Marvel has, once again, relaunched a recently canceled title with a new #1. Is the first issue of All-New X-Factor worth a look? Find out after the jump.

I did not read the previous volume of X-Factor which came to a close in September...not a single issue. Since the new series was announced, among a slew of other All-New Marvel NOW! titles, I have gone back and forth on whether or not to subscribe to it so, yesterday, I picked up copy of the new #1 from  Vault of Midnight in Ann Arbor.

The book, written by Peter David, who was the writer of previous volume of X-Factor , picks up, as I understand it, right where the previous volume left off. Say what you will about Marvel's recent practice of renumbering titles, but, in this case, it seems that fans of X-Factor are probably not going to be upset by the new #1 as the new volume is following a new team into a new adventure: becoming the world's first super-team sponsored by a company, Serval Industires, led by Harrison Snow.

This volume picks up with the origins of the new team, led by Polaris ,who has her sights set on fan-favorite Gambit to join the team. By the end of the issue, Gambit, along with Polaris' half-brother Quicksilver, have joined the team and given us just enough exposition of what's to come to whet the appetite. David takes the opportunity to play with some big, mutant personalities in this issue and has fun doing so. While Polaris is the de facto leader of the team, it seems that David is going to be doing a great character study of Gambit, who may just take center stage. Of course there are other characters yet to join the team, but for one issue the interactions among the three mutants and Snow, who is a very interesting character, were perfect.


The artwork of All-New X-Factor, done by Carmine Di Giandomenico, is absolutely outstanding and brings exactly the right vibe to the issue. Each of the characters is given the right amount of attention and stand out, but each panel is full of more than just characters. This is one of the best drawn issues I have read recently and it's Di Giandomenico's completely different approach to drawing some long-time characters that I enjoyed the most. While it's clear we are looking at Wolverine, Gambit and Quicksilver, it's also clear that Di Giandomenico made each of them his own for this issue.

Not having read the previous volume, I can't say whether this issue does a great job of picking up where the last issue left off, but I can say that it makes it very easy for a first-time reader to jump on board. This was the best book I read this week and it wasn't even close. Another book or two like this and I'll absolutely be sold and pick up the series!

One of the more intriguing titles in 2014's All-New Marvel NOW! additions was Inhuman. Set in the days and weeks after Black Bolt's Terrigen Bomb exploded over Earth, Inhuman will follow the new breed of Inhumans who are roaming free all over Earth without their king.



The series was set to launched in January, but just a couple of weeks ago Axel Alonso, Marvel's editor-in-chief, revealed that the series would be delayed for unannounced reasons. The series will now launch in April and, Marvel says, existing orders have been canceled and the title will be resolicited at a later date.

While the reason for the delay has not been officially announced, today's announcement that Charles Soule, one of Marvel's up and comers, will replace Marvel all-star Matt Fraction, may be at the heart of the matter. While no further details are available about the change at this point, Alonso did say that the studio does still have big plans for the future of the Inhumans and that they plan to go forward with the news series.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about Fraction leaving the series. I have, for the most part, enjoyed Fraction's work, some of it is among the best work I've read by a Marvel writer; however, I will admit to being on the outside looking in with his take on the Fantastic Four. While I admired the idea of taking the group away from the Marvel universe, I feel they can work better when they get to play in the larger sandbox...at least I enjoy them more that way.  At any rate, I'm certainly interested to find out why Fraction is off the book and to see what Soule, who writes the Thunderbolts and She-Hulk, along with Superman/Wonder Woman, Red Lanterns and Swamp Thing for DC, will do with a title that has an incredibly open road ahead.

The guys over at WatchMojo.com have put together an entire video that shows how DC and Marvel steal each others ideas on comic book characters since the dawn of comics....

In the post-Avengers film world, Black Widow's character has certainly seen her popularity take off, so much so that Marvel is giving their top spy her own title, by the creative team of Nathan Edmonson and Phil Noto, starting in January as a part of All-New Marvel NOW! After the jump you can take a look at a few pages from the first issue.


Writer Nathan Edmonson promises that while the book will focus on who the Black Widow is, we will get some glimpses into her infamous but ambiguous past,"About all I can tell you is that the shadows in her past are dark and deep and they are reaching out for her. We will learn some things about them eventually, but keep in mind she's a master spy: her secrets stay in the dark. When the book opens, though, we;ll be plenty busy with her present and all the action that entails."

Take a look at some panels from the first issue as well as the covers, drawn by Phil Noto, from the 2nd and 3rd issue.

Panels from Comicbookmovie.com

More on Marvel.com: http://marvel.com/news/story/21597/understanding_black_widow_pt_1#ixzz2meZOgZGr

Marvel has been making a lot of comics the last several weeks and honestly none have been has intriguing as this: legendary X-Men antagonist, Magneto, will be getting his own book, from the creative team of Cullen Bunn and Gabriel Hernandez Walta, beginning in March.


The book will see Magneto break away from his role on Scott Summer's team of Uncanny X-Men and go on his own, vigilante-style, to take those who are enemies of mutant-kind. The current book sees Magneto, and those he's been running with, unable to control their powers and this book looks to pick up there.

Cullen Bunn looks to further enhance the villain/anit-hero grey area in which Magneto exists.  He says, "Magneto, in this story is very much a detectve, seeking out and investigating threats to mutants before cutting loose with all the fury of a supervillain-or superhero, depending on  your point of view."  The book looks to focus on how Magneto's past has shaped his life and how, despite being labeled a villain and terrorist, he can still be seen as a man with sound ideals.

Bunn promises the book will delve into that past, which will of course include Charles Xavier, and will also incorporate Magneto's relationship with his twin children, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, who the author says, "are a big part of what makes Magneto who he is."

This is, as far as I know, the first time Magneto has gotten an ongoing solo-series. I know there have been one-shots and limited series in the past, but I don't think there's ever been a Magneto solo-title. That alone makes it an interesting book and Bunn's intent to make it "dark," "street-level" and "noir" make it sound more and more interesting. To be honest, my first thought when I read the headline was, "Meh" but having read Bunn's description, I'm going to consider picking this title up a few times and seeing where it goes!  What do you guys think about the Master of Magnetism going Charles Bronson on peoples' asses?

Source: USA Today

I was given a pretty cool opportunity earlier tonight when my man Knight Gambit  forwarded me a review copy of a new, original comic: Saltire. Saltire, created and written by John Ferguson with art from the team of Gary Welsh, Tone Julskjaer and Jim Devlin (cover) was published by Diamondsteel Comics.  The review copy came with the first two issues, Invasion and Inception, which, when read together, give a breathtaking introduction to an aesthetically striking hero before unveiling his origin as the ultimate guardian of Scotland. After the jump I'll take a more detailed look at this incredible indie effort which was published this past October.


Saltire-Invasion sets the scene in Ancient Scotland in around AD 122. After a detailed map which splits Scotland into 2 main sections, the Highlands of Shadow and the Valleys of Light, each of which have 5 sub-sections, we meet the invaders for which this volume is titled: the Roman Empire's legendary Ninth Legion. The Ninth Legion has been the subject of three movies in the past six year (The Last Legion, The Eagle and Centurion) and of much historical debate. Saltire-Invasion takes some poetic license with the legion, basically talking all the best parts of the legends and combining them for the book. The legion is at the northernmost post of Provincia Britannia, what would eventually become referred to as Caledonia, looking to continue the northward expansion of the Empire. For the purposes of the book, the Romans serve their purpose well: the provide a threat large enough for the inhabitants of the Valleys of Light and the Highlands of Darkness to come together and call upon the ultimate guardian of their land: Saltire.


Saltire couldn't be any more symbolically representative of Scotland. A saltire is a diagonal cross, also called St. Andrew's Cross, as seen on Scotland's national flag, a flag that has symbolized the nation since AD 832. To this point Saltire is quite literally the symbol of a nation and, as if to emphasize that point, the creative team has chosen the colors of the flag, blue and white, for their title character.

Through a brief exposition we meet our two teams of warriors and each of their immortal protectors. The 5 warriors from the southern Valley of Light: Gallan the Courageous, Engus the Just, Trest the Faithful, Cennet the Righteous and Aden the Noble. Each of these warriors, their look and their weapons are cleverly tied to the landscape and wildlife of Scotland.  We come to learn that these warriors are protected by Riada the Wise, an Immortal Warrior of the Fae (Fae as in Faerie, but remember the Faeries of ancient legend are far different than Tinkerbell).  The 5 warriors from the northern Highlands of Darkness, basically the yin to the Valley's yang, consist of Cano the Mighty, Loarn the Brave, Talorgan the Masterful, Domall the Agile and Brode the Cunning and are under the protection of Sloan the Poweful, the Immortal Warrior of the Shadow Bearers.

Upon reading both Invasion and Inception, it becomes clear why these 12 warriors gather together in the company of Mormaer, the High Shaman, to summon their warrior Saltire. Each of the warriors are the sons of the men that Mormaer brought together in hopes of saving the sovereignty of Scotland by sacrificing their lives in a ritual to unite themselves, their individual people's abilities with the elements of their homeland into one immortal entity: Saltire. When reading the two books back to back, the origin story of Saltire suddenly shines a light back onto the pages of Invasion and makes them a necessary reread. This is truly an inspired and unique origin and one that, I'm sure, will continue to pay off through the upcoming issues of the book.


The climax of Invasion sees 12 warriors and the newly summoned Saltire face the powerful Ninth Legion. Saltire, without the help of his Diamondsteel blades, singlehandedly decimates the Romans who, in an act of desperation, make a sacrifice and invoke Mars Ultor (the avenger), their god of war.  Despite the fact that he's a god of war, he is fighting with the titular character of the book.  The book ends with Roman Emperor Hadrion, awakened by a fevered dream of the beat down of his men by Saltire, praying to Jupiter who instructs him to build a wall to remind the natives where their freedom ends.  I found this clever retelling of the origin of Hadrion's Wall to be just one of the many nice touches that Ferguson used to spin some Scottish mythology and history.

I certainly don't want to include any more detail about the two issues other than to say that, when read back-to-back, they compose and absolutely worthwhile read of an independent comic. The artwork is solid throughout and the battle between Saltire and Mars is drawn extremely well and with great detail. Ferguson and crew are set to follow up these issues with Annihilation sometime in the fall of 2014.  You can pick up the first issue at Amazon (Saltire Invasion) and you can find out much more about the book and the team at Diamondsteel Comics.  This is a project worth checking out if you're a fan of history or mythology or if you're looking for something new. I'm certainly looking forward to checking out the next installment.

One of the All-New Marvel NOW! titles I am looking most forward to picking up is Avengers World. Following the events of Infinity, the Avengers are now galactic heroes and their roster and responsibilities have expanded, so much that they'll get two titles now!  After the jump we'll get a glimpse at the main focus of the title and some previews of the art from the first issue



I had been under the assumption that while it would crossover with the current Avengers book, given the fact that Jonathan Hickman will be writing both titles, it might be a place for some of the under-utilized members of the group to see some action.  According to Marvel editor Tom Brevoort, who spoke with Crave Online, the book will do just that. Brevoort says that even though the book will be open to the entire roster, the creative team will "specifically be looking to give greater screen time to some of the newer Avengers, like Hyperion, Smasher, Cannonball, Shang-Chi, Starbrand and Sunspot."

I'm all for more time for Hyperion, whose story was definitely set aside for Infinity, and Shang-Chi, who I recently found out was a character Marvel looked into developing into a feature film at one point. I've been very curious what they'd do with Starbrand and now, it seems, we'll get to see him developing his powers.  The artwork below gives us a peak at each of those characters and the variant cover for Avengers World #1 which will be published in early January.

Robinson's run will pick up with the members of the Fantastic Four in some bad spots following Matt Fraction's short run on the title.  Robinson says his run, ultimately is about "a family finding the strength to face adversity through the help and love of each other." Robinson, who is also writing the All-New Invaders, says the focus of his arc is "the fall and rise of the Fantastic Four, and especially the fall and rise of Johnny Storm."

While Fraction's run isolated the team in space, Robinson says his series will see them back and interacting with the Marvel universe. It's this interaction, he says, that will lead to their troubles as the series will "see the fragmentation of the family due to villainous outside forces that are [sic] slowing picking at them and eroding them."

Robinson says he's enjoying writing Reed Richards (one of my all-time favorite characters) and Sue, but that all the characters, including holdovers Scott Lang and Darla Deering from the FF series that ran parallel to the team's last adventure, will contribute to the book.  Fans of Doctor Doom will be happy to learn that the longtime nemesis will be included in the series.

I'm curious to read a few books of this new series and just how Robinson brings one of my favorite group of characters to life in 2013.

Source: LA Times Hero Complex

Given that Mark Waid's Daredevil series has been one of my favorite books of the past year, I was a little (okay, a lot) disappointed when the announcement came last month that the series would come to an end in February with issue #36.  The book has sold well for Marvel and the creative team of Waid and artist Chris Samnee have consistently produced awesome work.  Fortunately, Marvel appears to know a good thing when the see it (see what I did there?...you know, because Daredevil is blind?) as they announced, via an exclusive interview at The Nerdist, that the team of Waid and Samnee will be working on a renumbered book that takes Matt Murdock to The Golden Gate City, San Francisco, beginning in March.


I know Marvel's trend of renumbering their series is upsetting to some, this time especially since they are also raising the price of the series, but their sales numbers seem to be driving the trend. Samnee told The Nerdist why the team chose to renumber the series at this point:

"With the end of #36 a chapter in Matt Murdock's life has ended. We're moving forward now in a new direction with a new cast and new stakes. The new #1 just makes sense. We're restarting the series just as Matt is trying to jump start his life and career."

Waid adds that they were given the option to renumber last year when Marvel launced Marvel NOW! but declined because it didn't fit their needs, however, "When the opportunity arose to relaunch again this year, it made a lot more sense given the way we're about to change literally every aspect of Matt Murdock's life. Every aspect." Now that that is out of the way, we can focus on the book which will see Murdock leave Hell's Kitchen for the Left Coast following some life-changing events in the two part finale (issues #35 and 36) to the current series.

Longtime fans of the character may recognize that this won't be Murdock's first time in San Francisco as he spent some time there with Black Widow in the 70's series written by Gerry Conway.  Waid explains the decision to have Murdock make the move:

 "Without spoiling too much of the final issue of the previous series, we can tell you that Matt has to leave New York and, in many ways, has no choice but to return to California-specifically, California, no where else to go. But that's where he and his cast will hang their collective hat from now on."

While it goes without saying that life is going to change for Murdock, one thing Waid points out is that the hero is, "going to quickly find out he's not the only crimefighter in town-and that he's fooling himself to assume there's room for more than one." So it seem Hornhead is about to come into conflict with another hero in his time in San Francisco. Who will that be? We know that Frank Castle will be moving to L.A. in his All-New Marvel NOW! title, who else do you guys think The Man Without Fear will be running into in The City by the Bay?

                               

Comic book movies have become a tradition in Hollywood. I mean, when was the last time we had a summer movie season where no superhero showed up on the big screen. Superheroes and Hollywood are right now in the honeymoon stage; sure things may collapse and go down hill, but from the looks of things. That’s a long way away. So, with every comic book movie, you need a story, an idea, a basis, if you will. Today, I present to you five comic book arcs or storylines that I feel deserve some movie love. Shall we begin?