What I'm looking forward to in 2016;

Most Importantly;

THE WEDDING; The year is finally here, the year I marry my beautiful fiancée. Planning has gone into high gear and items are being ticked of our long list of things still to do. I continue to get more excited as the day gets closer. At the same time as being incredibly nervous, more because I hate public speaking and supposedly have to give a speech. But it's okay as I will have my trustee companion BB-8 on my sleeves, when I finally get around to buying the cufflinks that is.

5 Things I just simply can't wait for;

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Blu-Ray
Why; The ability to watch the new Star Wars film as many times as possible is something I can not wait for. I still plan on seeing it at least 5 times in the cinema, 2 so far, 1 more planned and a couple more after that.

Netflix Marvel's : Daredevil Season 2
Why; March 2015 is the speculated date that the new season of Daredevil will be hitting Netflix. Another weekend that I will be using my TV, iPad & iPhone to watch as may episodes as possible.

Spider-Man #1 (Bendis & Pichelli)

Why? Spider-Men is one of my favourite all time Spidey tales. It was also the first time both the 616 universe and Ultimate universe collided. Well since the recent Secret Wars event Miles Morales will be making his way to the 616 and to New York where he will become the Spider-Man. With Peter Parker gallivanting around the world doing his best Tony Stark impressions with his newly found company Parker Industries this leaves Miles Morales to be the sole Spider-Man in New York. This title has been a long time coming but I am certain it will be worth the wait and I can not wait to see the creative duo of Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli once again teaming up to tell the tales of the character they both helped create.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Why? I still haven't finished returning to the cinema to watch Star Wars The Force Awakens. But we enter 2016 knowing there will be another Star Wars film. One of the new 'Anthology' or 'A Star Wars Story' films. With a December release date a trailer can't be far off and I for one cannot wait to at least finally get some teaser footage for this film. Am I worried there might be to much Star Wars coming, right now NO! Rogue One has the potential to be another hit and has a very exciting cast behind it.

Star Wars Celebration

Why? I was continuously checking the internet last year during Star Wars Celebration, checking out any news, announcements being made. They had a great Live Stream of the event, obviously the highlight being the Force Awakens Panel with another teaser trailer attached. Well when it came to an end and they announced the next Celebration will be in London, I went into meltdown and was there at my laptop the minute tickets went on sale. I've got full weekend tickets and I can not wait to get there. I hope to get to a few panels but also I'm looking forward to being in a room with like minded people talking Star Wars and spending way too much money on Star Wars merch.

5 Things I'm Really Looking Forward to;

Marvel Comics: Civil War 2 (Bendis & Marquez)

Why? Civil War by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven is the reason I got into comics books. I still remember the day my dad came up to London with me to Camden to head to Mega City Comics. There I picked up a copy of the Civil War TP and first issues of Avengers Initiative and The Mighty Avengers. The cynic in me is saying this is simply being done because of the Captain America film being released with the same name but in Bendis and Marquez I trust. Just a shame that it would seem the event has taken Marquez away from Invincible Iron Man.

Marvel Studios: Captain America Civil War

Why? Have you seen the trailer? More importantly have you watched Winter Soldier? I only ask as Civil War will again be directed by the Russo brothers, who have also been put in charge of Avengers Infinity War. Winter Soldier is easily the best Marvel Studios film to date, yes I enjoyed Avengers and yes I enjoyed Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Marvel Studios: Doctor Strange

Why? It can't be long until we get a trailer. Coming out the second half of this year, Marvel Studios are giving another genre, or possibly a new genre, a go with their Sorcerer Supreme. With Cumberbatch on board this has the potential to be another great addition. And remember many questioned Guardians of the Galaxy and that didn't turn out to bad did it?

Black Widow #1 (Waid/Samnee & Samnee)

Why? I missed out on this creative team's work on Daredevil, I'm steadily catching up through trade paperbacks. But Black Widow is a character who has come to prominence in the Marvel cinematic Universe. Black Widow comes back to the shelves with this same creative team of Waid & Samnee for All-New, All-Different Marvel! Where will they take the character? That's what I look forward to finding out, plus any excuse to finally pick up a Samnee monthly book is reason enough to grab this when it comes out.

Star Wars Rebels Season 2/3

Why? Season 2 is returning 20/01/2015 in the USA and the 23/01/2015 in the UK after its mid-season break. This is a brilliant programme with engaging characters bringing to life the birth of the Rebellion. Season 2 has kicked into high gear re-introducing fan favourite characters from The Clone Wars and including appearances from Original Trilogy favourites, including Lando Calrissian and in an upcoming episode Princess Leia. With a third season confirmed the future for Star Wars Rebels gets brighter and brighter.

April has been a brilliant month to be a fan of Marvel and Star Wars...

As sporadic as always this was meant to posted at the beginning of the month. April seems to be a great month for pop culture. Especially if you are a fan of Marvel and Star Wars. This month sees the release of the highly anticipated Daredevil TV Series and the even more anticipated Avengers: Age of Ultron. Along with announcements expected to be made at C2E2, Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo. Finally we have the Star Wars Celebration to look forward to, which is now the end of this week again more on that later.

Right first up. April 10th saw the release of the Daredevil Netflix series. And it is fantastic!! I have used every spare hour, or even not spare, to watch this series. I finished it the Sunday evening after its release and very much plan on re-watching it. I had high hopes for this series and it has been on my radar since its announcement however long ago. The casting is perfect, Charlie Cox plays Matt Murdock brilliantly alongside Elden Henson who really brings Foggy Nelson to life. The fight scenes in this series are incredible. I don't want to write to much just now as I don't want to give away any spoilers but if you haven't watched it yet. What are you doing? Get on Netflix now and give it a watch!

Next Avengers: Age of Ultron is out now and I already seen it twice! This is another great instalment into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not quite as bigger game changer as some of the other films, but lets not forget we have Civil War approaching next year. I was not disappointed by the portrayal and appearance of two of my favourite Marvel characters Vision and Scarlet Witch, as played by Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen. There was no need for my concern that there would be to many characters for the film they all played off each other really well. The major disappointment was the lack of a Star Wars Teaser Trailer before the film.

Star Wars Celebration ran from the 16/04/2015 till the 19/04/2015. 4 days of Star Wars madness. If only it wasn't in America and so far away I would have definitely tried to go. But without attending there was still plenty to take in, with there very impressive live stream feed from the event. The convention opened with a panel that had both Writer and Director of Force Awakens J.J. Abrams and producer Kathleen Kennedy in attendance. The new cast members, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaacs took to the stage, followed by a familiar droid and the new fully functioning, not CGI, BB8, how the hell does that thing work? Finally original cast members took to the stage, Anthony Daniels, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Peter Mayhew. This was a panel not be missed and althoug not being there I got to watch the whole thing live at home. Now rumours stated a new trailer would be released, which was true, and that this may contain original cast members which was also true. I've lost count of how many times I've watched it but the fact that this has been viewed 88 million times within 24 hours of release says it all. The new teaser trailer creates far more questions than answers, which obviously is its purpose, all I now know is I want it to be the 18/12/2015 more than ever. Check out the trailer below.

As if the panel and trailer for the upcoming film weren't enough another trailer made its debut in the form of EA Games Star Wars: Battlefront. This unfortunately did not contain any gameplay footage, but did display game engine footage. However the press and people who got to see a scripted demo of the game have confirmed the gameplay graphics are just as impressive as the in engine visuals. I've had my copy pre-ordered for sometime but the news of the free downloadable content on the 01/12/2015, The Battle of Jakku, linking directly into Force Awakens is another reason worth pre-ordering this for. Here's still to hoping a collectors edition will be announced. See what you think of the in engine footage below.

Now there are a couple more things I am really excited about, Saturday saw the Star Wars Rebels panel take place. This included new details and footage from Season 2, unfortunately there was no news on the home release of Season 1 on Blu-Ray or DVD. Season 2 looks to be as good or even better than the first, with fan favourite Clone Wars characters making their first appearances. Rebels was a huge success as far as I am concerned and I look forward to seeing the crew of The Ghost become part of a larger Rebellion. For the Season 2 trailer check it out below.

Finally also on Saturday there was the Star Wars Marvel Comics panel, this saw the announcement of not one but two new titles to come from the publisher, although these were announced prior to the panel. As expected one of these is be part of the Journey To The Force Awakens publishing initiative, called Shattered Empire coming from writer Greg Rucka and artist Marco Checchetto. Along with the announcement of Lando #1 a limited series from Charles Soule and Alex Maleev, so that will certainly be a limited series worth checking out.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens... "Chewie, we're home"...

That's right Star Wars Celebration has begun, and what better way to kick it off than to start with a Force Awakens panel. Most importantly we get another teaser for the film. Anyone else super psyched for when we finally get a feature length trailer? But these teasers are definitely doing their job. I'm sure you have already seen it but check out the teaser below, I'll add the original first one for good measure too. Enjoy!!

Let's take a journey, A Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens...

I'm catching up on Star Wars announcement galore it would seem. Along with the gaming and film announcements. Disney and LucasFilm have announced a rather rigorous publishing initiative during the approach to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This will see more than twenty print and digital items being released.

There will be novels for young adults, comics, along with encyclopaedias, sticker books among many others. The few that really caught my eye, are the trilogy of books to be released bridging the gap between Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and the upcoming Episode VII: The Force Awakens. With the first book title announced, "Star Wars: Aftermath", written by Chuck Wendig. Also Marvel will have another comic title being released linking into this intiative with no more announced than the title "Star Wars: Journey to The Force Awakens.

I'm sure more will be released regarding this in the coming weeks and months with Episode VII fast approaching. For more information and the other titles that will be coming out click the link below;

Click me and take come on a journey to... okay just click me

Well since initially having this as a draft more info has been released for the two titles that mainly caught my eyes from the news above.

Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig will be released in September by Del Rey books. This will take place after the destruction of the second Death Star. Not much has been given away but I will add a quote with a little snippet of what we could expect;

"Obviously I wish I could tell you more about the story, but I can’t just yet. What I can reveal is that you will be introduced to a sweeping new cast of characters, along with a fan favorite from the films. And who knows what other familiar faces will pop up along the way? And once you’ve seen The Force Awakens in movie theaters, you may find that certain names and places in Aftermath have a relevance you never knew — so keep your eyes wide open!"

So we can expect to meet new characters who may or may not be in the coming film along with possible new locations. I'll be looking to get this when it comes out, I aim to be as clued up as possible before the next Star Wars film, plus I do like a good Star Wars novel. I just hope they may release this as paperback at the same time as hard back but they may well be just a dream.

There is quite a lot more info on the official announcement if you want to check this out click on the link below;

Yes another link

Again arriving in September a little more has been announced regarding the upcoming Marvel comic. The title has received a little extension and is now, Shattered Empire #1. According to the post on the Star Wars website the image to the left, beautifully illustrated by Phil Noto, is in fact the cover to the first issue. However no further information regarding creative team has been announced, I expect we will get further details at either several upcoming comic and Star Wars events, so I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for any news coming out of C2E2, Star Wars Celebration, San Diego Comic Con and Special Edition NYC.

For what little more they may have said in there official announcement click on the link below;

Click Me

Oh and I forgot to mention above that when re-reading the original announcement for their publishing programme I noticed that Marvel will be releasing a C3-PO comic, I could have read this wrong, anyway would this be the comic your looking for? If I see anything more I'll try and post as soon as possible or maybe a little sporadically.