Speeding bullets has always been my article for catching you up on the latest news that needs more than just a few hundred characters on Twitter or Facebook. The primary reasoning behind each one is different and this one is mainly just me catching up. In the last few weeks a lot has happened and I feel like it’s my duty to respond to some things that have happened in the past few weeks.
Death Of X
Death of X is one story that I have been looking forward to since the first teaser for it premiered earlier this year. It’s planned to answer quite a few questions and to show us more of the story between the Inhumans and The X-Men.
Many people are already freaking out saying that Marvel has decided to kill off the X-Men entirely due to the disputes between them and Fox but I’m fairly certain that they aren’t going to stop one of their biggest properties just because they can’t make movies about them.(I’ll going more into this in my next Comics 101)
What I’ve read about this series is telling me that they are using this as a way to explain what happened in the months between Secret Wars and All-New, All-Different Marvel. Charles Soule, Jeff Lemire and Aaron Kuder are all fantastic creators and I think we’re gonna get a great story from them.
Captain America News(Statue/Hydra)
I love the idea that they are giving Captain America his own statue in Brooklyn. If any marvel character deserves one, it’s him. Everything he has stood for is what America can be at it’s greatest. We came from nothing to become something great.
That being said, Many people have already complained about the idea of Cap being Hydra all along. Which he isn’t. His reality has been altered to where he has memories implanted that never actually happened.(Captain America: Steve Rogers #2) I think the story sounds incredibly interesting and I still think Spencer and Saiz are giving us one of the better books on the shelves right now.
Unworthy Thor
Jason Aaron plays the long game, There’s no way around it but when you’re as good a writer as he is then sometimes it pays to stick to your strengths. Thor Odinson has been “Unworthy” of wielding Mjolnir for about two years.(Original Sin #8) It’s been an interesting road for him, especially when you consider the events of Time Runs Out and Secret Wars unfolding before him.
Jane Foster has taken up the hammer in his absence and become Thor herself. I’ve loved what Aaron has done with her character and I’m glad that her title isn’t being cancelled. Instead, Unworthy Thor is just going to be a partner comic to show what the Odinson will do while someone else is Thor. Who or what will he become?
Jason Aaron and Oliver Coipel are two creators that I have an extreme amount of respect for. Each of them have done separate work on two of my favorite comics in the last 20 years(Coipel: House of M. Aaron: Wolverine and The X-Men) and I have no doubt that they’ll handle this one extremely well.
New Iron Man
Here’s where every angry person wants to call me a blaspheming progressive. I love the idea of Riri Williams taking over as Iron Man. However, obviously this does raise a few very important questions like:
- Where is Tony Stark?
- Is He Dead?
- Is he still undercover?(Invincible Iron Man #11)
- If he isn’t dead then is he backing Riri?
- Isn’t her new armor pretty awesome?
The only one I have an answer to is that last one. I love how the Iron Man suit can change in the most subtle ways and still be recognizably different. Iron Man has clearly become their flagship character and with good reason. Marvel’s story and Tony Stark’s have been very similar over the years. They both did something drastic to start off, they both became captains of industry that they have revolutionized and most importantly: people are so jealous of them that when they fall everyone comes out of nowhere to tell them how awful they are.(More on that at the end)
I think Riri is a good move. She’s a new character that was recently introduced, she’s extraordinarily intelligent and she’s a lot of fun already. I know that this seems weird but Bendis doesn’t do things without thinking them thr… 
Whoops! How did that get in there? Seriously though, if Secret Invasion and Siege are arguably your worst comics then you’re doing pretty good as a writer. Bendis has already given us a great run with Tony Stark and I have no doubt that going forward with Riri will be a lot of fun.
Divided We Stand
This image solidifies that insane question of “What is Dr. Doom doing?!” “Why is he holding an Iron Man helmet?” “Will there be a war between him and Riri as the two contenders for the Iron “Mantle”?(HA!)
In all seriousness though, this image is insane. There’s a lot of stuff happening in it especially when you bring in older characters like Foolkiller, Solo,(One of my favorite 90’s characters because he was part of a team called Six-Pack which only had five members most of the time.) Slapstick and Presumably Fin Fang Foom’s foot. It’s a very interesting teaser that showcases a lot of things coming this fall. There are a lot of notable absences in the teaser like no Sam Wilson, no Peter Parker, no Jane Foster and most notably there’s no actual sign of Tony Stark. His absence is felt the most by the hints towards him being gone such as Doom and Riri.
This picture is the teaser for the new fall season of Marvel. For those of you that don’t know, Marvel has switched to a seasonal release slate, in other words: every fall or so will mean new comics, new characters and new creators. I’m not sure how much I like that style but this fall will only be the second year for it so we’ll have to wait and see.
Another thing about this picture(and something that ComicsAlliance has already hinted towards) they’re almost split entirely by age and race. The left side is predominantly older and white and the right side is predominantly younger and diversified racially. Could there be a theme there? It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the post Civil War II Marvel Universe.
Doom as Iron Man
I haven’t been this excited about a series in a long time. Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev reuniting on one of my favorite villains? Absolutely! Sign Me Up!
This series does worry me for one reason, There’s no Tony Stark to be found. Does Tony Stark die in Civil War II? It remains to be seen. What we do know is that the solicitation for this comic says that “Tony Stark Failed” which could mean many different things and I can’t wait to find out all of the answers.
Champions
Speaking of the Teenage heroes, We now have The Champions. A team name that Marvel hasn’t used in a long time. The Champions will be headlined by Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man and Nova, three characters who have been able to hold their own alongside the All-New, All-Different Avengers but now it’s time to branch out on their own. Also joining them is Hulk,(Amadeus Cho) Viv Vision and Cyclops. They’re interesting choices for the team but I think it works really well
Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos are doing the series and I’m really excited to see the return of Ramos. He’s one of my favorite artists because everything is really cartoony and fun but it doesn’t distract from the story when he does it. Waid has proved time and time again that he’s one of the greats and I can’t wait to see what he and Ramos can do.
Mosaic
As for new characters: Mosaic is the newest Inhuman out there and he just looks and sounds awesome. His power set is very similar to that of Deadman(DC), he can inhabit and control different bodies and is basically a ghost any other time. He’s an All-Star athlete one moment and the newest marvel hero the next.
Geoffrey Thorne and Khary Randolph are the creators of the character and they’re relatively unknown but Te-Nehisi Coates was unknown to me until April and I love his Black Panther comic and his memoir(The Beautiful Struggle) so in other words, I trust Marvel’s judgment on this one.
Game Of Thrones
Game Of Thrones is literally my favorite show on television and Season 6 was just as great as everything else they’ve done. I’m only going to speak briefly on this subject due to the coming article by WiseSage covering the entire season. I mainly just wanted to speak on my favorite episode of the season and the entire series – Episode 9: The Battle Of The Bastards.
This episode gave us so much. We got to see the battle that had been teased since the end of Book 5, We got to see Daenerys in her greatest action sequence and of course, Jon was Jon. It’s one of the greatest battles ever waged on screen and one of the most honest. The gif above shows a cavalry charge that is only challenged by “The Ride of The Rohirrim” in Return Of The King, almost everything you see is real and very little CGI was used throughout the entire episode. The fact that they were willing to spend a full three weeks focusing on this one episode shows their want to make a truly great episode and it’s clear to see throughout due the attention to detail.
Like I said, I don’t want to spoil anything and I don’t want to speak too much on this but I loved this season and the last two episodes were two of the best I’ve seen on television.
Samurai Jack Season 5
And thus, one of the greatest cartoons of all time is returning. We honestly haven’t heard much about the story or seen much of the series but we do know that we’ll get to see a Jack that has been in exile for a few years and he’s a bit darker than the last time we saw him. I can’t wait to see more of this great series and I’m sorry that I don’t have more to give you.
The only thing I demand is more of the Scotsman.
Finale: Is Marvel Losing Ground to DC?
Jesse Schedeen at IGN wrote an article endorsing DC’s Rebirth line while saying that he was unimpressed with what Marvel has planned/has been doing. He is
