While Civil War’s main titles take the month off, the peripheral tie-ins chug on dilligently, making sure we don’t forget the big-important-event still exists.

This week, Young Avengers & Runaways #2 is a decent read, warranting a B-/C-. Super bonus points earned for bringing in the fantastic Marvel Boy. Sweetness. And Cable & Deadpool #31 kind of… just… exists I guess, getting a C-/D. Find out why after the jump, and impress everyone at the watercooler tomorrow with your geekery.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Issue #180 of Wizard is going to give a preview of The Mighty Avengers, the upcoming second Avengers book that’ll be done by Bendis and Cho. To promote their promoting of a book (a promotion of a promotion which I, myself, am now promoting), they’ve got an image up to show off the lineup:

• Ms. Marvel, Wonder Man, and Iron Man are all deeply entrenched in the Pro side.
• Black Widow works for the government.
• Yellowjacket – ex-husband and longtime matched pair with the Wasp – has also been prominently featured on the Pro side.

The only puzzler is Axe Man. Based on other interviews, this must be Ares. But why’s he here? I guess it’d help if I’d read his miniseries. Heard it was decent.

Speaking pragmatically, one the one hand, he makes a good counterpart to Thor. But on the other hand, why isn’t Thor on this team? I guess that means him and Spidey are jumping ship together. Quitters. Anyway, keep your eyes on the news sites tomorrow night, as there’ll no doubt be more news busting down the doors during an otherwise quiet week for comics.

Despite promises that its delays will end comic books and the universe as a whole, we still get three crossovers this week. And with every purchase, I feel a little bit more like a whore. Today we’re blessed with Heroes For Hire #1, New Avengers #23, and Wolverine #45.

Heroes For Hire not only deals with the pros and cons to registration – and the Registration Act as a whole – but it even paints the Pro side in a positive light. I’m stunned. B+ / A+ for that bad boy.
New Avengers reaffirms that Iron Man, SHIELD, and (by default) the whole Pro side is full of tools. It gets a C / F.
Wolverine deals with that Atlantis sleeper agent plot from Frontline, and it’s a nice story to boot, warranting a B / C-.

Read on to for details, and prepare get spoiled like that month-old salmon in my fridge.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

In 2004, Activision and the crew at Raven released one of the best games based on any comic book property. It bought the X-Men mythos into the realm of roleplaying, and it won over comic book fanboys everywhere. A year later, Activision granted us a sequel that not only added more of what the original awesome, but it addressed the complaints that players had about the first one, mainly the uselessness of some characters, and parts of the game where players were forced to fight solo. With over a dozen characters, (some of which are hidden) unlockable costumes, online multiplayer, and just about every facet of the X-universe a gamer can think of, this is a Marvel fan’s dream come true…at least until Marvel Ultimate Alliance arrives this fall.

SuperHeroHype reports that Terrence Howard is considering the part of James Rhodes in the Iron Man movie currently under development. In an interview with MTV, he was quoted as saying:

“Mayyy-bee,” he said about taking the role. “It’s something I’m trying to fully consider. Action is a whole ‘nother animal. The CGI and special effects, that’s a whole ‘nother thing. Playing to green screen or blue screen, I’ve never done that. I want to accomplish it and do it well. I don’t want to do anything and not do it well.”

Ignoring their recent delays, let’s go ahead and look at what Civil War brought to us this week: Thunderbolts #105, and X-Men: Civil War #2.

Thunderbolts was a pleasant read, and it seems like it’d actually be accessible to a new reader, which is a rare find in a Thunderbolts book. This crossover is an excellent time for such things. It gets a B+ / C. Then there’s the underwhelmingly pointless X-Men. It gets a D / D. Read on for the hows and the whys.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

First the bad news…

By way of Joe, we find out Civil War #4 and #5 have been delayed over a month from their original ship date. As if that wasn’t bad enough, all the tie-in books like Fantastic 4, Frontline, Punisher, and Spider-Man have been delayed too. Newsarama has the full run down.

I don’t think it would be unfair to be upset with Marvel for not only the delay but the last minute notification. I mean a lot of fans aren’t going to find out this has slipped until they walk into the shop tomorrow and find their pull box bare. Given the magnitude of the slip and the number of titles involved, I’d say Marvel knew this was going to happen and didn’t want to tell us. For shame.

On a comparitivly optimistic note, the revamp Justice Leage of America #1 has only been delayed until next week, August 23rd.

Writer/Mastermind Brad Meltzer has posted on his blog. That DC informed him of the slip but didn’t provide an explaination. Eager to not disappoint, Meltzer informs fans “One more week. They promised. If not, we revolt and I send out the scans online.”

JLA readers do get a bonus, the first chapter from Meltzer’s new novel “The Book of Fate“

Today, Marvel announced the writer for the planned Avengers movie: Zak Penn. (By the way, interesting way of announcing an Avengers movie, Marvel. Nice promotional work, there.) To help sell the guy, his previous movie-writing chores for Marvel were listed: The Incredible Hulk, X-Men: The Last Stand, X2: X-Men United, and Elektra.

In his defence, that’s the upcoming Hulk movie, not the previous, Ang Lee-helmed one. The others, you might have seen. Except for Elektra.

Based on how he’s credited, the guy likely had limited input on the movies they listed, with the exception of The Incredible Hulk. And that movie’s not exactly done yet.  What is there to take away from this?  Are they just not taking the idea of an Avengers movie seriously? Is his upcoming work really that impressive to them? One of his upcoming movies is Spy Hunter – I don’t want to be too snarky without cause, but how high calibur are video game movies right now? You gotta admit, they’re not running under the best track record. While it’s by no means a death kiss, it’s not reassuring news.

Source: Comicscontinuum.com