Marvel December 2009 Solicitations

[TheCorpulent1]

What has Hickman done about the SHIELD = HYDRA problem? Because that's been my main obstacle with the book. I just quit it outright because I couldn't get past the fact that SHIELD = HYDRA basically means Nick Fury, once the world's greatest super-spy, is now a giant failure.

I did like the revamping of the Howling Commandos as a PMC, though. That was clever.

 

[Franklin Richards]

He turned the All-Stars of Hydra into a sort of Council. Which I thought was great. He's also been alluding to the fact that this latest SHIELD = HYDRA thing may just be a retro-active propaganda campaign. Some of that is still up in the air.

The main thing that he's doing is making this mag a character piece. He's working on the characters while planting espionage storylines. Planting doubt. That sort of thing.


To be honest, the mag has taken a sort of Green Lantern Corp feel to it. But in a Spy World setting. I think Bucky would work well in this dynamic. A "Kyle Rayner" if you will.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I like the idea of Bucky and Natasha remaining together, but I'd be all for them doing the spy gig in Secret Warriors, if there's a place for them. I'd definitely try the series out again if they migrated over to it.

 

[Tron Bonne]

So, we're just not talking about this whole Black Widow and the Marvel Girls thing, huh? Okay, just checking

 

[TheCorpulent1]

What about it? I thought it was Marvel Adventures.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Is it? I thought it was some kind of quasi-follow up to that Marvel Divas thing or whatever. I just thought, I dunno, people might have been more piqued by it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Eh, the Black Widow's never really interested me by herself. She's getting some comics now because of her role Iron Man 2, which is nice, but the character herself still doesn't really interest me. She plays off of Bucky well, though, so I would happily like to see them together in a comic once Steve comes back and presumably takes the Captain America series back.

Is Black Widow in Marvel Divas now? That didn't even remotely interest me, either.

 

[CaptainCanada]

There was even an interview where Hickman basically said Bendis had nothing to do with most of it. Kinda a backhanded insult.

Er, no. Bendis' name is on it, as Bendis himself has more or less said, beacuse they wanted to attract readers. He created the characters and the basic setup, and left the rest to Hickman.

I assume the Cap one-shot will be quietly setting the stage for the post-Reborn status quo. The only question is really whether Steve takes the job back immediately or wants a bit of time off.

Moar Black Widow stuff. Though they're doing the smart thing and having the trades prepped for the time of the film.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Eh, the Black Widow's never really interested me by herself. She's getting some comics now because of her role Iron Man 2, which is nice, but the character herself still doesn't really interest me. She plays off of Bucky well, though, so I would happily like to see them together in a comic once Steve comes back and presumably takes the Captain America series back.

Is Black Widow in Marvel Divas now? That didn't even remotely interest me, either.

I don't know if she is in Divas, I actually think she wasn't, but just the book looked like and solicits kind of sounded like a similar deal to me. Maybe I misread, since I never read Divas. Just kind of a somewhat random grouping of Marvel females, although I guess that one looks more action-oriented than Divas did so maybe I'm off.

I didn't know she was going to be Iron Man 2, though

 

[Franklin Richards]

Which is why I said "most" of it.

Just because Bendis pulled out his old Marvel Superhero RPG game and made up the lineup doesn't mean he should get the credit for "writing".

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm actually not a huge fan of the line-up, personally. Alex, Daisy, the *****ebag guy who looks kind of like Gambit, and the fat wizard dude were the only ones I thought were interesting. They should really focus more on Nick, Dum Dum, Gabriel, and the big players. Integrate the Caterpillars into the HC PMC and go from there.

 

[Dread]

Now with more solicits out, I can have more thoughts!

- Do these solicits note that Diamond will be skipping about two weeks or so at the end of that month?

- Once again, the HERCULES stuff looks good, and it looks like Hercules will be spread over the whole universe this month too, in MIGHTY AVENGERS and even in REALM OF KINGS: INHUMANS of all places. How the hell does Herc get into space? Looks interesting. I'll check it out now.

- That cover to SWORD #2 with Gyrich in one of those Cassaday designed SWORD uniforms is the second most ridiculous thing I read in the December solicits so far. He looks like a complete nerd, and not in that cool "HRG from HEROES" kind of way. My problem with the book remains the same when it was first announced. Gillen is not a writer I have head about before, and with a $4 price for issue one, I rarely take blind stabs on unproven talent. I like the Beast, but reading a team book for only one character is a recipe for disaster. Even with CAPTAIN BRITAIN, besides Black Knight I liked Spitfire and had nothing against Brian Braddock either. But with SWORD, I can't stand Brand, I hate Lockheed, and Gyrich is one of those supporting characters you love to hate on a book you are already reading, like an AVENGERS book, not one you go out of your way to read because of. Beast alone isn't worth a $4 investment for me. Not unless I hear absolutely raving reviews about it. Or it launches in a slow week in November. After all, a slow week was why I tried THE TORCH #1 (but won't grab the rest).

- UNCANNY X-MEN FIRST CLASS #6 looks to be delving into the minor subplot about those people standing on the sun the last few issues, and it looks good. Roger Cruz seems to be on a break month, so we'll see on the art. The only problem I have are some of the generic covers. But that's true of most of Marvel and DC's comics.

- After seven years, because no one demanded it, X-MAN is back. Maybe he should team up in DEATHLOK's book for a "Reliving the 90's" road tour.

- Should someone tell the writers of PSYLOCKE and BLACK WIDOW that the "bad girls" craze ended in 1997 and absolutely no book starring a "combat femme that exists for poses and violence" sells above 30k anymore? Even Bendis usually has a hard time selling SPIDER-WOMAN every half decade.

- SPIDER-MAN: THE CLONE SAGA still remains a "blood from a stone/milking $20 from leftover 90's holdout fans" effort for me. The cover's nice, though.

- SPIDER-MAN: 1602!? Oh, come on! First MARVEL APES and MARVEL ZOMBIES and even HOUSE OF M continue to come out and now still more 1602 efforts!? And will Joe Q still claim that Marvel sells no alternate universe books aside for Ultimate, and therefore the term "616" is for "freaks and losers"?

- SIEGE: THE CABAL. So, let me get this straight. Since the VERY FIRST LEAK of "The Cabal" was shown online, literally EVERY SINGLE MARVEL COMIC READER said, "Oh, Doom and Loki will turn on the rest". And guess what? It's only taken about a year for that obvious thing to happen, and the solicit treats it like a bloody surprise that is worth $4. For a plot point that EVERYONE IN THE UNIVERSE saw coming. Osama Bin Ladin even called it in his last audio tape message to the infidels, that's how obvious it's been. Heavens. Is that how Bendis makes his bread and butter still? Treating the most jaw droppingly obvious development as Eisner worthy epic narrative!?

- AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #31 looks good, with Taskmaster chilling with two out of the three "Bad Girls, Inc" (only Diamondback is missing, and maybe he doesn't want Cap's sloppy seconds). Out of anyone, could Taskmaster finally get a boost in rep from this event? It certainly has done him better than prior years, when he got his ass kicked by Deadpool or Moon Knight.

- FANTASTIC FOUR #574 looks cool, with Spider-Man and the Power Pack being remembered as allies to the Four and showing up. Hickman's off to a good start in cementing his run here with the Four. He may be exactly what they needed after Millar.

- MIGHTY AVENGERS #32 also looks awesome; Thor & the Mighty Avengers vs. the Dark Avengers, set up by an obviously irritated Loki. At some point SOMEONE has to tell Thor that literally every superhero but him figured out that Loki was up to no good a LOT sooner than he did. At any rate, the thing I noticed is that Gage is credited as the solo writer of that book, not Slott. Does this mean on months when Slott is swamped with ASM work, Gage will take over the book proper? I theorized that, and this seems to be proof. At any rate, that book's in good hands for when Slott needs a break.

- NOMAD: GIRL WITHOUT A WORLD turned out to be the surprise of the week when I tried the debut issue, and this conclusion also looks solid, with the Young Avengers and Falcon involved. Great little book, and at only 4 issues, the price isn't steep.

- CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHO WILL WIELD THE SHIELD takes the cake as the most ridiculous thing from the December solicits. No, not the one shot itself. It's Ed Brubaker ironing out who gets to be Captain America (and, gasp, spoiling that Steve returns at the end of REBORN, oh my!) and I am sure it'll be very readable no matter what. The ridiculous part is the title. "Who will wield the shield"!? Goodness, that's a title no one can or should take seriously. Like when an Iron Man handbook was called, "THE IRON MANUAL". I laugh every time I read that title or think of it. A first grader with a head injury wouldn't consider such a title "cool", but apparently writers and editors at or pushing 40 seem to. You can't make up a title that sounds that bad, no one would believe you. And it's a shame, because I am sure the story will be decent. Even if the outcome is obvious. Steve may as well take the shield back. If not, Brubaker will merely set up Steve to take it back and for Barnes to be dumped into obscurity the moment he leaves the franchise, which is inevitable. Even Bendis left DAREDEVIL after a while. Even JMS left ASM after over seven years. I figure Brubaker may as well be the one to put Steve back in the costume and give Barnes the "I WAS CAPTAIN AMERICA AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT" approach his way.

That said, MARVELS PROJECT #1 debuted at over 85k last month; unless the next issue drop is harsh, it should finish 7-8 issues within the Top 50. For a book that really doesn't have a big name star, it's debuted quite well. I cynically believed even a Brubaker co-written book starring James Barnes wouldn't sell if he wasn't THE Captain America anymore, but I could be wrong, at least in the short term.

- I assume THOR: DEFINING MOMENTS is the one shot that finishes JMS' run on THOR. I had lost a lot of interest in THOR over his slow pacing and endless delays (and the fact that for sheer pretentiousness, he seems dumber than Hercules, who at least KNOWS he's an idiot and revels in it), but I may be willing to give Gillen a few issues on THOR to impress me. Especially with the price dropping down to $3 again.

- I'll get REALM OF KINGS: INHUMANS but I am still iffy on IMPERIAL GUARD. Adding two $4 mini's to my list will prove expensive quickly.

- NOVA #32 looks terrific; fans have been begging for a return of Sphinx, one of Nova's few decent enemies for years now, ever since Diamondhead came back for a tease back at the start. I am curious how Abnett & Lanning will rework the old time villain.

- GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #21 has a great cover. The rest, as always, looks great too.

December looks to be a hefty month, in a good way.

 

[Tron Bonne]

- SPIDER-MAN: 1602!? Oh, come on! First MARVEL APES and MARVEL ZOMBIES and even HOUSE OF M continue to come out and now still more 1602 efforts!? And will Joe Q still claim that Marvel sells no alternate universe books aside for Ultimate, and therefore the term "616" is for "freaks and losers"?

Just got to know, was this actually said, in those words?

 

[Dread]

Just got to know, was this actually said, in those words?

Not at all. But Joe Q seemed to be irritated by the term "616" when it came up in one CUP O' JOE back when it was at Newsrama and went into this very long paragraph about how he only saw Marvel as Ultimate and Marvel with no need for reality numbers. It was very condescending and he treated it with all the same fluff as he treated critics of New Avengers at launch. Y'know, he knows all, fans know nothing, shutupandbuycomics.

This was, of course, while he was also hocking EXILES and probably some 1602 or HOUSE OF M title.

Still, the idea of an EIC telling a large segment of his hardcore fans that they're using a term that is "too inside baseball" (not his words) while himself being 100% wrong and untruthful tends to make you lose sympathy for him.

Imagine if a CEO of a big car dealer expressed in a circulated interview extreme displeasure at consumers who separated classifications of his cars as "2 door" or "4 door" expressing his company made no more 4 door cars, when in fact it was selling quite a few. He would either be seen as out of touch or borderline incompetent at best, and condescending at worst.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I'm interested that Marvel is saying that Avengers: Disassembled, Civil War, House of M, Dark Reign, and Secret Invasion have built up to Siege.

 

[kguillou]

Isnt that what they said about Secret Invasion? And Dark Reign? 'EVERYTHING'S BEEN BUILDING TO THIS!!"

 

[hippie_hunter]

True. Frankly if Siege is just Norman Osborn vs. Doom/Loki then I would imagine that it would lead to one "final" event in which the heroes go up against the victor.

 

[Dread]

You forgot WORLD WAR HULK.

Bendis does nothing better than keeping bits of his stories open ended so he can fill in gaps later (when he thinks of them) and then insist he planned it from the start. Like, yes, SECRET INVASION.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Not at all. But Joe Q seemed to be irritated by the term "616" when it came up in one CUP O' JOE back when it was at Newsrama and went into this very long paragraph about how he only saw Marvel as Ultimate and Marvel with no need for reality numbers. It was very condescending and he treated it with all the same fluff as he treated critics of New Avengers at launch. Y'know, he knows all, fans know nothing, shutupandbuycomics.

Oh, well, I knew that he had said something to that degree before. You put that in quotations so I wasn't sure if it was meant as a direct quote or not.

True. Frankly if Siege is just Norman Osborn vs. Doom/Loki then I would imagine that it would lead to one "final" event in which the heroes go up against the victor.

It'll probably just replace Dark Reign with Doom Reign or something. The US will become an official province of Lavertia, and Doom will make his own Fantastic Four just to mock Richards.

 

[Dread]

Oh, well, I knew that he had said something to that degree before. You put that in quotations so I wasn't sure if it was meant as a direct quote or not.



It'll probably just replace Dark Reign with Doom Reign or something. The US will become an official province of Lavertia, and Doom will make his own Fantastic Four just to mock Richards.

Doctor Doom's logic is that America has now gotten used to being ruled by two armor clad, Constitution trampling egomaniacs of varying degrees of corruption and sanity, and at least HIS armored dictatorship would offer a color motif more in tune with St. Patrick's Day, higher magical defense and Doombots to help old ladies across the street (or terminate them if they hand out anti-Doom propaganda). The average Marvel citizen would hardly notice. I mean these are the chumps who see no difference between Steve Rogers and Bullseye, or consider someone who isn't slavishly devoted to the Zietgiest as un-American.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

WOw, great stuff!

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

Speaking of Thor, IGN begins to pull back the curtain on SIEGE:

http://uk.comics.ign.com/articles/102/1026656p1.html

My god, those sounds great.

 

[hippie_hunter]

You forgot WORLD WAR HULK.

Bendis does nothing better than keeping bits of his stories open ended so he can fill in gaps later (when he thinks of them) and then insist he planned it from the start. Like, yes, SECRET INVASION.

World War Hulk really doesn't contribute much to the status-quo of the Marvel Universe the way Avengers: Disassembled (disbanding the original Avengers, breakdown of the Scarlet Witch), House of M (nearly wiping out the mutant race), Civil War (enactment of the SHRA, fracturing of the Avengers and superhero community, Iron Man takes over), and Secret Invasion/Dark Reign (Norman Osborn takes over).

What did World War Hulk do? Hulk fights a bunch of people and stands down. The end. It did nothing to the grand scheme of things within the Marvel Universe and that was the point.

With two more event titles the Siege (most likely going to be Dr. Doom, Loki, and Namor taking over the world) and a final event (the unification of the superhero community to take down evil, the return of the Scarlet Witch, a revitalization of the mutant race) and I think you can end up with a pretty kick ass epic story.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I'm actually not a huge fan of the line-up, personally. Alex, Daisy, the *****ebag guy who looks kind of like Gambit, and the fat wizard dude were the only ones I thought were interesting. They should really focus more on Nick, Dum Dum, Gabriel, and the big players. Integrate the Caterpillars into the HC PMC and go from there.

So you're saying you like 4 of the 6 young people? That's actually pretty good if I say so myself.

And they actually have started paying a LOT of attention to Nick, Dum Dum, and the other older HC's. Heck, I think 3 of the past issues have been almost primarilly about them. The kids have come accross as background characters lately.

Honestly, the book was just okay at first, but right around issue 5 or so it suddenly perked up and now it's been really really good.

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

- CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHO WILL WIELD THE SHIELD takes the cake as the most ridiculous thing from the December solicits. No, not the one shot itself. It's Ed Brubaker ironing out who gets to be Captain America (and, gasp, spoiling that Steve returns at the end of REBORN, oh my!) and I am sure it'll be very readable no matter what. The ridiculous part is the title. "Who will wield the shield"!? Goodness, that's a title no one can or should take seriously. Like when an Iron Man handbook was called, "THE IRON MANUAL". I laugh every time I read that title or think of it. A first grader with a head injury wouldn't consider such a title "cool", but apparently writers and editors at or pushing 40 seem to. You can't make up a title that sounds that bad, no one would believe you. And it's a shame, because I am sure the story will be decent.

I already said that. See:

Although, I wish they just put this story in Captain America #602. Who Will Wield the Shield? What a lame title.

You should hire me to do your cliff notes.