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The latest Marvel news:

The X-Men are undergoing a fairly significant relaunch in the pages of Marvel Comics, and now the hardcore staple Cable is getting his very own series.

Cable will tackle a story with all of time hanging in the balance, written by Eisner Award-winner James Robinson (Nick Fury) and artist Carlos Pacheco (Occupy Avengers, Captain America). Check out the logline for Cable’s solo adventure below:

When Cable picks up the trail of a threat in the timestream, he sets off on a high-speed chase through time to save reality as we know it. From prehistory to modern day—whether it's a six-gun duel at high noon or a high-tech sword fight in an ancient land—Cable is the only man who can keep history from unraveling!

There aren’t a whole lot of Marvel series that go jumping around the time stream, and Cable is a fantastic character with a lot of angles, so this series could definitely hit a sweet spot. The fact that the creative team is top notch doesn’t hurt, either.

The first issue of Cable drops May 31.




Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez are getting down and gritty in their follow-up comic series to Civil War II.

The Defenders sees Bendis writing and Marquez drawing a new iteration of the classic Marvel super squad, featuring the same lineup as the upcoming TV Defenders: Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Daredevil and Iron Fist. The new comic Defenders debuts with a special issue this Saturday during Free Comic Book Day.

Much like the gritty world the Marvel Netflix shows exist in, this series finds our heroes putting their boots on the ground for street-level justice. But don't confuse 'street level' for low-powered action. During a 'Next Big Thing' media conference call that also included Marvel Senior VP Tom Brevoort, Bendis clarified that "street level is not a power set. It's an address."

He also pointed out that these heroes are doing what superheroes do: saving the day, seeking justice, but they're doing it at the community level, with a sense of immediacy. Marquez also pointed out that the artistic tone of the book is very much noir in design, and even name-dropped Blade Runner and John Wick as stylistic inspiration.

Something else Bendis pointed out was that he basically teased this series in the last page he wrote in New Avengers in a scene with Luke and Jessica, well before the Defenders TV show came into play [It's true; go back and read that last issue].

We got a chance to do a quick Q&A with Bendis to get a bit more insight into what this new take on the Defenders will be like, and even learned about a few classic Marvel villains who will be dropping by to make trouble.

Brian, this is one of the few Marvel teams you haven't written before ... though obviously you've written all these characters before. What was the biggest appeal in drawing you to this assignment?

: Obviously I have a deep passion for the street-level heroes and stories of the Marvel universe. My intention was to return to the streets after Guardians of the Galaxy no matter what. The fact that all of the pieces that I would need to make this book fell into place just when I needed them to and then they all became big TV stars which made the title of the series obvious 🙂

These are characters I have a great affinity for. I also really know how they think and relate to each other. Putting that to the test of a new threat to the streets of Marvel was too exciting not to do.

You said you wanted to do a sprawling epic series set at street level of the Marvel U. Can you share any details of what fans can expect along those lines, like which villains will pop up?

Well we have a very big villain reveal in the Free Comic Book Day issue coming this Saturday but other villains including the Black Cat, Hammerhead and the Kingpin will be front and center. There are some very interesting characters on both sides of the law creeping into this book. Also, with the story set the way it is, there's going to be a lot of opportunity for cameos and team-ups.

How closely will this be to the type of universe the Netflix show will exist in? Will it be somewhat separate from the rest of the Marvel comics universe?

You know, those versions of those characters were a little influenced by our work a few years ago, that's why you see my name in the Thank You credits, so there is going to be some spiritual similarities. But where these characters are in the comics versus where they are in their lives in the shows is very different. Most of the characters are still kind of in their Year One mode on the shows while these characters in the comics are very lived in. Luke and Jessica are married in the comics. Not even close on the show.

So there will be, for fans of the shows, a lot of meat on the bones but for people who like how I write these characters, we will be staying true to our forward thinking. Our job is to tell new stories. This is all new.

What's it like returning to Daredevil and writing that character again on a regular basis?

Well I have snuck him into a few projects over the years including Daredevil: End of Days and other things including New Avengers so I always found a way to scratch that itch. But to get back into him at this level has been like reuniting with one of my best friends after many years away. My very angry Catholic guilt-ridden good friend.


Marvel fans have long wondered if the studio’s TV shows and the Marvel Cinematic Universe will eventually crossover.
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Speaking with i09, Marvel Studios president, Kevin Feige, says that a crossover could happen “at some point,” but it’s not really a confirmation of if they ever would. Feige was asked if a character who appeared in one of Marvel’s TV shows meant that the character couldn’t appear in a movie.

“Not necessarily. The future’s a long time. So, the truth is, I don’t really know, but there are a lot of TV shows being made, and hopefully we’ll continue to make a lot of movies. At some point, there’s going to be a crossover. Crossover, repetition, or something.”

The TV shows, like Daredevil, Luke Cage, and the upcoming ABC series, Inhumans, may exist in the same universe as The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but there has never been an outright crossover. The closest we’ve ever gotten is Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the series isn’t a crossover, per se, but it does have the closest ties to the MCU because the characters are all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and that aspect has always played a big role in the films.
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It’s possible to see a continued overlap or Easter eggs being sprinkled here and there, but a bigger crossover implies that characters from the separate properties will appear across both the TV shows and the movies. While Kevin Feige is open to the idea now, it might still be a long ways away before we actually see it happen.




The Latest DC news:

Comics are for everybody—but even as more and more initiatives launch to publish books aimed at young audiences, there’s a distinct lack of major efforts to cater to younger readers at some of the biggest comics publishers. DC at least wants to change that for its own comics, starting next year.

Announced today in a series of editorial promotions, Vice President and Executive Editor Bobbie Chase will now be in charge of overseeing not just DC’s current imprints like Wildstorm and Young Animals, but a brand new Young Readers imprint set to launch in 2018.

There’s not much information beyond that, but it’s a cool move by DC, and a smart one in the wake of the success they’ve had with the DC Superhero Girls comics tying into the young-girls-focused multimedia spinoff. More young audiences are being introduced to superhero characters through movies than ever before, and having comics aimed specifically at them—instead of the average superhero comics that are around now, many of which are not for young kids—only helps to make comics a more accessible medium for people of all ages and ilks to enjoy.


Top 10 Comic book Sales from last year and why Marvel may be its own undoing!

Marvel may be a powerhouse in the movies, but in the comic book arena, DC is beating them black and blue. In fact, in 2016, only one Marvel title made it to the top 10 in comic book sales compared to 8 by DC. Check out the chart below:

Batman #6 – DC (138,853)
All Star Batman #2 – DC (137,74😎
Batman #7 – DC (135,585)
Civil War II #5 – Marvel (120,20😎
Justice League #4 – DC (94,54😎
Walking Dead #158 – Image (94,316)
Trinity #1 – DC (93,797)
Supergirl #1 – DC (90,247)
Suicide Squad #2 – DC (89,575)
Justice League #5 – DC (89,342)
*Source: COMICHRON.com

Why is this happening? Well, according to Marvel, we (the fans) are to blame for this. Here’s what Marvel Comics VP for Sales, David Gabriel, said in an interview with ICv2: “What we heard was that people didn’t want any more diversity. They didn’t want female characters out there. That’s what we heard, whether we believe that or not. I don’t know that that’s really true, but that’s what we saw in sales.” Mr. Gabriel could not be more wrong. It’s not about anti-feminism or anti-diversity. It’s about bad decisions at Marvel.

Since the execs at Marvel seem so clueless about why their sales are dropping, I’d like to show them exactly what they’re doing wrong:

-Shoving Political Agendas/Correctness in Our Faces-

If you’ve read the Chelsea Cain-written Mockingbird comic series, you’ll see Mockingbird (Bobbie Morse) wearing a t-shirt that reads, “ASK ME ABOUT MY FEMINIST AGENDA”. And, if you read through the book, you’ll see several panels where this feminist message is pushed. Heck! They even have skull-pirates utter the words, “I’m a progressive feminist.” I’m not kidding. A freakin’ skull-pirate says those words!

It’s not only limited to Mockingbird. It’s literally in all their comics. In the All-New Mighty Thor (where Thor was replaced by a woman whom I will not mention because spoilers), Lady Thor punches the Absorbing Man in the face and, in her thought bubble, you can read, “That’s for saying ‘feminist’ like it’s a four-letter word, creep!” Now, I don’t mind a little feminist message every now and then from my comics, but to shove it down our throats is just too much.

It isn’t only about rubbing our faces into a feminist message. Marvel has to ride on the ‘diversity’ bandwagon as well. I already mentioned the female Thor. Now, we have the Korean Hulk (Amadeus Cho), the 15-year-old black female Iron Man (Riri Williams), the black Captain America (Sam Wilson, who used to be the Falcon) and the female Hispanic Hawkeye (Kate Bishop). Let me be clear, however, that having diversity in your characters is really a good thing. I support diversity. But when diversity is the only reason you’re changing a character, it just doesn’t work.



On the other hand, the Pakistani Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) and the half-black, half-Hispanic Spiderman (Miles Morales) are actually good examples of well written characters that don’t force their diversity on to their audience. All the rest, however, always need to remind their audience that they are ‘not straight white males’. In fact, in many issues, straight white males are often depicted as the antagonists (from out of nowhere in some cases). If you think it doesn’t get worse than this, I’m sorry to say that it does.

I don’t know what Marvel was thinking when they turned M.O.D.O.K. (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing—yes, that’s really what it means) into Donald Trump. I get it. You guys don’t like Trump. But, do you have to depict him in your comics this way? It’s simply tasteless. Personally, I don’t like Trump, but this is just really low for you, Marvel!

Some of you might tell me that comic books have always been political; and I would agree with you completely. I know that Superman and Captain America were used as anti-Nazi propaganda and that the X-Men comics were tropes for racism and bigotry. However, they’ve always done it in a way where the story came first and the political message came second or, in the case of the X-Men, hidden. DC also embraces diversity and have strong political messages (just read any Green Arrow comic book), but they focus on who their characters are at their core and on telling a good story. Marvel should really start following suit.

Another mistake Marvel is doing is having…

Another atrocious thing Marvel is doing is that they are coming up with huge crossover events (like Civil War II, Avengers versus X-Men, Inhumans versus X-Men, and many, many, many more) nearly every two months. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good crossover event, but if you do it this often, it loses its distinction. It’s no longer special.

Marvel also seems to be in a rush to put out all these ‘specials’ at the expense of good writing. Civil War II and Inhumans versus X-Men were just plain garbage. Yes, they were that bad. Every issue of Inhumans versus X-Men in particular seemed to be reactionary to the criticism of fans. Each time fans complained about something in an issue, they would try to address it (in a stupid way) in their next issue. They wouldn’t have had to do this if they had a comprehensive and well-written story to begin with. What’s worse is that they even tried to portray the X-Men as the ‘bad guys’. Why? It’s because they had a vendetta with Fox studios.

Marvel should stop churning out these mega-events every minute and stick to developing great characters and compelling stories.
Disrespecting Their Core Characters

Marvel Legacy Characters: Ms. Marvel, Iron Man, Thor & Hulk

If you’ve noticed, MCU actors, like Chris Evans and Robert Downey, Jr., will be ending their contracts with Marvel soon and the studio needs to come up with a way to replace their core characters (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, etc.) with legacy characters (characters that will inherit the core characters’ mantles). How better to do this than to replace them in the comics first, right? It seems logical. However, how they are doing it is just plain wrong.

Earlier, I wrote about the new versions of Thor, the Hulk and Iron Man. These legacy characters have already replaced our core characters in the comics. Honestly, that should have been fine. But, just how did they do it? Well, they turn Tony Stark into a villain and then kill him off (to find out how, you have to read the comics) and they also kill off Bruce Banner (again, read the comics to find out how) and they turn Thor into an ‘unworthy’ prince who is just a shell of himself. The other core characters didn’t fare much better either.

The disrespect they showed to their core characters is appalling. They didn’t give them a fitting or even a respectful demise; they just killed them or shamed them. Marvel forgot that, for more than half a decade, these core characters had a fan-base that loved and respected them. To get rid of them, in the manner that they did, simply rubbed many of the fans the wrong way. And, just who are these characters who replaced them? They seemed to have popped out from nowhere or were forced into the story. There was little to no set-up for these guys. Marvel didn’t even give us the time to get used to them before turning over the mantle of our beloved heroes to them.



Iron Man’s replacement, Riri Williams, for instance, is a 15-year-old girl that just appeared out of nowhere. She was only introduced a few issues before Marvel’s infamous getting-rid-of-Iron-Man plot-line, so we hardly got any backstory on her. Now they want her to be the new Iron Man? And, the way they got rid of Iron Man is just… disrespectful (for lack of a more politically correct word).

I understand the need for legacy characters; but let them grow on us first before forcing them to take over an iconic core character’s place. And, for Pete’s sake, please treat your core characters with some respect, Marvel!

In stark contrast (pun intended), DC understood and respected their core characters. Sure, they have legacy characters like Dick Grayson (Robin or Nightwing) or Roy Harper (Red Arrow or Arsenal) or Wally West (Kid Flash), but we already know them so well that, if they replaced Batman or Green Arrow or the Flash, we’d be more willing to accept them. In fact, before DC’s New 52 run, Wally had already replaced Barry as the Flash for several years when Barry died. I would like to point out that Barry died saving the world. This is how you pay respect to a character. You give him a good death.

According to Geoff Johns (DC’s chief editor at that time), When DC launched Rebirth, they asked themselves one question, “What did the fans love about each of their characters (and of DC, in general) in the first place?” This simple question launched one of the most successful campaigns in comic book history…DC Rebirth. It seems Marvel needs to ask themselves the same question.

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In closing: I am a huge fan of the Marvel movies and have heard nothing but good things about there TV series. However are they focusing more on these new ventures of revenue and not enough on what made the into the Super power they are today? Which would be there core characters and relating to the reader in some realistic way via locations or even pop culture references (spider-man). Time will only tell as we progress into the future. On the other hand DC has yet to really have a truly successful Live action film. Aside from maybe Suicide Squad and that movie totally lacks any of the qualities needed for a good sequel . At least they are truly moving things forward so to speak with there younger characters taking on hefty roles. The DC based TV shows are absolutely amazing to say the least.~

General Dismemberment ~signing off~~