Marvelous May One Week Reminder

Just letting everyone know, we’re one week away from the official announcement of the full list of competitors in Jyger’s Rant’s first-ever Marvelous May fan-vote tournament of Marvel superheroines. You still have one week to leave a comment and let me know who you’d like to see in this tournament, as there are currently 8 spots unconfirmed. For those who didn’t see on my 5th Anniversary post, here’re the 8 confirmed competitors thus far, or the Initial 8 if you will…

Spider-Gwen, Jean Grey, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Jane Foster, Ms. Marvel, Storm, and Squirrel Girl

…and, just for reference, here’s a quick look at just SOME of the heroines you could see in this tournament.

Is your favourite not present? Well vote for them, then! XD

Lastly, here’s the actual tournament bracket, or at least how it looks for now.

The eight individuals that will be voted into the tournament will take up the empty spots. So, if you wanna see someone in this tournament, please let me know in the comments below, on Twitter, or on Facebook by April 26th, after which, I’ll be posting the full tournament bracket on April 27th, and then opening voting for the first match-ups on May 1st. See you all then!

My Thoughts On The All-New, All-Different Marvel Books

So, I went ahead and got the free preview book for the All-New, All-Different Marvel, which begins in October. As such, I’d like to give my thoughts on a few specific ones, general looks at the rest, and just talk about a few things I feel might be missing from the new Marvel Universe as a whole, as it’s being shown here. Also, not gonna bother talking about the ones already revealed that I talked about before, so if you notice some rather notable books missing from this article, click here to see if I mentioned them already. Let’s start off with probably the obvious…

Additional Avengers Books

I told ya. ^_^ So, in addition to the All-New, All-Different Avengers, AKA Earth’s Mightiest Most Dedicated Heroes, and the all-superheroines A-Force, we’ve got a couple other Avengers teams. The first is the Uncanny Avengers which, as shown above, will star Rogue, Steve Rogers, Human Torch, Doctor Voodoo, Quicksilver…um, some woman I don’t recognize, the Amazing Spider-Man, and the back-from-the-dead Deadpool…because, let’s be honest, we knew he would be. lol The other team is the New Avengers, which will star Songbird, Hulkling, Wiccan, Hawkeye, Squirrel Girl, and Sunspot as part of the new Avengers Idea Mechanics. On top of that, there’s a new Illuminati book, which apparently is now about a team of villains, and a new Ultimates book, which features Black Panther, Blue Marvel, Miss America, Captain Marvel, and Spectrum going up against Galactus. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is getting written by one of the show runners for Arrow, of all people. Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. will apparently have Dum-Dum Dugan teaming with Elsa Bloodstone and the monsters of the Secret Wars Howling Commandos. And lastly, there’s gonna be a Contest of Champions book, which may or may not tie into the game, and has Maestro pitting heroes against one another in an arena. And that’s not even the end of the team books, because guess who?

The X-Men Titles

Yup, you can put down the riot helmets and posters, they’re still around, folks. We have three books with the name X-Men in them: Extraordinary X-Men (Storm, Iceman, Colossus, time-displaced Jean Grey, Old Man Logan, Nightcrawler, and Magik), All-New X-Men (time-displaced Beast, Iceman, Cyclops, and Angel, along with the All-New Wolverine), and Uncanny X-Men (Magneto, Mystique, Sabertooth, Psylocke, and Fantomex). There’re also three other X-Men related books: Old Man Logan, which features the aged Logan existing in this new world, All-New Wolverine, which has X-23 stepping into the role, and Deadpool…’nuff said there. XD Supposedly, in the eight month gap between Secret Wars and the new books (which I’m guessing they’ll fill us in on later), there was some sort of incident between Mutants and Inhumans, which will help explain this new status quo for the two sides, as present day Beast will be joining the Uncanny Inhumans as a result of that.

Spider-Man Incorporated?

In addition to the Spider-Man book I mentioned starring Miles Morales, as well as the relaunched Spider-Gwen, there are several other Spider-related books coming out. Amazing Spider-Man will have Peter launching a new and improved Parker Industries worldwide, bringing back the Spider-Mobile, and pulling the old Tony Stark trick by having his superhero identity be his ‘bodyguard’. Also, for those wondering, he’s not still married from Secret Wars, and the book will probably never even mention what happened in One More Day, so don’t expect to see me buying this…which is sad, because otherwise, this looks like it’ll be nice, crazy fun. Web Warriors will feature Spider-Gwen teaming up with Spider-Girl, Spider-Ham, and a few other Spider-Men from various realities as some sort of Spider-Man Incorporated-like team…because why not at this point? Silk is ‘apparently’ turning heel, although I don’t know if I buy it just yet. Carnage is coming back after sacrificing himself during AXIS, so it’ll be interesting to see if he’s still a hero or not. Spider-Man 2099 is sticking around, with a new costume to boot. Then there’s Venom: Spaceknight… … …If Rom doesn’t show up, I’ll be so sad. lol Before I continue, though, there’s something specific I need to discuss…

Spider-Woman PREGNANT?!?!

…Yeah, Spider-Woman’s a mom now. And, as I understand it, the new books pick up approximately 8 months after the end of Secret Wars, so I think the implication is that Jessica is about a month or two away from delivering the baby… … …Okay, first off, I will admit to having to stop myself from squeeing at the idea of Jess having a baby. lol Also, I DO kinda find the whole single-mom-being-a-superheroine schtick kinda awesome. However, if I’m correct and the implication is that she’s still active as a heroine while carrying the baby, can I just ask one question: WHY?!?! That is super dangerous, not only to Spider-Woman, but to the baby! Now, maybe I’m way off, and the series actually picks up with her either finding out she’s pregnant or as she’s having the baby, but I REALLY hope she’s not putting on the costume and gliding through the night skies while carrying the kid. Also, who is the father? Is she even dating anyone currently? Oh, PLEASE don’t let this be another ‘mystical pregnancy’ storyline. I learned of Avengers #200 just last year, and I still haven’t gotten the bad taste outta my mouth. Otherwise, though, as I said, kinda excited to see the kid. lol

Uchuu KITAAAAAAAAAA!!!

500 geek points to the first person who gets that reference. ^_^ Also, a million geek points says that’s Kitty Pryde posing as Star-Lord in the new Guardians of the Galaxy book. With that said, two questions come to mind: Where is her fiancé (the new Star-Lord book SUGGESTS time travel, but I have no idea), and what’s with all the dudes on the team besides her? It’s Thing, Drax, Venom, Rocket, and Groot, with Rocket as the only one who isn’t some buffed up powerhouse. I know Gamora left (and I’ll get back to that later), but where’s Captain Marvel? Mantis? ANY of the other space-faring superheroes that aren’t bulky dudes? Other than that, as I said, Star-Lord looks like he might be travelling through time, the Uncanny Inhumans are gonna be kicking ass as the next big superhero team, Drax is entering the interstellar octagon, Angela might be running Hel, Karnak is getting a solo title, and Nova has Sam teaming up with either his dad or Richard Rider, I can’t tell. And Howard the Duck is getting a relaunched solo where even the creative team are openly acknowledging how silly it is to relaunch it so soon.

SO MANY SOLOS! XD

Getting back to the Avengers, there are a lot of them getting their own solo books, so let’s do a quick rundown of each. Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers will apparently be in the middle of a schism of some sort in ‘Sam Wilson, Captain America’, which could get more than a little awkward for the foreseeable future. Ms. Marvel is gonna be fangirling like a crazy person over the fact that she’s an Avenger (and in record time), which I can’t wait to read. The Totally Awesome Hulk is more than likely gonna turn out to be Amadeus Cho, all things considered, especially given that both Greg Pak and Frank Cho LOVE the guy. Daredevil is supposedly gonna be teaming up with Gambit… … …’kay. Doctor Strange, Invincible Iron Man, and Captain Marvel, already said my piece on them. All-New Hawkeye might be All-OLD Hawkeye, as Clint Barton may be joining in the old heroes club for some reason and having a clash of some sort with Kate Bishop…not sure what’s going on there. Scarlet Witch is finally getting a solo book that will last longer than 4 issues. Vision is starting a new robotic family…in which family sitcom hijinx are almost certain to follow. lol Astonishing Ant-Man is apparently going back to his villainous ways, although he’s got his fingers crossed on the cover, so probably a ruse. And then there’s the last book I wanna talk about…

The Mighty Thor

Okay, I had a big talk about this on Deviant Art recently, and I gotta be honest with you guys about this. While I like the idea of Jane Foster in the role, there exists many problems with it and this book in general. Now, her getting the name Thor doesn’t bother me as much as a lot of people, since it’s not like she’s a usurper or anything, Odinson GAVE the name to her. What bothers me is that this is the only time someone else has taken up the hammer and kept the name Thor, unlike in the cases of Beta Ray Bill and Thunderstrike. Also, the mystery behind what Fury said to Odinson probably won’t pay off in the long run, Odin is being a colossally sexist douchebag for reasons that are out of character for even him, and Jane’s voice and mannerisms just feel off for the character, although her inner monologue makes up for it a little bit. And how the hell did the inscription on the hammer change anyway (which should probably have had the inscription instead say ‘if THEY be worthy’ from the beginning, as opposed to the former ‘he’ or current ‘she’. More gender neutral, and let’s face it, women have held the hammer before now anyway)? Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very excited to see her as a member of the Avengers post-Secret Wars, and seeing Odinson still be active and badass is good, but it feels kinda tainted by, I’m sorry, bad writing. So, what would I have done differently? I would’ve had Jane gain Mjölnir for a short time, then do what they did with Thunderstrike by having her gain a new hammer of her own with her own badass identity while Thor regains Mjölnir and have the two running at the same time as God and Goddess of Thunder. And before you think it wouldn’t sell well, I would just like to remind that, back in the day, Thunderstrike at one point was vastly out-selling Thor.

So, that’s all well and good, but what’s missing from this equation? Well, looking at the books present and the characters on the banners, I notice that Black Panther only shows up in the Ultimates book so far, Inferno isn’t appearing on the cover for Uncanny Inhumans and may have been swapped out for Reader, and Citizen V and Red Wolf have yet to show up at all. Other than those present on the banners, though, the most notable absentee from the new books is probably Black Widow, which is odd since her solo title was doing really well. Further compounding her absence, however, is a rumour on Twitter I’ve been trying to track back to its source regarding her possible DEATH. I don’t know where this rumour started, but if it’s true, I can tell you for a fact that a lot of people are gonna be ticked off. Other absentees are Gamora, who is supposed to be getting her own book soon, the Fantastic 4, although I already assumed that would be happening, Loki, who has been on a huge roll since the first Avengers movie came out, All-New Ghost Rider, who just got started last year, and while they’re on team books, it’s odd that Rocket Raccoon, Storm, Squirrel Girl, and She-Hulk’s solo titles are apparently not being renewed. As such, I get the feeling this isn’t all there is planned.

Anyway, that’s all I gotta say about the new books so far. Lemme know what you think in the comments section, and we’ll see if any more books get announced between now and October. Ja né!

Is The NEW MU The Same As The New 52?

… … … … … …Okay, make that two lies. lol I’m sorry, but with the news regarding Marvel Comics’ NEW MU being revealed, and people making comparisons to DC Comics’ New 52 (which is ironically being dropped next month, even though it’s the same continuity set by that), I need to discuss this. Specifically, I need to look at whether or not this really is the same thing that DC did back in 2011, and if Marvel is on the verge of making the same mistakes. However, because I got my anger at DC out last time I talked about it, those that are bothered by angry ranting can rest easy in knowing this’ll be a bit more controlled.

In fact, before I go on, I should probably clarify something: While I consider the New 52 as a whole to be a mistake, it’s not like EVERYTHING that resulted from it was innately bad. Scott Snyder’s Batman has been frigging epic, and while I personally have no desire to read a book about Jim Gordon standing in as Batman, I’m sure it’ll nonetheless be well written. Vibe getting revamped into someone I could actually see myself WANTING to be on my team was a good call. And while certain concepts in some of the books rubbed people the wrong way, Animal Man, Aquaman, Batgirl, Frankenstein, and others were all good. However, with the good came the bad and at times outright awful. The abandonment of multiple great stories in a misguided attempt to do them over again, lack of communication leading to confusion over what was canon and not canon, overuse of grimdark stories, too many crossovers, the whole ‘heroes can’t be married/happy’ controversy, practically everything that’s been done with Lois Lane and Wonder Woman (with one or two exceptions, like the Lois Lane one-shot or more recent issues of Justice League), the mistreatment of women in general, and countless broken promises by the higher ups to their writers leading to disappointments and walk-outs. It was a mess, and it continues to be a mess even with the New 52 banner being dropped.

So, with the NEW MU being announced, people are getting increasingly concerned that Marvel may be looking to copy DC’s ‘success’, only to make the same mistakes. And, for the record, the name “NEW MU” was a mistake, just gonna say it right now. I get that’s probably meant to parody the New 52, but I think that concept may have been lost on some. On top of that, for reasons I stated above, and the fact that the moniker was used long after the New 52 was new or maintained 52 books, it pretty much parodies itself. There’s really no reason to go there. However, beyond the name, is there reason to believe this is the same situation as DC’s September 2011 reboot?

First of all, let’s get something out of the way right now: This is not a complete back to square one reboot of the Marvel Universe. Want proof of that? Read All-New, All-Different Avengers from Free Comic Book Day. Sam Wilson is still Captain America. Jane Foster is still Thor. Characters like Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales as Spider-Man, and Sam Alexander as Nova are still around and carrying their current hero names. Past continuity is still addressed. Alternatively, when the New 52 started, we had the Justice League being formed in what was considered the first time for that continuity, represented by six of the seven original members of the team, and retelling the origin story of Cyborg.

Then there’re the stories that ended the old universes and started the new ones, DC’s Flashpoint and Marvel’s Secret Wars. Now, the great thing about Secret Wars, as I’m coming to understand, is that a lot of various concepts, characters, locations, and even whole books that tie into it are going to carry over into the NEW MU, so really, it’s more of a preview of things to come. So far, among things confirmed to continue on in the new universe, we’ve had Maelstrom, the all-monster version of the Howling Commandos, and much to my delight, the all-female contingent of the Avengers, A-Force. Flashpoint also introduced some concepts and characters that carried over to the New 52, but I’m not sure how much of it was intended from the beginning. I think the only one that was would be Element Woman, although I will say that I DO absolutely adore her as a character, so I’ll give them that much…Speaking of which, we really need to see a Doom Patrol book, now that she’s hanging with them, and we need to see them toss Caulder to the side for his bullcrap.

Lastly, let’s compare tones. As I said before, the New 52 has been very dark and dire, relying a lot on grimdark stories and fridging characters. And while Secret Wars kicked off with the destruction of two whole worlds and most of the people on them, let’s again look at All-New, All-Different Avengers, where the team’s focus and intent is to help people, and where we’ve got three relatively young and light-hearted characters on the team to keep things from getting too serious. Also, I’m 99.9% sure that many of those shown to be lost in the destruction of the two worlds will be back in some way, shape, or form. So it’s looking like, tone-wise, it’s gonna be at least slightly lighter than the New 52.

So, ultimately, are they making the same mistakes as DC did with the New 52? Ultimately… … …no, they aren’t. It’s not a complete reboot, since history is maintained from the previous universe (although I’m sure the dates certain stuff happened will get pushed closer to present day, like when Steve Rogers was defrosted, when Tony Stark became Iron Man, etc.), it’s not going to rely on the same crap that DC did, it’s introducing new ideas while keeping the old ones, and they have the advantage of doing this after the New 52 and learning from its mistakes. So, no, this isn’t the same thing, or at least not in my opinion. At the very least, I personally am not gonna worry about it, at least not yet. And, as I’ve said before, if THIS is the new look for Marvel comics…

…I think we’re good. 😀 Anyway, lemme know what you think about all of this, and we’ll see how things develop. Ja né!

My Thoughts On The All-New, All-Different Avengers Preview Comic

So, I went to Heroes’ Beacon and GameZilla for Free Comic Book Day today. Sadly, I can’t upload photos of my trips to either, because my computer, for some strange reason, doesn’t wanna accept SD cards right now. I can’t even begin to understand why. Nonetheless, the point of this article is not to talk about Free Comic Book Day and what I did there, but rather, what I got: All-New, All-Different Avengers.

So, not a whole lot to say, since it’s just a preview of stuff to come. What’s here is good, though. We see the Avengers having to fight Radioactive Man, but something apparently goes wrong when Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Spider-Man (Miles Morales), and Nova (Sam Alexander) are sent to bring him in while Thor (the new female one), Iron Man (presumably Tony Stark, although they can’t seem to recall that Wasp was the one to name the team the Avengers), Vision, and Captain America (Sam Wilson) deal with…erm, Radioactive Man’s giant green dragon……’kay. Anyway, the other four seem to the teens as being highly upset that Radioactive Man seemingly got away, but it turns out that the reason he got away was because the teens decided to save one innocent pedestrian in the middle of the chaos. When Cap presses the issue and asks if they really thought saving one man was worth it, which they seem to confirm…he’s convinced that they were the right choices for the new team. Saving people is their number one priority, and these three clearly have the mindset of doing so above all else. So yeah, it’s kinda short, but it nonetheless showcases how these seven operate, and I do like the way they work as a unit. Still, I would’ve liked to see some mix-and-matching between the older and younger groups instead of having the generational members split off, but I guess I can look forward to that when the book starts.

I’m not gonna talk too much about the other half of the book, which features the Uncanny Inhumans, except to bring up a couple of points. First off, why is it called Uncanny Inhumans? Look, I know that a lot of adjectives used to describe heroes and teams have been interchangeable at times, but there really is no way to use the word ‘Uncanny’ to describe a superhero team without thinking of the X-Men. In fact, the only one I can think of off the top of my head other than them is the Uncanny Avengers, which have like half their team made up of X-Men alumni. Next thing I gotta ask about is the Human Torch’s presence on the team. Not only does this raise some questions about his status with the Fantastic Four, but…………..Since when were Johnny Storm and Queen Medusa ROMANTIC?! Maybe this is none of my business, but isn’t Medusa married?! The frak is going on?! But other than that, it was okay, showing the team going up against Hydra agents looking to kidnap newly awakened Inhumans.

Anyway, that’s all I really wanted to say about the book. It was good, and the post-Secret Wars universe looks promising, but man, does it raise some interesting questions. Lemme know what books you guys got at FCBD, and then come back in a day or two for when I give my overall thoughts and opinions on Avengers: Age of Ultron. Ja né!

Next Month On Jyger’s Rant: Marvelous May

…Yup, I’m doing a theme month. lol I even made a temporary background for the month of May.

See if you can name ’em all! 😀

So yeah, next month is Marvelous May, a term I’m almost 100% sure has been used a billion times before. One month dedicated to nothing but Marvel-related news, stories, and so on. I’m gonna be talking about Age of Ultron when I go to see it, I’m gonna be talking about Free Comic Book Day and the preview book for All-New, All-Different Avengers, and I’ll be reminiscing about some Marvel-related TV shows that I’ve watched, and what I liked and didn’t like about ’em. And, as usual, I’ll be giving links to previews of Marvel comics that I buy throughout the month of May (which works out well, because other than Sensation Comic feat. Wonder Woman, I don’t think there are any DC books I’m getting next month), and I will TRY my damnest to get in some reviews if at all possible.

Oh man, if this is the state of Marvel superhero teams post-Secret Wars (plus the X-Men and Guardians of the Galaxy, of course), the future’s looking pretty good. 🙂

Anyway, feel free to leave some suggestions of Marvel-related topics I can talk about next month, and be sure to follow along with me throughout Marvelous May. Ja né!