While today’s clip doesn’t have a shot of Hawkeye, It is much easier to follow the action. In this clip, the newly Midgard-bound Thor wakes up in a hospital after being tased. Not knowing what to do, he kind of freaks, and considering his situation, that’s understandable. The way he gets taken down does make one think about the overall plot of the movie. If my guess is correct, Odin not only banishes Thor to Earth, but makes him mortal. While that probably takes the whole “Don Blake” thing out of the equation, it still makes for an interesting concept. Thor is much more likely to learn humility if he isn’t all powerful, after all. Anyway, I’ve hemmed and hawed enough, let’s watch the clip!

Not to be outdone by the new news about Dark Knight Rises, The Marvel movie camp has some news of their own! The upcoming ‘Deadpool’ has found a director in Tim Miller, according to Deadline. You may not know the name, but Miller had ties with the X-Franchise, having worked on the visual fx in X-Men. While this is Miller’s first foray into directing feature films, he has a track record of directing various video game trailers, so the craft is not an entirely new animal.

According to Deadline, because of Darren Aronofsky leaving The Wolverine, the production schedule has changed and put Deadpool next in line after the upcoming X-Men: First Class. The Scriptwriters and producer are already in place, now with a director things are falling in line. Time will tell if the unproven Mr. Miller has what it takes to have Deadpool make a killing (terrible pun) at the box office.

Miller’s own VFX Studio, Blur, is responsible for the cinematics for DC Universe Online, and those were particularly awesome, so hopefully there will be more nerd hope rather than nerd rage at this announcement!

FEAR ITSELF (seven-issue miniseries, published monthly, $3.99)

WHO’S RESPONSIBLE? Matt Fraction (writer); Stuart Immomen and Wade von Grawbadger (artists).

Guilty admission time: I came prepared to fully hate “Fear Itself,” Marvel’s latest crossover comics “event.”

Why, you may ask, would such a faithful Marvel Zombie feel that way? Two words: “crossover fatigue.” After being let down by the company’s less-than-impressive crossovers “House of M,” “Secret Invasion” and, yes, “Civil War,” I’m more than a little skeptical about another one. Especially since we were sort of promised that the more-fun “Siege” would end this nonsense for a while.

And frankly, I’ve been less than impressed with Matt Fraction’s recent output for Marvel. His “Immortal Iron Man” series has stagnated, and his run to date on “Thor” has been a real dud.

Here he’s tackling even bigger themes, using Norse mythology that hasn’t even been referenced in nearly 50 years of continuity. Essentially, the idea is there’s a more powerful god than Odin in the Asgardian pantheon, and he’s just been released by Sin, the daughter of the Red Skull. Together, they’re planning to unleash real fear across the world.

In the meantime, the Marvel heroes … including Thor, Steve Rogers, Iron Man and their fellow Avengers … have joined forces for a rebuilding project in Broxton, Okla., which has been sharing space with Thor and his fellow Asgardians. That is, until Odin arrives and calls the Asgardians home, apparently never to return to Earth. If he’s scared of what’s coming, what should our heroes be feeling?

THE GOOD.

The ending of the first issue. Without spoiling anything, this is one of those real “uh-oh” moments. Fraction promises further bombshells in the months to come, including a supposed “major” character death in issue #3.

And you have to like the way Fraction uses the current political and economic climate to reinforce major the story’s themes. There’s a real grounded quality to the story. Especially when rioting gets so far out of hand that even Steve Rogers … a revered figure … isn’t safe from harm.

Also, do I need to say anything about the art of Stuart Immomen? As he’s proven with books like “New Avengers,” “NextWave: Agents of H.A.T.E.” and “Ultimate Spider-Man,” he’s got a lively style that’s well-suited to not only big-screen action but smaller character moments. He’s joined by longtime inker Wade von Grawbadger and colorist Laura Martin, who doesn’t overdo the hues. Her work is subtle and nuanced. It’s a great-looking artistic package.

THE BAD.

The pacing is a little rushed, and there could be a “rest moment” or two. But you can understand why Fraction and co. wanted to get off to a fast start.

I’m still not sure Fraction has the right “voice” for the Asgardian gods either. While I’m glad he … and every writer who has touched the characters since J. Michael Straczynski … did away with the faux-Shakespeare talk, these Gods Among Men still sound a tad colloquial for my tastes. Still, that’s a minor quibble at best.

THE UGLY.

A tie-in miniseries, “Fear Itself: Home Front,” is supposed to augment the story and fill in some blanks. However, its first issue already makes it looks like one of those dreaded “jam books.” It features four related stories … including a bash-your-over-the-head Speedball story by “Avengers Academy” scribe Christos Gage. You can skip this one, unless you want to see writer Peter Milligan put a new spin on Jeff Parker’s Agent of Atlas characters.

IN CONCLUSION: If the first issue is any of how this whole miniseries is going to go, we’re in for something really good, really special. And the timing couldn’t be more perfect. “Fear Itself” is likely going to feature Thor and Captain America as its main characters. Just in time for their movies to hit theaters. Hmmm …

Jerk-Bot is the robotic nom de plume or Utah-based writer/reviewer Jeff Michael Vice. He would like you to listen to him rant about movies and other geeky stuff on both the Geek Show Podcast and the Mediocre Show, as well as watch him review movies on the Big Movie Mouth-Off .

RECAP: Steve Rogers/Captain America has found out that in his absence America continued its experiments with the Super Soldier program. Frank Simpson was a product of the program and while fighting in Vietnam he saw the horrors war could bring. It made him think twice about his loyalty to America and he turned traitor and disappeared. Frank Simpson turned back up at the beginning of Ultimate Captain America and gave Captain America a royal beat down. When Cap finds out it was Frank Simpson that beat the crap out of him Cap tracks him down in Cambodia with the intention of capturing and bringing him back to America.

It is in a small Cambodian village filled with meta-humans that Cap discovers there has been further experimentation with the Super Soldier formula. All the meta-human villagers have been given the serum and they all give Cap another brutal, royal beat down. Simpson than holds Cap captive, tortures him on a daily basis, and takes samples of his blood. During Cap’s captivity, Simpson tries to get Cap to renounce America by telling him horror stories of the evil things that America has done while Cap was away. Though Cap tries to escape, all of his attempts are thwarted by Simpson and the villagers.

By the end of issue #3, Cap is informed that they have gotten what they need from him and since they can’t turn him they are going to kill him. With a gun pressed to his head Cap starts to pray. Simpson finds this amusing and gives him 5 minutes alone for his “God” to save him.

REVIEW: Issue # 4 picks up with Caps “miracle from God” coming in the form of a snake. He grabs and rips open the snake to pull out the venom sac, which he stores in his mouth. When Frank Simpson comes back to finish Cap off he gets a face full of venom! The next few pages is an all out brawl of fisticuffs, which leads to a fight with a couple of hammers and a sledge hammer. Once again, Simpson gets the upper hand and has Cap on his knees. Now comes the classic villain cliché — the stall.

Simpson could take out Cap right then but decides to get him to admit that America is dead and broken. This gives Cap enough time to pick up the sledge hammer and give Simpson one hell of a crotch shot! Cap has taken down Frank Simpson and places him into S.HI.E.L.D. custody.

Back at HQ, Cap and Hawkeye are sitting around drinking beer and watching some boxing. When Cap explains how he escaped by “a miracle from God,” Hawkeye turns it around and asks if he really thinks it was God or “the other guy,” as snakes aren’t really Gods thing. Hawkeye goes on to explain to Cap that both of them have killed people and will most likely do it again. He also states that they are trying to do the right thing, but have never done so in accordance with “the good book.” After that talk, Captain America walks into Frank Simpson’s highly secured cell. Simpson asks Cap if he has come to gloat and Cap replies, “Nope, just returning the favor.” The issue ends with Captain America sitting by Frank Simpson’s bedside and reading the Bible to him.

With the exception of a couple of bad eggs in the Ultimate universe (Ultimate X and Ultimates 3), I have been a long time fan of almost everything in the Ultimate comic line. Though Captain America has never been one of my favorite characters, this series was just as great as most of the other Ultimate titles. And even though I had some problems with the end of the issue being a little ‘preachy,’ I would totally recommend this series to Captain America fans old and new alike.

I have no idea why there’s a random shot of what seems to be Hawkeye in the middle of this clip (since it has no payoff and seems to be outside of the whole situation) but who else would it be?

Thor is obviously breaking out of a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility and if they’re taking an Ultimates take on Hawkeye and he’s one of Fury’s men right off the bat it makes perfect sense.

What do you guys think? Does this look incredible or what? And do you think that’s Hawkeye? Or not?

Special thanks to Mockingnerd and Mandybu for bringing this to my attention.

Marvel provided us with this preview of Fear Itself #2.

I haven’t read the first one yet, but I picked it up because everyone has quite begrudgingly told me I had to. In fact, I’ve been told by numerous people spanning the United States “I kind of didn’t want to like it, but it was good.”

I’ll have to see for myself.

From Marvel’s press release:

Marvel is proud to present your first look at Fear Itself #2 (of 7), from comics megastars Matt Fraction and Stuart Immonen. The comic blockbuster of 2011 is here and fans and critics everywhere are asking “Who are The Worthy?” Seven hammers of unfathomable power have fallen to the far corners of the Earth and the race is on to see who will be the Serpent’s champions. With the Asgardians leaving the Marvel Universe to fend for itself, can the Avengers repel a foe that gets stronger the more he’s feared? The Marvel Universe’s worst nightmare comes true this May as the event iFanboy.com calls “a huge, epic story that is exactly the kind that comic books are made for” continues, only in Fear Itself #2 (of 7)!

So, the summer movie season is almost upon us, and we’re getting a ton of comic-book related movies. That’s all well and good, but since we’re past the heroes that everyone knows, you may be intimidated going in. Take Thor, for instance. All you need to know about him is that he’s the God of Thunder, and swings around an awesome hammer. When it comes to villainy in Thor’s world, there is much more subtlety. Sure, you have your Frost Giants, and Ragnarok and all that looming over the heads of the Norse Gods all the time, but Thor’s opposite number is much closer to home, his half-brother, Loki. How can two boys raised together turn out so differently? What gave Loki the moniker of “God of Mischief”? That’s what this column is for, as I give you the Secret Origin of… Loki!

Loki’s tale begins with a tale of two fathers, Odin and Laufey. Odin, of course is the king of the Norse Gods, and father to Thor. Laufey on the other hand, is the king of the giant warriors of Jotunheim. The two monarchs came to blows over who has rightful rein over all of Asgard. The battle was as fierce as you might expect, but Odin was at a disadvantage, and he knew it.

"If only my inner monologue was less verbose!"

Odin, knowing actions speak louder than words, hurls his hammer into Laufey’s war club, shattering its hilt, rendering it useless. While an awesome move, worthy of a warrior of Odin’s caliber, his actions cause Laufey’s fellows to join the fray. It has suddenly shifted from a mano a mano match, to a decidedly one-sided affair. Odin isn’t without his own backup though, and he calls his own warriors to battle. I would try to describe to the battle, but I have to defer to the words of Stan Lee on this one.

In other words, it is ON!

The battle rages for what seems like days, until the forces of Laufey give up and attempt retreat. Odin is a bit of a bloodthirsty king though, and orders his warriors to not stop until the Warlord of Jotunheim is slain! The chase is on, but Laufey is the sort that would rather die in battle than retreat, so he has his wish granted. In the aftermath of the battle, one of Odin’s warriors finds a child, wrapped in blankets, hidden away. Odin, who was pretty wise even before he sacrificed his eye for knowledge, realizes that the baby is actually Loki, son of Laufey. Loki was hidden away because Laufey was ashamed of him for not being a giant like the rest of the denizens of Jotunheim. Odin, being ever the noble, decides that since Loki is of princely blood, there is only one thing he can do.

Apparently Odin can just bestow immortality. Good to know.

We skip ahead some years now into the boyhoods of Loki and Thor. We find the two half-brothers watching a warrior’s tournament. Thor is commenting that he knows the combatant, Uller, will win because he is more skilled than his opponent, Volsak. Loki is kind of annoyed that Thor is a know-it-all and makes a wager that Volsak will be victorious. The tournament goes on, and it look like Uller will indeed be the champion, until Loki decides to put the odds in his own favor.

"And if anyone asks why I'm posing like this, I'll say I'm vogueing!"

Loki’s actions cause Uller’s staff to disintegrate, and Volsak is indeed declared the winner. Unfortunately for Loki, his spell was pretty darned obvious, and before you know it, the authorities are after the boys. When they are inevitably caught, the blame all falls on Loki. This is just of course, but the reasoning behind it is not. It is just assumed that because Thor is Odin’s “real” son, he of course could have nothing to do with it. I’m not saying it’s cool for Loki to be evil, but I was raised constantly being told I’m not fit to lick my half-brother’s boots, I’d lash out a bit too. Anyway, since Thor is the golden boy, he insists that since he was with Loki, that they should share punishment. Taken aback by Thor’s gallantry, it is decided that there won’t be any punishment at all. Thor begs forgiveness, and then the boys are on their way. Thor takes Loki aside and they share a moment, but not in the way you might think.

I know Loki is in the wrong, but how pretentious is that "T" tunic of Thor's?

Thor and Loki do indeed go onto their horsemanship training, and when riding, Thor, having already forgotten the transgressions of the day, challenges Loki to race to the foot of the fabled Rainbow Bridge. Loki initially refuses due to the knowledge that Thor’s steed is the faster of the two. Thor goads Loki into by saying the skill of the rider is also a large factor. The race is heated, but it is becoming obvious that Thor is once again the better Norseman. He yells out for Loki to try harder, grinning all the while. For Loki, this is the last straw, and he makes himself a solemn vow…

If you look up "Overreaction" in the dictionary, you get this picture.

More time passes and Loki and Thor are on the fringes of adulthood. It seems that Ghan, a deadly Storm Giant has threatened Asgard, and Odin appoints Thor to lead a task force to stop the threat before it can be carried out. Loki is also on hand, bitterly wishing he was leader. In his twisted mind, Loki decides that since he can’t be leader, he must instead make sure Thor fails.  The group encounters Ghan, and Thor enters the fray eagerly, while Loki stays in the background, planning his revenge…

"But first, I practice my light show for the upcoming Rave!"

As all of the battles in this tale seem to, it rages on. Thor and the task force finally assemble a catapult which contains a sleeping potion which will allow them to subdue the giant with ease. While successful, when they reach the giant, he is inexplicably not there. Thor didn’t get to be the God of Thunder by being completely ignorant though. He realizes that magic must be rearing its ugly head. But if Ghan possessed no magic, who could have accomplished such trickery? Now, remember when I said just a second ago that Thor wasn’t completely oblivious? He’s still a little slow on the uptake where his half-brother is concerned. Indeed, even as Loki volunteers to stay behind and search, Thor is trusting. When the warriors finally do part ways, we discover that Ghan is not really gone. Loki had just transformed him into an eagle. With the need for such tricks over, Ghan and Loki converse a bit…

"If you want to repay me now, shave that unsightly beard!"

And with that, Loki was well and truly on his way to earning the title of God of Evil. Throughout the years, Loki would continuously conspire to not only destroy his half-brother, but to seize the throne of Asgard for himself. Now we know how Loki because the mischievously devious cuss that he is today. It’s a bit tragic actually. If Loki was given the same compassion as Thor, he probably would not have turned out like he did.  Let that be a lesson to us all, favoring one child over another can lead to depression, loneliness and a desire to destroy everything you hold dear!

That’s it for this week. This story was originally serialized in Journey Into Mystery #112-113 and #115. It is available in reprint form in the various Thor Masterworks and Essential volumes, and also on Marvel’s Digital Comics Unlimited, which is where I read it.

Moon Knight has been a favorite character of mine since I was a kid and I’ve been sad that his most recent iterations have been pretty boring to me. At his best, Moon Knight is a schizophrenic mix between Batman and Daredevil with all the powers of a Moon God and at his worse he’s a white hooded sidekick with no personality.

It’s interesting to see a team like Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev take on the character. I’ll certainly be putting it in my hold to see what all the hubbub is about.

From Marvel’s release:

Marvel is pleased to present your first look at Moon Knight #1, from the Eisner Award-winning creative team of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev! Moon Knight heads to Los Angeles as a one-man Avengers team to dissolve a criminal syndicate tearing the City of Angels apart. Except there will be no warm welcome, because once word gets out about Marc Spector’s arrival, the mastermind behind LA’s crime circuit will stop at nothing to make an example of any Avengers who cross him. Plagued by incurable schizophrenia, can Moon Knight hold it together to clear out a city riddled with villains? This May, two of comics’ biggest talents reunite to redraw, and redefine one of Marvel’s Big Shots, only in Moon Knight #1!

I’d like to introduce you to our newest robot, Miss Mecha! She’s going to be covering mainly the anime beat, so please, welcome her and check out her stuff.  Without further ado:

American viewers will either Love…or Hate the new X Men Anime

Greetings BSR readers! Allow me to introduce myself as Miss Mecha, here to bring you anime news from Japan. Nippon has been my second home since 2006. I’ve lived in Tokyo and Saitama and spent many days wandering through the streets of Akihabara and the lesser known Nakano Broadway. Though I’m currently living in the United States, my job allows me to travel back and forth between the US and Japan so I’m lucky enough to venture back to my favorite places in Tokyo every now and again.

I’m here today to tell you about the new X Men Anime on Japan’s Animax satellite network. I managed to get a hold of the first episode that premiered on April 1st and decided to give it a go. I want to let you know going into this article that I tried to watch it with as open a mind as possible. Why do I need an open mind for this? Well, let me explain.

I’ve been an X Men fan since I was about six or seven years old. I started watching the 90s cartoon and reading the comics when I was very young, and my subsequent love of comics and geeky things in general probably directly stemmed from my early watching of X Men (along with heavy influence from Star Wars and the Power Rangers, of course).

Since I really care about the characters, I knew it would be really important to go into this with an open mind, because I suspected they would really take regional liberties with the characters to make them more appealing in the Japanese market. Honestly, I couldn’t have been more spot on with my guess. It’s a decent conversion to anime, but fans of the original comic and characters (especially those who don’t like anime) will probably want to steer clear of this series. G4’s Attack of the Blog reports that they’ll be airing the series later this year (presumably with their own subtitling or dubbing). I’m thinking, however, that they may want to reconsider their decision to bring the series over later this year if enough people catch wind of just how regionalized the series is. Honestly, I don’t think the US ratings would be that good.

Here’s why:

DETAILED SPOILERS BELOW!!!

The episode opens with your fairly typical anime scene of gripping action and excitement. Brilliant colors and sharp stylization that are characteristic of any anime are very apparent. In general, Madhouse animation company has produced some absolutely stunning series and films, so I wasn’t surprised that the quality of animation is great. The screen pans up and across the faces of our newly anime-ized X Men….and Wolverine looks like a complete psycho, might I add. He looks a little too strange and different from the Logan I prefer…but it works for this series. The women have shining eyes and huge breasts – again, this is no different from what you’d expect in any anime (and to be fair, Jim Lee had em drawn pretty big back in the day as well, so this is not really a “change” per se).

Pan further up and there’s Jean Grey turned into The Phoenix and ready to explode everything in her path. She starts flinging objects at our heroes and Wolverine slices through a big chunk of rock – so far pretty typical showcasing of the X Men Powers, but with that slightly shiny “glow around the edges” that you see in many action anime series.

Professor X fails to make contact with Jean, and explains that this must be the work of Mastermind. Scott, who loves Jean in any universe, jumps in to risk his life in an attempt to save her. Here’s where we have the first really obvious sign of Japanese influence. The scene cuts to the clouds, where an “innocent” Jean pleads with Scott to kill her before she hurts anyone else. Here we see the inner innocence of Jean, which is a common element associated with blue sky and clouds in anime. As expected, it’s too late to save her, and Scott must suffer as he watches his love be torn away from him. Now, this is ridiculous, but I honestly can’t help but laugh during this scene because Cyclops looks like a pretty-boy, muscly, Japanese-cool-guy while he’s obviously supposed to be suffering and making me sad. His shiny hair flicks back as he cries out, “I LOVE YOU!”

Okay, so here is where I’ve probably lost any of you that don’t enjoy anime, and to be honest, I totally understand why you wouldn’t be crazy about this. It’s very much the kind of show that will do well in Japan…which means that it might not do very well with the masses in the US. The dialogue is especially rough for those who aren’t used to Japanese speech patterns. It’s fun to translate from a “learning Japanese point of view,” but American fans will miss the things that you’d get from prior, established X Men cartoons. Familiar phrases and coined trademarks of the X Men franchise will not be found in these scripts, because the slang and emotion need to be conveyed in a way that makes them accessible and enjoyable to a Japanese audience – AKA: tons of their slang, none of ours. Alas, no “Hey Bub!” from Wolverine here. Admittedly though, the writers do make him a bit snarky in their own way. At one point he sarcastically asks Cyclops if he’s renewed his license since he hasn’t flown the X-jet in a year…and this feels like a truly Wolverine moment. Cyclops assures him that he’s always been a more stable pilot, anyways. After that scene I felt a bit more assured that they’re trying to keep the inner core of these characters intact.

Throughout the episode, characters are introduced in a jumbling manner that is a bit rushed. Again, I have seen this before in so many anime. This haphazard-speedy-introduction of characters is something I always complain about when I watch the first couple of episodes of an anime, so I’m going to give the show a few more chances to prove itself. Beast is thus far my favorite in this version of X Men. He teaches a squid to communicate with humans..and it’s kind of neat.

The weakest character so far – Storm. They just haven’t made her a strong, second-in-command type like they have in other series. New to the series we’ll see Hisako Ichiki, a young Japanese girl from the Tohoku region of Japan. The X Men need to save her from mysterious kidnappers, and her mutant powers have not yet been revealed.

In the end, my assessment of the show is that it’s pretty average so far. It does have some cool action sequences, and the plot shows promise as they begin to talk about “mutant hunting” but I have to admit I’m a bit skeptical about the outlook of this show. Come on Madhouse animation company! Don’t let me down!

You can see the trailer here:

For more info, stay tuned. I’ll be watching each week as more episodes are released.

It’s time for another installment of This Week IN Comics!

Big Shiny Robot! has a weekly column in the Salt Lake City alt-weekly IN Magazine and every week we bring it to you on the site.

If you live in the greater Salt Lake area, you can pick up a copy of IN Magazine up from one of their ubiquitous newsstands, and we would highly suggest that you do.

You can read the online version of the story here.

This week we’re directing people to Phil Sheldon, the protagonist in the incredible book Marvels.