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Marvel's ComiXology Crash, SimCity, And The Perils Of Supply And Digital Demand

David Uzumeri — 2013-03-11T16:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Marvel, Gaming, Opinion, Digital Comics

At 2PM Eastern on Sunday, March 10, Marvel announced at the South by Southwest Interactive conference -- among a bunch of interesting new announcements regarding the intersections between digital media and comics -- that they were promoting the digital comics medium, and their own books, by offering over 700 first issues for free through the wildly popular and borderline monopolistic Comixology cloud-based platform.

On Tuesday, March 5, Electronic Arts published the latest iteration in the SimCity franchise. Unlike previous installments -- and like Comixology -- the game also operates off of the cloud, with settings, game state, and basically all persistent data stored on EA's servers rather than on the user's hard drive.

As of the time of this article being written -- about 2PM on March 11 -- neither of these services are effectively operational. The infrastructure simply doesn't exist to support the demand. Where in the pre-digital age supply and demand principles were ruled by material constraints, here the problem is far less simple -- material constraints enter the picture, yes, in the form of added servers and more bandwidth purchased from a telecommunications provider -- but efficiency of design is also as important. And all of this would have been avoided if both industries weren't so intent on stopping piracy that they're shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to actual convenience and customer service.

This is the inherent flaw in the SaaS (software as a service) model, especially when it comes to consumer-facing products and eagerly-awaited mass entertainment: it requires the content providers to prepare not for a reasonable amount of users, but for the monolithic morass of readers, viewers, players, fans that accompanies an event like a major discount sale or the launch of the latest installment in a beloved franchise. It's a lesson the ticketing industry learned long ago; you don't prepare for the steady stream of commerce that accompanies a featured lounge act or a long-running musical, you prepare for the ten-minute sellout of a U2 concert.

The difference is, of course, that a ticket sale is a fairly atomic and data-light transaction. Personal information, credit card information, some HTML and images, and maybe a PDF with a barcode on it. Digital comics come with a 10MB to, in some cases, 40 or 50MB (especially with the CMXHD format supported on retina iPads) file that causes considerably more strain on a server; SimCity is a constant flow of information and calculation that can run for hours on end. This leaves people unable to access the comics they already own, and unable to play a game they just blew eighty bucks on.

In both of these cases, consumer trust is broken, and it all comes from the cloud-based service model. In theory, it makes a lot of sense -- why not just store all the information on the Internet, so people can access it from anywhere? It's the core tenet of the SaaS model, which makes a lot of sense in the relatively bandwidth-sedate world of business-to-business software service. Salesforce.com isn't going to get a user flashmob for a new feature the same way EA or Comixology will. It's this user flashmob effect -- everybody trying to use the service at once due to an eagerly-awaited new aspect or a limited-time event -- that's leading to this situation, and as a result, once again, the corporate need for digital rights management has led to a situation where paying customers are forced into an inferior product.

There's no real reason for SimCity to require everybody to be online all times. It's a cute feature if people want to use it, but if the option existed to just save and load to your hard drive, it's insanely likely that the servers might have had a small hiccup and kept going on their merry way. Similarly, if Comixology books were downloadable in any form other than as proprietary data on their proprietary applications (iOS/Android), people could keep their local copies and not be locked out of reading books they've paid for. Whatever lost sales are prevented from this digital rights management can't be worth the loss in customer confidence that accompanies what is, essentially, a contract breach between content provider and consumer.

Additionally, there's one major wrinkle Comixology's issue adds. EA's SimCity servers failing only screws up SimCity or, at worst, other EA games. They're only shooting themselves in the foot. By effectively shutting down the Comixology platform for twenty-four hours, they've halted the revenue streams for every other digital comics publisher through this service, including DC Comics (www.readdcentertainment.com is painfully slow to the point of being almost unusable at the moment, although it's not as bad as Comixology's main site). While much of the Big Two's back catalog is available on a number of platforms (iVerse, Kindle, Kobo, etc.), and DC's new-release books are available on iBooks and Kindle, Marvel's new-release catalog is only available through the Comixology platform. Additionally, it's by far the preferred (and easiest-to-use) comics reading interface available for phones and tablets, and being the industry leader, it's logical to put all one's digital comics purchases under their umbrella. While I'm sure DC can weather the lack of revenue, I have to question how this affects an all-digital publisher like Monkeybrain, where this service outage could potentially put a hatchet to their entire revenue stream for its duration.

Both Marvel and Comixology are currently at work on a solution to this issue. Ryan Penagos, the Executive Editorial Director for Marvel's Digital Media Group, made the following statement via Twitter:

I can't say anything official yet, but we're definitely looking to make sure everyone gets to enjoy #Marvel1 this week. More info soon.
- Ryan Penagos (@AgentM) March 11, 2013

Also, the Twitter feed for Comixology's support group has been busy all day interacting with frustrated users while repeatedly promising a resolution as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Electronic Arts released a statement of apology last week, while offering fans who have activated SimCity a free PC download game from EA's catalog.

People didn't pay money to have access to SimCity's code on EA's servers; similarly, people didn't pay money to have access to comics on Comixology's site whenever it's up. People paid for a game and they paid for comics, when they want to play or read them, and that's what they expect. There are two possible solutions to the problem: one of them is to spend a very large amount of money to increase server capacity, improve code efficiency and scalability, and prepare for the absolute worst-case content-delivery scenario in a way that allows existing customers to continue to use their product that they have already paid for. The other is to just ditch this entire damn rigamarole and give people control over what they gave money for.

The second seems saner to me.

Editorial Note: Since the publication of this story, Comixology has formally apologized and paused the Marvel #1 program while it seeks a solution to the issue.

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Hickman & Opena's 'Avengers' #1 Is Big, Cool, and Gorgeous [Spoiler-Free Review]

David Uzumeri — 2012-12-04T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Marvel, Reviews, Opinion

Out this week is the first issue of Jonathan Hickman's obviously meticulously planned and apparently very lengthy run on Marvel's Avengers franchise. Avengers #1 -- by Hickman (Fantastic Four/FF, The Manhattan Projects) with art from Jerome Opeña (Uncanny X-Force, Fear Agent, Punisher) and colors by Dean White (Uncanny X-Force, Captain America) -- can perhaps be best summed up in one word: big. Okay, two words: big and expanding. It starts with a monologue and montage establishing the huge scope of the events to come and from there shows the inception of the idea for, and the reasoning behind, the expansion of the Avengers.

If you're a fan of any of these creators, like I am, you're probably very predisposed to liking this book. But let's give it a more thorough look anyway.

Considering my established proclivity for enjoying Hickman's writing and how much I've admired Opeña's artwork over the years, from Fear Agent to Uncanny X-Force -- not to mention my adoration for Dean White, the most visually striking and transformative colorist in the Big Two business right now -- whether I liked this book was probably a foregone conclusion, so, spoiler alert: it's a pretty damn boss comic, and basically exactly what I wanted (and expected), tonally, from Jonathan Hickman taking over the Avengers. It's bright, bold, brash, bleeding-edge superhero comics. So let's focus on something different: instead of "is it any good?" (duh), let's look at what it is, where it fits in the spectrum of the Avengers publishing history and Hickman's own oeuvre, and why I enjoyed it so damn much.

From the first issue, if what you're looking for is a focus on character relationships, banter, and general chilling out -- the very successful Brian Michael Bendis formula of throwing a bunch of dynamic personalities in a room and seeing what happens -- you might be better off with Kelly Sue DeConnick's also very good Avengers Assemble series, which tickles that itch ignited by Bendis and engulfed by Whedon in the Marvel Studios movie where, honestly, you could sit there and read Banner and Stark sniping at each other all day while Spider-Man and Wolverine talk about what's on television. While Hickman's Avengers certainly takes its cues from the movie as well -- the new "core team" is the Big Six from the film, even though Hulk's historically been an Avenger for something like fifteen minutes in the Marvel Universe -- it's about spiraling outward, both literally and metaphorically (Also a graphic designer, Hickman makes this pretty explicit with his trademark infographics).

(It seems like an ironic joke that this book, with its apparently [outside of the Big Six] quite diverse cast and scads of new heroes and villains, is Avengers while the upcoming book titled New Avengers features a bunch of old, mostly white [T'Challa's royalty so he's 1% as hell] dudes who've been part of the Marvel Universe since the beginning. I suspect this irony is intentional.)

(click to enlarge)

So what is this first issue of Avengers, then, now that I've established what it's not? Like many of the most successful Marvel NOW! relaunches, especially Rick Remender and John Romita, Jr.'s very promising Captain America, Avengers follows up a long, legendary run not by modifying or tweaking the formula that's worked for so long, but by throwing it out completely and building something new. Hickman's Avengers, at least from this initial installment, is a very plot-driven, big-ideas superhero comic -- definitely more Grant Morrison than Keith Giffen/J.M. DeMatteis, if you will. However, there's also a Legion of Super-Heroes bent in the gigantic, dissimilar cast that's clearly meant, both in- and out-of-story, to be a conscious response to the Avengers as an old boys' club; an attempt to create something far more representative of the diversity of humanity and the other sentient species that hang out on Earth in the Marvel Universe.

While the book is certainly more plot-based than the run it's succeeding, that also doesn't mean that the characters are devoid of personality, either -- much like Morrison (the comparison is frankly inescapable), Hickman's become excellent at the economical characterization, the two- or three-panel beat that drills down to, and exposes, the character's essence. The villains in this first issue are new, and Hickman continues to be able to write Kirby-esque unknowable gods and alien overlords with a whimsical bent, making them quirky and identifiable by personality rather than boilerplate "Begone from here, heroes!" cookie-cutter overlords.

And the art, well, there's almost nothing to say here other than that it's gorgeous. It's Opeña and White, what do you expect? The storytelling is very clear, concise horizontal panels in a cinematic style -- no Steranko influence here -- but that's made up for by a cornucopia of weird designs, psychedelic coloring choices and stuff blowing up to remind you you're reading a comic book, by gum.

(click to enlarge)

So basically, it's not about who I'd recommend this comic to -- it's about who I wouldn't. If you're interested in seeing characters play off of and rub against each other, to see more like the movie where the plot is basically an excuse to see Steve and Tony act like a bickering old married couple, then judging by just this first issue, Avengers might not be for you. If you want to see world-ending threats, crazy concepts, and wild ideas; gorgeous artwork; deft characterization; and really big dudes punching each other in the face, this could be -- and most likely will be, judging by Hickman's track record so far -- the start of something really cool.

Avengers #1 goes on sale this Wednesday in comics shops and digitally from ComiXology.

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Getting 'Happy!' With Grant Morrison And Darick Robertson [Interview]

David Uzumeri — 2012-09-26T16:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Image, Indie, Interviews

Unleashed on the world today from Grant Morrison, Darick Robertson, colorist Richard P. Clark and letterer Simon Bowland, is Happy!#1, Morrison's first Image Comics release since Spawn #18 in 1994. Morrison's spent the past few years working almost exclusively with DC Comics superheroes while Robertson's been deep in collaboration with Garth Ennis on Dynamite's The Boys, but now the two have united to bring readers the touching story of a young girl's imaginary, magical, feathery blue horse and the disgraced hitman who's working with it on trying to save the girl from a pedophiliac Santa Claus. If that actually reminds you of Batman and Bat-Mite from Morrison's "Batman R.I.P.," that's no coincidence. Happy #1 kicks off the four-issue miniseries with a vulgar, malignant, but frequently hilarious verve.

ComicsAlliance spoke with Morrison and Robertson about the new project, ugly flying horses, the true meaning of Christmas, and the future of "clawhammers": the hot new rage in marijuana consumption.

WARNING: Some of the following imagery contains acts of sex and violence that may be considered not-safe-for-work.

ComicsAlliance: In terms of graphic content, Happy! is definitely the dirtiest thing you've had come out since The Filth. Other than a few brief snippets of cursing in the second volume of Seaguy. Did it feel good to be "unleashed" again and creatively free in that way?

Grant Morrison: Calling it "creative" might be giving it too much credit, but it was great just to swear! I've been holding that back for a long time, since Superman and Batman don't say "f**k." I wanted it to sound the way working-class people speak in Jersey. Jersey-speak is very close to the way people speak in Scotland, where "f**k" is used almost as a punctuation. I wanted to write it back, and I was really pleased -- the first time I read it back, I was exhausted with the word "f**k" by page two, and there's 22 more pages to go! It's kind of malignantly sweary, and that's what I like it about it. I wanted the world to be really degraded when the comic began.

Note: the actual comic is uncensored.

CA: You can definitely see a Jersey mobster influence here. I'm guessing the fact that the two mobsters are named Paulie and Tony is not a coincidence?

GM: I'm guessing that's something to do with The Sopranos, but believe it or not, I've never seen an episode of The Sopranos. I'm kind of aware of it through cultural osmosis, but actually the other two guys, Mikey and Jerry, are both named after Mikey Way and Gerard Way (from My Chemical Romance), who are both Jersey boys.

CA: Besides playing with mobster clichés, the book also centers thematically around Christmas -- what it means, how society interacts with it, the stereotypical Christmas story, etc. Where did you get the idea to do a Christmas comic?

GM: If you think about it, the place of Christmas in Americana -- the kind of Norman Rockwell thing, with the Coca-Cola Santa Claus -- it's a symbol, to a certain extent, of American commercialism and "Bad America" and "Corporate America," which is an interest of mine right now as I'm sure you may have noticed! I wanted to take those images, the ones that have been used in a heartwarming, ostensibly "family" way -- again, Santa's image was created by the Coca-Cola company -- and place them in a degraded, fallen world, where even things that should be happy or friendly or family-based, is subjected to the same cruel corrosion.

CA: What about the character of Nick Sax? There's definitely a Santa Claus analogue going on from the name alone, down to the fact that he essentially says "Merry Christmas" the first time he shoots a guy in the back of the head. How does he relate to the Santa Claus figure? Is he more like Krampus with a gun?

GM: It's a weird thing. I wasn't sure what I was doing there [with naming Nick Sax], because it sounded like a Mickey Spillane-esque classic antihero name, and then I realized it was so obviously "Nicholas Sacks." Well, that's very Christmas-y. I hadn't even noticed until you pointed it out that his first words there when he kills someone are pretty much "Merry Christmas," so for all he's the antihero and he's a messed up guy, he's the true Santa Claus figure in the book. If anyone eventually stands for the true meaning of Christmas, if there is one, I guess it's gonna be him, because the actual Santa Claus figure we have in it is a monstrous pedophile. He's the worst possible corruption of the Santa Claus image and idea that we could imagine. You're right, with Nick, there's a lot of stuff in here that I hadn't even noticed, so it's quite interesting to see stuff when other people point it out. I always like that best, when you realize that the intrinsic structure of something and the characters that you've built start to naturally follow the themes, and I think it means that the work is on a solid foundation.

Darick Robertson: He just appeared the way I imagined him. That cover to issue #1 is probably the first drawing I did of Nick. He's inspired by a few different actors I like that dominate the genre, but I wanted him to be different from characters I've designed in the past. I wanted him to be really human. He's paunchy rather than sleek and cool (John C. Reilly as opposed to Colin Farrell type). Nick's big and mean, New York tough. A guy with a terrible diet and a heart condition. But he's strong and good at killing. I also want the contrast between Nick and Happy to be vibrant and entertaining, so the sweeter Happy is, the meaner Nick has to be. [With regards to Nick's band-aid,] Grant's not really dictating specifics, but fully describes the world he imagines. He just said Nick is a human wreck, so I imagined the band-aid and the nose bandage. He collapses face first into the street and I figured that's where he gets banged up.

CA: I'm guessing the pedophile Santa Claus is the guy we see in the first scene that the Fratelli brothers run into?

GM: Yeah, we had to show him up front but he makes his true debut at the end of issue two, and it's a pretty good scene, I think.

CA: What's the origin story of the Jack the Hammer character in issue #1? He's only alive for about a page but it's a very memorable scene.

GM: I wanted to start with this guy dressed as a prawn with no explanation, with a hooker dressed as an angel giving him a b***job -- it seemed to sum up the themes of this grotesque world of exploitation. Once we got him in the prawn outfit, the idea was that since he was a serial killer, I gave him a hammer, and I also wanted to have him smoking a spliff. Darick quite reasonably pointed out that he can't have the hammer and be smoking the spliff, so it was Darick who came up with this beautiful image of a spliff in a clawhammer, so the guy could have a smoke and then smash some girl's brains in with the joint still held within. So he came up with the image, which is one of the great images of the book. I hope it catches on in the drug underworld!

DR: The scene with the Prawn Man required both a hammer, a joint and a hand to hold the woman's head while she did her business, so I thought to put the joint in the hammer claw to free up a hand action... Grant really liked that, and we kept it, and it inspired the variant cover for MorrisonCon.

CA: Let's talk about Happy the Horse. Grant, what art direction did you give Darick? Was it just "draw the most ridiculous thing you possibly can?"

GM: No, we started off with the notion that it was a little blue horse. Every attempt we made to draw it looked like My Little Pony or a Disney horse in Fantasia, and we didn't want to make the book quite as cute as that. The big breakthrough came when we weren't really getting the image we wanted and I thought, "Well, let's make him ugly." I suggested it to Darick, and he came back with the finished sketch and it was complete. Once we decided Happy should be goofy and ugly and not even aware of his own ugliness and stupidity, then that's what made the character. That was where [the idea] came from, to make him not cute but to have a sort of annoying, spunky attitude.

DR: I don't think Happy's ugly. I love him. He may be my favorite thing that I've ever designed. My son Owen gave him a species name, a "Unipixiesis (Yoo-nee-pix-ee-sis)." And it's kind of shame the book is as dark and nasty as it is, because my kids are crazy about the character, but I can't let them read the comic! But being that it's supposed to be a kid's imaginary friend, I feel I hit the mark when I see them respond to the drawings of Happy the way that they do.

Happy has been sort of magic in my own reality, in the way he enters into Nick's, he similarly entered my reality at a time when I was pretty down and unsure about my next move. So when Grant and I first discussed Happy, Grant had a different vision of him than I did. Grant's initial idea was Happy would be the size of a medium sized dog, and then came around to him being the size of a parrot. We then thought Happy would have big wings, then we agreed ridiculously small wings would be better. I drew out the My Little Pony-inspired design, and liked it OK, but something was missing for me, and simultaneously for Grant as well. So I thought a donkey and he was right on it also. Like serendipity! This is a kid's imaginary friend, so it wouldn't know it wasn't a horse. Kid's miss that kind of detail when they're using their imaginations.

So the next pass I made, Happy entered my world. The second I sketched him out, I knew I had it. As I started reading the scripts and drawing him into the comic, his ears got longer and floppier and his hooves got bigger, his movements ganglier, and I started channeling my inner Chuck Jones. As I drew him for issue two, I started pulling out my old Preston Blair animation book and studying all over again the stuff I read as a kid.

CA: One panel that really stood out for me was the top of the page where Happy first starts approaching the ambulance, and the perspective shows that off in the distance the awful, grimy city turns into this happy, sunny place. The fact that it coincides with the start of the morphine drip seems important, too. Obviously don't spoil anything if this ties into the plot later, but what was the idea behind the creative decisions on this panel and page?

DR: That was Grant, from his script, wanting the landscape to turn bright and cartoony... I collaborated with Richard P. Clark, the colorist, to try to have it morphing into that from a real world background, where it starts on the left and as the ambulance takes the middle panel, the background becomes warped and cartoony. I think it's intentionally unclear if that's Nick's drugs kicking in, or Happy breaching his dimension and entering ours.

CA: Maybe it's just me, but I saw a bit of a parallel between the grim avenger/goofy cartoon sidekick relationship between Nick Sax and Happy and the Zur-En-Arrh Batman and Bat-Mite's relationship from "Batman R.I.P."

GM: Oh yeah, all the stuff I do flows [from project to project]. When I was doing Batman and Bat-Mite, something stuck in my mind about the relationship between a fantastical little pixie figure who I suppose represents the last vestige of childhood for Batman, and for Nick it represents the last vestige of a world where things made sense for him. So yeah, they're very similar. You'll notice that in a lot of the new creator-owned stuff I've got coming out in the next six months, they take thematic strands of things I've been interested in -- particularly during the Batman work -- that blows them out in a different direction. Which is kind of what I've always done; JLA shared a lot with The Invisibles, and The Filth shared a lot with [New] X-Men. There's been cross-pollination; little things that come up become much more developed in the creator-owned stuff.

CA: Are we going to see more creator-owned stuff announced this weekend at MorrisonCon?

GM: Probably not this weekend, but certainly I'd like to think there'll be some stuff to see over the next few weeks.

CA: Finally, what's it been like working at Image with no editorial process? Most of your previous creator-owned stuff has been at Vertigo, so you still had an editor. Who puts Happy! together?

GM: It's actually been us putting it together, which is interesting because it's quite DIY and punk. I haven't done this for a long time, since I was doing my own fanzines way back in the day. It's been a completely different way of working and a very interesting one, but it's stressful to make sure everybody's on time and keeping to schedules. It's giving [the project] that clubhouse feel and the sense that we're building something.

DR: Grant has been a wonderful collaborator and this process has been very simpatico. He respects and appreciates my input and ideas and I love what he's going for, so we're very much in tune.

Happy #1 is on sale now in comics shops and digitally from comiXology. You can read a six-page preview below.

Click here for uncensored version

Click here for uncensored version

Click here for uncensored version

Click here for uncensored version

Click here for uncensored version

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Eye of the Gorgon: Batman Incorporated #2 [Annotations]

David Uzumeri — 2012-07-27T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Annotations

The third issue of Batman Incorporated might be delayed for a month, but here at ComicsAlliance we've got annotations for the second issue to tide you over! Twenty pages of Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham doing their continuity cut-up style you've seen before in the fourth issue of the last volume, tying together panels and scenes from numerous old comics with a new narrative that pushes the current story forward. Click below the jump to read.

Page 1: Ra's and Melisande are at a concert greatly reminiscent of the Live Aid charity show from July 13, 1985 -- which would make Talia roughly twenty-six years old, which would make her somewhat age-appropriate for the about-thirty-ish Batman currently residing in the New 52.

Despite how important Melisande is in the history of Ra's and Talia, she's never been seen on panel until now. Her name comes from Mike W. Barr's graphic novels Son of the Demon and Bride of the Demon, while her actual origin comes from Denny O'Neil and Norm Breyfogle's Birth of the Demon. In Birth, Talia said that Ra's met her mother at Woodstock; the Live Aid setting here is a modern updating of that, since otherwise Talia would have to be in her sixties. The "Lazarus Affair" arc by Marv Wolfman in the late '70s revealed that Talia was actually over two hundred years old and maintained her age due to Ra's's "Lazarus Touch," but that seems to be completely discarded ever since, largely because a woman staying young due to her daddy's touch is insanely creepy.

Melisande talks about Neptune being in Capricorn, which would also date this page (and Talia's birth) as taking place between 1984 and 1997. Neptune represents dreams, while Capricorn is pragmatic; as Melisande says, the convergence of the two is about the realization of dreams. More importantly, however, it's about frustration with the world not matching your dreams, and a drive to change it. Children born while Neptune is in Capricorn are dissatisfied with the world and wish to remake it in their image; this reflects not only Talia's desires, but also Morrison's description of Darkseid's motivations from the Final Crisis Secret Files, and Darkseid's shadow still looms large over Morrison's Batman run.

Additionally, the movement of Neptune through the constellations reflects Morrison's infatuation with the social effects of solar cycles, which he went into in Supergods, discussing how rough decade cycles alternate between pragmatism and psychedelia, uppers and hallucinogens. Neptune in Capricorn represents the merging of the two, which also aligns nicely with Batman's nature as a pragmatic, realistic thinker whose battles lead to him tripping more balls than you could find in a McDonald's PlayPlace.

Ra's displays a lot of dissatisfaction with the wealthy and privileged, dismayed by the lack of a proper aristocracy to protect the poor. His criticism of Live Aid is particularly pointed, blaming the rich rock stars for performing to encourage the poor to give to Africa rather than just giving all the money themselves. This echoes Doctor Hurt's complaints about Batman as well from R.I.P., chiding him for spending his time and money beating up poor people in alleyways. Class warfare is an important undertone in Morrison's run (as well as to the character of Batman in general).

Anyway, so Ra's basically wins over a hippie girl a hundredth of his age with the power of cynicism and knocks her up "for Gaia." Ra's al Ghul: the original hipster.

Pages 2-3: This page alternates between Talia entering her father's stronghold and a scene from shortly after Talia's birth, where Ra's climbs a mountain himself with a pickaxe and pulls a full Lion King presenting her to an adoring audience of desolate snowcapped peaks. A love of desolation has always been Ra's's major driving trait -- hence why he always seems to roll in deserts and mountain ranges -- he essentially sees himself as Earth's antibiotic against the infestation of humanity.

Page 4: Okay, so where have we heard "tiamat" before? Talia says that the "terrifying female archetypes" she took as her standard -- Kali Ma, Medusa, Tiamat -- were ideas from Otto Netz. Netz worked with the original Professor Pyg. And what did Pyg say to Damian in Batman and Robin #3?

"Did I tell you on Monday she's Mormo, formless chaos? On Tuesday it's all Tiamat this and Tiamat that. Tohu Va Bohu and boo-hoo-hoo. Wednesdays, the Gorgon Queen comes in on tiptoes with a million forked tongues for hair."

In context, it seemed like he was talking about his own "mommy made of nails," but in fact it's Damian's. Terrifying female archetypes, all of them -- it even seems possible that Pyg's placement with Simon Hurt was the result of Talia's machinations rather than Hurt's, since she (as we see later this issue) infiltrated that organization with Malenkov.

As for Ra's and Talia's relationship, well, we'll see the truth of that over the next few pages.

Page 5: We continue with Talia's past. The first panel, of her training, is inspired by a similar panel of Damian echoed later in this book that came from Andy Kubert's Batman #666. The rest is simply Talia studying (and drawing seriously adorable pictures of her mass murderer father) before having to see...

Page 6: ...Ra's rising from the Lazarus Pit for her first time. I really love the way Burnham sells Ra's's pure lunacy. The last panel, of Talia training while kicking a tree, is inspired by one of the opening pages in Batman: Year One.

Page 7: Here we see the emotional disconnection between Talia and Ra's start to build, as Talia apparently engages in rampant materialism for want of a maternal figure. (Which is kind of questionable politically and a crappy thing to say about single dads, but then most single dads don't run environmentalist terrorist empires and lie about what happened to their wives, so, well.)

The panel of her learning chemistry is important, not only for mirroring Batman's own original two-page origin, but also for setting up her ability to create poisons and antidotes that becomes important later. It's important to note that Talia is just as ruthless, and brilliant, as her father, despite having a small fraction of world experience. Morrison and Burnham are going a long way towards setting her up as a mirror image of Batman, driven by a completely different type of tragedy.

Page 8: Here we meet someone I can only assume is supposed to be Melisande, although she looks far more than ten years older than the beautiful woman we saw at Live Aid a few pages ago. The version of the Tarot card she's holding -- II, La Papesse, usually the High Priestess -- seems to be from the Marseilles tarot, implying (much like her name) Melisande's French heritage. The card, according to my loyal occult resource Wikipedia, represents secrets kept and revealed, and women living independently. That's happening on multiple levels in this scene and throughout this book, and if I listed them all we'd probably hit four thousand words.

Melisande gives Talia a crash course on astrology and where her father's star lies, in the Eye of the Gorgon.

Page 9: Melisande now shows Talia the nature of Algol, which is a binary star containing a father and a daughter -- representing Ra's himself and Talia, who, unlike Ra's's other children such as Nyssa Raatko (assuming she's still in continuity), has taken "al Ghul" as a surname. It's interesting that both Ra's and Talia lie within the Eye of the Gorgon, since everything Melisande says about Medusa (whose star this is too!) doesn't really apply to Ra's. Still, she points out that Medusa is a scorned woman, grown undesirable -- which not only represents Melisande, who's been tossed away by Ra's, but also present-day Talia, who is pretty damn pissed at that Bruce Wayne guy.

Melisande talks about how she begged to join Ra's in the Lazarus Pit, and this version of the history of Ra's breaks pretty cleanly from everything Mike W. Barr did in Son and Bride of the Demon, where Melisande died after accidentally falling into a Lazarus Pit. It's kind of interesting to note that Melisande's line about how she's "old and ugly and he stays the same" kind of reflects Luthor's line from the first issue of All Star Superman, about how he's getting older and Superman is staying the same. (Maybe Morrison's just dealing with his own aging.)

Melisande warns Talia that Ra's lies (true) and that she needs to create the illusion of helplessness to survive. Which Talia executes to great effect later. We never find out what Ubu did with Melisande after this final panel -- does he execute her? Just take her out? Talia asks her father later, but never gets an answer. Perhaps Melisande also plays a part in Leviathan, with Talia and Kathy Kane and the rest of the League of Scorned Women?

Page 10: The first scene, I presume, is just to demonstrate that Ra's was an absent father, leaving halfway through a ballet recital (who's the rest of the audience, anyway? I guess Ra's just rolls around in public like that a lot, considering he also attended Live Aid.)

We finally get to see Ra's give Talia her own Londonian underground headquarters, which we first saw in Morrison's very first Batman arc, especially in #656. Ra's states that it used to belong to the Devil Doctor of Limehouse, who was the thinly-disguised Fu Manchu from the first volume of Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

So not only can Morrison just not stop poking the Alan Moore beehive, but by doing this also draws a parallel between Fu Manchu -- oriental criminal mastermind with distinctive, bordering on iconic, facial hair and a a beautiful, brilliant daughter as his lieutenant -- and Ra's al Ghul, who's all of the above. Ra's tries to make up for his absences with Talia, but at this rate I'm pretty sure Frank Ocean's "Super Rich Kids" was probably written about her.

Page 11: However, any sort of touching family moment between the al Ghuls is ruined by the arrival of the Sensei's assassins. The Sensei is the original leader of the League of Assassins, and -- as revealed by Morrison himself in #671, during the "Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul" crossover -- the father of Ra's, with whom Ra's is constantly warring. I'm not sure how Ra's being the son of the Sensei lines up with Denny O'Neil and Norm Breyfogle's Birth of the Demon, which I'd think would be the definitive origin for the character even for Morrison even though it came out in the 1990s. We met Ra's's uncle there, too, who lived in a desert tribe; it wasn't stated whether he was his mother's or father's brother, but the Sensei looks way more like he's from the far east, not the middle east. (Also, "Sensei" is a pretty Japanese word.) Then again, it's perfectly possible Sensei traveled to the Middle East, since he himself is immortal.

In any case, the Sensei was a leader of the League of Assassins back when they first appeared, second only to Ebeneezer Darrk, who we'll meet later, who was placed there by Ra's and then rebelled against him for reasons yet to be elaborated on. And, of course, Ra's continues to lie about Talia's mother.

Page 12: We now cut to the events of Talia's first appearance, in Detective Comics #411 by Dennis O'Neil and Bob Brown. The last issue of an ongoing arc featuring Batman fighting the League of Assassins and Doctor Darrk, the issue featured Batman traveling to Egypt on a tip from a dead informant, dressing up as an old lady to board the Soom Express. Darrk, meanwhile, has kidnapped Talia, and as he tries to take her to his lair, Batman attempts to rescue her and gets the crap beaten out of him and thrown in with her. Darrk forces Batman to fight an angry bull for Talia's safety, which he does, and then as they're escaping, Talia grabs Darrk's gun and caps him in the chest. In the original version of this story, it's made to look like Talia was really kidnapped; later Ra's stories, and this retelling, give a version where the entire kidnapping was a ruse to hook Talia up with Batman. So ladies, you should probably put a recap of this issue in your preferred first date section on OKCupid.

The retelling on this page has Darrk "kidnapping" Talia while she's studying at Cairo. Her dialogue on this page explicitly states that she's allowing herself to be kidnapped as part of a larger plan we'll see more of later; the original reason for Ra's matchmaking his daughter with Batman was so she could bear him an heir, although Morrison, back in the "Resurrection" crossover, gives new meaning to the reason why Ra's wants an heir.

Page 13: A new conversation inserted into the events of 'Tec #411, with Talia goading Darrk on to leave the train and set up the trap for Batman, while Talia practices her sexy Medusa death hypnostare. Notice that Darrk refers to it as a "wink", a nod to the star Algol's variable light and "winking" nature.

Page 14: All of the panels on this page are from 'Tec #411, with the exception of the final panel, which is from Batman #243 a few months later -- the woman in the background is Molly Post, a champion skiier Bruce conscripted (in his Matches Malone guise, which made its first appearance in this arc) into his assault on Ra's's headquarters alongside scientist Harris Blaine (later to die in Bride of the Demon) and former Assassin Lo Ling.

Page 15: Cut back to the present, as Ra's confirms that he forced Talia into a situation where she'd fall in love with Batman, because he's a manipulative douchebag. Cut back to the events of Batman #244, where Ra's -- after having risen from a Lazarus Pit after the events of #243 -- escapes to the desert to set a trap for Batman, who's coming to swordfight shirtless with him in the desert. The conversation between Ra's and Talia here is new, with Talia beginning to suspect why Ra's wants her to bear him a grandson -- to give him a new body to migrate to after his death and the deplenishment of the Lazarus Pits. This process, where Ra's attempted to inhabit Damian, occurred in the "Resurrection of Ra's" crossover, which is rapidly becoming less of the black sheep of Morrison's Batman run.

Anyway, two shirtless dudes with tons of hair fight with swords in the desert and it's totally badass...

Page 16: Until Batman gets stung by a scorpion. Thankfully, Talia already knows how to create an antidote to its poison, and delivers it to the defeated Batman with a kiss, defying her father.

Page 17: Batman, almost undead, takes care of Ra's and then -- in a scene that was originally implied to be from Son of the Demon but now seems to be another, heretofore unseen incident where Batman decided not to wear a Bat-condom -- gets drugged (you can tell only Batman's drink was drugged by the swirly heart motif coming from his drink that's been repeated in every Talia-does-chemistry scene this issue). It's unclear to me what the drug did, since I'm pretty sure Bruce would have slept with Talia with or without chemical persuasion, so perhaps it was some sort of super-bat-sperm-enhancer or something?

Page 18: And so Damian Wayne, current Robin and focus of this conflict, is conceived. The first panel shows Damian's gestation (artifical, explaining how he could be at most four or five years old in the New 52 timeline but biologically ten), mirroring another panel from #666; the second panel, with Bruce refusing Talia, I don't believe is a direct representation of a previous event but could very well be; the third panel mirrors Talia's training as well as Damian's training from #666; the fourth panel shows that Talia actually was the mastermind behind the villainous Society from Villains United and Infinite Crisis, neither of which -- much like this book -- could have occurred in the New 52 continuity. (Note, for instance, Black Adam's appearance here, when he's only just been introduced in the present day in the backups in Justice League).

The final panel shows that prior to the events of "Batman & Son," Morrison's first arc, Talia was able to convince Malenkov to join the Black Glove, therefore successfully placing Talia as this series' uber-mastermind all along, behind Simon Hurt, behind Professor Pyg, behind the League of Assassins and the Black Glove and John Mayhew and everybody else. It's worth mentioning as well that the last arc in the Tales of the Demon trade paperback features Ra's, Talia, the Sensei and the "death" of Kathy Kane -- who's now almost definitely working with Talia against Batman as part of Leviathan.

Page 19: The first three panels are explicitly from Batman #658, and show Batman refusing to join Talia to raise Damian, making the choice that would solidify her plan to become Leviathan. Jumping back to the present, Talia demonstrates that she, not Ra's, is running this show, as well as showing her awareness of the fact that Damian's death at the end of last issue was faked. The "monster at her command" that Talia is describing, "grown in the belly of a whale" and "as stealthy as Batman himself" is the Heretic, who's likely the Damian clone shown way back in Batman and Robin #12. As we saw back in Batman: The Return, the Heretic literally gestated in a superhuman experimentation lab in the middle of a gigantic whale. (I almost wonder if Morrison will name him Jonah.)

Of course, the gigantic whale he was grown in is also the organization Leviathan itself.

Page 20: The Heretic knocks some Ubu skulls together. Talia puts her skullface mask back on and rolls out with her crew, having completely emasculated her father and established her dominance like Cesar Milan with an unruly Rottweiler.

Links to my other annotations:
- Batman: The Return; Batman, Inc. #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, Leviathan Strikes (not yet done), v2 #1
- Return of Bruce Wayne #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6; Batman #700, #701, #702; Batman and Robin #14, #15, #16
- original Batman run and previous issues of Batman and Robin

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'Batman, Incorporated' #3 Delayed a Month Due to Aurora Shooting

David Uzumeri — 2012-07-24T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, News, Culture

In the aftermath of the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado last Friday, in which 12 people were killed and dozens injured during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises, DC Comics has delayed release of Batman, Incorporated #3. In a letter sent to comic book retailers on Monday, the publisher indicated the decision was made due to "content that may be perceived as insensitive in light of recent events." The issue had already been shipped to some retailers.

The last time DC Comics delayed a Batman book after shipment for content reasons was the infamous curse-word ink misprint that allowed pretty extreme language to be clearly visible over the black-bar "censor" ink in Frank Miller and Jim Lee's All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder #10. The error was spotted before all the copies reached stores, but some did. A number of those retailers ignored DC's request to not sell the erroneous copies. Ultimately the situation was a tempest in a teapot, but it was pretty crazy that Miller and Lee inadvertently got away with depicting gangsters dropping the C-bomb on a barely pubescent Batgirl.

When asked about the Batman, Incorporated delay on Twitter, series artist Chris Burnham explained:

Batman Inc #3 is going to be delayed a month due to some grim imagery that would seem wholly inappropriate given the Aurora killings.
- Chris Burnham (@TheBurnham) July 24, 2012

The book printed on time. I'm looking at a copy on my desk right now. This isn't a scheduling excuse, we're trying to do the right thing.
- Chris Burnham (@TheBurnham) July 24, 2012

It's not just a Batman comic with guns in it. There's a specific scene that made DC & the whole Bat-team say "Yikes." Too close for comfort.
- Chris Burnham (@TheBurnham) July 24, 2012

While this is a very classy move on DC's part, it seems likely that with some copies already out in the wild, the objectionable content will be posted somewhere on the Internet by tomorrow. It's nice to think that retailers will all follow DC's request and hold the copies for a month without reading them or talking about them or posting about them on the Internet, but previous events have shown chances of that to be remote -- if for no other reason than because many smaller stores don't check their Diamond Distributors updates or the Internet regularly. DC should probably batten down the hatches in anticipation of whatever it was they feared getting out, but pulling the issue before that occurs will certainly help their position.

As for the future of the issue and Batman, Incorporated itself: Issue #3 will go on sale August 22, although it's unknown if that means a reprint with a new scene or if the publisher and creators are simply wanting to allow some distance from the Aurora tragedy. The scheduling of issue #4 and onward is, according to Burnham, "being ironed out right now."

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Teen Angst And Tattoos: DC: The New 52 Panel [SDCC]

David Uzumeri — 2012-07-16T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: DC

DC Comics's Friday panel lineup closed with a panel focusing on the publisher's New 52, featuring moderator Bob Wayne and creators Adam Glass, Dan Jurgens, Rob Liefeld, Scott Lobdell, Jimmy Palmiotti, David Finch, Gail Simone, Scott Snyder and Geoff Johns, as well as editors Bob Harras and Bobbie Chase.Simone kicked off the panel talking about Batgirl. She describes the zero issue as about transformation, as she walks into a building as Barbara Gordon and came out as Batgirl. She described the book as very fun and "not what you think at all," and it's the first issue for new oncoming artist Ed Benes.

Scott Snyder discussed Batman #0 again. He said that the issue will have a lot of surprises, and specifically referenced the Red Hood Gang, implying that it will be an origin of sort for the Joker as well, who was the Red Hood before his disfigurement. Snyder also talked again about Talon #0, focusing on his pride for his former student and now cowriter James Tynion IV.

Finch discussed Batman: The Dark Knight and new writer Gregg Hurwitz, and encouraged people who were dissatisfied with his own writing to give it a try now that he's purely acting in an art capacity. Liefeld reiterated his statements about Savage Hawkman, Grifter and Deathstroke #0 from yesterday.

Dan Jurgens talked about his upcoming run writing and drawing Firestorm starting with #13. He stated that he wants to take the book back to Ronnie and Jason sharing a single body, and get back to exploring the mechanics of that kind of relationship. He also promised a "fun" book with lots of teenage angst, high drama and action.

Scott Lobdell shared some info about his #0 issues again, repeating his statements from previous panels and adding that Superboy and Bunker will go out and get tattoos soon, with Bunker's being a pink brick below his ribcage.

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Quentin Tarantino Crashes 'Before Watchmen' Panel, Announces 'Django Unchained' Comic [SDCC]

David Uzumeri — 2012-07-14T17:20:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Movies

Halfway through DC's Before Watchmen panel, DC Comics Co-Publisher Jim Lee abruptly entered the panel to introduce legendary writer/director Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino stated that most of his scripts are much longer than the eventual movies, and a lot of material needs to be cut; as a result, his upcoming movie Django Unchained will have an accompanying five-issue miniseries published by DC Comics, written by Tarantino and drawn by an unnamed artist. The comic is based on the lengthy first draft of Tarantino's script, allowing him to tell his full epic for the character alongside the shorter filmed version.

According to The Source, the book will come out in November (a month before the film) with day-and-date digital release.

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Justice League & Green Lantern Panel: GL With A Gun Vs. 'Total Dicks' [SDCC]

David Uzumeri — 2012-07-14T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Conventions, News

Friday's Justice League panel at San Diego Comic-Con kicked off with moderator John Cunningham, who's DC's VP - Marketing, introducing panelists Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, Co-Publisher Jim Lee and writers and artists James Robinson, Nicola Scott, Tony Bedard, Francis Manapul, Brian Buccellato and editor Brian Cunningham. A lively panel with obvious camaraderie, the panelists discussed the history of the new Earth 2, the function of the Third Army in the upcoming Green Lantern crossover, new members for Justice League Dark, the return of the Oblivion Bar and the Metal Men, and the upcoming Trinity War.

Discussing Justice League, Geoff Johns talked about issue #12 and said the Justice League in the New 52 don't really know each other or ever meet other than to fight major threats, and that this will come back to "bite them in the ass" in the twelfth issue, which will see relationships between team members change and some members leave. The zero issue will see Billy Batson finally meet the wizard and become Shazam, although they'll have a contentious relationship. Issue #13 will bring the Cheetah into the New 52, and start laying groundwork for next year's Trinity War. Johns is also cowriting the Justice League International Annual with Co-Publisher Dan DiDio, and stated that it was essentially a Booster Gold story and would tie into the twelfth issue of Justice League. Asked if there are any characters not yet introduced in the New 52 that the writers were planning on including, Johns stated he'd be reintroducing the Metal Men.

Click to enlarge

Moving to Green Lantern, Johns talked about the zero issue and the new Green Lantern, reiterating much of what he said at yesterday's DC All Access panel; regarding the upcoming "Rise of the Third Army" crossover, he mentioned that the Guardians -- who he called "total dicks" -- will be out to eradicate free will, believing it's the major issue with the failure of the Green Lantern Corps.

Regarding Green Lantern Corps, the zero issue will provide a new origin for Guy Gardner, which Johns called one of Peter Tomasi's best scripts. Bedard talked about Green Lantern: New Guardians, saying Kyle Rayner will be a secret weapon against the Third Army, having to get in touch with emotions like avarice and rage that he doesn't usually embrace to defeat the Guardians. The zero issue for Red Lanterns will provide more background on Atrocitus and why he hates the Guardians so much, and lead into "Rise of the Third Army" because this basically gives Atrocitus a chance to kill a whole lot of Guardians. A fan asked about Kyle Rayner's past now that both of his major love interests, Donna Troy and Jade, have been removed from continuity. Bedard replied that while Alex's infamous refrigerator death is still an important part of his origin, the years after that are still blank pages in the new universe.

Moving on to Flash, Manapul and Buccellato reiterated much of what they discussed yesterday, mainly that the zero issue will focus on the origin of Barry Allen's sense of justice more than just his powers, and that the next issue will see him teaming up with the Rogues to fight Grodd and a whole lot of gorillas.

On the zero issue of Earth 2, James Robinson talked about the history of Earth 2, and described a story featuring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and "Mister Eight," Terry Sloan, who fought with them and why he turned into a villain in the present day, as well as the origin of the Apokoliptian fire pits. Moving to October's issue, Robinson discussed that it would introduce a new version of the Sandman, Wesley Dodds, who is now Canadian. Robinson mentioned that Earth 2 was more mystical than the main DC Universe, and described the second arc as the Justice Society against the government as "science vs. magic." That arc will introduce the New 52 versions of Doctor Fate and Wildcat, as well.

Jeff Lemire talked about Justice League Dark, and trying to align it more closely with the work Johns is doing on the main Justice League book. The zero issue will focus on a younger, more arrogant John Constantine, his relationship with Zatanna, and a new villain who Lemire described as Constantine's Moriarty. The second year of the title will see Amethyst, Frankenstein and Timothy Hunter joining the book. During the Q&A session, when asked about the Oblivion Bar (from Bill Willingham's Day of Vengeance), Lemire said it would appear in issue #0. Another question asked about the gods who punished Pandora, the Question and the Phantom Stranger in the Free Comic Book Day issue, and Johns stated that he and Lemire were working on a story about them that would run between the main Justice League title and Justice League Dark.

A fan asked if there would be a sequel to Batman: Earth One, and Johns stated he and artist Gary Frank have already started work on it.

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DC's Superman Panel: Earth One, Superboy, Supergirl's Fort of Solitude [SDCC]

David Uzumeri — 2012-07-13T16:30:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Conventions, News

Saturday's first major San Diego Comic-Con panel from DC Comics covered Superman. The event was moderated by VP - Marketing John Cunningham, and featured artist Shane Davis (Superman: Earth One), writer Scott Lobdell (Superman), co-writer Mike Johnson (Supergirl) and editor Matt Idelson. Topics such as the current interpretation of Lex Luthor, the place of Lois Lane in the New 52 universe, Superboy's status as a clone and Lobdell's upcoming tenure on the Superman title were discussed.

Regarding the second volume of Superman: Earth One by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis, the artist described Clark Kent at the Daily Planet in the second volume as "goofy," and stated that the Clark Kent in the second volume is significantly different from the first. After the Daily Planet article shown on the last page of the first volume, the Parasite will come to Metropolis to try to take on the most powerful man in the world. Davis stated that he wanted to draw a Parasite who looked like you wouldn't want to touch him, and also revealed that the Earth One iteration of Parasite would be able to drain power from the air as well as through touch. Davis described working with JMS and trying to make the violence more "messy," and also talked about trying to include a scene in a particularly brutal Superman/Parasite fight where Superman would eye-gouge. (JMS vetoed it.)

Lobdell talked about his transition from Superboy to Superman, joking that his next book was Super-Kids-Get-Off-My-Yard. The zero issue will focus on Jor-El and the horror he experienced when he realized that Krypton was going to blow up, and trying to break the news to his newly pregnant wife. Lobdell talked about his upcoming run, and mentioned that he wanted to mix the new characters who've been showing up in the Superman book so far with New 52 re-imagined versions of old characters such as Bizarro and Toyman. Lobdell will be concentrating on the Clark Kent identity as well, stating that Clark will be somewhat of his "id," the voice that's able to talk about issues that are important to him, since Superman can't state his beliefs out loud.

Regarding Tom DeFalco's upcoming run on Superboy, Idelson mentioned that now that the character is free from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and Harvest, the book would start focusing on the fact that Superboy is a clone, and the history of clones on Krypton, who all deteriorated and became "homicidal maniacs." This will lead to friction between Superboy, Supergirl and Superman, since Superman will want to give Superboy a fair chance while Supergirl's actual life on Krypton gives her a more negative view of clones.

Regarding the zero issue of Action Comics, Idelson stated that it would feature art by Ben Oliver and detail Superman's first adventure, which doesn't go especially well. He also promised new details about the New 52 Jimmy Olsen. Afterwards will be a oneshot featuring the return of Krypto, and then a three-part arc tying together many of the plot threads Grant Morrison has laid so far. Issue #13 will also line the book up temporally with the rest of the Super-titles.

Regarding Supergirl, Mike Johnson talked about Supergirl's new "Fort of Solitude," which will be her attempt to build a piece of Krypton on Earth. He likened it to a "sensory deprivation tank" that will allow her to remember her previous life, and stated that #13 will feature the return of Simon Tycho from the first arc.

Kyrax2, last year's Batgirl cosplayer of San Diego Comic-Con, asked about why Stephanie Brown was taken out of Bryan Q. Miller's Smallville Season 11 and recolored and replaced with Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl. Cunningham said he had no idea that any of this occurred, and a series of jokes followed encouraging the fan to keep buying the title until Stephanie Brown showed up.

Regarding Superman mentoring Superboy and Supergirl, the panel said this was unlikely to happen anytime soon, since the other two are teenagers and all three have differing approaches to problem-solving.

On Luthor, Idelson talked about DC wanting to make sure that they introduce him in the present day correctly. Lobdell discussed having fairly radical ideas for Luthor that are controversial and still under discussion in the DC office; Shane Davis mentioned plural "Luthors" in the Superman: Earth One universe.

On the Clark/Lois relationship in the New 52 universe, Lobdell said that he sees her relationship with Clark almost as "besties" at the moment; they're two people who have feelings with each other but work in the same office. Davis mentioned that in the second volume of Earth One she's investigating Clark Kent's background and why he always maintained a C+ average, and stated that she both loves and hates him at the same time.

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Marvel's 'Next Big Thing' Panel: Jeff Parker's Red She-Hulk, the Future of the Runaways, X-Factor's 'Breaking Points', Polaris's Dad and Neal Adams's 'First X-Men' [SDCC]

David Uzumeri — 2012-07-13T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Marvel, Conventions, News

Marvel's Director of Communications - Publishing & Digital Media Arune Singh introduced the members of the publisher's "Next Big Thing" panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday: Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso, editor Sana Amanat, talent scout C.B. Cebulski, writer Marjorie Liu, James Asmus, Daniel Way, Peter David, editor Jeanine Schaefer, writer Joe Keatinge and bona fide comics legend Neal Adams. The transition from Hulk to Red She-Hulk for Jeff Parker was discussed, as well as what it might mean for the future of the Hulk franchise; Peter David discussed his apocalyptic X-Factor arc "Breaking Points" (and definitively revealed Polaris's parentage!); plans for the Runaways characters were teased; and Neal Adams provided insight as to the relationship between Wolverine and the First X-Men.

Introducing his Gambit ongoing, Asmus described it as a "super-sexy, fairly sophisticated thief thriller" where "you're going to get satisfied every month by Gambit." It will also start out with a shower scene that Asmus said was appropriate for the character, all with tongue planted fairly firmly in cheek.

Regarding Marjorie Liu's Astonishing X-Men, Liu described the challenges of working on and promoting the Northstar/Kyle marriage, stating that they wanted to ensure it wasn't a stunt, and that stories were built out of the marriage. October will have a special honeymoon issue to explore Kyle and Northstar's relationship outside of the context of the X-Men.

Marvel then announced Daniel Way will be wrapping up his run on Deadpool, although Way will continue to a new title that matches the irreverent sensibilities he brought to that character, and Deadpool itself will continue with a new creative team.

Regarding X-Factor, Peter David said that the next few issues of the title would be very eventful -- #240 is a one-off starring Layla Miller riffing on the movie Run Lola Run, and will be followed by a five-issue arc called "Breaking Points" that David described as the culmination of every single dangling plot point from his entire run, while also introducing new ones. He promised issue #245 would not be the last issue of the series, despite its ominous cover. Singh stated that the book was one of the most solid sellers at Marvel, almost never losing readers. When asked in Q&A if Marvel would ever delve into Polaris's history more, Peter David stated that this would be an issue of "Breaking Points," and that the question wouldn't be whether or not Lorna was Magneto's daughter -- as far as David is concerned, she is.

Jeff Parker's Hulk will become Red She-Hulk as of issue #58, drawn by Carlo Pagulayan. Singh pointed out that the events of Red She-Hulk will greatly shape what happens to the Hulk line in the Marvel NOW! initiative. In the Q&A session, it was pointed out that this arc would place Red She-Hulk at odds with the rest of the Marvel Universe.

Joe Keatinge talked about his miniseries Thanos: Son of Titan, which he's doing with Journey Into Mystery artist Rich Elson. He described reading the first issue of Infinity Gauntlet as a child and being fascinated by Thanos, who hadn't appeared for a while before that, and seeking out everything he could find about the character's history, saying he wants to bring that passion to this project.

Neal Adams talked about his First X-Men book with Christos Gage. Although he stated he was reticent to discuss it without Gage being there, he described the story being about the early days of mutants before the formation of the original X-Men, and features Logan bringing mutants together as well as explaining the close emotional connection between Logan and the X-Men as well as the relationship between Sabretooth and Wolverine.

When asked about Doctor Strange, Alonso explained that the major problem with Doctor Strange is that Marvel needs to figure out what magic can and can't do in the universe, and that they're reticent to launch a new Doctor Strange feature until it's perfect.

On the Runaways front, Singh responded to a question by pointing out that many Runaways characters will be in a new ongoing series not called Runaways. He provided a similar answer to a question about the future of the characters from Secret Warriors.

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DC NOW! Panel: Dystopian DC Future in 'Rotworld', 'Trinity War', and Still No Wally West [SDCC]

David Uzumeri — 2012-07-13T14:30:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Conventions, News

The third and final DC Comics panel of Thursday's San Diego Comic-Con schedule, covering a wide array of creators and topics, was moderated by VP - Marketing John Cunningham and featured Geoff Johns, Scott Snyder, Brian Buccellato, Scott Lobdell, Rob Liefeld, Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and editors Bob Harras and Bobbie Chase. Cunningham clarified that the panel was titled "DC Now!" before the recent announcement of Marvel's post-Avengers vs. X-Men "Marvel NOW!" initiative. Within the panel slideshow many new pieces of information were disseminated, including that the "Rotworld" event would take place in a dystopian future DC Universe; the incredible secrecy around next year's "Trinity War" event; Silk Spectre tripping balls in San Francisco; and the continued nonexistence of wayward speedster Wallace West.

Geoff Johns talked about the recently released original graphic novel Batman: Earth One that he created with Gary Frank, describing how he started thinking about the book years ago, extrapolating from the opening scene of a Batman missing a jump and saying "ow" to a Batman who does things for the wrong reasons. Regarding Justice League, Johns stated that the first year is about what the team is, while the second year will be about what the team will be. The zero issue in September will feature the new Shazam, who will join the Justice League in the second year, and then with #13 a two-parter will begin featuring the Cheetah that leads into next year's Trinity War event, which Johns says only three people know the full details of at the moment.

Regarding Green Lantern, Johns discussed the new Green Lantern glimpsed in the Free Comic Book Day issue and who will be introduced in the #0 issue, explaining his gun as a failsafe for when the ring runs out of power. This will follow this year's Green Lantern Annual, which will be drawn by Ethan Van Sciver and reveal a lot of secrets about the history of the Green Lanterns, and lead into the "Rise of the Third Army" event that's preluded across the #0 issues.

Johns praised Ivan Reis's work on Aquaman, calling him one of the most underrated artists in the business.

Amanda Conner talked about her work co-writing and drawing Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre with Darwyn Cooke. The book takes place in San Francisco just before the Summer of Love, and deals with proto-hippie culture, including experiences with hallucinogens. The all-female Ame-Comi universe was then discussed, which was created by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti based on the variously cute, sexy and eyebrow-raising Ame-Comi statues from DC Collectibles. The first two chapters, focusing on Wonder Woman, are drawn by Conner; future ones will feature a variety of artists, building towards a shared universe.

Palmiotti then talked about the future of All Star Western, largely reiterating what he stated in the Dark/Edge panel, and then moved on to the new Phantom Lady miniseries he's co-writing with Justin Gray that's drawn by Cat Staggs. He compared his rework of Phantom Lady and Dollman to their earlier rework with The Ray. He said the key word of the book is "fun."

Snyder talked about Batman, reiterating much of what he said in the Batman panel about the #0 issue (although he did add we will see a new base of operations and mission for early Batman in this) and the "Death of the Family" storyline. He also talked about Talon, again describing his excitement over Tynion's work as the book's writer, with Snyder will only be co-plotting.

Snyder then moved on to Swamp Thing, joking that Swamp Thing's new antlers remind him of Gus from his friend Jeff Lemire's Sweet Tooth. The zero issue will explain the history of Alec Holland, and the situation that led to the explosion that should have turned him into the Swamp Thing, but the story is told from the point of view of the villain Anton Arcane, who will play a major role in the upcoming "Rotworld" event Swamp Thing is sharing with Animal Man and Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. Issue #13 takes place in a sort of dark future, where Swamp Thing fights alongside Deadman and a more warrior-like Poison Ivy, who has an arm infected by the Rot. There will also be a Swamp Thing annual in October that's partly drawn by Becky Cloonan, which delves into Swamp Thing and Abby Arcane meeting for the first time, as well as exploring the fates of Swamp Things before Alec and how long Anton Arcane has been declaring war on them.

Switching over to Snyder's Vertigo title, American Vampire, he talked about the upcoming arc, "The Blacklist," which takes place in the 1950s and features Pearl and Skinner killing secret vampires in Hollywood, echoing the Communist witch hunts of the same time period. He also stated that the arc was a midway point for the book, since it does have a planned ending. Snyder praised Rafael Albuquerque's art hugely, and then talked about the American Vampire: Lord of Nightmares miniseries, which focuses on the human side of the vampire stories, and also introduces the American Vampire version of Dracula.

Rob Liefeld then talked about Savage Hawkman, stating that he was brought on to give the book a "sense of urgency," talking about how Hawkman's origin will involve the founding of Thanagar and Carter's Thanagarian origins. Carter will discover he is an intergalactic criminal with a price on his head, leading to the "Hawkman: Wanted" crossover with Green Arrow. Regarding Deathstroke, Liefeld talked about how Deathstroke went after Lobo to prove he was the biggest and baddest, and as of the end of #11, got the crap kicked out of him, because Deathstroke doesn't care whether he lives or dies after the loss of his wife. Liefeld also reiterated much of his discussions of the zero issues of Deathstroke and Grifter, adding that he would introduce a new character, Warwick, as Grifter's "Mister Miyagi."

Lobdell talked about his zero issue of Superman, featuring Jor-El and the death of Krypton, describing Kenneth Rocafort's designs of Krypton as like nothing you've seen before. Starting with issue #13, Lobdell promised a lot of both Superman and Clark, and said that he was going to explore the difficulty inherent in being the most powerful man on the planet and having to pretend to be ordinary. The issue will also feature a revamp of an existing Superman villain.

Lobdell confirmed he's leaving Superboy, but moving on to Teen Titans. He promised that Raven will return to the book soon and said "if I get my way" Supergirl will also be joining the team. Lobdell talked about how the team was almost getting too big for one book, encouraging the fans to yell if they wanted a spinoff Teen Titans title.

Buccellato finished the panel by talking about the Flash book he's co-writing with artist Francis Manapul, saying that the writers are adding "subtle new dynamics" to Flash's origin, such as explaining his strong sense of justice and need to do what's right, while maintaining the broad strokes such as being a police scientist struck by electrified chemicals. As of issue #13, gorillas led by Grodd will be attacking Central City, forcing a battle between Flash and the Rogues to end mid-fight, possibly leading to a team-up. Since there was no Q&A section due to lack of time, Buccellato took the initiative to inform the audience that Wally West, the long lost Flash of the pre-52 universe, would not appear in their run.

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A Happy Ending for 'Sweet Tooth', 'Punk Rock Jesus'... And The Return Of Neil Gaiman's 'Sandman' [Vertigo Panel [SDCC]

David Uzumeri — 2012-07-12T21:30:00+00:00

Filed under: DC

DC Entertainment's final panel of the day focused on the Vertigo imprint, moderated by editor Karen Berger and featuring creators Sean Muprhy, Mike Allred, Rafael Albuquerque, Mark Buckingham,, Mike Carey, Jeff Lemire, Dan Abnett, Bill Willingham, Scott Snyder, and Dustin Nguyen, as well as editors Shelly Bond and Will Dennis. Sean Murphy discussed his Punk Rock Jesus series, Jeff Lemire promised a "not sad" ending to Sweet Tooth, and this guy named Neil Gaiman is doing a prequel to a comic book he started in 1989 called Sandman with J.H. Williams III.

No, really.Scott Snyder kicked the panel off by recapping much of what he said at DC All Access about American Vampire, while artists Rafael Albuquerque and Dustin Nguyen discussed their attempts to focus on atmosphere and storytelling.

Sean Murphy wasn't present when the slide came up, but his Punk Rock Jesus was described as a science fiction story about a clone of Jesus who becomes a punk rocker. Berger is editing the series herself, and she stated that despite the imagery and name, it's at its core a very sweet story about a boy and his mother, even more than religion or punk rock. When he came, Murphy spoke more about the book, describing it as being about religion and science and politics, and playing up the reality-show aspect, since this Jesus clone will be raised on a reality show. He stated he was going for a "higher nutritional content" with this book.

On Anthony Bourdain, Joel Rose and Langdon Foss's Get Jiro!, she stated that Bourdain is a huge comic book fan. The story takes place in a futuristic Los Angeles ruled by chef warlords, with Jiro as a new chef in town, and operates as a send-up of modern foodie culture.

The "Cubs in Toyland" arc is continuing in Fables. Buckingham stated that his favorite of all of the cubs is Ambrose, but he also finds Blossom interesting due to being the closest to the natural world. The Werewolves of the Heartland OGN that Willingham is doing with Craig Hamilton and Jim Fern will finally be coming out on November 14.

The second arc of Fairest will be written by Lauren Beukes, a science fiction writer from South Africa, and will focus on Rapunzel, developed with Willingham in a consulting capacity as the curator of the Fables line.

Karen Berger also introduced Mat Johnson and Andrea Mutti's graphic novel Right State, which is about an assassination attempt on the second black president of the United States. Dan Abnett discussed not wanting to do a story about vampires and zombies, but the story came to him anyway, built off of the idea of a zombie apocalypse in the 1860s leading to an English state where the upper classes elect to become vampires to deal with a world of zombies.

A four-cover triptych leading up to the final issue of Sweet Tooth, #40, was shown, with Lemire not commenting on the conclusion of the series other than pointing out that he comes up with his endings first, and that it's "not a sad ending."

Michael Allred spoke about the conclusion of iZombie, crediting Roberson's long-form plotting and stating that, as a whole, the book hangs together incredibly well.

Neil Gaiman then delivered a prerecorded message discussing the lines from the beginning of the eighth issue of Sandman, as well as a panel from the Brief Lives trade paperback, where Morpheus is returning from a distant galaxy and is then trapped by Burress, leading up to the beginning of Sandman #1. In November 2013, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first issue of Sandman, Neil Gaiman will release a project with J.H. Williams III that explains what happened to Morpheus before the first issue of Sandman.

Williams then came out on the stage to effusively talk about how excited he is to work on this project (very). Berger claimed there are many surprises planned for the story -- some of which she herself doesn't know yet -- and she, Williams and, well, the entire room pretty much seem over the moon about the fact that a new serialized Neil Gaiman Sandman comic is a thing that will exist.

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The Batman Panel:The Joker, Ed Benes and Frazer Irving Return to Gotham [SDCC]

David Uzumeri — 2012-07-12T18:30:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Conventions, News

The Batman: Beyond the Night of the Owls panel kicked off on Thursday afternoon at Comic-Con International in San Diego, featuring moderator Bob Wayne (DC's VP - Sales), editor Mike Marts and writers Gail Simone, John Layman, Scott Lobdell, James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder, J.H. Williams III, David Finch, Gregg Hurwitz and Kyle Higgins. While the creators described their titles, a few new pieces of information came out, including that Ed Benes will be joining Gail Simone as the regular artist on Batgirl (much to Simone's delight), Frazer Irving will be drawing the Morrison/Burnham co-plotted Batman, Incorporated #0, and a very in-depth discussion of Scott Snyder's upcoming "Death of the Family" Joker story in Batman.

The first book discussed was Talon, the new ongoing debuting with #0 in September by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV and Guillem March. Spinning out of the "Court of Owls" storyline in Batman, it will be the story of Calvin Rose, a Talon who escaped the Court due to his moral compass. Snyder placed a great amount of emphasis on the fact that the book is his co-writer (and former student) Tynion's "baby," and encouraged fans who want new blood at DC to give it a try. At this point, Marketing Director John Cunningham delivered plastic Court of Owls masks to every member of the audience.

On Snyder's main Batman title, the #0 issue in September will be delving into Batman's early years (an area Snyder was initially wary to address). Afterwards, the "Death of the Family" arc will kick off and explore the idea of the Joker as Batman's Court Jester. Since the court jester's role in a king's court was to deliver the worst news to make the king stronger, this is how Joker sees himself, and feels that Batman's forgotten the Joker's necessity and wants to "punish" him for it. He will "rape, and kill, and mutilate" to bring terror to the doors of Batman's friends. Snyder pointed out that Joker's only ever attacked Barbara Gordon to hurt James Gordon, and only ever attacked Jason Todd to hurt Batman, but in this story he'll aim directly for Batman's allies personally. Additionally, he will have a "secret" that will be a major revelation, and Snyder stated that the Joker is his favorite villain in the entirety of fiction.

Kyle Higgins's Nightwing will explore Dick Grayson's tenure as Robin in the New 52 (with a new costume) in the #0 issue, and feature a new twist on his decision to become Robin in the first place. Higgins will then step away from issues #13 and #14 (which will be written by Tom DeFalco) before returning to tie into "Death of the Family" with #15 and #16, which he stated will change the book.

Gail Simone's Batgirl will show why Barbara Gordon became Batgirl in the zero issue, and an upcoming annual will feature Catwoman and the female Talon from her "Night of the Owls" tie-in issue, which Simone referred to as "the dark side of the mirror of Birds of Prey." Ed Benes is joining Batgirl as the regular artist. Simone stated that when she works with Ed Benes, there is "some sort of sparky magic action beauty." Simone noted that Benes is fantastic at portraying varying different emotions, including in the context of an action scene.

Regarding Batman: The Dark Knight, artist David Finch stated that bringing on Gregg Hurwitz has taken the book in the direction he wanted it to go in the beginning since he was writing it himself. Hurwitz talked about the current arc, in which he is delving into the Scarecrow in a manner similar to his Penguin: Pain and Prejudice miniseries.

Co-writer/artist J.H. Williams III talked about the zero issue of Batwoman, which he stated was a challenge since her full origin story by Greg Rucka in the Elegy hardcover had come out very recently. Williams stated that it would have far more internal monologue than the initial Rucka origin did, and will also delve into her father's reasons for facilitating her crimefighting. The series' third arc kicks off with issue #12 (the month before the zero issue) and will co-star Wonder Woman, and be the culmination of what Williams and cowriter W. Haden Blackman have been building since the first issue.

Regarding Red Hood and the Outlaws, writer Scott Lobdell talked about the zero issue, and stated that it's the saddest thing he's ever written, exploring Jason Todd's origin as Robin and not even going into his Red Hood days. Regarding Starfire and her sister Blackfire, he stated that his version of Blackfire comes from the same place as the original Blackfire, but will be completely re-imagined, citing how people read his version of Starfire in #. "Well, that's different."

For the zero issue of Batman, Incorporated, which is coplotted by Grant Morrison and artist Chris Burnham and drawn by Frazer Irving, the history of the various members of the Incorporated initiative will be detailed, as well as how Batman put the team together. Then, with #5, Morrison and Burnham are returning to the future world of Batman #666 where Damian Wayne is Batman.

Regarding Detective Comics, the #0 issue is written by Dark Knight writer Gregg Hurwitz, and will deal with why Batman has problems with emotional intimacy. As of issue #13, John Layman (Chew) will be taking over the book as his first DC work. He stated that he's not going to be trying to compete to write the "darkest" story; he will be writing fast-paced, relatively self-contained stories that don't resolve themselves as the readers expect. His first arc, "Emperor Penguin," he said is only "half" a Penguin story.

Catwoman #0 will be written by new series writer Ann Nocenti, and editor Rachel Gluckstern will continue the book's dark tone. With issue #13, an arc featuring the Joker will kick off, likely tying into "Death of the Family."

A fan asked about the Riddler, and Scott Snyder stated that there were plans for the character further down the line in Batman.

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Yes to Timothy Hunter, No to Renee Montoya: DC Comics' The Dark & The Edge Panel [SDCC]

David Uzumeri — 2012-07-12T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Conventions, News

The first major DC Comics panel of the Comic-Con weekend in San Diego, celebrating the publisher's Dark and Edge lines, kicked off early Thursday morning with moderator Bob Wayne (VP - Sales) and panelists Jeff Lemire, Jimmy Palmiotti, Rob Liefeld, Brent Anderson, Adam Glass, Joshua Hale Fialkov and Rachel Gluckstern. While it largely consisted of displaying solicitation material and writers and editors discussing upcoming plotlines, the panel included a few interesting pieces of new information, like the return of Timothy Hunter (the protagonist of Neil Gaiman's The Books of Magic) and a confirmation that there are no plans in the works for fan-favorite character Renee Montoya -- aka The Question -- in the New 52.Jeff Lemire discussed all of his current projects -- not only Animal Man and its upcoming crossover with Swamp Thing, "Rotworld," but also his friend Matt Kindt's Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. Lemire wrote that title for the first nine issues -- that, due to Lemire's affinity for both Kindt and the character, will now be the third book tying-in to the mystic-themed crossover. Justice League Dark's first arc, which will be ending in October's JLD Annual #1, will set up a lot of stories for Lemire both within that book and without, and he pointed to the identity of the New 52's Black Orchid as a mystery fans should keep their eyes (and brains) on. During the Q&A session, a fan asked about the Books of Magic protagonist Timothy Hunter, whose adventures were depicted in a number of Vertigo titles in the 1990s and 2000s. Lemire confirmed he'll be returning soon in the New 52.

Rob Liefeld will be delving more into Deathstroke's past with September's #0 issue, discussing how the loss of the character's wife led to the amping-up of his personality from when he used to be a member of Team 7 (which will be a separate series by Justin Jordan and Jesus Merino) alongside Black Canary, Grifter and others. On the topic of Grifter, which Liefeld is plotting, he promised revelations regarding exactly what happened to him in the first issue of the series.

On why he came to helm three books in the New 52 line (Deathstroke, Grifter and Savage Hawkman), Liefeld said they were suggested to him as an "action block" by co-publisher Jim Lee, who hoped Liefeld would give them a sense of urgency. Deathstroke is a character he's wanted to do forever; he remembers watching the design sketch of Grifter come in very slowly over a fax machine in the early days of Image Comics, before that character and the rest of Jim Lee's WildStorm concepts had been acquired by DC; and as for Hawkman, Liefeld stated he always loved him on Super Friends, the classic animated series of the 1970s and 1980s.

With respect to All Star Western, Jimmy Palmiotti discussed his collaboration with Scott Snyder and the interlinking of Gotham City's present in Batman and its past in his series. The #0 issue will provide a new origin for the Jonah Hex character, which Palmiotti promised would not contain a radioactive meteor or any of the wackier elements from previous Hex origins.

Brent Anderson, who will be drawing Dan DiDio's The Phantom Stranger starting with September's issue #0, said the book is distinctly "dark" and praised DiDio's plotting and scripts.

Editor Rachel Gluckstern discussed Christy Marx and Aaron Lopresti's upcoming Amethyst revival in the Sword of Sorcery anthology, professing to be a huge fan of the material. She also compared Tony Bedard and Jesus Saiz's Beowulf backup to Mad Max and Samurai Jack, calling it "post-apocalyptic."

Writer Adam Glass discussed his Suicide Squad book and his interpretation of Amanda Waller, who he described as "one of the baddest mommas in the DCU," stating he'd be delving further into her history and character in the New 52 universe.

Joshua Hale Fialkov discussed an upcoming I, Vampire arc with zombies, a #0 issue in the 16th century exploring Andrew Bennett's origins, and stated that he's surprised DC is letting him do the "crazy things" he will be doing from #13 on.

Finally, in a question from the Q&A session, someone asked if Renee Montoya -- the former Gotham City police detective who became The Question, and one of DC's few lesbian characters -- would be making a return in the New 52. Bob Wayne said (after consulting with the editors on the panel) that there currently weren't any plans, but that the Question, the identity she had in the old universe, had already made an appearance (likely referring to the New 52's Free Comic Book Day special from earlier this year).

At the end of the panel, a video was shown promoting DC's "We Can Be Heroes" charity initiative, which seeks to combat hunger in Africa.

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Breaking Down the Big Reveal in 'Batman' #10 [Spoilers]

David Uzumeri — 2012-06-14T14:30:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Reviews, News

Themes of class, privilege and arrogance run deep in writer Scott Snyder's work with Bruce Wayne in DC Comics' Batman. The title has been the breakout hit of the New 52 initiative since it was relaunched last September with Snyder and artist Greg Capullo, featuring an uncommonly consistent aesthetic -- the book hasn't had a single fill-in creative team member in any capacity for ten issues -- courtesy of inker Jonathan Glapion and colorist FCO Plascencia. Batman's also been resolutely consistent in its storytelling, building up a single antagonist, and single story, over the course of a year. Last month its narrative broke out into the rest of the Bat-titles with the "Night of the Owls" crossover, and earlier issues revealed that the death of Nightwing/Dick Grayson's parents essentially saved him from becoming an indoctrinated, immortal acrobat-assassin.

The real doozy, though, came this month in Batman #10, although the clues have definitely been there all along. For more on the big reveal and how it reflects and completes the thematic and narrative framework Snyder's been building since September, click below the jump. It should be obvious, but: SPOILER WARNING.

This month, it was revealed that Lincoln March -- the Mayoral candidate with an eerie resemblance to Bruce who appeared to die in the previous issue -- is actually Bruce's younger brother, Thomas Wayne, Jr. The character has a rather limited history, although he gained a new following over the past few years when writer Grant Morrison revived many of the concepts of Bruce Wayne's dark twin from Willowwood Asylum in the form of the devil-worshipping, Darkseid-possessed immortal black sheep of the Wayne family, Thomas Wayne, a.k.a. Doctor Hurt.

Scott Snyder's version -- as can be pieced together from the main story and the backups in Batman -- is that Thomas Wayne, Jr. is Bruce's younger brother. While Bruce was young, Martha Wayne became pregnant again and decided to go on a tear against the mayor for defunding certain schools. This presumably placed the Waynes in the crosshairs of the Court of Owls, who ordered Jarvis Pennyworth -- then-butler to the Waynes and father of Alfred -- to drive Martha to a certain location, where a car accident was staged.

Click to enlarge

This is where the backup story in Batman #10 ends, and while it's continued next month, numerous clues in the main story -- not least the picture of Martha wearing a heart-shaped pin given to the mothers of boys at Willowwood, which in Snyder's version was a satellite hospital for children -- point towards this car accident forcing a premature birth, leading Thomas, Sr. and Martha to check the newborn into the Willowwood hospital under a fake name to hide him from the Court. After Thomas and Martha's death, little Lincoln March was forgotten. Willowwood was defunded and the boy grew up in a hellhole where children were subjected to abuse. He was finally "rescued" by the Court of Owls.

What's important here is that March is a product of the system. It's unclear when he was recruited by the Court, although his conversation with Bruce in Batman #10 implies it was when he was older and still stuck in Willowwood, while his rich big brother got to backpack across the world and "find himself." The rest of the story March told Bruce in Old Wayne Tower way back in issue #2 must be true -- he got funding to go to college (presumably from the Court), and Gotham City saved him from its own institutions. He sees the Court as Gotham itself, as a part of the system, so rather than look at it as getting patronized by a bunch of filthy rich old white people who want him because they know he's a secret Wayne, he sees it as the city itself choosing him.

Bruce, on the other hand, hasn't been a part of the system since his parents died. While they were alive, they were making a point of doing public good; they wanted to improve the system to the point where they would feel safe placing Bruce in it. They entrusted the system with their other son, Thomas, almost entirely. But when they died, their influence on the system vanished, and institutions fell into disrepair. It's made clear in issue #10 that the murder of Thomas and Martha affected Thomas, Jr. almost as much, if not more, than Bruce -- Bruce only lost his parents, while Thomas, Jr. lost everything.

Click to enlarge

So of course it rankles Thomas, Jr. when Bruce decides he's going to invest in urban development and try to stamp his name all over the city, as we saw in issue #1. When the Court of Owls deems the younger Wayne as expendable, he takes the Talon formula and dies, coming back as an unstoppable owl-zombie in gigantic mechanical owl-armor with owl-boobs, so he and Bruce can work out their differences by punching the crap out of each other while jumping around Gotham. Thomas, Jr. was trapped by Gotham, first institutionalized within it and then indebted to it, while his older brother got to gallivant around the Eastern Hemisphere learning from ninja masters.

It all fits in very snugly with everything Snyder's done in the run so far -- hell, everything he's done in any Bat-book, since James Gordon, Jr. claimed to be a similar "dark mirror" to Dick Grayson at the end of Batman: The Black Mirror. Since Snyder began work on the Batman titles, the Waynes have been taking a more active role in Gotham and how it's run, through not only Batman Incorporated but also urban renewal initiatives. Bruce has now been punished for his arrogance, for thinking that Gotham City was his to fix and that he understood it and that it couldn't surprise him. As Detective Bullock says at the end of Batman #1, Gotham is "a mystery," and that mystery reacted against Bruce for his hubris.

Whether Thomas, Jr. lives or dies -- I'm guessing he'll survive, though, since he's too interesting a foil -- he'll still have played a role in knocking Batman down a peg and beating his confidence up a little bit. Unlike most of the heroes in the New 52, Batman's history wasn't erased; he's still gone through everything he'd already gone through before the reboot. DC Comics Co-Publisher Dan DiDio stated that the goal of the reboot was to make the characters seem younger and with their greatest battles still ahead of them; by knocking Bruce down like this, Snyder gets to have his cake and eat it too.

Batman #10 is on sale now in finer comics shops and digitally from comiXology.

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A Spoiler-Free Review of Bendis and Pichelli's 'Spider-Men' #1

David Uzumeri — 2012-06-04T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Marvel, Reviews, Opinion

On June 13, Marvel Comics is kicking off their celebration of 50 years of Spider-Man by releasing Spider-Men #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli and Justin Ponsor, featuring the first meeting between the traditional Spider-Man Peter Parker and the new Ultimate version, young Miles Morales. Additionally, it's the first official crossover between the mainline and Ultimate Marvel universes. So how does this issue stack up to the creative team's previous excellent work on Miles's solo title Ultimate Comics Spider-Man? We take an advanced, spoiler-free look below.

With last year's relaunch of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, following the death of the Ultimate version of Peter Parker, Marvel introduced the character of Miles Morales, Parker's successor. A headline-grabber from the start by virtue of the fact that Miles is the first Spider-Man with mixed black/hispanic heritage, the heavily hyped move was quickly justified by the fact that writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli brought the goods with the final product. Morales emerged a fully-realized character, appropriately continuing Spider-Man's "great power comes with great responsibility" theme with a fleshed-out supporting cast that included a loving mother and father, a sketchy and secretive uncle, friends, and a magnet school Morales gained entry into in via a lottery -- much like the random chance spider-bite accidents that gave both him and Peter Parker their powers.

Spider-Men, however, is -- so far -- a totally different kind of comic, framed as a fairly standard Peter Parker Spider-Man adventure. Bendis hasn't written a great deal of solo mainline Marvel Universe Spider-Man stories, not outside of cameo appearances or as a member of teams like the Avengers. He's never really taken the character for a spin, so it's interesting that over a decade into Bendis' career we finally get a Marvel Universe Peter Parker story written by the guy.

It's a pretty traditional story, largely featuring stuff we've all read in the interviews -- Mysterio's involved, Spider-Man goes to the Ultimate Universe, etc. Like many Marvel "event" books, Spider-Men #1 suffers from its own hype: the first issue is largely to set up the book's concept, and if you need to give away that concept to sell the book, well, it's pretty hard for that issue to surprise anybody. Spider-Men, at just five issues, is no exception.

Another thing the first issue really lacks is an emotional hook. With Parker and Morales meeting, and Morales being inspired by his own universe's version of Parker, there's a great deal of potential dramatic energy being stored up. Not only is there Peter learning about another version of himself who died tragically, there's also Miles Morales finally getting to know a living version of his greatest inspiration. Not to mention Aunt May seeing a version of her nephew alive, Gwen Stacy's reaction, and the possibility of the regular Marvel Universe's reaction to Miles's existence. As of the end of #1, that energy's still just potential. It's setup -- well-executed setup, to be sure, but setup nonetheless.

Additionally, while Sara Pichelli acquits herself excellently as usual, her talent for facial expressions is wasted in a comic where almost every page is dominated by a dude in a full-face mask. It'll undoubtedly be put to good use in later issues as mystery and adventure take a back seat to personal and emotional drama, but again, none of that is in this debut issue.

So what is in this debut issue? Bendis writing what begins as a fairly straightforward Spider-Man story, which drops some clues and eventually begins leading into the book's premise. This premise holds a lot of promise, but as of the end of issue #1, that promise remains just that. Spider-Men #1 is a very well-drawn, well-scripted comic, but to a degree it feels like two excellent craftspeople getting exposition out of the way so they can get to the really good parts. While that might be necessary for the story, and provide a way for Parker to act as a reader surrogate for those unfamiliar with the Ultimate Universe, it's a largely rote opening that lacks the beating emotional heart that made Bendis and Pichelli's collaboration on Miles Morales so memorable.

Spider-Men #1 goes on sale June 13 in comics stores everywhere and digitally from comiXology and the Marvel Comics app.

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Annotations: 'Batman Incorporated' #1

David Uzumeri — 2012-05-28T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Annotations

Well, we're back. (I realize I never got to the Leviathan Strikes oneshot, and I swear on the graves of Thomas and Martha Wayne I'll get to it soon enough.)

But it's a new #1 issue, in a New 52, and there are new readers, so let's sit back and absorb the 22 (!) pages of the first issue of Batman Incorporated volume two, by Grant Morrison, Chris Burnham and Nathan Fairbairn, who continue to prove themselves insanely well-matched for Morrison's scripts. I hope these guys collaborate for a long time to come, especially with Frank Quitely off toiling in the Millarworld money fields. I'd recap what's happened so far, but that's like about half of this comic as it is, so let's jump right in.Page 1: This page takes place one month in the future -- I imagine we'll catch up to it eventually -- and features Bruce and Alfred, in the rain at the Wayne family graveyard, with the GCPD coming for Bruce to arrest him, right after he declares Batman to be over. Alfred points out that ending Batman is what his enemies want, and it's true: Indeed, it was Doctor Hurt's great goal in Batman R.I.P. It's unknown whether the cops know Bruce is Batman, and if they did, why Gordon would be leading the charge to arrest him -- unless he finds out about the events that transpire at the end of this issue. But we'll get to that.

Pages 2-3: Opening splash! Batman and Robin exiting their car in style. It's the New 52, so Batman's got his New 52 outfit and Batmobile, and other than the obligatory Pandora appearance later that is the single item in the list of references to the continuity switchover. Other than that, this issue picks up right from the end of the Leviathan Strikes oneshot -- although Morrison spends time catching the reader up, since it's been five months since the oneshot and seven since the last regular issue of the series.

The "Dark Tower" bag is notable since the logo makes it fairly clear that it's Gotham City's version of White Castle; however, much like the forthcoming Demon Star has a meaning, so must this. On one hand, it's a bestselling series of Stephen King books with a more than healthy dose of author-inserting metafiction (a trick to which Grant Morrison is no stranger) and a story about a hard man who comes to let people into his heart again. On the other hand, it's the Tarot card, the Tower, which can symbolize tearing down false structures and institutions -- the mission statement of Leviathan.

Pages 4-5: They're chasing a man with a goat mask into a slaughterhouse, one operated by Demon Star, a front for Leviathan (Batman himself will explain that symbolism later). It looks like some of the workers are associated with the goat motif and some aren't, but the end result is Batman and Robin punching dudes in chainmail with chainsaws with a bunch of dead cows everywhere, and that's pretty cool. Also notice that Batman advises Robin to go for their heads, at which point he proceeds to not listen at all and instead go for their knees.

Page 6: Batman dodges the badass Gears of War chainsawgunthing and socks a dude in the face, while a piece of shrapnel flies off and cuts a dead cow -- and allow Burnham to pull a neat storytelling transition to one of the Brothers Grimm eating a particularly red meat at Leviathan's banquet.

Page 7: Damian runs after the original goat-masked assassin -- named Sam Lucas, apparently -- and after catching him, he pulls him up to interrogate him, at which point our narrator shoots him in the back (while meaning to hit Damian). Whenever the narrator is saying this, it's way after the fact, talking about how he "still" curses himself for what's going on on this page. Damian has a predilection for killing, which is why he immediately insists that Lucas's death isn't his fault.

Page 8: Of course, it's not going to be easy for Batman and Robin to find the sniper, since he's literally all the way across Gotham shooting with a rocket-powered sniper rifle. Which is pretty badass. This page basically introduces us to the main Goatboy: a cab driver with a dead ex-wife who wants the $500 million bounty on Damian's head from Leviathan so he can ensure that his boy doesn't have to go into foster care. Leave it to Morrison to try to make a child murdering assassin symapthetic.

The Bill Hicks sketch he took his name from doesn't actually feature any deep symbolism, unless Goatboy is trying to hump everybody, but I do hope it turns out his first name is Randy. The Gotham = goat home thing is way more relevant.

Page 9: The slaughterhouse owner is freaking out over the mess, because God forbid human blood mix with the pools of animal blood in his abattoir. Batman points out that the demon star-branded cattle are contiminated (most likely with Leviathan mind control drugs), while the experience forces Damian to vegetarianism -- and here Morrison said Damian WASN'T a self-insert character! The final panel, of Damian and his "Bat-Cow," is tragic while being hilarious. Much like a cow with a demon star, Damian Wayne was bred for slaughter.

Page 10: Turns out that particularly juicy red meat Grimm was eating earlier was his brother! Oh, Leviathan, you so crazy. One has to question how nobody else has put together who Leviathan is when they're running around with Talia's ninja man-bats and the whole damn League of Assassins.

Page 11: Exposition time! While Batman chases after the last Lone Star beef truck, he chides Damian for killing Masterspy Otto Netz in the Leviathan Strikes oneshot. Interestingly, he places the events of that story after Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason's last Batman and Robin arc where Damian ended up killing Henri Ducard's son NoBody, even though it occurred before the switchover to the New 52, so a version of Leviathan Strikes occurred after the New 52 switchover in a similar form but aaaaaaaaaagh my head just exploded.

Damian also brings up the fact that he was partners with Dick Grayson, who he claims never lectured him as Robin, which is hilarious since this scene is basically shot the same as the opening of Morrison and Quitely's Batman and Robin where Grayson lectures the hell out of Damian.

Page 12: Here, Morrison brings up two more events from his run: Batman's death in Final Crisis and subsequent return in Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne as well as Damian straightening out the Waynetech finances during his run on Batman and Robin. Batman's warning Damian about his "ridiculous hood" is both a callback to his hatred of Dick's original hood in Frank Miller and Jim Lee's All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder, and the fact that he's mistaken about the hood will play into the end of this issue.

Page 13: Batman and Robin finally notice the upside-down star on the truck -- the "demon star," also known as the "eye of the gorgon," also known as Algol -- in other words, Talia al Ghul signing her name to her work. It's worth mentioning that way back in Batman #666, when we saw a future where Damian Wayne was Batman, his enemy was leaving a demon star on the map of Gotham, Damian called it a "satan signal." With the previously-revealed (in Leviathan Strikes) (I know, I know) connections between Professor Pyg, Doctor Hurt, Spyral and Leviathan, it's possible that that issue may play as much into this arc as it did into the one in which it was written.

Pages 14-15: Cut to San Francisco where George Cross, the Hood, picks up a new costume he's ordered and rides the changing room as an elevator down to what the Outsiders have termed "Batcave West." Here, we see him join all the other heroes who seemingly died in Leviathan Strikes: El Gaucho, the Outsiders and Batwing, all of whom state their traps and escapes on the page. The cave is filled with trophies from past Outsiders adventures -- I recognize Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning's mask and a giant penny for Simon Stagg, at least -- and Freight Train, God bless his DiDio-created heart, points out that the Outsiders survived their explosion by Metamorpho using the same trick he pulled off in Morrison and Howard Porter's JLA #1, expanding his body to protect everyone else.

How any of this stuff happened in the New 52, where nobody's ever joined the Justice League past the Big Seven and there's no indication Batman ever quit to form the Outsiders, I have no idea. I can also only assume that this story, and the special, take place after the current events in Batwing as well, since Batwing isn't pretending to be dead in his own book.

The rivalry between the Hood and Gaucho stems from the England/Argentina conflict in the Falkland Islands in the '80s, and as for Wingman, nobody knows who he is, save someone Batman gave the identity to after the original Wingman perished on Mister Mayhew's Island after betraying the Club of Heroes back in Batman #669. One of the running theories back when Batman first gave him the costume in Incorporated v1 #6 was that it was Superman; another, that it was Dick Grayson. But I can't see either using the word "rabble." Considering the Leviathan reveal, I imagine it'll seem awfully obvious once it's revealed.

Page 16: I don't have much to say about this page other than that it's utterly beautiful. Batman and Robin continue to argue before coming across a gang of Mutants (from Frank Miller's seminal Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, although they're more a manifestation of '80s urban decay paranoia than applicable today) moving the Lone Star supply to a Dark Tower truck, which would make Harold and Kumar Go to Dark Tower a pretty damn dour affair since they'd be mind controlled and suicide bombing by the end.

Page 17: Meanwhile, Goatboy decides a dive bar is the best place to go after you just tried murdering a ten-year-old. That's Pandora, patron saint of the New 52, chillin' in the back, although I very much doubt she'll ever have anything to do with this narrative. $1 shots seems like a pretty sweet deal, though, although the dancers make it look like a dive strip bar, and that's just scary. Goatboy takes a fare, takes some pills, puts the mask back on and gets ready to shoot Robin again, this time at the confrontation with the Mutants.

Pages 18-19: Damian beats the crap out of some Mutants while Goatboy takes aim -- at the hood he's wearing, which would absorb the impact. Batman finds him. And now the story begins to fracture, literally.

Page 20: Cut to what I can only guess is a few hours later, where Goatboy and another random dude are being paraded before Leviathan, surrounded by what I guess are Mtamban soldiers and the Heretic himself. His identity is as yet unknown, but the going theory is that he's an artificially-aged clone of Damian, previously glimpsed in Batman and Robin #12. Goatboy mentions that his own son is ten years old -- Damian's exact age -- and shows Leviathan a cellphone picture of the last page. Note: a picture, not a movie.

Page 21: Goatboy tells his version of the story: He shots Batman right between the eyes with his rocket-powered rifle, shattering his cowl lenses and leaving a bullet hole in the face. Then, according to him, he shot Damian while his hood was down -- except we saw that Damian's hood wasn't down, because he's still in full-on "screw you, dad" mode.

Page 22: We see the picture of Batman holding Damian's body and screaming -- and let's just look at this picture. First, Batman's cowl lenses are intact, and so is his cowl itself. Damian's face, and head, are covered by a hood, so we can't see any actual bullet impact. And somehow Goatboy, after shooting Bruce and then Damian, got a chance to run away far enough that Bruce didn't tear him apart limb from limb but close enough to take a picture with an iPhone camera.

In other words, Damian's the latest member of the Dead Heroes Club, his death effectively faked using the most obviously staged cellphone cam picture in the world. And now Goatboy is Bruce's mole in Leviathan.

Game on.

Links to my other annotations:
- Batman: The Return; Batman, Inc. #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8
- Return of Bruce Wayne #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6; Batman #700, #701, #702; Batman and Robin #14, #15, #16
- original Batman run and previous issues of Batman and Robin

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Marvel's Sunday at C2E2: 'Thor' Crossover with 'Journey into Mystery,' McKelvie on 'Defenders'

David Uzumeri — 2012-04-15T15:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Marvel

It was a somewhat slow day for announcements this Sunday at C2E2; besides the announcement of a new Gambit ongoing series, we learned that the Ultimate Comics "Divided We Fall" event will include all three Ultimate Comics titles and begin in July; the Asgardian titles Thor and Journey Into Mystery are set to clash in a major crossover in August titled "Everything Burns"; and Jamie McKelvie, fresh off of X-Men: Season One, will be joining Matt Fraction as the new regular artist on Defenders.The first major announcement of the day came at the Ultimate Comics panel, with the titles of the previously-announced-at-the-retailer-summit Ultimate crossover revealed as "Divided We Fall"; it will feature the return of Captain America since he left the public eye at the end of the Ultimate Fallout miniseries after feeling responsible for the death of Peter Parker. The three main Ultimate books will all feature this story, but contain parallel narratives rather than a standard crossover; it begins in July with Sam Humphries and Luke Ross's Ultimate Comics Ultimates #13 and Brian Wood's Ultimate Comics X-Men #14, with Brian Michael Bendis's Ultimate Comics Spider-Man joining the fray in August.

At the "Next Big Thing" panel, Since Matt Fraction's The Mighty Thor and Kieron Gillen's Journey Into Mystery were launched alongside Fraction's Fear Itself event miniseries, the two books have been closely related -- especially due to their sibling protagonists, Thor and Loki -- yet never formally crossed over. Starting in August, that will change, with Alan Davis and Carmine Di Giandomenico joining Fraction and Gillen on their books for "Everything Burns," running from Mighty Thor #18-22 and Journey Into Mystery #642-645. The crossover will apparently bring many ongoing plot points in both titles to a head, especially Loki's web of lies and Thor's trust for him.

Finally, they announced that Jamie McKelvie (X-Men: Season One, Phonogram) will be joining Matt Fraction as the new regular artist on Defenders, replacing previous regular artist Terry Dodson. (Cover art below is by Dodson, interior art by McKelvie.)

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Matt Fraction Takes Aim at 'Hawkeye' [Interview]

David Uzumeri — 2012-04-15T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Marvel, Interviews

As Marvel Comics announced at the C2E2 convention yesterday in Chicago, the former Immortal Iron Fist creative team of writer Matt Fraction and artist David Aja are reuniting this August in an all-new ongoing Hawkeye comic. ComicsAlliance talked to Fraction about his take on the superheroic marksman.

ComicsAlliance: Where does Hawkeye fit into the Matt Fraction oeuvre, Alongside Iron Man, Thor and the Defenders? He doesn't seem like a character prone to the sort of high-concept idea-driven approach taken to the rest of your work. In your eyes, who is Clint Barton? What's the "kung fu billionaire" elevator pitch?

Matt Fraction: Oh, I'd disagree, but I think I have a jacked-up sense of what is and isn't high-concept and idea-driven. Or maybe Hawkeye is small-"i" idea-driven. I think, like [Invincible] Iron Man, if i gave you the 'kung fu billionaire' pitch it'd give the game away. Hawkeye is as far away from books about the richest genius in the world, the god of thunder, and the Weird Avengers as you can get.

He's the Avenger that's Just A Dude, under it all. No healing powers, no flight, no rays, no serums, not invulnerable, not magical, not gamma-iradiated or anything else. And yet he stands with Earth's Mightiest Heroes, as the saying goes, and he's running the Secret Avengers so... so who is he in-between? When the mask comes off? he's the Just a Dude of the Avengers, these are THOSE stories. About what he does and who he is when he isn't punching the clock.CA: The last time you collaborated with David Aja, it was on a mystical kung fu billionaire. What made Hawkeye the comic to reunite? Have you changed the way you're writing for David considering the time gap since your last collaboration?

MF: It's long been a favorite of David's, and while I turned it down initially, I found my way in and couldn't stop thinking about it... basically it's different than anything else I've written before, it's letting me do stories I've never done, that don't quite get told the way i want to do them, and... and David's the icing on the cake.

And I'm carrying over the scripts in my sorta-Marvel style that I developed writing Defenders, because, it's David, he'll just toss out what doesn't work and make it better on his own anyway. This has actually gotten us working closer together, working out tweaks and moments, me writing to his strengths and him drawing to mine. somehow.

CA: What are the Hawkeye stories that most define the character for you? What's the Hawkeye story that made you sit down and go, "damn, I really want to write Hawkeye"?

MT: I think there's something tonally about that Mark Grunwald mini that's always stuck with me; it was coming out right as I was really getting into comics, and the Peter Sanderson illustrations of all his crazy arrows in the Marvel Universe Handbook always stuck with me. It very much had that... almost-confessional, I'm just a regular guy who could believe all this crazy stuff is happening to ME? tone to it. I liked him in the Avengers through the eighties for sure. [Jim] McCann did great work with him not too long ago and I really enjoyed Jen Van Meter's recent Solo Avengers story with him in it.

But what made me want to write him was figuring out the first page of issue 2, that was my way into the character, the world, and what it all was and why I'd want to read it, let alone write it.

CA: How long-term are you thinking on this series? Do you have just a first year of story planned, or are the readers in for a multi-year Hawkeye mega-epic?

MF: It's all very self-contained, done in one or two stories. Of course there's a larger arc in mind but it's a cumulative story. I want, if nothing else, these first six issues at least to be entirely clean, hop-aboardable, no-previous-knowledge-required, beginning-middle-end Clint and Kate adventures. Which was part of the appeal to me, too; it's a big challenge I've never had before. And it keeps everyone from getting bored.

CA: What kind of antagonists is Hawkeye going to be up against in the story? Other than Trickshot and Swordsman, he doesn't have much of his own rogues gallery. Will he be doing his own thing or mixing it up with major Marvel Universe villains?

MF: Both, actually; I'd like to find him a Doom, a Kingpin, a Bullseye -- every good hero needs an arch, so there's that mission in the back of my head and a desire to bring out some other MU villains with whom it makes sense for Clint to scrap. On top of new guys we make up, either costumed and powered or otherwise.

CA: At four monthly titles (Iron Man, Mighty Thor, Defenders, Hawkeye) that's a big workload. How are you balancing that, or can we expect one or more of these titles to end in the near future?

MF: Eh, it's not so bad. I've been busier before. You just keep moving and you keep writing. I can produce a book a week, so that's what I'm doing. It all evens out.

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Marvel's Saturday at C2E2: Hawkeye, Scarlet Spider, Fantastic Four and 'Sabretooth Reborn'

David Uzumeri — 2012-04-14T19:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Marvel, News

Today at the C2E2 expo in Chicago, Marvel elaborated on a number of major announcements they've been teasing of late. Perhaps the biggest news is the introduction of a new ongoing Hawkeye series by part of the acclaimed Immortal Iron Fist team of Matt Fraction and David Aja; meanwhile, Khoi Pham will be replacing Ryan Stegman on Scarlet Spider, with Stegman moving to help Jonathan Hickman wrap up his Fantastic Four run. The previously-previewed Jeph Loeb/Simone Bianchi "Sabretooth Reborn" arc was also announced to begin in August's Wolverine #310.At the Spider-Man panel, Marvel announced two creative changes in the Spider-Man (and kind of related) corner of the universe showing a decent amount of musical chairs being played in the Mighty Marvel Manner.

The first announcement was that penciller Ryan Stegman would be leaving Scarlet Spider after launching it with writer Chris Yost and drawing five of the first six issues. Replacing him is Khoi Pham, who was just recently announced as joining the rotation on Daredevil but was replaced by Chris Samnee with what was to be his third issue (#14), leaving him drawing only the #10.1 one-off and the first part of the "Megacrime" arc in #13.

Of course, this isn't Marvel firing the highly acclaimed Stegman from a job -- instead he'll be joining Jonathan Hickman on his last three issues of Fantastic Four, starting with #609, featuring the return of the New Defenders from Nu-World and the future Hulk known as the Maestro. Where current Fantastic Four artist Ron Garney, and previous artist Steve Epting are headed is not known, but considering the Epting-drawn surprise ending of FF #16, I'll personally wager that Hickman and Epting will pick up that plot point as the new team on Avengers.

At the "Cup O'Joe" panel featuring Marvel CCO Joe Quesada, Marvel announced that (as has already been heavily rumored) the critically acclaimed Immortal Iron Fist team of Matt Fraction and David Aja's mystery project is in fact a new Hawkeye ongoing series featuring absolutely gorgeous, design-focused covers from David Aja. You can look for an interview with Fraction about this project later, but Aja seems to be applying the same considerable graphic design sensibilities that informed his portrayal of kung fu in Iron Fist towards the mechanics of archery with Marvel's roguish Avenger.

Finally, the "Wolverine: Sabretooth Reborn" project teased in the back of Wolverine #300 -- Jeph Loeb and Simone Bianchi's sequel to their "Evolution" arc that ran in Wolverine v3 #50-55 -- will in fact run beginning in Wolverine #310, following the conclusion of Cullen Bunn and Paul Pelletier's (apparently fill-in) arc featuring Jason Aaron-created villain Doctor Rot. Longtime Wolverine writer Aaron concluded his run in this week's Wolverine #304, moving many of his ongoing plots to his current series Wolverine & The X-Men.

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