Marvel's February previews reviewed

Dear Marvel Entertainment,

I know you guys aren't as disciplined and consistent as DC Comics when it comes to releasing your solicitation information, but you really shouldn't release it on a Thursday. See, on Thursdays, my day job is actually more of a night job, so I don't have time to post about your solicitations on Thursdays and, in fact, won't be able to get around to it until Friday.

And then, on Friday evening, none of my tens and tens of reader will actually be around to read the post I write about your solicitations, because it's Friday night, and most of my readers have better things to do then read my rambling about your solicitations.

So in the interest of getting the maximum number of EDILW readers to read my posts about your solicitations, you really should release your solicitations on Tuesdays, like you used to, back in the good old days, when you used to write whole paragraphs about the books, instead of just bullet points. Thanks for your time and attention.

Your pal,
Caleb


Dear Readers,

If you would like to see the full solicits for everything Marvel plans to release in February of next year, you can do so by clicking here or here. If you just want to see me talking back to a handful of them that struck me as interesting, keep reading.

Yours truly,
Caleb

Samnee! Why did you put the dumbest part of the Daredevil live-action movie on the cover of the Daredevil comic book! Bad memories are flooding my skull now! Why have you done this Samnee? I thought we were friends!

Not to judge a book by its cover or anything, but that's a pretty shitty cover. I hope the inside of the book isn't as bad as the cover suggests, but this would be a potentially promising crossover appeal sort of project...of the sort comics publishers tend to blow.

FEARLESS DEFENDERS #1
CULLEN BUNN (W) • Will Sliney (A)
Cover by Mark Brooks
...
NEW TEAM! NEW VILLAINS! NEW CREATORS! Valkyrie and Misty Knight are the Fearless Defenders and not since Power Man and Iron Fist has an unlikely duo kicked this much—well, you know. Writer Cullen Bunn (Venom, Sixth Gun, The Fearless) and new-to-Marvel artist Will Sliney (MacGyver, Star Wars) bring you the book everyone is going to be talking about on Thursday morning.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

This is...weird. I know Valkyrie was a long-serving, second-tier Defender (and the first-tier Defenders were all pretty much second-tier Marvel characters), but is that enough to justify using the "Defenders" team name in the title of a book featuring her? Does Marvel have to used the word "Defenders" in a title eight out of every twelve months or forfeit the trademark for Captain Marvel to DC Comics because of a drunken bet Stan Lee made with Carmine Infantino forty years ago or something...?

And if it is a Defenders-branded book, why specifically reference Heroes for Hire team Power Man and Iron Fist...? I don't really get this one.

But with an ill-starred word in the title, minor stars and minor creators, plus female leads (which usually doesn't work out real great for Marvel, not that that's a reason not to keep trying or anything), I can't imagine this will last much longer than, say, Matt Fraction's just-canceled Defenders book.

That's cool that Marvel hired someone from outside of Marvel for a new "NOW!" book, though.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #0.1
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W) • STEVE MCNIVEN (A/C)
...
Move over Avengers…the Guardians got this.
Star-Lord. Gamora. Drax. Rocket Raccoon. Groot. …and the Invincible Iron Man?!
The Marvel Universe just got bigger as the legendary cosmic epic returns in the hands of superstar creators Brian Michael Bendis (Avengers, All-New X-Men) and Steve McNiven (Civil War; Old Man Logan).

In this special prelude issue meet the man behind the Guardians: Star-Lord… and discover how this child of Earth became the leader of the rag-taggiest of teams in all the Galaxy. All setting the stage for next month’s historic Guardians of the Galaxy #1. This is the start of something big, Marvel fans.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Wow, I feel kind of bad for the writing team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. They literally spent years working on Marvel's cosmic comics, making that name and that group of characters into something a small but vocal and loyal number of Marvel fans cared about, and now that their hard work (and that of their many collaborators) has paid off, to the point that Disney's following their Avengers movie with a Guardians of the Galaxy movie (of all things), Marvel's most popular and prolific writer Brian Michael Bendis swoops in and takes over, getting his name attached and written on what are likely to be some very lucrative royalty checks a few years down the road...?

That doesn't seem cool.


HAWKEYE VOL. 1: MY LIFE AS A WEAPON TPB
Written by MATT FRACTION
Penciled by DAVID AJA, JAVIER PULIDO & ALAN DAVIS
Cover by DAVID AJA
Fraction. Aja. Hawkeye. Kate Bishop. Cars. Guns. And videotape. The breakout star of this summer’s blockbuster Avengers film, Clint Barton — a.k.a. the self-made hero Hawkeye — fights for justice…and good rooftop BBQs! And with ex-Young Avenger Kate Bishop by his side, he’s out to get some downtime from being one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! Matt Fraction and David Aja (IMMORTAL IRON FIST) reunite to tell the ongoing tales of the Arrow-Avenger. Barton and Bishop mean double the Hawkeye and double the trouble! Plus: Relive Kate’s first meeting with Clint, as she learns wanting something can be miles away from actually earning it. Collecting HAWKEYE (2012) #1-5 and YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS #6.
136 PGS./Rated T+ …$16.99

I endorse this product.

Seriously, even if you d--Ha ha! I was gonna say "Even if you don't like Hawkeye, you'll like this comic," but then I remembered no one actually likes Hawkeye.

NEW AVENGERS #3
JONATHAN HICKMAN (W) • STEVE EPTING (A)
Cover by JOCK
Variant Cover by DALE KEOWN
“INFINITY”
• The Illuminati experience their first incursion since reforming.
• Can the loose brotherhood of end times trust each other enough to use the Infinity Gems in unison?
• And a new member joins the Illuminati!
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

Okay, that's three issues that mention the Illuminati, but don't specifically mention an Avengers team. Why isn't this book just called The Illuminati then...? And, more importantly, why is Dr. Strange just twiddling his fingers while everyone else is struggling so hard to keep Earth-1 and Earth-2 from colliding? Where is The Spectre when you need him...?!

NOVA #1
JEPH LOEB (W)
ED MCGUINNESS (A/C)
...
The Human Rocket returns!
You’ve followed him through the history making (and changing!) AvX and now the mystery of the all-new Nova are revealed in this breathtaking new ongoing by the best-selling, award winning team of Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness (RED HULK, Avengers X-Sanction).

Sam Alexander is a kid bound by the gravity of a small town and a father whose ridiculous, drunken fairy tales about a “Nova Corps” were just another heavy burden in a life full of them. But luckily for Sam Alexander…soon gravity won’t even matter. And those troubles? It’s like they’re a billion miles away.
32 PGS. /Rated T+ …$3.99

Weird. Just before I sat down to read through these solicits, I was reading Sean Howe's Marvel Comics: The Untold Story , and read a paragraph about Nova:

Marv Wolfman greatly respected [Steve] Gerber's work, and he'd been an early champion of Howard the Duck. But he found the darker stories...to be "gruesome" and "revolting." Increasingly , the tone of the comics was a point of contention for Wolfman, who'd even dusted off Nova, a character he'd created as a teenager, in hopes of getting back to the kid-friendly spirit of the early 1960s Marvels.

I didn't know Wolfman created Nova...and if he created him as a teenager, then does that mean he created him before he started working for Marvel? Does Wolfman own Nova? Could he make a legal case that he does? Will be be getting mad movie money if Nova's in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie...?

And if Wolfman though 1970s Marvel was gruesome and revolting, does he even read comics anymore...?

Anyway, Jeph Loeb is writing a new comic for Marvel. It will be terrible.

That's Milo Manara's variant cover for Savage Wolverine #2. I don't see Wolverine in that image. Maybe he's hiding...? I suppose I'll just have to keep staring at it until I find him...

...

Oh! There he is! He's wearing a dinosaur costume! Wolverine is a master of disguise.


UNCANNY AVENGERS #5
RICK REMENDER (W) • OLIVIER Coipel (A)
Cover by John Cassaday
Variant Cover by OLIVIER COIPEL
• Wonder Man, Wasp and Sunfire join the team just in time for Grim Reaper’s revenge!
• Tension between the team builds as Havok’s leadership is questioned!
• The death of a major character at the hands of an Avenger in broad daylight!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Ha ha, I like how they used "death of a major character" as a selling point in the same solicitation that boasts the recently-deceased-but-apparently-resurrected major character the Wasp is joining the team this issue.

UNCANNY X-MEN #1
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W)
CHRIS BACHALO (A/C)
...
The true flagship book of the X-Men returns. In the wake of the Phoenix, the world has changed and is torn on exactly what Cyclops and his team of X-Men are – visionary revolutionaries or dangerous terrorists? Whatever the truth, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magneto, and Magik are out in the world gathering up new mutants and redefining the name UNCANNY X-MEN.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

So Bendis is writing two X-Men titles, then...? Or wait

Bachalo and Bendis seem like a terrible team, as the former is really great at drawing all kinds of shit, and the latter is really terrible at giving artists anything interesting to draw. I wonder how their collaboration will work out.

I like how angry Bachalo managed to make Magneto's helmet look on the cover.

Oh, hey, wait! I thought the Avengers were using "Uncanny" now, in Uncanny Avengers. Can the X-Men use it for their book too...? Shouldn't this book have a traditionally Avengers adjective in front of it, like, I don't know, The Mighty X-Men or The West Coast X-Men....?