Henry10Marvel Solicitations for May 2009
February 24th 2009 05:51
Once again it's time to check out what Marvel have coming down the pipeline. As usual, the focus is on stuff that interest me, as opposed to adaptations of novels and such-like.
Human Torch Comics #1 70th Anniversary Special
and
Marvel Mystery Comics #1 70th Anniversary Special
There's nothing too extraordinary to talk about here so far as the story goes, but I felt the need to point out that Marvel are celebrating their 70th anniversary. There used to be a trend from the company to ignore its entire output before 1961, so it's nice to see them acknowledging a lot of that stuff now.
Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #1 (of 4)
by Chris Eliopoulos and Ig Guara
and
Fin Fang Four Return! #1
by Scott Gray & Roger Langridge
I'm lumping these two together to highlight Marvel's continuing efforts at publishing things that are Very Silly Indeed. The first involves various pets of Marvel characters, from the teleporting dog Lockjaw, to Speedball's cat, to the Falcon's bird. Also - Frog Thor.
The second involves a bunch of giant monsters from 1950s comics that have been shrunk down to human size, and have to try and survive in the modern world.
Needless to say, I approve of both titles.
Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #6 (of 6)
by Damon Lindeloff & Leinil Yu
Well, I never thought I'd see the day when this was released. When was issue #1... Five years ago? Six? I think that just leave Daredevil: Target on Marvel's list of stuff not finished by Hollywood people too lazy to get off their asses and write a comic book.
Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem Book #1 (of 2)
by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley & Stuart Immonen
For those who are unaware, a revamp of the Ultimate line was announced at New York Comic Con. So far Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men have been cancelled, and a couple of new titles like Ultimate Avengers have been announced. Ultimate Spider-Man is getting the relaunch treatment as well, finishing its run and then going back to #1 with the same writer. I don't expect much to change, but it's been at least passably good since the beginning. It's good to see Marvel not messing too much with a title that works.
Spider-Man: The Short Halloween
by Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, & Kevin Maguire
Because it's worked so well for them in the past, Marvel are grabbing a couple of no-names from TV and letting them write a Spider-Man story (apparently they're from Saturday Night Live, which explains why I've never heard of them). I'm generally against this sort of thing on principle, but it does have pencils by Kevin Maguire...
Howling Commandos #1
by Jesse Alexander & John Paul Leon
Alas, it's just a one-shot, but I'm a sucker for Sgt. Fury stories set in World War II. And with John Paul Leon it's guaranteed to look gorgeous.
Thor: Tales of Asgard #1 (of 5)
by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
It's a reprint series, but it ought to be a damn good reprint series. The Tales of Asgard strips that ran as Thor back-ups were pretty kick-ass, being the first place where Kirby started to expand his style with over-sized panels and mythic action shots. And to top it off this is getting recoloured in the modern style - I've long held that the onlt thing separating the best Silver Age artists from the best modern artists is the colouring. I doubt I'll buy this, but I'll be certain to take a good look.
New Mutants #1
by Zeb Wells & Diogenes Neves
Yes, it's the original New Mutants together again - Cannonball, Karma, Sunspot, Dani Moonstar, Magma and Magik (I guess Wolfsbane is busy eating her Dad over in X-Force). Now I like these characters, but I think putting them back together is a bad idea. They've grown beyond that, some having graduated to full-fledged X-Men, and others moving on to lives outside the X-Men. It's kind of a demotion for them to be a team now. And you know what made them interesting in the first place? They were new, they were learning their powers and their place in the world. Now they're adults, so what is there to do with them? I don't expect this to be good, unless Wells has a really good premise for the reunion.
X-Men Forever Alpha
by Chris Claremont & Jim Lee
It's another reprint book, this one to get people up to speed for X-Men Forever, in which Chris Claremont gets to continue from where he left off 18 years ago. I've written extensively on this, so I won't say much now. But it was supposed to have a new 8-page story as well. There's no sign of that in the solicitations - if it ain't there, I won't be paying up for the reprint.
Genext: United #1 (of 5)
by Chris Claremont & Jonboy Meyers
The other big announcement for Chris Claremont is that he's continuing with GeNext, his tale of a future X-Men team made up of kids of various members. I didn't much enjoy the first mini, as it was a pretty substandard rehash of themes he's already explored to more effect in old-school New Mutants. I won't be bothering with this, as much as I like to support Claremont's books.
Human Torch Comics #1 70th Anniversary Special
and
Marvel Mystery Comics #1 70th Anniversary Special
There's nothing too extraordinary to talk about here so far as the story goes, but I felt the need to point out that Marvel are celebrating their 70th anniversary. There used to be a trend from the company to ignore its entire output before 1961, so it's nice to see them acknowledging a lot of that stuff now.
Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #1 (of 4)
by Chris Eliopoulos and Ig Guara
and
Fin Fang Four Return! #1
by Scott Gray & Roger Langridge
I'm lumping these two together to highlight Marvel's continuing efforts at publishing things that are Very Silly Indeed. The first involves various pets of Marvel characters, from the teleporting dog Lockjaw, to Speedball's cat, to the Falcon's bird. Also - Frog Thor.
The second involves a bunch of giant monsters from 1950s comics that have been shrunk down to human size, and have to try and survive in the modern world.
Needless to say, I approve of both titles.
Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #6 (of 6)
by Damon Lindeloff & Leinil Yu
Well, I never thought I'd see the day when this was released. When was issue #1... Five years ago? Six? I think that just leave Daredevil: Target on Marvel's list of stuff not finished by Hollywood people too lazy to get off their asses and write a comic book.
Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem Book #1 (of 2)
by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley & Stuart Immonen
For those who are unaware, a revamp of the Ultimate line was announced at New York Comic Con. So far Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men have been cancelled, and a couple of new titles like Ultimate Avengers have been announced. Ultimate Spider-Man is getting the relaunch treatment as well, finishing its run and then going back to #1 with the same writer. I don't expect much to change, but it's been at least passably good since the beginning. It's good to see Marvel not messing too much with a title that works.
Spider-Man: The Short Halloween
by Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, & Kevin Maguire
Because it's worked so well for them in the past, Marvel are grabbing a couple of no-names from TV and letting them write a Spider-Man story (apparently they're from Saturday Night Live, which explains why I've never heard of them). I'm generally against this sort of thing on principle, but it does have pencils by Kevin Maguire...
Howling Commandos #1
by Jesse Alexander & John Paul Leon
Alas, it's just a one-shot, but I'm a sucker for Sgt. Fury stories set in World War II. And with John Paul Leon it's guaranteed to look gorgeous.
Thor: Tales of Asgard #1 (of 5)
by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
It's a reprint series, but it ought to be a damn good reprint series. The Tales of Asgard strips that ran as Thor back-ups were pretty kick-ass, being the first place where Kirby started to expand his style with over-sized panels and mythic action shots. And to top it off this is getting recoloured in the modern style - I've long held that the onlt thing separating the best Silver Age artists from the best modern artists is the colouring. I doubt I'll buy this, but I'll be certain to take a good look.
New Mutants #1
by Zeb Wells & Diogenes Neves
Yes, it's the original New Mutants together again - Cannonball, Karma, Sunspot, Dani Moonstar, Magma and Magik (I guess Wolfsbane is busy eating her Dad over in X-Force). Now I like these characters, but I think putting them back together is a bad idea. They've grown beyond that, some having graduated to full-fledged X-Men, and others moving on to lives outside the X-Men. It's kind of a demotion for them to be a team now. And you know what made them interesting in the first place? They were new, they were learning their powers and their place in the world. Now they're adults, so what is there to do with them? I don't expect this to be good, unless Wells has a really good premise for the reunion.
X-Men Forever Alpha
by Chris Claremont & Jim Lee
It's another reprint book, this one to get people up to speed for X-Men Forever, in which Chris Claremont gets to continue from where he left off 18 years ago. I've written extensively on this, so I won't say much now. But it was supposed to have a new 8-page story as well. There's no sign of that in the solicitations - if it ain't there, I won't be paying up for the reprint.
Genext: United #1 (of 5)
by Chris Claremont & Jonboy Meyers
The other big announcement for Chris Claremont is that he's continuing with GeNext, his tale of a future X-Men team made up of kids of various members. I didn't much enjoy the first mini, as it was a pretty substandard rehash of themes he's already explored to more effect in old-school New Mutants. I won't be bothering with this, as much as I like to support Claremont's books.
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