News From Around The Comic World

If you weren't paying attention, you probably missed a lot of small, but important news, interviews or previews from this past week. I'm just going to go through a short 'link post' with general summaries of what to look for from those links. Yes, this is a lazy post that tries to cover the fact I had nothing else to really talk about today. Hit the jump for the full run down.

First up, Guardians of the Galaxy was announced by Marvel with an exclusive cover preview over at IGN Comics. It features some spoilers on who survives Annihilation Conquest, but it's well worth checking out. The cover is absolutely gorgeous and the book will be done by the current Nova team of Abbnett and Lanning. Score.


Next on deck, again from IGN Comics, Secret Invasion covers and solicits, along with a brief interview, about the upcoming Skrull infestation. It reveals some of the cash-ins tie-ins and poses some more speculation about who is and isn't a Skrull in the Marvel Universe.


Warren Ellis took time out of his busy, and oh, so late, shipping schedule to put out a free webcomic called Freak Angels. The art is quite nice and the story, of what little was in the six page debut, was pretty interesting. From what I understand, this will be released online first and eventually put out in paper form. It'll be interesting to see how this affects the sales of the book and I could see a lot of future comics, especially indie ones, using this format. Much cheaper than a full print run that may or may not sell and it should generate a lot of press with a free online comic.


Newsarama, and I assume other sites, posted the DC solicits for May. Just a bunch of solicits, no big deal, right? Well, May just happens to be the month Final Crisis debuts and the cover that accompanies it is rather...odd for a major event. It features a beautiful Jones' pencilled Green Lantern cover and the entire cover is washed in the green radiating from his ring. It's not that I dislike Green Lantern. Quite the opposite, especially with how great his comic has been of late, but for DC to use GL as the poster boy for this major event's first cover over a Superman, Batman or JLA style cover speaks volumes and actually has me more interested in the event than I was before. It just screams this won't be the atypical DC event and that's a good thing.


Speaking of Final Crisis, my brother sent me a couple links to Funny Book Babylon, a comic book blog, that featured some very interesting articles concerning Grant Morrison that could shed some light on what he has planned for Final Crisis. The posts are about a month old, but still very well thought out and draw on a lot of past interviews and comments by Grant Morrison. If you're interested in a good read about Morrison or possibly some incites into FC, I recommend you check these links out.

Hits Off The Source, Part One: Kirby, Evil and the Invisibles
Hits Off The Source, Part Two: Hyper-Crimes in Hyper-Time with Superboyman-Prime


The new X-Force debuted this week and Comic Book Resources posted an entertaining read in the form of a commentary track with Yost & Kyle, the writers of the book. They walk us through each page of the book and if you read the book, I'm sure you'll enjoy this follow up with the creative team.


Not quite a news item, but over at mike's progressive ruin, mike posted a hilarious take on Aqualad from Teen Titans: Year One #2. It's technically from about a week ago, but still relevant, especially for any H.P. Lovecraft fans.


If comic book wallpapers are your thing, Nerd Rage Report has been posting a series of wallpapers over the past month. I'm actually using one of the Batman images as my current wallpaper. There are a couple of neat Hydra and SHIELD logo wallpapers as well that I downloaded for future reference.


Finally, Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker are teaming up again for a collaboration on a Daredevil arc. Not sure if I should be happy about this or not. I believe Brubaker's Gotham Central arcs were stronger than Rucka's, but I also think Brubaker has been faltering on Daredevil ever since his stunning first arc. It's still a great book, but maybe Rucka will be able to focus Bru's creative juices and keep the story on track.

As you can see, it was a busy week and I'm sure I missed some things. Hopefully something I list here enlightens someone that might have missed a random story or post around the comic world. Enjoy your weekend guys, I'm off to watch some hockey, eh.

Click Here to Read More!

Marvel Didn't Cancel The Order..

But it's still ending. If Marvel didn't cancel it, why's it ending? Here's what Matt Fraction said in an interview I must have slept through when it showed up on Newsarama last week.

NRAMA: Do you have anything you'd like to say about the book's cancellation or future plans for the characters?

MF: That the book wasn't cancelled: I chose to end it. Marvel allowed me to choose to leave the stage, rather than to continue on in a state in which I felt was compromised and decidedly unawesome.

I don't think I was too clear about that on Word Balloon: it wasn't cancelled. I killed it. And if you're looking for the man that killed The Order, it was me.

Now watch, nobody's gonna read that and nobody's gonna care, because it's way more fun the other way. Oh well.

This still begs the question, why is the book ending? I assume sales have nothing to do with it now, although they were approaching cancellation levels. Was it because this was turning into a Nextwave thing where the book couldn't support Fraction and Kitson's salaries and Fraction didn't want to do the book with a different artist? Did he write himself into a corner or maybe wasn't enjoying the experience like he thought he would? Or was it simply he wanted to make room to do the recently announced Invincible Iron Man book with Salvador Larroca? I suppose this will bat around message boards for a few months like the first reason behind the cancellation until Fraction clarifies, yet again, why the book ended.

Click Here to Read More!

Return of Jean Grey? Let's Kill This Rumour Now

Comic Book Resources posted the pencils on the right of the above image while stating Marvel sent them it with a "Stay tuned..." note attached. Before the whole return of Jean Grey nonsense gets blown out of proportion, take a look at the side by side of the images above. The coloured one is from X-Men Legacy, which is a random cover showing past events of the X-Men. This new "teaser" is just the next cover in sequence based on how it matches up perfectly with the previous one.

So, don't get your pee hot over Marvel resurrecting Jean Grey. While it's still possible, this cover shouldn't hold any weight in that decision unless you think Emma Frost is going back to the Hellfire Club and the Brood are making a comeback (well, they kind of are in Ms. Marvel).

Click Here to Read More!

Marvel Zombies - The (fan) Movie

I came across this over at the Penny Arcade forums and thought I'd share it with everyone. It's a fan made trailer for a Marvel Zombies movie. It's got just the right amount of B-movie cheesiness a zombie movie requires and the creators did an excellent job with the costumes and makeup. Taking into consideration it's fan made, that Hulk and Spider-Man look amazing and they even got a decent looking actress to play Mary Jane. Stay tuned after the credits for Colonel America, who is probably an after thought by the creators, as he doesn't look quite as good as the Hulk and Spider-Man zombies.

Click Here to Read More!

Millar / McNiven Secret Project Revealed - Wolverine July '08

Back in September, Mark Millar made a post on his forums that he would be teaming up with Steve McNiven for an unnamed project in 2008. Today, Wizard Universe revealed in an interview with Millar that the project would be none other than Wolverine. The interview is quite informative and features some early artwork for the project and lists a July '08 start date.

This interview, coupled with the reveal it would be Wolverine, gives new meaning to many of the clues Millar originally gave about the project. I wasn't a big fan of Millar's first Wolverine run, Enemy of the State, but I'm willing to give this a shot.

Click Here to Read More!

Spider-Man: Brand New Villains

I came across this scan online and found it interesting and wanted to share with everyone. As I had either forgotten or not heard these details on future villains planned for Spider-Man in the Brand New Day era, it seemed like a good idea to throw a post together with my thoughts on it. There wasn't a source with it when I found it, but I think it's safe to assume it came from Wizard Magazine based on how it looks. You can check out the scan and see my thoughts on each of the villains after the jump.

Mr Negative was seen already and I really enjoyed his appearance in the first issue of BND this week.

Menace appears to be yet another goblin-like villain. Don't like to judge without reading, but I think the goblin well went dry a while back.

Deity sounds like everything I hated about JMS's run - a mystical, undefined power villain that has no business in a Spidey comic. Again, hate to pre-judge, but I don't see me liking this villain based on the description.

Screwball sounds like she could be a lot of fun, but when writers try to make characters funny instead of having them just be naturally funny, it can sometimes come off forced and cheesy. I'm looking forward to seeing her though and hope Slott is writing those issues.

Paper Doll sounds intriguing. I'm really digging her design and I'm curious about her powers and what Peter's mistake was.

Freak, who we saw in the homeless shelter this week, failed to impress me. I already hate his character and the image of his transformation is generic and uninspired. Might be skipping that month's issues.

As far as new villains go, it looks like most of these are better than the typical crop of bad guys. Will any ever enter Spidey's rogues gallery or are these one-shot villains to be forgotten come the first change in writers / status quo? Who, for those who haven't dropped the book, are you looking forward to seeing in future issues? Feel free to let me and everyone else know in the comments.

Click Here to Read More!

Merry Belated Christmas!

I meant to get a X-Mas post up earlier, but with friends, relatives and various trips to random parties, as well as a bit too much eggnog, I just never got around to it. Further compounding that was the 20+ cm of snow we got on Boxing Day. I actually just got my internet back earlier today.

So, while a tad late, Merry Christmas! Personally, I made off like a bandit this year. I took home Absolute Sandman Vol 1 & 2 and the Captain America Omnibus as my major presents. Sure, there were clothes and other crap, but, come on, comics are the only thing that matters.

I'm sure everyone else walked away with some sort of comic book related presents this year. Feel free to let everyone know in the comments. I'd love to hear what everyone else picked up. At the very least, it'll give me some ideas for year-end clearance or Boxing Day sales at my local comic shop.

Oh yeah, expect regular updates to pick up again now that the holidays are over. Just don't talk to me about One More Day. Finding my 360 red ringed and those atrocious OMD ending spoilers on Christmas Day just about ruined my Christmas.

Click Here to Read More!

Green Lantern Blackest Night - Black Lantern Revealed?

In most interviews, Johns and co have stated that the symbols on the rings are clues fans should be looking into. The biggest and most prominent ring would have to be the Black Lantern ring featured on the Blackest Night promo page at the end of Green Lantern #25. For long time GL readers, you should recognize this logo on the ring as that of Black Hand, the only other character that has featured prominently in Johns' run on the book, even being an instrumental part of the Rebirth series. More after the break.

First up, just for those wondering who or what Black Hand's logo is, here's a couple comparison shots of the Black Lantern ring and his chest logo.

Black Lantern Ring

Black Hand's Logo

Obviously, these two symbols are too similar to be a coincidence and here's some dialogue from Green Lantern #6 to further cement Black Hand as a Black Lantern. I doubt he's the big bad that inprisoned the Anti-Monitor though. Only person I can think of is Neron or some other omnipotent character.

Note the last couple panels of dialogue where Black Hand spouts off about death and it being his colour and the fade to black. In case it's hard to make out, Hal buries Black Hand alive (well, read Rebirth and GL #5-6 for the full story on his living status) in an open grave. The promo has the Black Lantern rings falling into a graveyard and a hand sticking out. The pinkish tint to the clenched hand popping out of the ground could be attributed to Black Hand's powers. Again, I'm still not sure who is ultimately responsible for these Black Lanterns, but it is obvious Black Hand is involved somehow.

Click Here to Read More!

Rumour - New X-Men Cancelled?

Marvel's solicitations for February 2008 were posted yesterday and with that came all the post-Messiah Complex X-titles. While there's a new title, X-Force, a few renamed, like X-Men to X-Men Legacy, and even a notification that Cable & Deadpool is cancelled, New X-Men was the only title conspicuous by its absence. Marvel confirmed the Cable & Deadpool cancellation and even solicited a Giant Sized Astonishing X-Men, which will more than likely end up delayed, but failed to neither confirm nor deny the continuation of New X-Men, arguably one of the best current X-titles, ranking up there with X-Factor.

Further adding to the mystery is an interview over at Comic Book Resources. During the X-Position: Week 25 interview, X-title editor Nick Lowe had this to say in response to CBR's questioning if New X-Men will be around post-MC.

We're definitely still in a wait-and-see mode, but I will say this - at least some of the kids are still around after the crossover.

Of note, none of the Feb 2008 solicits or covers depict any of the New X-Men, with the exception being X-23, who will be starring in X-Force. And if you add in the fact that current NXM writers, Yost and Kyle, will be writing said X-Force title, either way you cut it, it looks like NXM's days are numbered. Hopefully this ends up being a mistake or a case of missing solicitation information and not an actual cancellation, but, at this point in time, it doesn't look good for Marvel's young mutants.

Click Here to Read More!

Secret Invasion's Ending Revealed!

"Skrull - the other, other white meat."

Yes, as you can see above, I've been slipped the fake "top secret" ending to the upcoming Secret Invasion mega event from Marvel Comics. Apparently, all the fighting and replacing of Illuminati members was just a big misunderstanding and the Skrulls just want to live among us in peace.

Click Here to Read More!

iComics? Marvel Announces Online Comics

Newsarama is reporting that Marvel is planning to launch an online comics initiative later this week which, would potentially feature a launch with over 2500 comics, ranging from early comics, such Stan Lee era Amazing Spider-Man, to more recent offerings, like Young Avengers or House of M.

Personally, I think it's about damn time someone pulled their head out of the sand and realized the internet is the future. Sadly, I see this dying in the skunk hole with too little, too late at too high a price. Early reports have Marvel pricing these comics at $9.99 A MONTH. On top of that, they intend on only allowing you to view said comics online through either your web browser or a proprietary software you'll have to download. Thus, you will be paying for something you will never own and, once your month is up, you can never look at again without paying more money. More after the jump.

If this comes to pass, Marvel will have basically killed any chance of getting money from me and possibly have killed the online comics movement. Even at the lowest listed price of $4.99 / month, if you happen to purchase an annual subscription, I can't see me throwing money away at a non-existant product. What's wrong with using an iTunes like interface where I can download a comic for 99 cents or say a 6 issue trade for $4.99 or some cheaper alternative? They could easily package the comics with high resolution scans and allow users to download them and view with either a proprietary imaging software or something like ACDSee or CDisplay or any other of the millions of free image viewing softwares.

What say you fellow comic readers? Willing to fork out $9.99 a month for eye burning, computer screen viewing comics that you will never actually own, in digital or phsyical format? Would you prefer an iTunes style interface, like I described earlier in the post? Do you have a better alternative you think would work? I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts, so feel free to comment. No registration required, just post as anonymous if you like.

Click Here to Read More!

Free Online Issue of World of Warcraft #0

Next week sees the debut of the Walter Simonson penned World of Warcraft comic book. If the first preview pages from issue #1 didn't convince you, MTV Multiplayer has an exclusive, online-only, World of Warcraft #0 featured on their website.

As a recovering WoW addict, I'm definitely going to be picking the first issue up next week and this preview is worth a look if you have any interest in the game or even just a general interest in fantasy based stories. I know the amount of lore present in the Warcraft games has always been a huge draw for me and I'm looking forward to seeing if Simonson can channel any of the creative juice from his legendary Thor run into this similar fantasy based story.

So, anyone else picking this up next week? What did you think of the preview? Was it enough to convince you to take a chance on the first issue?

Click Here to Read More!

Is Thor Bulletproof?

A couple days ago, images surfaced from the upcoming Thor #4, which feature Thor standing all badass-like while a group of militants proceed to unload several clips of ammo into our favourite Norse God. Typically, Thor's been portrayed as the most powerful being in the Marvel Universe and JMS's version has been shown to be no slouch in that regard. After seeing said images I thought to myself, "Self, Thor sure did show those bullets who's boss." and proceeded to go about my daily business.

Little did I know that the many fans of Thor were in bitter turmoil as they divided into various camps. On one side are the Thor diehards claiming that JMS deserves to be fired for making Thor bulletproof. On the other are the Thor faithful that believe it is foolish for Thor, a nigh invulnerable God, to not be bulletproof. He's a God that's taken attacks and energy blasts from Celestials for crying out loud. How could he be felled by a single bullet? Read on to find out.

Seeing the battle lines drawn in the sand, I thought to myself again, "Self, WTF are they talking about?" and decided to look into the matter myself only to find out, much to my own surprise, that Thor is actually deathly allergic to bullets!

Apparently, Thor has almost always been portrayed as lacking in the anti-bullet invulnerability department. Don't believe me? Here's what former Avengers scribe and fountain of knowledge, Kurt Busiek, had to say about the matter.

By the way, I've now read through the run of THOR, THUNDERSTRIKE, JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY and AVENGERS, and feel I'm able to make a judgment on whether Thor's bulletproof. I haven't reread two of the THOR Annuals, since they seem to have been misfiled, and I haven't reread either EMPEROR DOOM or I WHOM THE GODS WOULD DESTROY, since I'll be getting to the GNs at the end of this whole mess. But I've read the vast bulk of Thor appearances, so it's unlikely that there are any surprises awaiting.

And to absolutely nobody's surprise, the conclusion I reach from the data is that he's not bulletproof. He doesn't act as if he's bulletproof, he doesn't talk as if he's bulletproof, and we've seen his skin cut by blades. He says guns can kill him, and I'll take him at his word.

THOR #480, the one time we see bullets bounce off him, turns out not to be part of any recent accumulation of evidence -- it's the one and only time that this happens, and much of the scene violates earlier-established stuff. He claims that bullets don't puncture Asgardian skin, though Hogun was shot.

He apparently survives a point-blank hit by an air-to-air missile, when he's been knocked for a loop by less in the past. This scene simply contradicts the vast bulk of the other evidence.

So here's how I handle contradictions:

When a contradiction arises, it should be resolved in the way that disturbs the overall pattern the least; the way that requires the least amount of retconning. To decide that the scene is correct requires us to take large chunks of plot out of earlier stories (Hogun doesn't get wounded, the Asgardians have no reason to be impressed by automatic weapons and use them to invade Hel, etc.). But to decide that the scene is slightly incorrect requires only two minor fixes:

1. When the plane fires at him, the scene is slightly misdrawn; what actually happens is the bullets all hit his armor, and the welts he's referring to are the welts caused by the impact of the bullets through the armor. Even such powerful gunfire can't do more than raise welts on Asgardian flesh through armor.
2. When the missile hits him, he's intending to dodge at the last moment, but appears not to make it. However, that scene, too is slightly misdrawn; he actually did make it and was far enough away from the explosion to escape unaffected.

Those two changes preserve the sweep of Thor history with the most minimal of adjustments; everything else can then stay the same.

Hope that satisfies everyone -- I know there are people out there who'd like him to be bulletproof, but I hope they'll at least see that I gave it a fair shot, weighing all the evidence and coming to a conclusion based on what's in the actual books.

And I never did find that panel of him being shot in the shoulder. Maybe I'll run across it in MARVEL TEAM-UP, or TWO-IN-ONE, or a guest-shot somewhere...

kurt

Clearly, JMS's resurrected Thor would be different from the typical portrayal of our favourite Norse God, but is making him bulletproof going too far? He's already removed the ye olde speech impediment, forever denying us any future "I would have words with thee!"'s.

Personally, I just found this way too random a story not to talk about. I just assumed Thor was bulletproof. He takes hits from the Hulk and blasts from Gods and Celestials and what have you. How could Random Thug #20383 kill the God of Thunder with a simple bullet?

I'm curious to see how everyone else weighs in on this. Did you know Thor wasn't bulletproof? Do you care if he is or isn't? Is JMS committing sacrilege or is this finally the proof of concept you needed in your quest to prove Thor was, indeed, bulletproof?

Click Here to Read More!

Mark Bagley Leaves Marvel For DC

I usually leave the news reporting to the big sites, but when Newsarama reports that Mark Bagley, one of my all time favourite artists, is jumping ship to DC sometime early next year, that's some serious sh-- that I've just got to comment on.

I honestly can't picture Bags doing anything but Marvel work. He's like John Romita Sr or Jr to me and it just seems sacrilegious to see him working for "the other guys". I have nothing against DC, of course, but Bagley's art has been the definitive Spider-Man for me ever since I started reading comics. I just can't see him doing anything outside of Marvel. More after the jump.

On the other hand, the comic nerd in me is pumped to see Bagley potentially returning to Batman (remember, he penciled the Spider-Man / Batman crossover) or some other high profile book. To be honest, I'd actually see him working well on Teen Titans, but the Newsarama story says he's leaving for something major. My best guess is he'll end up being put on the next big weekly comic from DC. With the huge lead time and Bagley's legendary speed (he put out an average of 15 issues a year for the past 5+ years) and talent, he would be a huge boon to any future weekly.

What's everyone else thoughts? Yeah? Nay? What would you like to see Bagley work on when he makes his way to DC? All I know is that I'm completely blown away and pretty much in shock over this. I'll probably pick up any book he ends up attached to, but will always miss him working on my favourite Marvel characters.

Click Here to Read More!

Possible Countdown Arena Matchups

If you picked up this month's Wizard you might have noticed a two page spread featuring the proposed match ups for the upcoming Countdown Arena. These are much different than the fan voting options from several months ago and Wizard doesn't make any effort to clear up whether these are their dream fights or actual fights in the upcoming series. Based on how I read the article, it seems like these are legit fights that Wizard is showing us. However, Wizard is fond of twisting the truth with stuff like this, so take these battles with a grain of salt.

That said, some notables featured are the Kingdom Come Green Lantern, 'Darkseid' Superman and even Watchmen's Rorshach. Heck, even Terry McGinnis from Batman Beyond makes an appearance in this spread. Check out a full sized version and list of who's who in the image after the jump.

Click for larger image.

If you're not up to snuff on your DC Elseworlds, here's a run down of all the match ups.

Kingdom Come Green Lanter VS Darkseid Superman

KC GL is obviously from Kingdom Come and features Alan Scott with a few extra years under his belt and he needs no power ring as he has integrated the lantern into his armour. The evil Superman in this battle is from Superman: The Dark Side, which featured a Kal-El who's rocket was diverted to and landed on Apokolips where he was raised by Darkseid.

Watchman's Rorschach VS Dark Knight Returns Batman

This one came out of no where. I thought Watchmen would be completely hands off. Seeing these two characters from genre defining stories facing off against each other should make quite the main event.

Red Rain Batman VS Red Son Superman

Shame to see two of my favourite Elseworlds characters have to face off against one another, but this should be an interesting battle as the vampire Batman will most likley be magical in nature and able to stand up against the world conquering Soviet Superman.

Gotham by Gaslight Batman VS Earth-2 Huntress

This match up is much more mundane, featuring the Victorian era Batman versus his Earth-2 counterpart's daughter, the Huntress. Hard to imagine a Huntress, even if it is a Batman's daughter, winning against any era's Batman, but who knows how this will play out.

In Darkest Knight Batman VS Secret Society Green Lantern

IDK Batman is a Green Lantern himself, so this should be quite the match up.

The Nail Joker VS Robin 3000

This is an odd one as it features the Joker from the world without a Superman versus a Robin from a future Earth where aliens rule the planet.

Elseworld's Finest Supergirl VS Amazonia Wonder Woman

On a world where there is no Batman or Superman, Supergirl became Earth's mightest defender. However, she's up against another Victorian era hero in the form of this Amazonia Wonder Woman.

Justice Riders Hawkman VS Batman Beyond Batman

This match up sees the power suit wearing Batman from the animated series Batman Beyond taking on the Old West version of Hawkman.

Click Here to Read More!

The Death of Batman?

Sensationalism at its best this week in the form of Lying In The Gutters claiming Batman will be dead by the end of next summer, most likely in June or July. While I don't believe it for a second, as DC already tried this stunt and aborted it back with Knightfall and Azbats, let's run with this for a second. LITY goes on to say that a 'Robin' will replace Batman and lists Tim Drake and Jason Todd or even Red Robin as the potential candidates. On top of this, he expects us to believe that they will end the long running Batman title and replace it with a shiny new #1 issue.

While the LITG column is mildly entertaining, in a National Enquirer sort of way, this is just a pathetic attempt at drawing traffic and stirring up controversy. Does anyone honestly believe this will happen? Only way a Batman dies is if it's on another Earth or DiDio finally gets his wish and kills Nightwing as he stands in for a vacationing Batman.

Hit the jump if you want the full, trashy tabloid style rumour excerpt.

THE DEATH OF A BAT

In June/July, DC are killing off Batman. Or rather, Bruce Wayne. Robin will inherit the Batman cowl. One of the Robins anyway. Tim Drake. Jason Todd. Or possibly Red Hood. Hey, maybe Jean-Paul Valley, it has been ten years since Azrael.

Either way, the book will relaunch with a nice shiny #1.

Yes, didn't Captain America miss a trick there? I'm sure Marvel will do the same come 2009.

And what of Batwoman? Well, I'm told the launch of the Rucka/Williams series has been pushed back yet again because of the movie, and fears of "unacceptable media coverage." I'm told four issues are fully completed.

Apparently it's okay for Batman to be dead, and a new character take his place when there's a movie out. But not for Batwoman to be a lesbian. At least wait till it's gone to DVD for that brunette bombshell.

I'm reminded of the Warner Bros executive instruction to Grant Morrison and Dave McKean over "Arkham Asylum," that the Joker not be seen dressing up as Madonna in case the cinema audience believed that meant Jack Nicholson was a transvestite.

Click Here to Read More!

Annihilation Conquest Villain Revealed

Annihilation: Conquest is upon us and the preview copies are making the rounds for the upcoming first issue and with that comes the identity of the villain behind the Phalanx and big bad for Conquest.

Is the villain a 'fan favourite' as the solicits say? Yes he is. Is he who anyone thought he would be? Not a chance and, to be honest, I'm not even sure how this even works based on what is going on in other books.

Be forewarned. There are MAJOR SPOILERS for the first issue of Annihilation: Conquest after the break.

DO NOT CLICK IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED.

If you're still determined to know who the villain is though, hit the jump for the big reveal.

Behold, ULTRON! Yes, I'm as confused as you are. The Phalanx were more advanced than anything on Earth technology-wise. How does a Hank Pym invention supercede the Phalanx? And how the hell does this sync up with Might Avengers and naked female Ultron?

A while back I posted my 5 Potential Villains for Annihilation: Conquest and I didn't even have Ultron on that list. What's everyone elses thoughts on this? Love it? Hate it? Waiting until you read it before you have an opinion? I'm just completely shocked and not really sure what to think at this point in time.

Click Here to Read More!

Spider-Man - One More Day Delay + Teaser Image

Marvel just announced that the next two issues of One More Day have been delayed. The big news to come out of this though was the teaser image they released to coincide with the announcement. Hit the jump for the release dates and the teaser image.

Solicts

SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #41
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art by Joe Quesada
“One More Day” Part 3 (of 4)

The most-talked about – and controversial – comic event of the year continues, brought to you by J. Michael Straczynski and Joe Quesada! Brace yourself, Spidey fans, after this, nothing will be the same for Peter Parker!
The stakes have never been higher. At his darkest hours – and he's had plenty – Peter has always had one shoulder to lean on, one person who'd remind him who he is, who he was, and who he can be. Now he's about to lose that person. What would he do...what would you do, if you only had "One More Day?"
Rated A …$3.99
FOC—11/08/07, On-Sale—11/28/07 [Was 10/31]



AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #545
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art by Joe Quesada
“One More Day” Part 4 (of 4)

The riveting conclusion to the most-talked about -- and controversial -- comics event of the year. Brought to you by J. Michael Straczynski and Joe Quesada. Brace yourself, Spidey fans, after this, nothing will be the same for Peter Parker!
The stakes have never been higher. At his darkest hours -- and he's had plenty -- Peter has always had one shoulder to lean on, one person who'd remind him who he is, who he was, and who he can be. Now he's about to lose that person. What will he do...what would you do, if you only had "One More Day?”
Rated A …$3.99
FOC—12/06/07, On-Sale—12/27/07 [Was 11/28]

As for the teaser, check it out below.

Based on the ending to part 2, I assume that the little red headed girl will end up being Scarlet Witch or Loki. The Skrull thing is an obvious red herring. No way they'd use that.

A lot of these teasers just make no sense. The original Venom pictured there could just hint that they might be bringing him back as Eddie Brock again. Daredevil might give him advice on the whole "the world knows my secret" aspect. Not sure what the Gwen image represents. Will he lose his memories of Gwen or are they even remotely considering resurrecting her along with everything else they have planned? And Thor-Girl? What is that all about?

UPDATE - According to commenter Ross McIntyre, it is not Thor-Girl, as I previously thought, but Valkyrie of Defenders fame. I had thought it was Thor-Girl due to Dan Slott's hyping of the upcoming Avengers: Initiative issue that has been said to be a major Peter Parker pre-Brand New Day appearance and Thor-Girl appears in that title. The new question, I suppose, is what would Valkyrie have to do with Spider-Man's situation? Seems just as random as my thinking it was Thor-Girl.

Click Here to Read More!

Marvel VS DC - Super Hero and Super-villain VS Super-hero and Super Villain

There was an interesting update on Tom Brevoort's blog over at Marvel.com earlier this month. I know it's not the freshest news, but it was new to me, so now it's new to you, too. The topic of the post from Tom was concerning things he'd learned in his roughly 20 years at Marvel and there were a few interesting tidbits I wasn't even aware of.

The biggest "revelation" was the nature of the joint copyrights Marvel and DC have on the words 'super hero' and 'super villain'. I always knew they had the copyrights for those words, but I never knew how random it was until I read this post from Tom. Here's a quote of the breakdown.

4) SUPER HERO IS TWO WORDS; SUPER-VILLAIN IS TWO WORDS WITH A DASH. This all goes back to the joint trademark that Marvel and DC have on the terms super hero and super-villain—in their case, it's super-hero and super villain. (The one exception is Marvel Super-Heroes, which was trademarked as a title with the dash still in place.) Why? Because that's the way the trademark applications were filled out way back in the '70s. And as a conclusion to the Mark Gruenwald mantra by which I learned all this, superhuman is one word.

More after the jump.

Isn't that completely random? It just happened I had finished reading one of DC's books before hitting up that post and they even used 'super-villain', with the dash mind you, to describe some of the villains. Here's the rest of Tom's learnings. The Reed and Stan Doesn't Like Green ones are a pretty funny as well.

1) REED DOESN'T STRETCH HIS NECK. This one's been largely abandoned over the last ten years, but it was a guiding principle for Mister Fantastic for decades. As a more serious, intellectually-minded individual than other stretchy heroes such as Plastic Man or the Elongated Man, it was felt that having Reed stretch his neck (or his eyeballs, or his ears, etc.) would look too undignified.

2) THE STRIPE DIRECTLY BELOW THE CENTER STAR ON CAPTAIN AMEICA'S COSTUME IS RED. This was the way Cap's costume was approached for the longest time--though, again, certain artists in recent years have done it differently. Similarly, Captain America was the one Marvel character who possessed a cleft chin.

3) THE SPIDER EMBLEM ON SPIDER-MAN'S CHEST HAS FOUR LEGS UP AND FOUR LEGS DOWN. This one changed over time. When first designed by Steve Ditko, Spidey's symbol had all eight legs on either side of the torso, and that's the way it was drawn for years. Howev