9. Martian Manhunter
8. Banshee
7. Falcon
6. Power Girl
5. Vision
4. War Machine
3. G-Man
2. Storm
1. Superman
Why the Top 9? Because 10 is too many and 9 is better. 3 X 3 = Awesome. Now that’s what I call math.
Tag Archive for 'Falcon'
Let’s be honest: we all saw it coming. However, I expected Monday’s news to be a bit more sensational than the return of Steve Rogers… especially considering that it managed to peak at #3 on CNN’s top 10 news stories by mid-day.
But no, it’s just that simple. Steve Rogers is back. That’s what Reborn is all about. The “how” of his return is, I assume, the real shocker here.
I went to the comic shop on Monday evening, which turned out to be a great idea. Not necessarily great because of Captain America #600 (which is a good comic, by the way), but great because I got to hang with Phantom of the Attic’s Wayne Wise and the Comic Book Pitt’s Scott “The Duke.” On a normal Wednesday, it’s too busy to hang out and really talk. But on a slow Monday (which it was, despite the Monday release of Cap #600), I had all the time in the world to bullshit before I bought the comic and walked out the door.
So what about Cap’s return? He barely ever left, right? This could easily be called “Forever” instead of “Reborn”… except that I think the Reborn title has some literal significance here. Sharon Carter remembers shooting Steve with some sort of wide-mouth gun-shaped thing. To me, it looks like she took a tissue sample with it.
And then we see Sin, the Red Skull’s baby girl, in the jail infirmary. She’s restrained to her stretcher. But she also looks sort of pregnant, doesn’t she? Obviously there’s more to meets the eye because Crossbones won’t stop saying how people have no idea what really happened.
And then, of course, the Red Robot Skull sits around for a couple pages and soliloquizes about how loved the tension he had with Steve Rogers. He just couldn’t get enough of the back and forth fighting. He wanted to kill Cap, of course, but he was also exhilarated by the prospect of battling him constantly. I wonder if he just sits around all day and reminisces like this. The Red Skull has always been a nostalgia-deluded fool under Brubaker, hasn’t he?
Suffice to say that I was far more fascinated by the villains in Cap #600. Truthfully, I enjoyed the appearances by Falcon, Rikki, Patriot, and the other heroes. But the baddies were so much more compelling. Plus, the villains seemed to drop way more hints about the direction of Reborn.
9. Luke Cage. New Avengers may feature Carl Lucas in the lead, but the big name heroes in the book limit his face time. I want a Cage solo series wherein our invulnerable heavy hitter from Harlem handles business on his downtime.
8. Havok. He’s getting a big profile bump soon in the War of Kings event, so this would be the perfect time to spin him out into his own series again. Alex Summers has already carried Mutant X on his own and he headlined X-Factor for years. Just get him back in his classic duds before he launches his new solo book!
7. Zatanna. The Bat-books need some magic. Even with Bruce Wayne MIA right now, this classic JLA hero could interact in Gotham City in interesting ways. The Arkham Asylum crowd are used to fists and gadgets. But what if they had to fight spells instead?
6. Falcon. I had an awesome idea today — a new Marvel Two-in-One or Marvel Team Up book featuring Falcon as the reoccurring hero. Sam Wilson can fly and talk to birds, but he needs a power upgrade to handle major threats. Solution? Use his Rolodex to boost his brawn on the battlefield.
5. Sasquatch. Marvel’s Canadian heavy hitter needs a new lease on stardom. Put him in his own series where he’s fighting the horror creatures of the Marvel Universe. His lighthearted attitude and love for science will contrast well with fantasy themed horror elements.
4. Psylocke. Betsy Braddock needs a new modus operandi. My suggestion? A classic kung fu street series. Have her hang with Iron Fist, fight alongside Shang-Chi, and buddy up with the Daughters of the Dragon. Bring in the X-Men now and then to boost sales.
3. Joker. A supervillain (or “super villain,” as DC Comics would say) series is always a tricky thing. But the Joker is a tricky kind of guy, so it just might work. With Heath Ledger’s star performance as the Clown Price of Crime, Joker’s profile is higher than ever — now just put him in his own comic book full of funny and twisted tales.
2. Storm. Lucky for me, she just finished up a mini series. But I would like to see another mini lined up, or better yet, an ongoing book for this mutant weather goddess. Give Chris Claremont the writing assignment and put Aaron Lopresti on art duties.
1. Aquaman. Plain and simple. The classic DC Comics water hero, Arthur Curry. He’s one of the big guns and he needs to get his own title, even if it’s just a mini series! Ride that seahorse, baby, ride!!!
More: The Top 9 Marvel Universe Characters That Have Stepped Up Since Civil War!
Why the Top 9? Because 10 is too many and 9 is better. 3 X 3 = Awesome. Now that’s what I call math.
On Sunday, The Hollywood Reporter announced Joe Johnson as the director of 2011’s The First Avenger: Captain America. On the good side, this movie looks like it’s actually going to happen. On the bad side — as it is with any superhero adaptation announcement — there were a number of oddities with The Hollywood Reporter’s article.
1. The title. “First Avenger”? The original Avengers are the ones who un-froze Cap from his Arctic cryogenic stasis in the first place! How the hell is he the “first Avenger”?! I know that this title has been out there for some time now, but I thought I’d mention this as it is endlessly perplexing.
2. The time the article was posted. When I went to look at the official date of announcement, I was surprised to find that this story dropped at 10:00 PM on a Sunday. I know it has to be ready for the Monday papers, but that’s still a strange time to go and publish it online.
3. Joe Johnson is directing Captain America instead of Ant-Man. You would think that Johnson, with his notable experience as the director of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, would have been tapped for the Ant-Man movie. Nope. They gave him a WWII Captain America period piece instead. This guy obviously knows how to do small stuff on a big scale, yet he’s been hired to take over the superhero that requires the least amount of fantasy special effects.
4. The picture accompanying the article. The Hollywood Reporter went out of their way to give a brief history of Steve Rogers, even going so far as to mention the horrid 90s Captain America film. But they ran a picture of the wrong Captain America!!!
Instead of showing Steve Rogers in costume, they have Bucky wearing the new Captain America outfit. WTF?! It could be Marvel’s fault or it could be THR’s fault. Either way, it’s both funny and sad at the same time. You can even see the knife hanging on Bucky’s belt in the image (not to mention those goofy stars on his shoulders).
All-in-all, I’m glad that this is going to get made. I would much rather see a Captain America movie set in the 70s with Steve and The Falcon fighting side-by-side, but any good Cap movie is better than no Cap movie.
Most of all, I’m excited at the prospect of this film hitting theaters a month or so before The Avengers movie. That means Cap will end up in the Arctic at the end of this film and then he’ll get de-thawed in The Avengers just mere weeks later. That’s awesome!!! I can’t even think of another example of tight movie continuity like that. I’m about to piss myself just imagining how sweet that will be.
I’ve been doing a shitty job of breaking into the comic book industry for nearly ten years now. I’ve probably botched better career building opportunities in the past decade than some professionals have had in a lifetime. This column is the first installment of a new series wherein I will relate my experiences (no matter how painful) to show you what NOT to do if you want to work in comics.
My first truly formative experience took place (I think) in 2002. I caught wind of a gallery opening in New York City honoring the artists who worked on Heroes (Marvel’s charity book benefitting the September 11th cleanup efforts). Not only was this a great historical moment in comics, but it was a terrific venue to meet professionals outside of the convention circuit.
The event was put on by the New York City Comic Book Museum (NYCCBM), an effort run by David Gabriel (before he was Marvel’s Director of Sales). It was a terrific show, with tons of great original art from the Heroes book and even greater comic book legends in attendance. Early on, I approached a table of distinguished elderly gentlemen (who had to be silver age comic book greats). Ignorantly, I asked them if Jim Steranko was at the show. They shrugged their shoulders and looked at me like I was nuts.
And I was nuts. There’s no better proof than when I ran into Gene Colan later on. In one of my more embarrassing moments, I shoved my Essential Captain America vol. 2 in front of his face and asked him to sign it. Was I out of my freaking mind? Have Gene Colan sign a black and white reprint book made of newsprint?
I was out of my mind and extremely excited to meet the artist who helped create the Falcon. To my surprise, Gene didn’t recall being the first artist to draw the Falcon. In fact, I don’t think he remembered the character at all. I had to kindly explain to him that yes, he was the first artist to ever draw Sam Wilson. And then I had him sign the crappy copy of the cover of the Falcon’s first issue in my newsprint reprint book.
After a couple hours, my sister was sufficiently tipsy from the cash bar and she was determined to help me network. She struck up with Bill Jemas, then President (a.k.a. Publisher) of Marvel Comics. Bill imparted an excellent piece of advice that I now pass along to you: if you want to work in comics, get in on the business end. Even if your end goal is creative, work your way up through comic book sales, production, or admin. Bill used himself as an example, noting how he was an executive with Fleer and worked his way into one of the top spots at Marvel publishing.
I haven’t taken Bill’s advice. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve tried, numerous times. I just never got my foot in the door and kept it there (those are, of course, the subjects of future columns). Point is, I went to one of the world’s greatest comic book networking opportunities and all I left with was a confused signature and advice I didn’t follow.
And that’s just another reason why I’m going to have to sneak into the comic book industry if I ever want to make it in.
So I went to Wizard World Philadelphia today. It was my second convention experience in my 21 plus years of being a fanatic comic book fan. It was my first time going to a comic book convention panel, and I chose Cup O Joe to pop my panel cherry.
It was a glorified press conference with fans instead of press outlets asking the questions. Of course, I took notes on the best news tidbits just for you:
- Fred Van Lente and Kev Walker will be the creative team behind Marvel Zombies 3, debuting in September. This mini series will see the Marvel Zombies cross into Marvel 616 continuity proper (though 616 Black Panther, with the new Fantastic Four in tow, already crossed over with the Galactus infused zombies last year). This mini series will see the reveal of Florida’s Initiative team.
- Ed Brubaker is gearing up to introduce Lady Bullseye in the Daredevil series. The preview slide that Marvel showed looked like a cross between Bullseye, Elektra, and Typhoid Mary.
- An adept fan asked what was coming up for Black Panther (a favorite of this blogger). Joe Quesada explained that T’Challa is under the guide of editor Axel Alonso and fans can be sure that the character will be involved in every crossover / Marvel line event possible. Joe then went on to refer to Alonso as a “whore” before he mentioned that BET’s Black Panther animated series will feature a great deal of content from Reginald Hudlin’s first story arc of Black Panther.
- Musing on One More Day, Joe explained that something happened on the Wedding Day of Peter and Mary Jane that caused the current Mephisto influenced reality where Spider-Man currently exists. The “how” will all be revealed over the course of Brand New Day. And yes, Peter and Aunt May still lived in Avengers Tower. Mary Jane, however, may have not been there with them (the answer was vague).
- Hulk (the Jeph Loeb relaunch series) will have an incredible pair of artists doing a tag-team job after the first story arc. Hulk #7-9 will be drawn by Art Adams and Frank Cho working together on alternating scenes. That is just wonderful, according to me. I would have bought this week’s King Size Hulk if only it wasn’t stuffed with reprints and marked up to $4.99. Hopefully the Adams and Cho issues will only run $2.99.
- Another adept fan asked about the Crew. Tom Brevoort said there are no plans for the Crew to return as a unit, though Rhodey is in Avengers: The Initiative and Junta is in Last Defenders.
- The panel took a turn towards the nasty when a fan asked if Aunt May still hooked up with Jarvis, a character recently revealed to be a Skrull in Secret Invasion. This led to Tom Brevoort cracking jokes about Aunt May missing her period. Joe Q got in on the fun when he said, “Skrull or no Skrull, Aunt May has her needs.” That’s a classic quote right there.
The AudioShocker got to act as newsmaker when we finally asked about Senator Kooning, the only regularly appearing black character in Iron Man that just happens to have a last name that’s one letter off (and sounds exactly like) a racial slur. Joe Q looked like a dear in the headlights and Tom Brevoort did his best impression of a Bush White House spokesperson, saying that Jack Kooning was named after a historical figure. That must be one of the most obscure historical figures around because I’ve never seen a single word about this “historical” figure. Suffice to say, I’m unconvinced but I appreciated the candid response.
All in all, the panel was fun. I stayed around afterwards to thank Tom B for answering my question even though it was a tough one. I also asked one more final query about the fate of the Falcon, who has been rumored (in the most vague sense) to kick the bucket in the near future. According to Tom Brevoort, don’t expect the Falcon to go anywhere anytime soon. Thanks, Tom. Now I can rest easy.
Iron Man. Can you believe it did so well? I can barely believe it.
The most interesting thing I’m experiencing right now is the stunningly favorable popular sentiment about the quality of the film. People who have never picked up a comic book and never will are telling me how it’s their favorite superhero film they’ve ever seen.
A friend of mine raised a good point — this movie was all about Tony Stark. Iron Man showed up a few times, but we were sold the genius inventor billionaire for the majority of the film instead of the guy in a robot suit.
A great observation, if you ask me. But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m still shocked by how well this movie has been received. I’m extremely pleased for Marvel Studios, I’ll tell you that. And I’m glad to see that Shellhead is green lit for a sequel. Thor, well, I’m iffy on that.
And 2011? Damn, that should be a fine year for comic book movies. When I was sitting in the theater watching Iron Man, I just kept thinking to myself, “this movie is okay, but how awesome will the Captain America movie be?” Seeing Cap tossing his shield around on the big screen will be a rather religious day for me. No doubt this movie will eclipse the earlier Captain America film.
That same year will see the Avengers movie, if everything goes to plan. Man, how are they going to pull that off? The first test was the Samuel L Jackson cameo after the Iron Man credits. That was good. The next test will be the Robert Downey Jr cameo as Iron Man in The Incredible Hulk. That’s probably my most anticipated movie moment of the year right there.
I know that some have decried the idea of a Captain America movie separate from the Avengers film. My feeling is that we need to see Cap slinging his shield away from the big team to really appreciate the character. We need to see Falcon gliding across the New York City skyline while Cap leaps from rooftop to rooftop. I think we need to see Cap’s mettle tested by going up against the Sons of the Serpent or Hate-Monger.
Not saying I’m right about any of that, mind you. I just think we need to understand Steve Rogers as a man coming to grips with the America that exists outside of his ideals. That way we get a better feel for the motivation and majesty of the person that he is (and there better be some Falcon in there!!!).
P.S. How trippy was it to see Obadiah Stane on a giant movie screen?
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