Marvel unveils Avengers vs X-Men #0 cover by Frank Cho
Deadly Women are at it in this well-designed cover by Frank Cho.
Marjorie Liu and Mike Perkins Are the New Astonishing X-Men Team
Over on their "Mystery Project Liveblog," Marvel has announced the new team on Astonish X-Men. Taking over with issue #48 in March are Marjorie Liu and Mike Perkins.
Jim Shooter: I did not write Avengers #200
Not too long ago, we presented for your amusement several videos recapping the rather appalling events of AVENGERS #200, in which Ms. Marvel was kidnapped, drugged and forcibly impregnated, and after giving birth to a reincarnation of her rapist, went off with him in a happy daze. The writers on the story are listed as Jim Shooter, David Michelinie, Bob Layton and George Pérez but it's been noted that in the years since, no one has actually taken credit for coming up with the story. It's like that one round of blanks in the firing squad -- every man can believe he is the innocent one.
Now over on his blog, Jim Shooter has come out and confirmed that he's wiped the entire incident from his memory:
Defenders #2 preview
DEFENDERS #2 (NOV110487)
Written by MATT FRACTION
Pencils & Cover by TERRY DODSON
Inks by RACHEL DODSON
Colors by SONIA OBACK
FOC – 12/12/11, ON SALE 1/4/12
Marvel's women problems past and present: when Ms. Marvel got raped
Yesterday's comments by Tom Brevoort on the lack of sales support for female characters at Marvel did not go unnoticed by the usual gender issue commentators.
The X-Men vs. The Avengers: A Review (Yes, I've Read the Whole Thing)
You may have witnessed some out of control hyperbole about Marvel's recently announced Avengers Vs. X-Men. My personal favorite, courtesy of Newsarama's recap:
Pre-taped words from all five writers. "There's never been an Avengers vs. X-Men super-blowout, so it's like, we have to do it," Bendis says.
Never been one? Seems like I own copies of something answering that description...
Tom Brevoort on Marvel's distaff dearth
Over on his ever-informative Formspring account, Marvel's Tom Brevoort was recently asked about Marvel's lack of a female-led title. And this is what he said:
Q: Do you feel like you have a social (beyond financial) responsibility to feature more female (or other underrepresented minority) headliners in titles? EX: DC has Batgirl & Woman, Voodoo, Wonder Woman, but Marvel has no book named after&featuring a woman. :
Bendis Exiting the Avengers; Dark Reign Redux and X-Men Vs. Avengers on the Way...
These days, it seems like three years on a title is a good run. Brian Michael Bendis is calling it a day with eight years on the Avengers titles. In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Bendis says:
Marvel announcing "Phoenix" event on Wednesday
Marvel has sent out an announcementfor some kind of event taking place on Wednesday at 3 pm EST. This is the event that has been coming for a while. Given the flame-like background with a bird-like figure in the middle, best guesses are that this is tied in to some kind of basilisk. Or possibly salamander. Or just possibly, maybe...a Phoenix!
Iron Man 2.0 Vol. 1: Palmer Addley Is Dead – A Book With Multiple...
I happened across Iron Man 2.0 Vol. 1: Palmer Addley Is Dead at the library and thought I'd give it a go. I'd given the monthly version a look, but it hadn't held my attention. Sometimes, a comic reads better as a book and I've enjoyed Nick Spencer's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and Infinite Vacation.
How Hard Is It to Buy A Marvel Essentials on Amazon?
I don't know about you, but when the holidays come around and the relatives want a cheap-ish gift, I usually send them some links to Marvel Essential volumes on Amazon. They're relatively inexpensive, my relatives don't have to figure out where the comic shop is (in rural areas, this can be an issue) and they like the thickness of the volumes when they wrap them.
Imagine my shock Thursday night as I was online and noting the massive amount of Essential volumes that were out of stock. Marvel's inability/unwillingness to keep tpbs in print has been a hot button topic in recent months, but this is a bit beyond anything I would have expected. This doesn't mean Diamond doesn't have some copies in the warehouse for the DM, but my experience with Amazon has been if they think it will take a few weeks to restock, you'll see a 4-6 weeks to ship notation and they'll take your order. Here's a list of major Essential series, how many volumes are out and then the ones where the only purchase option on 12/1 were the "used & new" 3rd party resellers. I'm not listing Dazzler/Ant-Man/Human Torch.
Marvel updates app to 3.0 but you must redownload all your purchases
Marvel has updated its iOS app with a bunch of new features -- however, the App store tells me that you will have to restore all your purchases after the upgrade. The new features sounds worth it, however. What could go wrong?
To entice you, Marvel is running a big sale on stuff like SCHISM, ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN, and other recent releases. That's a nice way to get people up to speed with the current goings-on for future print or digital purchases.
