Marvel NOW! Teasers: ‘XX’ Revealed As A New Series, Plus New Artists & Story Arcs!

Okay. Everyone knows that Marvel is loving their teasers lately. And by lately I mean for the last few years. With the Marvel ReEvolution and Marvel NOW! happening as we speak, the teasers have been coming at us pretty hard for the last few months. This latest round introduced some new books, as well as some creative changes to ongoing series. Usually we cover stuff like this in Comic Rack, but with the amount of info we’ve been getting it gets upgraded to it’s own incredibly well written post!

Comic Rack: All New X-Force, Possible Return Of Marvelman, & Captain America Is Elected President?

Welcome to Comic Rack! My pick of the top five comic news stories in no particular order…

Iron Man Gets New Armor.

via [Newsarama]

Frankly this shouldn’t surprise anyone. Iron Man gets a new armor every other week. That dude is constantly fiddling with his armor, always looking to improve or maintain it in some new way. He’s like that kid you knew in school, who kept modifying his toy models, or appliances, until they barely even resembled what they were anymore. Sure man, you added a series of remote-controlled LEDs, spring-loaded shelves, touch sensitive paneling, and an automatic motion sensor, but goddamnit it’s just a TV, now every time I walk by it turns on at max volume, the shelves fly out and I get hit in the calves. Did anyone else know that kid? Do you know what I mean? No? Right. Well regardless, his “new” armor, doesn’t really look that new.

It looks like a bigger, dumber version of his Hulkbuster armor. And we all know how successful that was at busting Hulks. Wait, what’s that? How many Hulks did he bust? Zero? Zero Hulks busted? C’mon Stark, get it together! Stop putzing around with your armor and get your head in the game! I WANT THOSE HULKS BUSTED NOW.

Cerebus Possibly Being Re-printed By Fantagraphics?

via [ComicsAlliance]

When you tell people about Cerebus, it’s one of those things you almost don’t believe. A guy wrote a parody fantasy epic, about an Aardvark, that becomes an example of a fantasy epic that it’s parodying, spirals into a societal and political satire, mutates into an insane polemic, and eventually becomes a document of its own author literally going insane, writing and drawing his own mad ravings into a published comic? So when people tell me they want to read it, I tell them that not only is it all of those things, but it’s incredibly LONG. How long? 300 issues, 6000 pages long. It’s a daunting task to try to read it, and even if you had the will, the books are hare to find, because there’s 13 of them. Even if you did feel like reading the slow, steady descent into madness by a comics writer/artist, you’d be hard pressed to find all 13 for the complete story.

Which is why it’s interesting to hear that Fantagraphics, a publisher long known for their brilliant, eclectic line up of independent comics, has been trying to get Dave Sim to commit to letting it be repackaged and republished. He’s being non-committal at the moment, but seems to be going back and forth on letting it happen, or never allowing it ever. Fantagraphics wants to republish it, hopefully in an attempt to get it into a form that’s a bit more manageable than 13 goddamn thick ass books you could kill a small dog with. If you haven’t read Cerebus, I don’t blame you. It’s dense, it’s weird, and towards the middle it’ll almost definitely offend in one way or another, but if you like insane ideas, concepts, and insane polemic stories that revolve around an animated Aardvark, I suggest you track it down.

Captain America, Our New President!

via [Newsarama]

Yes that’s right. Captain America has been elected into office. Why? I’m not sure exactly, but Sam Humphries, the writer of The Ultimates, has said this:

“Captain America is not going to behave like any other president behaves… He takes the oath of office and barely takes a breath as he goes to hot spots. . . . Cap is out there because he’s so concerned about the state of the Union that he doesn’t have time to think about the State of the Union.”

Which is a statement that the more I read, the less sense it makes. Cap is so worried about us, he can’t worry about us? What kind of backwards motivational logic is that? In no way am I trying to slam Cap. In fact, I think his character is one of the best, and his sense of non-jingoistic, true patriotism, love for civil freedom and all of the things that America should stand for, but currently doesn’t, are what make his character great. In a real life situation, of course I’d elect a man like Steve Rogers for president, but unfortunately, men like him don’t exist. It’s fitting that something like this would only happen in a comic book, because it’s just as realistic as shooting lasers out of your eyes, or having adamantium bones. I have no doubt that Cap will be the president the marvel universe needs, rather than the president the marvel universe deserves, (everything can go back to Batman, FYI), but the thought in and of itself, in a vacuum, is quite humorous. What is he gonna throw his shield around when discussing foreign policy with a bunch of diplomats? Punch a skrull in the face hard enough that Health Care Reform happens?

Plus, Mr. President America doesn’t have the same ring to it, if we’re going by military rank.

Scoot’s Marvel Mashup!

Supascoot, here, I’m jacking some of CheeeeEEEEEeeesssse’s space because I am sickened by his disdain for Marvel and feel the need to represent a little bit. There, I said it. Now I apologize for my aggressive behavior as it’s very un-Canadian of me. Where was I? Right, Marvel stuff. Pretty much all the teasers Cheesebadger told you about last week are explained here. By me.

Cable makes his triumphant return along with a brand new X-Force written by Dennis Hopeless with art by Salvador Larocca and Frank D’Armata. I have always loved Cable, and by extension X-Force. This is good news. And an interesting lineup for the team. Domino (An X-Force Alum) Colossus (De-Juggernauted), and Doctor Nemesis (From the X-Club). It was also the WANTED teaser that was released last week. This makes me assume they are wanted for some reason. They will be hunted by the Uncanny Avengers, who are actually led by Cable’s uncle, Havok.. You gotta love time travel. Would you like to know more?

So what’s to come of Uncanny X-Force? Remender is moving on from the title and a new creative team and story is on its way. Sam Humphries and artist Ron Garney will be bringing us Psylocke and her team of ‘killers’ (yes, this was the KILLERS teaser released last week) in a story that takes place 6 month’s after the end of Remender’s run. On the team will be Storm (not a killer), Puck (Alpha Flight… not a killer), and Spiral (from any tale involving Mojo or Longshot. She’s a killer) with a few additions in the future. It also features the return of Bishop as the villain of the book. Would you like to know more?

Another series by Hopeless and artist Kev Walker will be Avengers Arena. Originally presented as the SURVIVE teaser last week, Avengers Arena is basically Battle Royale with Avenger’s Academy, The Runaways, Darkhawk and more all flung together on Arcade’s Murder island. Sound’s awesome right? Even better? The cover is a homage to Battle Royale, so you can put your nerd claws away and stop telling people they stole the idea. Would you like to know more?

And finally, the LIGHTNING teaser from last week which Badger thought was Punisher and I thought was the Thunderbolts turns out to be… a team of Thunderbolts that feature the Punisher. Put together by the Red Hulk, it also features Elektra, Venom, Deadpool, and a few more to be announced when the issues drop. This sounds like a great team book full of death. Written by Daniel Way with art by Steve Dillon, the team will be, well killing stuff I would assume. Lot’s of stuff. I can’t wait. Check out that cover. Would you like to know more?

That does it for me. You can have your article back now.

Thanks Scoot, but you forgot one teaser. In fact, it’s potentially the most important one of all:

The Return Of MarvelMan?!

Another in a series of teasers for Marvel NOW!, this one is a bit more current. The word on the street, so to speak, was that it was hinting at the return of the fabled Marvelman/Miracleman character. For those unfamiliar, Marvelman was a superhero that had some brilliant stories written by both Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, and for reasons I don’t entirely understand, has been stuck in legal limbo, unable to be re-published for all to enjoy again and again. Issues of the original run are hard to find, and some can be costly, so the thought of bringing back his character, either into the current Marvel Universe, or simply just releasing a trade collection of those seminal Moore/Gaiman stories, would be AMAZING. Unfortunately, that may not be the case, and the teaser is probably having to do with Spider-Man. Current writer Dan Slott has said that what he’s planning to do for Spider-Man #700, will be referred to as the “Most Shocking Book Of 2012”. Considering the teaser, it’s release date of January, which lines up with the time Spider-Man #700 will be coming out, it’s most likely gonna be goddamned Spider-Man. I know, it’s not popular to dislike Spider-Man, but I just find him so uninteresting lately. I liked him a lot when I was younger, so maybe he’s a superhero geared towards the young? Maybe I am just some terrible asshole hater? Either way, if this teaser turns out to be Marvelman, I’d be happy.

I’m gonna copy Scoot’s weird, Starship Troopers/Propagandistic thing here, and say; Would you like to know more?

Comic Rack: Avengers Lineup Grows, Marvel NOW Teasers Baffle Me, & Superman’s H’el on Earth

Welcome to Comic Rack! My pick of the top five comic news stories in no particular order…

DC New 52 Resets All First Appearances

For a while now, fans have been asking DC just exactly what the new timeline in the NewDCu is, and how it’ll directly unfold. This month, a bevy of “Zero” issues came out, all meant to explain, or give origins to the current DC lineup. Included in these issues is a series of “Who’s Who” listings, giving out character information, backstories, and of course, listing their first appearances. Way back when, for Superman, this would have said Action Comics #1, it now lists Justice League #1 (2011).

via [The Source]

[This] marks the release of the first week of DC Comics’ #0 issues. Each of these special issues is filled with everything from secrets to revelations to origin stories. These will both explain what happened before the launch of DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 last summer, as well as plant seeds for future story arcs!

If you’ve already picked up your #0 issues today, you’ve probably noticed that in the back of each book (and now online!) is a Who’s Who entry on a major character in DC COMICS-THE NEW 52. These pages share information such as each character’s first appearance, base of operations, powers, history, and other appearances. Below, check out the list of which character is being spotlighted on each of this week’s releases and be sure to click on their names to read up on who they are!

via [Newsarama]

DC Comics has a new take on their classic “Who’s Who” listings, giving basic details on their characters, teams and concepts. Power Sets, basic origin stories, current affiliations and recent appearances are all included, as they were in the old “Who’s Who” sets. For example, Superman’s entry in Action Comics #0 looks like this:

First Appearance:

Justice League #1 (2011)

Base of Operations:

Metropolis

Powers:

Under a yellow sun Superman is extraordinarily strong in addition to being nearly invulnerable. He can run and fly at incredible speeds and possesses other abilities such as super-hearing, heat vision, x-ray vision, and much more!

Other Appearances:

Batman: The Dark Knight #5-7

Swamp Thing #1

Supergirl #1-3

O.M.A.C. #7

History:

As the planet Krypton exploded and a civilization died, baby Kal-El was rocketed to safety by his parents…

Well, at least they’re committed to going whole hog, and saying that yep, they’re all brand new, and their first appearances were in the books we labeled as #1. Deal with it. I know there’s probably still some old DC fans out there who are hurt, or feel betrayed, or just plain don’t like the New 52. Frankly, I think they ought just get used to it, or keep reading their old stuff. Clearly the New 52 is here to stay, and we just have to hope that everything can be as interesting and cool as Animal Man, Swamp Thing, or Batman.

New Avengers Lineup Grows In Numbers!

Marvel NOW! expands the roster of the Avengers, as lead scribe Jonathan Hickman teases Marvel fans with the full list of Avengers. When will they assemble? WHEN?

via [Newsarama]

Three interlocking covers for Avengers #1-#3 show all six of the movie Avengers — Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye — plus Brian Michael Bendis-era additions Spider-Man, Wolverine and Spider-Woman; along with frequent team members Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) and Falcon.

New to the squad is Cannonball of the New Mutants, along with two unconfirmed characters: One that looks Human Torch-esque (Johnny Storm? Jim Hammond? Or perhaps a slightly tweaked look for Cannonball’s New Mutant buddy Sunspot? [This has since been confirmed]) and a shadowed figure between Captain America and Captain Marvel likely intended to remain a mystery for now (though feel free to speculate — the chest symbols bring to mind Ikaris of the Eternals, maybe?)

In a July interview with Newsarama, Avengers editor Tom Brevoort said that by issue #12 of the relaunched Avengers, the team has an “an active roster of about 18,” indicating that there are around four more members to come not seen in this image. Upon the original announcement of Marvel NOW! two months ago, Entertainment Weekly reported that Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, would be on the team.

Dustin Weaver, who is scheduled to draw an upcoming Avengers arc, illustrated all three covers. Current Fantastic Four and FF writer Jonathan Hickman is launching the new twice-monthly Avengers series in December, and New Avengers with artist Steve Epting in January.

Update: Jonathan Hickman has commented on the covers on Twitter, writing, “Image released today is not the complete roster, we intentionally left off new characters for spoiler reasons.” and “And the roster starts at 18, grows to more.” In later tweets, he disclosed that there are eight more members still to come.

I love Jonathan Hickman. He’s an amazing writer, and one of my favorites of all time. I think his work elevates the medium to heights it’s never been, and captures ideas, concepts and thoughts that utterly fascinate and baffle me in turn. So I’m very conflicted on his tenure at Marvel, because he IS writing great Superhero stories, man, I’d rather he work on his independent, original work. In my opinion it’s more important, in every sense. That’s not to say that his Marvel work isn’t important, I just really REALLY like his original work, and crave it day and night like heroin. Yummy heroin.

Marvel Releases A Series Of New Marvel NOW! Related Teasers

To promote new books, sometimes they’ll pop a teaser ad in the middle of a book that’s popular. It’s a quick way to get people talking and speculating, and it generally creates a buzz for the project, and what it could be. Go on and click each one of the teasers for links back to Newsarama, where people much more knowledgeable than I, give far better analysis and guesses as to their meaning.

Teasers via [Newsarama]

Holy crap there’s a writer whose pen name is HOPELESS? I don’t know if that’s foreboding, ominous, or just badass. Probably all three. Who do I think this teaser is for? I’ve no clue actually. I’ll take a guess and say… Ant-Man? Yep. Ant-Man. Ahem.

People think this one is Deadpool, from the red crosshairs, and they’d have a solid point. An astute reader connect Lightning>Thunder, and come up with Thunderbolts. Who may be persecuted, and thusly have a target on their heads? Since they’re villains? Maybe Deadpool is gonna fight them? In a cage? On fire? During a storm? Brb, writing awesome superhero cage match fanfic.

These two are allegedly linked to the same project, so they’re going together. On my gut instinct alone, this makes me think Punisher. I know folks think that the Lightning one is for Punisher [EDITORS NOTE: My thoughts are of the Thunderbolts for this one], but the words WANTED and KILLER(s) make me think of ol’ Frank. The only thing throwing me off is the plural of KILLERS, so chances are I’m probably wrong.

So while all of my speculation is probably wrong, I’m allowed to dammit. You should go check out each teaser’s article over at Newsarama, if you’re putting money down on this sort of thing. Also, go see someone for your gambling problem.

Geoff Johns Talks About New Arab-American Green Lantern’s Creation.

Considering today is a very important day, I found this interview enlightening and relevant. I think the choice made here to portray an Arab-American by Geoff Johns is gutsy, but bold. It’s also notable that we get just a quick snippet of background history for Baz, who so far we know very little about.

via [SpeakEasy]

Did 9/11 inspire you to introduce a Arab-Muslim character, considering that it plays an important part of Simon Baz’ life?

When we re-launched our universe last year, diversity was a very important of the thinking when introducing characters. When I thought of the story, I had to introduce a new character into the “Green Latern” Corps. There was a lot of thought about his background, and that’s when I came up with the Arab-American “Green Lantern.”

What parts of your own life did you use when creating Baz?

My father is Lebanese so I have some of the cultural experience. I also worked with the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn on the script to make sure it had the authenticity of an Arab-American.

An Arab protagonist seems timely since there is this swirl of social issues that Muslims in post 9/11 America have to deal with.

True. As fantastic as the concept of “Green Lantern” is of an intergalactic police force, the comic has had a history of grounding in the now and dealing with modern characters and concepts and Simon Baz is that. I wanted to create a character that everyday Americans have to deal with.

When 9/11 hit, he was 10-years-old. His family was devastated, just like every other American. He’s grown up in that world. It’s just part of the daily life, the new normal.

The fact that the color green has a historical connection with Islam is probably coincidental but will religion play any part in future stories?

The background is in the DNA of who he is but it doesn’t define who he is. It’s more about a compelling character than anything else.

Geoff Johns is a writer you either love or hate. I’ve heard plenty of hate for him from friends, in real life and on the internet. Fortunately, I love him, and his work. I think he makes great, fun to read, yet not retardedly simple popcorn comics. He’s exactly the kind of guy I think should be working on superhero titles, rather than the Hickman’s of the world. This character he’s created, is a potentially risky step in a good direction, and follows through with the theme of diversity that DC execs touted at the beginning of the reboot of the DCU. I look forward to seeing the new stories with Baz, and hope his lineage, faith, and back story are written respectfully and tastefully by Johns, and any other who will be handling this character. It’s a great opportunity to reach out to the large muslim comics audience that’s out there, who I’m sure are craving some representation on the page.

New Writer For Superman, Introduces New Kryptonian Villain!

Even if it was hell for George Perez, his run on Superman was pretty goddamned boring. So boring, I stopped reading it. Being a big fan of Supes, I’ve been looking for a good point to jump back in, and start reading good Superman stories again. Hearing about a new Kryptonian villain, definitely sounds like the main foundation for the building blocks of a great Superman story.

via [Newsarama]

 Lobdell — already one of the most prolific writers at DC — will take over the Superman title, launching the second year of the iconic hero’s New 52 story with a new villainous threat.

Working with Kenneth Rocafort on art, Lobdell will start his run with this month’s Superman #0, then will take the title into November’s “H’el on Earth” event with Supergirl andSuperboy. The three “Super” characters will deal with a new Kryptonian supervillain named H’el, which Lobdell is introducing.

They then go on to conduct a LONG interview with Lobdell, who goes into detail about his plans, Superman, and what’s coming in store for him come issue #14, with the introduction of H’el. Here’s a choice snippet from the interview:

“Nrama: The “H’el on Earth” storyline that we’re seeing in the Super-books in November features what appears to be a new villain, but he’s got a Bizarro look about him. Is H’el a new take on Bizarro, or something new that you guys created for this story?

Lobdell: In my effort to re-imagine Superman’s villains, I went so far afield in re-imagining Bizarro with Kenneth, that editorial started saying “Um, Scott — this character is so not-Bizarro any more; he’s a whole new character, with new motivation, new history, new look, new origin.  You’re at the point where it doesn’t make any sense to call him Bizarro any more.”

And they were right.  

And for everyone who wonders about the “S” on his chest? It is so far removed from Bizarro or Prime or anyone else that you can relax: By the time this story is over, you’ll see that H’el and Bizarro can exist in the same world.”

You should go and read the whole thing over at Newsarama, because it’s fascinating, and worth the read.

Comic Rack: The Spider-Men Are Revealed, Archie vs Kiss, and Marvel Teasers!

Welcome to Comic Rack! My pick of the top five comic news stories in no particular order.