'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' trailer released

Yesterday Marvel released an around 10-15 second teaser trailer for the next instalment to the Marvel cinematic universe; after 'Thor: The Dark World', that is; 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'. Now we have the full first trailer for Cap's second solo film, which you can check out right now, below...

Marvel launch new series and jumping on points this December

Marvel teased  plans for a new wave of Marvel NOW! books back at SDCC 2013, and today we've finally got some news on it, with the launch of two new series, one we've known about for a while and one all-new, as well as a good jumping on point for one of their major series on December 24th this year, check out the covers below...

First up is the competed cover for Matt Fraction and Joe Madureria's "Inhuman #1":

Then a brand new series from James Robinson and Steve Pugh, "All new Invaders", and remember a while back when Robinson claimed to be writing Namor then quickly denied it, well...

So there we have Captain America, Prince Namor ( see? ), Bucky Barnes, also known as The Winter Soldier and the original Human Torch.

And finally, here's the cover to Avengers 24.NOW ( Huh? ) , by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic.


Notice, how all of these are under the banner of "All-New Marvel NOW!", maybe we'll be seeing some more of these books in the run up to Christmas Eve...

And, yes, I am definitely looking forward to being able to buy comics on Christmas Eve...

( Source: USA Today)

First look at Spider-Man 2099 in The Superior Spider-Man #17

Today, Marvel have released some unlettered preview pages for The Superior Spider-Man #17, written by Dan Slott, pencilled by Ryan Stegman and with colours by Edgar Delgado. This issue marks the first meeting between Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man of the year 2099, and Otto Octavius as the Superior Spider-Man, check out the preview pages below:

Fired? DC Artist, Kevin Maguire sends out extremely suggestive tweets... (THIRD UPDATE)

There's been a lot of talk over recent months over the firings and resignations of DC Comics creators. Specifically, ones whose runs on series hadn't even begun yet ( e.g. Joshua Hale Fialov on Green Lantern Corps and Red Lanterns, Andy Diggle on Action Comics etc.) and it looks like another creator may have just been fired. Kevin Maguire, artist for the upcoming Justice League 3000 series from DC.

Earlier today, Maguire tweeted this:

Since those comments, Maguire hasn't made any more comments on twitter, of course, this could be some sort of joke ( who remembers the James Robinson Namor business? ), but if this topic is brought up again, I'll try to update this.

I'm not extremely familiar with Maguire's work, but I was looking forward to seeing what he'd do on the Justice League 3000 series, and it'd be a shame if he has been fired...

Update:

Just a few minutes ago, Marvel editor-in-chief, Axel Alonso tweeted this:

“@PEDROANGOSTO1: @axelalonsomarv #KevinMaguire needs work!” Not any more!
— axel alonso (@axelalonsomarv) August 8, 2013

Could Maguire have found new work already over at Marvel?

SECOND UPDATE:

It seems he almost definitely has...

@maguirekevin someone you like is calling you very soon.
— BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (@BRIANMBENDIS) August 8, 2013

I love the fact that today I've managed to sit through the firing and hiring of Kevin Maguire... and it's pretty much all been seen on Twitter.

Third update:

Later, Maguire posted this on his facebook page:

Well, first off, thanks everyone for your warm regards. After a few confusing hours, I kind of know where things stand and why. Though I’m still a bit perplexed as to how it got to this point. As for work, I’ve been offered some fun interesting stuff, many of which came from DC,who were very eager to keep me working there, so I’ll be fine on that score, but it would have been great to do another Justice League with Giffen and DeMatteis. Oh,well…onward and upward…

New "Thor: The Dark World" trailer released

Marvel's cinematic universe will be getting a new instalment in the form of Thor: The Dark World, the second of the God of Thunder's solo films. Taking place after last year's "The Avengers", the film shows Thor returning to Asgard and having to seek the help of his adopted brother, Loki (Who was behind the destruction of most of New York in the Avengers ), to defeat a new enemy. Anyway, enough talk, check out the second trailer for the film below:

Thor: The Dark World, directed by Alan Taylor, will be released on November 8th this year. It stars Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Christopher Eccleston, Idris Elba and more.

Review: FF #10

There will be some spoilers for the issue in this review!


Oh, God, this issue is just... perfect. It's absolutely insane, and there is no exaggeration there. I have no idea how Matt Fraction and Mike Allred got away with telling this story, but I am so glad they did!


The basic premise of this issue is, Marvel Comics are looking to make a comic-book based on the Future Foundation's adventures so the FF take writer Matt Fraction, artist Mike Allred and editor Tom Breevort on a trip at the size of an atom. I told you, it's crazy, and in the best way possible.

I have to say, almost everything about this issue is brilliant, whether it's grumpy Matt Fraction, the fact that Mike Allred is wearing a Mad-Man shirt, the Marvel Comics jokes or maybe that little Arrested Development reference, but this issue is pretty much twenty pages of joy.


This series is returning comics to the wacky, fun stories that shine in a world of permanently trying to become darker and grittier. That push in the opposite direction can be quite a relief to read sometimes.


Matt Fraction's stories and Mike and Laura Allred's art compliment eachother perfectly. The Allreds' art alone is a visual wonder, but as I said combined with Fraction's work, it becomes insanely good.
This issue is genuinely amazing, the fact that they could tell a story with themselves teaming up with the FF is like nothing happening in any other comics right now.


FF is the wackiest comic I've ever read, I love it! Unique stories with one of the best creative teams in the comic book industry. Nothing quite measures up to it.


I realise that this review is pretty much a jumble of compliments, but this book is so good that I can't help it. The Must-Read series of this year, if you're not reading this book, you're missing out!

Rating 10/10

New Thor: The Dark World poster revealed

On the 8th of October in the US ( or the 30th of the same month over here in the UK ), Marvel superhero, Thor, will return to the big screen in his second solo film, Thor: The Dark World.

Today, a new poster for the upcoming film has been revealed, featuring pretty much every important character there's likely to be in the film in quite a mixed up fashion. Check it out below:

SDCC 2013: Marvel show off new images of Lego, Skottie Young and Deadpool variants, Infinity covers and more!

Here are some more images that Marvel have put out from the Retailer meeting at San Diego Comic-Con 2013 earlier today, they seem to be teasing some interesting stuff here!

(Source: Bleeding Cool)

SDCC 2013: Marvel announce plans for Marvel NOW! two

Today, during the retail meeting at San-Diego Comic-Con 2013, Marvel talked about their plans to launch a second phase of Marvel NOW!. This means that several Marvel series still running from before the Marvel NOW! initiative was launched will be getting renumbered and several new ones will be released.

As well as this news, Marvel also showed the reception that the first batch of Marvel NOW! books got:

(Source: Bleeding Cool)

SDCC 2013: Bendis and Bagely join forces once again for "Cataclysm"

In last month's "Age of Ultron" #10, The World-Eater, Galactus, arrived in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. As you can probably tell from his title, this isn't good for residents of the Ultimate universe. This plot will be continuing in "Hunger", a four-issue miniseries written by Joshua Hale Fialkov (I, Vampire, Alpha: Big Time, Ultimate Comics: the Ultimates) which is, in itself, a build up to "Cataclysm: The Ultimates' last stand", written by Brian Michael Bendis ( Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, All-New X-Men, Age of Ultron) and pencilled by Mark Bagley ( Ultimate Spider-Man, Fantastic Four)

Cataclysm was announced today at San-Diego Comic-Con, the team have previously worked on the successful original run of Ultimate Spider-Man. As you can see, this creative team have a lot of experience in the Ultimate Universe. Check out the cover to issue one of Cataclysm below:

(Source: Newsarama)

Superior Spider-Man and Venom to crossover

There have been a few rumours spinning out of the recent Marvel retreat, Bleeding Cool have been reporting on a lot of them such as Francesco Francavilla drawing the 'Gaurdians of the Galaxy' Infinity tie-in, the cancellation of 'Astonishing X-Men' and the most recent, a possible Superior Spider-Man/Venom crossover.

This would be the first meeting between Otto Octavius' Spider-Man and Flash Thompson's Venom and it's something that I'd definitely be interested to read. Now, I'm pretty sure this is going to be the main Superior Spider-Man series rather than the Superior Spider-Man team-up series. I mean, Dan Slott has pretty much confirmed it over twitter:

Okay. Enough internettin' for one day. Lunch. Then I gotta finish breaking down this Superior Spider-Man/Venom arc. Ttyl! :-)
— Dan Slott (@DanSlott) June 30, 2013

Another thing that I thought I'd point out is that a few months ago Slott was once again on Twitter teasing things to come when he mentioned a Spider-Man related event "Bigger than Spider-Island", could this be a part of it? And let's remember, Spider-Island was a pretty major events with tie-in books from the Avengers, Venom, Spider-Girl, Cloak and Dagger and many more.


(Source: Bleeding Cool and Dan Slott's twitter)

Top comics for June 26th 2013

As you can probably tell from the title, in this feature I spotlight some of the top and most recommendable comic books out this week. I didn't write an article for last week's comics because I was away for five days but it's back this week and there are some great comics out!

Batman/Superman #1

A book that focuses on both Batman and Superman. Not only that, but their first adventures together as superheroes. I think DC have pretty much secured a slot on a lot of people's pull lists this week. As well as having two hugely popular characters as the stars of one book, this book also has two great creators, writer Greg Pak and artist Jae Lee. Greg Pak is clearly getting more important over at DC considering this series and the fact that he's recently been announced as the new full-time writer for
DC Comics' "Action Comics", and from what I've read of his work, he's pretty good, you'll probably know his work from Marvel's "Planet Hulk", which is one of my favourite comic book stories of all time. Then onto Jae Lee, who is a fantastic artist. He has a truly unique style of art and some of the preview pages are just unbelievable, definitely a treat for the eyes. I really recommend this book, it's set to be brilliant.

The Flash #21

It's the first meeting of Barry Allen and Bart Allen ( Obviously, The Flash and Kid Flash ). It's quite hard to believe that it's been twenty-one months since the last meeting between Barry and Bart and it's something I've been eagerly anticipating for that entire time. The Flash family are some of my favourite characters in comic books, Bart being my favourite of them all. It's going to be great to see the Flash meet his 31st century grand-son for the first time in the New 52! Also, this issue is by the double-team of Brian Buccellato of Francis Manapul who are a great pair on this series. Francis Manapul's art on this series has been amazing, with all of his issue blowing me away and this new arc with the Reverse-Flash really has me interested.


The Green Team: Teen Trillionares #2

This is a series that got off to a great start last month and I'm really looking forward to seeing the team of Art Baltazar, Franco and Ig Guara have in store for us this issue! The first issue took a really unexpected turn towards the end of the leader of these rich kids taking on a super-villain. If that doesn't sound good to you, it's probably just my explanation of it, I had to explain it quickly. Seriously, if you're familiar with any of Art Baltazar and Franco's work ( Such as, Tiny Titans, Superman Family adventures ) you'll know this series is a must-buy. And on the topic of the art, I really wasn't a fan of Ig Guara's art until I read the last issue, it really turned around my opinion of his work and I really liked what I saw.

Hawkeye #11

Onto the final pick for this week, Hawkeye. Oh, god, Hawkeye. This series is just... it's honestly too good for anything I say ton do it justice, but I'll have a shot. This series is pretty much the best on the shelves, it's certainly the best thing I've read from Marvel recently. Matt Fraction is a genius, this book is so witty and fun but it really makes you feel for the characters too. He is just a brilliant writer and he's come up with a brilliant concept for this book, something used in no other comic books right now. Then there's the art. The beautiful, wonderful art. David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth are the comic book art team right now, with such a unique style. I honestly can't describe it, but there's just something amazing about it. Anyway, enough about the series! Onto this issue! If all of that stuff about the creative team hasn't got you on board for this, here's something that definitely will. This entire issue is focused on Hawkeye's pet, Pizza-Dog. The entire comic, about his pizza loving dog. You know the creative team are doing a good job when they're aloud to do this. This is my top pick, and the comic I'm most looking forward to this week. If you can only buy one comic, make it Hawkeye!


So, those are my recommendations for tomorrow, hope you try them out!

Review: Age of Ultron #8

Age of Ultron has been quite disappointing of late, but I think it's gradually building up to a good standard which will hopefully be reached by the finale in issue #10. Now back to reviewing this issue...

I think the word that sums up this issue overall is "alright", I didn't hate it, I didn't love it, it was just alright. However, that's not really what I look for in a comic, I want to really enjoy it, so I felt a little disappointed with this issue.

That being said, I think the art was brilliant and the opening double page spread was pretty amazing.

I don't really have much to say about this book because I feel that I've gone through most of my thoughts there, but just one last thing, the one scene that I actually, properly enjoyed from this entire issue was the scene between the two Wolverines, that was actually quite good.

Overall, I feel this was an okay issue, but not particularly impressive. It did, however, have some great pages of art and one scene that I felt was pretty good.

Rating: 6/10

Review: The Superior Spider-Man #11

Minor Spoilers for the issue below!

Superior Spider-Man has been quite a good series overall, I have to say, this issue wasn't the best., there were a few exciting moments but I don't feel it was as good as some other of this series' issues.

Just a brief summary of what this issue is about, Otto Octavius, along with J. Jonah Jameson, Glory Grant and Norah Winters travel to the supervillain prison, the Raft, for the execution of the Spider-Slayer, A.K.A. the man who murdered Jameson's wife. I have to say, I wasn't particularly excited by the premise of this issue, I think this is because I don't really care about Spider-Slayer as a villain, he's just not too interesting in my opinion.

This issue was Co-Written by Dan Slott and Christos Gage, and they did do a good job on the issue. Basically, this issue did have good writing, I just wasn't too keen on the plot. The scripting aspect of the issue was good, and I really enjoyed one little scene between Otto and Norah Winters while on the raft and the college scenes on the first few pages, I just don't think the overall plot was as good as some other issues.

Now that I'm done talking about the writing, onto the art! The penciller for this issue was Guiseppe Camuncoli, who is a brilliant artist! He is one of three rotating pencillers for this series and his issues are some of the best in recent Spider-Man comics. He draws a really different Spider-Man to the other artists on the series, he appears more muscly and Camuncoli draws that well.

Another point on the art, the colours. The current Spider-Man colourist is Edgar Delgado, who has done all of the Superior Spider-Man series and a lot of the previous title, Amazing Spider-Man. He is a very good colourist and I think his issues with Camuncoli are the best for both of them. Camuncoli's pencils and Delgado's colours work together really well, and it makes some really good art.

Overall, this issue had an alright plot, good writing but brilliant art.

Rating: 6.5/10

Hawkeye #11, "Pizza is my buisness", gets a coloured preview!

Recently I talked about the Black and White preview for Hawkeye #11 by Matt Fraction, David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth ( if not, you can check it out HERE ), I was pretty excited by that, this issue is completely focused on Hawkeye's Pizza-loving dog, Pizza-Dog! Well now there's more, a coloured preview with an extra page!

Here it is:

The preview last preview was a few pages longer, without colour or that final page, check that one out HERE.

(Source: Comics Alliance)

Hawkeye #11 is released on June 26th, written by Matt Fraction, pencils by David Aja with colours by Matt Hollingsworth.

Review: X-Men #1

I have to admit, I've never been the biggest fan of the X-Men, I've tried getting into all of the new X- Books but none really managed to grip me. That was, until I read X-Men #1.

X-Men is the new series from Marvel with an all female core team of X-Men. I wasn't originally planning on getting this book but considering all the excitement and good comments surrounding it I decided I'd pick it up. Really pleased that I chose to pick it up because this was one of the best books of the month!

This issue was written by Brian Wood, and he's done a fantastic job with this issue! You jump straight into the action and I was hooked from page 1. It does help f you have some prior knowledge of who the characters are but it's pretty good for new readers to the X-men universe and is really enjoyable.

It does a good job of establishing who the characters are, what they're like and they're situations quickly and it moves at a fast pace. You see good examples of the team dynamic and how all these characters work together and it's got good writing throughout the whole issue!

Onto the art now! Oliver Coipel's art in this issue is just brilliant. It's amazing and just, overall, nice to look at! He's a good fit for this book and draws all of the characters and their surroundings perfectly! Him working with Inker Mark Morales and Colourist Laura Martin makes for a great art team, and I hope they stay with this series for a long time!

X-Men is an all around great series, it's well written and has some of the best art at Marvel right now.

Rating: 10/10!

James Robinson confirms he's NOT writing Namor

A few days ago James Robinson tweeted and then delete the following:

Following that, many comic sites reported on this and it spread that Robinson could be writing a new Namor book at Marvel, I chose not to report on this because I wasn't really too sure if this was a serious statement or not. Although, let's just keep in mind that James Robinson announced his departure from Earth 2 over Twitter...

Just a few minutes ago James Robinson tweeted:

Hey, and for the record I am not writing Namor.That was a joke between friends meant to be a DM.
— JamesDRobinson (@JamesDRobinson) May 30, 2013

So, it seems Robinson isn't writing Namor after all, although that would make a good series, hopefully one day.

DC Comics release Superman's 75th anniversary logo

Today DC Comics released the official logo for Superman's 75th anniversary. You can expect this to be on pretty much all of the Superman related merchandise from DC, if not, we know it will be on the comic covers at least, similar to the way Marvel used the logo for Spider-Man's 50th.

Here's the logo, a silhouetted version of  Jim Lee's Superman from the double page ads for the New 52 from the start of the relaunch:

 It's also been announced that Zack Snyder will be making a 2 minute animated short about Superman, also involved in the short film are Geoff Johns, Bruce Timm and lots more.

Comics Catch-up: Avenging Spider-Man #21 ( What you need to know )

Welcome to Comics Catch-up! This feature is where I help to get you up to speed for some of the biggest books out this week. This edition, Avenging Spider-Man! Here's what you need to know before reading #21...

Avenging Spider-Man 21

I'm sure you all already know what's going on with Spider-Man's head right now, but just in case, Doctor Octopus is inside Peter Parker/Spider-Man's head. Basically, Doc Ock is now Spider-Man. Ock has been collecting members of the Sinister Six, he currently is holding Sandman and Electro and is now after the Chameleon. There are a few problems here though, since the Chameleon is being held by S.H.I.E.L.D., in their Helicarrier, a mile above the earth. Oh, and the Chameleon is being targeted the KGB and wanted dead. Not too hard to get to him then....

After taking out an A.I.M. cell, Ock is taken aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier by Nick Fury Jr. , where he meets Agent Coulson, Hawkeye and Black Widow who, after Spider-Man's recent "odd" behaviour ( and by odd I mean killing one of his enemies and brutalising many other ), aren't too happy to see him on the helicarrier.

Ock sent his Spider-bots throughout the entire helicarrier and tired to track down what he was looking for, The Chameleon.

Then, everything went wrong. Otto had turned off all of the helicarrier's power ( But kept it in the air ), this allowed a group of armed attackers to board the ship and kill a large number of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. As well as this, the Chameleon escaped from his cell, murdered his guard and stole the face of his doctor. The two attackers attempted to kill Spider-Man while he was overcome with guilt but he managed to escape, while trying to track down the Chameleon, Spider-Man ended up coming into contact with Bruce Banner A.K.A. the not very happy Hulk.

So Spider-Man, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Nick Fury Jr., Agent Phil Coulson, Maria Hill and the surviving S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are trapped on a powerless helicarrier a mile above the Earth with a group of trained and armed killers coming after them. Oh, and one of Spider-Man's oldest enemies is walking around the helicarrier wearing the face of his murdered doctor. Not much to worry about then...

Avenging Spider-Man #21 is released today, Wednesday the 29th of May, written by Chris Yost with interior pencils by Marco Checchetto.

Preview for Hawkeye 11, "Pizza is my buisness", released.

When I first started reading Matt Fraction and David Aja's Hawkeye series ( with Matt Hollingsworth on colours ) I'd already seen endless good reviews and I'd never actually heard of anybody who hadn't liked it. This along with all the scans and pages posted on comic sites convinced me to go and buy my first issue of the series, issue 9. I've now decided to be a regular reader and I'm going back and getting all the issues I've missed. It's one of the best books out there at the moment, seriously, it's a charming and witty series with great writing and amazing art.

Hawkeye #8, Maybe it's the hat? Or the hair?



Cheer up, Pizza Dog.

Now, before I started reading this series one thing really jumped out at me from the articles I'd read on it. Pizza Dog. In case you don't know, Clint "Hawkeye" Barton saved a pizza-loving dog from the tracksuit mafia. Really, A superhero who owns a dog who loves pizza. Take that, Green Arrow!


Anyway, what I'm building to here is, this issue is completely focused on Pizza Dog. A whole 20 page comic focused on Hawkeye's pizza-eating dog who's investigating a murder. Wow. Just...Wow.

Here's a few preview pages ( originally from Comic Book Resources . Head over to their preview for the last page )

 

 

 

Hawkeye #11, "Pizza is my business", by Matt Fraction, David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth is released on June 26th. It's the craziest and greatest idea for a comic ever.