The recent Comic Con announcement that rising talent Jonathan Hickman will be penning a Ultimate Thor miniseries with all-star artist Carlos Pacheco has got my mind going a million miles an hour.

Hickman (who’s never met a high concept that he couldn’t spin into gold) is going to populate Ultimate Asgard and give us a good hard look at what makes Ultimate Thor tick. Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch first introduce the Ult. Thor character in March of 2002 within the pages of “Ultimates” #4. While the Ultimate incarnation of Thor was still a powerful hammer-wielding hero, he was more concerned with social activism and drinking than the Thor we were used to. There was also some doubt as to whether or not he was actually a god or a deranged human being with a messiah complex. Thor’s divinity was later confirmed in the final issues of “Ultimates 2,” after which Jeph Loeb inexplicably brought the Ultimate version’s actions and appearance more similar to the Marvel Universe Thor.

You can check out a great interview where Hickman explains his plans with Thor over at Comic Book Resources, but in the meantime check out some of Pacheco’s redesigns of classic Asgardians such as The Warriors Three, Odin and Heimdall.

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The recent Comic Con announcement that rising talent Jonathan Hickman will be penning a Ultimate Thor miniseries with all-star artist Carlos Pacheco has got my mind going a million miles an hour.

Hickman (who’s never met a high concept that he couldn’t spin into gold) is going to populate Ultimate Asgard and give us a good hard look at what makes Ultimate Thor tick. Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch first introduce the Ult. Thor character in March of 2002 within the pages of “Ultimates” #4. While the Ultimate incarnation of Thor was still a powerful hammer-wielding hero, he was more concerned with social activism and drinking than the Thor we were used to. There was also some doubt as to whether or not he was actually a god or a deranged human being with a messiah complex. Thor’s divinity was later confirmed in the final issues of “Ultimates 2,” after which Jeph Loeb inexplicably brought the Ultimate version’s actions and appearance more similar to the Marvel Universe Thor.

You can check out a great interview where Hickman explains his plans with Thor over at Comic Book Resources, but in the meantime check out some of Pacheco’s redesigns of classic Asgardians such as The Warriors Three, Odin and Heimdall.

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Gene Colan could use a bit of help

Gene Colan is one of the masters. Tomb of Dracula is one of those books that up and coming artists should be handed before drawing anything horror related. Due to his eye sight it takes him a while to finish a piece but when he does…wow. Unfortunately Gene suffered an injury not too long ago where his shoulder was broken. Unlike us Canadians, he doesn’t have a public health care system to help him out. Not only that, broken shoulder means no drawing for Gene which means no income for what’s estimated to be three months. But if you have a couple of bucks to spare you can help out and maybe score yourself so cool stuff.

For auction info go to

http://genecolan.blogspot.com/

And for updates on Gene’s health

http://www.thecliffordmethod.blogspot.com/

Image United…not so much

So according to Rob Liefeld, Image United is a disappointment (due to shipping), Erik Larsen concurs but says when it’s all out, everyone will forget about the lateness and the story will standout. The lateness doesn’t surprise me. The statement from Larsen doesn’t surprise me. What does surprise me is public distention in the ranks. Originally when this whole thing was coming out it was very much an all for one attitude and now we’re just one step away from name calling.

Capcom vs Marvel 3

Marvel VS Capcom 3 Captivate 2010 Trailer
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This might not mean much to some people but a lot of gamers perked up and took notice with this announcement. The first two Capcom vs Marvel games are often noted as two of the best fighting games of the past generation. The difference this time is when the last two games came out, Marvel was more of a minor player. All you have to do is look at the characters in the previous games, Blackheart is a character for pete’s sake. Now Marvel is a bigger player and there’s a chance we’ll get a line up of premium characters for this version. Yes I’m a nerd.

DC…what are you doing?

My problems with DC’s trade program are very well known at this point but the more I read about DC’s publishing ideas the more I have to question what the hell they are thinking. Anyone else notice that DC has no digital delivery system of any sort? Yes I know that Marvel’s shiny new Ipad app isn’t perfect but at least they have something, even before that Marvel had a really crappy online subscription service. IDW has a decent delivery system and they’re realistically half the size of DC.

Nemesis on hold?

On hold indefinitely? Late for a few months? Conflicting reports about how much damage a kidney stone and a bad back has done to Steve McNiven’s schedule but I’ll be honest, as someone with knowledge on the kidney stone front, can’t blame him. But an official word from Marvel might be nice.

Casanova puts the moves on Icon

Matt Fraction’s creator owned book has moved to Marvel’s Icon imprint. Interesting move but not unexpected on either end. Matt Fraction is one of Marvel’s solid writers, you could trust the guy with pretty much any character and he’d make a solid book out of it. Icon tends to be a little bit of a reward system for Marvel; if you do good by them, they do good by you. And I tend to agree.

Brent Chittenden is a Canadian freelance writer who also happens to write humorous things for Bite TV’s blog. If you have need of his services you can reach him at bcchittenden@gmail.com, twitter at @BCNerdhole and his podcast Two Assholes Talking About Nerd Stuff. Feel free to become a fan of him at his Facebook group Brent Chittenden: The Writer.

According to Rich Johnson over at Bleeding Cool is announcing that Steve McNiven – suffering from a bad back and a kidney stone – has let it be known that “Nemesis #2 has been indefinitely delayed, as he’s still trying to complete the pages.”

While we all expected that Nemesis will be late (I can’t really think of one Millar project that managed to have every issue ship on time) this leaves the project completely up in and air, hopefully Mr. McNiven will start feeling better and as his health improves and he’ll be able to get to work on the project so that I can purchase the inevitable hardcover collection.

While this story was based on reporting by a Bleeding Cool contributor talking to McNiven at C2E2, Mark Millar has repudiated the report on his board. Millar writes;

NEMESIS #2 IS ALMOST FINISHED HOPEFULLY OUT IN A FEW WEEKS TIME

People have got in touch and asked what’s happening as some nonsense online about Nemesis delayed indefinitely. Steve had a couple of health problems that slowed him down, but he’s almost finished issue two and isn’t doing anything else until he’s finished issue four (the series finale). I don’t know where this started (perhaps Chinese Whispers at Chicago), but issue two will be out in a few weeks and we’re probably looking every two months for the remaining two issues.

PS We have our director and the deal is being ironed out this week. He’s literally my number one choice and all the mods, who know who he is, are very excited. I’ve finished the comic series and the scripts are now in the hands of the director who will start adapting next month. HUGELY EXCITING!

I don’t really care though.

Oh, I’m not really in a rush – I figured I’d eventually pick it up, but not without reading the first issue.

So here’s my take on Nemesis:

It’s Millar’s attempt to do one of Warren Ellis Avatar stories.

It’s even got all of Ellis’ writing tics.

Everyone is brilliant and everyone name drops people that are equally as brilliant but fairly obscure. the villain is not afraid of ultra-violence  and it ends on a note that’s on par with one of Ellis’ zero issue teases.

Look, I could be way off base, but thus far this is the vibe I’m getting from it. Millar is a skilled writer who can be pretty lazy when it comes to plot. He’s more known for his moments than for actual storylines. (With maybe the exception of Superman Red Son ..which has one of my favourite endings in any comic ever.)

Leave comments below and tell me how crazy I am.

Okay, unlike the previous adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic work; Wanted, comic fans can expect a fairly faithful adaptation of his work this time around. For those of you who haven’t read this limited series (and you damn well better get off your butt and pick it up soon!), Kick Ass is about a kid named Dave who decides to put on a wetsuit he bought online and goes out to fight crime. With less than stellar results; since he manages to get stabbed and hit by a car on his first outing. It’s not until he gets into the middle of a fight between one guy and three others that his exploits are put onto youtube and he becomes an overnight sensation.

While the movie is pretty accurate, there are some differences between the comic and movie that we should make mention of.

Getting the Girl:

In the comic, Dave doesn’t get the girl, in fact by the end of it. Since he pretended to be gay to hang out with him, she finds him despicable and gets her new boyfriend to beat his ass and sends photo of herself performing fellatio on him to Dave. In the movie, Dave reveals his identity to her at which point she throws herself at him and they become a couple who do the nasty at every opportunity. This change doesn’t really bother me, I think it works both ways but they probably changed it for the movie audience where everyone wants to see the boy get the girl.

Origins of Hit Daddy and Hit Girl:

Comic origins of this dynamic duo portray the father of Mindy as being some guy who just wanted to have an exciting life and made up his own Punisher-esque backstory while selling his collection of Marvel back issues to fund his Mob killing spree. In the movie, his origins are actually pretty Punisher-esque with Nicholas Cage’s character being a former cop turning down a bribe by the film’s villain played by Mark Strong and as a result has his life ruined by being sent to prison.

The ending sequence:

The climax of the comic book involved Hit-Girl taking a hit of cocaine and going on a drug fuelled rampage, while Kick-Ass took his sticks and pretty much pummel the crap out of Red Mist, of course the movie has to stretch this out a bit and bump up the action a little bit. Though in the movie version they probably thought a little girl doing drugs would be too much for the big screen. Luckily instead, we get an extended hallway gunplay scene of Hit Girl tearing down a corridor dual wielding pistols like John Woo and when pinned down, Kick Ass flies to her rescue literally with a flipping jetpack that contains dual chain-gun action and promptly kills off the remaining soldiers. Oh yeah, that’s different too, unlike the comic; Kick Ass actually kills people!

Personally, I think the differences worked and made the story all the better for it. There was so much to love about this movie. From the over the top killing action sequences of Hit Girl ninja-flipping all over the place to the bad ass killing spree of Big Daddy when he kills an entire warehouse of John Damico’s mobsters while taking them down exactly the way we imagine Batman would. You know…if Batman decided to kill his enemies instead of crippling them. A great accompanying soundtrack, well written dialogue to fill in the blanks and there weren’t really any slow parts to the movie where you just want them to get it over with so you can get to the good stuff (I’m looking at you, Spider-Man 3! Flipping emo-Parker). I hereby give this movie 8 out of 10 on the awesome movie scale. 1 being Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four, 5 being Fantastic Four 2 and 10 being the Dark Knight.

David Diep is a news editor at ComicBookDaily and an assistant manager at Big B Comics in Hamilton, Ontario. By day he works but by night, he dresses up in pajamas and goes to sleep.

Well, it’s happening now. The auction will benefit the charity that Mark Millar’s brother, the doctor, works with, caring for handicapped children in Scotland. Mark is quoted in the eBay listing saying;

My older brother, Dr. Bobby Millar, works with these children every day and he explained to me what a difference it would make if they could get a new bus. Resources are tight at all schools and hospitals in the current economic climate, but we had a great success with the Kick-Ass auction and feel hopeful that comic-book readers will dig deep again and they can build towards this pretty hefty amount of cash they need for the vehicle. Steven and I have had an amazing run of luck with Civil War and Old Man Logan and we’re hoping “Nemesis” will be similarly massive. To star as a comic-book hero is pretty cool and the intense movie-studio and production-company interest for “Nemesis” before the book even hits the stands should bode well that whoever wins this auction will get their name out there in many other media too, just like Dave Lizewski. I really hope people get behind this as the staff at the school do a terrific job and the kids would be delighted with this nice, new bus everyone has their eye on.

So there you go then. Dynamic Forces has helped organize the charitable aspect of the auction. Which is live as of…. now. Click here to bid.

Over at Millarworld, Mark is giving it proves why he’s considered the PT Barnum of Comic books.

Okay, am pretty drunk. I downed many Guinnesses as my gang re-watched Spidey 2 tonight (a master-piece, btw) and am now weirdly wide awake. But have spoken to three directors about the Nemesis movie in the past seven days, none of whom have read the scripts and all of whom are basing our chats entirely on the visuals and high concepts you guys have seen.

Anyway, as you know I don’t want anyone to see this until the whole series is written and that’s at least into next month. THAT SAID, the director I got hooked up with early this evening is literally one of the best in the biz. He’s someone I totally trust in terms of movie-making and he knows his comics too. We chatted about the property for an hour and his ideas were insane, the stuff that had me buzzing being his notion of DiCaprio as Nemesis versus Daniel Day-freakin-Lewis as America’s best cop.

Yes, just maybe the two greatest actors in contemporary cinema.

He’s friends with one of these guys, reckons we could be in production by the end of the year and the movie out possibly as early as 2012, which is just insane. My plan was to hold off til March and take advantage of the Kick-Ass movie hoopla, but to be honest it doesn’t get much better than this. I love movies and I love comics and this guys speaks our language. I’m wasted and ready for bed, but also v excited at the prospect.

What do you guys reckon? Should I stick to my guns and wait until the script is finished next month or take this off the market and go with one of the best modern directors around?

MM

PS Quite brilliantly, he also suggested Tobey Maguire. Who, of course, is an absolutely brilliant actor and, let’s face it, feels quite comfortable in a pair of tights. It would be a great headline too for those, like me, who are [going] to miss that wee guy as Spider-Man.

So, he’s pretty much saying that Scorcese wants to direct Nemesis.. am I right?

A while back I was writing about how wonderful Mark Millar’s Orson Welles Batman Hoax was and how I’d love to see more people write faux news about aborted superhero projects, y’know like John Ford directing Captain America, etc..

my take at the time was that Martin Scorcese wanted to direct Batman with Daniel Day-Lewis as Bruce Wayne.

Tell me you don’t think that’d be awesome. Imagine someone as visually arresting as Scorcese commanding a Frank Miller Year One inspired Batman. Now tell me you don’t wish we all lived in that alternate world.

Who knew you had so much in common with Captain America? Talking to Box Office Magazine, director Joe Johnston dropped some knowledge about the plot of the Captain America movie. Yeah, we sort of suspected it was a period film, but did you know that Captain America goes AWOL? It’s all part of how Cap proves himself a hero, according to Johnston.

The great thing about Captain America is he’s a super hero without any super powers. Which is why this story, among the hundreds of super hero stories, appealed to me the most. He can’t fly, he can’t see through walls, he can’t do any of that stuff. He’s an every man who’s been given this amazing gift of transformation into the perfect specimen—the pinnacle of human perfection. How does that affect him? What does that mean for him emotionally and psychologically? He was this 98-pound weakling, he was this wimp, and he’s transformed instantly into this Adonis. You’d think he got everything he wanted. Well, he didn’t get everything he wanted. The rules change at that point and his life gets even more complicated and dire. For me, that’s the interesting part of the story. It’s got some great action sequences in it and some incredible stuff that we’ve never seen before. But at the heart of it, it’s a story about this kid who all he wants to do is fit in. This thing happens and he still doesn’t fit in. And he has to prove himself a hero—essentially go AWOL to save a friend. Eventually at the very end, I don’t want to give away to much, but he does fit in. But it’s the journey of getting him there that’s interesting. And it’s a lot of fun.

I’ve gotten into debates with lots of people about the idea behind Captain America. I think if you really want to get an idea of just who Cap is you’ve got to compare Ultimate Captain America and Brubaker’s take on the character (though, I should add that it is informed quite a bit by Mark Grunwald’s run.)

In the Ultimates, Mark Millar has made Cap a total jar head, a  unlikeable character who has moments, if only because you see what he ‘could’ be shine through. He’s focused on what used to be and how things were. He doesn’t adapt well, and looks at yesteryear through rose coloured glasses. He’s brash and spends a lot of his time solving things through violence. In one of his most unlikeable moment – when we’re actually supposed to be rooting for him, as he’s fighting against a nazi alien who’s telling him to give up -  He points to the A on his mask and says ‘You think this stands for France?‘

It’s a moment that’s pure movie machismo, and it’s a great line to show exactly who Ultimate Cap is: He’s exactly what everyone thinks the United States is. Take names and kicks ass while putting down everyone else. He is the prototypical Ugly American.. only with super strength.

But when you look at Bru’s Cap – He’s this great American figure. He’s not what America is.. but what America could be.

Brubaker’s run is filled with character’s who’s lives are influenced by Steve Rogers and the one thing that they seem to agree on is that he’s ‘right.’ He still looks at life from the viewpoint of the scrawny kid he is, he’s not ignorant of his gift, but it never changed the way he looks at thing. Hell, Bucky is constantly saying: “I know how Steve would handle this..” and then rattles off a peaceful, teaching method.

It’s also interesting that one of the first things Brubaker does in his Cap run is heap praise on France’s ww2 resistance. It’s almost like he’s saying: Look, this is the difference, my Cap is the kind of guy who was there, and understands how the military works, who’s smarter than your average grunt. While Ult. Cap is your average grunt with super strength.

A large part of  me hopes that Joe Johnson gets this.. and from that quote I kind of think he’s in the right direction. What do you guys think? Am I way off base, is my love for Army of Shadows clouding my judgement? Feel free to tell me in the comments below.

Pete DeCourcy is Editor in Chief of Comic book daily. He also manages Blue Beetle Comics in Barrie, Ontario. You can find more of his writings at the Simple Art of Crime and You Practically Rock.  Paris is the home of Piaf and Charles Aznavour.

It’s the beginning of a new year. A year of hope, a year of promise and hopefully a year of kick ass comics.

To start this year off I’m going to talk about…well a bunch of things. Come on! It was the holidays! Nothing really big happened….or did it?

Marve/Disney Deal more or less approved

The Marvel stock holders voted yes. I would have. It just has to clear some legal channels and then the real interesting part begins…or not, I predict except for the movies, we may never notice a difference.

Spider-Man 4 postponed?

Looks like. Apparently Sam Raimi isn’t happy with the script and wants to hammer it out until it’s ready. The first two times he got things hammered out, the third he just let the script go with a pass. Which movies out of the three did you like? My point exactly.

Chew

It took me a while but I finally got a copy of the trade and I must say I am rather impressed. The story is about Tony Chu. Chu lives in a world where chicken has been outlawed due to Bird Flu and Chu can get psychic impressions from every food he eats with the exception of canned beets. He’s been hired by the special crimes division of the FDA due to his unique abilities.

It’s a great read although the first trade is very much just a taste of the series. The writing is sharp and the art and colors fit the book perfectly. To really go any more in depth would be to give away too much and rob you of some of the enjoyment. I do really recommend it though.

DC tells Marvel, Millar and McNiven to cut that out!

DC apparently made some legal rumblings over the solicited cover for the upcoming Nemesis project. Something about too Joker like. Marvel has apparently complied probably due to their legal department going “You know you might have gotten away with it had that Millar guy not made all of those Joker comparisons in interviews.”

Doctor Voodoo

I’ve decided I might pick up this series in trade. Truth be told much like every other writer in the world, I have a Doctor Strange story in my back pocket but I kind of like where the magic part of the Marvel Universe has been going lately.

Avatar

Sure it Ferngully on Steroids or Dance with Wolves in Space with Colonial Marines but it’s kind of like cinema comfort food. It’s a familiar story but it was done so well that you don’t care. My question is, where’s the comic book tie in? Now I’m not usually one to promote these sort of things but given the visual aspect of the film and just the entire nature of it, there is a wealth of material in there to be mined that we will never see on film.

Oh and for those of you who were uncomfortable with the Na’vi female characters, Jim Cameron’s motto for the effects people was she must be #@&#able. So take solace in the fact that you and Jim Cameron have similar tastes in women.

The Phantom

I’m kind of surprised I haven’t seen anyone really mention this but I caught the revamp/reboot/rewhatever of The Phantom this week on the Movie Network. I rather enjoyed what the Knauf’s cooked up and it also reminds me how good their last show was. And their work on Iron Man. Although the new suit looks a little… well you tell me, maybe I’m imagining things.

Fantastic Four

Flashback a few years ago…

“The new Fantastic Four movie is going to be awesome!”

“No it isn’t.” I replied.

“Why do you say that?”

“The Fantastic Four are in it.”

I have never understood the attraction to the FF. They do have a following however because every time a writer sets foot in the Marvel door, it seems to be a book they want to work on. JMS, Mark Millar, John Byrne are creators I respect but never managed to drag me into the Fantastic Four for longer then an issue or two.

I don’t get it.

The Thing is the only one that really ever interested me. The Fantastic Four are (for my tastes) a group of characters that should have been used as guest stars. The show up and help the Avengers or Spider-man for four issues and then disappear. The same for the Silver Surfer. He’s a guest character and should never be used on a full time basis because no matter what you put him up against and no mater what the story is HE IS STILL AN ALIEN ON A FLYING SURF BOARD. And it’s not even a design thing you can change.

That being said, Hickman is doing enough good work on this book that…I might be converted.

And that teaser image of Galactus dead that Marvel released earlier in the week?

I honestly want to know what happens!

And yes I realize it may be hypocritical to make fun of an alien with a surf board but yet show interest in a giant purple suited planet eating man.

So coming up in the next little while

Looking at Booster Gold (I’m using this review to both satisfy a reader and meet Blair Butler).

A Look Back at Crossovers that started..er.. Crossovers.

A report from Wizard World Toronto.

And for those of you who are interested up coming episodes of my podcast include our one year anniversary show, our year end awards show and an interview with Juliet Landau (Drusilla from Buffy).

And for those of you who really care, I’m on twitter under BCNerdhole.

Brent Chittenden is a Canadian based freelance writer. He writes a lot these days.

Scott Pilgrim Vol. 6 (Oni Press)

Written and Drawn by Bryan Lee O’Malley

Over the course of five volumes O’Malley has managed to tell the story of Scott Pilgrim – the best fighter in the province – and his quest to date Ramona Flowers, the girl of his dreams by defeating her seven evil ex-boyfriends. Volume #5 is the best written, most confidently executed installment of the series yet, and this is one of those things that is written about each volume as it comes out.

The fact is, it’s not only an amazing comic book, it’s just a great story. Characters live and interact as real as you and your friends do – take away all the anime nods, the nintendo boss fights and it’s saturation and debt to nerd culture and you’re looking at a simple story about a guy getting his life together and growing up. Scott is – at first – completely likeable and intriguing – but as the books progress, we realize that Scott may be the main character, he’s not the hero, no one is. They’re all just people living and trying to figure out who they are.

Battling Boy (First Second)

Written and Drawn by Paul Pope

When I was putting together this list last year I put Battling Boy down as the book I was most looking forward to. I remember seeing the pictures that Paul Pope was putting on his blog and I was totally blown away. This was Paul Pope at his most raw and unleashed. Bringing the Kirby influence to the lessons he learned toiling away at the Kodansha Manga Studios creating an epic fight scenes that will possibly bring a new language to how we view how fight scenes could be read and laid out.

“In Batman Year 100, I had room for a couple of long fight sequences, but I felt cramped even with 200 pages. This fight scene from BATTLING BOY alone is about 50 pages. It’s liberating to have no page restrictions. I wish Kirby could’ve had 50 pages for one fight scene, imagine what he would’ve done.

The extended cinematic sequence is one of the best gifts we’ve inherited from manga. ”

Pope himself describes the series as such: “Battling Boy is aimed at kids and it’s coming out from First Second in 2007. It’s a kind of a fairytale kid Beowulf, or a Peter Pan with teeth. It’s set in a mythical city called Monstropolis, a city the size of a continent that’s overrun with monsters.”

Well, unfortunately it didn’t come out in 2009. But that’s fine – I mean, we got plenty of good reads – like the runner up on the list Asterios Polyp and Parker: The Hunter. But I cannot wait to see just what happens when this book finally drops and the influence it will have on future works.

Nemesis (Marvel)

Written by Mark Millar

Drawn by Steve McNiven

What is Joker had all the resources of Batman? What if Batman was the Joker?

The storyline doesn’t matter – it’s a set piece book. It’s Mark Millar writing insane scenes of hyper violence and operatic super-villainy for McNiven to draw in brilliant, beautiful detail. Millar is only as good as his artist and with McNiven he’s found a wonderful partner for these sorts of high-concept, low thought process stories. Say what you will about Old Man Logan – there’s one thing people agree on, it’s beautiful. McNiven isn’t a fast artist, and that’s fine – we don’t want him on a monthly any way, we want him doing what he does to the best of his ability, don’t expect an issue a month, just be greatful to get it when we get it.

Nemesis is an excuse for Millar’s faith in McNiven’s imagination and skill to take off and go to darker and more widescreen places, and that’s what we’re going to get with Nemesis.

Pete DeCourcy is Editor in Chief of Comic book daily. He also manages Blue Beetle Comics in Barrie, Ontario. You can find more of his writings at the Simple Art of Crime and You Practically Rock. 2009 has been a good year for him, and he’s excited to see what 2010 brings.