Marvel's August 2013 Solicitations

[Specter313]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=45520

 

[THANOSRULES]

Infinity looks to be epic..really excited for it.

 

[Mr. Dent]

What the hell is that Hunger thing? This is my first time reading about it.

 

[runawayboulder]

So are these other dudes in Infinity the same race as Thanos? Is he getting together an invasion of Earth with his own people? I thought he was one of a kind....?

It looks like Ex Nihlo grew some boobies on the cover of Avengers #17. I'm guessing he merges with his sister as their own way of taking the next evolutionary step.

Daniel Way is off of Thunderbolts already? Hmmmmm......

A Ben Reilly mention for Scarlet Spider #21? That issue is a must read because Marvel rarely ever acknowledges that guy existed.

Thor wielding TWO hammers??? Another must read! And those covers by Ribic are gorgeous!

 

[Mr. Dent]

No they're not the same race as Thanos. Thanos is a Titan with the deviant gene. Thanos pretty wiped out all the Titans.

 

[THANOSRULES]

Thanos is an Eternal of Titan...there are plenty of them still around though. He's the only one who looks like him though. I don't think they're all the same species..like just an assortment of badass new characters.

This Hunger thing smacks of a possible pre-amble to a Ultimate -616 series to me...just a guess though. Very interesting. Galactus and Fault rifts always get me giddy.

 

[Mad Ones]

Wow. There is not a lot getting me excited in August. And some things have me outright annoyed.

Spoiler

- All the Infinity stuff seems fine. I'm sure it will be good, but I'm not peeing my pants with excitement or anything. I'm still a bit confused on what it's even going to be about.
- Ex Nihlo is now a woman! Fun! I'm so glad this character isn't going away.
- Gage is co-writing Avengers Arena? What do the AA haters think about that?
- Bye Bye Wiccan and Hulkling's relationship. My heart's breaking already!
- Wow! The God Killer storyline is actually ending on Thor? What an epic journey this story is! The aftermath issue looks good. I like that they're getting into what being a God is like on Earth.
- I'm glad the Fantastic Four's shenanigans are going to have consequences. Reed seems to be really irresponsible.
- I am very, very, very annoyed at All New X-Men. Why does Jean need to be paired up with anyone? She's already flirted with Angel, married Cyclops, and now this crap with Beast? Watch out Iceman! Angry. Teen Jean is not becoming the strong and independent character I thought she would be. At least give her a love interest outside of the 05. Bendis has A LOT of work to do in order to sell me on this plot. That would be way more interesting. Ugh. Rant over.
- Is that Lady Mastermind of the cover of Uncanny X-men? All Bachelo people look the same.
- I'm also extremely annoyed with the cover to X-men #4. Here's a team full of strong women, and yet Wolverine gets on another cover. Looks like Jubilee comes crawling back to her father figure.
- The cover for Uncanny X-force is really cool. Too bad the book didn't keep my interest.
- Astonishing X-men looks great. Probably the best of August! Iceman needs the spotlight. Here's hoping he finally comes out!
- Wolverine and the X-men is totally meh as usual.

Woo! 1000th post!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The dudes behind Thanos on that New Avengers cover are his generals. They're all different species but they all serve Thanos. Corvus Glaive already appeared in the Free Comic Book Day thing, essentially running a cosmic protection racket for Thanos.

I may try out Thunderbolts once Way's gone.

I am all over that Avengers Arena issue featuring Avengers Academy creators showing Hank searching for his kids. It's about damn time.

I hope Billy and Teddy don't break up in Young Avengers. It seems likely, but maybe it's at least a finite story where Gillen'll have them back together later on.

I love that Hank Pym is wearing a jacket similar to his Avengers West Coast one on that Avengers AI cover. And hey, the sentient Iron Man armor is back! I hope it sticks around. That was a cool idea.

I wonder if Hunger is about the Cancerverse reopening and how Star-Lord and Thanos got back...

Please tell me Venom's sidekick is gonna be Eddie Brock.

Does anyone care about Angela? Seriously, like anyone? I'm gonna check out that Guardians of the Galaxy issue because Gaiman's co-writing, and I figure about 90% of the other people who do so are doing it for the same reason.

Haha, dual Mjolnirs! Jason Aaron, you spoil me. Can't say I care too much about Jane's return, though. Jane's always kind of just been there in the comics ever since the late '70s.

Aw, f***, Skuttlebutt's getting destroyed again? But she's like Beta Ray Bill's TARDIS. And seriously, did the cover artist for Journey into Mystery use Topanga from Boy Meets World as a reference for Sif's face? It's eerie...

Valkyrie's new costume looks cool. Hopefully her characterization improves too because, frankly, she's been the worst thing about the otherwise pretty decent Fearless Defenders.

"Who is the true Tomorrow Man?" Come on, Waid, don't steal away the title of one of Thor's most underrated villains!

Wow. Simone Bianchi on Thanos = good. Simone Bianchi on Captain America = very, very bad. I'm very glad the Dimension Z stuff is ending, though. It's already wearing out its welcome now, let alone 3 months from now. It hasn't been bad, it's just that Cap, solo, does not really work that well in crazy sci fi stories.

Is that... Magik as a SHIELD agent?

Huh. Jubilee = "mutant vampire teen mom." So now I'm really curious about that baby in the previews for X-Men #1.

People really need to stop calling Storm a goddess.

Is it me or does it look like Captain America is riding Deadpool and Wolverine on that cover to Deadpool?

Has anyone been following Astonishing X-Men? What the hell is going on there? Iceman's assaulting the world and somehow posing a threat to Thor? Bwuh? I thought this series was content to grab headlines because the rest of the world finally discovered Northstar is gay and be otherwise obscure and irrelevant...

 

[Mad Ones]

Has anyone been following Astonishing X-Men? What the hell is going on there? Iceman's assaulting the world and somehow posing a threat to Thor? Bwuh? I thought this series was content to grab headlines because the rest of the world finally discovered Northstar is gay and be otherwise obscure and irrelevant...

I picked up the last issue because of the Iceman story. Basically Iceman's losing it a little bit after the craziness of the last X-event (which I didn't read, but the specifics aren't really important). He's been really depressed and craving comfort and closeness. Subconsciously he's been reaching out to all of his exes (including Mystique), and they all show up at a bar at the same time. Throughout the issue there were news reports of a snow storm so severe it's going to cause the next ice age. The issue ends with Iceman overhearing Kitty talking about how special Colossus made her feel (seeing Bobby's exes made Kitty feel like he really doesn't care about her that much), and Bobby going into a rage.

So Iceman's losing control basically. He'd be a legit threat. "Omega" level powers and everything After Jean and Angel's decent into "darkness" I'm a little burnt out on X-men-going-bad stories, and I don't think one involving Iceman can top those two. But it promises to really build Iceman as a character and get into what makes him tick. So I'm excited for that.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Geez, and I've been thinking they're nailing Iceman perfectly in stuff like WatXM and his recent A+X appearance. I had no idea they were making him a *****e for literally no reason other than loneliness over in Astonishing.

 

[Mad Ones]

Meh. He's not actively aware that he's doing anything at least. The story seems to be about the humanity behind the super heroics, and the toll it can take. It wasn't a bad issue, though Iceman goin' rogue is a bit out of the blue.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I guess I'll pick it up if Thor's gonna be involved. Sometimes I wish I weren't such a fanboy.

 

[PinnyPed]

Hey Corp!

What are the odds that Jane Foster looks a little bit like Natalie Portman when she returns?

 

[JewishHobbit]

For whatever reason, Infinity hasn't really gotten my interest much. Seeing that the first issue is $5, it makes me even less interested. I'm not saying I won't get it, though I doubt I will since I'm not reading anything tieing into it save New Avengers, and I'm probably dropping that this month.

I'm curious about the Ben Reilly appearance in Scarlet Spider but am assuming it's a "talking to his ghost" or "it was all a dream" sort of sequence. Those sort don't interest me, but I'll skim it.

Iron Fist and Luke Cage in Deadpool interests me, but it depends on how it's portrayed. If it's just a zany, stupid story like the Iron Fist/Doop A+X story then I'll pass. If it's semi-serious mixed with fun like in the Deadpool Team-Up issue, then I'll get it. We'll see.

The Hunger will ONLY interest me if it deals with Nova's return, but I highly doubt that it will. My first thought, actually, was the Hunger character (I think it was called) in the first arc of the Thanos ongoing by Starlen and Giffen. I doubt it has anything to do with that either, but it was a thought. My true guess, it's a Galactus story in an Ultimate Universe/616 team-up book of some sort.

There is just something about the Superior Foes of Spider-Man that's catching my eye. I might have to skim that first issue to see if it's something I could be interested in. I do like the Shocker a great deal.

Corp... that's actually Dazzler on the cover to Uncanny X-Men, not Magik. She's the new Agent of SHIELD.

I've not read Astonishing X-Men since an issue or two after Northstar's wedding, but there is just something about this Iceman plot that's interesting me. I get that he was somehow injected with a seed during the crossover with Age of Apocalypse and X-Treme X-Men that is poisoning him, and I hate when my good guys go bad, but such good stories came out of Warren's going bad for similar reasons, and Liu is a fantastic writer. I just might have to check this arc out.


And I'm glad to see that I've cut enough, and that the double-shippings are few enough, that I'm back under budget. It kinda shocked me that in the month of August I'm actually buying more DC titles than Marvel ones. I'm spending more at Marvel due to double-shippings and the $4 price tag, but still, that's crazy for me.

 

[Donnie Darko]

Is Superior Spider-Man Team-Up just replacing Avenging Spider-Man, same creative team and everything? They are really milking the "superior" title.

 

[Themanofbat]

I guess I'll pick it up if Thor's gonna be involved. Sometimes I wish I weren't such a fanboy.

Thor was in the latest issue of Alpha that just came out Wednesday...

 

[runawayboulder]

Hey Corp!

What are the odds that Jane Foster looks a little bit like Natalie Portman when she returns?

I'd say about 95% chance of that happening.

Is Superior Spider-Man Team-Up just replacing Avenging Spider-Man, same creative team and everything? They are really milking the "superior" title.

Seems like it.

 

[Mr. Dent]

Is Superior Spider-Man Team-Up just replacing Avenging Spider-Man, same creative team and everything?

Yes.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Hey Corp!

What are the odds that Jane Foster looks a little bit like Natalie Portman when she returns?

Wouldn't surprise me, but it depends on the artist. Most artists don't necessarily ape actors' faces, and some of the ones who do don't even use the Marvel movies' actors (see: Deodato still using Tommy Lee Jones for Norman Osborn and Larroca using Sawyer from Lost for Iron Man long after the corresponding movies came out). Most likely, she'll look like a generic brunette woman, just as she has for the past 50 years.

Thor was in the latest issue of Alpha that just came out Wednesday...

I know, I bought and read it. I had no idea what was going on and wasn't all that interested. Thor imparts a couple words of wisdom and then disappears for the rest of the issue.

 

[Specter313]

- Is that Lady Mastermind of the cover of Uncanny X-men? All Bachelo people look the same.

Is that... Magik as a SHIELD agent?

Dazzler, actually.

I picked up the last issue because of the Iceman story. Basically Iceman's losing it a little bit after the craziness of the last X-event (which I didn't read, but the specifics aren't really important). He's been really depressed and craving comfort and closeness. Subconsciously he's been reaching out to all of his exes (including Mystique), and they all show up at a bar at the same time. Throughout the issue there were news reports of a snow storm so severe it's going to cause the next ice age. The issue ends with Iceman overhearing Kitty talking about how special Colossus made her feel (seeing Bobby's exes made Kitty feel like he really doesn't care about her that much), and Bobby going into a rage.

So Iceman's losing control basically. He'd be a legit threat. "Omega" level powers and everything After Jean and Angel's decent into "darkness" I'm a little burnt out on X-men-going-bad stories, and I don't think one involving Iceman can top those two. But it promises to really build Iceman as a character and get into what makes him tick. So I'm excited for that.

Geez, and I've been thinking they're nailing Iceman perfectly in stuff like WatXM and his recent A+X appearance. I had no idea they were making him a *****e for literally no reason other than loneliness over in Astonishing.

It's very worth noting that it's not just his insecurities that are causing all this. In the last event, X-Termination, Dark Beast stabbed him with and stored a fraction of a death seed in Bobby's body, and that is what is affecting him and causing all these evil projections of his powers and feeding off his emotions and amplifying them. It's certainly not him losing control for no reason. Due to the nature of it, the death seed is likely to be slowly taking him over and causing all this.

 

[JewishHobbit]

The Death seed, if I'm not mistaken, is what made Warren go dark. It's also what will power the Four Horsemen of Death in Uncanny Avengers soon (Banshee, Grim Reaper, Sentry, and Daken).

Does anyone know if that X-Termination crossover is readable without having read any of the titles leading into it? I loved Remender's Uncanny X-Force and I know the AoA Nightcrawler/Mystique plot was resolved there and was always curious because of that. And now that I'm a little curious about this Iceman story, I find myself sorta interested in that crossover without actually knowing what it's even about.

 

[Specter313]

It's relatively self contained so I don't think you really need to read any of the three books that were a part of it. I didn't read AoA, so I'm not sure, but I think it just sorta stumbled into it since it involved their Nightcrawler trying to get back there. Astonishing only had NC make a couple brief appearances in the arc prior to it, so you're safe not to read that. The only one I would think would be more important to read would be the X-Treme book, since there were little hints at what some of this would lead up to in that, plus it was actually a fun little book, so I'd recommend it on just that too.

 

[JewishHobbit]

X-Treme's the least interesting out of the three for me I at least started Age of Apocalypse and Liu's Astonishing X-Men.

But I might still go back and check the crossover out. How many issues was it? 6?

 

[Specter313]

Yeah, 6. Two one-shots to bookend the event, then one each of AoA and X-treme and two of Astonishing.

 

[THANOSRULES]

Infinity just looks to have that spark of creativity that made Annihilation so good..