Seeing the solicit for the ‘Get Mystique’ story arc in the pages of Wolverine gave me a feeling of hope.  You see, Decimation had been awkwardly handled by the X-Offices as no one could really decide how effective Sentinel Squad ONE was, how many mutants were left, whether they were all at the mansion or not, details that started to fray at the big serious change for mutantkind.

But Messiah CompleX promised big changes this time, really big and the idea that a satellite title like Wolverine which always seems to be sort of off in its own little world (and now Wolverine: Origins which is off in its own little world different than the little world of the main book…) sounded pretty cool.  Now that we know that the X-Men are, indeed, NO MORE it makes sense that Wolverine would be showing some wear and tear now that his home team went belly-up.  Going after Mystique after all that happened made sense too, a sort of forwarding of the plot created by the great wave of change!

Today, the conclusion of Get Mystique hits the shelves and where do we find ourselves?  Surprisingly further back than I thought we would be.

WARNING:  Contains spoilers for Wolverine #65, as well as #62-64.  Find a few issues and follow along!
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Iron Man.

You saw it, I saw it and apparently so did everyone and their Mom in the US (not to mention the worldwide releases). If this is a sign of the summer movie season ahead, then I say bring ‘em on because Iron Man is a a hit across the country.

As of now, Iron Man was the 10th biggest opening of all time and the fourth biggest for a superhero movie. Among nonsequels, it came in behind only the first Spider-Man movie. That’s right. Behind SPIDER-MAN.

“If we have to, we’re happy to come in second to another Marvel property,” Maisel said. “It emphasizes how lucky we are to have such a powerful brand that’s not loved by just comic book fans but also general movie fans.”

Not bad for a funny book publisher’s brand new little studio, huh?

No big studio overhead, firm creative content control, comic book writers and artists being used extensively for script adjustments and art development… this is truly a marvelous age we live in. We live the good life, True Believers; we can kick back in the theater and watch the stories we’ve come to love come to life on the big screen in a whole new way. While some other movie ventures might have left us cold in the rain as Evanescence played sad songs, hope springs eternal that this success could be the start of something big. The special little scene at the end of the credits taught us that much and no matter who was responsible for it, it’s a fine sign of things to come. As far as origin stories go, it was engaging and well-paced enough to keep fan who can recite this story in their sleep happy, not to mention all the cool little references that reward our loyalty to the cool exec with a heart of steel.

I rather prefer this Tony Stark to the one we have in the books right now, with his slick Jarvis computer system and his simple, yet elegant armored suit! This is the kind of Iron Man that I think can capture the hearts and mind of the pop culture public and according to the numbers, I may just be right.

But do you ever think the masses ever turn back and look at we fans, wondering how the other half lives?

(WARNING: Why haven’t you seen the Iron Man yet? I can’t be held responsible if a few spoilers slip out and you were too busy seeing Made of Honor. Consider this fair warning and do enjoy.)
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At Wizard World Los Angeles, I got a lovely chance to participate in the “Sunday Conversation” panel hosted by the Distinguished Competition’s Dan Didio and Jimmy Palmiotti. This was the second time the EiC of DC stepped down off the panel podium and got to know a little something about the love of comics and the fans who follow them. Both creators got into the act, telling stories from their youth and personal pics and pans, everyone in the room pretty united in fandom. Palmiotti shared a story about being a kid and running nearly a life long debate about a problem that has plagued mankind for decades: “Who would win in a fight: Superman or the Hulk?” Every time his friend would chime in with a way that the Hulk would come out on top, a young Palmiotti would devise a new way the Man of Steel could thwart Banner’s puny attempts to destroy him.

I’m proud to say that I achieved my first job at a comic shop by forgoing the interview process and getting to the nitty gritty of the job. When asked who would win in a fight between Batman and Superman, the speed at which I answered Batman and the reasoning behind it got me the job and a little respect around the store.

I’m pretty sure, dear reader, that as you’re reading this, there’s some part of your brain reversing these decisions. “But the Hulk could totally beat Superman!” or even “Batman doesn’t stand a chance against Superman!”, there’s always another side to these arguments in the lives of our favorite fictional characters and these debates rage on to this very day and beyond, no matter what publishers decide or how stories are written.

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Well, don’t I feel foolish?

Here I am, plotting out my resources to master the world of comic conventions and it turns out I’m on the wrong coast!  NYCC was the place to be this weekend and not only was Newsarama there with every bell ringin’ and whistle blowin’ you could imagine (go team!), but so was the Mighty Marvel Media Machine!  WOW!  Jam packed with panels and interviews and movie news and special footage and I’m sure there had to have been a free t-shirt or two because that’s really the only thing missing out of the bash for the House of Ideas!

So, while I’ve been the Maytag repairman out on the West Coast, let’s see what Marvel brought to the New York Comic Con.  There’s tons of info out there, so think of the following as a few digestible bits that can satisfy any Marvel Zombie.
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The grass is growing, the birds are singing, the bees are buzzing… must be time for July!

Yes, spring has sprung, taking us to a time when a young man’s fancy turns to convention season. SDCC is a monolith that cannot be denied and, it might be just me, but a LOT of content is brought high to the fore during the month of July from the Big Two. Storylines end, new books are hot off the presses and a lot of new directions are ready for discussion at panels next to guys dressed up as Aquaman.

So let’s go forward and take ourselves ahead to July. What kind of world will we be living in? What kind of new discoveries will be made? Will we have actually gotten that hotel room in time?

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Something brought up at the last couple cons I’ve been to (being a limousine ridin’, jet flying, kiss stealin’, wheelin’ dealin’ comics journalist and all), is the comic readers’ relationship with late books and fill-in stories.  Mostly this was coming from the EiC of the Distingushed Competition as he tried to garner an answer from a mixed bag of opinions.  How long are we as the buying public willing to wait for the end of a story?  How long will that title sit on that pull list before being scratched off, forgotten and/or resented?  Will fill-in artists and writers make it any better or will it interrupt the flow of the story or, God forbid, the Trade?

I don’t have to tell you how the House of Ideas is equally haunted by this problem.  While I may be the only person who would burn the name of Daredevil: the Target into the sky, every one of us readers has their own horror story of the book that left us too soon.  Come back, Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk.  We miss you.

But what about the stories that are still on the shelves?  The issues that come out week after week but yet seem to go… nowhere?  Mini-series that end on cliffhangers?  Plot points glossed over?

How long are we willing to wait for story resolution?

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Remember that scene in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure where Pee-Wee comes up on a pet shop that’s on fire and while he rescues all the animals, he keeps going by that tank of snakes and shuddering?  He wants to save the pets, but snakes are creepy!  He can’t stand the thought of touching them!  What will he do?  Well, in the end, there’s Pee-Wee Herman with a handful of snakes, horrified and yet satisfied that no stone has been left unturned.

Secret Invasion is my tank of snakes.

There’s just no way I could be the only one, too.  It’s been a solid what- three years of earth-shaking, cataclysmic nothing-will-ever-be-the-same-ness from the fine folks at Marvel and while it certainly keeps the reader on their toes and guessing every which way, it can also certainly feel a little stressful at times.  Not every story has to end an era, not every hero has to lose it all.  But here we are.  By now, the first issue of Secret Invasion has been lovingly taken out of the Diamond boxes and spread before the awaiting public like that rare exotic fish that can kill you if you don’t eat it right.  Dangerous, but man… that’s some exciting stuff.

WARNING:  Secret Invasion secrets to follow.  Go grab a copy of the hot new #1 and read along!
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So, there’s been a wide variety of hubbub regarding one “marvel_b0y” with his clever handle and his rumored inside connection into the House of Ideas. Marvel_b0y has ranted and railed, leaked insider info and … basically acted like a disgruntled low-level employee would. You get off work from a hard day and go rant on a blog about how your boss is a moron and how that project you’re working on is hard and on and on. Then you feel a bit better, some friends come by to comment and you go have an apple pie. It’s the way of the casual internet community.

But this is different! This is supposedly from the inside and has already gotten the attention of… okay, looks like Matt Fraction, but it’s attention nonetheless! Is this viral marketing? Is this real? WHO CAN YOU TRUST!?!?!

Well, I’ll tell you what; from everything I’ve read, from the fan opinion to the archived info on the site and the supposedly new blog that marvel_b0y has put up, I am clearly sure of one thing.

I am marvel_b0y.

And so are you.

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There was a bit of technical difficulties this morning so thank you to my fan (hi Mom!) for bearing with our delay with our look to the future as summer heats up the summer blockbuster season!

That’s right folks, we’re looking at June!  An exciting month for Marvel fans as the people “in the Iron Man business” see what they can do for ol’ Jade Jaws, the Incredible Hulk!  Edward Norton takes Bruce Banner and his awesome alter-ego to the silver screen and just in time for the movie…

… we have a heck of a lot of Wolverine books.

How many books?  And what is Marvel putting out for the Hulk?  And is there a They Live reference coming up in Secret Invasion?  Read on, True Believer!
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Coming like a freight train into a big box of dynamite carried by tigers wearing slick leather coats is the major movie, Iron Man.  Now, there are very few people who can watch the trailers, see the suit in action and somehow manage not to get that grip of excitement in their stomachs; personally, I think the people that can’t would have to be clinically dead because every time I see those trailers, I get that feeling.  An excitement that has somehow brought that which we as fans love about the cool exec with a heart of steel to life and oh my God did he just fly with fighter jets that looks so freakin’ cool!  There are images from the latest trailer that have a sense of splash page to them, mighty punches, heroic brooding, a calm before the storm.  There are also at least one image from the latest trailer that looks a little like a scene from the first Ghostbusters movie, but that’s another story.

I’m proud to say that the Iron Man movie is a fine contender for this year’s Most Awesome Comic Movie of 2008.  The Dark Knight is going to be a tough one to beat, but I hold my Marvel flag high.  This is their first venture into the theaters under their own feet and it sounds (emphasis on sounds as the movie hasn’t come out yet) that they’re reaching for the stars.  Listening to Jon Favreau at WonderCon, it seems a rather freeing environment with the execs helping to greenlight anything and everything Favreau can think of.  Suits of armor, exotic locales, images pulled right from the comics themselves with Adi Granov painting the armors that are coming to life.  Really!  It’s incredible.  More and more, movies don’t have to adjust content in order to get Hollywood attention; 300 proves you can just film the artwork and people will flock for the heart of the story.  As good ol’ Blog@Newsarama reported earlier, David Maisel, chairman of Marvel Studios, said the stirring phrase, “We’re not in the movie business, we’re in the ‘Iron Man’ business right now.” and doesn’t that just sound snazzy?  As if all this glitz and glamor of the movie industry is less for the sake of the films and more for the promotion of our heroes.  Getting Iron Man just as well known and a part of the pop culture populace as Batman, let’s say.   Marvel Studios is in the Iron Man Business.

So what business is Marvel Comics in?

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Last week, I picked up X-Men (Legacy) #208 for the stunning John Romita Jr. art and the surprise (semi) return of personal favorite Moira MacTaggart.

Yes, Moira MacTaggart features prominently in X-Men #208 despite being dead, but then again, so does Xavier despite the bullet we saw his brain pan take at the end of Messiah CompleX. You see, exposition tells us that, through masterful subterfuge, the X-Men didn’t notice the Acolytes sneaking off Xavier’s corpse so that Exodus could try and bring Professor X back from the land of the semi-dead.

Somewhere, Elixir sighs and turns another page in his magazine.
Angel changes channels on the TV next to him.

Exodus has a good point, that they need a strong leader in these trying times and an alive Xavier would probably make things a lot easier for the 198 of them (give or take). So, by rebuilding his brain matter, we’re going to fix the old man by taking a tour through the X-Men’s ‘legacy’ (just like the title of this cartoon!) while building a bigger, better Xavier from Exodus and guest stars. We’ll be going through well-drawn history and debating what to say about it as we go along. Will they give Xavier back his pacifist ways or remake him in their image? What will Xavier remember about his life and legacy once all this is over?

What will be left of the ‘legacy’ featured so prominently on the cover?

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I’m going to have to beg an indulgence from you, Dear Reader, as I’m going to have to relate some personal tales before we get into this week’s meat and potatoes, a (hopefully) spine-tingling revelation about your favorite publisher and mine, Marvel Comics.  Okay, maybe my favorite publisher.  And hey, maybe more about comics in general than expected after all.

You see, I know no one really comes here for the exciting tales of Yours Truly, so I do feel a pang of guilt about even starting out with an anecdote, but it just so happens to be the very heart of the matter at hand.

Interested, sir (or madam, whatever the case maybe)?  Read on!
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Release the releases!   Man, been awhile since I did this, so you have to fogive me if I miss that completely super-awesome book you’d been looking forward to or that one colossal event tie-in, but this is a little snappy and for good reason.  Every month, Marvel backs up the truck and spills out a cavalcade of issues from one end of the spectrum to the other for our entertainment dollar.  The House of Ideas (in general) tends to have a housefull of ideas and only a select few are going to get our hard-earned dollar.  Not everyone can buy every single book out there so we get to single out that special book (or thirty) that go home with us.  With a big long line up of issues debuting three months from now, how do they get out attention?  What stays with you after a perusal of the lists and who do you mark your calender for?

Well….
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Today, the hottest, hippest Fantastic Four hits the shelves with enough style and panache to choke a supermodel. Look at that new layout! Look at the cover! I feel cooler just standing next to it. Strangely, Marvel’s first family has never looked older than that cover shot (even considering the last cover with Michael Turner at the pencils where they were supposed to look older…), matured but trendy like watching an older set of celebrities on Hollywood tabloid special. And that is one of Mark Millar’s finest talents: making comic heroes seem larger than life in the most modern of senses, turning four color heroes in to glossy superstars.

After the cut: more on Fantastic Four #554; no particular spoilers, but why not go grab a copy anyway?

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In an utterly unprofound statement, space is big. There is so much to it, many people have stared up into the heavens and wondered not only what it was all for, but what could possibly be behind the endless black. Incredible tales came forth in the wake of the space age, testing our science and imaginations as to the drama and intrigue that existed among the stars. If space is infinite, so are the possibilities; space is part of the backbone of science-fiction, being able to travel to distant planets, meet aliens and picture a galaxy in peril is a convenient canvas drawn upon by many heralded authors.
It’s a great way to mix your metaphors, take a look at humanity through the eyes of an alien culture and really chew scenery, so to speak, by blowing stuff up without hitting too close to home. This past year, comics have brought back the space opera in full force with incredible epics of alien faces, space ships and galaxies in peril. Let’s face it, not only is space big, but it is awesome.

How awesome? Could the ray gun replace Captain America’s new more public sidearm? It’s all in the quality of the story.
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Decimation, Extinction Agenda, Messiah Complex… and here we are.

What an event it was! Full of fights and drama and twists and turns and hey, it’s our old friend, Mutant Dystopian Future! It was indeed like the days of yore, of Fall of the Mutants and X-Tinction Agenda, of fights that move from one book to the next, of characters that don’t seem to be doing anything suddenly front and center by chapter eight, of small details you have to remember from chapter to chapter like lost socks looking for a mate… well, let’s just say that these kinds of crossovers have their good points and bad points. In any case, it’s a great big dose of nostalgia for Yours Truly, one of those big, messy events that leaves us holding a moment in X-Men History.

At the end of it all, with his cast and crew around him, Scott uttered very shocking and soon-to-be famous words around the body of a dead man, words that will last us until Uncanny X-Men #500 when a clear vision of the X-Men will show itself to the True Believers. These words?

“No more mutants X-Men!”

But if you come to think about it, have there really been X-Men recently?

WARNING: Messiah Complex spoilers. For that one guy who hasn’t read it yet. You know who you are.
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Well, here we are rounding out the first month of the new year. Normally, I’d have a look at the solicitations for three months from now and see where we’re going in the mighty Marvel Universe (is there a hand basket involved?), but today we’re going to try something a little different.

I’ve been asked by the fine folks here at Blog@Newsarama to look ahead to this brand new year and write up a little something on the awesomeness that the House of Ideas is going to bring to the table of 2008. Now, I came up with five big things that Yours Truly has added to the ol’ Pull List and or avidly awaited since yesteryear and so I bring to you what I consider to be the future highlights of 2008.

Just copy and paste this into the End of the Year Spotlight in December, will ya?

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Cult classics.

Therein lies the key to a fanbase, a very small but very special key that inspires devotion and unity under the strangest of banners.  Believe it or not, your trash is another man’s treasured character collection.  There are those out there who think Stilt Man’s pretty cool, there are those who have every comic Meggan’s ever been in and still others who can recite every member of the Serpent Society.  My imagination is even vivid enough to think that somewhere, somehow, someone thinks Penance is cool.  That’s the neat thing about comics, no character can truly go unnoticed.

And then there’s Deadpool.

Today, he has two comics coming out, one is his own title and the other is a rather long guest spot on Wolverine: Origins.  Both are very out of place within the general X-Men milieu and this brings me to wonder… why?  Has Wade Wilson ever carried his own book?  Do we really know anything about the guy that warrants more guest appearances?
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Amazing Spider-Man #546 comes out today. I hope you enjoyed it. Heck, I hope I enjoyed it since, by the time you’re reading this, I haven’t read it yet. But in an effort to get away from One More Day (remember now, the more you talk about it, the more you give it power), let’s talk about other bad story directions from Marvel.

Way back when, when the dust from Civil War was still settling, they announced a new direction for the Thunderbolts wherein they’d be some of the worst of the worst villains Marvel has to offer hired by the government to be another sort of flavor of the Avengers. A team of misfits and criminals injected with nanites to make them behave within expected parameters, all of whom operate out of a corny central base, highlighted by media spin (Oh look, another team of celebrity superheroes! What is it with this concept that seems so overused these days?). All of which will be run by, of all people, Norman Osborn: a man who was nearly Hannibal Lecter meets the Manchurian Candidate in Civil War: Frontline. Well, kids, now he’s entrusted with keeping psychopaths like Venom and Bullseye in line with whatever the government wants from a superhero team. People consider Captain America a villain and these yahoos are getting the limelight, the ridiculous toys and technical gear and somehow, this is all going to keep America safe.

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