Attendees at San Diego Comic-Con got the first look at the “Deadpool” trailer in Hall H, and thanks to a shaky cell phone video, moments later, so did the rest of the world. To say that people were excited is an understatement as many fans were put at ease to see that the film plans on taking full advantage of its R rating.

The official trailer just dropped, and while it’s almost shot-for-shot the same as what premiered in San Diego, there are a few new things thrown in, and it’s awesome finally seeing it in high-def!

Check it out, but just make sure the kids are out of the room as it’s incredibly NSFW

It was a very close race but even with a steep drop from week one “Ant-Man” was able to keep the very poorly reviewed “Pixels” out of the top spot. “Ant-Man” was also able to cross the $100 million mark, and is close to making back the budget. It may not be the highest grossing Marvel film but it is still doing well. 

The biggest news on this slow week is that “Jurassic World” has now taken the #3 all time top grossing spot from “The Avengers” and is now at $1.54 Billion. 

Now instead of watching “Pixels” go watch the short film that inspired it or the “Futurama” episode it lifted its plot from. 

A quick note on budgets and dollar figures:
Films making back their budgets is a good sign, but that is just the money to film. It doesn’t include distribution and marketing. Marketing can cost as much as a film. That big Superbowl spot is spendy. So take that into account when judging a film’s success. Hitting $100 million isn’t the same as it once was.

All dollar amounts in the top 5 come from estimates based on ticket sales unless noted otherwise. Occasionally this article will be published when actual results come out, which is usually late Monday afternoon. For more about this and other ins and outs of movie tracking click here.

Created during the “Secret Wars” event, “A-Force” is one of the titles that will be continuing on after the universe-changing event has passed. However, it will be minus one of the writers at the helm of the title. G. Willow Wilson of “Ms. Marvel” fame will continue on as sole writer for the title, while Marguerite Bennett will be writing other titles.

Putting the rubber to the road — or rather the pencil to the paper — is “Storm” artist Victor Ibanez. So it can be assumed that these superheroes will be extremely easy on the eyes.

“we couldn’t have done these things seven or eight years ago” – Sana Amanat

The roster for this all-female Avenging team includes She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Dazzler, Nico and more. Wilson has also stated that a rotating guest cast will be something readers can look forward to as the series develops.

Cocreator Sana Amanat realizes that taking on an all-female team is a large responsibility, especially as readers, now more than ever, are reading with a feminist perspective. She told Glamour magazine:

The industry’s whole audience has changed. We have more female readers and minority readers, and they expect our characters to reflect them. The amount of female-driven titles we’ve launched that aren’t being cancelled, that’s a phenomenon in itself. “A-Force,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Spider-Gwen”—we couldn’t have done these things seven or eight years ago. The dialogue of female representation is so hot right now, not just in comics but in general. And that makes us more responsible in how we depict our characters.

Marvel has yet to release a final order date for “A-Force,” but it is listed as a fall All-New All-Different release.

Storm #1 Cover by Victor Ibanez

The following pages are from “Storm” #4 featuring the aftermath of the Death of Wolverine. Notice how Marvel censored the finished page to have Wolverine (bottom left of page) sans a smoking cigar.

Censored Page from “Storm” #4 by Victor Ibanez

Original page, posted on Victor Ibanez’s blogger page.

Trent Hunsaker is the owner/opperator of Death Ray Comics in Logan, Ut. He is the program director for the A Part of Him Podcast Network and cohost on NetHeads – a live, weekly geek/pop culture show, on Kevin Smith’s SModcast Internet Radio.

Well would ya look at that? Another Marvel film to hit #1. That is 12 from the MCU to take the #1 spot, but unsurprisingly “Ant-Man” is the lowest opening for Marvel. It makes sense really. The character Ant-Man isn’t very well known, less than even Ironman was. The movies have been hitting non-stop for years now, so maybe there is a bit of fatigue from audiences, and Paul Rudd isn’t exactly the first name you think of when you think “Action Movie.” Despite all that, it still performed well, and has good reviews, including from us. 

While “Minions” performed extremely well in week 1, it plummeted almost 60% in week two, much more than the 2 previous films. That was still more than enough to keep the #2 spot because “Trainwreck” was a good $20 million behind. That’s not to say that “Trainwreck” performed poorly, that is pretty solid for an R-Rated comedy, in fact it’s Judd Apatow’s second highest opening and got good reviews. Amy Schumer is blowing up right now and, with her acting and writing this film I think she continues to boost her profile. 

A quick note on budgets and dollar figures:
Films making back their budgets is a good sign, but that is just the money to film. It doesn’t include distribution and marketing. Marketing can cost as much as a film. That big Superbowl spot is spendy. So take that into account when judging a film’s success. Hitting $100 million isn’t the same as it once was.

All dollar amounts in the top 5 come from estimates based on ticket sales unless noted otherwise. Occasionally this article will be published when actual results come out, which is usually late Monday afternoon. For more about this and other ins and outs of movie tracking click here.

This just makes my suburban white boy heart skip a couple of beats. Marvel will be releasing variant covers for many of their titles in October riffing off of classic hip-hop albums aka the soundtrack of my adolescence that made my parents scared.

Check these out, and what else do you want to see? What iconic album here are they missing, and which Marvel hero would you like to see on it?

I’m just gonna say it: Deadpool doing Doggystyle. And somebody’s gotta do Straight Outta Compton — Inhumans? Straight Outta Attilan?

Enjoy the art, and read the full press release below:

Straight outta Attilan, crazy motherf@#$er named Black Bolt. . . .

###

Marvel Becomes Inspired by the Music Industry with
Marvel Comics’ Hip-Hop Variants         

New York, NY—July 16, 2015—Expression and art form merge between Marvel Comics and the world of hip-hop with a unique line of HIP-HOP Variants covers inspired by some of the most iconic and well received hip-hop and rap albums of all time. 

Accompanying each all-new #1 from Marvel Comics coming this fall, fans will get the chance to purchase their own Marvel Comics variant cover featuring their favorite Marvel characters paying homage to some of the most well-known and vocal musical artists over the past couple of years.

“For years, Marvel Comics and Hip-Hop culture have been engaged in an ongoing dialog,” says Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso.  “Beginning this October, we will shine a spotlight on the seamless relationship between those two unique forces in when we unveil the first of more than fifty variant covers, each of which pays tribute to an iconic album cover from the past 30 years that shaped pop-culture over the past three decades.”

Look for Marvel’s HIP-HOP Variants to grace the covers of these exciting Marvel comics beginning in the month of October:

·         Amazing Spider-Man #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Mike Del Mundo
·         Angela: Queen of Hel #1 – HIP-HOP Variant by Annie Wu
·         The Astonishing Ant-Man #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Mark Brooks
·         Contest of Champions #1 – HIP-HOP Variant by Denys Cowan
·         Doctor Strange #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Juan Doe
·         Extraordinary X-Men #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Sanford Greene
·         Guardians of the Galaxy #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Shawn Crystal
·         Invincible Iron Man #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Brian Stelfreeze
·         The Mighty Thor #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Mike Deodato
·         Sam Wilson, Captain America #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Mahmud Asrar
·         Spider-Gwen #1 – HIP-HOP Variant by Humberto Ramos
·         The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Phil Noto
·         Uncanny Inhumans #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Damian Scott
·         Uncanny Avengers #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Jason Pearson 

Look for these additional HIP-HOP Variants coming later this fall:

·         All-New All-Different Avengers #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Jim Cheung
·         All-New Wolverine #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Keron Grant
·         Carnage #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Ariel Olivetti
·         Howard the Duck #1- HIP-HOP Variant Juan Doe
·         Ms. Marvel #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Jenny Frisson
·         Old Man Logan #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Tim Bradstreet
·         Spider-Man #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Adi Granov
·         Spider-Man/Deadpool #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Dave Johnson
·         Squadron Supreme #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Mike Del Mundo
·         Star-Lord #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Tradd Moore
·         The Totally Awesome Hulk #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Mahmud Asrar
·         Web Warriors #1- HIP-HOP Variant by Damian Scott

Last year we saw leaked test footage for a “Deadpool” movie. A year later and now we have the leaked trailer for that movie directed by Tim Miller. Check it out below but put headphones on if you’re in public. 

Update: The youtube version got pulled, so here’s the original video.

One big concern for fans has been that the “Deadpool” movie wouldn’t live up to the character in the comic. The “Deadpool” comics are full of cruse words, bloody violence, crass jokes and sex. From the trailer it looks like the movie will not disappoint. Other heroes that appear in the film include Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Watch it over and over again until you can’t anymore or maybe it’ll be like last year and we’ll get an official trailer in the next few days.

“Deadpool” hits theaters February 2016. 

ON THE RACK 034 | ALL-NEW ALL-DIFFERENT MARVEL PT 1
A Part of Him Podcast Network

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This is part 1 of our series of mini-casts on the ALL-NEW ALL-DIFFERENT MARVEL title relaunch. Download the free ANAD Marvel Previews Magazine here. This episode was sponsored by Twitter users @TKaytt and @rottnjeep.

Trent Hunsaker is the owner/opperator of Death Ray Comics in Logan, Ut. He is the program director for the A Part of Him Podcast Network and cohost on NetHeads – a live, weekly geek/pop culture show, on Kevin Smith’s SModcast Internet Radio.

Elodie Yung joins the cast of “Marvel’s Daredevil” as Elektra for the popular show’s second season on Netflix.

The French actress is best known for her roles in “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” and “District 13: Ultimatum.”

Elektra is “a mysterious woman from Matt Murdock’s past whose dangerous and exotic ways may be more than he can handle. The first season of “Marvel’s Daredevil” made reference to Elektra, but now Yung will portray one of Daredevil’s fan-favorite characters.”

Jeph Loeb, Executive Producer and Head of Marvel Television said, “After a worldwide search, we found in Elodie the perfect actress to embody both Elektra’s impressive and deadly physicality, as well as her psychological complexity . . . Paired with Charlie [Cox] as Matt Murdock, the two will bring one of the most beloved and tumultuous comic book relationships to life with all the accompanying sparks and spectacular action sequences the show is known for.”

The official “Daredevil” Twitter shared a teaser image with a sai piercing a newspaper with the words: “An old friend is coming to Hell’s Kitchen. #Daredevil #Elektra”

Jennifer Garner portrayed the Greek ninja assassin in the feature film “Daredevil,” starring Ben Affleck, and its tepid sequel “Elektra.”

But with a stellar first season, expectations are high for the second season of “Marvel’s Daredevil.” A female assassin will certainly bring some drama to Hell’s Kitchen.

(Photo IMDB)

In a notice published Monday 22, Diamond Comic Distributors announced Marvel would no longer give comic book retailers advanced previews of soon to be released comic books

Marvel’s ‘First Looks’ program has ended for now due to one internet site misusing access and posting story elements that were exclusive for retailer’s sales tools.

The notice comes a week after the full-issue PDFs, stamped with retailer ID number watermarks, mysteriously disappeared from Diamond’s retailer-access website. Diamond also included that “there is no intended restart date for the program.”

The “First Look” initiative by Diamond Comics and Marvel launched earlier this year in March. “First Look” replaced the “Marvel Retailer Resource Center” as go-to place for retailers to preview titles. With no announced date to restart the program, retailers will have no advanced look at products, aside from the publisher solicits, usually consisting of 100 words or less per issue.

When the program was announced, David Gabriel, Marvel’s Senior VP of Print, Sales & Marketing saw the benefit for retailers, “They can adjust their reorders quickly… We encourage retailers to review the titles and check their orders on titles that will be in demand at their stores.”

At this time there is no intended restart date for the program. Marvel apologizes for the inconvenience.

Perhaps the damage done from “one internet site misusing access and posting story elements” has been greater than any amount of good a retailer knowing what product they are selling can do.

This decision to cut the “First Look” program was made as Marvel sits on the launching point of almost its entire roster of titles. This is a bold move. Since retailers are now in the dark while the wholesale cost of comic books continues to rise, coupled with the no-return policy that Diamond Comics employs, Marvel will probably see a drop in wholesale orders.

Most small local comic shops can’t afford a shot-gun approach to ordering new titles. Without being able to pre-read upcoming issues, retailers will have no choice but to leave it to the customer to figure out what to buy and preorder – at least a month before its on the rack date.

Sadly, Marvel and Diamond Comics Distributors have removed the one incentive that local comic shops were able to provide to customers over online competitors: an advanced, educated opinion on what’s coming out.

Trent Hunsaker is the owner/opperator of Death Ray Comics in Logan, Ut. He is the program director for the A Part of Him Podcast Network and cohost on NetHeads – a live, weekly geek/pop culture show, on Kevin Smith’s SModcast Internet Radio.

Marvel.com announced today that Jon Bernthal (“The Walking Dead,” “Wolf of Wall Street”) will be playing Frank Castle, who you may know as The Punisher, in “Daredevil” Season 2, slated to release on Netflix in 2016. 

“Jon Bernthal brings an unmatched intensity to every role he takes on, with a potent blend of power, motivation and vulnerability that will connect with audiences,” said Jeph Loeb, Marvel’s Head of Television. “Castle’s appearance will bring dramatic changes to the world of Matt Murdock and nothing will be the same.”

If “Daredevil” isn’t your favorite Netflix Original to date, this should do nothing but send it up the ladder for you. Hell’s Kitchen is going to be a lot messier next season.