daredeville

@frogjitsu said:

QFT. Seriously, how can he be when Marvel has Amazing Spider-man, Daredevil, Uncanny X-Force, and Venom?

... and Avengers Academy, Captain America, Invincible Iron Man, S.H.I.E.L.D. ... soon to be Secret Avengers, Defenders...

Even the solicitation itself tells you its not the end:

This February, witness the biggest change in Deadpool’s life as “DEAD” kicks off in Deadpool #50!

Note the "kicks off," as in "starts," as in "stroryline," as in "plot device," as in "sales booster," etc.

@Hashbrowns said:

@TheMess1428 said:

That's what you get when you have a comic book writer for a director. :)

You mean like Frank Miller?

...

Sorry, that was below the belt. But I do see what you mean. I'd just say it's more about having a talented story-teller who is personally invested in the property. That's where you strike gold.

It's very similar to how evident Rocksteady's love of the Batman franchise is when you play Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. Rocksteady didn't just make two great games, but two fantastic works of Batman fiction. Whedon seems to have that same affection for The Avengers, and with his innate talent, this should be pretty good.

And that's because Rocksteady had Paul Dini on board, writer of the Batman Animated Series..! Who (obviously) knows and loves the characters to no end.. So smart going on their part snagging him for the game... which then snagged them Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, etc...

But, yeah, I'm hoping Joss brings the same kind of love and dedication, which I believe he is and will.

@fenixREVOLUTION: Like that poor guy needs more personalities to grapple with!

@RainEffect: Why? Because he's the man! He's got the most charm of any of the heroes, and he's not a dick like Tony Stark. He's just an all-around cool dude with a great sense of humor.

But think of that list you have there... Natasha – as much as I love her – has dated or slept with nearly everyone (guess it comes with the being-a-spy-thing): Daredevil, Hawkeye, Hercules, Bucky, Tony Stark... And so does Clint Barton, so that made a lot of sense.

Wanda, is by most accounts, crazy. She was married to a robot... so...

And now Jessica – it makes perfect sense. He's the most charming, fun-loving male Avenger. She's a little shy, has had a rough time in life, could use the laughs and someone to trust. Plus she's got them super-charged pheromones. They go well together!

It's not like he will ever get to date Carol Danvers. I couldn't see that ever happening. I had more trouble believing the brief stint he had with Echo.

I want to see Noh-Varr get some loving. Dude's a regular heartthrob badass. He was sleeping with Moonstone in the Dark Avengers days before he abandoned that crazy train of a team. He's got the appeal and youthfulness to him, somebody get him a date!

@Danial79: nice chart!

Glad to see Academy is pretty solid.. it's a great book...

If you've never read it, this is the perfect moment to jump on as they move to a new location, and new members are added.

I have not read X-23 since I've cut a lot of X-Men out of my diet.. but I loved Marjorie Liu's run on Black Widow, it was the best Black Widow series I've read in years... I hope she gets another series to work on... maybe even return to Black Widow..?!

Fat Cobra?! GORILLA MAN?!! Hooray! Some Atlas love!

YES.

@jloneblackheart said:

@iLLituracy He didn't take it away, he made it so he would get weaker the further he gets away from earth. I guess he gave him his human appearance back (like he couldn't always do that) so he could get back in touch with his humanity (again). Matt Fraction just doesn't get the Silver Surfer and it's obvious he hasn't read much with him in it. Or he doesn't care. I was originally excited for this when I first heard about it. Finding out it's Fraction, I am a very disappointed. Fraction writing Surfer and Loeb writing Nova. No cosmic ongoings. Marvel Cosmic is officially dead.

I thought he did a pretty good job. Not as great as the Straczynski Silver Surfer: The End, but still an interesting take. He had Surfer desperately attempting to satiate Galactus forever going to lengths that Norrin Radd would not normally go to... only to have SS have to step back and realize that doing so would sacrifice his beliefs. Admittedly, it was not Fraction's best showing, but he took some interesting risks and pushed the boundaries of the character a bit. The end did seem to satisfy the needs of the new Defenders book, and felt a little like Galactus was being kind of a push over.. But he also knows that if he lets his favorite herald get in touch with humanity again, it will ultimately bring SS back into his service, because it will remind him that his greatest purpose is to save as many worlds as he can from Galactus' hunger. But Fraction also left a door open for SS by sending of the Priest to be Galactus' new herald... if the new guy does the job SS thinks he is capable of doing, then Norrin may not have to return to Galactus...

On the note of Marvel Cosmic... I don't think it's dead, but it isn't being treated as well as it should. DnA have done such a wonderful job with it over the past couple years, introducing me to scores of characters I didn't even know existed, and making them new favorites of mine. It is unfortunate they haven't gotten as much support or respect as they should have, however. I thought Fraction's story was more respectful, but it also dealt with a character who didn't have anything too drastic happen to him under DnA (correct me if I'm wrong).

I find Hickman's use of the Inhumans much more disrespectful to not only DnA's work but, their origins. I generally trust Hickman, but I really don't like The Inhumans and Ronin's arc in the pages of FF at the moment... He brings Black Bolt back, has him scoop up all the Inhumans, and they fly back to the Moon, leaving behind all responsibility they had assumed with ruling the Kree. He gives BB like 6 more wives (?!), which really undermines the connection he has with Medusa. BB doesn't talk, but Medusa and his bond is so strong that she just knows the decisions he would make. He rarely corrects her. If the guy has multiple other wives, there is no way the two of them could have that bond. The concept undermines not only the bond Medusa and BB have, but the uniqueness of The Inhumans themselves.

I buy the idea the Kree would have set up similar projects like they did on Earth on other worlds, but I don't buy the idea that Black Bolt has to be the King for all of them... wouldn't that ruin the idea that they are "elevating" the homeworld race when they put a guy from another world in charge of them...? Especially if they are as prideful as the Inhumans we know. I don't think they'd be too fond of that at all. And, for some reason the other Inhuman races all have the tuning forks on their head... Only Black Bolt and Lockjaw have those deals. Medusa doesn't have one, and Lockjaw's is pretty different from BB's and seems to actually be imbedded in his head, where BB's appears ornamental... I could go on. I just really don't like what he is doing so far with them.

I'm not crazy about Loeb on Nova, but he has been good in the past... just hasn't been as strong in a while. I think what is happening is Marvel is prepping to introduce the cosmic stories for TV and film opportunities. Both Nova and Rocket Raccoon will be in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Nova and another cosmic character are being introduced into Super Hero Squad Online this month, Super Hero Squad Show featured Thanos as the main villain for at least the first half of the second season, and introduced Captain Marvell, included a lot of screen time for Silver Surfer, and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is going to be bringing in more cosmic aspects with the inclusion of the Guardians of the Galaxy and Ms. Marvel this season. Then there is all this business of the Cosmic Cube in Thor and Captain America movies, leading into The Avengers, which is rumored to include a Skrull invasion. And there was that whole tease where we saw a physical Infinity Gauntlet shown at SDCC last year...? All this tells me they are positioning to unleash cosmic material into their Entertainment division. It is unfortunate that they do not seem to be giving more attention to DnA for really revitalizing the material, but then again, DnA are writing the Avengers EMH episode(s) with the Guardians... so that is something.

Time will tell, but I don't think cosmic is dead. Rather it is being strategically positioned for a bigger place in the Marvel U.

That got WAY too long.

@Omertalvendetta said:

@daredeville: Thanks a bunch for your response, clarified a little bit for me.

Glad I could help! Many people seemed to have misunderstood how that played out, you are by no means alone on that one. I just happen to have an excellent memory for story in comics and film. In literature or aural dictation, not so much! (I'm a visual thinker)

The delivery was a little awkward somewhere along the way, but all in all, good stuff. I think Fraction took a pretty interesting/ballsy route to telling that story between what people's expectations were and how things transpired.