Topic: Marvel NOW!: Marvel Comics relaunches with new books and creative teams. wolverine and spiderman on even more teams.

-Entertainment Weekly has confirmed that the relaunch is officially being branded "Marvel NOW!".
-unlike with DC's "New 52," this will not be a complete or partial continuity reboot with an entire slate of new #1s.
-instead Marvel is positioning this new initiative as an entry point for new and lapsed readers, to ease them into current Marvel continuity.
-between October 2012 and February 2013, Marvel will be launching or relaunching one or more new series each week, but not every series is getting a relaunch.
-Marvel's current creative lineup is being shaken up considerably, with many longstanding teams being moved from their current assignments to new ones.
-books branded as part of the Marvel NOW! initiative will be clearly labeled as such, feature digital download codes, and have more "Augmented Reality" features like AvX.

Confirmed Books

-Avengers by writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Jerome Opena

Jonathan Hickman tells big stories. During his run on Fantastic Four, the writer has become known for meticulously plotting out stories years in advance in what Alonso describes as “his Unabomber-sized notebook.” And he’ll bring that maximal aesthetic to Avengers. “It’s not six Avengers, it’s 18 or more,” he teases, promising a diverse mix of popular characters, B-listers, and new characters. (Jerome Opena will have his work cut out for him as the Avengers artist.)

Unsurprisingly, Hickman’s favorite Avengers stories veer toward the cosmics: the Korvac Saga, the Kree-Skrull War, and the time-scrambling Avengers Forever. Hickman’s first story arc on Avengers is called “Avengers World,” but even the term “world” sounds a bit too micro for Hickman’s ambitions. In the wake of AvX and a new era of Marvel, “The obvious solution is for the heroes to become something bigger and larger, a more appropriate response to an ever more dangerous time.” Avengers will be published twice a month, and Hickman is currently planning to mix together longer five-to-six-issue story arcs with one-off stories that focus on individual characters. As for those characters, Hickman is mostly keeping mum about the lineup right now, but he revealed one teammate to whet our appetite. Kids, we’ve got six words for you: Shang-Chi, master of Kung Motherf—ing Fu. (Starts in December)

Uncanny Avengers by writer Rick Remender and artist John Cassaday

Remender describes this as “a bridge book, something that can delve into both worlds. It has a natural purpose for existing after AvX, where we can focus on human-mutant relations. The broad strokes are: Captain America comes out of AvX and recognizes that he hasn’t done enough to help the mutants.” The book will be drawn by John Cassaday, and will include heavy-hitters like Cap, Thor, and Wolverine, but Remender is also excited to focus on some less well-known characters, like Cyclops’ little brother Havok. “Havok’s always been the black sheep rock-and-roller of the Summers family. He can’t do that anymore. You’re going to see Havok become one of the biggest players in the Marvel Universe.”

Perhaps appropriate for a team that comprises a vision for the Marvel Universe’s future, the Uncanny Avengers’ first villain will be, literally, a ghost of the past. “In 1943, Arnim Zola, who was this bio-fanatic engineer, recorded the Red Skull’s consciousness, and set it to wake up 70 years later. So the Red Skull [in Uncanny] is right out of 1943-44. Prime Nazi scumbag. In his mind, he’s taking that vitriol and hate and Nazi horror and methodology, and pointing it at the mutant species.” And Remender stresses that the mash-up philosophy of Uncanny extends beyond the team’s lineup. “I’m not just smashing the heroes together, I’m smashing the villains together. It becomes something unlike anything we’ve ever seen, with stakes that are so huge, it takes a team comprised of the best Avengers and the best X-Men to go take care of it.” (Starts in October)

-All-New X-Men by writer Brian Bendis and artist Stuart Immonen

“The X-Men is a tough nut to crack,” says Brian Michael Bendis. “It’s the Robert Altman movie of comics. There’s thousands of characters, all of which have a website dedicated just to them. I wanted to make sure I had a take that was unique.” So when it came time to plan for Marvel NOW!, Bendis — who’s been Marvel’s go-to Avengers guy for close to eight years —remembered an idea that had been floating around the Marvel writers’ retreats for a long time. “It was about the original X-Men. If they saw what the Marvel universe was now…well, it’s so much worse than the Days of Future Past that they’re always worried about. This would scare the crap out of them.

Thus: All-New X-Men, a time-travel story with the original X-Men jumping to the present. We’re talking Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, and Marvel Girl. They’re teenagers. They’re wearing blue-and-yellow outfits. They’re seeing their older selves, and they don’t all like what they see. Bendis is literally drawing the teenaged X-Men from a specific panel in the original Stan Lee/Jack Kirby X-Men series, “a moment where they’re at their most feisty.” And although he can’t talk too much about the mechanics that get the old-school X-Men into the present, he promises this is not a dream sequence. “No Danger Room, no imaginary story. This is actually happening.” (In a statement guaranteed to calm at least some of the skeptics, Bendis swears: “The space-time continuum is of utmost importance to me.”)

Bendis stresses that All-New X-Men is most of all a character story: the tale of young, idealistic people who are suddenly faced with a bleak vision of their own future. “Here’s the big question that the original X-Men are gonna be faced with: We’re gonna grow up, and this is what we’re going to get? That is not acceptable.”

And of course, the time-travel shenanigans at the center of All-New X-Men will bring fan-favorite character Jean Grey back to the mainstream comics continuity for the first time since her (second) death in 2004. “It’s the one thing X-Men fans have always asked for is: They want Jean Grey back. But they want Jean Grey. Not reincarnated Jean, or the ghost of Jean. Well, you’re getting Jean back. And Jean is gonna be looking at a world that rattles her.” And Bendis brings up an intriguing personal connection when he talks about writing the beloved character: “I love feisty redheads. I’ve been married for many years to a very feisty redhead. But I’ve never applied that to writing before. I didn’t even realize what I was doing, but Stuart Immonen is drawing the book, and looking at it I realized: ‘Ha ha, I’m doing my wife!’” (November)

Other rumored Books
-Captain America by writer Rick Remender and artist John Romita Jr
-Wolverine by writer/artist Frank Cho
-Iron Man by writer Kieron Gillen and artist Greg Land
-Fantastic Four by writer Matt Fraction and artist Salvador Larocca
-Nova by writer Jeph Loeb (or Brian Bendis) and artist Ed McGuinness
-Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. by writer Jeff Parker and artist ???
-Avengers Assemble by writer Mark Waid and artist ??

Also getting relainched in the same time frame
Captian Marvel by writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and drawn by Dexter Soy
Hawkeye by writer Matt Fraction and artist David Aja

So in tone this is along the lines of the DC 52 that happened last fall. Only in this case it isn't a reboot and is taking place in a post Avengers VS Xmen world. Hopefully this fixes some of the problems the marvel universe and they have a diverse line of books like the nu52 does.

So thoughts?

Awesome. I hope they don't mess up like with DC's new Green Lantern. MOAR SPIDERMAN PLEEZE!

How is Green Lantern messed up?

Ok but shouldn't we just use this thread?

https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/general_discussion/the_new...

Oh Kay.

Mess up? Do you mean they messed up because they kept the entire GL continuity intact?

That's more of general news. This seemed thread worthy.

Is Nova really popular enough to deserve his own title? Granted, I haven't regularly read comics in some time but it seems like an odd choice.

Probably not but I remember Nova being big in the cosmic marvel stuff awhile Back. But its Jephthah Loeb and sin e the newest Nova is inspired by his deceased son he's getting a book when most fans want the OG Nova.

Every so often (i'd say every 5-10 years), Nova sees a huge uptick in popularity — i don't know why, it's just one of those unexplainable things that happens amongst the Marvel U fanbase. It's about that time again. The fact that he's one of the main supporting characters in the new Spider-Man 'toon might be contributing to it this time around.

More Marvel Now books been announced.

First up the Trinity.

What the hell is this? A Fantastic 4 Parody?

@Mickeymac I was wondering the same thing. I mean really... what is that?

Oh yea, Jenny in the F4!

The Fantastic Four has had a histoy of having other people take the thins when the main team is away.

Currently there are two fantastic four books out. The main book is about the team and FF is about the future foundation which is kind of a school for the uber 9th level genius kids.

But better yet here's stuff from the writers on each book.

Iron Man by Kieron Gillen and Greg Land

The symbolism that I bring immediately into the book [is] a lot like the Arthurian concept of the grail-knight: the idea that Tony Stark is the grail-knight, or at least aspiring to be the grail-knight. When we meet him he’s left Resilient and he’s digging into what’s going on. Pepper has a line in the first issue saying, “Oh, you’re not having a midlife crisis are you? Just buy yourself a suit of armor.” That’s where we start and he begins to ask questions.

The story will focus on him questioning things about himself and trying to find out exactly how the universe ticks, what’s this all about and why he does this anyway. It’s going to be one of the major themes of the book going forward. For as long as I’m on the book it will be one of the two major themes I’m working on, like on UNCANNY X-MEN [with] the theme of power and the corruption thereof.

Oh hell yeah. It’s actually a key part of my second theme. I’m going to explore Tony and his relationship with women. I’m interested in Tony’s selection of women in everything, from his mom, to Pepper, to the random people he’s sleeping with and everything that relates to them. He’s a complicated guy and he does bad things occasionally without thinking. Well, not [without] thinking exactly but he’s not always thinking about the right thing. He’s not the distracted genius but he always has something else going on. Invincible Iron Man by Matt Fraction

Thor: God of thunder by Jason Aaron And Esad Ribic

In part. I do flash back and show a young Thor in action, but he’s actually just one of three Thors that I want to focus on. This first story is an epic tale that plays out over the course of thousands of years. So we spend time with young Thor in the Viking age — the young, hotheaded god of the Vikings, who loves to come down to Midgard and get into trouble.

In the present, we see Thor the Avenger on a journey that takes him to the far corners of space, interacting with all sorts of new space gods and wondrous new locations.

And then we also see old King Thor, who’s the last king of Asgard, thousands of years in the future, where something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Linking all these eras and Thors together is one villain, an all-new character, who is basically, at least initially, a serial killer of gods. He’s a guy with a serious axe to grind against all immortal beings in the cosmos, and he’s going around doing his best to kill them all off, one at a time, as brutally as possible. That villain’s story unfolds over the course of all these different eras. He starts as a serial killer of gods, but by the end, he has become something even more frightening.

Deadpool by Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan and Tony Moore

Hopefully America is good and sick of politics. Hopefully you won’t mind seeing some of the former pillars of society and government come back with some very bad intentions… And by the way, the way these Presidents are drawn – they’re very menacing.

Xmen Legacy by Si Spurrier and Tan Eng Huat.

a brand new take on X-Men Legacy, from writer Si Spurrier and artist Tan Eng Huat. And though the title is changing hands, and even leads – the lead is now on Professor Xavier’s son Legion, in a post-Avengers vs. X-Men world that may – or may not – be without Xavier himself, it seems like the focus is the same… Namely, what the X-Men have left behind.

Fantastic Four by Matt Fraction and Mark Bagley and FF by Fraction and Mike Allard

They’ll be gone for a year — which will only be four minutes in regular Earth time — and while there will be continuing plot threads, each issue will be a new adventure and new situation.

“This is the place to be wildly inventive, and I would like to put as many things down on the page as humanly possible and offer up another dose next issue.”

The Big Bang happened in less than a second, though, so four minutes is an eternity for the big brain of Reed Richards. He makes it a point for them to choose the people they want to carry on their legacy just in case something goes awry since the Earth will still need protection.

Ant-Man and his group stand guard for the four minutes, but nothing happens. Three weeks later, a one-eyed, one-legged, long-haired, half-insane, bearded Johnny Storm walks through the time gateway, shuts it behind him and says, “We can never open this door again.”

So its pretty much the Fantastic four go on mission while in the oother book its the d-listers watching the future foundation and the Baxter building. Hope they bring the man doop in.

These will be joining the other marvel #1s tthat's been debuting like

Captain Marvel

Hawkeye

Gambit

Red She Hulk

And DC has 4 new books hitting next month

Talon

Phantom Stranger

Sword and Sorcery

Team 7

By the way, Captain Marvel is excellent. I've always loved Carol, so it's great to see her have her own book once again. It's really well done so far, and the art style is phenomenal. Highly reccomended.

Yep cap marvel is the first marvel book put on my pull list. Hope their is a $3 avengersbook.