’ll notice that Magneto is battling a raging…something else entirely.

Two issues of Uncanny X-Men will tie into the big Original Sin event at Marvel this year – issues #23 and #24. Writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Chris Bachalo will be the creative team for the two-part story, which will reveal the last will and testament of poor old dead Charlie X.

With everything being revealed, it may as well be time to take a look at who’ll be getting what from Xavier – who’ll be inheriting his floating wheelchair? Who gets to keep Muir Island? Does he have any more sentient robots chained up somewhere, being tortured?

I doubt any of those questions will be answered. But the solicitation does suggest that as the will is read out, an old enemy will show up to cause some trouble for the X-Men, as a result. Uncanny X-Men has long been the book which is honest about the Xavier character – who was no martyr for mutantkind, let’s be fair – and it looks as though more secrets about how rotten he is may be coming to light during this arc. Fun!

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Marvel have released their solicitations for December, including a lot of odd decimal placements, an apparent return for Peter Parker, the finale of Scarlet Spider, and a whole load of other stuff. Here’s a few bulletpoints about what you can look out for over Christmas:

If you want the full set of solicitations rather than this cherry-picking of the bigger details, head to CBR.

It looks as though Peter Parker is returning, as is the Amazing Spider-Man brand as a whole. Five issues will be out this month, lavvelled 700.1, 700.2, and so on. A number of creators are involved on this book: David Morrell and Klaus Janson on the first two issues, followed by Joe Casey, Kevin Grevioux, Jen Van Meter, Tim Green, Tim Seeley, Emma Rios, Clay Chapman, Javier Rodriguez, Brian Reed, Lee Weeks and Sean Chen. Phew!

Kathryn Immonen is returning to comics once more, and reuniting with her Hellcat collaborator David LaFuente for a new one-off story. They’re in charge of Avengers Assemble Annual – one of three annuals out this month – which promises the debut of

Zamira! She’s Meryl Streep with a vengeance!

There is also a Hulk annual, as well as a Thunderbolts annual.

Brian Michael Bendis is bringing X-23 into the cast of All-New X-Men, which basically spoils one element of Avengers Arena. It looks like she has a new costume. Elsewhere in the Bendis World, Kevin Maguire’s issue of Guardians of the Galaxy comes out this month.

Wolverine Origins II starts, with Kieron Gillen and Adam Kubert handling the five-issue miniseries. The first cover will have an acetate cover variant.

After 25 issues Scarlet Spider is ending in December, with Chris Yost and David Baldeon the team for this final issue. Ryan Stegman provides a cover for the issue.

Inhumanity starts, followed by a number of ridiculous tie-in issues like Mighty Avengers 4.INH and so on. This issue will be by Matt Fraction and Oliver Coipel, seemingly leading us towards Inhuman the ongoing series in 2014.

Avengers Assemble brings in co-writer Warren Ellis for a new story arc, working alongside Kelly Sue DeConnick. Art will be by Matteo Buffagni. And yes, it’ll be Avengers Assemble 22.INH.

No sign of an X-Factor relaunch this month, although it turns out that Brian Wood is the creator who’ll be trying to fix the almost conclusively broken Monet, following a dreadful last few months of X-Factor for the character. Monet will be joining the team in X-Men, with Terry Dodson on art.

If anyone CAN sort her out, it’s Brian Wood! Fingers crossed.

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Battle of the Atom, the 2013 X-Men event crossover, will see All-New X-Men, X-Men, Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine & the X-Men tell a story in which the current X-Men have to deal with past versions of themselves – and, uh, also future versions of themselves.

Over the next few months, I’ll be tracking the story with each issue and keeping score on how well the storyline is going.

There will be spoilers below! Although, really, you’re not going to understand what I’m talking about unless you’ve read the issue first.

All New X-Men #16 is by Brian Michael Bendis, Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger, Marte Gracia, and Cory Petit

Boy oh boy, telekinesis was just MADE for Brian Michael Bendis, wasn’t it? This second chapter of the crossover features a bounty of telekinetic double-talk, allowing the writer to offer second and third takes on each situation as they occur in the story.

It’s also a step up from the first chapter, which was designed mainly to get people up to speed on the All-New and Uncanny X-Men teams. Here we finally get to see a wider section of the X-Men in action, as more and more teams start to pile up on each other. But, if there’s any artist able to handle twenty-thirty people in a scene, it’s Stuart Immonen. Immonen steals the issue with his work, giving each character a ‘pop’ from their background, assisted by some careful and bold inking from Wade Von Grawbadger.

Von Grawbadger’s work with Immonen doesn’t get talked enough as much as it should, really – although Immonen’s pencilling is fantastic, it’s Von Grawbadger who gives the characters that feeling of satisfying chunkiness – they feel solid and bounce off each page. He gives them chunky outlines when he needs them to take the foreground and thins down the aspect for characters like Iceman – establishing the different body types and mannerisms of the characters. He’s a perfect fit for the X-Men.

And what a lot of X-Men there are in this issue! This time we have a brief check-in with Cyclops and his Uncanny team, whilst most of the issue focuses in on a three-team drama in which several characters pick an individual side. The main set-piece here is a telekinetic sequence taken fairly shamelessly straight from the pages of Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men run, as a lengthy discussion and fight are then replayed from a telepathic aspect.

At first it seems like there’s a single discussion going on until Bendis rewinds and replays the scene from Jean Grey’s perspective – revealing that the whole time she’s been telepathically talking to other people in the room, changing the context of the sequence entirely. Whedon held onto this surprise for a few issues, but Bendis establishes and switches the sequence almost immediately. It’s a faster-pace and allows to create a quick, useful conflict between the characters without having to resort to a one-dimensional fight sequence.

It’s pretty obvious that Bendis has been hankering to do this sort of thing for a while, as his All-New X-Men prior to this issue has been full of telepathic tics and quirks. When writing quickfire dialogue, Bendis is hampered by the fact his characters can only say so many words on a panel, within their one motion. Removing that obstacle by writing out thoughts means he can fill each page with as much text as he likes, coating each sequence with side-commentary and exposition.

This is a dream come true for him, you can tell. Luckily the creative team also have the advantage of a few well-planned surprises. The future X-Men team contains one of them, although it’s not quite the surprise you might think it to be. If I can go into an extended analysis of aging, you can see that the Future X-Men team are all around 40 years older than the present day team. With that in mind, the reveal of Jean is not one which returns the version last seen in the hands of Morrison/Pak. Rather, this is the teenage version of Jean, if she stays in the present and ages normally.

Jean’s unveiling is a clever twist for the story, but it also serves to hide what is possibly a more important thing – there’s no future version of Cyclops or Angel amongst the Future X-Men team. Jean is just a distraction from the fact that Bendis has something in mind for his Uncanny X-Men team, and it’s the biggest hook of the issue.

We do check in on that team here, as they recover from Cyclops’ death-experience in the prologue.  Interestingly, the story hasn’t bothered to identify any of these characters aside from Cyclops himself. The book relies on readers already knowing who all the new characters are, and that Emma Frost is now wearing the generic suit which Chris Bachalo gives every female character.  After finally nailing down one trailing part of time travel – Marvel have by now changed the rules of time travel every year for the past fifty years – that team gets a motivation for their next few issues.

That’s a canny trick, isn’t it? Last issue defined the motivation for the team, but Bendis cut away from the scene before actually telling that to the reader. Instead he pops the aftermath scene into this new issue, therefore quickly giving readers a one-issue wait before confirming that, yes, they are all now worried about the new development from before.

Speaking of how efficiently the issue manages to bring in the other books – Rachel Grey has a very brief, but massively substantial, appearance. She runs in after the fight and does EXACTLY what the reader wants her to, and rounds on the new Xorn. Brian Wood’s X-Men have still not appeared as a team, but they are now set up through Rachel’s one-panel outburst and a single dialogue-free reaction panel from Storm. Two words from Jean, and suddenly the next issue has a purpose as well. That’s a remarkably effective use of a page!

That’s what comes across most strongly in the issue. It’s quick and economical. We still haven’t had much beyond Brian Michael Bendis setting up the pieces of the story… but it FEELS like a lot more than that. There’s an effective use of panel-time here which Avengers readers will look upon enviously. Having telepaths present in each issue means Bendis can write overextended thought bubbles for characters – but it also means he can no longer waste the characters’ time. He can’t have character lie to each other, because there are now four or five telepaths around who will call that out.

With the story so far stuck in a room filled with X-Men (there’s still no sign of a villain, unless you count the DJ who makes a TOTALLY UNCALLED FOR dig at Dazzler’s career), the narrative finally has had to force itself forwards, creating some dramatic momentum for Brian Wood to dig into as we head to chapter 3 of the crossover.

More to come…

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Battle of the Atom, the 2013 X-Men event crossover, will see All-New X-Men, X-Men, Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine & the X-Men tell a story in which the current X-Men have to deal with past versions of themselves – and, uh, also future versions of themselves.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to be reading each new issue of the storyline and offering a running commentary on them. Not reviews, particularly – these are more like a series of thoughts which are brought up by each issue.

There will be spoilers below! Although, really, you’re not going to understand what I’m talking about unless you’ve read the issue first.

Battle of the Atom #1 is by Brian Michael Bendis, Frank Cho, Marte Gracia, and Joe Caramagna.

Cover by Art Adams

Additional pages by Stuart Immonen and Wade Von Grawbadger

X-Men Crossovers are a staple of the franchise. Since the books split into multiple teams and characters way back when, crossovers have made for some of the more inspired and entertaining X-Men stories Marvel have put out. From Inferno to X-Cutioner’s Song and modern crossovers like Messiah Complex, events have served to define the X-Men franchise over the years. Unlike, say, the Avengers, who have mostly been defined by the creator tackling them, the X-Men are more defined by a clear history of ‘big’ storylines.

(Mainly because most X-Men stories are written by the same creator - Chris Claremont)

This has meant that every year Marvel attempt to continue their winning streak with some new ‘big’ storylines for readers. But unusually, we’re currently riding in from a recent string of smaller scale, less successful event stories – Necrosha, Second Coming and Schism all struggled to work on their own merits, and had to be supported by superior tie-in books. Battle of the Atom doesn’t have that luxury, and instead has to bring an entire storyline together – featuring some disparate groups of characters – within the central storyline.

That’s a big ask, especially when you look at just how terrible a job Infinity is doing at making sense without having 2-3 tie-in books assisting the main storyline. On the basis of the first issue, it looks like the X-Office have decided to pare things right down to the basic points. Battle of the Atom #1 doesn’t even bother with Brian Wood’s team of X-Men – this is an introduction purely to Brian Michael Bendis’ X-Men teams, with Kitty Pryde and the All-New X-Men taking the main focus.

Cyclops’ Uncanny X-Men show up too, although strangely there’s almost no conflict whatsoever between the two teams. They get along just fine, are friendly and playful with one another, and nobody calls anybody a jerk. It’s almost disappointing how little real conflict we’ve gotten since Schism ended and the X-Men split into different groups, especially when it means Kitty Pryde hasn’t been able to rant at anybody for months now.

When the final page brings in the Future X-Men, thus putting three generations of X-Men into play… again, there’s no conflict! It’s all very cordial indeed. Very friendly. No tension or sense that this might be epic.

Yet whilst it’s fun for long-term fans to read an X-Men event and see everybody fighting and angry, Bendis’ X-Men run has really been about returning ‘friendliness’ to the mutants. The characters have all dialled back a notch, settled back into themselves, and been allowed to show off just why they were popular to begin with. No more screaming and shouting and melodrama for the time being – Bendis has focused on the basic traits of the characters and reassumed them to fit 2013.

For new readers, this has made for an excellent inroduction to the characters and world of the X-Men, because we get to see their appeal right there on the page… rather than have to remember what the characters once were. That’s the success and failure of this opening issue – the characters are revived and upbeat… but at the same time, they’re also disengaged from a sense of danger. There’s no threat.

The last page revealing the Future X-Men doesn’t feel ominous either, although maybe that’s because it’s been talked about so endlessly in interviews and solicitations. Really, the main shock comes when you see what the Future X-Men team are WEARING, because lordy if that isn’t some of the worst costume designing since Polaris. The team are in beige, for the most part, with shawls and hoods and bland designs dominating them as a group.

They look absolutely terrible. It’s also worth noting that, in keeping with the goal of making everything simple for new readers, not one of the characters is new. These are all existing characters. There’s no Cable or Bishop or Shard appearing for the first time here. These are established characters, or the children of established characters, aged and changed very slightly.

For all that this is billed as a major event, there’s no sign that the writers want to shock or stun readers with revelations. It instead feels very low-key, simple, and one-note in the opening issue. So really, it’s an issue which completely introduces the key idea of Bendis’ X-Men – that the characters are enjoying themselves for the first time in years, despite everything else that’s happening to them. They’re individuals again rather than a minority group working together on their cause.

At the same time the character-driven writing means that the storyline feels a little linear, and a little too easy. Nothing in the opening issue suggests any reason why the entire crossover couldn’t just see various X-Men sitting in their breakfast room, discussing their differences over coffee.

And that’s probably why Marvel decided, after reading the issue, to release both Battle of the Atom AND All New X-Men #16 on the same day. There’s only one scene in this opening issue, midway through the story, which has any real sense of drama to it – and then the story skips ahead in time so it doesn’t have to resolve or address that drama quite yet.

But! All-New X-Men #16 DOES address it. And picks the story up considerably, in fact. So on that note – more to come..

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Marvel have been teasing a new project called #1, which has been suggested to be a weekly comic, or some kind of compendium, or… well, who knows. At any rate, a new teaser has surfaced, revealing the creative people who will be featured in the project, as well as the news that the announcement for #1 will come next weekend, at South By Southwest. There are plenty of names involved –

Some of the most notable names on there are Warren Ellis, Ed Brubaker and Joss Whedon, all of whom seem somewhat unlikely at this point to be releasing new work for Marvel. Especially Whedon, whose involvement would surely come with a teaser in itself – despite apparently only being able to write one comic script every seventeen months or so, he’s a big name, and would bring a lot of attention to Marvel comics.

So what is this? It looks to be some kind of reprint, or some way of celebrating the books Marvel perceives to be the most important they’ve done. The presence of John Cassaday on the teaser probably connects to his work with Whedon on Astonishing X-Men, and you can also pair together several other creative teams, such as Rick Remender and Jerome Opena, or Matt Fraction and David Aja.

But at the same time, all these creators listed here are fairly contemporary – if you’re going to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the X-Men, there’s no way you should be allowed to exclude Chris Claremont. So what the devil (as Claremont would no doubt write in his 50th Anniversary X-Men Comic, which by the way I WANT TO READ) is this meant to be?

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Everyone’s a little puzzled by the strange choice of number on this issue, somewhere between a #0 traditional origin story and a #1 launch of what’s rumored to be a major contributor to the Marvel Universe this year and beyond in the lead up to the 2014 film release of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. If this issue is more than just an origin story for Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, then we can assume some of the elements of a wider arc of action for the series are already being drawn up in the narrative, however much of a prequel it may be to the galactic sweep ahead.

The long, sporadic, but often well-received publication history of GUARDIANS makes it ripe for a return, and whatever readers were expecting, they are bound to be struck by the energy of #0.1 and the disorienting sense that they are, in fact, looking at something refreshingly new. Writer Brian Michael Bendis is so well-versed in crafting origin stories that the surprise is not how well he knows how to introduce a character’s early days, but that he manages to do it so succinctly, given his history of expanding origin stories well into established story-lines (take, for example, his ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN which stretched Peter Parker’s transformation into Spider-Man to span 7 issues).

His experience handling origins has clearly given Bendis an edge in handling a short-form version while maintaining the humanizing qualities in his characters that he’s also known for. Steve McNiven’s pencils are easily a match, though, for Bendis’ writing skills in the sense that his pauses to convey motion, his almost minimalist panels, and nearly constant emphasis on facial expressions to express emotion give the reader instant recognition of the importance of key moments without creating drag. John Dell’s inks give the comic an even more fluid feeling with hardly a static line and Justin Ponsor’s choice of color sets a kind of tonal theme a reader might expect not only from Marvel Comics but from Marvel meets sci-fi: intense earthly sunlight and shadow blended with slick, luminous technology. Bendis has said that he read lots of sci-fi leading up to his work on GUARDIANS, looking for things that inspired him the most, but it’s a fair guess that the entire team have drawn from their own impressions of the best elements of an alluring sci-fi tale.

[Spoilers for issue #0.1 ahead!]

Trust Bendis to bring in quirky dialogue to contrast with ethereal galactic realities, one of those humanizing elements that renders his characters appealing. Peter’s mother bitching into a cell-phone opens the story, and the deluge of questions and commentary she launches at the space-ship crash victim from Spartax helps establish the conflicting world views that will no doubt impact Peter’s life. The rapidly-developing romance between the two, the predictable departure of a man on a mission in wartime still has a grounded feel due in part to Meredith’s satirical but emotional responses. When she’s told she can keep J’Son’s gun, she comments to herself (and the reader) “How romantic”. One of the simplest panels, and one that makes you forget that this is a story that’s been told before, is one in which Meredith, despondent at J’Son’s departure, says simply “Take me with you”. McNiven’s use of expression strikes home easily; she already has the look of someone abandoned, a victim, in her own way, of war.

Peter’s life with his mother “22 miles from anything and anyone” at age 10, reading comic books and ditching math homework, contains plenty of the formulaic elements (partly due to Bendis’ influence on comic tradition already) of the misunderstood kid soon-to-be-hero mythos, but again, Bendis and McNiven always manage to catch the reader’s attention and distract from easy identification of familiar elements. Racism, sexism, bullying all come to the fore within a few panels of introducing Peter’s school life. The eruption of violence is part of a wider pattern, of course, as the little wars that Peter fights, significant in human terms, mirror the bigger wars to come. The second half of issue #0.1, however, makes the first half seem like a pleasant diversion as the plot moves rapidly into unexpected violence and the trauma usually associated with hero origins. McNiven proves that he’s up to the challenge of presenting shocking violence in a painfully memorable way depicting the murder of Meredith by Badoon hitmen, forcing Peter into the role of a rifle-toting avenger.

Cue another hero motif, the discovery of a super-powered weapon, but rather than gloss over what comes next, Bendis settles in for a moment on Peter’s experiences waking up in a hospital, his bizarre narrative reconstructed by doctors and child psychologists into something banal: a gas-leak that destroyed his home and the alien gun a favorite “space-toy”. Readers are included in the brash hospital lights and the jarring conflict between realities yet again, all increasing a sense of Peter’s reality and giving readers an opportunity to understand his future actions by experiencing where he’s been before. But the psychologists do get one thing right: he’s an unfortunate and fortunate soul. He’s been left with nothing unless he chooses, as his older self reflects to Tony Stark, to “find a way off Planet Earth”.

The jump between the hospital scene with Peter, age 10, to Star-Lord, age 30 is visually transferred by McNiven repeating a nearly identical angled view of the mysterious space-gun, and rather ingeniously tied into a scene of immediate action by Bendis’ revelation that Quill is telling his own life-story to Tony Stark onboard a space-ship. It’s a light-speed jump into the thick of GUARDIANS territory, and a pay-off for devoted fans to “see” for the first time in this new incarnation, some of Star-Lord’s Guardians team, albeit in silent roles, as well as McNiven’s new design for their costumes. It’s interesting to note that Stark, apparently, has been questioning Quill’s motives for fighting the Badoon, and that readers, in turn have been included in this explanation of motivation. It’s “exactly” what Stark “wanted to know”, mirroring a reader’s need to understand, even in short form, what makes Quill tick. Stark is not only satisfied by this explanation, but he’s “all in”. It’s tempting to read this as a prod to fans, hinting that they, too, should be on board with the up and coming revelations of the comic now that they feel they know Quill pretty well.

Does it work? If there’s any swagger or attitude in the comic, it’s reserved for Stark (appropriately). The seriousness of Quill’s origin story, the moments that readers have not only been told, but experienced along with Meredith and Peter, are fairly difficult to dismiss as “just another sci-fi hero story”. Bendis’ writing makes such a dismissal not only difficult but uncomfortable to imagine, but in combination with McNiven’s artwork, the story is almost daring you not to care about an orphan on a cosmic vendetta.

Whatever liberties the creative team may take in bringing a new version of GUARDIANS to the page, the earnestness they convey reminds readers of one more feature of sci-fi hero stories: anything can happen next. That’s why it’s so important to get origin stories right, to get even a small amount of personal history pinned down for the hero to form the jumping off point into such vast potential. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #0.1, which makes it a little surprising that retailers may have ordered fewer than needed of this introductory issue. If the current GUARDIANS creative team brings as much craftsmanship to the rest of the series, you’ll be glad to have jumped in at #0.1 to get to know THIS version of Peter Quill and his world (and not to have to scramble for back issues later).

 Title: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #0.1/Publisher: Marvel Comics/Creative Team: Brian Michael Bendis, Writer, Steve McNiven, Penciler, John Dell, Inker, Justin Ponsor, Colors, VC’s Cory Petit, Letterer.

Hannah Means-Shannon writes and blogs about comics for TRIP CITY and Sequart.org and is currently working on books about Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore for Sequart. She is @hannahmenzies on Twitter and hannahmenziesblog on WordPress.

Comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis explained why he killed a major Marvel Comics figure in Avengers vs. X-Men No. 11, declaring in a frank interview: “I was very happy that we voted to whack…”

SPOILER ALERT: Below, we will include excerpts from the interview and reveal who is the character killed in the comic.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

By Steve Morris

Stuart Immonen’s artwork is one of the key selling points to, well, anything he is involved with, and All-New X-Men #1 is no exception. The premise of the book is that the original five members of the X-Men – Angel, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman and Beast – have come to the present for some reason (no, there’s no sign of other founding X-Men Shortpack and Sage at this point in time). They are in the present, and they are… in the present. And Stuart Immonen is drawing it! So now you know the premise of the series in its entirety.

The regardless point being, Marvel have released some of Immonen’s pencils for the first issue of the series, written by Brian Michael Bendis. And unsurprisingly, they’re spiffing, corking, and several other 1960s adjectives.

The first page shows us the Jean Grey school, Wolverine’s semi-creepy tribute to his friend’s dead wife, who is now 16 and about to stare him right back in the face. But before he has time to sleep with her and freak us all out, it looks like the team are going to first endure some face-time with Beast. Which is probably going to be especially weird for Beast. You can also see a few students running round in the background, which reveals that Pixie has moved to Westchester along with the others. Yep, Utopia is doomed. Toad is also busy, uh, washing a tree. Cyclops Jr will probably blast him in the face in a moment or two.

The third page revealed shows Beast talking to the younger X-Men, who look like the Famous Five. Look at Jean’s adorable haircut! Shame she’s about a year away from murdering billions of people, isn’t it? If young Beast is scared now, just wait till he hears about the repeated genocides his older self has been enjoying over the past few years. And let’s not even get started on Trish Trilby! Ominous times are ahead for you, McCoy. This appears to be page 20 of the first issue, so lord only knows what the first 17 pages are going to be made up of.

And as a final note, here’s the interconnected cover for the first two issues, which sees all your favourite X-Men scowling at you.

Ultimate Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Man are two of Marvel’s most consistent titles, with writers Brian Michael Bendis and Dan Slott respectively putting an incredible amount of energy into two very long-running books which should by rights have become stale and repetitive by now. But while Peter is fully established and one of the most powerful, recognisable personalities to be found anywhere in comics; Miles is still new and relatively untested as a character. While Ultimate Spider-Man is a well-written book, Miles has only been the star for a few months and the pacing is glacial.

In a few years we’ll probably be able to look back and view Miles as a character with a rich history (well, let’s hope so!) but at the moment of writing, he’s neither punched an eight-limbed astigmatic nor hit the jackpot.

Which is why Spider-Men is a smart idea for Marvel. Bendis is in charge of the entire storyline – rather obviously, given his affinity for Spiders both Peter and Miles – and has five issues to bring the two characters across universes, and into sight (and fists) of each other. And it’s probably one of the freshest, most energetic and fun takes on superheroics that I’ve read in ages.  The story is so by-the-numbers that I could already likely tell you what happens in each of the following four issues, and guess at least three of the cliffhangers – but the characterisation is invigorating, the pacing fast, and the concept strong.

Peter takes most of the attention in this first issue, with Bendis finally getting his chance to do some solo work with the character. He’s clearly been wanting to write about the Amazing Spider-Man for years now, adding him to various Avengers teams and contributing short stories whenever a new anthology or anniversary issue comes out. He’s funny here, although there are still very strong reminders why Bendis’ version of the Amazing Spider-Man is widely hated by everyone who has to spend more than five minutes with him. The jokes tend to work, although sometimes they grate extensively. When Bendis treats this as a throwaway, fun story, which isn’t *important* but is widely entertaining, he is at his best. There’s a rare sense of freedom in the story, which is probably because the Ultimate Universe is still an alterable playground for writers. 

It feels a lot like artist Sara Pichelli has loosened up Bendis’ writing over the past few months working with him, with her layouts allowing the book to look structurally like some of the classic Stan Lee stories, but with updated art and lush colours from Justin Ponsor. Pichelli has to spend a lot of time with a character who is relatively new to her here, and it would’ve been easy for her to give Peter the body-type and language of his predecessor. She doesn’t so that. Peter is reconfigured to look bigger, bulkier; and he moves with more swagger and confidence than Ultimate Peter ever did.

While Bendis’ script is solid, there are several moments – especially during a scene midway through – which would’ve crashed without someone as flexible as Pichelli to handle them. Her decision to stick rigidly to a panel layout means that the fight scenes can sometimes feel a little like a progression of moves, instead of a fluid, flowing fight, however. Her refusal to break between panels does slow things a little. But it’s more than made up for through her actual fight choreography, which rolls across slowly and allows readers the cha

Greg Rucka’s novel Alpha has just come out, and it’s the debut of a whole new thriller series for him. To promote it, he’s doing the rounds, including a chat with Brian Michael Bendis for publisher Mulholland Books. You really need to read the whole thing. It’s quite a relaxed and candid conversation:

BMB: Or just the entitlement. I’m here now. Congratulations to you—I’m here. We’ve now been in it long enough now to where we see people come and go. We’ve seen the crash and burn, and you can see the crash and burn coming down the street. The only thing shocking thing about it now is that it used to take a two year solid arc of crash and burn, right? Now it’s eight months and you’re out. With all this entitlement, sometimes our names are brought up in it. Why do they get this? Without any self-awareness of how obnoxious it is and stuff like that. But it’s fascinating to see. Whatever road we’re on is littered with the corpses of entitlement.

GR: That entitlement factor I think—you and I work very differently. I think one of the things that we recognize in each other, really from the first time we met—I remember when you came to Portland—you and I have always taken the craft very seriously. I sometimes feel in my more darker and self-aware moments, I wonder if I put too much stock in that faith in craft. But at the end of the day, it’s all I got because it’s the only thing you can control.

BRB: How do you monetize it?

GR: I have no idea. It’s totally unfamiliar territory to me, and honestly, as a writer, I’ve always been sort of dangerously uninformed about the business side of things. I understand contracting and I understand the sales. But I don’t tend to follow it and I don’t tend to track it on my own work, certainly, and, in this instance, we’re all sort of figuring this out as we go. How are we going to do this? What’s it going to look like? How are we going to fund the trade? How are we going to sell the trade? Do we go to a publisher and say, hey, would you like to publish this trade? Or do we sell it on a website first, sell it by hand at shows? There’s a piece of me that wants to do that, just wants to let it be what it is. I don’t want to try to turn it into something else, if that makes sense. Right now it’s our indie-Webcomic-pulp-serial-let’s-have-some-fun-with-it thing, and I don’t want to try to make it into something that it’s not. It should be a form of entertainment and pretty and joyful and fun. And in the main it’s free. If people would turn around and give us some money for ancillary things, that would be great. We launched in July of last year. I’m hoping by July of this year we’ll be able to offer things that people will buy that we’ll be able to return to the investment that we put into it. But nobody’s looking to get rich off this.

BMB: I’m curious of the business m

4 Comments on Rucka and Bendis sitting around rapping, last added: 5/25/2012

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Synsidar said, on 5/23/2012 10:46:00 AM

Who all were responsible for not noticing that Bendis’s initials were repeatedly misspelled as “BRB” in part two of the interview?

SRS

Torsten Adair said, on 5/23/2012 4:23:00 PM

More wisdom:
http://io9.com/5912366/why-i-write-strong-female-characters

joe.distort said, on 5/24/2012 12:03:00 PM

i absolutely cannot stand bendis’ writing or his normal comics-media interview style/tone, but it appears that when removed from those two things, i actually like hearing what he has to say. weirdness.

Clint Hollingsworth said, on 5/25/2012 9:22:00 AM

If anyone’s interested, there is a boatload of searchable webcomic biz in for at http://www.webcomics.com. It is, however, a subscription site…

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