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SlashFilm has posted a great article on 55 Must See Movies of 2008. There’s a lot of good films on there. So many and I know I’ll never watch half of them and likely only see half of that in the theaters. I do know I’ll see Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Dark Knight next year. With Carter, I’m sure Wall-E, Where the Wild Things Are and Horton Hears a Who will be sure bets. From what I hear, the Wachowski Brothers Speed Racer film will be G rated, so we’ll definitely be there for that one.

Fanboys, Be Kind Rewind, Fanboys, The Changeling, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button all sound interesting, but will probably have to wait for cable/DVD.

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Alex Ross Cover to Captain American #34Every fan knew that Marvel wouldn’t go long without Captain America. What most did not know, was the method of his return. While we won’t know the details until January, Marvel has just announced that a new Captain America will make his debut in January’s Captain American #34.

Judging from the picture, my guess would the Winter Soldier will be the new Cap. Series writer Ed Brubaker “created” the character from Cap’s past and he’s quickly become a fan favorite and the most likely to take over the role.

The new Cap costume is pretty cool looking and not too different (which it shouldn’t be). I’m not crazy about the gun. Captain America wouldn’t use a gun/laser. I hope they get rid of that pretty quick. Overall, I’m glad to see the story continuing, but I still wouldn’t rule out the original Captain America, Steve Rogers, making a return appearance to the Marvel Universe. Brubaker even comments in the Marvel.com article that he’s only halfway through his story:

This was always the plan, to have—with issue #34, halfway through the whole big, ‘Death of Captain America’ epic story—[a new Cap]. So, you know, it’s all very, very planned out, believe it or not. I have an extensive notebook that I sometimes lose. Which is kind of traumatic.” Ed Brubaker

Be sure to read the full story on Marvel.com for more images the new Alex Ross costume and the new Captain America.

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Francis Manapul’s cover to Legion of Super-Heroes #38

Jim Shooter penned his first issue of DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes when he was only 13. Selling the stories to DC through the mail, Shooter created many of the Legion’s most popular characters and his run on the title (in Adventure Comics) is fondly remembered.

Now, a little over 30 years later, Shooter is once again writing Legion of Super-Heroes for DC. Shooter was a star in the comics universe for many years, well into the 90’s. He revolutionized Marvel comics in the 70’s and became known as Marvel’s most hated EIC (editor-in-chief). He had great success in the 90’s with Valiant Comics and his writing for Valiant was better than ever before. After a falling out with Valiant executives and a failed comics company called Defiant, Shooter has been absent from comics for about a decade.

His return to Legion isn’t a guaranteed success. As Chris Claremont’s return to the X-Men in 2000 showed, just because things were great before, doesn’t mean they will be again. Claremont left the Uncanny X-Men title after a 16 year stint. Fans of the series (myself included) pined for his return after the series floundered. In late 2000, when he finally returned after almost 10 years, to put things nicely, it wasn’t very good.

So, congratulations to DC and to Jim Shooter and let’s hope the Legion can continue the great success that Mark Waid’s reboot created.