Time for my semi-regular report on the comings and goings of comic book creations.

First, the item you NEED to see before I hit the break is the all-new Marvel webtoon, “All Winners Squad,” which features esoteric Marvel characters—particularly those created by the mad-genius and comic book intellectual Steve Gerber, who was sort of a Grant Morrison for the 1970s and ‘80s.

The team consists of Gerber’s Howard the Duck, along with Squirrel Girl, Hypno Hustler, Ruby Tuesday, Frog Man, the Walrus, the Unicorn, the Trapster and Mr. Fish.  Don’t know who some/all of them are?  Well, I didn’t either.

Now hit the break for more news about two (more) comic book legends leaving Marvel/DC (when will the big two do something to stop the bleeding?!?), lots of other departures/arrivals, and more!
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So, we’ve talked about what’s going on with DC and what’s new with everyone else who isn’t Marvel.

Now, on to the main event.  But first: An editorial.

I know Marvel scored big with its movie announcements, promises of Winter Soldier, Falcon, and more Thanos (and, remarkably, still no talk of Avengers 2).  But on the comic book front, their panels were underwhelming and underinformative.  And why, with all these movies, do they never mention comic books?  Why is there no kid-holding-a-comic in a Marvel movie?  Why no advertising their print line in a little during-the-credits bump?  I actually though Jonah Hex—a terrible movie by any standard—did one thing right: In the opening credits, his origin was told using panels from the comic book.

Here’s my fear: Marvel’s A-List talent either goes to the screen where the money is (see: Brian Michael Bendis, Jeph Loeb, Joe Casey, others) or decides to go indie (see: Ed Brubaker, Paolo Rivera, Matt Fraction), and Marvel starts giving away its comics like pamphlets used to promote movies.  Kinda like what Mark Millar is basically doing, writing 5-issue comic storyboards for films.

Marvel: Remember who made you (and, frankly, who keeps making you—without comic fans and bloggers, you’re toast).  Invest, promote, and produce the best comic books.  Like you always have, frankly.

I guess I’m just nervous.

Hit the break to find out what’s news for Marvel’s properties…
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By the time I write this article, it may already be out of date.  But I’m not a reporter.  I’m a re-reporter, gossip monger, and opinionator.  About comic books.

And this here column is what I think about the planned Marvel not-reboot/not-relaunch/wave of new #1s coming in October through February.

Marvel never follows DC.  Except when they do.  Both Avengers and X-Men will shake up significantly after the Avengers vs X-Men event…But calling it a reboot isn’t really accuate.  It’s more like a bunch of #1 issues in current continuity.  They’re moving paper to make paper, yo’.

If you ask me, it’s too many shakeups.  We don’t need gimmicks to make comics exciting.  The best Marvel books of the past decade haven’t been brief events that change every couple years, they’ve had longevity: Garth Ennis’ 80-or-so Punisher issues; Bendis and Maleev’s long run on Daredevil (followed by Ed Brubaker’s); Peter David’s X-Factor; Dan Slott’s She Hulk; Brubaker’s Captain America; the rotating “One More Day” crew on Amazing Spider-Man; Bendis’ New Avengers work…It’s not so much “event fatigue” as “why should I care?”  I know in a couple years (or less) they’ll just change it all again. On the other hand, so what?  As long as some good stories and good creative teams are delivered, that’s all that matters.

And, smartly, the Marvel Now! titles will launch over the space of 5 months, giving some of the new #1s the chance to breathe and bask in their increased sales (#1 issues always see a sales spike, even if they’re replacing a book with the same exact title).  Every paper purchase will come with a free digital copy—I wonder if that will impact trade paperback sales?

Right now, much of what will happen is rumor…But that won’t stop me from writing about it.

Hit the break to read about what they’re doing to your Marvel in the coming months…..

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The best way to get people wondering who your next villain will be is to drop a vague clue and say no more.  The head of Marvel Studios recently promised that the next Thor villain will be a “major” new one.  After all the Loki-lovin’ ladies stopped screaming, he added that it won’t be Thanos.  Enchantress is the obvious choice, or Hela, but how about somebody really offbeat?  My absolute favorite Thor villain is The Absorbing Man, and although Crusher Creel couldn’t carry a whole movie, he’d make for a great opening sequence.  My preference for Thor 2 is, of course, Frog Thor, but we all know that won’t happen.  Barring that, I vote for a  Sinister Six:

                Absorbing Man
                Grey Gargoyle
                Hela
                Titania
                Beta Ray Bill (he’ll become a good guy, of course, by the end…)
                And, of course, Executioner (with Walt Simonson’s double-M16 design)

I bet none of my wishes are met….So, on with other news (about the sequels to Sin City and Kick Ass, among other things) after the break.

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By Fred Chao
http://robotchao.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/once-upon-a-time-hulk-vs-batman/

Headlines and bullets on what’s up in the Marvel Universe!  Hit the break for news about the newly announced 2014 Marvel Studios movie; and more!

(Go here for indie comics news of the week and here for DC comics news of the week.)

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They have totally changed the opening to the Walking Dead.

Now, hit the break for lots more foolishness, including the latest on the “real” Batman movie, the status of the Deadpool flick, Green Arrow’s TV show, new Garth Ennis work, and the latest on The Walking Dead.
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In with the old, out with the new…Let’s start this year with a look back.

2011 was a year in which many Marvel mainstays had relaunches/reboots (Daredevil and Moon Knight being the most successful, “Power Man” less so), and every DC character was reborn.  It was a year in which there were at least 52 more #1s than usual.  But 2011 also saw indie books rising in popularity due to successful TV shows like AMC’s The Walking Dead and pour-over from last year’s high-profile Scott Pilgrim film.

According to Diamond—the official distributor of the comic book medium—Justice League #1 was the best-selling issue of the year.  DC actually beat Marvel for a couple months, but sales from September to November gradually slowed, and by December Marvel was back at #1—albeit barely so.  Marvel sold 39% of all comics sold in December, while DC fell from 39% to 38%.  So, it looks like 2012 will be a return to normalcy.

But there’s no denying DC’s short term success: Not only did they have the three best-selling comics of 2011, but they’re also probably three of the top sellers of the past 10 years.  Justice League #1 topped 361K sold, and Batman and Superman both topped 250K.  Marvel’s best seller of the year was The Death of Spider-Man (Ultimate Spider-Man #160), which sold a comparatively small 159K.  It’s best-selling book of the past 10 years, however, was the Obama issue of Amazing Spider-Man, which told 530K.  And that was just on a sucky back-up feature.  Marvel should make The President as ubiquitous as Wolverine.  They’ll sell tons!

So what else is new?  Muppet Thor for one thing!

Hit the break and read on…

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At the break, you can read my thoughts about the best of the new 52 and what I think of Starfire’s boobs.  But the headline has to be the new Avengers trailer, and related news…

First off, the trailer is awesome.  Why is it awesome?  Cap uses a gun!  Avengers Tower!  Updated costumes (except, strangely, for Iron Man)!  We get to see Loki versus the U.S. Army, and of course they’re ineffective, so Nick Fury and Agent Coulson summon the team.  The trailer then shows a fairly traditional “assemble” scene, with each of the heroes getting ready to answer the call, but then we flash ahead to Loki in custody.  At least the heroes don’t all fight each other.  (But Cap and Thor do, later in the trailer.)  It makes me wonder how much screentime the heroes will actually share…But it’s extremely geek-out cool anyway.  Next, we see Fury addressing the team.  They’re getting ready for something; presumably, either Loki escaped or the rumors of a Skrull invasion were true and we get to see a little sub-story.  I certainly hope there’s more than one major battle.  No, I don’t hope it.  I expect it.  The trailer closes with the inevitable Hulk transformation, which looks pretty good as CGI.  I wonder if there will be only one Hulk appearance?  Frankly, one is probably enough.  With so many interesting characters in the film, I don’t think you need more than one big Hulk scene.

Of course, there’s already controversy with several folks alleging that the preview used existing footage from Iron Man.  Michael Bay recently recycled a sequence from his godawful “The Island” picture in his somewhat less godawful Tranformers 3, so movie nerds are on the watch for this stuff.  I’m not all that worried—I wouldn’t expect Whedon to have a lot of completed FX shots available for a trailer for a movie that isn’t set to come out for over 6 months.  It’s frankly too soon for a trailer, but in these days of instant rewards, I guess the studios feel like they have to keep the hype going.  It’s kind of like holding a primary for a national election in January—too soon, and leaves too much time for doubt and negativity to damage the actual release date.

Bleeding Cool has a side-by-side comparison, if you’re curious.

Watch the trailer here:

Meanwhile, Hasbro previewed the toy tie-ins at NYCC, showing both 3- and 6-inch action figures of the main characters.  You can find pix of all of them on the internet; Hawkeye has the most remarkable resemblance to the actor (Jeremy Renner), but of course he looks nothing like the actual comic character he’s based on.  Black Widow, unfortunately, looks like a cheap sex doll.  In the actual film trailer she looks completely different: Like an expensive sex doll.  Iron Man is the coolest—but he’s got the circular unibeam, while the trailer shows the more modern one.

Now, hit the break for more comic news.

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The above-the-cut news has to be that THE D.C. CRISES ON INFINITE EARTH FINALS NEVER HAPPENED!  Kinda.

DC Comics publisher Dan Didio Facebooked on Tweeter or Tweeted on Facebook or something that “there have been no Crisis events in the New DCU.”  Some fanboys are all pissed off because, like, those were such big events, and, hey, they’re still on my shelf so they must have happened!  Me, I say: The Crises pretty much all sucked, so good riddance.  My only question: Batman is supposed to have his whole Grant Morrison history intact, and he died during a Crisis, so…Riddle me that, Danny boy.  Then he clarified later that there “have been ‘crisis’ in our characters lives, but they aren’t exactly the Crisis you read before.”  Which basically means we can expect DC’s next summer event to be a new Crisis.  Sigh.  So much for the new 52.  Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.