Marvel's May previews reviewd

Come May, Marvel Entertainment will publish a whole bunch of comical books. Many of them will have awesome covers, by awesome artists! If you would like to read all about all of these comics, you can do so at Comic Book Resources or at ComicsAlliance. If you want to read me pointing at some of those nice covers, and commenting about some of the books, you can read on...


AGE OF ULTRON #8 (OF 10)
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W)
BRANDON PETERSON & CARLOS PACHECO (A/C)
Cover by BRANDON PETERSON
...
With the Marvel Universe turned inside out, who will take responsibility for breaking the world? And is there any way to put it back? Wait until you see who is in charge of the new world order and how they got there…! A reality-spanning choice is made this issue that will affect the Marvel Universe for years and years to come.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

This issue will affect the Marvel Universe for years and years to come? Oh thank God. I was afraid this might be the first intracompany crossover event story not to promise to affect the universe for years to come. Wouldn't want to waste time reading one if I wasn't told I had to

I'm curious about the "who is in charge of the new world order" bit, as that seems to be the exact plot point of like a decade's worth of Marvel comics—who is the boss of Marvel? (Civil War/"The Initiative": Iron Man, "Dark Reign": Norman Osborn, Siege: Captain America). Hopefully that's not what it means, though.

Otherwise, I'd guess Brian Michael Bendis. Brian Michael Bendis is (still) in charge of the new world order.

 

ALL-NEW X-MEN #11

Brian Michael Bendis (W) • Stuart Immonen (A/C)
• One of the ALL-NEW X-MEN leaves to join Cyclops and his crew!
• Jean Grey pushes her power to the limit, shaking her and the rest of the X-Men to the core.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

I bet its one of the boys that leaves the original team to join Cyclops and his crew, and I bet the reason is Emma and Magik's costumes.

 

Hey look—dinosaurs!

 

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #15AU
AL EWING (W) • BUTCH GUICE (A)
Cover by NIC KLEIN
AGE OF ULTRON TIE-IN
ULTRON RULES OK! The AGE OF ULTRON hits Britain, and Captain Britain hits back with a little help from his friends - including a vacationing Captain Marvel! Fighting a guerilla war in the ruins of London, AGGRO! is a way of life for Avengers UK - but when they might just be the last super heroes left alive, can there still be hope? Or is England dreaming?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Al Ewing? What happened to Kelly Sue DeConnick? I thought Assemble was going to be her Avengers book moving forward. Did she only get to write, like, a single arc...?

Well, whatever's going on with the title (three writers in fifteen issues? What is this, a New 52 book?), I like that cover.

 

Hey, a great Daredevil cover. How unusual.

 

DEADPOOL #9-10
GERRY DUGGAN & BRIAN POSEHN (W) • MIKE HAWTHORNE (A)
Cover by ART ADAMS (#9) & TONY MOORE (#10)
• Deadpool targets a MAN with AQUATIC powers!
• Then he teams-up with your SUPERIOR Neighborhood SPIDER-MAN!
• I PROMISE HE KILLS ONE OF THOSE TWO!
32 PGS. (EACH)/Parental Advisory …$2.99 (EACH)

Uh-oh! Aquaman jokes! Geoff Johns (and his Aquaman) are going to be so angry!

 

Nice concept for the cover, although I'm not crazy about the rendering.

 

HAWKEYE #11
MATT FRACTION (W) • DAVID AJA (A/C)
• THE breakout character of 2012… becomes the breakout character of 2013... as PIZZA DOG gets his own issue.
• Literally… the entire issue… it’s all from the dog’s point-of-view.
• Pizza Dog gets hired to solve a crime -- the grizzly murder that shocked Team Hawkguy -- and the only thing more shocking than THAT… is what happens the end of THIS.
• Seriously. This is not a joke! Even the coloring. Dog issue. We’re all gettin’ fired. PLEASE READ…
“Pizza is my Business” …before it’s too late for us.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

Is Pizza Dog the same dog as Lucky, introduced in the first issue...? I don't remember a name change, but then, I may have been too wowed by the art to notice. Speaking of being wowed by the art, how about that cover, huh?

 

NOVA #4
JEPH LOEB (W) • ED MCGUINNESS (A/C)
...
The comic everyone is taLking about continues!
• The mysteries surrounding the disappearance of Sam’s dad deepen and the helmet leads Nova into intergalactic conflict that will affect the entire Marvel Universe!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Is everyone talking, I mean taLking about this series? Is anyone at all saying anything at all about it? I haven't heard anyone at all say anything at all about it.

Maybe the solicitation writer is just predicting what people will be talking about come spring...?

 

RED SHE-HULK #65
JEFF PARKER (W)
CARLO PAGULAYAN & WELLINTON ALVES (A)
Cover by FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA
RED SHE-HULK RACES AGAINST TIME IN “ROUTE 616”
• The SHE-HULK Jen Walters strikes a deal with the military!
• And Betty finds others have taken her path before her...
• …others named DR. DOOM, THE RED SKULL, ULTRON and LOKI!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

I like that cover a whole lot.

 

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #9
DAN SLOTT (W) • Ryan Stegman (A)
Cover by MARCOS MARTIN
Variant Cover by Ryan Stegman
IT ENDS HERE! “SUPERIOR NO MORE!”
• The hottest comic in comics comes to a turning point that will get you angrier than you were after Spidey #700!
• The time has come to see who will live, who will die, and who will emerge as the one, true Superior Spider-Man!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Well, the only thing that would have made me angry about Spidey #700 was it's $8 price tag, so I can't imagine this $4 comic would make me that angry. Although in this instance, Marvel is asking for $4 for only 20-22 pages worth of content, which is what they sell for $3 in many of their other books, and their Distinguished Competition charges for 20 pages of comics content. So I guess I could get angry about this issue, if I cared to read it, which I don't, really.

Nice Martin cover, though!

I'm kind of surprised by the fact that the solicitation for this issue makes it sound like the whole Doc Ock's mind in Spidey's body storyline is winding down though, as it's only been nine issues...how do they keep this title going once that status quo changes, instead of canceling it and relaunching it as Amazing Spider-Man...? (One interesting thing to watch regarding the Now titles is how long they last without being retitled and/or relaunched with new numbering, as quite a few of them have premises that sound more like those that belong to limited series rather than ongoings.

 

Either Kang is gigantic now, or "The Apocalyse Twins" are very small. That's the cover for (one of) May's Uncanny Avengers #8 (there's an Uncanny Avengers #8 and an Uncanny Avengers #8AU, because COMICS!) written by Rick Remember, who wrote a little kid version of Apocalypse in X-Force, so I imagine those are little kids.

 

Oh, I was just wondering the other day where Red Tornado had gotten to. I guess he quit DC and got a job at Marvel.

 

Nice cover for X-Men Legacy, Mike Del Mundo!

 

Holy smokes, that's a nice cover! I love how the white space is used to form the crowd of...figures. I'm not crazy about all of these characters visually in general, but McKelvie sure draws the hell out of 'em all (I can't decide if I like Kate Bishop's new look better than her previous one, or not. It looks more realistic and practical, but...I don't know. I'll have to think about it).