27th Mar2012

Avengers vs. X-Men Begins with Issue #0

by Jeremy

Avengers vs. X-Men promo picture

As we mentioned in a previous article, Marvel is putting their two biggest (and most popular) teams head-to-head for this year’s crossover event. That’s right AvX: Cyclops vs. Captain America, Red Hulk vs. Colossus (who is also now the Juggernaut), Iron Man vs. Magneto, Wolverine vs…wait, which team will he choose? There are quite a few X-Men, including Beast and Storm, who have been a part of each team over the years.

Starting tomorrow with issue #0 (written by Brian Michael Bendis and Jason Aaron and art by Frank Cho), the two teams will be coming into conflict over the fact that the super destructive Phoenix Force is making its way back to Earth, but Marvel hasn’t let us know what exactly happens to pit the two super teams against each other. With the X-Men as popular as ever and the new Avenger’s movie just over a month away, it is easy to see why Marvel has chosen now to finally let their new most prominent super factions fight each other. It reminds me of the Civil War crossover, where there were two sides of heroes, both doing what they thought was right. Will this be played out the same way? When heroes fight each other, and neither side becomes the villain, it puts the reader in a fun and interesting position. Is that what the story tellers at Marvel are trying to do here again? Or, are they just trying to continue to cash in on all things “Avenger”?

10th Jan2012

Jean Grey School For Higher Learning Mini-Site

by Jeremy

Recently I started to notice comic book writers retweeting questions that were being answered by the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning’s Twitter account @JeanGreySchool, and I became instantly curious. Was this a fan, or an X-Men writer? No, it was just Marvel garnering attention for some of the new X-Men comic books that feature Wolverine’s off shoot X-Men team (Wolverine & The X-Men, X-Men Legacy, etc). Well, it worked, I had to see what was going on with the X-Men, what would cause Wolverine to go and reopen the original Xavier’s School for Higher Learning and rename it after Jean Grey (it turns out Wolverine and Cyclops had a falling out and they split up, along with all the other X-Mutants picking sides). The mini site has a listing of its faculty, to show you which classic X-Men chose to join Wolverine’s team, as well as offering some hilarious examples of the curriculum (The Art of Fighting without Fighting with Headmaster Logan, The Art of Fighting with Fighting with Headmaster Logan, Zen and The Art of Ice Sculpture with Professor Bobby Drake, and Sex Ed with Professor Remy Lebeau are a couple of my favorites)

Do yourself a favor (if you haven’t recently) and check in with some of your favorite mutants through Marvel’s mini site Jean Grey School. It’s always nice to see a big company like that put some extra time and creativity into marketing new books, even if they are probably some of the most popular characters in the history of their company.

07th Dec2011

AvX

by Reed

If  you don’t know by now, the big announcement of the day coming from camp Marvel is that next spring two of the biggest super teams will be going head to head. That’s right — Avengers vs X-Men, and it looks like it all revolves around the Phoenix Force and Hope Summers.

Avengers: X-Sancation #1 (featuring Cable) will ship next week, and will act as a prelude and will tell of the events that lead up the AvX.

I was a big fan of Civil War, and after learning more about this arc it seems like the entire Marvel Universe will be involved in some way. What’s interesting is that some members are part of both camps, so I’m anxious to see who sides with who in this one. I also like that it the villains (Magneto, Juggs, etc) are getting in on the action. Personally, I would side with the Avengers, but who knows how this battle could and will end.

On top of this, there are 5 different writers and 3 artists working on this 12-issue event that will ship twice a month. I love that we’ll be getting two issues a month because I really do hate waiting to read the next chapter of stories.

On a different note, this is a great way for Marvel to grab the attention back from DC, who recently re-numbered their whole universe. This is really shaping up to be something special, and I cant wait to dive into it and see who comes out on top.