The Comics Thread - While You Slept, the World Changed...

[Corazon de Leon]

DC books are going on hiatus for two months while they move offices and being replaced by the Convergence event.

The company is putting its line of superhero comic books on hiatus for two months for Convergence, a nine-week miniseries kicking off with a zero issue April 1. The story line will spill into 40 two-part miniseries in April and May featuring a variety of writers and artists examining the worlds of the DC Universe over the decades, as well as the heroes and villains contained within.

"It captures the full essence and scope of DC's incredible history and storytelling," says co-publisher Dan DiDio.

"There is a story and a character for every generation of DC Comics fan."

Convergence spins out of the April 1 finales of the Earth 2: World's End and The New 52: Futures End weekly series. The alien supervillain Brainiac has trapped cities from various timelines and planets that have ended, brought them in domes to a planet outside of time and space, and is now opening them for a great experiment to see what happens when all these folks meet.

"We're picking up at points of their lives where we left them and finding out what's gone on with them since then," says DiDio.

How long has bleeding cool been reporting on this now usa today getting the "exclusive" how strawberry floating predictable

And oh look marvel's new favourite comicbook.com getting another exclusive

isn't that the animated series? So is that part of the MCU now? I know they recently made that animated spidey and friends one canon, but are they doing it for all animated series now?

another wolverine

Ultimate Spider-Man is being canonized by Spider-Verse, if that's the one you mean?

EDIT: And yeah, aside from Jean Grey and Beast that's the line up from the original-and-best animated X-Men series.

[HM]

Ultimate Spider-Man is being canonized by Spider-Verse, if that's the one you mean?

The one that Slott brutally murdered, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, in one of the recent ASM issues?

[HSH28]

Not sure if its been mentioned, but you can currently (as in today only), pick up Superior Spiderman #1-31 + Annuals 1&2 + #6UA from Comixology for £20.99.

https://www.comixology.co.uk/Superior-S ... bundle/793

[Corazon de Leon]

Ultimate Spider-Man is being canonized by Spider-Verse, if that's the one you mean?

The one that Slott brutally murdered, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, in one of the recent ASM issues?

Did he really?

What issue is that, I must have bought it and totally missed it. I'll need to go back and have a look. Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was the one from the 1980s that introduced Firestar as a character before she appeared in print, with Iceman in as well, wasn't it?

[HM]

Ultimate Spider-Man is being canonized by Spider-Verse, if that's the one you mean?

The one that Slott brutally murdered, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, in one of the recent ASM issues?

Did he really?

What issue is that, I must have bought it and totally missed it. I'll need to go back and have a look. Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was the one from the 1980s that introduced Firestar as a character before she appeared in print, with Iceman in as well, wasn't it?

I'm pretty sure it was one of the recent Spider-Verse ASM issues, #7 I think.

[Corazon de Leon]

Ultimate Spider-Man is being canonized by Spider-Verse, if that's the one you mean?

The one that Slott brutally murdered, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, in one of the recent ASM issues?

Did he really?

What issue is that, I must have bought it and totally missed it. I'll need to go back and have a look. Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was the one from the 1980s that introduced Firestar as a character before she appeared in print, with Iceman in as well, wasn't it?

I'm pretty sure it was one of the recent Spider-Verse ASM issues, #7 I think.

Just re-read it, you're right - Iceman and Firestar are dead in the last shot of that universe and the dog's yapping away. That's pretty strawberry floated up.

[Mafro]

[Corazon de Leon]

Ach, they're setting up for a reset aren't they?

[HM]

How is this not a reboot

[Corazon de Leon]

I strawberry floating hate timeline resets, they render previous comics useless. It's one of the reasons I don't read DC comics much.

[Memento Mori]

A good book out of continuity is less useless than a bad book in continuity.

[Corazon de Leon]

It cannot be that difficult to make a good book in continuity. It's been done a million times. Hitting the reset button is just desperation because you've had too many events and strawberry floated up too many characters.

What's the point in buying any of the Axis stuff or Spider-Verse if they're just gonna wipe it all away next Spring?

[BID0]

Because it's mostly about the early years of Marvel/Timely and the publishing side of things...

Marvel 75 Years: From Pulp To Pop special this week features a very small amount of Avengers Age of Ultron footage, as well as some Daredevil artwork, next weeks SHIELD preview and a scene from Agent Carter.

All of the MCU stuff is in the last 10 minutes, while the first 30 minutes covers the history of print.

[Memento Mori]

It cannot be that difficult to make a good book in continuity. It's been done a million times. Hitting the reset button is just desperation because you've had too many events and strawberry floated up too many characters.

What's the point in buying any of the Axis stuff or Spider-Verse if they're just gonna wipe it all away next Spring?

You should always be buying a book for the quality of the work not because of its status in continuity. Marvel and DC don't come round your house and burn your comic books when something is rendered non-canon.

[Corazon de Leon]

There's a rant incoming here, not directed at you Mori, just at comic book practices in the whole. I've stuck it in a spoiler box so that people don't have to read it if they don't want to.

I vastly dislike timeline resets. It's a personal, and I think perfectly valid, annoyance. Of course I buy work for the quality and not the canonity of it, but everything is being rubbed out, not just bits here and there. I like taking time out to read through a full, long running series to know where characters are and how they got there - I once went through 400 issues of Uncanny X-Men, and have almost 1,000 Spider-Man comics released since 1994 sitting in my loft that I like to go through when they're referenced in current continuity. A large part of the enjoyment for me is getting lost in a character or group's mythology.

It's something I've done for a long time. Maybe it's a history thing, maybe I'm an oddity. I don't really care much, but it really annoys me to see people disregard what's gone before them, and I like a sense of continuity in what I read. It still grinds my gears that they did a hard reset on so many aspects of Spider-Man with the One More Day/Brand New Day pish that they pulled a few years back, and the outcry from my fellow geeks over that fiasco shows I'm not alone at least.

I mean, I wasn't nerdy enough to boycott Spider-Man like some did and I'm always down for new ideas and storylines (I loved Superior), but to simply wipe away such a large aspect of the character for two decades is ridiculous, and removes a vast amount of the character's development in my view.

What happens with a timeline reset, in my experience, is that the company doing the reset take the opportunity to churn out lazy re-hashes of events and storylines that have already taken place with the odd change here and there, and that vastly diminishes my enjoyment of the output of that company. Ultimate Spider-Man was a nice change in pace from modern AMS but if it had taken the place of the main comic I can't say I would be as warm towards it.

It doesn't help either that I'm becoming quite disillusioned with Marvel's current practice of shoving two or three events per year, or even at the same time, down the throats of the audience, forcing us to buy multiple one shots if we want to keep track of what's happening. A timeline reset would just be the straw that breaks my ability to care.

Of course this is all hypothetical, the Incursion event might not lead to anything like what we're speculating on.

Err, yes. That'll do for now.

[HM]

I see your point Cora, but I have to agree with Mori. The new 52 didn't suddenly make for example Snyder's Detective Comics run or any of the other great DC stories gooseberry fool.

I can understand your disillusionment with the constant events. It's a problem with DC too and it's marvel vs DC trying to maintain their share of the market. When DC started kicking ass every September since the new 52, this was the only response Marvel had.

I'm just interested in how marvel are going to try and market this like it's not a reboot when all signs point towards one. Especially after they've said they would never reboot the MU.

But then again they did also say that if they ever do 616 and ultimate crossover stories then they've officially rut out of ideas

What you think of the Spider-Verse issues out today btw cora?

[HM]

Finally, A Marvel Event You Have Some Idea What It Actually Is – The Black Vortex

This February, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the All-New X-Men, Nova, Captain Marvel, Cyclops and more team up for a cosmic throwdown the likes of which have never been seen in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY & X-MEN: THE BLACK VORTEX! Today, Marvel is proud to present your very first look at the cover to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY & X-MEN: THE BLACK VORTEX ALPHA #1, the highly anticipated first issue in the upcoming crossover from fan-favorite writer Sam Humphries and blockbuster artist Ed McGuinness!

The Black Vortex, an ancient artifact of immense and immeasurable power has resurfaced on the far side of the galaxy. With the power to unlock it’s users true cosmic potential, in the wrong hands, the Black Vortex’s power could be a force of unparalleled destruction. Imagine the power that transformed Jean Grey into the Phoenix or Norin Radd into the Silver Surfer available to anyone, and in the hands of those who would use it for evil!

“What happens when one person submits to the Black Vortex and becomes a titan of the cosmos?” asks Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Alphawriter Sam Humphries in an interview with Marvel.com. “What happens when a whole team does it. Or a whole planet? But against the epic scale, we’re grounding the story in the deeply personal conflict each character will go through just by encountering the Black Vortex.”

The Black Vortex has been claimed by the villainous gangster Mr. Knife and Thane, the wayward son of Thanos. With billions of lives across the universe at stake, it will take the combined might of the Guardians of the Galaxy, the X-Men and more to stem the coming darkness.

I assume post-event Young Scott will be back with his team. Noticed Young Jean Grey was in AXIS today as well. Wonder if this Black Vortex is post-AXIS?

[Memento Mori]

Is this the "turn all the mutants into inhumans" event? Interesting to see Thane in this, been wondering when he'd turn up again.

[HM]

Is this the "turn all the mutants into inhumans" event?

Nah I don't think they'll do that now. I think Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver might be "turned" or "found out" to have been Inhumans all along in the No More Mutants Uncanny Avengers story post-AXIS though.

[Memento Mori]

Calm down guys, King Cyclops is here.