From Zero To Zero

Avengers: The Initiative was a very promising series. Even during the crossover World War Hulk, the story stayed confined to the main characters, young kids in training to be full-blown Avengers. But now the series fluctuates its attention every panel or so, and there has been really no main focus other than the derailment caused by the Secret Invasion crossover, where new characters were introduced and given far too much attention.

The one mystery that was still interesting and present was that of Mutant Zero, the unknown mutant who was on a black ops hero team. Now, originally we were teased with the notion that this was a former main X-Man, one that non-comic people would recognize. But in the recent issue (#20) of Initiative, Mutant Zero was revealed to be Typhoid Mary, a Daredevil villain. That is pretty weak, mainly because the title is already saturated with B to Z list characters.

I love Marvel because there are so many characters, but that’s its biggest weakness, too. With so much “having” to be addressed, any sort of narrative is tossed to the wind. I expect that from mainstream comics, but not from individual series. When I can’t have more than 6 issues of consistent story and characters, I wonder why am I even reading these sorts of comics. I’m wondering that now.

When It Reigns It Pours

Secret Invasion ended last week. I wish there was more to say about it than that, but that’s pretty much what happened. It ended abruptly, Wasp died, and then we quickly got away from that Skrull nonsense and jumped into Dark Reign mode, the next Marvel cross-title gimmick.

We should be used to this by now - the massive build up into the crossover and the quick deflation, which happened with House of M, Civil War and World War Hulk. And we should also be used to the way a new status quo is set.

Now this is probably due to Bendis’ style of writing, throwing several characters together and seeing what happens. But what we are continually seeing is another team or sets of teams thrown together, pulled by their respective stories and redefining Marvel due to the new situations they get thrust into. Of course that’s what always happens, I guess, but let’s look at the Illuminati, the New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Secret Warriors and now the Dark Reign team. These groups are just cobbled together for invented reasons, so that random and now important characters can bounce off of each other. Read the rest of this entry »

I think I misjudged this series earlier. I mean, it’s understandable when the comics was promoted as an Ape version of the Marvel Universe and that was it. But the series was actually a lot better than that initial gimmick.

See, what this series did was present an initial premise and then after a second issue, sort of toss that premise out of the window. The Apes were still there, but the comic was redefined with the inclusion of vampires and alternate events, including an original character not found in mainstream Marvel. With a limited miniseries, the writer needs to realize there are no holds barred. They need to do as much with the series as they can, and if that means dropping, downplaying or subverting the gimmick they’ve already put forward, then so be it.

Marvel Apes was sort of cartoony, sure, but I think had this had Alex Ross art, people would see that this was a great book that was quite deeper than many people could give it credit.

Would I sound like a weirdo if I said Marvel Zombies 3 was more succulent than the flesh of a scared teenager? Probably. That’s why I’m saying Marvel Zombies 3 is as good as the original and defiantly better than the sequel, instead.

The main story focuses on the invasion of the Marvel Zombies from their universe to the mainstream Marvel Universe (616). This is a cool premise because the zombie characters can meet their non-zombie counterparts, basically because again, that battle would be really cool. I mean, honestly, this series is about fanboy crazy fun, not serious or emotional brooding found in many comics today. There is no point to this series other than plain fun (which the sequel kind of forgot), which means the writer has license to do whatever will make the fan happy.

This first issue is a fun start to the series, introducing an awesome super hero team just so they can get eaten, and also throwing in random and bizarre aspects of recent and past Marvel history - like S.W.O.R.D., Project Lightning Storm, and the Nexus of Realities. Morbius hasn’t made a cameo in awhile, and after learning about Iron Man’s past story arcs, I find it neat that Jocasta is back. I love Warren Ellis’ version of Machine Man, but Marvel Editorial seems to frown on other writers portraying the robot similar to Futurama’s Bender, so maybe the fun character we expect won’t show, but that’s not a big deal. Seeing zombie Deadpool makes up for everything this issue could have possibly lacked!

This is the perfect series for someone who wants comics to be funny. Check this out, even if you haven’t read the other volumes.

That’s right, True Beleivers! Never since the team up of Spider-man and the cast of SNL has a blatant marketing scheme been brilliant comic genius. Stephen Colbert of the popular Colbert Report will be swinging with Spidey in Amazing Spider-man #573.

For awhile Marvel has stated Colbert was a candidate for the presidency in the Marvel Universe, but besides some background Easter eggs this was not anything major. Hopefully now we’ll see Colbert in a more prominent role in Marvel.

Mark Waid, one of the issue’s writers and comics legend, spoke to me about the project:

“It was a blast to write–the best note I ever got on a script was from the Colbert camp, who said simply “We’re having a nerd-gasm!” and asked for zero changes! So, apparently, if you love Colbert as much as I do, we nailed it!”

Pick up this title if you love America!

Daniel Shows Us The Way!

I was skeptical. Fabian Nicieza really defined the character and brought him to the zany, fourth dimensional limits we all have come to expect from this character. Daniel Way’s run of Wolverine: Origins was lackluster, having what seemed like a single fight taking five issues.

I read those Wolverine issues, and I swear that this Deadpool is almost from a different writer. This new Deadpool is on par with Nicieza’s. What I mean is Way’s previous Deadpool read like watered down Nicieza, almost what Way thought Deadpool should be written like. But this Deadpool from the new Secret Invasion tied-in series is brand new and rustic old.

If you are a fan of Deadpool, I highly recommend this continuation. This series was always one that recognized the craziness of comics, and having a reality check from time to time again is essential for us nerds. Plus, reality checks are always best accompanied by big guns and pop culture references.

Marvel’s Monkey Business

No seriously, what where they thinking? There is a lot to be said for premise based writing - pitching a concept or gimmick and running with it, fleshing out the story and plot as you go. Many comic projects begin with the premise - Captain America fights so and so, etc. But this premise?

Marvel Apes is clearly following the success of the alternate universe stories of Marvel Zombies. But the stark difference between these series is not the cheap gimmick - the heroes as X. No, the main difference is that Marvel Zombies was done, dare I say, more artfully? Read the rest of this entry »

Marvel’s big secret has been unveiled - I think. The black-and-white image I previously posted will deal with Marvel’s upcoming Dark Reign branding stories. Basically, titles will have “Dark Reign” printed on the cover and they will deal with this new phase of the Marvel Universe.

Personally, this isn’t as exciting an announcement as I thought it’d be. We don’t really know what Dark Reign is, and the other two mysterious ads in comics recently were not linked to this event. I think the biggest news was Bendis’ stating he’s finished with Mighty Avengers after issue 20.

Regardless, I hope Dark Reign or whatever the conclusion of Secret Invasion is called will bring some slower pace to the Marvel Universe and allow stories to be told for awhile without being hijacked for crossovers.

For the past few months Marvel has been running black and white ads of mysterious characters holding guns in several of their titles. There are no words or indication as to what this campaign is marketing, and the internet has been begging for answers. However, tonight we may find out what’s going on.

Marvel released a press release and image today:

“What is this mysterious image? Learn the answers to this and many more exciting 2009 plans as Marvel makes their jaw-dropping presentation at the Diamond Retailer Summit tonight. And check Tuesday for in-depth interviews on all of the major announcements being made!”

So far there have been little actual hints as to what this project might be, or who the characters involved are. I could be these are new characters, or new interpretations of old characters. The ads give a noir feel to this mystery, so it’s possible we are looking at a super human crime thriller? Your guess is as good as mine, at least until tonight.