Some of Marvel's Cute Animal Variant Covers

All New Marvel Now is upon us and I really just want to share these cool animal covers of the different titles coming out this January including Avengers World # 1.

Avengers World # 1

Thunderbolts

Uncanny X-Force

X-Men

Fantastic Four

Wolverine # 1

Avengers # 24

Silver Surfer

Coming to your favorite comic shops this January. Personally I pre-ordered Avengers # 24.

Wolverine Dons Armor for All New Marvel Now Relaunch

To hammer the point that Wolverine is overrated at Marvel Comics, here's the cover for Wolverine # 1 which will be part of All New Marvel Now. 

Here's the full version of the cover for the book which will be written by Paul Cornell with art by Superior Spider-Man artist Ryan Stegman. 

Cornell had this to say: "The first arc is called “Payback,” and that’s where we find him: working for a crime boss called The Offer, alongside a “family” of low-rent super villains. Following the end of “Killable,” he’s decided to simplify his life and drop his responsibilities."

"The Offer is a minor super villain gang boss who has the power to make the best possible offer. It’s not hypnotism; you’re free to turn him down. But his offers tend to make people think twice. He’s a caring, fatherly presence to his gang, but he’s not really a good man.

His gang includes Pinch, who Logan is in a relationship with, who can pull threads from any material; Fuel, who increases powers, and thus can make Logan move at high speed; and the Lost Boy, who can make anything ignite, and who has a complicated attitude towards what heroism and villainy might be. Logan worries about him."

** 
This also kinda explains the new suit he was drawn in for one of the early teasers for INHUMANITY

Are the Avengers Going Global?

A new teaser from Marvel Comics for their upcoming panels in NYCC shows the word GLOBAL with a green hue.

And more importantly it boasts of a stellar creative team. 

So yeah, we got Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer (who's doing Secret Avengers) and Stefano Caselli who was also working with Avengers prior to INFINITY.

So what could this be? I've been reading the comments from various groups and it feels like they're on to something.

- It could either be a new expansion for the Avengers i.e. taking in new members from other superteams from around the world like Alpha Flight or Big Hero 6. 

- It could be a Hulk-centric storyline which is kinda dumb in my opinion.

- It could tie up to whatever will happen in the next Avengers storyarc featuring a renegade planet on a collision course with Earth (which would be interesting and solicited as well). 

Either way, NYCC is just around the corner so let's just play the waiting game. 

New Teasers for Marvel Now 2 and She-Hulk Ongoing Announcement

Looks like things will be a little bit more exciting with some additional titles from Marvel Comics' stable including a Charles Soule written She-Hulk ongoing.

Jennifer Walters and She-Hulk will be making the rounds again this time under the helm of writer and real-life lawyer Charles Soule. Her previous appearance was masterminded by now Superior Spider-Man scribe Dan Slott.

Hopefully this is as good as the Slott era Shulkie so that we could at least it would be entertaining. She-Hulk comes out February 2014.

Teasers this week which will lead to full blown announcements next week in New York Comic Con (NYCC) include the following:

CORPORATE

People believe that this either be a new volume of X-Factor since it's got Peter David. Corporate could also be a new "Heroes for Hire" which is a more upgraded version of the street level superheroics of Danny Rand and Luke Cage. The third option could be an going focusing on X-Corporation, a concept which was pretty interesting during the Grant Morrison era "New X-Men".

RAD!

Rad has Dan Slott with Mike Allred and has strong allusions to Silver Surfer thanks to the motiff of the logo as well as the play on the Surfer's real name which is "Norin Radd". Whether this is going to be an ongoing or an arc we have yet to see.

MINDBUBBLE

This one is a dead giveaway. It's going to be appearing in Rick Remender's Captain America book. The character is an answer to the failed Super Soldier Nuke who's also set to make an appearance in the book. The more interesting bit is that Remender will be pitting Cap against various Super Soldiers of the Weapon Minus program.

New Marvel Now Teasers Point to the TRIAL OF JEAN GREY

Two new Marvel Now 2 teasers seems to point out that the rumored Guardians of the Galaxy / X-Men crossover is good to go. 

The aforementioned crossover will be entitled "Trial of Jean Grey" and will most likely rely on whatever the heck happens in "X-Men: Battle of the Atom". 

Personally I don't think that this is going to be just a two-issue thing. Knowing how Bendis wants to drag stuff around and fill issues with "talkies" this could go for around two issues of All New X-Men and two issues for GOTG with Stuart Immonen and Sara Picheli respectively.

MARVEL NOW 2 Officially Announced with Avengers, Inhumans and Invaders

Marvel Comics has just released their opening salvo for the second wave of Marvel Now titles coming our way starting December. These include familiar faces with new creative teams. 

So yes, James Robinson has jumped aboard the Marvel ship and I'm really hoping he kicks ass with this new title featuring unlikely allies Captain America, the Original Human Torch (Jim Hammond), Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier and Namor.

Then there's also AVENGERS # 24 which kicks off a brand new story arc entitled ROGUE PLANET which sees Cap and Iron Man creating a new Avengers team to stop a runaway train-esque planet from colliding with Earth. Even awesome is the fact that they have Esad Ribic as artist.

Finally, the most obvious title that will be coming out for the second wave of Marvel Now titles, INHUMANS by Matt Fraction and Joe Madureira. Guess we have to track down INFINITY closely to understand the story.

Oh and let's not forget about the in-betweener book INHUMANITY which just had it's first cover revealed a few days ago.

Marvel Cancels Venom and Captain Marvel

Well that sucks, looks like Marvel is cancelling other books if we're to believe the solicits. This new batch of cancelled titles include CAPTAIN MARVEL and VENOM.

Bleedingcool is still insinuating that whatever title folds at the moment will return for Marvel Now wave Two which will include titles like X-Factor, Astonishing X-Men and more.

It's a shame that Venom will be folding, just when I got back into the thick of things (partly due to Kim Jacinto's recent work on the title). The Captain Marvel/ Avengers Assemble crossover "Enemy Within" was also a heartbreaker with it's bittersweet ending.

VENOM #42
CULLEN BUNN (W)
JORGE COELHO (A)
Cover by DECLAN SHALVEY
• It’s all out war… with Venom, Mania, Crossbones, the DOA, and… Mephisto?
• But who’s on whose side?
• Mania’s final fate is revealed! Will she keep the symbiote?
• Is this the end of Venom’s dance with the devil? Or just the beginning?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

Captain Marvel # 17

KELLY SUE DECONNICK (W) • FILIPE ANDRADE (A/C)
THOR BATTLE VARIANT COVER ALSO AVAILABLE
THE CAROL CORPS ISSUE!
• THE special oversized issue to end all oversized issues!
• In the aftermath of Enemy Within, Carol Danvers must rebuild her memories through the eyes of her biggest fan.
• Find out why this is such a fan-beloved series!
40 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

A Hint of Things to Come for X-FACTOR

X-FACTOR's coming to a close what with the issue getting cancelled after the final issue. But it seems like Marvel (or writer Peter David) isn't done with this group of merry mutants! 

It also looks like Quicksilver is returning to the fold

At the moment I haven't read the book (gonna make sure I do when I visit Comicx Hub later) but based from what Bleedingcool has posted it seems like there's a new company with some hidden agenda and X-Factor members in mind.

And yes I remember that the original mandate for X-Factor was to collect mutants under the guise of encarceration but since the team was handled by the original five X-Men (now appearing in ALL NEW X-MEN btw) said captured mutants were set free and given new identities. 

Maybe this is going to be the same thing with whoever got to Polaris. And with this, we bump up the possibility of X-FACTOR getting a MARVEL NOW 2 relaunch to 80%. The bigger question is whether or not PAD will be back to write the book. And that this was only a platform to relaunch the book with a new direction in mind.