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Post by Grey on Aug 22, 2004 11:01:01 GMT -5
            This summer, the big crossover event from Marvel seemed interesting enough as Avengers got more than "revamped" in the aptly titled, "Avengers Disassembled!"... It kickstarted with a bang in Avengers #500, as Avengers Mansion got blown to the sky with several major avengers amongst the casualties! There's a few shocker in the casualty list, so I won't spoil it here, however, www.marvel.com/publishing/stories/showstory.htm?id=1 got a "Disassembled List" at their Avengers Disassembled page. Check it out, it's quite decently done... It begins with the return of an Avenger thought dead--and by the time it's over, everything you know about the Avengers will have changed! Word is, in AVENGERS FINALE #1, (written by Brian Bendis and an all-star cast of artists -- including names like George Perez, Steve Epting, Jim Cheung, Eric Powell, Darick Robertson, Mike Oeming, Alex Maleev, David Mack and more , with cover by Neal Adams) the Avengers Disassembled Epilogue, in the wreckage of Avengers Mansion, Earth's Mightiest Heroes meet for the very last time.  And after that, NEW AVENGERS #1, (written by Brian Michael Bendis, art and cover by David Finch) launches. "New Avengers," part 1 of 5. After the devastating destruction of the original Avengers just what sort of threat to the world could persuade Captain America to assemble an all-new team? And after the events of Avengers Disassembled, who could possibly be on this team? How does Cap, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Wolverine sound? Get ready for the first of a proposed 500-issue run that signals an all-new era, as Bendis and Finch join with you, the fervent faithful, for the launch of the all-new ongoing Avengers series...  |
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Post by Grey on Sept 4, 2004 9:05:06 GMT -5
Source: www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Comics&action=page&obj_id=42414&type_id=270288&cat_id=270410&sub_id=270415#AVENGERS #500: DIRECTOR`S CUT For this, we got a Director's Cut? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dateline: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 By: TONY WHITT On the same day as Tony Stark appears before the UN in a drunken state - despite not having had a drink - Avengers Mansion is attacked. First, the Avengers' dead teammate Jack of Hearts reappears, just long enough to explode and take most of the mansion with him. Then the Vision flies a Quinjet into the remaining portion, before unleashing the third portion of the attack. And if all that wasn't Hell breaking loose, what follows most certainly is... I decided to review the Director's Cut edition of AVENGERS #500 because a) I hadn't yet weighed in on the original issue yet, and b) I hadn't yet experienced what Marvel considers a "director's cut" before. Having now done the latter, all I can say is that buying this version of this issue is only worth the extra money if you somehow managed to miss the original - and I suspect that many of you did. Otherwise, if you have the original already, don't waste your cash. You've got the best part of it already, the main story - and what a story it is. It's hard to read AVENGERS #500 without thinking, first and foremost, of September 11th. I'm likely to get some flak for stating that, but hear me out. The events of this issue (if you've been avoiding the spoilers available all over the Internet and in the trade press for months now) are just as unexpected; the carnage, depending on your investment in these characters, is almost as emotionally affecting; and the surreal sense of not knowing what's going to happen next is just as unsettling and unnerving. I don't know whether Bendis planned this sort of parallelism from the start, considering that the mansion is taken out by two explosions, one of them caused by an airplane crash - but the imagery here, especially the next to last page, is bound to make anyone think of a bloodthirsty attack striking at the heart of America's ideals. I may be overstating the effect of this book, but it's difficult to overstate the sinking feeling you get when you realize that these events are not part of a "What If?" story, they're not likely to be overturned by some future writer-artist team, and they're not just part of a clever crossover gimmick. The Avengers are changed, changed utterly. Whether a terrible beauty is born or not remains to be seen. The art in this issue is not meant to be beautiful, but there are times when one might wish it were a bit more clear - and if nothing else, the "Process" extra in which artist David Finch explains how he created the images he did illustrates this occasional lack of clarity (no pun intended). It wasn't until reading this extra, for instance, that I realized that Captain Britain was even in the penultimate scene, or that Hawkeye is meant to have part of...someone's body on him. (Sorry, can't give everything away, y'know.) And while the interview with Brian Michael Bendis is enlightening, its presence here is bound to make someone (in addition to me, I mean) a bit bitter - the same text can be found on the Avengers Forever Web Site, meaning that you've paid extra money to get something you could read on-line for free! And do we really need to hear Brian Schott's pretentious approach to interviewing techniques? "Nothing is created in a vacuum, my friend," he says to Bendis at one point after asking what the "Disassembled" storyline is meant to respond to. Oh, please. The other extras are more or less useless, as well. The "Preview" section gives us views of issue #s 501-503 and does not show us the cover for the first issue of the new series - big surprise there, Marvel; the "Future" section is little more than two full page ads for the EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES and YOUNG AVENGERS(?) series coming in the next six months; and the "Printography" section, featuring the covers for the first 499 issues, is too damn small to see. Only the "Hembeck" section, featuring Hulk's memories of being an Avenger, is at all worthwhile in this collection, and even that is hardly worth doubling the cover price for. So, unless you really enjoy "extras" that provide nothing extra at all, this "Director's Cut" is bound to disappoint you. But if you somehow missed AVENGERS #500 the first time around, swallow hard and buy it anyway. Even if the "extras" aren't worth $5, the main story is - and a whole lot more, besides. |
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Post by Grey on Sept 5, 2004 8:45:39 GMT -5
Avengers: Year One? Young Avengers? Galactus coming to earth to pick up his new herald...one of the Four? Invaders's return? Ironman to be written by Warren Ellis? Thor, killed in Ragnarok? Check all that out in the below article... Source:comicbookresurces.com by Arune Singh, Staff Writer Posted: July 23, 2004  While thousands of fans lined up for a special "Lord Of The Rings" panel, the devoted Marvel fans at Comic-Con International in San Diego hit the Avengers/Marvel Heroes panel where the publisher laid out plans for the Avengers, seemingly ignored in the past, but this year they'll truly be "Earth's Mightiest." In attendance were Publisher Dan Buckley; Joe Quesada, EIC; Tom Breevort, group editor; "Fantastic Four" writer Mark Waid; "Invaders" writer Allan Jacobsen; Brian Bendis, who arrived late to the panel; "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" writer Joe Casey; Scott Kolins, who pencils the series; Adi Granov, cover artist for many series; Ed Brubaker, writer; C.B Cebulski, talent agent; Allan Heinberg, a writer for tv's "O.C" and writer Robert Kirkman. With an ominous "It All Blows Up" slide to begin the show, Marvel presented pages from the anticipated "Avengers #500" and hyped up the issue shipping this Wednesday. "I didn't realize Tom Breevort had a grown up illegitimate son," said Quesada as Kirkman entered the room.  Marvel then talked about "Earth' Mightiest Heroes," the "Year One" series for Avengers that CBR News brought you word on months ago. When Quesada told Casey the series sounded great, Casey agreed and Kolins expressed enthusiasm over the package and urged fans not to miss the series.  The next announcement was of "Young Avengers," the second Avengers series and it drew a collective "huh" from the audience. Written by Heinberg and illustrated by newly exclusive Jimmy Cheung, Quesada urged "It's not what you think. It's nothing like you're thinking, it's one of the most inventive series we've come along in a long time and Al has such an incredible take on the characters you'll be excited." Expect the project in early 2005. "It can be whatever I want it to be," said Heinberg. The characters will be all new and he joked about the creative process, when he first said, "Why am I doing this book? I hate this book!" The audience laughed and Heinberg said Geoff Johns' "Teen Titans" inspired the book, with young versions of Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man and thor showing up in the wake of "Avengers Disassembled." When the "Fantastic Four" slides were shown, their was a huge applause and Quesada did an imitation of Waid, saying, "Yay, I still have a job" in reference to Waid's initial firing from the series. Waid mentioned that Galactus comes to Earth to pick one of the 4 to be his next herald. When guesses were made, someone picked one of the four and Breevort said, "You're all wrong but it's one of the Four." "Invaders" was the next topic of discussion and Jacobsen said, "The idea was to take unfamiliar characters to everyone, an unknown writer, an unknown artist and blow you away- hopefully we can succeed in that. We're very excited to be updating Golden Age heroes, sort of like a legacy book."  Though "Iron Man" was initially shown as by writer Mark Ricketts and artist Tony Harris, the audience was unstoppable when Warren Ellis was announced as the new writer and Adi Granov as new regular artist. "Adi's stuff is fantastic and one of few times someone's taken CGI look and made it work," said Quesada, though their may be fill in digital artists to let Granov do his best work. "I hope it's gonna be good," laughed Granov. "I mean, I know it's gonna be good, but I hope people are gonna like it." There was a brief spotlight on "She-Hulk" and Quesada said, "I love this book and think you all do." He said the series wasn't near cancellation, but more readers were needed. A lot of laughs were elicited by the cover to issue #8, featuring all the lawyers of the Marvel Universe in a crowded elevator. In spotlighting "Warlock," Quesada said Greg Pak is, "The best writer you've never heard of." Check out CBR's interview with Pak for more information. Another exciting announcement was Ed Brubaker as regular writer of "Captain America" and Steve Epting as regular artist. Check out CBR's exclusive Brubaker interview where he talks about Captain America and more later tonight. Not much was said about "Thor," but Quesada had a laugh about the titular character, saying, "No one's on 'Thor' because Ragnarok killed him." A new "Thunderbolts" series comes out in November with Fabian Niceaza and Kurt Busiek as writers, while Tom Grummet will be doing pencils. Kirkman is also premiering a new "Marvel Team Up" series and the first two issues feature, as he says, "it features Spider-Man and that guy with the claws." Coming up in February is the "Avengers Finale" special written by Brian Bendis and "it'll be like the last episode of 'Mash,' with special moments for every characters." It'll feature some of the top artists in the series, including a cover by Neal Adams and a final chapter by George Perez. |
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Post by Grey on Sept 23, 2004 7:56:39 GMT -5
Yeah, it's official. Hawkeye's dead. As if this piece of info isn't spoiler itself, here's a spoiler warning of the below, which briefly describe what happened, complete with the pic of how ol' Clint bite the dust exactly... A bunch of Kree launched an assault on the (already in ruins) Avengers mansion, saying something about revenge on those the Avengers have betrayed. The Kree seem kinda awkwardly weird though...
Hawkeye got shot in the back, caught on fire, and used a Kree jetpack to fly into the mothership's tail pipe and blow it up, kamikze-style.
The mothership wreckage didn't "feel right." Dr. Strange shows up and says magic is involved. After all, it seems like it's all magic conjured illusion...but how come it's the Kree, or perhaps it's mind control on a huge manipulative level? Should it be just an illusion, then perhaps Hawkeye killed himself fighting it. Mmmm, sounds like a certain Master of deceiving at work here, if you ask me. However, based on Marvel.com's very own polling result on who's the mastermind behind the assault, the master villain that I suspected wasn't on the list. Check out the results for now, though:- Who do you think the villain is in Avengers: Disassembled?
Kang (17%)
The Masters of Evil (13%)
Hank Pym (35%)
The Mad Thinker (6%)
Dr. Doom (28%)
4752 votes total
Well, for your info, I voted Doom, though deep down, still think it's Loki... Anyway, Marvel.com released the whole Avengers # 500 on their dot.comics section, check it out if you missed the landmark issue, right here... www.marvel.com/dotcomics/index.htmDamn, everyone in Marvel is involved in this, even Doc Strange & Daredevil...Word is, Marvel gonna "JLA" Avengers...that means molding the Avengers into a league of the most famous superheroes, a' la Justice League America. Therefore, Wolverine, Spiderman, Captain, Thor, etc was thus inducted. If that's really the case, the rumor that Sentry, AKA "Hoax of the year 2001", is in, should be on the money. Check out the below pic for the New Avengers, this time out of the shadows...  |
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Post by Grey on Sept 23, 2004 10:37:41 GMT -5
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Post by Grey on Oct 7, 2004 10:40:10 GMT -5
Source: www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/pulse.cgi?http%3A//www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi%3Fubb%3Dget_topic%26f%3D36%26t%3D002873Marvel Comics has provided THE PULSE with a preview of Avengers # 503. This is the final chapter in the Avengers Disassembled arc that has rocked these heroes to their core. In this final part written by Brian Michael Bendis and featuring art by David Finch, the traitor is revealed. Solicits tease: The shocking double-sized conclusion of the comic event of the year! The Avengers come face to face wit the enemy that destroyed them and nothing will ever be the same again. A story so big, a regular-sized comic could not contain it! The last page cameo will have the comic world talking for years! Guest starring every Avenger ... ever! A glimpse...  |
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Post by Grey on Oct 7, 2004 13:21:34 GMT -5
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Post by Grey on Nov 4, 2004 6:02:50 GMT -5
Source: www.usatoday.com/life/2004-10-21-coming-attractions_x.htmComic books
Marvel's 'New Avengers' draws on familiar facesComic books have been a cash cow for Hollywood for years. Now Tinseltown is repaying the favor. Hoping to capitalize on the success of several popular comic-book films, including the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises, Marvel Comics is revamping its Avengers comic book to feature heroes who successfully crossed over to the big screen. Gone from the team are Wasp, Hank Pym and She-Hulk. New cast members, featured here in an exclusive look at the alternative cover to the first edition of the New Avengers, include Spider-Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman and Sentry. A "mystery member" is also on the team, but he won't be identified for several issues. Suffice to say he's a Marvel favorite, a Hollywood hit, and the item in his hands is a big clue. The only holdovers are Captain America and Iron Man, both of whom are favorites of Hollywood: Scripts are being written for both characters. But don't look for an Avengers film anytime soon, comic book author Brian Bendis says. "We own all the comic-book characters, but different studios own their film rights. An Avengers movie would cost $700 million." Source: www.newsarama.com/pages/Marvel/New_Avenegrscvrs.htmMarvel's New Avengers Variant Covers Marvel has released the black and white, penciled images of the first five of six variant covers to New Avengers #1-#6 by their “Young Guns” artists. According to the publisher, each cover is based on a sketch by Joe Quesada, and taken together, represent the full roster of the New Avengers. The art lineups are: #1 - Steve McNiven (Spider-Man) #2 - Trevor Hairsine (Sentry) #3 - Olivier Coipel (Wolverine) #4 - Jim Cheung (unknown, but speculation ranges from Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu, to a new White Tiger, to Iron Fist) Sure look like Night Thrasher to me...#5 - Adi Granov (Luke Cage, Spider-Woman) #6 - to be announced The six covers will fit together to form one large image.       |
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Post by Grey on Nov 14, 2004 1:50:18 GMT -5
Spoiler Alert!Source: www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=18785#1A review on the finale of Avengers Disassembled arc, from the mighty aintitcool.com.... Here it is, the fourth and final issue of AVENGERS as written by Bendis, and my fourth and final review of the title. I’ve been following these characters for over half my life, and as you’ve seen in my past reviews I’m not altogether comfortable with the current direction they’re heading. This was the make or break issue for me. How did it fare?
Well, that’s a long story, and it’s full of spoilers. I recommend you finish reading the rest of this column first, maybe take a bathroom break, and then come back here for what I’m calling…
Brian Bendis’ Literary Offenses
So the secret’s out. The person responsible for all the trauma the Avengers have faced is the Scarlet Witch, who has gone insane with power. Just how insane she is, and for how long, remains unexplained. What we do know is that a careless mention from the Wasp allowed Wanda to remember that she once had twins. She blames her teammates for their “death,” and has been exacting her revenge upon them.
So what happens in this issue, you ask? Well, there’s a flashback, then the Avengers stand around for a couple of pages. Then another flashback followed by some more pages of the team standing around. Then there are four pages of Dr. Strange lecturing the team like he’s John Kerry on the stump. Finally, the whole of the Avengers confront Wanda and her reconstituted twins by standing around while Dr. Strange wipes her mind clean. It’s kinda like what happened ten years ago in the X-men’s Fatal Attractions storyline, when Professor X destroyed the mind of Magneto. This is especially interesting, since as soon as Wanda’s mind is gone, Magneto shows up out of nowhere only to disappear with his daughter. And then, finally, we get three pages of Wanda’s first appearance in Avengers from the Lee/Kirby era, cut and pasted out of context in an attempt at drawing out a deeper meaning and sense of loss or something.
To call this finale wretched is an understatement. And yes, don’t buy the hype that Avengers Finale is the actual end. I’ve read it already, and while it’s worth buying for the amazing guest artwork it really doesn’t provide any more closure than this issue. In any case, much of what happens here is absurd in the extreme. I find it hard to believe that Wanda would attempt to destroy the family she’s formed with the Avengers for the sake of a family that doesn’t exist. But more on that later.
The real initial misstep is in the resolution of the whole mess. Having the title characters essentially do nothing while a guest star (and a Defender at that) saves the day is a violation of one of the first rules in superhero comics. Well actually, to paraphrase a particularly nasty pirate, they’re more like “guidelines” than actual rules. In any case, having a non-Avenger take out Wanda robs the story of its pathos. If it had been Captain America who had done the deed with something akin to the device Forge used on Storm way back when, or Yellowjacket or Iron Man cobbling together something similar, it would have added a weight and drama to the scene. As it stands now the ending feels like a hollow exercise, one made worse by the use of Magneto.
Oh my lord, Magneto. He literally just pops in, Cap hands him Wanda’s body, and he vanishes. The first thing I thought when I saw this was “why is this happening?” The last any of the Avengers heard, Mags had destroyed Manhattan and killed Jean Grey. For them to just hand her over defies all common sense. There’s also the matter of Magneto’s characterization. His dialogue makes him sound like Claremont’s compassionate militant, only more emotional. Yet his costume and presence make him look more like Morrison’s power-mad junkie. Could he be a third Magneto? It’s already been announced that the big Bendis project to follow SECRET WAR is called THE HOUSE OF M. Perhaps this story will reveal that Magneto, like Kang before him, has an entire council of alternate versions of himself.
But the real problem with this issue, and the entire run to this point, lies in four lines of dialogue. These four lines, four story elements to be exact, are the basis of the entire plot. All four lines are, unfortunately, erroneous. And as one of the other rul- err, guidelines of superhero comics says, if you’re going to tell a story that’s dependent on continuity, make sure that continuity is accurate. Let’s take a look at these four moments, going from least to most objectionable, shall we?
First is the statement from Dr. Strange that “there is no such thing as chaos magic,” in reference to the source of Wanda’s powers. This is a strange statement indeed, since the good Doctor has used chaos previously. The most recent account of this was in a Warren Ellis story from the 90’s. Not only that, but the being who manipulated Wanda’s mutant powers is Chthon, the chaos demon who created the Darkhold, the book of dark magic currently in the possession of Dr. Strange. But wait, it gets worse.
Next is the claim that Wanda “doesn’t remember what happened to her children.” The problem with this is that her memory was restored in an AVENGERS WEST COAST ANNUAL, number seven, I believe. So the trigger for these events, Wanda learning about her children, makes no sense. It has been suggested elsewhere that Agatha Harkness, whose corpse is shown at the end of this issue, never restored those memories because Wanda’s insanity was the reason Agatha had returned from her initial death in the first place. Unfortunately, this only serves to make this into a bigger mess. After all, that would not only mean that Wanda was keeping a corpse, PSYCHO- style, of a woman who’d been burned at the stake and had her ashes scattered, but that one figment of Wanda’s imagination had destroyed her memories of another pair of figments. It also calls into question why the Wasp would act so guilty about bringing up a subject she thinks Wanda is in the know about. Just typing all that out has me reaching for the Tylenol. But these problems are minor, and would have been forgivable, if not for the next two.
It’s the statement about Wanda’s twins, that they were “conjured into existence…they didn’t really exist,” that shows just why this story doesn’t work. You see, Wanda didn’t create her children from nothingness. They were, in fact, manifestations of Mephisto made real through her magic. It was for this reason that their existence was initially removed from Wanda’s memory, and why later it became safe for her to learn of their loss again. It’s this omission that is the most telling, and leads into the biggest objection of them all.
It’s all wrapped up in the Strange statement that Wanda “has control over reality.” This quite simply isn’t the case. The Scarlet Witch’s powers involve the ability to control chaos magic and affect probability fields. (That’s not just me saying that, by the way; that line is a direct quote from Marvel’s own website.) This is why the previous error is so important. Wanda can affect the probability of her giving birth to twins formed from the splintered psyche of Satan, but she isn’t able to create two human beings out of nothingness. She can’t alter reality, even on a subconscious level, to suit her whims. If she did, why didn’t she do so many times before? Right after her twins were lost, she was routinely hallucinating that her husband, The Vision, (who, by the way, was Marvel’s best outsider/Stranger in a Strange Land character, and always more than the libelous “just a robot,”) was restored to the form he had before being taken apart by the government. If she really had such power, why didn’t her fantasies become reality? I’m also baffled at Dr. Strange’s insistence that this may have been averted if he’d been able to train Wanda. She was a student of Agatha Harkness, after all, who also trained the FF’s Franklin Richards, a mutant who actually DOES have the ability to alter reality with a thought.
I know, and accept, that there are literally thousands of people out there who are reading Avengers for the first time just because Bendis is writing it. Most of this stuff probably means less than nothing to them. However, it means a lot to me. It means a lot to anyone who’s been following these characters for a span of decades. After all, if the very premise of the story is a non sequitur to any longtime fan, how can they possibly be expected to enjoy it?
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