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io9
io9 (news.google.ca) has great Marvel Comics news, photos, videos and more
Friday, Jan 29
Lockheed Martin Turns To Marvel Comics For Inspiration [Hulc]
It's not exactly Iron Man, but Lockheed Martin's Human Universal Load Carrier may be the first step down that road, allowing soldiers to cybernetically increase their strength for days at a time, as...
Wednesday, Jan 27
DC To Marvel: Oops, We Did It Again [Lords Of The Ring]
After more than a week, DC Comics have responded to Marvel's criticism of their Blackest Night ring promotion... by doing it all over again, and making it easier for retailers to take advantage of... This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Tuesday, Jan 26
10 Shows For Marvel To Conquer TV With
We See... Stana Katic from Castle in the title role, for one thing. But while this character has started to show up more regularly in Marvel's superhero books over the last few years (Daredevil, especially), we'd happily see someone take her back to her quirky hardboiled update of the old fash...
Monday, Jan 25
Worst Recastings Of Science Fiction's Rock-Star Characters
John Davey as Captain Marvel in Shazam! This is another one which the Onion AV Club mentioned. Check out the difference between the two versions of Shazam!'s opening credits here. In the first one, Captain Marvel looks at least somewhat like his comic-book self, albeit with huge mutton-ch...
Why DC's Brightest Day Could Be The Comic Story Of The Year
Brightest Day is the next step in repositioning a lot of characters in the DC Universe and pushing them to the next level... We're introducing new characters, rebuilding some classic DC heroes and villains, and at the same time bringing in new concepts and ideas. It's a lot like what we've done...
Saturday, Jan 23
Marvel Take On Dick's Ant In April [Electric Ant]
Announced at last summer's San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Comics' adaptation of Philip K. Dick's Electric Ant has finally been scheduled for release this April, complete with covers by io9 favorite Paul...
Friday, Jan 22
Editorial Slip Makes Marvel Heroes Angry And Hulked Out [Hulked Out Heroes]
What is "HoH"? Marvel Comics' recently released solicitations for April's comics teased a two-issue series by that name, with all other information classified - except for the tidbit that it's not...
Tuesday, Jan 19
Child And Alien Barbarians Tussle In This Week's Comics
It's a relatively small haul for this week, with the industry apparently settling into a short lull after the holidays. But what's new is worth looking out for: Avatar have the hardcover collection of Warren Ellis' No Hero, which takes the superhuman nihilism of The Authority and turns it...
Saturday, Jan 16
The X-Men’s 1991 Pool Party = Everything That's Wrong With The X-Men in 2010
After finishing the comic (a solid B on my Nostalg-O-Meter, just behind NFL Superpro), I perused the bonus art crammed in the back of the book. One pin-up in particular caught my eye. Here it is, courtesy of Shirtless Superheroes: Item #2 - Jubilee's Peter Pan Syndrome
Marvel To Cancel Every Single Avengers Comic [Comic Books]
The Avengers titles have long been Marvel's cash cows, but with the advent of Siege, every one of them will fall under the editorial ax this April. It looks as if one of two things are happening.... This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Why Can't We Let The Movie Spider-Man Grow Up?
It isn't just this movie reboot; Marvel Comics have become obsessed with permanently de-aging Spider-Man over the last decade, first with their Ultimate Spider-Man series - where writer Brian Michael Bendis has publicly announced that Peter will never graduate high school no matter...
Friday, Jan 15
Iron Man 2 Will Be Marvel's First IMAX Experience0 [Iron Man 2]
Well, that's one way of making sure that the second Iron Man movie will be bigger than the first. Marvel Entertainment announced yesterday that Jon Favreau's much-anticipated sequel will be shown in...
Marvel To Trade 1 Comic For Every 50 Destroyed DC Comics [Comic Books]
Holy sales war, io9ers! Marvel Comics is offering retailers a rare issue of its new mega-event Siege. The catch? Store owners have to send Marvel 50 torn-up DC Comics titles. In a move seemingly out... This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Tuesday, Jan 12
Bad Television Gives You A Look At An Unsung Comics Classic
Marvel has a trio of Spider-Man collections — the Black Cat comes back in the WYSIWYG-titled Return Of Black Cat. Election Day caps a long-running storyline, revealing the secret of the Spider-Tracer killer and the identity of Menace, plus who gets to be mayor of New York — and it includes t...
Thursday, Jan 7
What You Need To Know For Marvel's Siege
The first issue of Marvel Comics' big event, Siege, hits stores this week, bringing to a close storylines that've been going on for the last few years. But if you've missed those stories, don't worry: We're here to help. Captain America: From Death To Reborn Iron Man: From Asshole To Reboot
Wednesday, Jan 6
Dark Reign
Following Marvel's Civil War, the superheroes of Marvel's United States found themselves offered a choice: Either register their secret identities with the government and become federal employees, or else consider themselves criminals and be hunted down like rabid dogs if necessa...
Civil War
The Registration Act takes effect, as does "The Initiative," a program giving each of the States in the US its own superhero team. Iron Man is made director of law enforcement agency SHIELD, and given the responsibility of policing the superhuman population of the US, while Captain Ameri...
Tuesday, Jan 5
The Beginning Of The Year Means The End Of The World(s) In This Week's Comics
Of course, Marvel's superheroics haven't been the least dystopian themselves, recently; luckily, Siege (launching tomorrow) looks set to bring that to an end, even if it takes the fall of mythical land Asgard to get there. Siege #1 is supported by a spin-off (Siege Embedded, also launch...
Saturday, Jan 2
Will 2010 Be The Year Of Superheroic Niceness?
But now, apparently, we're really really coming to an end to all that; Captain America has been unkilled, Iron Man will get his mind back, Thor will choose to forgive them both and everything will magically be all better again. Green Lantern and his new Rainbow Corps will prove that death an...
Tuesday, Dec 22
Mind Control And Heists Brighten 2009's Last New Comics
Marvel also has a new Halo comic book, Halo: Blood Line, a hardcover version of the recent Marvel Zombies Return series, and a collection of stories from writer Brian Michael Bendis' first decade at the publisher: Brian Michael Bendis: 10 Years At Marvel, coming out. Told you it was a delug...
Monday, Dec 7
How Marvel Learned To Stop Worrying About 9/11 And Love Slaughter
Marvel Comics' reaction to 9/11 was both heartfelt and far-reaching, understandable for a company not only based in New York but one so tied to the city in its demeanor and subject matter (Marvel's New York state is the setting for the majority of its line, being home for years to Spider-Ma...
Tuesday, Dec 1
Belated Comics Offer Superhero Overload And Sneaks At Movies
Retrofun can be found in Uncanny X-Men First Class: Hated and Feared. And while Tony Stark is in bad ways in the regular Iron Man book, we get a look back at his origins in Iron Man: Requiem. It's actually a pretty good week for Iron Man fans; there's also the first issue of Iron Man Vs. Whiplash, wh...
Tuesday, Nov 10
Robot Detectives Battle Superhero Bastards For Your Comics Dollars
There's also Marvel's PunisherMax (Yes, one word. It's the new "mature readers" title for the character, and maybe Marvel thinks pushing words together is more adult?), Green Hulk/Red Hulk collection (Heroes' writer Jeph Loeb writes a couple of gamma-irradiated monsters in a couple o...
Tuesday, Nov 3
Epic God-On-Dinosaur Action In This Week's Comics
It's a week where Wonder Woman gets her ass kicked, Hercules recruits superheroes for some assaultin', and dinosaurs migrate south for the winter. Oh, and a Portland detective agency opens its doors for business. Oh, comics! How we're cravin' you.
Tuesday, Oct 27
Wood, Dreams And The Victory Of Evil In This Week's Comics
Elsewhere, Dark Horse has a special issue of the Hellboy spinoff Abe Sapien, as part of its new initiative to get readers to try out new series and franchises (or comics, in the first place; the upcoming Doctor Horrible special is likely to entice some newbies into the fold, I think.)
Sunday, Oct 25
4 Reasons Why Zombies And Superheroes Don't Mix
Marvel Comics' Necrosha launches this week, joining DC's Blackest Night, Marvel's own Marvel Zombies and Dynamite's Super Zombies on the crowded superhero zombie comic stands. But isn't there something... wrong with the idea of superpowered zombies?
Tuesday, Oct 20
Tis The Season For Tesla, Frankenstein And This Week's Comics
Marvel, meanwhile, has the first issue of The Stand: Soul Survivors, a new series adapting part of the Stephen King novel, and DC are putting out their annual DC Universe Hallowe'en Special filled with spooky shorts starring superhero favorites. 'Tis the season, after all.
Sunday, Oct 18
Opinion: Marvel: Rise Of The Mediocre Cartoons
Well, watching the movies? Not necessarily a bad idea. Watching Ultimate Avengers: The Movie, Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise Of The Panther (Well, kind of. See below), The Invincible Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Next Avengers and the Hulk Vs. movies in one sitting? One of the dumber ideas I've had i...
Sunday, Oct 4
10 More Toys For Hollywood To Co-Opt
The Movie: Redesign Rom to be slightly less... boxy, and pull in The Invaders paranoia from the comic book, and you've got something with an obvious enough hero to play well in multiplexes but with the potential for something much more subtle and sneaky for those who want to look at it that way.
Tuesday, Sep 29
New Spider-Clones And Promethea Want You To Take Them Home
Meanwhile, from the opposite end of the superhero spectrum (which is to say, sound and fury signifying lack of critical approval) comes from Marvel's Ultimatum hardcover. (Marvel also has an accompanying epilogue collection, Ultimatum Requiem, as well as the Golden Age revival book A...
Tuesday, Sep 22
Up, Down And Away In This Week's Comics
DC aren't the kind of publishers who'd pull a lame stunt like pet superheroes (Well, apart from the Legion of Super-Pets, and Krypto and Streaky and, okay, never mind). DC would much rather pull lame stunts like phone votes to decide the fates of long-running characters, and in the DC Comic...
Monday, Sep 21
Will Marvel Studios Boss Take Over Disney? [Disney/marvel]
Just weeks after Disney's buyout of Marvel was announced, the chairman of Disney Studios is leaving the company, and who happens to be one of the people being named as a possible successor? Kevin... This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Kirby Estate To Marvel, Movie Studios: We Want It Back
The heirs to Kirby, who co-created the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America - and had a hand in creating Spider-Man, pretty much completing the set - have sent out 45 notices of copyright termination to companies including Marvel Entertainme...
Tuesday, Sep 15
Beasts, Giant Secrets And Alternate Futures Await
Let's get the familiar names out of the way first, shall we? Marvel have the first issue of Ultimate Comics: Armor Wars, which places Planetary and Transmetropolitan writer Warren Ellis in charge of Iron Man again, freed of too many continuity woes and watches what happens. Also out of con...
Saturday, Sep 12
What Does DC Entertainment Actually Mean, Anyway?
So Warners have restructured DC Comics into DC Entertainment, bringing more mainstream attention to the second-biggest comic book publisher in the industry. Is this a good thing? A bad thing? Something we should even care about at all?
Wednesday, Sep 9
Space Horror And Marvel Superheroes Rule This Week's Comics
And Marvel again, may have grabbed the win with Marvel Superhero Team-Up, the disappointingly-renamed (It was originally Marvel Bromance) anthology of male bonding stories from the company's long and rich history. Mickey and Donald would be proud.
Saturday, Sep 5
Disney/Marvel: Who's Next?
The privately-owned Lucasfilm may not own have as many separate franchises as Marvel, but it has Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and there's definitely an argument to be made that Star Wars alone is worth as much as the entire Marvel Universe (Containing almost as many characters, and with t...
Tuesday, Sep 1
Disney/Marvel: What Does Disney Actually Get?
Video Games THQ: Multi-year deal signed in May 2008 for Marvel Super Hero Squad. Activision: Deal signed Nov 2005 and goes through 2017 for Spider Man and X-Men Sega: Multi-year deal signed in April 2007 for Captain America, Hulk, Thor and Iron Man
Find Sweet Teeth And Strange Tales In This Week's Comics
It's a relatively solid week for new releases, with both Marvel and DC offering a raft of them. DC have Red Tornado, a new mini-series featuring one of the most defective, voyeuristic (as readers of Justice League of America know) and powerful robots in comics, and Magog, a new monthly seri...
Monday, Aug 31
The House Of Mouse Eats The House Of Ideas: Disney Buys Marvel
This transaction combines Marvel's strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney's creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a bus...
Tuesday, Aug 18
This Week's Comics Will Hex And Unleash Your True Potential
If you're looking for some movie action, IDW releases the first issue of its Astro Boy Movie Adaptation, while Dynamite brings Bruce and Barack together in the opener to Army of Darkness: Ash Saves Obama (Yes, really). Dynamite also has the first issue of Project Superpowers: Meet The Bad...
Tuesday, Aug 11
This Week's Comics May Leave You Starstuck With Choice
But otherwise, Marvel's big news this week is the relaunch of their Ultimate line, with Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man and Ultimate Comics: Avengers, wherein Brian Michael Bendis and (the spectacular) David Lafuente (Spider-Man) and Mark Millar and Carlos Pacheco (Avengers) strip tw...
Happy Birthday, Marvel Comics!
Today is the 70th birthday of Marvel Comics, and they're celebrating with creator signings and a great offer on subscriptions. But we'd rather focus on what makes the company great: Here're five characters that Marvel can be rightfully proud of.
Tuesday, Jun 16
7 Superhero Movies That Broke The Mold (Please Copy Them!)
If Marvel really goes ahead with its plan to put out four movies per year, and other studios follow, we could see a million cookie-cutter superhero origin stories. Make it stop! Or better yet, copy these seven mold-breaking superhero films.
Monday, Nov 10
20 Classic Toys That Aren't Movies (Yet)
What's the toy? He's a superspy who can transform himself into any superhero, including Batman, Superman, Spider-Man or Captain America. He could even turn himself into Steve Canyon or Aquaman, although I'm not sure why he would. Has there been a TV show or comic book? Yes, DC Comics did a se...
Tuesday, Sep 9
Podcast: The Greatest Concept Album Adaptations of Classic Scifi Tales
Sonic Youth – Sister (1987): Rather than focusing on an individual work, Sonic Youth drew much of its inspiration for Sister directly from the life and catalog of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. Aside from being a fan of his work, frontman Thurston Moore has been intensely intereste...
