Assembling To Protect A World That Loves and Hates Them

Next month, the Marvel universe is starting over, or, at least, parts of it are. There's a whole slew of new #1's, from an Avengers one pictured above, to new Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man volumes, some of it really interesting sounding and some of it, well, less so. What's going on, though, is not a hard reboot, like the kind DC did a little over a year ago with The New 52. It's not really even a soft reboot, either, since no continuity is being reset; instead, many of Marvel's characters are simply entering new phases of their ongoing stories, with new creative teams on the books that star them.

One series, though, is conspicuously absent from the books that have been solicited so far. There has not, at least not as of yet, been an announcement of a new Uncanny X-Men. That book, the flagship of America's second most popular superhero family,has been published with only two interruptions since it first emerged in the early Sixties, and, so, this disruption, the second in as many years, is much more interesting than any of the various and sundry renumberings that are going on, since, for example, this must be the seventh or eighth volume of Captain America and the above images represent, I think, the fourth volume of The Avengers, which is less ridiculous than the fact that we're on the third volume of New Avengers, a title that Marvel has been using for only seven years. Of course, the fact that there's no new volume of Uncanny is sort of explained by the new Uncanny Avengers series, written by Rick Remender, which is premised on a post Avengers vs. X-Men alliance between the two groups.

On its own, that seems like a typical big two throw-anything-at-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks sales strategy, but by publishing an Uncanny Avengers without publishing an Uncanny X-Men, that is, by shifting the Uncanny moniker away from its classic association and towards a new brand, I wonder if Marvel is tipping its hand. The whole thing sort of suggests a solidification of holdings, both in corporate and story terms, under the newly, massively, fortified Avengers brand. We've known for a while that Remender's book is going to prominently feature characters from both groups (and art from John Cassaday!). I remember reading a mention I can now no longer find of preview art for a Wolverine and the X-Men issue with a heavy Avengers presence in the Jean Grey school. And, oddest of all, in the interlocking covers for the first three issues of Jonathan Hickman's new Avengers series, Cannonball and Sunspot, two of the New Mutants, are the only featured characters who are not associated with the team in some prominent, iconic way.

This kind of synergy with the rest of the Marvel universe is sort of new for the X-Men, who were sort of left to do their own thing, particularly since they moved across the country and onto Utopia. The cynic in me says its about weakening a brand that the company doesn't totally control, and thereby strengthening the case for the inclusion of some of these characters in upcoming Avengers spin-offs, Fox be damned. I also suspect that, solely in the terms of the economics of comic books, it will be good for sales, since the two franchises are the best selling in all of American comics, and this sort of permanent crossover builds off of both the premise and success of Avengers v. X-Men. I don't know how wide ranging this effect will be, since I don't know how many New Mutants readers there are who don't already Avengers, but I guess you never know.

In story terms, this new synergy presents some interesting questions-- does the acceptance of mutants into the Avengers on a more general basis than Beast and Wolverine mean that mutants are no longer hated and feared by the society they're sworn to protect? Does that mean Xavier's dream is realized? And is that really only possible because the good professor is now, again, dead?*

All that, of course, sets up some really interesting possibilities having to do with Brian Bendis's All New X-Men series, and my whole theory might fall apart in the pages of that book. If it turns out that All New is Uncanny's replacement within the insular X-Men family, it won't be too surprising. But consider that these characters on the covers are all, excepting Magik and Emma and those two in the background**, iconic X-Men, ones that were used in the nineties cartoon, which is still probably the most recognizable group for much of the comics reading public, and certainly for my generation. They're also, again excepting Magik and the two question marks, characters that have been used in movie versions of the characters, so maybe we're not seeing a solidification so much as a kind of shift, which moves many of the excess X-Men under the Avengers umbrella. This could both strengthen the former brand and broaden the latter one, particularly if Bendis can build on the last few years' good work by Kieron Gillen and Jason Aaron, and if Hickman and Remender can manage the onslaught of characters effectively.

I'm surprised to find myself writing this, but I'm actually pretty excited for what comes now-- rather than feeling forced and random, like the New 52, this seems like almost a natural progression, everything seems to fit together, despite the fact that some of the decisions were probably made for artificial reasons. It's All New, and All Different, and that can't possibly be bad.***

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*I haven't read Avengers v. X-Men #11 yet, but, when I do, I suspect I'm going to have some very critical things to say about how the book handled the death of Xavier. As an idea moving forward, it's not bad, particularly in the context I'm talking about above, but it doesn't really ring true in terms of the crossover's plot, in part because he shows up absolutely out of nowhere in #10. I don't even think we've seen him since Matt Fraction left Uncanny and his death just doesn't have any gravity, given how unimportant the character's been since Joss Whedon chastised him a few years ago. But maybe they handled it really well. I won't know until I go to my LCS.

**Is that one on the far right Rachel Grey?

***By the way, the powers that be at Marvel, I have a request-- can we get the 616 Nightcrawler back?  Please?

These Avengers Origins One Shots Are Pretty Silly

Something like half the characters featured are dead or otherwise wrapped up in some serious continuity bullshit and none of them except Thor are in the movie; what's going on here? Still, this cover for the Vision one is pretty cool and the one for Ant Man & Wasp is alright. I wish Marvel would tell us who did them, though. Also, does Villains for Hire mean they are canceling Heroes for Hire? because I hope not. (via Rich)

Walking a Mile In Someone Else's Hulking Purple Pants...

Replacing Ed Norton and recasting The Hulk for the Avengers movie?

Bad choice, Marvel. Bad choice, not only because the wiry, stringy, brilliant Ed Norton was perfect for the role, but because ED NORTON WAS PERFECT FOR THE ROLE.

I guess we'll have to wait a couple of weeks to see who replaces him before passing any final judgments. Still, I would have liked to see Ed playing the big green guy again.

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!

The Heroic Age is here.

How do we know? Well, the first issue of The Avengers (that's right, without a modifier) is here and on the third page Steve Rogers (you know, the most heroic of them all) says that what the world needs is heroes.

But not just any heroes... the world needs the Avengers. This is a moment that I've been waiting for, a moment that I've been dying for, a moment where our heroes get to be heroes again. By no means do I intend to criticize superhero deconstruction; it has its place and for good reason. In many ways, it got people to start taking comics seriously, because it proved that comics, just like any other medium, could blur the lines and convince readers to cheer for flawed people, just like they cheered for perfect ones. This is all well and, as I said, extremely important to the history of comics, but it lost the track when it forgot that we like to pretend that we can be our heroes, because we aren't perfect and we aren't brave and we aren't strong. But we would like to be.

It feels damn good to remember that.

Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. hit every note here. I've ragged on Bendis in the past for being too wordy and at the same time saying too little. I've derided his comics as often actionless dialogue-fests where nothing happens and all the bright and colorful superheroes are, well, boring. It is important, therefore, for me to just come out and say that this comic is not those comics. Every word has its place, there are great character moments (like Wonderman's refusal to join the Avengers or Thor not knowing who Bucky Cap is), there's a ton of action and, unlike Siege, the book feels fulfilling- this is great comics writing. Not ground-breaking. Not necessarily literary. But damn good. Bendis' script only hits one sour note, and that's at the end- I won't spoil it for you, but I'll suffice it to say that if you read any of Mark Millar's Fantastic Four, you've seen this reveal before. It feels so tired that it must have been used before, too.

Despite that, Bendis spins a great story and JRJR is nothing but a help. His panel design is brilliant and easy to understand, he fluctuates between drawing action and static scenes with incredible ease and damn does this man draw the Avengers well. Not a single costumed character is off-model and my biggest complaint is that Steve's hair is probably too long.

If that's my only quibble, this man should win an Eisner.

If you were on the fence about this issue? Pick it up. Don't bother with the backmatter (prose really needs to stay out of comic books), but even without it it's worth the extra dollar. This is a damn good comic book and, hopefully, it'll remain this easy to remember why my heroes are my heroes.

Here's What I Think

You know how yesterday I said that I couldn't believe that Spider-Man would be on two teams of Avengers at once? Well, with today's announcement that Wolverine will ALSO be on the New Avengers, I'm pretty sure that the cover to Avengers #1 is misleading. Take into account that neither Spidey nor Logan appeared in the teasers for Avengers and also that New Avengers #1 doesn't come out until June and, well, we have a recipe for misdirection.

Hello, Avengers!

From IGN, comes the cover to May's Avengers #1- and it's a beautiful thing, isn't it?

Uno Maas!

Following on Josh's posts of the characters presumably being presented for the post-"Siege" new Avengers line-up (not to be confused with the "New Avengers" line-up) here's another announcement:

The purple and blue is back!

That makes three definites:
Captain America
Spider-Woman
Hawkeye

Of course, who is under the masks could still yield a surprise or two...


Oh and read Josh's review of "Siege" #2 below this post!! What are ya a lazy bum? Just lookin' at the pictchas...

One More

Now we know that Spider-Woman (who I may have forgotten to handicap a couple of weeks ago. Woops.) is going to be on Brian Bendis and John Romita Jr.'s team too (and JRJR has really hit these two previews out of the park, hasn't he?), as well as Cap and probably Spidey. I also should have mentioned that yesterday that we also know Iron Man and Thor are going to be on this team too.

For more info, go here.

Two Members Confirmed (ish).

So, at the very least we know that Captain America is going to be in the new Avengers series, which will be written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by John Romita Jr. Also of interest is this post by Romita Jr. saying that Spidey was involved in the new monthly he was starting up, so I think it's safe to say that we now know at least two members of the new Avengers status quo.

Cool.

Avengers Endsemble?

Well, this news over at IGN is certainly interesting.

Certainly, this isn't the end of The Avengers- I suspect that what will happen is that they'll relaunch with one main title (presumably entitled The Avengers) and a couple of periphery ones (if I were to have my druthers, one of these series would be called Avengers Assemble! and a second one would be another try with the Young Avengers). Alternatively there could be two main titles (and I would still be pulling for the second one to be called Avengers Assemble!) with two main teams- one to handle street level threats, another for the more pressing and world altering kinds of things the Avengers used to be used for.

The big question, then, is who will be doing the Avenging? It isn't, of course, a question a lowly reader like me has any sort of real answer too- but I'm going to fulfill a time honored geek tradition and attempt to handicap it.

To start, here are the lineups from the Avengers teams from the last several years (I'm leaving out the Dark Avengers, for what I think are pretty obvious reasons)

New Avengers:
Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Iron Man, Captain America (Steve), Luke Cage, The Sentry, Wolverine.

After the events of Civil War and then again after Secret Invasion the following heroes also became members of the New Avengers:
Iron Fist, Dr. Strange, Ronin, Mockingbird, Ms. Marvel, Captain America (Bucky).

Mighty Avengers:
After Iron Man left the New Avengers because of the events of Civil War, he started his official, registered Avengers team, also including: Ms. Marvel, Wonder Man, Ares, The Sentry, The Wasp and Black Widow.

After the events of Secret Invasion, Henry Pym (as The Wasp), manipulated by Loki, starts up a new team of Avengers featuring: Hercules and Amadeus Cho, Quicksilver, Jocasta, Stature, Vision and US AGENT.

So, given all of that, who stays and who goes? I'm going to categorize my guesses in three ways- those who I know will be on the team, those who I guess will be on the team, and those who are longshots, but could stick around anyway:

Incidentally, there are some minor spoilers below- don't read if you aren't caught up.

Avengers Assembled:

Given the way that both Siege and the upcoming Heroic Age have been branded, I would put money on Captain America, Iron Man and Thor being on whatever team Marvel assembles. As the Big Three, this is basically a no-brainer. The only real question here is which Captain America will be throwing his shield into the melee and my guess is Bucky Barnes- I expect Steve will stick around in some capacity, but given what goes on in the Who Will Wield the Shield one-shot I think Buck is going to be the one wearing the Flag on a regular basis.

With that said, I'll hazard to say that Avengers mainstays Hank Pym (in who knows what costume) and Clint Barton (and, lets be honest, same deal costume wise) will also be on the team in one form or another. If, for whatever reason, Janet Van Dyne comes back to life, she's here too.

Ms. Marvel will be on the team too, if only because her solo book just ended and, given that Osborn saw fit to replace her on his team, she's clearly an important part of the Avengers mythos.

Finally, I think that Brian Michael Bendis likes Luke Cage (and, also, Jessica Jones) too much to let him fall by the wayside. I read somewhere (or maybe Jon and I talked about this, I can't really remember. Perhaps it's both.) that Bendis turned Cage into a top tier character by sheer force of will, and I think that's exactly right. The only scenarios in which I imagine Luke not staying on involve some sort of attempt at a solo book or, perhaps, some sort of Iron Fist/Power Man team-up series (if it were to be written by Brubaker or Fraction, well, I think I would die of happiness.) Even if one of those come to pass, though, I still have trouble imagining Bendis letting go of one of his favorite characters.

Reserves:

While the Iron Fist has said that he doesn't really fit it on the Avengers, it's hard to imagine a team that Luke Cage is on without Danny Rand far behind. This would be particularly true if Luke has some sort of leadership role/his own time.

I'm not sure what Mockingbird's story is- they seem to be teasing her death in some of the solicits, but they also just brought her back, so I imagine she'll stick around in some capacity, particularly if Clint is on the team too.

Stephen Strange is usually around too- although now that he isn't the Sorcerer Supreme, I don't really know what his deal is. Still, his presence on the team wouldn't be a surprise. At the same time, it is a distinct possibility that Jericho Drumm becomes an Avenger. I suspect it will be one or the other- there really isn't another good place for them.

Hercules and Amadeas Cho come as a package- either they're both on the team or neither of them are and it all sort of depends on the outcome of Assault on New Olympus and whatever the new status they're teasing for Herc is. If Dan Slott is writing it, the likeliness that these two are in goes up.

Who knows whats up with Wolverine? He's in the mix for no other reason than he's been around and also that he sells well.

Quicksilver, too, is sort of an unknown quantity. I'm going to hedge and put him in the middle.

Finally, what about Spider-Man? Does he stay on the Avengers? I think he might, but it's hard to know. I think it's more likely if there are two main teams, but he's been a consistent member since New Avengers started up six years ago. It's a bad idea to count him out, and I suspect it's worthwhile to count him in.

Some Dissassembly Required:

Conceivably, there are some characters who have served in the past, say Wonder Man or She-Hulk, who might be in the mix. Of the two, I imagine Simon is the more likely choice, if only because he repented for serving with the pro-registration heroes on Iron Man's team, and he still lingers in the Avenger's mythos.

Another such long shot is Beast, who has recently taken a leave of absence from the X-Men. He's taken on a starring role in SWORD, so I suspect that's where he'll stay for awhile. Still, I would welcome the big blue guy back to Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

I have no idea what the Sentry's deal is. Depends on what happens in Siege, but my guess is he goes away for awhile.

With two Caps, I think that US Agent is probably superfluous.

Finally, Stature and Vision are in this category only because I think they're going to move to a soon to be announced Young Avengers book. Remember that one of the Siege one-shots is going to be a Young Avengers one- I suspect that they're going to be part of the new status quo.

Well, that's what I've got. How about you, noble readers? Got any ideas of your own?

"What Madness is This?"

It's good to see Oliver Coipel drawing Thor again.

That's a weird way to start my review of Siege #1, I know, but in a lot of ways the most satisfying thing about this issue is seeing Oliver Coipel's gorgeous artwork. From the first image, a beautiful one pager of Volstagg riding away from Asgard, to the last, another one pager, but this time of a surprised Steve Rogers, this book just looks fantastic. Occasionally the page design leaves something to be desired- some of them take a little bit of figuring out- but in between his distinctive pencils (which strike a good balance between cartoon and realism) and Laura Martin's incredible colors, the art here is really what's worthwhile.


NOTE: IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET, HERE THERE BE SPOILERS.

That's not to say that the writing isn't- in fact, the story is basically as big and bombastic as has been advertised- but instead, at this point, there just isn't a whole lot to it- Loki has manipulated Norman Osborn into manipulating Volstagg into accidentally blowing up Soldier Field during a Bears game (and incidentally, my reaction went from, "Hey, they got the Bears colors right" to "WTF?!" One wonders if Bendis would have had the guts to blow up The Meadowlands), invaded Asgard, pissed off the president and brought down Thor. There's not much here below the surface, just a lot of fighting and blowing things up. Not that there's anything wrong with that- Siege is, surprisingly, a lot of fun. It's not, as of yet, dark or depressing and we know, because of its short length, that the next issue is going to move the plot forward rather than running in place. The villains have the upper hand- but for how long? And how do our heroes bring them down?

Most importantly, how long until the Avengers Assemble?

Meanwhile, at the Pull List of Clare!- 11/04/09

Another hefty week for me, but hey that's okay by me! The more comics I read the happier I am. So, let's see what's in store for me this week:

From DC this week comes a bunch of great titles. I was really interested by the first part of Leviathan so I'm looking forward to picking up Batman: Streets of Gotham #6. While I much prefer Dini, Yost is telling a great story with one of my favorite characters- Huntress. Then there's Tiny Titans #22, which we all know I'm quite fond of. Then there are the Blackest Night tie-ins! I'm totally excited for Adventure Comics #4. Not only do I love this book like crazy but it also marks the return of Superboy Prime after the events of Legion of 3 Worlds. Plus it comes with the Blue Lantern ring! The Blue Lanterns are my favorite so I'm psyched about that. Outsiders #24 is a continuation from Blackest Night: Titans and it comes with the Star Sapphire ring. Then there's Superman/Batman #66, I don't exactly get how an out of continuity book ties in but it's got Bizzaro and Solomon Grundy so I'll give it a shot.

It's one of those weeks where I have more Marvel books this week. From the Other Company I've got a few good ones. Amazing Spider-Man #612 has been solidly good since American Son. I'm not sure what Gauntlet is exactly going to be but I'll give it a shot. However, I know I'm going to enjoy Dark Reign- The List: Amazing Spider-Man. Let's be honest, this is the moment of Dark Reign that we've all been waiting for-- Norman versus Peter. Bring it on! says I. Dark Avengers #11 and Mighty Avengers #31 have been two books I've solidly enjoyed. Dark Avengers just started a new story arch and Mighty Avengers is wrapping up something pretty epic. Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth #5 is one of those books that I can't help myself with. Funny, stupid, mindless violence, hot chick with underwear showing (satirically, of course), and sweet movie-parody covers. What's not to like? Spider-Woman #3 is one of those books where I like where it's going but I'm not sure I'm in love yet. We will see! And wrapping up Marvel is X-Men Legacy #229, a book I believe to be highly overrated.

And let's top it all off with a nice cherry-- a Dr. Horrible one-shot explaining everyone's favorite villian's backstory. Nice!

Have a happy Wednesday, my loves! This weekend should hold a review of the first issue of Mark Waid's "Strange" from myself.

Aw yeah Wednesday!