Iron Man Noir #3

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Writer: Scott Snyder

Artist: Manuel Garcia

Inker: Lorenzo Ruggiero

Scott Snyder, the mind behind Vertigo’s American Vampire, is doing just as much great work over at Marvel writing the compelling and fun Iron Man Noir series.  A cross between Iron Man and Indiana Jones with a dash of Steampunk, Snyder’s “Noir” iteration of Iron Man is an action-packed adventure told just like the old adventure serials.

A lot of the conceits of the standard Tony Stark story are there, his heart is in trouble, he has Jarvis, etc., but for some reason this time and place seems a lot more interesting to me.  It’s set during the late 30s, Nazi’s are all around, looking for artifacts to help win the war, Baron Zemo is leading the villainous charge, but who is he really?  You might not like the answer to the question, but I certainly did and it added such a layer of depth to the whole issue and raised so many intriguing questions that I’m dying to read the next one.  Although it reads like a pulpy-adventure, after reading and re-reading the issue, you can tell that the story is told with a careful finesse that seems to come natural to the storyteller.  It begs to be read over and over again.  The story is fun, the art is pretty to look at, and the story telling is great.

This is definitely a book you should be picking up.  I understand if you feel like you’re jumping in too late and want to wait for the trade, but I guess my point might be that you missed the boat and you should pre-order your trade now.

Snyder is proving to be a force to be reckoned with in the comics medium and, as excellent as his prose work is, I hope he’s able to stay working in comics for a very long time.

Marvel Comics reviews are brought to you by Dr. Volts Comic Connection.

Over at joblo they ran a story claiming to have been sent the teaser poster for the Captain America movie. Since it hasn’t been officially released we can’t say if this is the real poster or not, but it looks pretty awesome!

According to the Hollywood Reporter’s Heatvision Blog, Hurt Locker star Jeremy Renner is in “final negotiations” to join the Marvel Universe as the purple-clad archer “Hawkeye”.

Clint Barton was originally a villain until he saw the light and joined up with the Avengers.  The Ultimate iteration of the character had him as a Black-Ops marksman of unnatural skill.  Either version of the character could be compelling in the new Marvel film universe.

My only concern?

Renner’s involvement was initially rumored last fall, although the actor, who was in the middle of the awards derby with his war thriller “The Hurt Locker,” was at the time more taken with Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled drama and was being heavily courted by Universal for “Battleship.”

Renner never joined “Battleship,” and while he still has definite interest in Anderson’s film, that project is still cobbling financing and has seen its start pushed back several times.

Renner saw a chance to take on work in a role that, while key, is not starring in nature and will allow him to slide into Anderson’s film if it should come together.

To keep costs manageable for the “Avengers,” Marvel is trying to keep a lid on the movie’s finances and the actors are taking salary cuts, according to insiders.

That’s right.  If this interferes with anything PT Anderson wants to do, I’m all against it.

So, more concept from the Marvel movies has been leaked, this time images of Chris Hemsworth as Thor.

Collider has the full story and more pictures than the one below.  I’m a little worried about this.  Not the costume itself, I think it’ll look great, but these concept pieces (like the one of Captain America yesterday) look a little silly and wonky.  It’s not because their bad, it’s just the art style and the odd photoshop job done to put the actors in the suits.  Is this really the best first look of these characters we want?

I really don’t think so.  And I think some people might start to get the wrong impression about these movies far too much in advance.

Also, why doesn’t Cap have wings on his helmet?

In any  case, here’s Thor.  It looks good, but I hope the style of this doesn’t turn anyone off of the movie.

This is Pride Week in Salt Lake City, and to stick with the theme of this week’s issue of IN, I wrote about gay superheroes.  I know there are plenty more of them, and I probably could have written my whole article about Scott Pilgrim characters we all know and love, but I wanted to showcase some good fights and tights books that are better than people realize.  Especially the (at times) snooty “indy book” crowd.

You can pick up IN on stands in the greater Salt Lake area, or read the online version of the article here.

Click to magnify this version below.

AICN has posted several artist renderings of what is to be, more or less, Cap’s costume for his upcoming movie, Captain America: The First Avenger! These renderings have also been confirmed to be accurate by Mike Sampson over at JoBlo who had previously gotten an exclusive look at the costume, but was forbidden to share any visuals (in all fairness, he did write up a solid description of what he had seen).

So here you have it folks, the live-action Captain America. You can view several more pictures over at AICN!

I think it looks pretty damn good, myself. What does everyone else think!?

Marvel has provided us with a first look at the upcoming Avengers #2! Check out the images below comic-lovers!

Marvel is proud to present your first look at Avengers #2, from the superstar team of Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. A new team of Avengers has assembled, under the watch of Steve Rogers and their first mission is clear: save the future from their own children! But just who are the Avengers of the future? And just what role does Kang play in this perilous quest? The biggest new series of the century continues as the Heroic Age kicks into high gear!

AVENGERS #2 (APR100547)
AVENGERS #2 ROMITA JR VARIANT (APR100548)
AVENGERS #2 IRON MAN BY DESIGN 2.0 VARIANT (APR100549)
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Pencils & Cover by JOHN ROMITA JR.
Variant by JOHN ROMITA JR.
Iron Man By Design 2.0 Variant by ALAN ALDRIDGE
Rated T+ …$3.99
FOC—6/3/10, On-Sale—6/23/10

First up, filmonic has posted a picture (above) that shows the director of the upcoming X-Men: First Class, Matthew Vaughn hanging out with his new Professor X, James McAvoy, and Kick-Ass star, Aaron Johnson. Now, the picture isn’t revealing at all other than these three men were in each other’s presence at some point last week, but given the recent casting news about James McAvoy and his Professor X role I could see how this could possibly have been some sort of meeting about a possible role for Johnson in First Class.

All speculation at this point folks…

Moving on from speculation to hard rumor, avengersnews.com is reporting that Marvel’s people are talking to Lost star Josh Holloway’s people about him playing “…a ‘lead’ role in an upcoming Marvel film.” There are no hints to who he may play at this point, but avengersnews speculated as follows:

– Henry Pym (important role in “The Avengers” and its sequels, lead role in “Ant-Man” spinoff.)

– Clint Barton/Hawkeye (maybe a S.H.I.E.L.D. member in “The Avengers” with a starring role in the “S.H.I.E.L.D.” spin-off or a future Avengers sequel.)

– Timothy “Dum Dum” Dugan (important S.H.I.E.L.D. member in “The Avengers” and its sequels, and lead role in the “S.H.I.E.L.D. spinoff)

So there you have it! Some good old fashioned rumor-mill “news”!

Personally, I think Holloway would make a good Hawkeye (especially the “Ultimate” version), but I liked the idea of Hurt Locker star Jeremy Renner in that role as well. As far as Johnson goes I really couldn’t imagine him as a young Hank McCoy/Beast, Scott Summers/Cyclops or Bobby Drake/Iceman… perhaps a young Warren Worthington/Angel?

Sound off in the comments and let us know which Marvel character you’d like to see Johnson and Holloway step in to!

Marvel sent out the press release attached below this morning, informing us that Joe Quesada would be promoted to Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment.  My first question was to wonder who would take over as editor-in-chief at Marvel, but it seems as though it’s still Quesada.  They just added a whole extra full time job on him, where he has to over see both the Marvel U proper and all of the film and television projects that Marvel Studios is shepherding.

I think this is generally a good thing, during his tenure at Marvel Quesada has proven his love for the characters and the Universe, but my worry is that he’ll be stretched so thin that he’ll just have a rubber stamp that says “OK” to every bad idea that comes across his desk.

Only time will tell.

New York, NY – June 2, 2010 – Marvel Entertainment, LLC announced today that it has promoted Joe Quesada to Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment.  In this new role, Mr. Quesada will work alongside Alan Fine, Executive Vice President, Office of the President and Chairman of Marvel Studios’ Creative Committee, to ensure that all portrayals of Marvel’s characters and storytelling remain true to the essence of Marvel’s rich history. Additionally, Mr. Quesada will provide creative oversight of all areas of Marvel’s business including theatrical, television, publishing, animation and games, while also actively participating in all story and script development for Marvel’s films and animation. Prior to this promotion, Mr. Quesada held the role of Chief Creative Officer & Editor-In-Chief, Marvel Animation & Publishing and oversaw the creative aspects of Marvel Comics and Marvel Animation. The announcement was made today by Mr. Fine, to whom Mr. Quesada will report.

Mr. Fine stated, “I am excited to have Joe join me as Marvel Entertainment enters the next chapter in our history. Joe has already played an instrumental role as Editor-in-Chief in changing the face of the comic book industry with bold new ventures and an unprecedented penetration of the mainstream consciousness. His love and passion for Marvel, along with his experience guiding publishing for the last decade, will be invaluable as we bring our characters to life in new media.”

“I am honored to take this new position at Marvel Entertainment and work with Alan to bring the rich history of Marvel to a brand new audience” said Mr. Quesada.  “Together with the incredible talent here at Marvel, in all our divisions, I look forward to making Marvel an even bigger part of the entertainment industry and showing why we’ve been an industry leader for over 70 years.”

Mr. Quesada will also continue to serve as Editor-In-Chief, Marvel Publishing, where over the past decade he has helped usher in bold new imprints such as Marvel Knights, the Ultimate Universe and Marvel MAX. During his tenure, Marvel received acclaim for its Heroes special to commemorate the events of September 11, 2001; the groundbreaking Death of Captain America storyline; and President Obama’s historic team up with Spider-Man. Mr. Quesada is also one of the industry’s most popular artists, providing cover and interior art to blockbusters such as Amazing Spider-Man,Daredevil, Invincible Iron Man and more.

I haven’t been reading comic books lately, and I have to say, I think “Siege” is the biggest reason why… It was a book that pretty much took over half the Marvel universe, but only managed to keep one four part book interesting. And the hugest thing that came from Siege was the fact that it reunited the Avengers. Which is arguably pretty cool… But then Marvel had to turn the Avengers into a blatant money making vehicle  for themselves… (The Avengers, Avengers Prime, New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Avengers Academy. Not to mention, Avengers the Origin, Avengers Spotlight, Ultimate Avengers 2, New Ultimates… And there are more!)

When did George Lucas take over Marvel? – Slugtron

On top of all of this financial nonsense, they’ve got all of their writers writing ten books at a time… I mean, I used to think Bendis was okay… but there is a major discrepancy in his books… For example, I thought Siege was awesome, but I tried reading an issue of Ultimate: Enemy, and it was completely uninspired and boring… I think this is simply because he writes too many books. This isn’t my only beef with Bendis, but I’ll leave it there for now… Basically what I’m saying is, putting out a hundred of the same book, and then putting it all in the hands of only a few writers, is a bad idea. It’s probably a sound financial move, but it really makes me not want to buy Marvel  books at all… And since I’ve pretty much stopped reading DC books since Batman R.I.P., I just don’t have that many comic books to read anymore… And the final straw— in the midst of these unfortunate transitions, most of the comic community has adapted to a price hike, paying $3.99 for every main stream book.

Steve Wiebe would roll over in his grave if he saw what Marvel was trying to pull. – Slugtron

I still pick up a few titles, (Rasl, Usagi Yojimbo, Walking Dead, Invincible, and a few others.) But I’ve essentially stopped caring about all the monthly books. As a Robot doctor lawyer with a great ass, I’ve been able to maintain some semblance of a regular life without the majesty of reading stories where the protagonist is either a man with an unearthly masculine jaw, or else an unrealistic woman with huge boobs and an I.Q. but I think the comic book companies should be the ones adapting to what we want, not the other way around.

How do we remedy this comic book apocalypse? My fellow robots would tell you to just enjoy the ride… but I disagree. I’ve decided to list some solutions to this problem.

1. Stop buying over priced books!… Spending four dollars an issue turns out to be a ridiculous price to pay for a comic book… I hope I didn’t just blow your mind… Get the graphic novels instead… I’ve never had to pay full price for a graphic novel, and neither should you… If people stop buying individual issues, maybe they’ll return to a reasonable price? (I’m probably wrong in this case because the people that make the decisions at Marvel are such fucks they would probably just raise the price again. But then you wouldn’t be buying them anyway! Win, win.)

2. Don’t support Bad books… Stop buying all these kitschy titles, how many fucking Avengers books do we need? These companies are putting out such shitty material, and you’re still buying it… This is unacceptable… Every single one of us needs to get mad. If you see another issue of Marvel Zombies on the shelf, tear it to shreds! You’ve got to get mad!

3. Final reason, and probably the most important. Never read another comic book written by Brian Micheal Bendis ever again! He is the new Judd Winick… which means Kirkman gets his regular position back!

In Brian Michael Bendis’ defense, he’s only as stupid as he looks. -Slugtron

In closing, I was inspired to write this post after reading a comic book that Robert Kirkman wrote… Destroyer…I suggest buying it and not just taking my word for it, but it was a cool looking book, (Art by Cory Walker) and it had an awesome and original story… It’s what we should expect out of our comic books! Lets stop settling for less!