The Avengers and the return of the New Universe

Back in 1986, Marvel Comics and Jim Shooter orchestrated what promised to be a revitalization in their monthly comicverse. The New Universe not only introduced new heroes and villains, but in a world devoid of Captain America, Spider-Man or Iron Man. This was a world closer to ours, untainted by the strange and unexplained until ‘The White Event.’ As a reader I tasted a few of the new books and was especially happy with Starbrand and DP7.

Warren Ellis attempted a revival called newuniversal a few years back, but it failed to make enough impact to continue.

This year, Jonathan Hickman took over the reigns of the Avengers monthly series and after an explosive opening arc and a few standalone issues establishing the new members of the team such as Smasher and Hyperion, took on the New Universe in a new way. The White Event has come to the Marvel Universe, but has resulted in a deviation from the expected outcome. The Nightmask and Starbrand ‘vessels’ have arrived but are not correctly aligned to their powers. Rather than being the harbingers of a new power, they are just as deadly as any threat.

It will be exciting to see where Hickman goes with this.

Via Newsarama:
“It wasn’t something that anybody at Marvel especially was looking to do,” Brevoort told Newsarama. “This was all really Jonathan.”

The New Universe started in 1986 during Jim Shooter’s tenure as Marvel editor-in-chief, as a way to mark Marvel’s 25th anniversary. It was intended to be a more grounded world separate from the Marvel Universe, kickstarted by the “White Event” that gave some individuals superpowers. It launched with eight books: D.P. 7, Justice, and Psi-Force, which each ran for 32 issues; plus the shorter-lived Kickers, Inc., Mark Hazzard: Merc, Nightmask, Spitfire and the Troubleshooters and Star Brand.

Following the end of the original books in 1989, the New Universe was touched on in books like Spider-Man 2099, Quasar and the “Starblast” crossover. The most notable revisiting of the concept was newuniversal, a 2007 reboot of the concepts by Warren Ellis and Salvador Larroca. Beyond the six-issue main series, the tie-ins featured some of the first Marvel work from X-Men: Legacy’s Simon Spurrier and Iron Man’s Kieron Gillen.

“For all that everybody says, ‘I don’t know about the New Universe,’ or ‘I don’t care about the New Universe,’ certainly everybody seems to be talking about the New Universe, and has been since the cover to #7, with the pink-white lightning bolt, came out,” Brevoort said. “Everybody recognized it, and everybody had a reaction to it. That indicated that there’s something going on there in the gestalt, whether it’s a nostalgia, or whether it’s just a simple recognition of, ‘It’s that thing from all those years ago, that’s kind of neat, I haven’t seen that in a long time.’”

“Everything has a nostalgic component to it when it comes to comic book readers,” Brevoort continued. “That’s just an ever-prevalent thing. You can’t find stuff in the history of comics that don’t have that pull to them. There’s nothing that is completely salted earth.”

I have to ask if, after the dust has settled, will the other players of the New Universe be in attendance such as Justice, Spitfire and the Troubleshooters, DP7 and… Kickers, Inc? Which one will Bendis be writing?

Recommended:

Star Brand Classic – Volume 1

D.P. 7 Classic – Volume 1

Marvel Comics: The Untold Story

Edgar Wright’s Astonishing Ant-Man trailer

Hank Pym- the original Ant Man

Edgar Wright’s Ant Man movie has been in production since Iron Man first wowed audiences and fans were eager for the next big thing. The co-creator of the cult BBC comedy Spaced and director of Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Wright is an interesting choice for this somewhat oddball hero.

A short clip was screened for attendees at the San Diego Comic-Con this past summer seemingly just to prove that there is in fact a film in development. It has been so long, that I doubted it existed beyond notes on a spiral bound notebook. It looks like I was wrong, and the footage is damned impressive.
(I apologize for the poor quality, but this is the only youtube link still live)

One of the first Marvel Comics superheroes, Ant Man is Dr. Hank Pym, a brilliant scientist who develops a method of shrinking and growing his body through the use of what he calls ‘Pym particles.’ A founding member of the Avengers, Ant Man took on various other ‘code names’ as his career took different paths such as Giant Man (when he could grow), Goliath (when he became stuck at a larger size), Yellow Jacket (when he became mentally unhinged) and the Wasp (after his late wife).

Viewed as a weird choice for a superhero film, Wright must win over viewers by showing them just how cool Ant Man can be. If this clip is anything to go by, the movie should be lots of fun.

Ant Man has an October 2015 release date.

Petition Tybee Diskin for The Wasp!

Marvel’s Avengers film is one of the biggest money making flicks at the moment and promises to spin off into various other projects including sequels that explore the other members of the superhero team. One of the founding members who is often overlooked is the wondrous Wasp.

Ant Man met Janet van Dyne after he investigated the murder of her famous scientist father. He was almost immediately smitten by her, but reluctant to become involved after only recently becoming widowed. Nonetheless, they became partners in fighting crime when he mutated her body so that she could not only shrink her body to insect-size but also grow wings and was able to fire stings at her foes. Traditionally, she pestered the workaholic Pym for attention and flirted with everyone from Thor to Iron Man in order to make him jealous. In time she developed into a more fully fleshed out character and at one point even led the team.

Her abilities may seem even more useless than Ant Man’s, but it’s all in how you use her as a character, as you can no doubt see in the animated Avengers series where she single-handedly held her own against several heavy hitters. A spunky and sexy but courageous personality, there is a lot to gain by including the Wasp in the next Avengers film (and perhaps the Ant Man movie). But who should play the winsome Wasp?

Allow me to offer up a suggestion…

Dear Edgar Wright, Joss Whedon, and the Casting Team at Marvel Studios,

We, the undersigned, do hereby voice our urgent and pressing desire to see actress Tybee Diskin auditioned for the role of Janet van Dyne, AKA The Wasp, in Edgar Wright’s upcoming adaptation of Ant-Man and the ongoing Avengers Saga.

Best known for her performance as Scarlett in the “Fallout: Nuka Break” webseries (based on the popular video game), Diskin has built a modest online entertainment empire on the strength of her comic timing, her casual naturalism, and her love of genre. While fans know and support Diskin as a comic action star, her background is in classical theater and informs her body of work with the practiced grace and timing of Hollywood’s enduring icons. Most recently, Diskin’s fan community brought her to the attention of 8 Sided Films, who has now cast her in the leading role of Dr. Chelsea Barrington in the upcoming science-fiction heist movie Quantum Theory.

For a look at Tybee Diskin’s reel, resume, and projects, visit her profile page on the 8 Sided Forum:
http://www.8sidedforum.com/profile/TybeeDiskin

Casting the role of Janet van Dyne will undoubtedly present enormous challenges to you and your team. On the one hand, The Wasp is the emotional brain of the Avengers. Whoever takes this role must not only hold her own against the wit of Robert Downey Jr., the sensibility of Chris Evans, the passion of Chris Hemsworth and the depth of Mark Ruffalo, but will actually have to redirect and channel the epic conflicts that arise between these titans! On the other hand, The Wasp embodies everything that is truly great about the characters of Marvel Comics. Her approach to managing relationships is not to dominate or control people, but to hear, understand and work with them. Her wits and her sense of humor are her greatest weapons. The Wasp has gone up against some of the greatest supervillains in the Marvel Universe. She survives these encounters not by being tough, but by letting things go.

Who has the craft and the cool to walk into a room full of today’s most acclaimed performers and provide THAT kind of emotional leadership? Who’s quick enough on her feet to trick Tony Stark, sweet talk Steve Rogers, chastise Thor into apologizing and exasperate the Hulk into actually giving up and calming down? Who looks great in the yellow wings and MEANS IT?

TYBEE DISKIN! But don’t take our word for it! Gentlemen, all we ask is that you audition her.

Yours truly,
The Fans and Colleagues of Tybee Diskin

Acting reel

Petition Tybee Diskin for The Wasp by clicking here!

Avengers #1 Marvel Now!

Avengers #1

By Jonathan Hickman, Jerome Opena & Dean White
United to face a threat that none of them could handle alone, the Avengers are the Marvel Universe’ most powerful heroes. This game plan ran into some problems when in-fighting prevented the team from working together and when threats came from within the group itself. One-time Avenger Simon Williams AKA Wonder Mam actively accused the Avengers as being more of source of chaos than one of order. As foes became more organized and deadlier, it became clear that the Avengers needed to completely rethink how they functioned.

They had to be not only better, but bigger… and just in time to meet is most cosmos-staggering nemesis.

The latest issue opens with a montage of events including the return of Hyperion (from the Squadron Supreme), the fall of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard, an intergalactic war, the vestiges of an Iron Man armor war and Ex Nihilo playing god of Mars. Crafting bombs that cause the wild generation of vegetable matter, he has every intention of declaring himself a grand creator of the universe, bowing to no one… until the Avengers show up, that is.

Re-imagined and revamped, it’s not just Hickman’s Avengers who are bigger and better but the threats have also been raised to another level. When Brian Michael Bendis took when he arrived, he razed the mansion to the ground and started from scratch. This time around, we are seeing a danger far greater than before that demands the response of the Avengers and in a more organized fashion.

Thor, Hawkeye, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk and Black Widow (yes, the same team as seen in the motion picture), attempt to stop Ex Nihilo before he even gets started, but get their asses handed to them, and quickly. The action, artwork, plotting and even humor are excellent in this issue. Seeing Iron Man and Captain America cheerfully and loosely talk shop is reminiscent of the old days which are of course shattered when the enemy is met.

Encountering defeat, Ex Nihilo returns a battered Captain America back to Earth in a crippled Quinjet as a warning. Cap turns that action into a call to arms, one that puts Stark and Roger’s plans forward. Assembling a carefully chosen team, Cap prepares for the mother of all cosmic battles (and it’s only issue two!).

Organization is a key strength of Hickman’s who had excelled at an impressive level of details in his runs on SHIELD, Fantastic Four and Secret Warriors. In each of his previous Marvel series, Hickman meticulously planned out his plots and the usage of each character. Bendis leaves behind him a readership who may be split on their opinions regarding his work, but the staggering size of his body of work cannot be denied. He shepherded the Avengers through the most dynamic period of its long history. Hickman will no doubt build upon that and take it to another level.

The complex wheel seen throughout the issue fits with Hickman’s other works and hints at things to come. I have been very happy with where Marvel has taken the Avengers throughout the past seven years or so. The series has set a new standard for superhero team books that is without equal. I have every confidence that Hickman and Opena will take things even further.

If you are a fan of the classic series, the film or the hit animated series, you should check this out. I’m still unclear on how this will play into the sister series New Avengers or if it will match up with Uncanny Avengers, but it will be interesting to see.

Avengers: Battle for Earth

The latest trailer for Ubisoft’s Marvel Comics video game Avengers: Battle for Earth has arrived.

The Skrulls have landed and now it is up to you to embody your favorite Marvel super heroes and defeat epic enemies during the Secret Invasion. Unleash your inner superhero in Marvel Avengers™: Battle for Earth!

Key Features

The ultimate super hero brawler, Marvel Avengers Battle For Earth features 20 different characters including the Avengers Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, and Thor, as well as other fan favorite super heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe. Players will use motion gameplay to execute explosive super attacks, unleash devastating special moves, and battle their friends in a wide variety of game modes.

EMBODY ICONIC MARVEL SUPER HEROES AND VILLAINS:
Choose from 20 classic Marvel characters, each equipped with four unique superpowers

USE MOTION TO FIGHT AS A SUPER HERO:
Trigger super attacks with your movements.

EXPERIENCE A WIDE VARIETY OF GAME MODES: 
Co-op, Campaign, Arcade, Challenges, Versus, and Tournament.

TONS OF BONUSES TO UNLOCK: 
Work your way through the battles, you’ll unlock unique outfits and collector cards.

BATTLE WITH AN ENHANCED FIGHTING SYSTEM:
Use Super Attacks, Velocity Boost, Breaker, or Frenzy to beat your opponents.

EYE-CATCHING COMIC BOOK STYLE:
Inspired by iconic comic artwork based on the Secret Invasion storyline.

Playable Character Roster

Marvel’s Ant-Man gets release date, more Avengers details

Ant-Man has been in development hell for so many years that many probably figured it would never actually make it to production. Well, Scott Pilgrim and Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright’s movie finally has a release date and will share the Summer with Avengers 2, and there’s even more from Marvel Entertainment this afternoon.

I’m still not sure what to think of Wright directing Ant-Man and I wonder not only which version of Ant-Man he will use in his movie along with what kind of approach he will take. It’s hard to remember that back in the day, Ant/Giant-Man was pretty cool and his monthly book was a fun adventure comic.

Done right, this could be another hit for Marvel alongside Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the Hulk.

With Wright’s personal preference for superhero comics, I imagine that he knows how to handle this one and hopefully the execs will help steer the project in a positive direction. We have a few years to wait until we find out, though.

New details on Thor: The Dark World, a release date for Ant-Man & more!

Posted Oct 15, 2012 11:59 am

Updated Oct 15, 2012 12:39 pm

We’ve got a ton of Marvel Studios news for you, from “Thor: The Dark World” to “Iron Man 3″ and “Ant-Man,” all right here on Marvel.com!

First up is the official release date for “Ant-Man,” directed by Edgar Wright, which will hit theaters on November 6, 2015!

Hank Pym- the original Ant Man

Reconstructed test footage

Next, both “Iron Man 3″ and “Thor: The Dark World” will receive 3D releases on May 3, 2013 and November 8, 2013, respectively. But that’s not all–we’ve also got the official plot synopsis for Thor’s next cinematic adventure!

Check out the full synopsis below, and as always, stay tuned to Marvel.com for more on your favorite big screen heroes!

Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World” continues the big screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s “Thor” and “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos…but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

And don’t forget that “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” hits theaters on April 4, 2014 and “Guardians of the Galaxy” soars on August 1, 2014!

For more information on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 2 films, be sure to follow @Iron_Man on Twitter as well as Iron Man and Thor on Facebook! 

More on Marvel.com: 
http://marvel.com/news/story/19555/marvel_studios_update_thor_iron_man_ant-man#ixzz29OFvOa35

Avengers and X-Men to share the silver screen?

Since the days of the Justice Society of America, the concept of the superhero team has been a successful one. Two of the biggest superhero teams in comics today recently squared off in print over the course of 6 months in Avengers Vs. X-Men. With the revival of X-Men and the record-breaking sales of the Avengers in film, why not have the same thing happen on the big screen?

Just imagine Hugh Jackman squaring off against Robert Downey Jr. or Patrick Stewart meeting Samuel L. Jackson… the possibility is there for a motion picture that could set the entertainment world on fire… except that the film rights to these two properties are split between Disney and 20th Century Fox.

But, just as Spider-Man was rumored to be in the running to join the Avengers on film, we may see a few more familiar faces in the next Avengers movie. Given that the threat is so cosmic, it’s not out of the question that we could see glimpses of Wolverine, Professor X and Spider-Man as readers often do whenever an event is so huge that it impacts the entire Marvel Universe.

Or could the X-Men and Avengers actually meet? If so, how would that go?

Via Moviepilot:

What do you get if you cross mutants with superheroes? Joss Whedon’s The Avengers 2? Surely not, I hear you cry. What, Wolverine, Prof X and Storm alongside Cap, Iron Man and Hulk in one movie? Pah! Nothing more than wishful thinking…

Maybe not. X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner has said she is more than interested in the idea of having mutant fighters join ranks with the Avengers in the next movie. ‘I would love it,’ she revealed in an interview with Crave, continuing:

I personally have close ties to Marvel because of [The Avengers producer] Kevin Feige. Kevin worked for me. But to take our characters and mingle them in the way that they were written… yeah, absolutely.

It’s no surprise, really. Rumors that Spider-Man (owned by Sony) might have shown up in The Avengers (2012) never came to fruition, but apparently, with the movie’s commercial success, Sony and Fox (who owns X-Men) are now jostling elbows to jump on the bandwagon.

So what does this mean? Could we see the return of Jean Grey and Magneto as bad guys opposite the Avengers? Does Wolverine finally show up to join the New Avengers? Or will this be based on Avengers vs. X-Men where the two superhuman teams are drawn into a war against each other? Also, when in the current X-Men movie continuity would this happen? By the end of X-Men 3, Professor X is dead (or is he?), Magneto is demagnetized (or is he?) and Jean Grey is batshit crazy (yes she is).

Of course, it’s all a guessing game right now. Who knows what kind of complicated legal issues are involved in forcing Fox’s X-Men and Marvel’s Avengers to go on an awkward — yet awesome — two-hour date at the movie theater. But, if Lauren Shuler Donner is to be trusted and they can sort out some kind of studio coalition… We can only dream.

The Avengers 2 is lined up for release in 2015, so plenty could happen until then. Keep your eyes here, people!

Jonathan Hickman takes the Avengers to a new level

It’s easy to think of the Avengers as the most popular superhero team in comics, but that has not always been the case. In fact, the series has fallen from grace on several occasions. It is currently in what may be regarded as its highest state of popularity thanks to the record-breaking feature film, knock-out fan favorite cartoon but there have been high sales figures from the comic book since the title was rebooted in 2004.

Since then, the Avengers have been a big hit with readers and it looks like the Marvel NOW! series will continue that trend. If you are unfamiliar with Jonathan Hickman’s work for Marvel (previously he raised eyebrows with the Nightly News and several other remarkable comics), you really should seek it out. From Fantastic Four to SHIELD, he has shown an unprecedented grasp of what makes Marvel characters and their world work.

For the Avengers, he appears to be bringing his A+ game…

Via Newsarama:

The first three-issue arc of Avengers, Hickman discloses, is called “Avengers World.” “The Avengers have to become something bigger, something more, in order to do what it is that they’re supposed to do. We open with them facing a threat that is larger and different than anything they have faced before. Very quickly, we see the back story of how Tony Stark and Captain America have been quietly building this contingency plan for this inevitable day which is where we basically start off in the first issue.”

On the expanded Avengers lineup, Hickman says it was agreed upon that the roster should “look more like the world.” “What people have seen so far are the biggest and most iconic characters that everyone knows or has some familiarity with,” Hickman continues. “As we reach #7 and #8, the book is populated with new or revised versions of established characters.” There will be about 24 characters on the team in total. “By the time we get to 22 characters on the book, 12 are either female or minority, and we feel like we’ve accomplished what we’ve set out to do, which is a book that looks like the world.”

—————————-

When prompted by Alonso, Hickman says he wants to take the Avengers books in a “completely different direction,” with a much bigger scale, while staying true to the core concepts. “Take something from an A game to an A+ game.”

————————–

First question, from us: What are the challenges in balancing such a large cast in Avengers, especially with multiple new characters? “We thought a lot about this, how to make something like this work. Just thinking of a structure with the rest of the guys We have a monthly ongoing Hulk book, and a Wolverine book, and a Captain America book… We have all of those books. So if you write a book about the Avengers, and it’s a team of all of those guys, really you limit yourself and what you can do in terms of character development. Structurally, we’re going with three issue arcs that are really big stories.” Hickman added that means the characters who will only appear in Avengers will be a focal point. “I’m not worried about it, I think we have a really smart plan to address it. The writing, at this point, feels like we’re accomplishing it.”

Interior pencil art of Avengers #1 by Jerome Opena

Next question, from iFanboy: Villains? Hickman says he’s “making a lot of new bad guys,” but there will also be updated versions of traditional Avengers enemies.

Next question, from IGN: How does Hickman compare Avengers to his Ultimates run? It’s a lot different, Hickman replies. “One of them felt like I could do whatever I wanted beyond any repercussions other than how it affected the story, and here, it’s not that way at all. And obviously the characters are different. It feels like two completely different jobs.”

Interior pencil art of Avengers #1 by Jerome Opena

Next question, from Kotaku: If the team has some lesser-known characters, what’s the strategy for meeting expectations? “We’re going to put Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine and Spider-Man on it,” Brevoort pointed out. Hickman says he’s not worried about it.

Next question, from io9: What motivated Hickman to include Sunspot and Cannonball? Hickman says he’s always liked them a lot. “Cannonball and Sunspot are, at least chronologically, younger characters,” Brevoort adds, which he says is always a good thing, but they’re also established Marvel characters who have earned their place.

Next question, from CBR: Does Hickman have similar goals as he did at the onset of his Fantastic Four run? “I have a responsibility to the company to sell a lot of copies, and I have a responsibility to the fans that they enjoy the sh*t out of it,” he replies. “I enjoy the fact that we’ve got killer artists, that always helps.”

The Avengers have to become something bigger, something more, in order to do what it is that they’re supposed to do.

Interior pencil art of Avengers #1 by Jerome Opena

Next question, from me: Are Beast and Mr. Fantastic, who appears to be on the covers, also part of New Avengers, and is that Hyperion on the cover of Avengers #4? Yes and yes.

Next question, from iFanboy, concerns the tension between the New Avengers members? “It’s always been a loose affiliation,” Hickman says, adding that it’s not a “cheery” story, and that issues like the ones between Namor and Black Panther will definitely be addressed.

Next question, from IGN: Do either of the books pick up anything from Secret Warriors? Eden Fesi is in Avengers, and readers will learn more about how his powers affect the Marvel Universe.

Next question, from Kotaku: Does Hickman’s work on Fantastic Four and FF segue into these books? “If you’ve been reading the Fantastic Four books for the last six months or so, I’ve been dropping hints like crazy about the stuff that’s coming up,” Hickman says, especially with Black Panther, Reed Richards and Black Bolt.

Next question, from io9: Does the book touch on how the Avengers are viewed post-Avengers vs. X-Men? Brevoort says that’ll primarily be dealt with in Bendis’s final Avengers arcs, and that the Marvel NOW! series are meant to be more of a clean slate.

——————————-

Avengers #1 and #2 are both out in December, and the first two issues of New Avengers are out in January.

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The Avengers DVD retailer exclusives

Today sees the release of the Avengers in DVD and blu-ray in the United States. Most of my readers will be picking this up, but the big question is where to buy it from. A release like this has retailer exclusives that should be considered when you head out the door today with your head full of Hulk imagery and cut scenes.

All DVDs will include a special code that can be entered at this Disney Avengers hub where exclusives can be obtained such as this excellent poster by Matthew Ferguson.

Here’s the run down on the retailer exclusives (click on any of the images to order and no, I do not get a cut of any purchases made)

Best Buy

In-Store Only: Exclusive Set
In addition to the movie on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy, this Best Buy set includes The Avengers items, including:
• The Ultimate Character Guide
• Lighted lithograph case
• Lithograph card
• Music download
• $30 Sideshow Collectibles gift card

Disney (my personal favorite exclusive)

A set of four lithographs is included for pre-orders of the Avengers on blu-ray. Unfortunately, this is sold out but I managed to get an order in under the deadline (thanks, mom).

Target

An exclusive 90 minute DVD

Target Exclusive Bonus Disc – Building a Dream: Assembling the Avengers
This 90-minute feature will show how the films IRON MAN, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, IRON MAN 2, THOR, and CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER were conceived and led to the greatest super hero team ever assembled on screen – THE AVENGERS.

Walmart

Exclusive Avengers Season One graphic novel. This is part of Marvel’s latest attempt to pull in non-comic book fans with comics that do not rely upon established continuity and instead offer up an adventure that is friendly to those people who would wait in line for a midnight showing but never set foot in a comic shop.

… additionally there are some frozen pizzas with Avengers images on them.

Quick review: Hawkeye (2012)

Hawkeye #’s 1 and 2

By Matt Fraction, David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth
“I know how this looks. It looks bad.” This phrase crops up time and again in the new hit series starring the sharp shooter archer and I could not disagree more. Alongside The Flash by Francis Manupal and Daredevil by Marcos Martin and Paolo Manuel Rivera, this could very well be one of the most impressive looking mainstream comics on the rack. The narrative style is loose and conversational, the sequential layout Eisner award-worthy and the colors distinctive and eye-catching. The first two issues have sold out in short order and it is for good reason. Not only is it a fun read, it also celebrates sequential storytelling in stunning graphic style and with a recognized superhero who is both super hip and absurd.

Based on the bowman Avenger, the new series is the latest in a long line of titles that spotlit the cult favorite character. The initial lineup of the Avengers consisted of the heavy hitters of the Marvel Universe such as the Hulk, Thor and Iron Man (at the time Giant Man was also quite impressive). When the team shook up after the arrival of Captain America, the new roster included the former carnival performer turned vigilante and fun-loving criminal, Hawkeye. Shoulder to shoulder with technological marvels, super soldiers and thunder-wielding gods, Hawkeye’s skill as a marksman is absolutely absurd… which even the character recognizes. But that is his strength. An ‘everyman’ among superheroes, Hawkeye has a unique street-level appeal that is unparalleled.

The new series reunites the creative team of the Immortal Iron Fist, Matt Fraction, David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth. For those not in the know, Iron Fist was an immensely popular comic that had a pulp appeal mixed with a retro cool character. There is some of the same kind of magic found in the Iron Fist series here in Hawkeye, which has more in common with Man Called Flint and James Bond flicks than contemporary action comics.

Outside of the Avengers world, Hawkeye is more concerned with the lives of his neighbors who are in danger of losing their homes to the greedy landlords. Using his clout as an independently wealthy playboy and a daring hero, Hawkeye gets involved in a world he cannot hope to understand. Brash, forthright and daring, Hawkeye is soon in over his head but not against a mustache-twirling villain but track suit wearing slumlords. It makes for a wonderful and quirky mood along with the internal narrative (hilariously, Hawkeye cannot translate or even identify the origin of some dialog, leading to ‘Russian stuff… maybe French?’).

The second issue is more traditional as Hawkeye is joined by Young Avenger Kate Bishop who has a similar skill set with a decidedly different background, being a debutante. The two make for a marvelous double-act and I look forward to seeing them continue to build each other up. There’s a problem with so many great characters in the Marvel U such as Kate, so I am glad to see her getting some well-earned time on the page.

If you are a fan of Hawkeye, you need to read this comic, if you liked the Joss Whedon- directed Avengers film, this comic is right up your alley, and if you enjoy ‘done in one’ stylish adventure comics this is also an ideal read. One of the finest of the new Marvel Comics to come in the last few years, Hawkeye is a series that needs to be on your pull list.