Marvel released their first glimpse of what the Silver Surfer will look like in the Fantastic Four sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, and this image is it. To be honest, this image really tells me nothing, as with nothing around for comparison or reference, this might as well simply be a drawing. That said, we’ll get our first look at the character in motion once the trailer releases today with Night At The Museum.

More details from the article at USA Today:

With computer-generated imagery techniques similar to those used to create Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, the slippery Surfer, voiced by Doug Jones, “will look somewhere between gun metal and fluid metallics so you can see the body motion, the breathing, the muscle tone, the mood,” says Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad.

The Surfer’s mood is key to the story. After striking a deal with the evil Galactus to save his planet, the once-human Surfer wreaks havoc throughout the cosmos. “He is a highly emotional being, trapped inside fluid metal,” Arad says.

To quickly sum up, John Woo came up with the concept for a comic, called 7 Brothers, and Garth Ennis got tagged to write it. What exactly does that mean for Woo’s involvement? Well, as Ennis has said, “I got a two-paragraph outline of the original Chinese legend and the broad strokes of the characters, and after that it was up to me.” Amusingly, it speaks volumes that the actual press release from Virgin Comics has one of Woo’s people saying, “We see creating SEVEN BROTHERS as a comic book first, which is in turn the perfect springboard to take this title into films and games.” Might want to try a little less corporate planning, and a litte more heart, guys.

But, despite the snide comments, I really do hope for the best for the book. Garth Ennis is a solid writer, and John Woo’s name should be something that brings legitimacy to the table. You never want a quality names like those being associated with crap. So here’s the news – If you missed the book when it first came out, today Virgin handed over the entire issue to Newsarama. And I’m definitely one of those that missed it, as I never even saw the first two issues show up at my local comic shop. Seriously, if even Virgin can’t buy any rack time at the comic shop, it’s time to ask – Has the buy-in to this industry gotten a little too high?

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You might have missed it, but last week Saturday, Martin Nodell – creator of DC’s original, Golden Age Green Lantern – passed away of natural causes at age 91. While he primarily did art chores, he’s the one who invented the character; and starting in 1940, he drew the character for the next 7 years, with Bill Finger handling the writing. He followed this up with a period at Timely Comics – which you might know better as Marvel Comics – where he drew Captain America, the Human Torch, and the Sub-Mariner, amongst others. After spending the next couple decades in advertising, he returned to DC in the 1980’s and worked there until 1991. The final issue he worked on, appropriately enough, was issue #19 of Green Lantern, featuring Alan Scott, Golden Age Green Lantern.

While Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps may typically be the more widely known Green Lanterns today, the roots of that concept lie firmly in the Golden Age heritage created by Nodell. What’s more, his creation – Alan Scott – continues to flourish in the DC universe today, holding down monthly appearances as one of the “Big Three” of the JSA. Seeing as how Martin Nodell worked at the drawing table well into his 80’s, the longevity of his creation is all too appropriate.

Thanks to forum member raistlin for the tip.

Sources: CNN.com, Martin Nodell (Wikipedia), Alan Scott – Green Lantern (Wikipedia)

Ah, how I long for the good old days, when talking about the “New Fantastic Four” meant talking about Spidey, Grey Hulk, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider. But Marvel just sent this image out, suggesting that this may be our NEW New Fantastic Four in the near future . Of course, this would hardly be the first time the lineup got a shakedown – most notably when She-Hulk filled in for Ben Grimm, less notably when Scott Lang filled in for Reed Richards. Of course, there are many others that haved filled in at various points over the years, but this Michael Turner image is a rare sight, as we don’t usually see more than one member missing – Here we have Storm and Black Panther replacing both Sue and Reed Richards… despite the rift between the Richards duo being a significant part of Civil War.

So when can we expect some answers, you ask? Well, the solicits for Civil War-crossover-issues 542 and 543 both tease that Civil War may leave the FF with a new lineup, and 544’s solicits (and cover image) are ‘classified’. Of course, this is also when veteran writer Dwayne McDuffie (who’s currently showing off his writing chops in Beyond!) and artist Paul Pelletier (who can occasionally be seen in Exiles) take over the book too, so if there’s going to be a shakeup, odds are you should keep your eyes out for when the book drops in March!

After the smash success of the Marvel Zombies mini, Marvel’s going back to the well TWICE next year! First, Kirkman’s going to be writing a sequel mini – though other reports have it as a prequel one-shot. It’s probably a sequel though, as the OTHER mini is a prequel.

So what’s this prequel mini that’s got people talking? Well someway, somehow the infamous Ash gets to take a break from fighting the Army of Darkness… so he can fight an army of Marvel Zombies! Lucky guy, huh? As you can see in the image, he’ll be up to his usual zombie-wrecking chores, but since it’s a prequel, he’s also going to have some uninfected heroes on his side. For a while anyway. All in all, next year sounds like a good year for zombies in Marvel – or bad, for the ones that get stuck facing Ash.

The Incredible Hulk #100
Written by Greg Pak, art by Carlo Pagulayan

What more can be said about this issue? It’s not like we haven’t talked about it before. And tomorrow, it’s finally here! To reiterate – We launch headlong into the last leg of Planet Hulk, an excellent and exciting story that you need to be reading already, and we also get a Civil War connection in the backup story drawn by the awesome Gary Frank. AND, there are reprints. Honestly, God only knows which issues are being reprinted in this now though – Reports are saying it’s only #152 and #300 getting reprinted. I’ve given up on believing what’s being said about that part – when the book’s in my hands, that’s when I’ll know for sure.

That said, enjoy the preview pages, now with text!

Action Comics #844
I rarely buy Superman comics. So when the new issue of Action Comics hit the stands today, I completely forgot why it was THE book to buy this month. It took someone in the shop to remind me, and as soon as he did, I was ashamed at having forgotten. See, this arc of Action Comics is being co-written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner. That’s Richard Donner, as in, director of the first Superman movie. The one who was recently granted the opportunity to re-cut Superman II with old, lost footage he shot way back when, just before he got unceremoniously kicked to the curb. This alone is reason enough to make a person sit up and take notice.

But then I bought it.
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GØDLAND #13
written by Joe Casey, art by Tom Scioli

After taking a few months off at the end of the first year, this book picks up again tomorrow with issue 13. It’s a difficult book to describe, but basically, astronaut Adam Archer has been transformed into a super-being, and he seems to be the next step leading humanity into a much larger role in the universe… but for the moment, he’s much more wrapped up in the problems that keep on popping up around him. In the first 6 issues we encountered 4 super-villians, but the awesomest by far is Basil Cronus:

As you can see, he is clearly awesome. In issue 9 he got that new body, because – sorry to spoil it – the head that was on it exploded suddenly. It was incredible! And with all the crazy runningarounds going on with Adam Archer’s early villains, the giant spacedog Maxim is keeping him on track with his cosmic destiny!

This book is a powerful dose of fun, and the art and the writing do a bang-up job of providing a throwback to old school, Golden Age comics, while keeping it fresh and modern – much like how Captain America does it, only with a lean more towards the crazy Silver Age. In some ways, it’s really telling that it takes a team of two to channel the wonder and fantastic that Jack Kirby always brought to the table. If you don’t trust me, you can read the entire first issue online at Newsarama! And besides, any book that can boast the line “No time to chat, sis. I’ve got a giant, intergalactic dog to save.” is brilliant in any universe.