Looking forward to the 8-issue comic series adapting George Lucas’ original concept for Star Wars? You’ll want to take a look at this trailer.
Tag Archives: comics
So You Want To Read Marvel NOW!
So you’ve heard about the Marvel NOW! initiative and now you’re curious about the books and want to start reading. We’re a couple of months into the initiative and it has been an overwhelmingly great ride. Unlike DC’s New 52, Marvel hasn’t rebooted their continuity. It’s better described as a shift in the universe. Creative teams have moved around and characters and teams have changed after the events of Avengers vs. X-Men. In short, it’s been a good jumping on point for new readers without tossing years of continuity out the window.
With the relaunch of Marvel and Comixology’s promotion that will offer 700+ #1 digital titles for free, now seems as good of a time as any to sample the comic book world. If you haven’t yet, go sign up for the promotion now as sign ups end April 9th at 11:59 EDT. Over 700 titles is a lot to choose from. In the past, I’ve written about some good jumping on points for the Marvel universe. Many of those books’ #1s will be a part of the promotion and I definitely recommend snagging them along with any one-shots, especially the character focused ones. However, if the current Marvel universe is something that you’d rather dive head first into, the Marvel NOW! movement is definitely perfect for that. Here are some of my personal recommendations about what books you should give a shot.
Avengers
Avengers and New Avengers [CMX – CMX]
I’m writing about these two titles together because they are the opposite sides of the same coin. To quote the writer himself, Avengers is about life and New Avengers is about death. Jonathan Hickman pens both and has thus far been doing a masterful job of it. Both are books that I’d recommend to someone who is already familiar with the universe especially New Avengers since it features the Illuminati group. Regardless, they’ve been fantastic so far. Hickman is the master of the long game writing style but it always pays off. If you like the Avengers, give these books a try. You’ll get to see some of your favorite characters along side some new ones. It’s all about making the Avengers bigger (and hopefully better) then they’ve ever been before.
Uncanny Avengers [CMX]
Spinning directly out of the Avengers versus X-men event of last summer, the two groups have joined together to create one team. The first arc of the book was a “the team assembles” story, making it ideal for newer readers. It’s also something that readers haven’t really seen before which makes it intriguing. (Captain America taking orders from Havoc? That still has me blinking in surprise some issues.) Some of the characters definitely have some history but it’s nothing that a quick Wikipedia search won’t solve for you. Alternatively, you can think of this as the book to read if you can’t decide between the Avengers of the X-men as your favorite team.
Secret Avengers [CMX]
This is definitely a title that’s a bit off the typical Avengers path but it’s one that could easily be accessible for newer readers especially those only familiar with the film. It features well known badasses like Black Widow and Hawkeye and other SHIELD agents and a black Nick Fury and Phil Coulson. 616 fans might be scratching their heads at those last two but film fans will be just fine. It’s all about SHIELD and its missions and looks like it’s going to be a fun book.
ComiXology, Marvel team up to give away first issues
Want a bunch of free gateway drugs comics? Good news! Marvel and ComiXology are giving away the first issues to over 700 comics. All you have to do is go over to the ComiXology promotion page and sign up to get a promo code.
Once you’ve signed up, what should you get? Well I’ve got a pair of suggestions.
- Hawkeye by Matt Fraction – This might be my favorite series out there right now. Follow the misadventures of Clint Barton while he’s not doing Avengers-y things.
- Captain Marvel by Kelly Sue DeConnick – Looking for a well-developed, kickass female lead? Carol Danvers is right up your alley.
The site is getting slammed, so you might need to refresh your browser a couple of times to get it to resolve. Once you’ve signed up, ComiXology will send you a date when you can start downloading your comics. From that date you’ll have 48 hour window to get them.
Dark Horse Adapting Original Star Wars Concept
At Wodnercon yesterday, Dark Horse revealed just what that Jonathan Rinzler-written project would be. According to BleedingCool.com, it’s going to be an adaptation of George Lucas’ original Star Wars concept.
At WonderCon, Dark Horse announces new eight issue Star Wars series for September – The Star Wars. Based on George Lucas‘ original concept that eventually became the Star Wars films.
Featuring Darth Vader not as a Sith/Jedi but just a General. Anakin Starkiller. An old General Luke Skywalker. Jonathan Rinzler will write and Mike Mayhew will do the art.
Dark Horse also shared some concept artwork for the new series which you can see at the link above. For continuity purists, don’t even try to mesh this into canon and just enjoy it for what it is. A fun Infinities-style what-if.
Review: Star Wars #2 by Brian Wood
Star Wars #1 by Brian Wood was somewhat of a lackluster first issue in my book, but how does the second issue fare?
The review and spoilers loom under the cut!
Word on ‘Thor 2’: Marvel’s Phase 2 takes shape
Warning: the links in this post contain spoilers for the movie.
Now that we’ve all enjoyed The Avengers, it’s time for Phase Two of Marvel’s grand plan to take over the world comic book movie-verse, and Yahoo! weighed in this morning with news from the sequel to Thor. Rather than sticking with elite Shakespearean director Kenneth Branagh, who directed the first movie, Marvel has chosen to go with Game of Thrones director Alan Taylor.
Investigating the Yahoo post shows that this is old news, according to Collider’s official synopsis. Still, with an even more incredible cast than the previous incarnation and Taylor directing, Thor: The Dark World looks like it’s going to be an incredible movie.
Thor: The Dark World will be released November 8, 2013.
Review: Star Wars #1
The much-hyped and long awaited Star Wars #1 by Brian Wood is out today! Much has been said about this new comic and what it means to the characters and to fans, but how does it stack up?
Spoilers loom below, so read the summary and my take under the jump!
Further Adventures into Independent Comics
Last week, Bria put up a post regarding independent comic books. For those of us who are tired of the gimmicks and the ploys that the major publishers use to draw in readers but who still want that classic superhero feel, we still have options. Bria hit on some of them already, like the perennial favorite, Watchmen. I’m going to hit on some of the others that I consider to be my personal favorites.
Gail Simone leaves Batgirl; Comics Weep
I don’t read a lot of comics. I never really have, but when a friend started me reading comics, she reached into her long box, pulled out a long run of Gail Simone’s Birds of Prey and said, “Here, read this. It’s awesome.”
I now have a long box full of Birds of Prey. But only as written by Gail Simone. When she left Birds of Prey, I read a few issues, then was so disgusted with the way the story was going, I gave up. That was okay, though. Because then she started writing Wonder Woman. And all of a sudden, Wonder Woman was interesting! She was more than the pontificating diplomat. I didn’t buy a lot of Wonder Woman because I’d hit that graduate school stage of broke, but I got copies however I could. And then she was back on Birds of Prey and all was right with my world. Yes, I read other Batfamily comics, but that was only to get the context of the rest of universe in which Birds of Prey existed.
Oh, wait. Then DC rebooted. And we were losing Oracle, who I loved, and who Simone wrote so incredibly well. We had a character who was disabled and who still kicked butt, and we were losing that little bit of diversity. But Simone was going to write Batgirl, so that soothed the soul a bit.
Until today, when we discovered that DC fired her from Batgirl, leaving their most well-known female writer out in the cold.
I don’t know what to make of this. The Wired article I linked above points out that DC’s had plenty of problems with gender issues of late. What I am, however, is incredibly disappointed, because the woman who got me–and a lot of other girls–into DC comics–and who kept me interested in them over the last ten years–is no longer associated with them, and I see no good reason for it.
I don’t have a lot of analysis for this, partly because I don’t have a lot of insight into DC’s internal workings right now. But this decision hit me right in the feels, and I can’t imagine I’m the only one. Gail, have you thought about writing Star Wars comics?
So You Want To Get Into Comic Books
So you want to get into comics… but you don’t want to read about the superheroes of the big two companies. That’s okay because comics can be about so much more than just superheroes! In fact, there are even more comic book publishers than just Marvel and DC such as Dark Horse, Image, Top Cow, and countless other independent publishers. The following recommendations are mostly the products of a DC Comics offshoot publisher called Vertigo and represent a range of genres. They are not, however, the only books in the game. I also avoided recommending any tie-in comic books but if you are a fan of something like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Star Wars, you could always begin with picking up those comic books as a way to see if you like the medium. Although I’ve only included a few, I’ll also suggest that if you enjoyed a film or a TV show that was based upon a comic book that you pick up the first volume of that comic and give it a try.
Long story short, comics are great and are about so much more than just the Marvel and DC Superheroes. There really is a book out there for everyone! With that said, I’ll just get on with some of my own recommendations.
Watchmen
[Amazon – Comixology]
This is a very predictable way to start the list but Watchmen isn’t one of the best selling comics of all time for nothing. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons did some amazing work when they created this book. It’s a sort of alternate history where Nixon never resigned and costumed vigilantes began popping up in the 1940s and 1960s. The story opens with the investigation into the death of one of those costumer heroes, the Comedian. Rorschach, a former teammate, figures out that someone is trying to kill their entire team and takes it upon himself to warn them and the tale progresses from there. Not only is the book a critique of the concept of superheroes but it also presents readers with a few ethical dilemmas and you have to ask yourself if the villain is really a villain or perhaps actually the hero of the piece. It’s certainly a darker comic than some of the others in this article but oh man is it worth it.
In all honesty, Watchmen is probably one of those comics that you will have to read at some point during your comic reading career because it is just that iconic. I’ll even go so far to say that this book is essential reading even for people who aren’t into comics. And then you get to walk around for a week afterwards asking yourself, “Who Watches the Watchmen?”.