Marvel August 2006 Solicitations

[Darthphere]

Annihilation #1 32 PAGES NO ADS FOR $2.99. See this is how you do a big event's first issue. I really didnt need the 2 page Civic ad in Civil War #1.

 

[Harlekin]

Agents of Atlas: Hell yes.
Exiles: Could be cool. Not currently picking it up anyway, though.
New Excal: Badass Brian.
Spider-Man: Family HELL YES. Favourite superhero cartoon from the old days.

 

[Dread]

Annihilation #1 32 PAGES NO ADS FOR $2.99. See this is how you do a big event's first issue. I really didnt need the 2 page Civic ad in Civil War #1.

No ads in some comics also helps justify the fact that all Marvel comics are $2.99 and up. Bill Jemas may not have been perfect, but he was the last one in recent memory who wanted to keep some books at $2.50 (including most of the Ultimate books). Now that he's fully gone, that age is past.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

This appears to be an uninteresting month to say the least.

 

[Darthphere]

This appears to be an uninteresting month to say the least.

Really?

 

[yenaled]

MTU could do without Spider-Man and Wolverine, the reason I pick up the series is in hope that it will feature other people.

 

[Doc Destruction]

MTU could also stand some better art.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, I'm not enjoying the "Freedom Ring" artist. I'm not enjoying the Freedom Ring character much, either, outside of the fact that he's one of the few Marvel heroes who has a simple, non-guilt-related motivation for being a hero. He's just a decent guy who wants to help out in the world, and now his ring allows him to. But the purse thing, his costume, and his whole happy-go-lucky character kind of grate on me.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Everything sounds interesting, particuarly...

Heroes For Hire
Thunderbolts
Beyond
Claws
Frontline
Agents Of Atlas

Wish 3-D Man was appearing with the other Atlas characters....

Im stoked for Claws. Sure, he tends to be over exposed, but ths obvious spoof of The Most Dangerous Game has Wolverine written all over it! And Black Cat? Intereseting choice, although i think Tigra would have been a better match personally. Regardless, it sounds like fun. (10 to 1 says Logan is tapping that ass by story's end.)

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Also like the sound of Amazing Friends, although i really wish it was set in curent coninuity with the most recent versions of Spidey, Bobby, and Firestar....

 

[Dread]

Yeah, I'm not enjoying the "Freedom Ring" artist. I'm not enjoying the Freedom Ring character much, either, outside of the fact that he's one of the few Marvel heroes who has a simple, non-guilt-related motivation for being a hero. He's just a decent guy who wants to help out in the world, and now his ring allows him to. But the purse thing, his costume, and his whole happy-go-lucky character kind of grate on me.

Another problem is that his powers, and even his persona (and NO, sexual orientation doesn't count) is pretty much exactly the same, so far, as Magician over at ULTIMATE X-MEN, which Kirkman also writes. They both have "generic newbie hero" personas, and the exact same powers (effecting reality). The only differences are in hair color, sexual orientation, and one's a mutant, the other has a ring. That's not enough to make them feel like seperate characters. If you created a gay white guy who had the same powers and temperment as Luke Cage, he is not a seperate character, at least not by 2006 standards. Kirkman needs to try a little harder in future issues for both.

That said, the notion of Norton filling in on RUNAWAYS seems like a good idea; I enjoyed his art on GRAVITY, where he had skill with both "young people" and iconic super-characters like Spider-Man, Rhino, Jack O'Lantern, etc. I look foward to seeing more art from him.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't read Ultimate X-Men, but that just makes it worse. Hopefully Freedom Ring gets more interesting and distinguished from the cookie-cutter new hero soon.

 

[Dread]

I don't read Ultimate X-Men, but that just makes it worse. Hopefully Freedom Ring gets more interesting and distinguished from the cookie-cutter new hero soon.

Yeah. The cover for the next issue has Freedom Ring looking like a cross between Havok and Green Lantern, so we'll see what happens.

Over at the BOUGHT/THOUGHT, Fenryr notes that as good as Kirkman is, he may be stretched a little thin right now. I'm not sure if I agree, but it is a very fair point.

 

[moffball]

I just read through the August solicitations and I noticed something . . . where's Ultimate Wolverine v. Hulk? It's nowhere to be found on Marvel's page for May through August right now. Anyone have any idea?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Probably delayed for some reason.

 

[i'm Spider-Man]

BTW am I the ONLY one not 'feeling' Joss' latest run? I just find the Hellfire Club INCREDIBLY boring.

No mate, I'm with you... I'mbearing with it though, because I'm almost certain that issue 15 will begin the action and that'll be some hella-cool stuff on the pages... I'm guessing Kitty's the only one left after the battle!

 

[Dread]

As a further note about Ultimate X-Men, especially after reading issue #70, is that Elliot/"The Magician" is almost a textbook example of a "Mary Sue" sort of X-Man. He has a fairly average appearence, costume, and a reality warping power that begs the question of how he can ever lose. Hopefully, Freedom Ring in MTU will not be the same, as surely Kirkman knows that it takes more than different hair and a sexual orientation to make a character different (of course, Elliot in UXM could also be gay, and it hasn't been revealed). After one issue of MTU, though, Freedom Ring and Elliot/Magician are looking like clones, which is a shame because both are barely "characters" and more like "drones". Its not as bad as Bendis' Layla Miller from HOM, if only because HOM was a major "event" (and, like most Bendis bungles, another writer has managed to make it work in a way Bendis was unable to do, in this case, PAD, which adds fuel to my agruement that Bendis would probably make a stronger editor than writer at times).