Mondo Marvel Panel

Hey everyone, Mike here reporting from Chicago. Nick and I covered some panels today, so look out for his DC Nation post sometime soon.

Today, though, I hit up the Mondo Marvel panel featuring Jim McCann, Mark Paniccia, Dan Slott, Jason Aaron, Sean McKeever, Chris Yost and Craig Kyle. There was a little bit of information at this panel, just a bit more than the Ultimate’s panel, but nonetheless it was informative. I took notes on my iPhone so if I missed some small stuff, I’m sorry.

The convention covered a bunch of things, but I’ll just spit it to you as I got it:

Dan Slott featured a teaser for his arc that will be coming up in Amazing Spider-Man featuring none other than Mysterio! (But I thought he was dead?! Oh wait, this is Marvel mwhahaha). This should be showing up around issues #618 or #619.

Paul Toben and Patrick Scherberger will be putting out a 4 issue limited series called Spider-Man and the Secret Wars–yeah, from way back then–which will cover a bit of retelling of Spider-Man’s place in Secret Wars and his view of things.

More after the break

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Yeah, it’s serious business with Deadpool. This issue was the last in a small arc (3 issues) that ties into all of this Dark Reign stuff. The tie-in isn’t so much tied in like every other comic where the Dark Avengers simply show up and try to kick the hero’s ass, but instead it’s just one of the Dark Avengers: Bullseye.

If you didn’t know, Bullseye and Deadpool have a bit of history. They’ve worked together in the past, they’ve fought in the past, but now… it’s the final battle… because Norman Osborn wants Deadpool gone (If you’re not sure why, see also issues #1-4 of Deadpool). Of the three issues, this last issue tops the other two in the arc by far.

In case you missed it last month, we were left with a big ass battle that ended with Deadpool kicking Bullseye’s ass via a sickle through the back out the front. Mind you, Deadpool did rock a bad ass meat suit, but it all ended with Deadpool appearing pretty damn victorious.

More after the break… (spoilers abound)

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Bullseye gets a Hawkeye mini, and Ms. Marvel’s title has been taken over by Moonstone. Ares is conquering various books and has his own three issue Dark Avengers tie-in on the way. Hell, even Wolverine Jr is series-jacking one of his old man’s titles.

the sinister spider-crotch

In all these offshoots, the titular hero saves the mission, if not the day, and makes the other Dark Avengers who show up in that scene look like chumps.

But what about poor ol’ Mac Gargan, aka Venom? He doesn’t have any beef with the jerks he works with; all he wants to do is punch who he’s told to punch and maybe do a little good in the world. Sure, maybe get the girl. Maybe show some people that you can’t keep a good Gargan down.

Maybe eat your face.

I’ve been too busy getting bingo on my celebrity death pools to watch the recent solicits, so Sinister Spider-Man #1 was a welcome surprise. Chris Bachalo‘s cover really does drag your face in and nibble on it quit a bit. Once inside, it’s mean and fun mean and whispers creepy promises of fast, modern, pulpy goodness.

The first issue delivers the goods while still setting us up for the rest of the four-issue run. This oh-so-Sinister Spider-Man has all the set pieces of his Amazing counterpart – JJJ, Osborn, Six goons who are fairly Sinister in their own right, and lots and lots of girls.

Well, ok, skanks and whores. This is Mac Gargan, after all.
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Ultimate Fantastic Four #60

An undeniably slow week in the comic world this week. While many of you will be picking up plenty of issues of your favorite series which are in the middle of the arc, there’s very little new stuff starting up. So, you may be buying a lot, but there’s not much new or exciting stuff to point out. Nevertheless, I’ve complied 4 books (all Marvel, sorry) that you might want to take a look at when you visit the shop this week.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #60

So, it’s the last issue. Pretty much the only thing that makes this worth noting. Truthfully, the series has gone down hill lately and Ultimatum hasn’t really done much to make it better. But, still, being that it is the final issue, it is worth noting here.

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This review will be quick, because it is late, and I haven’t started it yet. Well, I guess I have now.

Ladies and gentlemen, your AVENGERS!

Reviewing this book is kind of a pain, because you’ve already read it, and you already liked it. I wanted to wait until I got my hands on Thunderbolts #128 to see if there were any super-secret important tie-ins, but Marvel, in their brilliance, have left both titles as excellent stand-alones.

Also, if you haven’t read Thunderbolts #128, you are much poorer for it.

However! Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato came at us last week with Dark Avengers #1 and it was amazing. Norman Osborn assembled his own team of Avengers in such a way that brought clarity to *how* the choices were being made, but left the *why* a tantalizing mystery. We get better insights into characters such as Ares and Ms. Marvel, while extending a questioning tendril towards such luminaries as the Sentry, Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel.

You heard me.

Deodato brought back his magnificent work with the Thunderbolts, including his ‘Tommy Lee Jones’ depiction of Osborn, which Bendis writes for with alternating touches of depth and humor, especially his ‘monster’ work with Venom.

Norman, I wouldn’t want to stick my hand in there, either.

Dark Avengers #1 is deliciously pulpy, action packed, and frankly ties into about four other series that you probably follow. If you’re reading any Marvel comics, you’ve already picked this up and agree with me that it’s fantastic. Thanks, yes-men!

Mighty Avengers #20 Cover

Even though Secret Invasion has been over for 2 weeks and all of us Marvel fans have been busily preparing for Dark Reign and sorting out our pull lists, many of us adding tons of new books, it fees like Dark Reign was really ushered in this week. One of the books that helped kick off the new Marvel status quo was Mighty Avengers. Not surprisingly, the Mighty Avengers are right in the middle of all the Dark Reign stuff.

This month’s issue of Mighty is officially called the epilogue to Secret Invasion, and while there’s a lot of the aftermath in this issue, it really feels like a new beginning. This is the last issue that Brian Michael Bendis is writing the series, but still, there’s a distinct tone of setting the pace of what is to come when Dan Slott takes over the book. Focusing mostly on Hank Pym and the death of Janet Van Dyne, this issue is at once heart-breaking and dramatic and, in my opinion, makes Dark Reign look all that much more exciting.

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Secret Invasion #8 Cover

I had two editorials floating around in my head and I had thought about doing them separate. Then, I realized that both ideas tied together quite nicely. One was on the end of Secret Invasion. The other, the beginning of Ultimatum. What is even more interesting is the fact that this is a perfect time to be talking about both of these major stories. Secret Invasion just altered the Marvel Universe in interesting and crazy ways and Ultimatum is set up to do the same in the Ultimate Universe. And, as my title suggest, both events are “game changers”.

Game changers are always interesting, no matter what subject you are talking about. In sports, the game changer makes you stand up and cheer or shake your head in disbelief. When we’re talking about episodic story telling, like in comics, we get much the same reaction. Some marked issue 8 of Secret Invasion as a sign of great things to come. Others felt that we are in for a bunch of… well… bullshit.

So why do writers plan the “game changer”? Well, look no further than Joe Quesada‘s own explanation in this past week’s “Cup O’ Joe“, where he said the following:

But the truth of the matter is, we wanted it to be more unpredictable. Being unpredictable, I believe, leads to better storytelling. It’s not clichéd storytelling. Again, we get or characters in a place that readers don’t necessarily expect, get their backs against a wall, and see what happens. Look, at the end of the day, I think that’s what leads to great storytelling—put your characters in a place that readers never saw coming.

I think that anyone who read the end of Secret Invasion and information about what Dark Reign is going to be feels the sense of uncertainty. A sense of unpredictability. Personally, since this is an editorial, this made me so very excited for the next year of Marvel comics and beyond. I immediately decided that I’ll be buying New and Mighty Avengers. I had already decided that Dark Avengers is going to be sweet. So, what did Secret Invasion do for me? It got me into Avengers books. And that, my friends, is a good thing.

Ultimatum #1 Cover

On the other side of the Marvel pond, we have the Ultimate Universe, which just started the Ultimatum big event. It is hard to judge Ultimatum yet, because there’s only been 1 issue thus far, but it’s hard to get as excited as I did for Secret Invasion. And I really, really, really want Ultimatum to be awesome. I love the Ultimate Universe and it has seriously been going downhill recently (except Ultimate Spider-Man, of course. Love ya, BMB). So far, however, things are not looking good for Ultimatum.

First, the delays. I don’t know whether to blame Jeph Loeb for this or artist David Finch. According to what I’ve read, it is because the other Ultimate titles are not lining up correctly with the Ultimatum story and they are not quite ready for the end of Ultimatum. This is quite disappointing. Marvel did a great job keeping Secret Invasion on track, for the most part, and was able to immediately launch into the post-SI/Dark Reign world.

This brings me to my other problem with Ultimatum thus far: it is causing the end of 2 of the Ultimate books, Fantastic Four and X-Men. Now, of course, either one of these books (or both) could both be relaunched, as it is hard to imagine a Marvel universe without these characters, but as it stands right now, these books are gone at 60 and 100 respectively. So what does that leave? Spider-Man and the already announced Ultimate Avengers, which is less like Ultimates and more of a book that will focus on a bunch of different characters. This is not enough to keep this universe going. If this is the big game changer for the Ultimate Universe, it feels more like the game is going to be the end of the universe. And that would be a very sad day.

So, what’s my conclusion? Game changers are good. In fact, they are great. Whether you agree with the change or not, it helps keep things interesting. I was upset about Brand New Day at first. Now, I still don’t know if I agree with a lot of it, but at least Spider-Man is interesting now. In fact, it is one of the most interesting Marvel books right now. However, this game changing events need to be handled correctly and, unfortunately, this is not happening in Ultimatum.