Star Wars: Battlefront!!... Footage to be shown at Star Wars Celebration 2015...

This is the year of Star Wars, as if I wasn't already excited enough for the news that will come out of Star Wars Celebration 2015, it has been officially announced the first peek and footage of game play from the upcoming EA Star Wars Battlefront game will take place at the event on April 16 to 19. This game was announced 2 years ago at E3, and I have been long waiting for footage to finally be shown, it does certainly look like they are still aiming to release the game this year currently stating winter 2015. It's very likely the release will be close to the date of Star Wars Episode VII.

If like me you can not make it to Star Wars Celebration there is a twitter page where hopefully anyone else will be able to follow the news and reveals; +EAStarWars . For more on the announcement click the link.

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Marvel's Secret Wars well and truly arrives this May... Here's what caught my eye...

Well this post has been in draft form for about a month now and with Marvel's June solicitations to hit this week we'll have even more Secret Wars to talk about. Here are the Secret Wars titles that I am most looking forward to in May and also every other title coming out for Secret Wars in May. First off and easy to choose I will be grabbing both issues 1 and 2 of Secret Wars coming out in May and I will certainly be grabbing the Alex Ross covers, they are beautiful.

Ultimate End by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley brings us the final events of the Ultimate Universe during the final incursion and Secret Wars. The original creative team who kickstarted the Ultimate Universe with Ultimate Spider-Man return to bring the universe to an end, well as much of an end as anything in comics. David Marquez has illustrated a variant cover for the first issue (check out the image to the left). My only real experience with the Ultimate Universe has been with Miles Morales' Ultimate Spider-Man and if any character is to survive the series should this truly be its end it is him, although the Marvel 616 Universe is getting fairly full of Spider characters. There have been many events heralding the possible end to the Ultimate Universe so will this finally be their time up? Ultimate End is solicited as a 5 issue series so I guess we will certainly know by the final issue. Will you be looking forward to Ultimate End? This ones been added to my pull list.

Old Man Logan,  so it was announced last month that Andrea Sorrentino, previously on Green Arrow at  DC Comics and recently on X-Men with Brian Michael Bendis, has signed an exclusive contract with Marvel. The culmination of this seems to be his teaming up with Bendis to bring us Old Man Logan. It's worth noting that this is not solicited as a limited series so hopefully this will be on our shelves for some time. Old Man Logan is a series I finally read thanks to a Comixology sale that I thought was fantastic, if I'm honest much like most of Mark Millar's work this did not disappoint. Could this be the Wolverine we'll get moving forward in the Marvel Universe after his earlier demise during the "Death of Wolverine" series by Charles Soule and Steve McNiven. With a great promo by McNiven who originally illustrated the Old Man Logan issues this was immediately added to my pull list. Do you look forward to the return of Old Man Logan?

A-Force the all female Avengers team coming this May from G. Willow-Wilson and Marguerite Bennett with art by Jorge Molina. This has the ability to be one of the stand out titles to come out of Secret Wars. This made my May 2015 pick of the solicits and was saved as my last highlight for May's Secret Wars titles as this is the title I am most excited to arrive come May from Marvel. The team line-up has currently been announced but it has been confirmed the team is not confined to its original line-up and other popular and not so popular female characters will join the team during the series. I know there have been many calling for fan favourite character Ms America, from Young Avengers, to feature in the series. Also to my surprise Ms Marvel has not featured or been mentioned to appear in the title considering she is the brain child and incredibly popular character from Willow Wilson. I will be grabbing the Russell Dauterman variant, as pictured to the left, when this hits the shelves and I can't wait to start reading this series.











Others I will be looking out for are Infinity Gauntlet by Gerry Duggan and Dustin Weaver giving us an alternate version of the Infinity Gauntlet story featuring a slightly different take on Thanos and a new team or family to take on the role of Nova's in the series. With Duggan on writing and Weaver illustrating this has the team to be an incredible book and is one I will be looking to at least give it a read to make a decision on whether I will add it to the pull list. Finally the only other title that really caught my eye was Planet Hulk by Sam Humphries, one of my favourite writers, and illustrated by British artist Marc Laming. This sees Captain America riding atop Devil Dinosaur taking on a Planet of Hulks. This will no doubt be an interesting series with Humphries writing which is why I may give this a chance before making my final decision.

Those 6 titles are just a taster of what will be coming in May and further for Secret Wars the other series to come out with their various connections to the event are below.

Last Days;

Captain America & The Mighty Avengers #8

Loki: Agent of Asgard #14

Magneto

Battleworld;

Inhumans: Attilan Rising #1

Master of Kung Fu #1

Secret Wars: Battleworld #1 (of 4)

Secret Wars Journal #1 (of 5)

Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars #1

Warzones;

Inferno #1

Secret Wars 2099 #1 (of 5)

Where Monsters Dwell #1 (of 5)

Spider-Verse #1

M.O.D.O.K. Assasin #1 (of 5)

There have been many more titles announced since to come out in June which will be fully announced an confirmed once the release of the June solicits take place this week. It certainly seems Marvel are not holding back with what this event will mean to the future of the Marvel Universe. Will you be picking up any of these titles? Even if I had the money to be able to I don't think I would be picking them all up. Fingers crossed I can get the June Secret Wars titles highlighted a little sooner than I did these. Until next time...

My picks of the solicits for May 2015...

Right, well here are my picks from the May solicits, this has been sitting in draft form for sometime but here they are...

Marvel: A-Force

When I first started collecting comics it was the post Civil War Mighty Avengers and Avengers Initiative that I began reading. Since then I always like to pick up new takes on the Avengers books. Dark Avengers being one of my favourites. The creative team and idea behind this series is exciting. But no disrespect meant towards Jorge Molina who I don't doubt will do a great job, looking at the variant cover by Russell Dauterman I wish he was on interiors. This has the set up to be a great series and in G. Willow Wilson and Marguerite Bennett I believe it is in safe hands. 

A-FORCE #1
G. WILLOW WILSON & MARGUERITE BENNETT (w) • JORGE MOLINA (a)
Cover by JIM CHEUNG
VARIANT COVER BY RUSSELL DAUTERMAN
VARIANT COVER BY STEPHAN HANS
• Marvel’s Mightiest Women finally get their own explosive series!
• In a secluded corner of the Battleworld, an island nation is fiercely protected by a team of Avengers the likes of which has only ever been glimpsed before…
• Fighting to protect the small sliver of their world that’s left, the Amazing A-FORCE stands shoulder-to-shoulder, ready to take on the horde!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Marvel: Old Man Logan

I took advantage of a Comixology sale to get the original issues containing the brilliant Old Man Logan by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. Old Man Logan is a killer character and I am excited to see him getting a series during Secret Wars, will this be our Wolverine moving forward post Secret Wars? I wouldn't be disappointed if it was. Again another brillitant creative team on this one and I can not wait to see how Sorrentino and Bendis collaborate to continue this characters story.

OLD MAN LOGAN #1
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (w) • ANDREA SORRENTINO (a/C)
VARIANT COVER by STEVE McNIVEN
VARIANT COVER BY ANDREA SORRENTINO
YOUNG VARIANT BY SKOTTIE YOUNG
BLANK VARIANT COVER
• Enter the Wastelands…a realm where all heroes have been murdered by their arch-enemies, villains who now rule over the land with an iron fist. In the midst of this dystopian chaos, one man may make a difference…a reluctant warrior who was once the greatest mutant of all…a man known as OLD MAN LOGAN.
40 PGS./Rated T …$4.99

Dark Horse: High Crimes

High Crimes is the critically acclaimed digital series from Monkeybrain comics finally heading to print in this collection from Dark Horse. I'll be looking to grab this one, I really enjoy when these successful digital formats head to print. 

High Crimes HC
Christopher Sebela (W) and Ibrahim Moustafa (A/Cover)
On sale July 8
FC, 184 pages
$19.99
HC, 7″ x 10″
Disgraced Olympic snowboarder Zan Jensen runs a sideline business as a high-altitude grave robber. When a body is found at the summit of Everest with a treasure of state secrets under its skin, Zan finds herself in the crosshairs of a government hit squad. As she races to the roof of the world, Zan will navigate bullets and avalanches to find salvation in the deadliest place on Earth.
Collecting the critically acclaimed Monkeybrain digital comic the A.V. Club calls “a high concept executed with precision, delivering real-world intrigue.” 
“Instead of just yelling at people to read High Crimes, now I can throw it at them at the same time.”—Matt Fraction (Sex Criminals)


Boom!: Adventure Time #40

I am a big fan of the TV programme and I collect the Mathematical Editions of the collections. Adventure Time #40 sees the previously teased story created by Matt Fraction and his son Henry Leo. This is the main reason this is in my pick, I look forward to seeing what Matt Fraction and his son have created.

ADVENTURE TIME #40
Retail Price: $3.99 
Author: Christopher Hastings, Henry Leo & Matt Fraction
Artist: Zachary Sterling
Cover Artists:
Main Cover: Paul Pope
Subscription Variant Cover: Lauren Dawson
Variant Cover: Simon Leclerc
It’s a special interactive, one-shot issue! Magic Man plans to use the reader to help beat Finn and Jake, but can our heroes turn the tables? Features a special short written by debut writer Henry Leo and Matt Fraction (Hawkeye)!

Image: Injection #1

There are no reasons this shouldn't be in my pick and 3 easy reason why it should. Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire. I have been waiting for this since its announcement from the incredible creative team previously on Moon Knight, May seems to far away. 

INJECTION #1
STORY: WARREN ELLIS
ART / COVERS: DECLAN SHALVEY & JORDIE BELLAIRE
MAY 13 / 24 PAGES / FC / M / $2.99 
Once upon a time, there were five crazy people, and they poisoned the 21st Century. Now they have to deal with the corrosion to try and save us all from a world becoming too weird to support human life.
INJECTION is the new ongoing series created by the acclaimed creative team of Moon Knight. It is science fiction, tales of horror, strange crime fiction, techno-thriller, and ghost story all at the same time. A serialized sequence of graphic novels about how loud and strange the world is getting, about the wild future and the haunted past all crashing into the present day at once, and about five eccentric geniuses dealing with the paranormal and numinous as well as the growing weight of what they did to the planet with the Injection.

Spider-Man is coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe!...

It's been long rumoured and finally it's been officially announced. Sony Entertainment will be collaborating with Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige co-producing with Sony's Amy Pascal, to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and collaborate on the next solo film to be released 28/07/2017. It's worth noting two things from the statement the new Spider-Man will first appear in a Marvel cinematic Universe film, most likely this will be Captain America: Civil War, and that Sony still have financial and creative control along with distribution rights and still have ownership of the character. I just hope that they take advantage of having the likes of Kevin Feige when creating the next film and also that this will turn out to be the Spider-Man we've all been hoping for.

On a disappointing note to this announcement it is being reported that Andrew Garfield will not be keeping his role as Spider-Man in these future instalments which is a shame as I really enjoyed his portrayal of the character. If this is true we will get a new casting for the character which will surely happen soon if it he will first be appearing in Civil War as rumoured. The big question is, will this be Peter Parker Spider-Man? Could they decide to go with Miles Morales, if they were too it would certainly be controversial but considering the amount of Peter Parker we have had in recent years Mile Morales wouldn't be unwelcome as far as I'm concerned. But the fact this this is most likely linking in with Civil War the chances are much higher that this will still be Peter Parker hitting the big screen.

I look forward to more news and announcements on this one. For the official Marvel release click the link below.

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The Inhumans are here... What does this mean for the remainder of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2?

IGN exclusively revealed the Mid-Season trailer for the return of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2. After the events of the final episode before the Mid-Season break, the arrival of the long rumoured Inhumans, what does this mean for the series moving forward? Marvel continue there push to bring Inhumans into the limelight. There are more questions to be answered in the second half of the series and I can't wait for this to return to the screens on Tuesday March the 3rd. Check out the trailer below;

Howard the Duck #1 gets a preview! And it looks great...

Were you, like many sitting there till the end of the credits during Guardians of the Galaxy. Were you like many surprised to see this scene "only" comprised of a cocktail sipping talking duck named Howard? Were you like many even aware this was a duck named Howard? Well after becoming one of the easter egg highlights of Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel are making sure we know who he is with the new on-going Howard the Duck title coming this March from the creative team of Chip Zdarsky, Joe Quinones and Rico Renzi. A preview for the title has finally been released, without a goose in sight, and it look's great, I mean really great, I'm even more excited for this now than I thought I would be. Just a little note, Rico Renzi's colours for this are gorgeous I haven't seen Quinone's work coloured as flat as this before and it looks great, I only hope I am using the right term as I am no colorist. For more on the title and bigger version of the preview click the word duck.

Anything DC Can Do Marvel Can Do Better... Or Can They?... Marvel announce A-Force...

So DC won the day in regards to most exciting announcement on Friday, but to be fair they did announce a whole host of new titles by exciting creative teams.

Anyway back to the post at hand, Marvel continue to make announcements regarding the upcoming Secret Wars and were to announce a new 'forceful' title that will be released with this event. The word 'forceful' did have me wondering if this would be Star Wars related, but to my relief it did not. As much as I love both Marvel and Star Wars it would be far two soon for these two to be linking Universes.

It was supposedly to be announced on 'The View', as they did with the announcement of the Female Thor. Although as I understand the announcement was pulled from that programme, to many viewers frustration. USA today seemed to get the big scoop regarding the announcement of the new Avengers team A-Force which will take form during Secret Wars and will also contain an exclusively female cast. To be written by G. Willow-Wilson (mastermind behind Kamala Kham Ms Marvel) and Marguerite Bennett an exciting up and coming writer and previous student of Scott Snyder, the series will be illustrated by Jorge Molina, X-Men artist who will also have a fill in issue of Thor coming out this Wednesday.

The main team will comprise of She-Hulk, Dazzler, Medusa, Nico Minuro (Recently seen in Avengers Arena) and a new universal and cosmically powered hero Sigularity. The gorgeous, as always, cover art by Jim Cheung features these lead characters at the forefront of the image but also contains many of the other well known female characters through out the Marvel Universe including Storm, Scarlet Witch, Jean Grey (Phoenix) Spider-Woman, Captain MArvel, Wasp, Elektra, Rescue (Pepper Potts), Spider-Gwen (I know right she's already getting such fan fare and the issue isn't out yet), Black Widow, Pixie, Jubilee, Firestar, Hellcat and a few others who I can't recognise or to be honest don't even know. I am surprised that G. Willow Wilson's own character Kamala Khan, Ms Marvel, isn't featured on the cover. It has been announced that the cast is not limited to the announced characters or characters featured on the cover. Fan favourite artist Jamie McKelvie is already spearheading Ms America being involved in the title and co writer Marguerite Bennett didn't say no to the premise. I look forward to seeing which other female characters from within the Marvel Universe will make an appearance in the series.

I am, for one, excited about this announcement. I really enjoy when Marvel take risks with there flagship titles and although not called 'Avengers' this title does contain the Avengers logo at the beginning and this will be the Avengers team for the events of Secret Wars. Marvel have been taking more and more risks recently and, although I am certain many will not be happy about this announcement, these risks are really paying off.

In recent times one of my favourite Avengers titles was post Secret Invasion when the title became Dark Avengers and I hope that this will have the same impact for me.

The only real problem with the announcement of this title and the many others on Friday is that after working so hard, and being ruthless, to reduce my comic list I now have a lot to think about how many I can increase it by. However this isn't a terrible position to be in. This is looking to be a very exciting year for comics.

For more on the announcement and an interview with the writers behind this title coming in May click the link below.

Click me for more more about A-Force