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Testing the Iron Man Armor

Nice, new photo of Tony Stark (Robery Downey Jr.) building/testing the later version of the Iron Man armor.

With any superhero flick, the beginnings of its success is based on the visuals. Great story has to be there, but if the visuals (or look) is all wrong, fans won’t show up to check the story out.

Every look at Iron Man seems to be visually 100%.

Speaking of Iron Man, you should definitely check out the Iron Man Fan Film by David Guivant that’s currently over on ScreenRant. Featuring a few Iron Man supporting characters and Avengers teammates, it’s amazingly well done and makes me wish there were a real show like that being developed.

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hulk_loves_betty

Evidently there’s an amazing showing happening in Los Angeles at Gallery 1988. Running through February 1st, “Under the Influence: A Tribute to Stan Lee” features artwork inspired by the Marvel Comics creations of Stan Lee. Check out Collider.com for a nice set of photos from the show.

If you like what you see, it might be worth keeping your eyes on the Gallery 1988 store and the G1988 Crazy4Cult site, as they’ve got tons of great art for sale and it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the Marvel stuff eventually shows up there.

UPDATED:Here’s a blog that has great, large, and clear photos of most of the work that’s in the exhibit. Stan Lee Tribute Artwork.

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Double Page Spread from the One More Day storyline

The big news currently floating around the comic blogs is the recent resolution to the Spider-Man “One More Day” storyline where Spider-Man (Peter Parker) attempts to save a dying Aunt May.

Proceed no further if you don’t want the story spoiled.

To set things up, Aunt May was hit by a sniper’s bullet–originally meant for Spider-Man/Peter Parker. Early in 2007, Peter Parker revealed to the world that he was Spider-Man. After leaving the protection of the Avengers, his immediate family (Aunt May and Mary Jane) were placed in danger. That leads us to Aunt May taking a bullet from the sniper and being in critical condition in the hospital.

It’s a commonly know fact that current Editor-in-Chief at Marvel Comics (Joe Quesada) did not like a married Spider-Man. For those that don’t know, Spider-Man married Mary Jane Watson in 1987. It was a media event back then and received a lot of news/press coverage. Joe Q. stated many times that he wanted to erase the marriage, but didn’t want to divorce the couple.

So. . . To make this long story short, Peter and MJ essentially make a deal with the devil (the Marvel Universe version is referred to as Mephisto) who “takes” their marriage away stating that he will feed off of the pain it will cause the couple. At the end of the story, Pete wakes up to find Aunt May alive and well downstairs cooking him wheat-cakes for breakfast and later goes to a party where it’s revealed that his long-dead friend Harry Osbourne is now alive and well again (Mephisto’s idea of a joke or a bonus?).

The two problems with the story are so evident that even Jill pointed them out when I described the story to her (bear in mind, she has only seen the Spider-Man movies) and she pointed out the following two reasons she didn’t like it (which mirror my own):

  1. Aunt May would not have wanted Peter to make any kind of deal with anyone to save her. It it was her time to go, she would have accepted it and expected Peter to do the same.
  2. The Devil. Seriously. Does anyone think that Peter Parker would make a deal with the devil (or a devil)? Really. Divorce is too bad for kids to read about (Joe Q.’s reasoning) but it’s ok for Pete to make a deal with the devil?

Finally, ComicBookResources is running a 5-part interview with Joe Quesada about the entire story and I found this little nugget in part 3.

The truth of the matter is that if the fans truly want a married Peter and MJ with kids, then we have an incredible book called “Spider-Girl.” If this is truly what fandom wants, to see Peter go through the natural progressions of life, then I expect orders on “Spider-Girl” to go through the roof in the next month.

That’s marketing talk right there. If fans really wanted to read the adventures of an unmarried Peter Parker, then they could have been (and like have been) reading the 110+ issues of Ultimate Spider-Man that Marvel also publishes. That series has been the only consistently good Spider-Man book for many years.

Joe Q. wanted an unmarried, adult-aged Spider-Man, and being the EIC, he gets what he wants.

Even with all of this griping and disagreement with the method, I’ll have to admit I’m intrigued by the creative teams they have lined up to produce the “Amazing Spider-Man” comic 3 times a month. Names like Dan Slott, Steve McNiven and John Romita Jr. could get me to read “Amazing Spider-Man” again and enjoy the stories.

At the end of the day, I don’t have to like the method, but maybe, just maybe, the results will be good.

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vulcan

It’s little things like that image above that make comics so fun. Artists (and writers) insert all kinds of little references and in-jokes for perceptive readers to find. Some of them (like a Vulcan–from Star Trek– Green Lantern) make perfect sense.

The Green Lantern Corps is supposed to have a member from every sector in the galaxy, so a Vulcan GL Corp member makes sense. One little reference makes the comic universe seem so expansive and large and feel like anything can happen. For those that want to check his one-panel appearance, see Green Lantern 2nd Series (1976), Issue #90 – “Those Who Worship Evil’s Might.”

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I previously posted the solicitation for the “ALL-NEW OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE A TO Z VOL. 1 PREMIERE HC” that’s being released in February 2008. Now, thanks to writer Sean McQuaid and his generous comments, I’ve run across all the details I wanted to know about the project.

What is the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A To Z Premiere Hardcover?
This is a series of 12 volumes, each monthly, that will take almost every Official Handbook since the book’s revival in 2004 and collect them into one complete series. The entire run will be re-shuffled into alphabetic format. Each book is 240 pages and the first runs from the beginning up through Blackwing.

What is it comprised of?
It will be comprised of the following Handbooks:
-Avengers 2004
-Avengers 2005
-Fantastic Four 2005
-Hulk 2004
-Daredevil 2004
-Spider-Man 2004
-Spider-Man 2005
-Spider-Man: Back in Black 2007
-Wolverine 2004
-X-Men 2004
-X-Men 2005
-Alternate Universes 2005
-Book of the Dead 2004
-Golden Age 2004
-Horror 2005
-Marvel Knights 2005
-Teams 2005
-Women of Marvel 2005
-All-New OHOTMU 2006 #1-12
-All-New OHOTMU Update 2007 #1-4
-Mystic Arcana HB 2007
-WWH Gamma Files 2007
-Mighty Avengers Most Wanted HB 2007
-Marvel Zombies HB 2007
-X-Men Messiah Complex HB 2007

It will also take selected entries from X-Men: Age of Apocalypse HB. The only OHOTMUs that will not be included will be the three Ultimate HB’s.

he good part: It will also take New Avengers Most Wanted Files, New X-Men: Academy X, and Annihilation Nova Files (including those found outside the ANF book), as well as the four Marvel Legacy Hbs, converting them all into standard (and current) HB format. Also, several special HB-style entries found in specials will be included.

Why not the other Files books like Monster/Bloodstone Files and Civil War Files?
Because those were written too different from the format.

Will the entries be updated?
Yes. Updated, and where needed, expanded. Some are going from 1 page to 3. Others, from 2 to 4. And it won’t just be tacked-on info. Some are receiving full rewrites. If a character has had a name change, it will be reflected. Beak from Exiles, for instance, will be under Blackwing now. This also gives a chance to go back and expand earlier 2004-2005 entries as we didn’t have the space then. More images throughout as well. The Legacy profiles will now be up-to-date.

Will there be any all-new profiles?
Yes, in a manner of speaking. Some (but not all) of the entries that dealt with multiple versions of a particular name/alias will be split up into individual entries. Others will be given their own entries out of necessity. For instance, originally there was a profile for Arsenic & Old Lace. It has since been deemed necessary to give both characters their own individual profile. There will be other surprises too. One team who only gets a one-paragraph mention in a similar team’s profile gets its own in Book 2.

And Data Corrections?
We will be fixing them.

So this is the only Handbook project we’ll see in 2008?
Never say never. We have at least one more planned, mapped out, even have the cover drawn for it. But whether or not it gets released in 2008, or if it has to wait until we’re done with this, we’ll see. The thing about it is, like I mentioned, this isn’t a simple reprint. In many ways, it’s like we’re working on an all-new book every month, and this time, instead of it being 48 or 64 pages long, it’s 240 pages. Every month, for twelve months. I’d venture to say that less than 5% of the entries will be exactly as they were when they were first released.

Excellent. Wish it included the Marvel Atlas and the Ultimate Handbooks, but you can’t have it all and those make the most sense to leave out. It’s great that they’re taking the time to expand and combine entries. As I stated before, February 2008 can’t get here soon enough. Cool.