Previews day

DC have a preview of Secret Six #12 here. This is one of my fav series right now. Check it.

Marvel have previews over at CBR for comics on sale 5th August.

Click the links below to be taken to the preview of your choice.

"Agents of Atlas" #8
"All Winners 70th Anniversary Special"
"Black Panther" #7
"Captain America: Reborn" #2
"Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth" #2
"Destroyer" #5
"Exiles" #5
"Ghost Riders: Heaven's On Fire" #1
"House of M: Masters of Evil" #1
"Hulk" #13
"Invincible Iron Man" #16
"Iron Man & the Armor Wars" #1
"Luke Cage Noir" #1
"Trojan War" #4
"Ultimatum: Fantastic Four Requiem"
"Ultimatum: X-Men Requiem"
"War Machine" #8
"War of Kings" #6

Not much to get excited about there. Anyone picking up Ghost Rider? Could be worth a look.

The Hangman #1 – Preview

Over at DC’s blog The Source they have posted a cool 7 page preview from the first issue of the new Red Circle line; The Hangman.

The solicitation reads:

J. Michael Straczynski’s re-imagination of the Red Circle heroes begins here, with JMS teaming up with artists Tom Derenick and Bill Sienkiewicz to introduce The Hangman to the DCU.
The Civil War was one of our nation’s bloodiest conflicts, but one of the participants remains alive. Union doctor Robert Dickering found himself on the wrong side of the battle lines, and despite his heroic efforts to save a Confederate soldier, he also found himself on the wrong end of a noose. But when a shadowy power offers him a chance at immortality — with the caveat that he must roam the Earth, saving the lives of wrongly-condemned innocents like himself — Dickering agreed, and becomes the mysterious Hangman. But it doesn’t stop there, friends. We’ve got a first look at the issue right here.

THE RED CIRCLE: THE HANGMAN #1 hits 8/5.

I’m really excited about these Red Circle one-shots and the ongoing series for some reason. I think all the characters look very promising.

You can view the preview here.

So have a look guys and let me know what you think. Will you be picking this up based on the preview?

This week I have mostly been listening to...Grinderman- No Pussy Blues

So Grinderman are a “side project” of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. I had borrowed this album of my mate ages ago (the album ‘Grinderman’ originally released in 2007) but I burnt it on to my iTunes and it was just one of them albums I never got round to listening to much. So I came across it last weekend again and had a flick through the tracks and immediately No Pussy Blues jumped out at me.

Its got this ferocious vocal delivery by Nick Cave and a relentless dirty fuzz bass line that is just awesome, and then the chorus kicks in and its loud and in your face and brutally fantastic.

The best part though, is the lyrics, and the way they are delivered with venom. We’ve all been there right? Where you really want some action but your wife/girlfriend/partner/whatever - just isn’t in the mood, and we are at a woman’s mercy when bedroom decisions are made. Am I right? We get some action when they choose to allow us to have some. Its all part of the game I guess. Anyway, I thought I’d share these great lyrics with and you can find them below, and a link to the video for the track can be found here.

If you like rock n roll and can relate to the frustrations of not getting any, this is the song for you. Check it (Ha, ha! Man, I just read that Chihuahua line…. Brilliant!) .

Artist: Grinderman
Song: No Pussy Blues

My face is finished
My body's gone
And I can't help but think
Standing up here in all this applause
And gazing down at all the young and the beautiful
With their questioning eyes
That I must above all things love myself
That I must above all things love myself
That I must above all things love myself

I saw a girl in the crowd
I went over, I shouted out
I asked if I could take her out
But she said that she didn't want to

I changed the sheets
I combed the hairs across my head
I sucked in my gut
And still she said
That she just didn't want to

I read her Elliot, I read her Yates
I tried my best to stay up late
I fixed the hinges on her gate
But still she just never wanted to

I bought her a dozen snow white doves
I did her dishes in rubber gloves
I called her Honeybee, I called her love
But she just still didn't want to
She just never wants to
DAMN!

I sent her every type of flower
I played her a guitar by the hour
I patted her revolting little Chihuahua
But still she just didn't want to

I wrote a song with a hundred lines
I picked a bunch of dandy lions
I walked her through the trembling pines
But she just even then didn't want to
She just never wants to

I thought I'd try another tact
I drank a litre of Cogniac
I threw her down upon her back
But she just laughed and said she just didn't want to

I thought I'd have another go
I called her Ma "Little Oh"
I felt like Marcel Marceau must feel
But she said she just never wanted to
She just didn't want to

I've got the No Pussy Blues
I've got the No Pussy Blues
I've got the No Pussy Blues!
DAMN!

No Pussy Blues
I've got the No Pussy Blues
I've got the No Pussy Blues
I've got the No Pussy Blues

DAMN!
DAMN!

Rant about the 40 Thieves... uh, I mean Marvel.

There was news at SDCC about the X-Men line of books and the potential return of millions of mutants.

When I first heard this news I was excited about the prospect of mutantkind returning. I hated the “no more mutants” idea (how comes most of the X-Men kept their powers? Fucking stupid!) and thought that there must have been a better way to strip down the mutant population (as I agree it was getting out of hand).

Anyway, when I was reading the October solicitation for the X-Men books I came across the following:

X-FORCE/NEW MUTANTS: NECROSHA ONE-SHOT # 1 The Story: Death has come to the X-Men. The one true Black Queen has returned, and she wants nothing less than every soul of mutantkind...dead or alive. And everyone that's ever crossed Selene is going to pay. The dead rise, familiar faces haunt mutants across the world, and Selene takes her final steps into becoming a god. It all begins here in a full-length X-FORCE extravaganza, and continues in the pages of next month’s issue of X-FORCE…but the shockwaves of this terrifying event will be felt in NEW MUTANTS and X-MEN: LEGACY as well, and those reverberations begin here in two all-new bonus tales.

Now when I read 'The dead rise, familiar faces haunt mutants across the world,' I couldn’t believe it. What a rip off of Blackest Night! If millions of mutants return as zombies I will not be happy. Mutants need to be back where they belong in the Marvel U as the next step in human evolution, imo this was one of the best ideas in the Marvel U and an idea that really set Marvel apart from DC.

First Marvel copy the extra features idea of DC for $3.99 books (which I admit I’m happy about but still), now they copy Blackest Night, what the fuck is next Marvel? You going to have your own version of Wednesday Comics too but charge us $4.99 per issue instead. You used to be the “House of Ideas” so WTF has happened. Stop stealing other company’s ideas and get back some balls.

What do you guys think? Agree or disagree?

G. Johns to write a second JLA series?

(Mon-El's new costume design, a sleeker Superman look)

While over at Newsarama I came across a new article they call ‘Column…for JUSTICE!’ By Troy Brownfield

The article was mainly a nice little history lesson of the new JLA characters for fans. Members being Mon-El, Donna Troy, Batman (Dick Grayson), Hal Jordan, Congorilla and maybe Vixen.

The part that interested me however was this;

“There will (probably) be two ongoing Justice League books. James Robinson will be writing, and Mark Bagley will be drawing, although it’s not been totally spelled out as to how the books will be divided. The going rumor/assumption is that Geoff Johns and a superstar artist will be handling the other book, but that awaits confirmation.”

This is the first I have heard about a second ongoing JLA book, I knew Johns was working on something being kept under wraps for the last few months but a new Flash ongoing written by Johns was announced at SDCC and I thought that was it. He is already writing Green Lantern, Blackest Night (+various tie-ins), Superman Secret Origins, Flash Rebirth and now the Flash ongoing. Is it possible that he has time to be writing a second Justice League book? I got to say I think this is unlikely, however as he is my favorite DC writer I would love for nothing more than for him to come aboard and sort out the Justice League series. Whether I would buy the Robinson book also if I had a Geoff Johns penned Justice league I’m not so sure about. What do you guys think? Had you heard this rumor about a second JLA series penned by Johns and is there any truth to it?

Hex’s Pull List 07/29/09

(Cover to JSA #29)

Medium sized week for me. Looks like this:

Marvel:

Dark X-Men Beginning #2
New Avengers #55
Secret Warriors #6
X-Men Forever #4

DC:

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #3
Detective Comics #855
Justice Society #29
Superman #690
Wednesday Comics #4

A rare week for me where I’m picking up more DC than Marvel. I’m most looking forward to reading Detective Comics and JSA with its new creative team.

I also managed to order online Robin 3000 this week for £2 which I thought was a bargain. I have no clue if it will be any good or not I just liked the idea of Batman & Robin in the future and thought it had a cool cover. Anyone read it? Let me know what you thoughts.

I’ve also been reading the Old Boy manga series which I picked up beacuse I love the film. I’ve never read manga before but have read volumes 1 & 2 (of 7) so far and am really enjoying it. I plan on doing a review of the whole series when I finish and will be comparing it to the film.

What are you guys picking up this week?

Avengers Assemble! Movie line-up revealed

Website io9 have posted an interview they had with Producer Kevin Feige about the up-coming Avengers movie.

While it appears the plot and story are very much in the works it seems that the core Avengers team has been decided upon. Feige says “I think it’s going to be Iron Man and Thor, Captain America and Nick Fury. I think it’s safe to assume that there will be some members of the Hulk universe in the film as well. In terms of the additional I think Black Widow, sure. The SHIELD organization for sure.”

No confirmation on the actual Hulk appearing though.

So what do you guys think of that line-up? Sounds pretty good to me. I wouldn’t mind an Ultimate style Hawkeye making an appearance though; I think that would be cool. Who else would you guys like to see?

Read the full interview HERE.

Marvel's FREE Comics - 07/28/09

Five awesome Marvel comics available to read for FREE this week, some of which are pretty recent issues which is cool.

Click the title of your choice below to get your FREE online comic:

IRON MAN #9 (2004)

THUNDERBOLTS #126 (2006)

CABLE #4 (1995)

GHOST RIDER #30 (2006)

NEW AVENGERS #48

Be sure to check back next week when your five free Marvel Digital comics will be:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #574 (1999)

INVICIBLE IRON MAN #8 (2008)

X-MEN: ORIGINAL SIN #1 (2008)

SPIDER-MAN: FEAR ITSELF #1

X-MEN: LEGACY #219 (2008)

See you then!

Immortal Weapons #1 – Review

Immortal Weapons #1 –Review

Story by
Jason Aaron, Duane Swierczynski

Art by
Mico Suayan, Travel Foreman, Stefano Gaudiano, Roberto de la Torre, Khari Evans, Victor Olazaba, Michael Lark, Arturo Lozzi

Hex’s Score: 4 out of 5

This was a really funny and entertaining comic from Jason Aaron and all the artists involved. Fat Cobra whose age is now in triple figures is an old fat drunk who loves some female company. This we know. What this story does is fill in the missing gaps of Fat Cobra’s past for both the reader and the forgetful drunken lead character. There are some great scenes of his globe trotting adventures, each drawn by a different artist, all drawn excellently. The only problem I did find was the inconsistency of Fat Cobra’s tattoos. On the awesome cover by David Aja (shown above) and in one of the flash backs Fat Cobra has his upper body covered with Oriental tattoos but in the present day story and other flash back sequences featured he has none. His tattoos are a major part of the character design and I can’t believe the other artists left them off.

Highlights of the big man’s history include the story of his birth to pig farmers (much to Cobras annoyance), Fat Cobra facing off against a deadly but beautiful woman, the scene where Cobra is confronted by his many children and has to make some harsh decisions and last but not least; his tutorage of the one and only King of Rock...Elvis! It’s a hilarious scene.

The naming of an Immortal Weapons signature moves is one of my favourite parts of the Iron Fist title and thankfully Aaron uses the same idea to great effect on Fat Cobra’s arsenal of deadly kung-fu moves.

The second feature Iron Fist story by Duane Swiercynski & Travel Foreman is a welcome addition and takes Danny Rand away from the adventures of K’un Lun and back into the grim reality of the real world. It’s a hard hitting, action packed street level story and I look forward to the next chapter.

This is a definite pick up for Immortal Iron Fist fans as it gives a great background to a likeable character and the writing and story continues vey much in the same vein as the Immortal Iron Fist title. New readers should not be put off however as you could easily jump on board to this mini series without any Iron Fist back ground knowledge and still have as much fun as a pig in shit!

SDCC News Round Up Part 2

On to Marvel's News now - (DC news in previous post)

Dark Reign

· Dark Reign The List: Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis and Marco Djurdjevi. "This is a huge Clint Barton issue," McCann says.
· Dark Reign the List: X-Men by Fraction and Alan Davis focuses on Namor.
· Dark Reign The List: Wolverine, written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Esad Ribic. “It's got Fantomex on the cover, and Marvel Boy is involved.” Aaron says it plays with a lot of themes from Grant Morrison's New X-Men, and also the brand new Weapon XVI. "Plus, there's zombies, did I mention that?" "It's the craziest thing I've ever written," Aaron says, adding that he gets to play with characters he's wanted to use for a while
· Dark Reign The List: Secret Warriors is by Jonathan Hickman and Ed McGuinness, with Nick Fury on the cover.
· Dark Reign The List: Spider-Man is written by Dan Slow, drawn by Adam Kubert.
· The Tony/Iron Patriot fight is coming," Fraction says. Invincible Iron Man #19. He says Norman Osborn will be at his most "tricked out," with "Tony in the Mark I prototype" at near the end of his current mind-deletion process.
· Is a Dark Avengers/New Avengers fight coming up? "Yes," Quesada said, while McCann again brought up Dark Reign The List: Avengers.
· Dark Reign will be finished by the end of this year.

Animation

-Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes moves to Nicktoons with a fall lineup of 26-episodes, some that have not been seen in the U.S.
-Iron Man Armored Adventures will also be on Nicktoon. Villains include Ultimo, Ghost, the Controller, Living Laser, and MODOK.
-Angel will become Archangel on Wolverine and the X-Men
-Planet Hulk will make a direct to DVD movie in February
-A Wolverine anime project announced.
-Anime Iron Man also announced. To be set in Japan.
-Work is being done on X-Men and Blade anime projects.
-Thor: Tales of Asgard arrives in 2011.

X-Men

-X-Force #50 wraps up the future and present storylines and sets the stage for things to come in the next year.
-Starting September, Daniel Acuna is the ongoing artist for X-Men Legacy.
-Magneto will be back soon
-Wolverine will battle Skaar in the pages of Wolverine Origins later this year
-Necrosha, a cross over event involving X-Force, New Mutants and X-Men: Legacy arrives in October 2009 and will see 16 million mutants brought back.
-X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain by Fred Van Lente and Denis Calero announced.

Spider-Man

-Marvel Digital Comics will begin offering in continuity Spider-Man tales starting November 9. Look for stories to flow between the print and digital comics. New stories will arrive every other Monday. The first few issues are inspired by Marvels with Bob Gale as writer.
-The up –coming arc “Who was Ben Reilly” will give Marvel a chance to tell some Ben Reilly stories without bringing him back.

Hulk

-There will be a Red She-Hulk.
-World War Hulks. Plural, coming in December 2009 and a major character in the Hulk universe will die.
-Loeb and John Romita Jr. will be teaming for Gamma, that serves as a lead in to the World War Hulks series.
-Incredible Hercules is not ending
-In Hulk issues #14 - #17 someone will find out who the Red Hulk is (but will the readers?)
-Deadpool will show up in the Hulk title as well as Spider-Man.

Other news

· More What Ifs? are on the way
· “Marvel has purchased the rights to Marvelman/ Miracleman,” Quesada said. “It is arguably the J.D. Salinger of comic book characters. Arguably one of the most important comic book characters in decades.”- NEWSARAMA
· Black Widow by Paul Cornell and Tom Raney gets a four-issue mini-series in November
· Captain America/Black Panther by Reggie Hudlin and Denys Cowan announced for 2010. This will be a four-issue mini called Flags of Our Fathers set during WWII

So I think that covers most of it. Let me know if you think I missed anything worth mentioning and what stories mentioned above you’re looking forward to in the coming months

Adios

SDCC - News Round Up

So San Diego Comic Con has been and gone and there was quite a bit of news. With the help of Newsarama and Major Spoilers I’ve tried to provide you with the essential list of all the major news announced by the big two at the Con. DC First:

JLA

- New team will feature: Mon-El (in a new costume with a Superman “S” on it), Dick Grayson Batman, Donna Troy and Hal Jordan. The other characters are a “mystery,” says Robinson.
One of them “mystery” members is Congorilla, Robinson pointed out.

Flash

-Geoff Johns is working on Blackest Night: The Flash, which arrives in December. Look for the dead Rogues to return from the dead

-Johns announced that he’ll be writing The Flash ongoing monthly after Blackest Night: The Flash.

-Sterling Gates will be writing Kid Flash

Green Lantern

-Green Lantern: Rebirth Absolute Edition announced, but DiDio said that book will have to sell well before a Sinestro War Absolute Edition was ever considered

Batman

-The Joker will return to deal with Harley Quinn in Gotham City Sirens
-The Question back up story in Detective Comics will increase to 10 pages beginning in issue #858.
-The Question will also move to the front of the book for a time, while the Kate Kane stories move to the backup story. When Williams returns to the art, Batwoman moves back to the front. -Azreal will be an ongoing title
-Batman Beyond stories are returning.
-The Robin/Super Boy/Kid Flash reunion will occur in Adventure Comics
-Tony Daniel is coming back to Batman for “a bunch of issues”

Superman

-Captain Atom will play a part in Codename Patriot. Look for Hunt for Reactron as a Supergirl;/Action Comics crossover in October. It will be written by Sterling Gates and Greg Rucka.
-Superman #700 will be titled Mon-el: Man of Valor and will be a darker character with a new costume.
-The Adventure Comics co-feature will star the Legions Starman, Lightning Lad, Polar Boy, and Sun Boy
-Starman has a new task that will play out in Adventure Comics, and not Blackest Night
As will Superboy Prime (in issues #4 and #5)
-Origin stories will be the focus in the Supergirl Annual (origin of Superwoman), Superman Annual (history of Daxam), and in a Secret Files issue.

JSA

-JSA All-Stars is a new monthly to be written by Sturges with art by Freddie Williams. .
-The All-Stars series will feature more of the younger members of the team.
-Jerry Ordway, James Robinson, Freddie Williams and more are teaming for the JSA 80-Page Giant arriving in November.

Animation

-Superman/Batman: Public Enemies hits stores on September 29th
-Kevin Conroy returns as Batman as does Clancy Brown for Lex Luthor
-A Jonah Hex short – written by Joe Lansdale – would be among the initial series of animation shorts.

Other news

-J. Michael Straczynski is taking over The Brave and the Bold. The first arc will feature Batman and Dial H-for-Hero

-The Doom Patrol: Keith Giffen taking over writing with artist Matthew Clark. “We’re back to the original team,” DiDio says.
-Giffen/J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire team will be reuinted with Metal Men backups in Doom Patrol.
-The new Red Tornado series will introduce the rest of the “red” family. (Red Torpedo, Red Volcano, and one more “red.”)
-T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents are coming to the DC Universe. “These are going to be characters interacting with the DC Universe,” DiDio said, comparing it to the recent handling of the Red Circle and Milestone characters. T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents will be in other series first before spinning out into their own books.
-Scott Ian on Lobo. Two issues starting in November, drawn by Sam Kieth.
-Deathstroke: The Terminator,” is new leader of the Titans
-Ambush Bug: Year None #6 is on its way

See part 2 for Marvel New Round Up.

Marvel Previews! - Comics On Sale July 29, 2009

(Cool variant cover to Secret Warriors #6)

It’s that time of the week again when the nice people over at Marvel Comics provide Comic Book Resources with advance looks at new comics on sale next Wednesday, July 29, 2009.

The previews available are listed below. So click away and comment below to let me know what looks good, what looks bad and what looks anything in-between.

"Dark Reign: Hawkeye" #4
"Dark Reign: Lethal Legion" #2
"Dark Reign: The Hood" #3
"Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead" #3
"Dark X-Men: The Beginning" #2
"Fantastic Four" #569
"Kid Colt" one-shot
"Marvel Zombies 4" #4
"New Avengers" #55
"Secret Warriors" #6
"Son of Hulk" #13
"Terror Inc. - Apocalypse Soon" #4
"Thunderbolts" #134
"Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem Book 2"
"Wolverine Noir" #4
"X-Men Forever" #4

San Diego Comic Con - Day 1 - News Round Up

(JSA All Stars)

So San Diego Comic Con started yesterday with some news from DC about Blackest Night, the Superman titles and the Justice Society America, with some new series announced for Vertigo also.

Major Spoilers has the best coverage I’ve read so far. The important news from the Con are nicely laid out with bullet points and listed in categories making it very easy to read. You can get to it here.

Some points I’d like to go over:

Justice Society will be getting a new ongoing series (the main JSA will still continue also) entitled JSA All Stars written by Sturges with art by Freddie Williams, this will focus on the younger members of the JSA who disagree with the core team about how ‘pro-active’ they should be against criminals and decide to take their own course of action. Now firstly this sounds very familiar to what is happening with the JLA over in ‘Cry for Justice’. Secondly, the Geoff Johns penned ‘Thy kingdom Come’ storyline in the pages of JSA just dealt with an internal rift. Why are these writers going over the same ground again? Having said that, I am more inclined to pick up JSA All Stars though as this deals with the young blood JSA’ers who as new characters, I believe, have the opportunity for more character development and have new stories be told.

Superman #700 will be titled Mon-el: Man of Valor and will be a darker character with a new costume. This sounds quite exciting. Mon-El has frankly been a bit dull in the pages of Superman so maybe this twist will give new freshness to the character and make him a bit more interesting.

Geoff Johns is working on Blackest Night: The Flash, which arrives in December. I expect more of these mini-series to be announced to make sure DC can make as much money out of Blackest Night as possible. I’m interested to see how many of these will be essential to the main story, but being the sucker I am I’ll no doubt end up picking them all up!

Be sure to check back here daily for more news from SDCC.

Latest pics from Iron Man 2 - Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow

Scarlett Johansson is shown above in the role of Black Widow from the new Marvel film Iron Man 2. We understand that principal filming has now wrapped and the film is on schedule for its due release date of May 7, 2010.

I have to say that Mrs Reynolds looks just as hot sporting Black Widow's customary red hair.

Some more photos from the Iron Man 2 set can be seen over at Marvel.com

You guys looking forward to iron Man 2? What do you think of the cast choices? Please let me know your thoughts by commenting below.

Hex out.

Detective Comics #855 - Preview

For those of you who appreciate fine art, here is a preview of Detective Comics #855 that I nabbed from DC’s The Source, drawn by the masterful J.H. Williams III, due for release 29/07/2009. Enjoy.

Incredible Hulk #600 - WARNING!

Great review over at iFanboy.com of Incredible Hulk #600 by Akamuu. I have copied the review below:

If you've been enjoying Loeb's plotless story where he dangles the fact that you don't know who the Red Hulk over your head like a plastic carrot, then you may enjoy this issue. But if you're picking it up hoping for the big reveal? IT AIN'T HERE. Yeup, you got suckered into paying $5 for 28 pages of new Rulk story that has amazing art, some interesting action, but no promised reveal. SUCKER. Jeph Loeb is laughing at you.

The art in the front story is Ed McGuinesssly beautiful. And the issue has Spidey, but Loeb is writing him, so it doesn't really deserve to be noted. There's also a silly Stan Lee story, a post-logue to the current Savage She Hulk story, and a Hulk Gray reprint.

You could have totally had a cheeseburger for that $5, or a milkshake. Sure, you'd feel bloated, but isn't that better than feeling ripped off?

Story: 1 - Poor Art: 4 - Very Good

I was gonna waste my money on this book but I’ve changed my mind after reading this. My wallet thanks you Akamuu. I’m def gonna give this a miss now and jump on board next issue when Pak and Olivetti start their new run with original green Hulk and Skaar and a She-Hulk back up. I’m looking forward to that.

Anyway, you have been warned! Save your money folks.

Hex’s Pull List – 07/22/2009

(Cover to Legion of 3 Worlds #5)

Last week was such a great week for comics, can this weeks live up to it? Let’s see what I’ll be picking up:

Marvel:
Amazing Spider-Man #600
Immortal Weapons #1
Incredible Hulk #600
New Avengers #55
Wolverine: Origins #38
X-Force #17

DC:
Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #2
Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #5
Green Lantern #44
Wednesday Comics #3

Well this looks like another really cool week for comics. Highlights for me include the Immortal Weapons #1 (being a big Iron Fist fan) and the final chapter of Legion of 3 worlds!! I can’t believe its finally fucking here, we waited long enough, hope it’s worth it.

Speaking of waiting for comics, I wonder when Mark Millar will get round to Kick-Ass #7 & War Heores #3 and the end of Old Man Logan and the next chapter of Americans Jesus and..... well you get the point. Millar you are one of my fav writers mate, but man you do make us wait!

What will you guys be picking up?

More Mini Reviews

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1 – Really enjoyed Saint Walker’s story about his faith, the love & loss of his family and his hope and belief despite that. Great little origin story that has now made me care about the character. Mongul's story was fun, telling a tale of him as a little brat and showing is ambition even at that age. The Indigo tribe story was just okay. They were talking in their own language that you couldn’t understand, but they were showing some awesome powers. Seems they can control ALL the lantern colours!?!? Cool. Issue 2 out this week. Deadpool – Merc with a mouth #1 – man this was bad. Not funny at all and a crap story. The art was okay but when you compare the writing and art to the creators on the main Deadpool series it doesn’t compare. So I won’t be picking up any more issues. Which leads me to…….

Deadpool #12 – Funny as Fuck!!!! This is how you do a funny comic book and has my moment of the week in it, shown below:

Story so far: Bullseye is trying to kill Deadpool for Norman Osborn and fires a missile/rocket at Deadpool currently driving his truck, the following occurs next:

Above:Deadpool sees missile coming and schreeches to a hault

Below: Click image to see what happens next!

That line from Bullseye was so great it cracked me up! Next month Deadpool becomes a pirate I believe. Top stuff!!

Captain America #601 - Review

Captain America #601
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Art: Gene Colan, Dean White (colors)

Hex’s score: 4 out of 5

First off this issue has nothing to do with the current Captain America Rebirth storyline. This was a self contained one-shot based during Civil-War where Winter Soldier (Bucky) tells a story to Nick Fury about an adventure Cap and himself had during the World War II. This was originally meant to be released around that time as an annual or something but for whatever reason that didn’t happen. All I can say was thank God it’s finally seen the light of day because this was a fantastic little tale.

Bucky’s story is a small horror tale set nearing the end of WWII about a vampire killing and turning Caps soldiers into the undead. It’s a straight forward horror tale but its great to have a done in one Captain America story from Brubaker after the previous 51 issues have pretty much been one epic continuing story. I like the idea of good one shots sometimes, the way comics used to be written. A new villain and plot for each issue, similar to some of the Wolverine one-shots that have been released from Marvel over the past couple of years.

Gene Colan illustrated this issue, and he is apparently a legend in the comic artist field, which to be honest with you, went over my head. I’m too young to remember any of his previous work and went into this issue with a total open mind wanting to make my own opinion of his work and it really made an impact on me. It is really unique and unlike any styles around today and I loved it. Big props to colorist Dean White too. The first thing you notice about this book is the beautifully dark painted colors that really set the mood for this horror tale. Its worth noting that there is a black and white version also available to highlight Colans’s pencils but I could not imagine this story without the wonderful dark colors to give it that chill factor.

Not essential if your following Captain America Rebirth but as I said before a great one and done horror yarn displayed beautifully.

Free Comics @ Marvel Digital – 07/20/2009

Your free weekly comics from Marvel are here again. Click the title of your choice below to be taken to the Marvel Digital page:

MOON KNIGHT #26 (2006)

NEW WARRIORS #5 (2007)

UNCANNY X-MEN #377

MARVEL ILLUSTRATED: THE ODYSSEY #1

BUG #1

Find out what next week's five free digital comics will be below!

WAR MACHINE #1 (2008)

THUNDERBOLTS #126 (2006)

CABLE #5 (1995)

GHOST RIDER #33 (2006)

NEW AVENGERS #48

Enjoy!

Matt’s Monday Mini Reviews

These are going to be mega mini reviews of some of last weeks comics that I’ve read. The rest of my stack will receive the mini review treatment tomorrow.

X-Factor #46 – Peter David is the man. This is just a great read every time. This issue included; time travel, cyborgs, Sentinels, men still kissing & women fighting (but no kissing). Another solid issue for X-Factor fans.

Dark Avengers #7 – Written by Matt Fraction, continues the Utopia story in good, if unremarkable fashion. One point of note though (Spoilers on!) – Beast possibly losing his blue fur!?!?!?!. Not sure how I feel about that. He has been the blue fur-ball for as long as I can remember, maybe he needs a change back. Guess we’ll find out next issue. Oh and Luke Ross is in on art unfortunately.

Blackest Night #1 – Awesome horror tale featuring all your fav DC characters back from the dead as super villain zombies! Hunting for flesh and all those capes who have escaped death’s clutches! Beautiful art by Ivan Ries (the coolest Elongated Man has ever looked!) and classic Geoff Johns goodness. Get it; this series is going to be huge!

Batman: Streets of Gotham # 2 – Best ‘Batman Reborn’ title so far (along with Detective Comics). Features a great cast of villains; Firefly (setting the city ablaze), Black Mask (new crime boss of Gotham) and Hush, who in this issue escapes from Batman’s prison and decides to give all of Bruce’s money away! This creative team is making exactly the type of Bat book I love. Highly recommended.

Wednesday Comics # 2 – Loving this series. Reads a bit quick but the huge newspaper format is so fun and every story is drawn beautifully. Highlights were; Kamandi, Strange Adventures & Hawkman. It is pricey at $3.99 but it’s def worth a look.

Action Comics # 879 – I’m still picking this up every month but it’s just ok. I decided to keep at it as I have faith in Rucka to produce the goods (and this issue was better) and I wanted to check out the Captain Atom back up feature which was strange but good. Basically it was Atom sent to take out load of Lord of the Rings extras! I’m intrigued. As for Nightwing & Flamebird they went up against General Lane’s goons in another action packed story. I’ll be back next month.

Amazin Spider-Man #599 - Review

'American Son - Conclusion'
WRITER: Joe Kelly
PENCILS: Marco Checchetto

Score: 4.5 out of 5

Now I’ve never been a big Spider-Man fan or follower of the Amazing Spider-Man series. I have dipped in now and again on story lines that interested me or when writers I liked did an arc or two but the revolving cast of creators put me off this book bit. When I heard Joe Kelly was stepping in to do an arc I was very excited. I was a big fan of the ‘Space Ghost’ mini series he did with Ariel Olivetti for DC and when I also found out that the story line would be the first to deal with how Spider-man feels about Norman Osborn’s role as Director of H.A.M.M.E.R, I thought I have to pick this book up, and after now reading the full five issues I have to say I was not disappointed with my decision in the slightest as this has turned out to be one of the best Spider-Man arcs I’ve ever read.

(Spoilers on!)

Amazing Spider-Man #599 was the concluding issue of the ‘American Son’ story arc. This was a big fight finish to a very twisted story and overall exciting story line. We open with Harry donning the American Son armor and battling Norman to save arch-enemy; Spider-Man’s life, much to Normans disappointment. The fight then bursts out of the Avengers tower and into Central Park and exciting action scenes are mixed with great dramatic dialogue, particularly between father and son.

Like the previous issues of Kelly’s tale, the main theme in this issue is relationships, lots of twisted and wonderfully soap opera-esque crazy relationships. First off, we see Peter examining his relationship with best friend Harry Osborn (who hates Spider-Man, but doesn’t know his best friend is also his worst enemy), and in a nice flash back scene we see the special bond between the two that they have shared since they were teens, where they refer to each other as ‘brothers’, and Peter’s promise to Harry to never let him be alone, which underlines why Peter, as Spider-Man, will not give up trying to help his friend stand up against the monster that is Norman Osborn.

We also have Harry hating on his father Norman Osborn and goblin girlfriend Menace, for sleeping with each other and producing the ‘Goblin Prince’! Norman despises Harry’s weakness and softness at having saved Spider-Man and decides to disown his son once and for all.

There is a nice final few words exchanged between our main character and the two Osborn’s at the end of the battle that I won’t spoil, where Peter truly comes through for his friend. It’s a nice scene and a fitting end to a brilliant and fun ride that has been ‘American Son’.

I can’t fault the artists on this story arc either. All the artists that contributed did amazing work (especially on the action scenes) and the styles from issue to issue were not too dissimilar and didn’t take away from the story being told.

In conclusion, this is highly recommended. If you haven’t picked up the previous issues this should be a definite pick up when it is eventually collected in trade paper back. I now look forward to when Joe Kelly returns to ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ with issue 611 this November and brings Deadpool to Spidey's world. Sure to be a riot. See ya then.

Marvel previews for comics shipping July 22nd

(Variant cover to Incredible Hulk #600 by Tim Sale)

Once again to help with your comic book shopping choices, Marvel previews have been posted on CBR for comics shipping July 22, 2009.

Click the links below to be taken to the CBR preview page:

"Amazing Spider-Man" #600
"Avengers: The Initiative" #26
"Black Panther" #6
"Captain Britain and MI13" #15
"Dark Reign: Fantastic Four" #5
"Dark Wolverine" #76
"Deadpool: Suicide Kings" #4
"Guardians of the Galaxy" #16
"HALO: Helljumper" #1
"Immortal Weapons" #1
"Incredible Hercules" #131
"Incredible Hulk" #600
"Marvel Adventures Spider-Man" #53
Ms. Marvel" #42
"Nova" #27
"Riftwar" #2
"Runaways" #12
"Savage She-Hulk" #4
"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" #8
"Wolverine First Class" #17
"Wolverine: Origins" #38
"X-Force" #17

There are lots of good previews this week. Highlights for me include the two anniversary issues shipping; Amazing Spider-Man #600 & Incredible Hulk #600 (as I’m hoping for packed issues with lots of nice extras) and everyone’s favorite Sumo drunk Fat Cobra, starring in Immortal Weapons #1 written by Jason Aaron.

Anything here you guys like the look of and will be picking up next week?

First Look at Variant Covers for Captain America Reborn #2

Marvel has released images of two variant covers for Captain America Reborn #2, due in stores on August 5.

Shown above, the top one is by artist John Cassaday while the second is by Tim Sale.

Marvel's official solicitation for the issue: "The race for Steve Rogers is on! On one side - BUCKY and the BLACK WIDOW and members of the AVENGERS and FANTASTIC FOUR! On the other - NORMAN OSBORN and HAMMER, THE RED SKULL and his evil hordes, with DR. DOOM waiting in the wings! And where... oh where, is the real CAPTAIN AMERICA? Ed Brubaker, Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice bring you the biggest Marvel comic of the year!"

Captain America Reborn #2 is due in stores on August 5.

Deadpool #900 annouced for October. Which book will get the Marvel milestone treatment next?

Marvel has recently reverted some of its more popular and longer lasting titles to original numbering and released a number of milestone issues which have proved very popular with fans. These oversized issues normally sell out immediately and top the sales charts and at a price of $4.99 an issue you can’t really blame Marvel for putting more and more of these issues out.

So far we have had; Uncanny X-Men #500, Thor #600, and Captain America #600, while the following will be released over the coming weeks; Amazing Spider-Man #600, Incredible Hulk # 600 and Daredevil #500.

But this latest announcement from Marvel of a new milestone issue came to me as more of a surprise. The latest is Deadpool #900 out in October. Yes Deadpool!?!?!

Deadpool has been a very popular marvel character over the last year or so and is currently supporting two ongoing series, a mini series, and has a feature film in the works. Marvel has now come up with the idea to release Deadpool #900, no doubt making this another $4.99. While I have enjoyed the oversized issues released so far, making this issue a random stupid number like 900 just so they can charge $4.99 for the book pisses me off a little. But I enjoy the main Deadpool series by Daniel Way, and if they include lots of good extras, I’m sure I’ll still be picking it up come October.

Now with Deadpool #900 hitting, it got me thinking as to when Marvel will stop with these milestone issues and conversions to original numbering and I thought , with Wolverine being arguably Marvels most popular character, would he be next in line to receive similar treatment.

So with the help of Wikipedia and Comicvine I have tried to compile a list of titles, new and old that Wolverine has starred in as the main character to obtain what the next milestone issue of Wolverine COULD be. His main titles are:

Wolverine #1-4 (Sept.-Dec. 1982)
Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #1–6 (Nov. 1984 – April 1985)
Wolverine vol. 2, #1–189 (Nov. 1988 – June 2003)
Marvel Comics Presents #1–10, 39–142, 150–155
Origin #1–6 (November 2001 – July 2002)
Wolverine: Origins #1—37 , Annual #1 (July 2006— )
Wolverine vol.3, #1— 75 (July 2003— )
Weapon X #1–4 (March–June 1995)
Weapon X vol.2, #1–28
Wolverine: First Class #1—16 (March 2008— )
Wolverine: Weapon X #1—3 (June 2009— )
Total: 497 issues

This is just a very rough figure, and does not include the many one shots and countless other mini-series Wolverine has starred in. I just tried to include the main and most relevant titles in this characters rich history, but please feel free to let me know of any important ones you think I may have missed.

So with all that taken into consideration it would be very easy for Marvel to issue a milestone issue of, for example, Wolverine #500.

What do you guys think about the idea of Deadpool #900 and which book do you think will be next in line to get a milestone issue, if any?

Geoff Johns interview @ CBR & My dream Geoff Johns project!

Comic Book Resources has a great interview posted today with one of my fav writers, Geoff Johns. He discusses all his current projects with DC (Flash Rebirth, Green Lantern) plus drops hints on some future projects including Adventure Comics, Superman: Secret Origins, All Star Batgirl, a Captain Marvel project and more! Check it here.

Now a quick question for you Geoff Johns fans, what would be your dream next project for him and with which artist? I know in the past ‘Aquaman Rebirth’ has been mentioned by fans and according to this interview he is working on All Star Batgirl and another secret project with artist Gary Frank after Superman: Secret Origins.

Now as Gary Frank is also one of my fav artists right now I would keep that pairing for my dream project and the character used would be……………Batman.

From what I can recall Geoff has not really worked much on the Batman books (please correct me if I’m wrong) and I know Batman is sort of Grant Morrison’s baby right now and is the creator with the main ideas that the other books seem to be following, but Id love to see Johns & Frank take on the Dark Knight when Morrison finally leaves or even take over from Winnick and Bagley on the main ‘Batman’ title as that last issue did not impress me at all.

So what would you guys like to see?

My thoughts on Wednesday Comics #1

The other title I really want to read this week is Wednesday Comics #2. Last weeks issue was fantastic and I loved the newspaper format, the art and the huge range of stories and creative teams (highlights include the Adam Strange, Kamandi and Hawkman stories, but they’re all great.). I didn’t even mind the $3.99 price tag, even though it is only printed on newspaper, I felt it was worth it. AND you don’t have to wait a month for the next issue, it ships weekly! I did have one or two small nitpicks though. They were:

1) The stories were only one page long and read far too quickly. I feel at least 2 pages per story would have been a lot more satisfying.

2) When folded the newspaper was slightly wider than normal comics and therefore Wednesday Comics does not fit into a regular sized storage bag (still fits in my long boxes though). I want to store these issues safely as it is printed on newspaper the pages are much more likely to tear and turn yellow. (Any advice will be welcome or please let me know how you guys will be storing your issues).

3) The Wonder Woman story was totally weird and I couldn’t read it properly and it was pretty much shit.

Apart from those few things I thought Wednesday Comics #1 had amazing art, new and fresh ideas and was loads of fun.

If any of you guys picked the issue up I’d love to know your views on it.

Hex’s Comic Book Pull List - 15/07/2009

Marvel:
Amazing Spider-Man # 599
Captain America # 601
Dark Avengers # 7
Deadpool # 12
X-Factor # 46

DC:
Action Comics # 879
Batman: Streets of Gotham # 2
Blackest Night # 1
Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps # 1
Wednesday Comics # 2

Even Stevens this week between the big two, five Marvel titles & five DC titles.

There are lots here I’m looking forward to including the ‘American Son’ conclusion in Amazing Spider-Man # 599, issue 2 of Batman: Streets of Gotham, as I loved issue 1, and of course the start of DC’s big summer event, Blackest Night.

What will you guys be getting?

*EDIT* - I have just seen on Marvels website that Incognito 5 is out today also, so Ill be getting that too.

Free Mondays @ Marvel Digital – 07/13/09

Four free comics this week instead of the usual five, but four cool comics nonetheless. To read your free comics courtesy of Marvel click on the title of your choice below:

CAPTAIN AMERICA #446 (1968)

X-MEN VS HULK #1

MARVELS

DOCTOR DOOM AND THE MASTERS OF EVIL #1

Enjoy your free reads and please let me know your thoughts.
Next week’s free digital comics will be:

MOON KNIGHT #26 (2006)

NEW WARRIORS #1 (1990)

UNCANNY X-MEN #372

MARVEL ILLUSTRATED: THE ODYSSEY #1

BUG #1

Natalie Portman cast as Jane Foster in ‘Thor’!

Marvel has announced the following on their site:

Marvel Studios announced today that Academy Award® nominated actress Natalie Portman has been cast to star as Jane Foster in the studio's highly anticipated movie "Thor."

In the early "Thor" comics, Jane Foster was a nurse who became Thor's first love. The character will be updated for the feature adaptation.

Portman will star opposite Chris Hemsworth who will play Thor and Tom Hiddleston who will play the villain Loki. Kenneth Branagh will direct the film.

Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige will produce "Thor." Principal photography for the film is set for early 2010. The film will be released in the US on May 20, 2011 and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Marvel Studios expands its film universe with a new type of super hero: "Thor." This epic adventure spans the Marvel Universe; from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

"Thor" is one of a continuing slate of films being produced by Marvel Studios based on the Marvel characters, including "Iron Man 2" on May 7, 2010, "The First Avenger: Captain America" on July 22, 2011, and "The Avengers" on May 4, 2012.

I’m okay with this. Ms Portman is quite a good actress. Even though I haven’t liked many of the films she has been in like the new Star Wars series or V for Vendetta, but that is not because of her acting skills. She comes across as quite sweet, caring charming on screen which I think will fit the role of the nurse Jane Foster well. Plus she is very easy on the eyes, which helps.

What do you guys think about this choice? Would there have been another actress you would have cast?

Link.

Blackest Night Previews

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1 - Variant Cover

DC have provided IGN comics with previews for both Blackest Night #1 here & Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1 here.

Obviously everyone is eagerly awaiting Blackest Night and I, along with everyone else I’m sure this week will be picking it up. It will no doubt be the best selling issue this week if not the month. I’ll also be picking up ‘Tales’ as a similar thing was done during the ‘Sinestro Corps War’ storyline and were generally nice little side stories. I hope for more of the same.

Are you guys excited for this event? Comments welcome below.

Blackest Night #1 - Variant Cover