The Comic Book Gazette

Yep, that rumor was true: Hillary Swank will indeed be making a cameo appearance in the Iron Man movie.

It was also strongly hinted that the rumor about Samuel Jackson being in the movie (the popular rumor is that he will play Nick Fury, the Ultimate version of which is based on Jackson) is also true, but the Comic Book Gazette would remind you that this is not yet confirmed.

The Iron Man movie is set for a release date of 2008.

--Sergio B.

How's that for alliteration?! (Yeah, I know that, technically speaking, this isn't really a blog, but stay with me here).

Okay, so here's the deal: each week, on a Sunday, I'll be posting an image of and reviewing a comic book that I bought recently from the quarter bin or some other such bargain bin-type-thing. But why am I explaining? Read on, my friend, read on...

Sensational She-Hulk #1 (1989)

Cover Price: $1.50

What I Paid: 25¢

"Wow-you-got-that-for-a-quarter?!"-ness: 80%

Overall Issue Rating: 90%

Creators: John Byrne (Writer/Penciler), Bob Wiacek (Inker), Glynis Oliver (Colorist), John Workman (Letterer), Bobbie Chase (Editor), Tom DeFalco (Editor-In-Chief)

Synopsis: In the first few pages, we see that She-Hulk has taken up residence with a circus, much as her cousin, the Hulk, once did. However, we soon find out that this is the Circus of Crime, and the Ringmaster hypnotizes her and forces here to reveal her past. She then recounts her origin as seen in the pages of Savage She-Hulk #1. She-Hulk then gets a makeover as a special effects wizard makes her appear more normal-looking and less, uh, green. We then learn the Ringmaster's plot is to use her to steal from the circus audience. Meanwhile, we learn that someone has given the Circus of Crime three million dollars just to test She-Hulk's abilities. They interfere with the heist, and She-Hulk is de-hypnotized, and the plot is undone. On the last page, we learn that the mystery people in the background are a couple of scientists and some misshapen bird/dragon/unicorn/human thing is in a cage next to them.

Thoughts: First off, let me just say I really like the cover. In case you can't make out the words, the word balloons say: "Okay, now. This is your second chance. If you don't buy my book this time I'm gonna come to your house and rip up all your X-Men." Meanwhile, she's holding a copy of Savage She-Hulk #1...

This was a really fun issue. The only problem I had was that the Circus of Crime seemed a bit "meh," but overall a good issue. I loved John Byrne's art. He's one of my favorite artists and this does not dissapoint.

My comic book store had the second issue. I'll definitely be picking it up.

--Brandon Valdez

Variety magazine reports that Gavin Hood is to direct the Wolverine spin-off from the X-Men movies:

"Hood is the South African director whose 2005 film "Tsotsi" won the foreign film Oscar. He was among several hot young directors vying for "Wolverine" and sources said Fox brass was swayed after viewing his latest film, "Rendition," the politically charged New Line drama starring Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep and Peter Sarsgaard. It opens Oct. 19 and premieres at Toronto. Using several resources that include the Marvel Comics lore, along with the more recent Weapon X graphic novels by Frank Miller, "Wolverine" mixes action with an origin story about how Logan emerged from a barbaric experiment as an indestructible mutant with retractable razor-sharp claws." (Note that Frank Miller has never written any Weapon X graphic novels, and that is most likely a typo).

The film will reportedly begin filming in November and is cheduled for a 2008 release date. Hugh Jakman from the X-Men movies will return as Wolverine. Jackman will also produce the film, along with Lauren Shuler-Donner and John Palermo. The script was written by David Benioff.

--Sergio B.

Fox Studios has reportedly pulled out all involvement in San Diego Comic Con, the convention for comic books.

The Vice President of Publicity had this to say: "Fox is not going to be able to participate in Comic-Con this year...The material wasn't ready and we only want to go out when we can put our best foot forward."

But what are the chances that none of their material, which includes Jumper, Aliens vs. Predator, Hitman, The Dark Is Rising, "City of Ember and Babylon A.D., was ready?

--Sergio B.

Hiro Nakamura will be spending time in feudal Japan in Heroes Season Two, as briefly seen in Season One's season finale.

Says Masi Oka, the actor who plays Hiro: "I just shot my third episode and I'm in feudal Japan. I'm going to be ther for a while. The whole idea wih Season Two is that we start off with two seperate timelines -- one starts four months after the [season finale], and the other starts with Hiro four hundred years in the past." But what's his opinion on the time-travelling bit? "It's been fantastic. You know how [American] kids wish they could be cowboys? In my culture we wish we could be samurai and ninja. I grew up reading those kinds of mangas. I know about the feudal era, so it's cool."

--Robert Manns

The following is a press release from Virgin Comics. For more information visit VirginComics.com.

Virgin Comics and MySpace have teamed up to launch Coalition Comix, a new online comic book platform, allowing thousands of participants to work with leading comic book creators in the development and creation of new characters and stories.

Coalition Comix will open up the role of comic book writer to the world at large, allowing participants to providing artistic direction for the comic by voting on the plot twists and turns at each step of the way.

Coalition Comix will commission some of the comic book industry’s leading creators to collaborate with users as virtual “Story Masters.” Leading creators will guide participants to collectively craft new story properties for comics and subsequent development into film, games and animations.

“Coalition Comix will allow readers to collaborate artistically with both a leading comics professional as well as thousands of like-minded MySpace users all over the world,” said Sharad Devarajan, CEO of Virgin Comics. “It opens the door to a new world of interactions and collaborations, taking an exciting step into the creative possibilities of the internet, and a new form of collaborative art without borders, barriers, or limits.”

“MySpace is about self-expression and the interactive format of Coalition Comix will allow the MySpace community to make themselves part of the story,” said Shawn Gold, senior vice president of marketing for MySpace.

Each digital issue will have a real time creation period of two weeks, with sketches, artwork and scripts continuously uploaded for interactivity with the community. The first comic planned will be guided by leading comic book author, Mike Carey (Voodoo Child, X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four).

Carey will dialogue with readers and guide the development of the plot at each step along the way by reviewing feedback from readers, and posing questions with five or six choices for the Coalition Comix community to choose from. During this time the Story Master will evaluate progress at timed intervals to give feedback to the community. Their ideas and votes will determine the final plot, generating a final work of sequential art that was created and influenced by hundreds or even thousands of contributors.

Gotham Chopra, Virgin Comic’s Chief Creative Officer added, “Creativity and innovation our the core ingredients to everything we try and do at Virgin Comics. So when we decided we wanted to experiment online and do something different, there was only one partner that made sense to work with - MySpace. What are we gonna create together? No one knows, but it will be cool. That's the point."

Users can join up to participate in Coalition Comix on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/coalitioncomix.

Comic book fans can also learn more by visiting the official MySpace Comic Books profile (www.myspace.com/comicbooks). This profile is the official community for manga, graphic novels and comic books on MySpace, where fans and friends of MySpace Comic Books can find the latest comic book news, interviews, special features, contests, exclusives and more. MySpace Comic Books spotlights the most exciting projects, creators and events in the industry including user generated comics by MySpace members themselves.

The following is a press release from ComicsPRO detailing their official position on variant covers. ComicsPRO is a comic retailer advocacy group consisting of over 90 retailers and 130 store-fronts in 30 states. More information can be found at ComicsPRO.org.

Issue Presented:

Publishers frequently attempt to boost circulation of their comics and graphic novels by printing multiple cover images. While recognizing that multiple covers can be an effective short-term sales boost for publishers and retailers alike, retailers are negatively affected by multiple covers in some circumstances. Since the cover of a comic book or graphic novel is a key sales point, a printing may have very different sell-through rates depending upon the cover image. In many cases, one cover image will remain available for sale at retail while another has sold out. In the current methodology of reordering, retailers are unable to order a single specific cover without ordering superfluous stock because of a 50/50, 3-to-1, or other sales ratio. The current system of offering variant covers without providing a unique identifier for each cover has the propensity to artificially inflate sales numbers of a title while failing to reflect the true sell-through of the given title.

Using variant covers for first printings vs reprints:

ComicsPRO maintains that variant covers of the first printing of products are acceptable so long as each cover offered may be ordered and reordered separately. Implementation of this policy will ensure that retailers can efficiently allocate resources to restock popular cover images without ordering copies of less popular covers. Efficiency inherently leads to a stronger, more competitive and sustainable marketplace.

Offering variant covers of fixed ratio:

ComicsPRO prefers that variant covers be solicited as separate line items to be ordered in any ratio the retailer desires. A cover solicited as a 50/50 split should instead be offered as two separate items. Variants offered on a short-printed cover basis (such as a 1:4 variant) should be solicited on a separate line item even though ordering is dependent on a qualifying order.

The concept of equal ratio offerings should be replaced with split offerings. Unequal ratio offerings should be treated as incentives. This will serve to more accurately reflect the true salability of a title and increase industry efficiency.

Variant covers offered free of charge as purchase incentives should always be listed as separate order line items. These items should also be invoiced independently.

Variant covers and barcodes:

ComicsPRO maintains that each cover of a comic book or trade paperback should be identified with its own unique barcode. The proliferation of point of sale systems within the industry has created a reliance on accurate and complete barcodes for each item. Unique barcodes for each cover allow precise tracking of sales and promotes the accurate calculation of historical sell-through values.

Conclusion:

Variant covers can be a valuable strategy to increase short-term profits, but should be implemented in a manner that augments industry efficiency while not increasing publisher revenue at the expense of retailer cash flow. ComicsPRO members prefer to order all products as individual line items. Allowing orders for each cover as a unique line item will enhance our ability to operate effectively and profitably while providing publishers with clear and concise orders for publications that have more than one cover.

Request for Action:

ComicsPRO requests that all publishers offer all variants, limited or otherwise, as separate line item codes in accordance with the foregoing descriptions. This would include any comic, graphic novel, or trade paperback offered with multiple covers regardless of the ratio of publishing or subsequent printings. ComicsPRO also maintains that each cover be issued with a unique barcode.

Arthur Bagnulo

March 22, 2007

It becomes apparent that comic book icons and lore have been increasingly embedded into the collective consciousness of popular culture, with a higher degree of mainstream embrace. In a 2003 article titled, “How cinema boosted Marvel's fortunes,” Helen Bushby states that Marvel’s lucrative feature film endeavor, featuring comic book adaptations of popular Marvel characters such as Spider-Man, Daredevil, The Hulk, and the X-Men, among others, has resulted in Marvel posting a reputable first-quarter profit of $41.1m, up from an $8m loss just five years previously. Marvel’s box-office dominance is expected to continue, with the highly anticipated Spider-Man 3 releasing this summer, with Spider-Man 1 & 2 being Marvel’s highest grossing films (boxofficemojo.com, 2007). Furthermore, Behlner’s 2006 article reveals that graphic novel (paperback collections of multiple comic books) and comic book collections are becoming increasingly popular among libraries. The article states that comic books and graphic novels’ “sophistication reaches out to the education committee catering to young people's growing affinity for the visual rather than written media. The combined educational value and high appeal of graphic novels make them an essential asset to any library collection,” (Behlner, 2006). Similarly, Fuchs and Reitberger’s 1971 book states that comics are a substitute for genuine folklore and culture. The authors continue, revealing that of all the incarnations of the mass media, comics mirror the American Collective Subconscious most faithfully and that comics can, as a result, manipulate and exploit the subconscious.

It is through consideration of this context that one can conclude that minority representation, Native Americans specifically in this study, in contemporary comic books is worthy of consideration and research. The objective of this paper is to explore the following question; Is the current comic book landscape suitable for counter-appropriating stereotypes about Native American culture?

This will be achieved through the consideration of historical context situating Aboriginal characters in comic books and an analysis of contemporary comic book artifacts, including “Uncanny X-Men,” “She-Hulk,” and “Daredevil.”

In addition, this research paper will provide a critical analysis of the representation of Native Americans in comic books. This topic is relevant because as a fictional text representation is framed and constructed through the entire creative process from a thematic, narrative, and visual process to create understanding between creator and receiver.

In addition, the comic book community is now more open to creators that belong to minority groups than ever before. Aboriginal artists, writers, and creators have the opportunity to portray Native characters in mainstream comics as well as the opportunity to self-publish books that focus on Aboriginal characters and themes.

The method for this research includes an in-depth analysis of the relevant literature addressed in this paper as well as considering further relevant literary artifacts. In addition, Michael Sheyhshe, author of “Native Americans in Comic Books,” was gracious enough to offer the opportunity to interview him. As a Native American comic book artist, his insight adds a unique element of authenticity and perspective.

“Today, a field trip to the comic book store reveals a major transformation and contrast from earlier figures of subhuman characters to superhuman feats: ethnic characters as superheroes. Although Marvel Comics has introduced eight First Nations characters over the years, this seemingly positive development is dulled by the stereotypes to which the characters adhere," (Pewewardy, 2002). Pewewardy’s 2002 article explores the representation of indigenous people in comic books in two specific forms that Pewewardy calls subhuman and superhuman. In the earliest representations of Native Americans, the role of the indigenous characters was that of mindless barbarians and red-skinned savages, often portrayed as a villain and uncivilized. Included in this category is the “warrior” archetype, which is typically associated with the instinctual hunter and tracker. This is the stereotype that is described as subhuman in Pewewardy’s (2002) article. The second most frequent representation of Natives is referred to as superhuman in Pewewardy’s (2002) article and describes the stereotype of depicting First Nations people as spiritual, mystic, noble, and in touch with nature. This is also referred to as the “noble savage” archetype and can also include the “medicine-man” archetype, which depicts First Nations people as inherently spiritual and traditional. Both types of representation, Pewewardy argues, illustrate dehumanization, exclusion, and isolation. This element of dehumanization of Aboriginal characters was also one of Michael Sheyahshe’s key points in discussing the characteristics that make poor representation of Indigenous peoples (Personal Communication, March 2007). In addition, the article provides historical context concerning coercive assimilation by the United States and Canadian militaries as well as historical insight into the representation of minorities in comic books throughout the early twentieth century. The article continues, revealing evidence of Eurocentrism among the adventure serials that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s and helped established the negative stereotypes of Natives that are still used today.

Huhndorf’s 2001 book examines the creation of Aboriginal identities and stereotypes in American culture. Huhndorf (2001) considers the American cultural imagination and how Native culture was perceived by white Anglo-Americans at the turn of the century. Huhndorf identifies three critical elements in the examination of Natives in the American cultural imagination: race, nation, and imperialism. The author explores how each of these three key elements influence the resultant ideology and stereotypes that exist and obstruct a clear understanding of Native culture. Huhndorf (2001) also suggests that literary inventions based on these uninformed opinions significantly influenced the outcome of detrimental archetypes and stereotypes of Native Americans. Reaching a broad audience, simplicity, and uniformity of Native stereotypes played a key role in the development of poor representation of Aboriginals in the collective mind of Americans.

Weston’s 1996 book addresses the representation of Native Americans in the media and news in the twentieth century. The book describes the nature of framing that occurs in the media. The selectivity of representation is up to the decision of the press which is, in most cases, directed by white middle-class men. This can be applied to comic books as well because minority editors, especially Indigenous editors, are uncommon in the large-scale mainstream comic book companies, like Marvel and DC. It is impossible to expect an unbiased perspective and even less possible to expect the perspective of minorities, Native Americans in this case, to be addressed. This literature is relevant because comics, like the press, films, television, and all other forms of media, are framed to display the perspectives of those who produce the cultural texts.

Merskin’s 1998 research article examines media use by Native Americans at a Pacific Northwest University by recording how they felt about representation in film and television, which focus on Aboriginal themes and characters. Textual artifacts that were considered in this study include Dances with Wolves, “How the West Was Lost,” and “Northern Exposure.” The author suggests that texts such as these homogenize Natives into one group of “Indians” rather than acknowledging the considerable differences among tribes and detrimentally rely on stereotypes and overgeneralizations. The research offers a unique criticism of such texts, making the article vital to this research proposal, in stating that not only do these texts influence how white audiences view Natives, but also influence the way Natives see themselves. This is a crucial development in the representation of Natives because Aboriginal artists who have an opportunity to display agency and a more authentic point of view on Native culture may find themselves resorting to a reliance on the stereotypical images they have seen portrayed in various media texts. This becomes especially relevant as further researched literature, such as Furey’s 2007 article, addressed in this paper, considers the point of view of Natives and Native creators in the comic book industry and how they portray Aboriginals in their own work.

Furey’s 2007 article provides a history of the representation of Native Americans in comics, beginning with the turn of the century dime novels, straight through to contemporary examples of the modern comic book. The article’s true value to this research comes in the form of intimate interviews that Furey conducts with comic industry professionals and their perspectives on Aboriginal representation in comic books. Better still, most of these creators are in fact Native American and work on comics with a focus on Native characters and themes as well as creators who work in mainstream comic book industry publishing giants Marvel and DC, creators of extremely popular characters; Spider-Man and Superman, respectively. Native Creators discuss their experiences with past and present specific Native characters and portrayal in the mainstream industry. This article is so valuable because it offers unique insight and access to Aboriginal comic book creators who offer a unique understanding of both the comic industry and Native culture.

The late 19^th century and early 20^th century dime novels laid the groundwork for what would become the prominent representation of First Nations peoples, depicting the Natives as a savage impediment to the “civilized” conquest of the West by the first frontiersmen (Pewewardy, 2002). This inaccurate view of Aboriginal culture would be adopted by the 20^th century emergence of the film industry and Western genre. The early comic books of the 1930’s adopted similar practices of negative portrayal, but also introduced the concept of the noble savage, as described in Pewewardy’s 2002 article, in the form of the Lone Ranger’s sidekick, Tonto. Mark Waid, comic book writer, in Furey’s 2007 article, notes that in terms of heroic fiction, most of what is associated with the noble savage stereotype was established through Tonto. Furey adds that as the traditional Native side-kick stereotype wore off, the shaman or medicine-man archetype sporting feathers and leather emerged, a stereotype so embedded in North America’s collective consciousness that even Natives have difficulty distancing themselves from this imagery. This is similar to what Larry Gross (2007) refers to as the internalization or colonization of negative stereotypes in the media. Gross’ (2007) article discusses sexual minority audiences’ response to negative stereotypes in the media but in this instance, a parallel can be drawn to First Nations people accepting and internalizing negative stereotypes projected by the mass media. It becomes obvious why this may have happened, given the volume of similar images being portrayed in various forms of media, including film, television, comic books, etc. Author Timothy Truman (Writer of “Scout,” a comic book with a Native protagonist) admits he has been guilty at times of relying on the overused stereotype of the Native shaman (Furey, 2007). Truman provides three reasons why writers fall back on these archetypes: because magic and mysticism is “cool and mysterious,” it is an iconic tool, and because it is a way of superficially giving Native traits to a character without having to do more thorough research (Furey, 2007).
Writer Jason Aaron (of Native themed comic book, “Scalped”) states that these archetypes might have seemed innovative in their day, but come across as a bland, uninspiring way of inserting Aboriginal culture without providing any substance in contemporary comics, (Furey, 2007). Native comic book creator, David Mack argues that elements of Native mysticism and the super hero story share similarities. Mack recognizes a common theme between the two types of narrative as he recalls his Cherokee uncle telling him Native American stories as a child and reading his fair share of comic books:

"Native American stories were very similar and congruent with our superhero stories, these incredible archetype stories where, basically, it's a morality play, where someone learns to use whatever their unique thing is, even if it's using a handicap as a strength that ends up saving the tribe, or helping the good of their tribe or their area (Furey, 2007)."

Michael Sheyahshe rebuts, arguing that it is the vehicle by which these mystic Native powers present themselves that can in some cases push the story into stereotypical tendencies. Non-Native characters such as Dr. Strange and Storm (of the X-Men) do not suffer from having their powers tied to them through cultural identity, whereas Native characters such as Shaman, Talisman, and Warpath, have powers that are largely due to them being Native American and/or reflect stereotypical Native culture (Furey, 2007).

Furey (2007) concludes that, “there would seem to be a fine line to walk in the portrayal of Native American characters. Characters who are Native American in name alone may invite charges of tokenism, but superficial, stereotypical portrayals are just as culturally insensitive.”

Jeff Mariotte states that comic books can and have been used to address social issues in a variety of contexts:

"They could be used to talk to Native Americans themselves, about the necessity of preserving their own heritage and overcoming the problems thrust upon them by poverty, discrimination, substance abuse and so on. They could also be used to inform a more general audience about those issues. As always, one has to be careful of didacticism, and to couch any lessons inside entertaining stories, but comics are an ideal medium for that sort of thing. Cheaper to produce than a movie, more likely to be read than a textbook or a news article, and involving because of the way they tell stories. I'd love to see it happen, and I'd love to see a movement of Native American comics storytellers telling their own stories (Furey, 2007)."

In Furey’s 2007 article, Sheyahshe reveals that more often than not, stereotypes are often called upon by higher ranking editors or creators, noting that comic book publishers have a strong opinion about what people want, supporting the ideas presented in Weston’s 1996 book.

Up to this point, it has been thoroughly established that stereotypical archetypes of First Nations people do exist in comic books, what they generally consist of, and where they originate. It would now be appropriate to consider specific examples of these media artifacts (comic books in this case) in order to apply the theoretical perspectives addressed in this paper. This analysis will focus on mainstream comic books by Marvel, due to their popularity and broad audience, as established earlier in this paper.

The first artifact to be considered is the February 2007 issue of Uncanny X-Men #484. The Native character for consideration in this book is Warpath. Pewewardy’s 2002 article discusses Warpath, revealing that he is described as mild-mannered, always deep in thought, and that he practices meditation. He is the typical medicine-man archetype, in other words, according to Pewewardy (2002). In addition, the character’s powers include enhanced strength, speed, durability, reflexes, instinct, and senses. These senses include the ability to track and hunt. In Uncanny X-Men #484, Warpath is seen touching the ground and feeling the vibrations of a nearby battle. These characteristics, as well as his name, allude to the archetypal warrior character as well as the noble savage. The insertions of his ability to be in touch with nature to feel the vibration of a nearby battle seems like a superficial attempt at making the character seem Aboriginal. The writer of the issue is Ed Brubaker, a non-Native author.

The next artifact for consideration is the February 2007 issue of She-Hulk #16. In this issue, Talisman, a Canadian First Nations female, guest stars in the issue. Talisman displays stereotypical imagery immediately through her leather, stereotypical outfit. She also speaks in flowery metaphors and broken English, which are stereotypical giveaways (M. Sheyahshe, Personal communication, March 2007). She also comes to the aid of the Wendigo monster that is causing the disturbance, taking the stereotypical stand fighting for nature against the white superheroes who do not know how to deal with the situation. Not to mention, the resolution and appearance of Talisman occur in the forest, further perpetuating the archetype that First Nations people are inherently in touch with nature. She is also portrayed in a very traditional, non-contemporary way, as discussed by Pewewardy (2002). The author of this book is Dan Slott, a non-Native writer.

The final textual artifacts for consideration are the October 2003 through February 2004 issues of “Daredevil,” #51-55. These issues focus on the first Nations character Echo and her vision quest, which is described as a cultural exercise where a Native will embark on a solo journey to find themselves and their calling in life. The story is written and illustrated by Native creator, David Mack. Echo has the ability to memorize and mimic any ability or skill she sees including playing the piano, ballet, and forms of combat. She is also deaf. She is a positive Native character because she is seldom represented in the common archetype forms. She started as a villain and became the love interest of the title’s main character, Daredevil. This undermines the stereotypes outlined in Pewewardy’s 2002 article, as it describes archetypes as portraying First Nations people as either savage warriors and villains, or as noble and mystical characters. Furthermore, Echo’s attire does not conform to Native stereotypes, like Talisman, for example. The Native influence in the story is portrayed through her vision quest and through the memories of Native stories her father told her, which are necessary and make sense within the context of the story. She is a complex, sometimes even ambiguous character, unlike the two-dimensional Talisman. In Furey’s 2007 article, David Mack recounts hearing Native stories from his uncle when he was a child and these personal experiences are brought into Echo’s story as she recounts her father’s stories before embarking on her vision quest. Echo is a complex character who does not fall into the trappings of stereotypical archetypes.

Evidently, “There needs to be more honesty, more depiction of Native Americans as a real and complex people with real humanity in all media forms, but especially in comic books. Everyone, no matter their ethnicity, deserves true heroes to look up to…making the change towards fewer stereotypes in media would allow our Native youth actual heroes with which to identify,” (M. Sheyahshe, Personal communication, 2007). This paper’s objective is to explore the following question; Is the current comic book landscape suitable for counter-appropriating stereotypes about Native American culture? This has been achieved through the consideration of historical context situating Aboriginal characters in comic books and an analysis of contemporary comic book artifacts, including Uncanny X-Men, She-Hulk, and Daredevil.

Michael Sheyahshe argues that:

"ALL media, including comic books, are open to challenging Native American stereotypes. As Indigenous writers, artists, and publishers, we can produce the ultimate Native hero, free from many of the more negative misrepresentations and create the best “Indian” comic known. Will this mean the comic (or other medium) will be a best seller or blockbuster? No, of course not. Mainstream audience wants what it wants…or else the negative stereotype wouldn’t sell so well; people would demand more truthful representations. However, this does not mean that media free from stereotypes is not successful or does not appeal…certainly, it can do so. What we need is more and more stereotype-free stories in ALL media; a flood of truthful and human characters. Once this becomes the “norm,” it will be what the major audiences want to see because it is what they will be used to (Personal communication, March 2007)."

In conclusion, accurate representation of Native Americans is still required among contemporary comic books, but, this alone will not solve the problems facing First Nations peoples with regards to misrepresentation in the mass media, and therefore, misunderstanding in society. Accurate representation in all forms of mass media is required in order to change social ignorance into social tolerance and understanding.

In closing, special thanks are in order for Michael Sheyahshe for his generous participation in this study.

Refferences

Behler, Anne. (2006). Getting Started with Graphic Novels. Reference & User Services Quarterly. Vol. 46 Issue 2. (p16-21).

Box Office Mojo Website. (2007). Retrieved online March 22/2007 from: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=marvelcomics.htm

Brubaker, Ed. (2007). Uncanny X-Men #484. New York: Marvel.

Bushby, Helen. (2003). How Cinema Boosted Marvel's Fortunes. BBC News. Retrieved online March 21^st/2007 from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3004396.stm

Fuchs, W. & Reitberger, R. (1971). Comic: Anatomy of a Mass Medium. Boston & Toronto: Little, Brown, and Company.

Furey, Emmett. (2007). Native Americans in Comics. The Comic Wire. Retrieved February 12, 2007 from: http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=9484

Gross, Larry. (2007). Out of the Mainstream: Sexual Minorities and the Mass Media. Media and Minorities Course Reader.

Huhndorf, S.M. (2001). Going Native: Indians in the American cultural imagination. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Mack, David. (2003). Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #51-55. New York: Marvel.

Merskin, Debra. (1998). Sending up Signals: A Survey of Native American1 Media Use and Representation in the Mass Media. Howard Journal of Communications. Vol. 9 Issue 4. (p333-345).

Miller, Autumn; Ross, Susan. (2004). They Are Not Us: Framing of American Indians by the Boston Globe. Howard Journal of Communications. Vol. 15 Issue 4. (p245-259).

Pewewardy, Cornel. (2002) From subhuman to superhuman: Images of First Nations peoples in comic books. Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education. Vol. 2 Issue 2.

Reinhardt, Akim D. (2005).Defining the Native: Local Print Media Coverage of the NMAI. American Indian Quarterly. Vol. 29 Issue ¾. (p450-465).

Slott, Dan. (2007). She-Hulk #16. New York: Marvel.

Weston, Mary Ann. (1996). North Americans in the News: Images of Indians in the Twentieth Century Press. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.

Michelle Ryan will be playing Bionic Woman in a television series based on a spin-off of an adaptation of a novel (whew!).

In the series, Bionic Woman is really Jaime Sommers, a young woman who is badly hurt in a car accident. Her body parts are then replaced in a government facility with bionics, which gives her enhanced abilities such as super-human speed and strength. The pilot episode of the series has already been filmed.

Says Ryan of her role in the series: "It's a real privilege. It really is. To be a young actress from England and to be given this opportunity, I just feel so lucky. And I'm doing so much preparation for it, like working with a dialect coach, an acting coach, trekking up mountains in Vancouver and doing krav maga work and working with a personal trailer. And I want to just throw myself into the script and give it my all." She also has this to say about working with Katee Sackoff (from Battlestar Galactica), who plays a bionic woman much like herself (except Sackoff will play a rogue bionic woman):  "I loved working with Katee. She has so much energy, and she's just so brilliant. And when she's fighting, she's so strong. I'd fight with the stuntwoman, and then Katee would come 'round, and it would be like, 'Wow, she can really fight.' And it was great, because when you're sort of fighting, you don't make too much contact. You don't want to hurt anybody. And part of the fighting was that I had to hit her in the stomach, and [I said], 'I can't. I don't want to hurt you.' And she was like, 'Just hit me!' And I did, and it was interesting how she was bringing that out [of] me, as Sarah brings the fighter out of Jaime. So I think it's going to be an interesting partnership."

Michelle Ryan also admits that the writers have not given her much information about the direction the series will take, although she says some of her ideas may have ended up in the show: "They haven't given too much away, but we did go out the other evening, and I was telling them about this dream I had where this giant swan was attacking me. And I told the writers, and they were like, 'Oh, that's interesting. I wonder what that means.' And they've sort of come to the idea that it was about transformation. And this was when I was doing all my fighting, so I think that whenever you go out with the writers you have to be prepared that whatever you say will end up incorporated into the script. But I think they have some interesting ideas for where Jaime's going to go, and I think, ultimately, it's going to be about a strong, young woman and her journey of self-discovery and empowerment. And I felt like I identify with that, because I'm 23, and I'm learning about so many new things." Bionic Woman is set to premiere on September 26, and will then air regularly on Wednesdays at 9 a.m.

--Robert Manns

The Marvel Civil War
12-Part Maxi-Series

Mark Millar and Steve McNiven
Covers by Michael Turner

16th September 2005

INTRO:

Okay, this is the skeleton structure, but I need to see the bones before I can hang the meat. This is a tight breakdown of where I see this going, the characters I’d like to use and some suggestions about where we go from here as a company. Any comments would not only be welcome, but very much appreciated. If anything doesn’t smell right let me know because you guys know all the smaller characters much more than I do. I’d rather hear about an inconsistency or a repeated idea here than on a message board ten months down the line. Be as picky as you like.

THE PLOT:

The issue opens, as discussed, with a small-scale superhero involved into a big action set-piece where all the jokes and the acrobatics get punctured by a stray bullet going right through a little kid. At the moment I’d like the hero to be Speedball and the kid in question, if such a kid exists, should be the son of Tony’s buddy Happy Hogan.

JQ: You sly @#$%^&*, that’s brilliant. You just made Tony’s point justified. BRILLIANT. Mark, what you do need in the opening is something that recaps the world and tells us of the building tensions so that this can have impact. Perhaps a panel by panel recap of events as a newscast only to pull out to see Happy Hogan and his son at some sort of theme café in Time’s Square, perhaps the ESPN Café since they would have a thousands screens and possibly the news. They go for a cheerful father and son outing, [and] all the while you’re intercutting between them and a simple bank robbery about to be foiled by Speedball. Cripes, this kid is your Sue Dibny, except his insignificance in Marvel continuity and his connection to Tony is that tiny hole in the dike that starts the flood. Did Tom B. give you this, because no way you’re that smart.

TB: It’s a nice thought, but it’s been pretty clearly established that Happy and Pepper don’t have any kids. They do feel like the right characters, though, so maybe there’s some way to do this. Having them have adopted a kid that we’re only going to kill a minute later seems crass. Would it work if we killed Happy himself, or maybe Pepper?

Cap’s argument for civil liberties is very compelling, but I wanted to beef up Tony’s involvement on the other side and a superhero’s carelessness causing the death of his Godson seems like the perfect emotional turning point for him. The reader can absolutely empathize with why he wants his friends registered and licensed after this.

Anyway, the big opener is followed by a double page title spread and we move quickly into the reaction from the media and the politicians. This is the straw that broke the camel’s back and we quickly follow up all the recommendations about the registration act as the kid’s mother camps outside the White House asking for justice.

JQ: YES!

Villains are on a register and cops are on a register. They’re accountable for their deeds. Why should so-called good guys be anonymous when they can do anything they like, etc, etc? The first issue, which is filled with set-pieces, ends with the surprising revelation that the heroes have 28 days to unmask and register themselves or else they’re going to be hunted down and imprisoned. Public safety is suddenly a number one priority.

TB: I think I’d avoid saying “imprisoned” at this point. They’re going to be hunted down as criminals--that should be enough. More evokes concentration camps more than is good this early in the game, I think.

Second issue kicks off with a lot of these guys stepping up and unmasking. They aren’t being punished and in some ways life looks better for them now. They’re registered and, providing they work for the government, they’re receiving a salary and a pension plan. They’re no longer rogue vigilantes. They’re respectable. The only thing is that many of the heroes aren’t coming forward and SHIELD is becoming very concerned. Nick calls Cap to the helicarrier and we get a great scene where we have one of those lovely big Marvel view-screens with all the heroes up there, most of whom haven’t registered yet. Nick wants Cap to assemble a team and track these guys down once the 28 days are up and Cap surprises everyone by saying no. The registration act, he insists, endangers superheroes and their families. That’s why they need to wear masks. Nick says the IDs will be kept secret, but Cap still refuses. Guns are raises, [it’s a] tense moment, but Cap takes everyone out with superhuman accuracy and leaps off a bridge within the helicarrier, landing on a jet as it comes through. In a single movement, he cracks open the glass, ejects the pilot and nicks the jet, flying it out the other side of the helicarrier. Cap is loose. The most dangerous man alive is now undercover and helping the superheroes who are refusing to come forward. This leaves Nick Fury in a weird spot because the superhero community is split right down the middle with nobody to lead the guys who back the registration. Step forward Tony Stark. It’s basically Iron Man vs. Captain America as the Marvel Civil War begins.

JQ: Mark, to give Cap’s argument weight, I say that one of the heroes that registered has his family killed by a villain. This way when Fury tells Cap it’s all going to be confidential, Cap calls him on it, anything can be leaked.

TB: I agree. My feeling when I got to this part of the outline was that there didn’t seem to be enough of a reason for Cap to suddenly go rogue otherwise.

Issue Three is where they start to assemble their own teams. Tony is putting his guys together and their objective is very simple. They want to bring in all the unlicensed super-people, give them a chance to register and, if they insist they’re staying rogue, they’re getting locked up in a new maximum-security prison beside Speedball.

TB: What’s the deal with Speedball? Was he arrested, or did he turn himself in? Either way, it’s a bit hypocritical for Tony & Co. to condemn him for innocents getting caught in the crossfire when it’s happened to Iron Man multiple times. Something to think about and finesse--each character can have a slightly different shading on the events.

The other side, led by Cap, have formed a new team and they’re all wearing new stealth costumes (resigns of their original costumes that can’t be picked up by satellite or radar) and their objective is equally simple; they want to perform their superhero duties without being captured by the first time. They’re a secret society. An underground movement. And they’re being led by Captain America which means that nobody can touch them. The teams have broken down with Tony having Spidey, Reed Richards and all the guys we discussed on their side. Dr Strange, Black Panther and the X-Men are staying neutral, but Wolverine comes over to help because it’s the right thing to do and both Ben Grimm and Sue Storm come over with Namor to Cap’s side.

TB: Does Spidey unmask to the government? If not, how is he part of Tony’s guys?

JQ: According to JMS, Ben will actually leave the country as a conscientious observer. He can’t be brought to fight his family so he will be in France for a few issues. This does give you that great moment in Planet Hulk when Ben comes back home because now it’s gonna be a fun fight and we get some great Thing/Hulk pummeling. How great will it be when he can yell “it’s clobberin’ time,” in French.

I like the idea of some of the heroes publicly known (like Sue) having to adopt new secret identities (like they did in Byrne’s FF) just so nobody can find them.

TB: That’s a pretty cool thought.

All this stuff is pure gravy and will be a lot of fun to write.

The first big set-piece between the two teams is when Cap’s guys (who still want to perform their superhero duties) attend what looks like a big accident. But when they get there what appears to be innocent people burning in a chemical plant blaze is actually black ops guys and the whole thing is a Stark-inspired trap where the other half of the super-community are lying in wait, Cap’s crew get their asses kicked and half of them are hauled off to this big super-prison which gets a little more packed every day.

The whole situation is getting nuts and there’s a clear war now going on between the superheroes, both equally convinced that they’re doing the right thing. It all builds up to a big climax at the end of the fourth issue as Tony wakes up in bed to find Cap sitting on his chest and warning him to call off the dogs. He has to release these super-people from prison or Cap will have to take action. This is a last moment of sanity before all hell breaks loose in issue five and, since Tony believes with all his heart that they need licenses, he tells Cap to go %@^& himself. Thus, the war is on and both sides are playing for keeps.

Issue five is our boldest set-piece so far as we see the super-secret place where the super-people are being banged up. It’s a portal into the Negative Zone which is being used up like real-estate and home to dozens of heroes in sci-fi cells unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.

TB: We should probably build on the prison we established in the Negative Zone in the FF: FOES limited series. If nothing else, it ties everything back to stuff we already have in place, and makes it all seem like a big overarching plan.

This issue is a rollercoaster fight where Cap marshals his troops and does the most audacious raid on this place (all our guys wearing space-suits) and managing to free the bulk of them. There’s been talk of some machinery recovered from Latveria after the Secret War and the SHIELD techies are building a half-finished device Doctor Doom was working on which turns super-people into ordinary human beings. The plan is to humanize each and every one of these guys banged up in here, but Cap’s raid means this is impossible and Tony is humiliated as Cap just completely outclasses him in military strategy. Issue five ends with him being berated by congress and they’re telling him he’s out on his ass, etc, before Tony pulls the ultimate rabbit-from-a-hat and says he has something he KNOWS can defeat these guys. Cut to literally hundreds of super-villains all wired up with Stark tech. These are the bad guys who have been fighting the heroes for years and they outnumber and outclass each of these good guys out there. Spidey is very uncomfortable about this, but Stark has designed tracking devices and so on to keep the guys in check. They’re being watched at all times and anyone even THINKING about stepping out of line just gets zapped. The game is raised to a whole new level.

Issue six kicks off the action with the villains making short work of some of the heroes, bringing them in and banging them up. We have one scene in particular where a gang of baddies capture one of the heroes, kick the crap out of him and prepare to unmask him before a bullet tears through one of their heads. The others look around before they’re all gunned down too. Huge shadow of a surprise ally picks up the hero and takes him back to base where we get a big, full-page picture of the Punisher standing here with the fallen hero in his arms

JQ: How about over his shoulder in the fireman’s carry or in the way Frank would carry a wounded Vietnam vet, with his gun still poised against his shoulder.

The moment they enlisted the crooks, [was] the moment the Punisher couldn’t stay neutral. Uncomfortable alliance with Cap and crew, but it works well and we get loads of high quality action leading up to a big smack-down between Cap and Punisher.

TB: Another thing to keep in mind: there may be characters who are in neither Cap or Tony’s camps--guys who either choose to go it alone, or who play each side against the other. Just a thought.

Joe and I came up with this great scene where some of the baddies try to come over and volunteer to come over, but both end up getting their heads blown off by the Punisher. Cap gets nuts and we get a big smack-down, but the thing that excited us is that Cap would pretty much be the guy Frank Castle always wanted to be. The only difference is that Cap was born in a great war and Frank was born in a failure of a war and so this fight, this slug-fest between them has Punisher just taking it and not raising a hand throughout, spitting out teeth at the end and asking Cap if that’s the best he can do.

JQ: When you really look at these two characters standing side by side, they really are our Batman and Superman Cap’s almost an alien being, Christ-figure while Frank is the man without powers who lost his family and what they share is two wars that couldn’t be more different.

Cut to a disturbing moment where a friend of Speedball lands himself in big trouble. The first issue had Speedball on the phone to a friend who was supposed to have been involved in a team-up that fateful night. But now he’s scared and wanting credibility, which is why he passed his name and address to the SRA people and hoped for a whole new career. But his name got out there and an old villain found out and now his little kid has been snatched on the way home from school. Everything superheroes wear a mask for is articulated here as a threat is sent out and this little superhero is told that, unless he kills an innocent, his kid is getting butchered and delivered home in pieces.

Such a serous threat at the very heart of the whole argument, the reason they even wear these masks, takes the argument to a whole new level and Spidey, despite liking Stark, jumps sides as they all get out there and do what they can to find this kid.

TB: I would think that Tony would [switch sides] as well--just because he believes that registering heroes is the right thing to do doesn’t mean he wants to see a little kid get killed. So this could seem to be a unifying moment that really isn’t.

However, they’re getting nowhere and the deadline is almost up and it’s only when this guy blows his own brains out (thus killing an innocent) that the kid is released. Horrible, depressing end to the arc within the story, but it’s a wake-up call to many of them as they solidify their positions. The kid is safe, but nothing can ever be the same again. The whole thing erupts into the biggest battle of the series so far as the battle-lines are drawn and we have an amazing confrontation between the two sides as they beat the %&#^ out of each other in the heart of New York City. This is just classic Marvel Hero Versus Marvel Hero stuff and a poignant moment where Cap, as he’s pummeling Iron Man, starts getting trash thrown at him. The people are behind the other side. They recognize the more sensible argument and it’s only at that precise moment that Cap realizes he no longer has the faith of the people.

TB: Cool.

And he’s horrified. He represents America and yet now finds himself representing an eccentric elite who dress up in costumes and get involved in violent situations. It’s heartbreaking for him as he rallies his troops and tells them all to fall back, leaving the city to Tony’s team and disappearing underground forever. He realizes his responsibility now and it’s quite simple; they either unmask or they take these masks off forever. That’s the decision at the end of the issue. Unmask or disappear.

TB: Again, cool.

The next issue opens with the new status quo as Tony and his guys are the only game in town. Everyone is legal and some of Cap’s guys have even come over to join in. Everyone has a license and Tony’s applying his brilliant mind to the superhuman situation in a way we’ve never seen before. This is a wonderful chance for us to create new heroes and teams, redefining all the classics as Tony essentially updates the Marvel Universe. He creates a new team called The Champions for LA and these guys could get their own book, creates some guys for the south, Midwest and for Illinois. Superhero problems erupt everywhere and he stretches his forces out from New York, massively increasing the budget he developed in his trial run of Avengers back in the Stan and Jack days. We also have some great set-pieces like Iron Man, Giant Man and so on capturing and taking down guys like the Ghost Rider. This should be shameless; every trick in the book. It should be a fan-boy orgasm and we should love every minute of it as the new Captain Marvel, etc, get a gold standard entry into a revitalized Marvel Universe.

Cut from here to all the super-people who went undercover living their normal lives. Cap, to our surprise, is enjoying normal life more than he expected.

TB: I don’t quite buy this. I don’t think Cap would either surrender or retire--especially if that’s going to be the payoff at the end of the series.

We get all the stuff we talked about where Steve Rogers hasn’t really had a chance to live since he first got the super-soldier serum and we get him here as a blue collar guy just doing his own thing and rediscovering who he really is. Ben Grimm has moved to Paris with Alicia and she’s doing great on the art-house circuit out there with her sculptures. But the big, dramatic thing is the Doctor Doom weapon that’s being used as a kind of superhero electric chair. This is being used on Speedball, the hero who kicked this whole thing off, and we see him stripped of his superpowers on live TV and returned to society. It should be an awesome moment and one the heroes watch with a certain amount of fear.

The big finale, the last three or four issues, comes on the back of Thor’s return. Like I said, every trick in the book has been established here and the appearance of the mysterious new Thor should set pulses racing, especially as we only get hints to his amazing back-story. He can’t believe what’s happened to the superheroes and wonders what would have happened had he been around. He was always the third point in the Tony-Cap relationship and brought a real balance to the team between the futurist and the traditionalist. But it all comes to a head as the cliff-hanger from Planet Hulk neatly cuts into our own series. We just have to be careful here because we’re hoping for 300K on this thing and Hulk will probably do around 100K so we really have to seem quite self-contained. Another thing I’d like to suggest is completely rethinking the alien attacks thing discussed at the summit. We’ve seen aliens attack many times and varied types of aliens will only be confusing and a turn-off for the end of a big superhero series. For a summer event, the kids want Marvel characters and the conclusion to this should be the biggest Marvel character of all. I’d really like to see the Hulk attack Earth and bring with him small, five foot versions of the Hulk called Hulk Babies who are just as powerful and dangerous, but the spawn of the Hulk after he’s bedded a hundred thousand alien chicks. They should all look the same and do enormous amounts of damage when they show up with Dad. This keeps it simple, looks more visually interesting and stops us falling into Star Trek or whatever. It also seems more like a superhero comic than a sci-fi thing and I think the fans would be more into it.

JQ: Mark, I agree and disagree. I’m not crazy about the amoeba style aliens and I think we need to keep this clean and simple. I do believe that the sight of a giant Hulk in the middle of a double page spread wearing Roman Gladiator or Centurion armor surrounded by a legion of weird aliens in similar armor that are bigger than the Hulk is a pretty moment! I would avoid making the threat too complex, keep it to simple aliens that are designed to kick our heroes’ @$$es. The fan boy moments come in watching how our heroes get back together. SOME SPECIFIC COMMENTS ABOUT UPCOMING ELEMENTS OF WORLD WAR HULK DELETED HERE [BY TOM BREVOORT] So, basically, I see no problem with a simple alien invasion, remember, what makes this one cool is that it has the Hulk at its front line, leading it. It’s just the incident that unites the heroes. It’s that unification that needs to make the fanmen pee themselves. By the way, I would save Captain Marvel for the Hulk War. We could use him on one of two ways. Most likely word will leak that Thor will be making his appearance in MCW, and we surprise people with the last page being a very Christ like Captain Marvel. Then an issue later Thor appears. Or we can have Thor appear first and then no one will expect Captain Marvel in the following issue.

TB: Let me say the obvious thing here: The Hulk War doesn’t belong in this story, and it’s only our own greed that keeps trying to force it in. I do think that the Hulk should play a role in this story, but right now this is the point where everything disintegrates into chaos, into two big summer crossover stories smooshed together. It’s not going to be accessible, it’s not even going to make sense, and I don’t think we should do it. Let PLANET HULK be PLANET HULK, and let CIVIL WAR be CIVIL WAR. Let’s not chase the DC dollar on this. It’s a sucker’s bet.

Anyway, as discussed, the new heroes like The Champions, the New Avengers, Captain Marvel, etc, go up against Hulk and the Hulk babies and much @$$ is kicked. Unfortunately, it’s the @$$ off the good guys and in true Marvel style we learn that they need to all fight together to beat the baddies. Thus, a spine-tingling Avengers Assemble moment as Cap reappears and marshals all the undercover heroes to team up with the new guys and we get the biggest, most kick-@$$ fight ever as the threat is contained in the last couple of issues. But it doesn’t end here. The senator behind the superhero registration gets his hands on the Doom tech and prepares to eliminate every superpower in the world.

TB: Boy, a senator feels like too small a fish for this role. Can we make him more important or resonant somehow? Is there an existing senator we can use that’d make sense?

It’s right here we have Cap dropped into the situation as he heroically defends his fellow heroes, climbing inside and closing the whole thing down. Huge explosion and smoke everywhere followed by the awe on the faces of the heroes he saved as we see skinny Steve Rogers lying here stripped of his powers.

It would be too crass to just end the civil war with the situation being resolved by an external threat. And that’s where the little kidnapped kid storyline kicks in again. Tony tells them that this changes nothing. That the superheroes still need a license, etc, but this little kid appears and explains how his Daddy died thanks to the act and how he’s lost more than even Tony lost. This counter-balances the dead kid in the first issue and has Tony and tears and everyone in tears and the whole matter gets resolved.

TB: How do we resolve it? Where do the pieces end up at the end? And if this conflict gets as personal as it really needs to along the way, it seems like a cheat to just put everything back the way it started.

Cut to the epilogues and we basically set up the new Marvel Universe here with Bucky taking over as the new Cap, a new status quo for Tony (which he needs), new teams set up across America, plus the emergence of this new Thor.

TB: I’m not convinced that Bucky is the right person for this role yet. Another option might be for the new Cap to be Hawkeye, Clint Barton, now back from the dead. [Brian Michael] Bendis was talking about bringing him back in a new guise, so maybe this is the way to do that.

All the core characters get a nice revamp spinning off into their own books before we close the whole thing with Nick Fury talking to the 97 lb Steve Rogers in the closing pages. All the talk of secret identities and double-lives draws to a close, neatly tying everything up as he admits that, despite everything, he’s kind of excited to get his life back again. He’s heading out to discover America and rediscover himself and Nick smiles. Steve hopes he isn’t being selfish and Nick says no way. “One hell of a tour of duty you just had, soldier,” he tells Steve and Steve just smiles. They salute and Steve Rogers, skinny as a rake, walks off into the sunset like all the best heroes should.

THE UPSHOT:

Winter Soldier as Cap for a year before Steve gets the call and gets revitalized for the movie. Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, etc, all get a huge shot in the arm and we create an important moment in Marvel history where, for twelve glorious issues, the heroes do what Stan and Jack made them do best: Kick the living crap out of one another.

End.

JQ: Mark, great stuff. We should sit and talk with our editors about what characters could use a lift. Arana, Runaways and Captain Marvel being just a few. I love using this as a platform for launching teams like The Champions, but in order for it to make sense we have to decided what makes these teams different other than geography and name. This will make your selection of members have more sense.

TB: The biggest problem, as I see it, is that this storyline really should hijack just about every single title we’re publishing for the duration, and it’s not going to be able to (nor should it, given the sheer number of books we’d be talking about.) Also, as Jeph said, we can’t really have a Civil War without some genuine casualties, so we’d better start thinking about that seriously—and who we’d want to kill off or mutilate in this thing. If Speedball is the best we’ve got, it’s time to pack it in.

The Marvel Civil War
12-Part Maxi-Series

Mark Millar and Steve McNiven
Covers by Michael Turner

16th September 2005

INTRO:

Okay, this is the skeleton structure, but I need to see the bones before I can hang the meat. This is a tight breakdown of where I see this going, the characters I’d like to use and some suggestions about where we go from here as a company. Any comments would not only be welcome, but very much appreciated. If anything doesn’t smell right let me know because you guys know all the smaller characters much more than I do. I’d rather hear about an inconsistency or a repeated idea here than on a message board ten months down the line. Be as picky as you like.

THE PLOT:

The issue opens, as discussed, with a small-scale superhero involved into a big action set-piece where all the jokes and the acrobatics get punctured by a stray bullet going right through a little kid. At the moment I’d like the hero to be Speedball and the kid in question, if such a kid exists, should be the son of Tony’s buddy Happy Hogan.

JQ: You sly @#$%^&*, that’s brilliant. You just made Tony’s point justified. BRILLIANT. Mark, what you do need in the opening is something that recaps the world and tells us of the building tensions so that this can have impact. Perhaps a panel by panel recap of events as a newscast only to pull out to see Happy Hogan and his son at some sort of theme café in Time’s Square, perhaps the ESPN Café since they would have a thousands screens and possibly the news. They go for a cheerful father and son outing, [and] all the while you’re intercutting between them and a simple bank robbery about to be foiled by Speedball. Cripes, this kid is your Sue Dibny, except his insignificance in Marvel continuity and his connection to Tony is that tiny hole in the dike that starts the flood. Did Tom B. give you this, because no way you’re that smart.

TB: It’s a nice thought, but it’s been pretty clearly established that Happy and Pepper don’t have any kids. They do feel like the right characters, though, so maybe there’s some way to do this. Having them have adopted a kid that we’re only going to kill a minute later seems crass. Would it work if we killed Happy himself, or maybe Pepper?

Cap’s argument for civil liberties is very compelling, but I wanted to beef up Tony’s involvement on the other side and a superhero’s carelessness causing the death of his Godson seems like the perfect emotional turning point for him. The reader can absolutely empathize with why he wants his friends registered and licensed after this.

Anyway, the big opener is followed by a double page title spread and we move quickly into the reaction from the media and the politicians. This is the straw that broke the camel’s back and we quickly follow up all the recommendations about the registration act as the kid’s mother camps outside the White House asking for justice.

JQ: YES!

Villains are on a register and cops are on a register. They’re accountable for their deeds. Why should so-called good guys be anonymous when they can do anything they like, etc, etc? The first issue, which is filled with set-pieces, ends with the surprising revelation that the heroes have 28 days to unmask and register themselves or else they’re going to be hunted down and imprisoned. Public safety is suddenly a number one priority.

TB: I think I’d avoid saying “imprisoned” at this point. They’re going to be hunted down as criminals--that should be enough. More evokes concentration camps more than is good this early in the game, I think.

Second issue kicks off with a lot of these guys stepping up and unmasking. They aren’t being punished and in some ways life looks better for them now. They’re registered and, providing they work for the government, they’re receiving a salary and a pension plan. They’re no longer rogue vigilantes. They’re respectable. The only thing is that many of the heroes aren’t coming forward and SHIELD is becoming very concerned. Nick calls Cap to the helicarrier and we get a great scene where we have one of those lovely big Marvel view-screens with all the heroes up there, most of whom haven’t registered yet. Nick wants Cap to assemble a team and track these guys down once the 28 days are up and Cap surprises everyone by saying no. The registration act, he insists, endangers superheroes and their families. That’s why they need to wear masks. Nick says the IDs will be kept secret, but Cap still refuses. Guns are raises, [it’s a] tense moment, but Cap takes everyone out with superhuman accuracy and leaps off a bridge within the helicarrier, landing on a jet as it comes through. In a single movement, he cracks open the glass, ejects the pilot and nicks the jet, flying it out the other side of the helicarrier. Cap is loose. The most dangerous man alive is now undercover and helping the superheroes who are refusing to come forward. This leaves Nick Fury in a weird spot because the superhero community is split right down the middle with nobody to lead the guys who back the registration. Step forward Tony Stark. It’s basically Iron Man vs. Captain America as the Marvel Civil War begins.

JQ: Mark, to give Cap’s argument weight, I say that one of the heroes that registered has his family killed by a villain. This way when Fury tells Cap it’s all going to be confidential, Cap calls him on it, anything can be leaked.

TB: I agree. My feeling when I got to this part of the outline was that there didn’t seem to be enough of a reason for Cap to suddenly go rogue otherwise.

Issue Three is where they start to assemble their own teams. Tony is putting his guys together and their objective is very simple. They want to bring in all the unlicensed super-people, give them a chance to register and, if they insist they’re staying rogue, they’re getting locked up in a new maximum-security prison beside Speedball.

TB: What’s the deal with Speedball? Was he arrested, or did he turn himself in? Either way, it’s a bit hypocritical for Tony & Co. to condemn him for innocents getting caught in the crossfire when it’s happened to Iron Man multiple times. Something to think about and finesse--each character can have a slightly different shading on the events.

The other side, led by Cap, have formed a new team and they’re all wearing new stealth costumes (resigns of their original costumes that can’t be picked up by satellite or radar) and their objective is equally simple; they want to perform their superhero duties without being captured by the first time. They’re a secret society. An underground movement. And they’re being led by Captain America which means that nobody can touch them. The teams have broken down with Tony having Spidey, Reed Richards and all the guys we discussed on their side. Dr Strange, Black Panther and the X-Men are staying neutral, but Wolverine comes over to help because it’s the right thing to do and both Ben Grimm and Sue Storm come over with Namor to Cap’s side.

TB: Does Spidey unmask to the government? If not, how is he part of Tony’s guys?

JQ: According to JMS, Ben will actually leave the country as a conscientious observer. He can’t be brought to fight his family so he will be in France for a few issues. This does give you that great moment in Planet Hulk when Ben comes back home because now it’s gonna be a fun fight and we get some great Thing/Hulk pummeling. How great will it be when he can yell “it’s clobberin’ time,” in French.

I like the idea of some of the heroes publicly known (like Sue) having to adopt new secret identities (like they did in Byrne’s FF) just so nobody can find them.

TB: That’s a pretty cool thought.

All this stuff is pure gravy and will be a lot of fun to write.

The first big set-piece between the two teams is when Cap’s guys (who still want to perform their superhero duties) attend what looks like a big accident. But when they get there what appears to be innocent people burning in a chemical plant blaze is actually black ops guys and the whole thing is a Stark-inspired trap where the other half of the super-community are lying in wait, Cap’s crew get their asses kicked and half of them are hauled off to this big super-prison which gets a little more packed every day.

The whole situation is getting nuts and there’s a clear war now going on between the superheroes, both equally convinced that they’re doing the right thing. It all builds up to a big climax at the end of the fourth issue as Tony wakes up in bed to find Cap sitting on his chest and warning him to call off the dogs. He has to release these super-people from prison or Cap will have to take action. This is a last moment of sanity before all hell breaks loose in issue five and, since Tony believes with all his heart that they need licenses, he tells Cap to go %@^& himself. Thus, the war is on and both sides are playing for keeps.

Issue five is our boldest set-piece so far as we see the super-secret place where the super-people are being banged up. It’s a portal into the Negative Zone which is being used up like real-estate and home to dozens of heroes in sci-fi cells unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.

TB: We should probably build on the prison we established in the Negative Zone in the FF: FOES limited series. If nothing else, it ties everything back to stuff we already have in place, and makes it all seem like a big overarching plan.

This issue is a rollercoaster fight where Cap marshals his troops and does the most audacious raid on this place (all our guys wearing space-suits) and managing to free the bulk of them. There’s been talk of some machinery recovered from Latveria after the Secret War and the SHIELD techies are building a half-finished device Doctor Doom was working on which turns super-people into ordinary human beings. The plan is to humanize each and every one of these guys banged up in here, but Cap’s raid means this is impossible and Tony is humiliated as Cap just completely outclasses him in military strategy. Issue five ends with him being berated by congress and they’re telling him he’s out on his ass, etc, before Tony pulls the ultimate rabbit-from-a-hat and says he has something he KNOWS can defeat these guys. Cut to literally hundreds of super-villains all wired up with Stark tech. These are the bad guys who have been fighting the heroes for years and they outnumber and outclass each of these good guys out there. Spidey is very uncomfortable about this, but Stark has designed tracking devices and so on to keep the guys in check. They’re being watched at all times and anyone even THINKING about stepping out of line just gets zapped. The game is raised to a whole new level.

Issue six kicks off the action with the villains making short work of some of the heroes, bringing them in and banging them up. We have one scene in particular where a gang of baddies capture one of the heroes, kick the crap out of him and prepare to unmask him before a bullet tears through one of their heads. The others look around before they’re all gunned down too. Huge shadow of a surprise ally picks up the hero and takes him back to base where we get a big, full-page picture of the Punisher standing here with the fallen hero in his arms

JQ: How about over his shoulder in the fireman’s carry or in the way Frank would carry a wounded Vietnam vet, with his gun still poised against his shoulder.

The moment they enlisted the crooks, [was] the moment the Punisher couldn’t stay neutral. Uncomfortable alliance with Cap and crew, but it works well and we get loads of high quality action leading up to a big smack-down between Cap and Punisher.

TB: Another thing to keep in mind: there may be characters who are in neither Cap or Tony’s camps--guys who either choose to go it alone, or who play each side against the other. Just a thought.

Joe and I came up with this great scene where some of the baddies try to come over and volunteer to come over, but both end up getting their heads blown off by the Punisher. Cap gets nuts and we get a big smack-down, but the thing that excited us is that Cap would pretty much be the guy Frank Castle always wanted to be. The only difference is that Cap was born in a great war and Frank was born in a failure of a war and so this fight, this slug-fest between them has Punisher just taking it and not raising a hand throughout, spitting out teeth at the end and asking Cap if that’s the best he can do.

JQ: When you really look at these two characters standing side by side, they really are our Batman and Superman Cap’s almost an alien being, Christ-figure while Frank is the man without powers who lost his family and what they share is two wars that couldn’t be more different.

Cut to a disturbing moment where a friend of Speedball lands himself in big trouble. The first issue had Speedball on the phone to a friend who was supposed to have been involved in a team-up that fateful night. But now he’s scared and wanting credibility, which is why he passed his name and address to the SRA people and hoped for a whole new career. But his name got out there and an old villain found out and now his little kid has been snatched on the way home from school. Everything superheroes wear a mask for is articulated here as a threat is sent out and this little superhero is told that, unless he kills an innocent, his kid is getting butchered and delivered home in pieces.

Such a serous threat at the very heart of the whole argument, the reason they even wear these masks, takes the argument to a whole new level and Spidey, despite liking Stark, jumps sides as they all get out there and do what they can to find this kid.

TB: I would think that Tony would [switch sides] as well--just because he believes that registering heroes is the right thing to do doesn’t mean he wants to see a little kid get killed. So this could seem to be a unifying moment that really isn’t.

However, they’re getting nowhere and the deadline is almost up and it’s only when this guy blows his own brains out (thus killing an innocent) that the kid is released. Horrible, depressing end to the arc within the story, but it’s a wake-up call to many of them as they solidify their positions. The kid is safe, but nothing can ever be the same again. The whole thing erupts into the biggest battle of the series so far as the battle-lines are drawn and we have an amazing confrontation between the two sides as they beat the %&#^ out of each other in the heart of New York City. This is just classic Marvel Hero Versus Marvel Hero stuff and a poignant moment where Cap, as he’s pummeling Iron Man, starts getting trash thrown at him. The people are behind the other side. They recognize the more sensible argument and it’s only at that precise moment that Cap realizes he no longer has the faith of the people.

TB: Cool.

And he’s horrified. He represents America and yet now finds himself representing an eccentric elite who dress up in costumes and get involved in violent situations. It’s heartbreaking for him as he rallies his troops and tells them all to fall back, leaving the city to Tony’s team and disappearing underground forever. He realizes his responsibility now and it’s quite simple; they either unmask or they take these masks off forever. That’s the decision at the end of the issue. Unmask or disappear.

TB: Again, cool.

The next issue opens with the new status quo as Tony and his guys are the only game in town. Everyone is legal and some of Cap’s guys have even come over to join in. Everyone has a license and Tony’s applying his brilliant mind to the superhuman situation in a way we’ve never seen before. This is a wonderful chance for us to create new heroes and teams, redefining all the classics as Tony essentially updates the Marvel Universe. He creates a new team called The Champions for LA and these guys could get their own book, creates some guys for the south, Midwest and for Illinois. Superhero problems erupt everywhere and he stretches his forces out from New York, massively increasing the budget he developed in his trial run of Avengers back in the Stan and Jack days. We also have some great set-pieces like Iron Man, Giant Man and so on capturing and taking down guys like the Ghost Rider. This should be shameless; every trick in the book. It should be a fan-boy orgasm and we should love every minute of it as the new Captain Marvel, etc, get a gold standard entry into a revitalized Marvel Universe.

Cut from here to all the super-people who went undercover living their normal lives. Cap, to our surprise, is enjoying normal life more than he expected.

TB: I don’t quite buy this. I don’t think Cap would either surrender or retire--especially if that’s going to be the payoff at the end of the series.

We get all the stuff we talked about where Steve Rogers hasn’t really had a chance to live since he first got the super-soldier serum and we get him here as a blue collar guy just doing his own thing and rediscovering who he really is. Ben Grimm has moved to Paris with Alicia and she’s doing great on the art-house circuit out there with her sculptures. But the big, dramatic thing is the Doctor Doom weapon that’s being used as a kind of superhero electric chair. This is being used on Speedball, the hero who kicked this whole thing off, and we see him stripped of his superpowers on live TV and returned to society. It should be an awesome moment and one the heroes watch with a certain amount of fear.

The big finale, the last three or four issues, comes on the back of Thor’s return. Like I said, every trick in the book has been established here and the appearance of the mysterious new Thor should set pulses racing, especially as we only get hints to his amazing back-story. He can’t believe what’s happened to the superheroes and wonders what would have happened had he been around. He was always the third point in the Tony-Cap relationship and brought a real balance to the team between the futurist and the traditionalist. But it all comes to a head as the cliff-hanger from Planet Hulk neatly cuts into our own series. We just have to be careful here because we’re hoping for 300K on this thing and Hulk will probably do around 100K so we really have to seem quite self-contained. Another thing I’d like to suggest is completely rethinking the alien attacks thing discussed at the summit. We’ve seen aliens attack many times and varied types of aliens will only be confusing and a turn-off for the end of a big superhero series. For a summer event, the kids want Marvel characters and the conclusion to this should be the biggest Marvel character of all. I’d really like to see the Hulk attack Earth and bring with him small, five foot versions of the Hulk called Hulk Babies who are just as powerful and dangerous, but the spawn of the Hulk after he’s bedded a hundred thousand alien chicks. They should all look the same and do enormous amounts of damage when they show up with Dad. This keeps it simple, looks more visually interesting and stops us falling into Star Trek or whatever. It also seems more like a superhero comic than a sci-fi thing and I think the fans would be more into it.

JQ: Mark, I agree and disagree. I’m not crazy about the amoeba style aliens and I think we need to keep this clean and simple. I do believe that the sight of a giant Hulk in the middle of a double page spread wearing Roman Gladiator or Centurion armor surrounded by a legion of weird aliens in similar armor that are bigger than the Hulk is a pretty moment! I would avoid making the threat too complex, keep it to simple aliens that are designed to kick our heroes’ @$$es. The fan boy moments come in watching how our heroes get back together. SOME SPECIFIC COMMENTS ABOUT UPCOMING ELEMENTS OF WORLD WAR HULK DELETED HERE [BY TOM BREVOORT] So, basically, I see no problem with a simple alien invasion, remember, what makes this one cool is that it has the Hulk at its front line, leading it. It’s just the incident that unites the heroes. It’s that unification that needs to make the fanmen pee themselves. By the way, I would save Captain Marvel for the Hulk War. We could use him on one of two ways. Most likely word will leak that Thor will be making his appearance in MCW, and we surprise people with the last page being a very Christ like Captain Marvel. Then an issue later Thor appears. Or we can have Thor appear first and then no one will expect Captain Marvel in the following issue.

TB: Let me say the obvious thing here: The Hulk War doesn’t belong in this story, and it’s only our own greed that keeps trying to force it in. I do think that the Hulk should play a role in this story, but right now this is the point where everything disintegrates into chaos, into two big summer crossover stories smooshed together. It’s not going to be accessible, it’s not even going to make sense, and I don’t think we should do it. Let PLANET HULK be PLANET HULK, and let CIVIL WAR be CIVIL WAR. Let’s not chase the DC dollar on this. It’s a sucker’s bet.

Anyway, as discussed, the new heroes like The Champions, the New Avengers, Captain Marvel, etc, go up against Hulk and the Hulk babies and much @$$ is kicked. Unfortunately, it’s the @$$ off the good guys and in true Marvel style we learn that they need to all fight together to beat the baddies. Thus, a spine-tingling Avengers Assemble moment as Cap reappears and marshals all the undercover heroes to team up with the new guys and we get the biggest, most kick-@$$ fight ever as the threat is contained in the last couple of issues. But it doesn’t end here. The senator behind the superhero registration gets his hands on the Doom tech and prepares to eliminate every superpower in the world.

TB: Boy, a senator feels like too small a fish for this role. Can we make him more important or resonant somehow? Is there an existing senator we can use that’d make sense?

It’s right here we have Cap dropped into the situation as he heroically defends his fellow heroes, climbing inside and closing the whole thing down. Huge explosion and smoke everywhere followed by the awe on the faces of the heroes he saved as we see skinny Steve Rogers lying here stripped of his powers.

It would be too crass to just end the civil war with the situation being resolved by an external threat. And that’s where the little kidnapped kid storyline kicks in again. Tony tells them that this changes nothing. That the superheroes still need a license, etc, but this little kid appears and explains how his Daddy died thanks to the act and how he’s lost more than even Tony lost. This counter-balances the dead kid in the first issue and has Tony and tears and everyone in tears and the whole matter gets resolved.

TB: How do we resolve it? Where do the pieces end up at the end? And if this conflict gets as personal as it really needs to along the way, it seems like a cheat to just put everything back the way it started.

Cut to the epilogues and we basically set up the new Marvel Universe here with Bucky taking over as the new Cap, a new status quo for Tony (which he needs), new teams set up across America, plus the emergence of this new Thor.

TB: I’m not convinced that Bucky is the right person for this role yet. Another option might be for the new Cap to be Hawkeye, Clint Barton, now back from the dead. [Brian Michael] Bendis was talking about bringing him back in a new guise, so maybe this is the way to do that.

All the core characters get a nice revamp spinning off into their own books before we close the whole thing with Nick Fury talking to the 97 lb Steve Rogers in the closing pages. All the talk of secret identities and double-lives draws to a close, neatly tying everything up as he admits that, despite everything, he’s kind of excited to get his life back again. He’s heading out to discover America and rediscover himself and Nick smiles. Steve hopes he isn’t being selfish and Nick says no way. “One hell of a tour of duty you just had, soldier,” he tells Steve and Steve just smiles. They salute and Steve Rogers, skinny as a rake, walks off into the sunset like all the best heroes should.

THE UPSHOT:

Winter Soldier as Cap for a year before Steve gets the call and gets revitalized for the movie. Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, etc, all get a huge shot in the arm and we create an important moment in Marvel history where, for twelve glorious issues, the heroes do what Stan and Jack made them do best: Kick the living crap out of one another.

End.

JQ: Mark, great stuff. We should sit and talk with our editors about what characters could use a lift. Arana, Runaways and Captain Marvel being just a few. I love using this as a platform for launching teams like The Champions, but in order for it to make sense we have to decided what makes these teams different other than geography and name. This will make your selection of members have more sense.

TB: The biggest problem, as I see it, is that this storyline really should hijack just about every single title we’re publishing for the duration, and it’s not going to be able to (nor should it, given the sheer number of books we’d be talking about.) Also, as Jeph said, we can’t really have a Civil War without some genuine casualties, so we’d better start thinking about that seriously—and who we’d want to kill off or mutilate in this thing. If Speedball is the best we’ve got, it’s time to pack it in.

The battle between the Sonjas (Sonyas?) will finally head to court this week. The lawsuit was filed in April 2006 by Red Sonja, LLC against Paradox Entertainment and includes four counts: unfair competition, infringement on Red Sonja, trademark infringement, and trademark dilution. Red Sonja LLC is seeking $5 million in damages and an injunction forcing Paradox to take no further action to dilute or infringe upon the Sonja-with-a-J. Opening arguments for the case are scheduled for to take place today in a federal court. Here's all the info on the case:

Red Sonja: Notice the “J.” Red Sonja is the more popular and well-known character of the two. She debuted in a story written by Roy Thomas for Conan the Barbarian #23. She’s a red-headed, chain-mail-wearing archetype of a female barbarian warrior. Roy Thomas based her very loosely on Sonya-with-a-Y.

Red Sonya: Notice the “Y.” Red Sonya is a Russian warrior who has only appeared in The Magic Carpet in a short story called “The Shadow of the Vulture,” set in Russia.

Dynamite Entertainment and Red Sonja LLC: Red Sonja LLC currently holds the rights to Red Sonja. The Red Sonja comic book is currently published by Dynamite Entertainment.

Darkhorse Comics and Paradox Entertainment: Paradox Entertainment holds the rights to Conan the Barbarian, from whose title (then published at Marvel Comics) Red Sonja came from. The Conan the Barbarian comic book is published by Darkhorse Comics. They also hold the rights to Sonya-with-a-Y.

• Unfair competition count: Red Sonja LLC claims that Paradox is actively attempting to confuse the two Sonyas. Paradox also allegedly attempted to contract Nu Image, which is contracted for the upcoming Red Sonja film by Red Sonja LLC, to work on the Conan film by Warner Bros. He would then be able to introduce Sonya-with-a-Y in the film, and Nu would therefore not be able to work on the Sonja-with-a-J film due to an agreement with Paradox.
• Infringement on Sonja-with-a-J: Red Sonja LLC claims that Paradox’s actions would cause confusion in the marketplace.
• Trademark infringement: Paradox created a press release stating Sonya-with-a-Y was one of its most popular characters, despite the fact that she has not been seen in any stories for over seventy years. Hollywood Entertainment then published the story, incorrectly changing the name to Sonja-with-a-J. Paradox posted the story on its website with no attempt to correct the error. LLC also claims Paradox fabricated a letter to the editor in Darkhorse’s Conan asking when Sonya-with-a-Y would be seen again in the Conan comics. Despite the fact that Conan and Sonja-with-a-J are published by different companies, and that Sonya-with-a-Y has not been seen in over seventy years, the reply made it clear that Sonya-with-a-Y would soon be returning, while making it sound as if they were referring to Sonja-with-a-J.
• Trademark dilution: This claims that any use of Sonya-with-a-Y would be diluting the Sonja-with-a-J character and reduce its viability as a trademark.

   

It's been announced that Canadian actress Laura Vandervoort will be playing Supergirl in an upcoming episode of Smallville.

Says Smallville co-creator and Executive Producer Al Gough: "She's a combination of beauty, intelligence, a certain warmth, and great attitude...We've wanted a character to shake things up. She may be Clark Kent's cousin, but that doesn't mean she's going to be the obedient one."

--Sergio B.

Related Topics:

Supergirl Slated for Smallville Season 7 (6/14)

Image Comics founder and former partner Rob Liefeld will be working together with Image again on the series he created, Youngblood. Besides the new series, Liefeld will also be working on a new version of the Maximum Youngblood collection. It will feature a new ending written by Joe Casey and drawn by Rob Liefeld himself. As for the new series, it will be released in 2008 and will be "re-mastered, re-scripted, and re-imagined." It will be a monthly title by Joe Casey, art by Derec Donovan, and colors from Val Staples. Liefeld will provide covers. The series will feature Cougar, Doc Rocket, DieHard, Shaft, Johnny Panic, Badrock, and a new, unrevealed character.

Says Image of the new series: “No previous knowledge of past Youngblood comics is required. This is an all-new story that picks up now and doesn't look back. If you're familiar with the past books -- all the better -- but you're not going to need much more than a working knowledge of the original concept to enjoy the hell out of this.”

Image Executive Director Eric Stephenson says: “It's good to have Rob and his characters under the Image banner again. Obviously, a lot of time has passed, but at the end of the day, the most important consideration in all of this is whether it's good for Image -- and from Rob's perspective, whether it's good for him. We seem to be in agreement that this is a good thing for all involved."

Says Erik Larsen, Publisher of Image Comics: "Youngblood started at Image and kicked off the company in high gear. I really wouldn't want to see it continue anywhere else, and I'm sure fans will join me in enthusiastically welcoming Rob Liefeld and Youngblood back to the fold. 'Nuff said.”

Rob Liefeld chimes in: “I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I am that Youngblood is back home where it all started. This is all extremely exciting working with Eric, Erik, Joe, and the gang at Image Comics. It was a long and winding road getting back here but there is no place that me and these characters would rather be!"

--Sergio B.

Variety magazine has reported that Kevin Spacey, who played Superman arch-nemesis Lex Luthor in the 2006 movie Superman Returns, will play Lex Luthor in the sequel, which has a working title of Superman: The Man of Steel.

Michael Dougherty will be writing the script. Superman Returns director and screenwriter Bryan Singer will also be returning.

--Sergio B.

DC Comics has announced that it will launch a new imprint called Zudacomics.com in October. As you may have guessed from the title, it won't be in print-- it will feature webcomics.

Says Paul Levitz, DC President and publisher: “There is an explosion of creativity in web comics. We want to build a great stage for this new generation of creators to perform on, a solid system for their work to reach audiences online and in print, and for the creators to share in the profits their creations can generate. In this time of rapid technological and cultural change, DC wants to be a good publisher for the evolving and growing community of online comic creators, so that we can be their partner for showcasing new kinds of works to entertain future generations.”

The editorial duties will be handled by Ron Perazza, DC Comics Director of Creative Services, Kwanza Johnson, DC Comics Online Editor, and overseen by SVP-Creative Director Richard Bruning. Creative teams are yet to be announced.

--Sergio B.

Imagine this: comics for as low as 65 cents, Marvel Comics for $1.50, double-sized Marvel Comics for $2.20, and trade paperbacks for $2.90. They also have those awesome grab bags with like four comics and one trade paperback for five or six bucks. No, you're not in an alternate universe, you're in Mexico. Yep, it's true, you can get cheap comics in Mexico.

There's a catch, though. Not only are they a couple of months behind, there's also a much smaller selection of titles. Not to mention they're in Spanish, of course. But hey, their trade paperbacks are cheaper than one regular sized U.S. comic.

So, uh, let's all move to Mexico. Yeah, that's the solution to all our problems!

--Sergio B.

Filming on the Iron Man movie, set for release in 2008, has wrapped up. Here's what director Jon Favreau has to say about it on his Myspace:

"Now that the movie is finally wrapped, I can spend a little more time filling you all in. I have been reading as many of your posts as I can and here are responses to your most popular questions:

First of all, as you probably already know, there is not a teaser trailer on the front of Transformers as many of you had hoped and speculated. We are, however, planning to reveal something very cool very soon. This month, in fact. In San Diego. We've secured a prime slot Saturday afternoon in the big room at SDCC. We will split an hour with Marvel and Hulk and plan to cut something together to reward the fans for their interest, support and patience. In addition to our Saturday afternoon presentation, we will be doing a signing and poster giveaway at the Marvel booth on Saturday. Paramount is also doing a rundown of its slate on Thursday which I will do my best to attend as well.

Second of all, you had questions about Iron Monger/Mandarin/Obadiah Stane. My response is read the books. We took certain liberties to keep things fresh and unexpected but we are essentially using the books to inspire our story. Iron Man fans should have no problem piecing together what's what. As far as what villians appear in this movie's storyline, I should reiterate that in the year spent developing our story we decided to treat Iron Man as a first chapter. We cover the origin story and the rise of the hero. It stands alone as a movie, but definitely leaves room for more to be told. Sequels often feel like the story was slapped together in a scramble to exploit a successful franchise. I prefer when stories are mapped out in advance. They feel less repetitive and arbitrary. Additional Iron Man movies are by no means guaranteed but, if we are lucky enough to do more, we will be ready to do them well.

Third. Cameos. I've read that [Samuel] Jackson and Hilary Swank are SHIELD agents and that I myself play a Vegas security guard. There is no truth to any of these rumors.

(Well, maybe one is true)."

Many fans hope that the Samual Jackson rumor is true, and that he turns out to be Nick Fury, since Ultimate Nick Fury is based on Jackson, and Jackson was reportedly seen on the set of Iron Man. Oh, and you can be sure that this reporter will be at the "big room" at San Diego on Saturday!

--Sergio B.

Man, what is Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer's marketing budget? First the life-size Silver Surfer figures at movie theaters, and now official Silver Surfer quarters from the US mint? 40,000 of these quarters will be made. While they will retain their official value of 25 cents, they are sure to be a big hit on e-Bay, hence this article's title. Also, anyone who finds one can register it on the Fantastic Four 2 website, where they will be eligible for various prizes.

--Robert Manns