Ghost Rider Finale
written by Ivan Velez, art by Javier Saltares & Mark Texeira

Time for a history lesson.

In 1998, the then-current Ghost Rider series was canceled at issue #93. The catch is, the big end of the storyarc was scheduled to take place at issue #94. Issue #93 simply ended with the death of Dan Ketch, leaving fans with one crapper of a cliffhanger. As Mike Sterling – comic book shop owner – says, “The result? My having to tell customers for eight years that, no, there never was a #94, honest, I’m not kidding, and having them look at me like I’m 1) an idiot, or 2) lying to them.” This took place during some of the harshest time for the comic book industry, and the simple fact of the matter was, Marvel couldn’t afford to publish it. If you want some more of the details, as well as see a glimpse of the unpublished pages and the script, you can see read on here.

However, tomorrow, with the Ghost Rider movie looming near, Marvel has seemingly decided to increase product on the shelf (despite the lack of any connection to the movie characters or its story), and they’ve done a good turn by finally bringing issue #94 to the stands. While 12 pages were originally penciled, it seems (based on solicitation info) Saltares and Texeira were brought back together to finish the thing, which is a pleasantly surprising effort from Marvel. This “Finale” issue will also include issue #93 (to give the reader a complete story), and also some undescribed “bonus material,” whatever that includes.

Whether or not this book will be worth your money … well, your mileage may vary. But at least now you’ll know what the hell this thing is when you see it on the stands.

Stephen Colbert is scheduled to make an appearance at New York’s Comic Con, which runs this February 23-25th. He’s only going to be there on Friday the 23rd, at 3:30 PM, but come 3:31, he’s GONE. Or so I assume. The press release didn’t say any specifics about a departure time. Don’t get too worked up yet though – he won’t be doing any panels or any other scheduled public speaking. Apparently he’s mostly just available to sign stuff, like busoms. On the side, he’ll be helping to promote the upcoming 5-issue comic from Oni Press, Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen, which should be out in stores sometime in March. Please note – Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen is not actually written or drawn by Stephen Colbert. Consider yourself informed.

Marvel has recently put out a number of straight-to-DVD animated features including the Ultimate Avengers and the Ultimate Avengers 2. The latest in this series is The Invincible Iron Man. It only makes sense for Marvel to choose Iron Man to get his own animated feature with a full length live action feature film currently in the works. While the Ultimate Avengers films were based on Marvel’s Ultimate universe canon, the Iron Man story is taken from traditional Marvel continuity updated so that it makes sense for audiences of today.

Read the rest of the review after the jump. No spoilers are in the review. Beware the comments, though.
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After watching the awesomely amazing Batman Begins I was completely under the impression that Katie Holmes‘s character Rachel Dawes would not be returning in the next movie. Not for contractual reasons or anything like, that but rather simply because they seemed to insinuate that her relationship with Bruce as we had known it was not possible anymore, and that she was moving on with her life without him. For more on this see the last 5 minutes of Batman Begins.

Well as various sources are reporting Katie Holmes was offered 2 million dollars to reprise the role and turned it down, presumably to star in an intellectually devoid comedy starring Queen Latifa, and on top of that the studio is still looking to cast someone else as the character as Rachel Dawes.

It’s nearly impossible to tell where fact starts and speculation begins in all this. The fact that Katie was offered 2 million to star in the Batman Begins sequel Dark Knight, and turned the role down due to “scheduling conflicts” seems all we can be sure of. The question of whether her doing this retarded Queen Latifa movie is the source of her conflict could be mainly speculation as could the talk of there still being a desire to cast someone else as Rachel Dawes instead of simply working around the charcter not being in the film, as there is no reason for a sequel not to be able to work if she weren’t returning.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

To celebrate 20 glorious years, New England Comics is putting together “The Tick’s 20th Anniversary Special Edition #1,” featuring almost 30 creators (with more to be announced), including creator Ben Englund…….’s father, Richard Englund. (Okay, Ben too. But his dad?  I can’t work with my dad on the the VCR, let alone a comic.) According to the press release, “the creators were each asked to to write and draw a one page (in some special cases, 2 pages) Tick short tale as if they had total control over the character.”

While the list isn’t generally populated with the “big” names in comics right now, there are definitely some interesting names, from Fred Hembeck to Arthur Suydam (who also does one of the two covers – you might recognize him from all those Marvel Zombie covers he does). For a character that’s spawned two TV shows, Taco Bell toys, and a moderately not bad Super Nintendo game, it’s a happy 20th birthday indeed! Click through HERE for the full press release and list of creators, and look for the 48-page book in April, for $5.95.

UPDATED – 1/26/2007, 10:47 PM
DC sent out a new teaser image today, coupled with the sentence, “Let the battle cry be heard in the land, a shout of great destruction.” It’s unclear exactly what this ties to, but keep reading after the jump for a full shot of the image, and a rundown on the surprisingly shocking characters present for it.

WARNING – “52” AND OTHER POTENTIAL DCU SPOILERS AHEAD… [Read the rest of this entry…]

Invincible #38
written by Robert Kirkman, art by Ryan Ottley

I’m hesitant to recommend this specific issue, as it seems to be running a couple of the longer-running subplots, specifically involving the Viltrumites, Allen the Alien (who is totally awesome), and that weird alien business from Mars. Kirkman clearly always tries to make the book accessible, but there’s just so much more to appreciate if you’ve been reading it for a while.

In fact, if you’re going to start reading this book, there’s really one best way to do it – From the very beginning. Buy the first two trades (or just the Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1 – the stuff is collected in a couple different ways). I promise you, if you regret that purchase, then YOU ARE NOT HUMAN. Because once you’ve read the first 8 issues, you will hit the mindjob that is the overarcing story of the entire book – the deep issues between our developing superhero, Mark (Invincible), and his veteran superheroic father (Omni-Man). And the third trade only gets better from there (though again, that’s all part of that one Ultimate Collection – only $25 on Amazon or MileHighComics.com).

This book is a non-stop ride of excitement, classic superheroics, and heart-wrenching twists. Kirkman’s recent work at Marvel has failed to come anywhere near the heights of this joyride of a book, but that has more to do with just how incredible this book has consistently been.

It’s really difficult to talk to much without giving away the amazing plot points. Simply put, if you like superheroes, and you love a great story, just go buy those first two trades – or the Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1. If you’re feeling hesitant, maybe at least give tomorrow’s issue a try though – if you like that, THEN go buy the trades. And then you’ll understand that you must always trust my word on such matters. Because, like this book, my word is GREAT.

Updated – 1/22/2007, 8:20 PM

Recently, forum member Blanktoe brought some spoilerish information to our attention, thanks to Amazon’s early-solicitation schedule for trade paperbacks. Continue reading after the jump for a screencap of the listing, a copy of the image it revealed, and some discussion on how believable it may or may not be.

I repeat, last chance to abandon ship –

SPOILER WARNING – SPOILERS BE AHEAD…
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