Kirk's Soapbox - WonderCon Edition

WonderCon took place this weekend and I threw together some random thoughts on the news that came out of it.  I'll be discussing the new Green Lantern trailer, X-Men Schism, IDW publishing Marvel comics and more.  Hit the jump for some quick thoughts on the con.

New Green Lantern Movie Trailer

Amazing is the only word to describe it.  Anyone that doubted or laughed at the CGI from the previous trailer has to eat crow now - I was blown away with the Oa scenes.  So many aliens and all looking great.  That skybox when they panned out to show Oa?  Stunning.  Budget must be through the roof on this one at this point.  Hal growling out that last line of the oath to close out the trailer?  Chills.  Sinestro casting?  Perfect.  That speech, that smug look.  Just perfect.  I'm not even going to complain about the costume anymore as even that's growing on me after watching this trailer.  Looks like a winner at this point.  I think DC's finally found a viable movie franchise beyond Nolanverse Batman. 

IDW x Marvel - Craziest (and Most Awesome) Intercompany Project Ever?

Walt Simonson’s The Mighty Thor: Artist’s Edition - Click for larger image

Read this one over at Robot 6 and had to go search around to find out if it wasn't just an elaborate April Fools joke since it was published on April 1st. Who would have ever thought that IDW would be publishing a Thor book, let alone a stunning reprinting of the original art from Walt Simonson's Thor run at it's original size in the form of the Walt Simonson’s The Mighty Thor: Artist’s Edition?  

It seems the man responsible for pioneering the Absolute format at DC, Scott Dunbier, has taken his show on the road and is reviving the Artist's Edition format he created over at IDW to, in conjunction with Marvel, reprint Simonson's Thor in all its original black and white, oversized glory. It's set to reprint Thor #337-340 (debut of Beta Ray Bill and probably my favourite Thor story ever) and #360-362 (approx 176 pages in oversized 12"x17' format).

The coolest thing about these Artist's Editions from IDW (Rocketeer being the original Artist's Edition) is that the black and white pages come scanned in "colour".  I use quotes here because, while still the original black and white art, it is the closest you can get to actually owning the original art and won't have that absolute white/black tone that most black and white editions suffer from.  It will even show random white out or any artist notes on the pages, all at the original art size.  It's a bit pricey at $100, but I imagine, much like Absolutes and omnibuses, Amazon and other retailers will have that price chopped in half for a much more affordable purchase.

Very cool project and I hope it does well.  Would love to see more like this.  Some Claremont/Byrne era X-Men would be incredible and I'd kill for some of the Stern/Romita Jr era Amazing Spider-Man work (preferably Hobgoblin related).  What about you?  Interested in this type of specialty item?  Any particular artist you'd be interested in seeing an Artist's Edition version from?

Warren Ellis & Jamie McKelvie on Secret Avengers

Art from Warren Ellis and Jamie McKelvie's Secret Avengers

Was pleasantly surprised to hear Ellis and McKelvie would be taking over Secret Avengers for six-issues.  Was even more surprised to find out it would be a series of six one-shots as opposed to the standard six-issue story arc that most comics follow.

Ellis seemed to stress that he wanted to tell six individual stories and that he felt people should be able to just pick up any issue and enjoy it, stating,

"I'm just trying to tell six fun stories within the established premise and parameters of the book. [...] I really want to crank it up to eleven. Give that readership more of what they like, in a concentrated dose." 

Personally, I'm happy with the proposed approach.  I think it'll fit well with the black ops team and mission objectives that make up the premise of the book.  Now, if he can just sneak a Machine Man or other Nextwave cameo in somehow...

DC's Retro-Active Titles

And people say DC caters to nostolgia.

Not sure what to make of DC's announced "Retro-Active" titles.  It's a series of 46-page one-shots with 26 pages of new content and 20 pages of old content - all at a $4.99 price point.  Each book, five in total spotlighting Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the JLA, will pay tribute to their respective titles with a focus on stories from the 70's, 80's and 90's.

As I said, I'm really not sure what to make of this initiative.  Not much information was given about the books either, which makes it all the more difficult to gauge just what to expect from these books.  Are they trying to introduce people to these older eras?  Would require some trades/easily accessible back issues.  Some kind of digital comics initiative to coincide with these and give us an outlet to find out more on the older material?  Are we going to have some long lost characters/story/origin type deal that will then be picked up in the present?  Or is it just some very, very niche nostolgia pandering for older fans?  I really can't figure out DC's objective with these one-shots.  Will have to wait and see what they end up doing with it I suppose.

X-Men: Schism

X-Men Schism promo image.

Jason Aaron was announced as the writer for the Schism event with Carlos Pacheco, Frank Cho, Adam Kubert, Alan Davis and Daniel Acuña on art duties for the five issue event.  The event is setto focus on a schism between Cyclops and Wolverine regarding the direction of the X-Men.  To be honest, it sounds like the mutant version of Civil War brewing and I imagine we'll see people taking both Cyclops and Wolverine's sides in the event, though that's merely speculation on my part.  Hopefully it doesn't turn into a slugfest in central park and one of them surrendering and actually deals with the difference of opinion between the two and the actual ramifications of those differences.

I'm a big fan of Jason Aaron's Wolverine work (though not feeling the current demonic possession storyline as much as his Weapon X run), so his involvement in the event has me standing up and taking notice.  The rotating art team for each issue is an interesting decision.  I wonder if each issue has it's own theme or if it's one continuous narrative like typical events?  Would be a bit jarring if it just continued from each artist, especially in trade format, but I suppose not much different than following comics in the 90's with half a dozen different titles making up each part of their events. 

 

Batman vs Hal Jordan - Round 2

Batman vs Hal - Round 2!  Wait a minute...

"[Geoff] Johns promised a "Round 2" between Hal Jordan and Bruce Wayne coming up working under the rules "No rings, no utility belts." He also said that readers will learn about the very first Green Lantern soon."

So will this be the shortest fight ever?   Can it beat out Guy Gardner's "one punch" TKO for shortest Green Lantern vs Batman fight?  Surely Johns can't love Hal that much to make him last more than 5 seconds vs Bruce.  Of course, maybe Batman will become the multiple ring wielding character Johns mentioned to one fan, in which case, by all means, punch him out.  No one but Jimmy Olsen could pull off a technicoloured dreamcoat appearance without deserving to get punched out.  Not even Batman.

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