Nova! Watchmen! Namorita! X-Men! Elektra! What happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas! The Man Called Speeeebaaaalll! Comicon news… and the master will not be pleased… Plus! not a single word about that feller from Gotham, on this, the show that asks: if this is the 30 second podcast, what the hell will we talk about for the other hour and a half?
Show Notes After the Jump
Or - “For The First Time Ever, An Actual New Warrior Appears!”
Hint: It ain’t Night Thrasher. But he does look all manly, and stuff, doesn’t he? Anyway, in recent years, comics have entered a phase wherein each individual issue is no longer treated as a singular entity. The old Jim Shooter storytelling method of explaining everything in each issue so casual readers won’t be lost has been thrown aside for a “write for the inevitable trade paperback” mentality. Nowhere has this “It’ll read better collected” mentality been so aptly illustrated than in the monthhly trainwreck called New Warriors. Will this issue be the one that changes this trend for the better?
Or - “Sometimes A Decision Makes Itself…”
For some time now, I’ve been wavering back and forth on this title, sliding from casual optimism to hate-filled diatribes on the new New Warriors and the surprises contained therein. Kevin Grevioux started out strong, with some compelling mysteries, but the reveals we’ve seen thus far have been anti-climactic, and many of the story beats puzzling, to say the least. This issue is the sixth since I made my customary “Six Issues To Wow Me Or I’ll Have To Drop The Title” resolution… How will the chips fall?
Or - “Weren’t We Just Doing This?”
Here’s the problem with New Warriors: Three quarters of a year into the title, and we still haven’t had a decent, clear shot of the characters costumes, nor have we been given a reason to connect with their new identities, instead coasting on the name recognition that comes with their old hero selves. With the exception of the Night Thrasher mystery, the basics of it all have been an endless series of scenes with half a dozen or more heroes milling about in darkness, and a big death scene that fell a bit flat due to a complete lack of connection to the character who died. Now, yet again, the team is wondering what’s up with their mysterious leader, and yet again, we get a lot of posturing and whining without much substance to back it up…
Or - “More Members Revealed, But Secrets Still Abound.”
The mystery that began promisingly in New Warriors #1 is still out there, and while we keep finding out the identities of some of the Warriors (all of whom are former X-Men or Generation X members) we still have no real clues as to who the mysterious Night Thrasher may be. Is he Donyell Taylor, the brother of original Thrash Dwayne? The Black Panther, source of some of their technology? Former Gen X member Synch? At the rate we’re going through former X-Men, we’re about down to the point where he’s either Calvin Rankin, John Proudstar, or Maggott, and large portions of his team are still unidentified… Has our mystery outlasted it’s welcome?
Man, I’m falling behind - too much to do, too little time. But fear not dear readers, I bring you Marvel Sneak Peeks for the weekend!
In this installment AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL 13, FANTASTIC FOUR 550, FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN 24, GHOST RIDER 16, HEROES FOR HIRE 14, MARVEL ADVENTURES HULK 4, NEW AVENGERS 35, and NEW WARRIORS 5.
Marvel is promising issue #5 will feature a tale that will shake the New Warriors to their core and change the series forever. You can wait until October 10th to find out if the company is telling the truth, or take the jump now for a sneak peek.
Or - “More Secrets, Hints, and Inveiglement.”
One of the inherent problems of a title like this is the nature of secrets. The launch of New Warriors was (unusually, for a comic release) kept very mysterious, but the danger is that once the secrets are revealed, people will lose interest. So far we’ve seen the identity of Wondra, Blackwing, and Decibel, and they all have a connection to a certain upstate academy of higher learning with a hyper-sonic jet under the basketball court. Given Marvel’s historical predilection for loading titles with recognizable characters, adding a ‘high-concept’ hook, and seeing if it sticks to the wall, one might have questions about loading down another team book, but so far the results have been quite compelling. More questions are answered this issue, and some hints are thrown about as to the identity of the mysterious Night Thrasher, but is the high concept overpowering the story itself?
Forget reading the Sunday funnies in your newspaper, here is the place for a whole bunch of sneak peeks for titles arriving this week directly from Marvel. In this batch MS. MARVEL 19, NEW EXCALIBUR 23, NEW WARRIORS 4, SHANNA THE SHE DEVIL: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 2, SHE-HULK 21, SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP/MODOK’S 11 3, UNCANNY X-MEN 490, WHITE TIGER 6, WOLVERINE 57.
Or - “Thankfully, They Know New WARRIORS History As Well As New Mutants…”
Internet wags, myself included, have made much of the fact that the New Warriors seem to be comprised entirely of Ex-X-Men. The somewhat bad news is, that trend doesn’t stop in this issue. Thankfully, though, we do finally see a glimpse of why a group of Xavier’s misfits would have the temerity to call themselves New Warriors, and while questions are answered, each secret uncovered creates two more in it’s place, like some mythical thing Veronica Sawyer’s eight-grade boyfriend would know about. And possibly the most important question remains up in the air: Who Is The Mysterious Night Thrasher?
It’s a very busy week, what with all this comic-con stuff going on, but that doesn’t mean you have to be left out in the cold with your Sneak Peeks. This weekend, Marvel has 12 sneaks of issues coming out on August 1.
The second batch includes New Warriors #3, Shanna: Survival of the Fittest #1, She-Hulk #20, Spider-Man/Red Sonja #1, Thor #2, and Uncanny X-Men #489. Unfortunately, we can’t show you any previews of World War Hulk #3, but we will have a Day of Release Review for you this week.
Night Thrasher leads the charge against super villains and Tony Stark (aren’t they one in the same at this moment?). But who is Night Thrasher?
Marvel Comics has sent us a sneak peek of New Warriors #3 that arrives in stores August 1.
Or - “Teenage Superguys… Don’t Do It!”
The original lineup of the New Warriors reportedly came about when two editors flipped through the Official Handbook of The Marvel Universe, picked a few characters who hadn’t been seen in a while and slapped together a team out of them. So far in the new series, we’ve seen a mysterious masked man and two mutants depowered by the Decimation. There may be as much untapped potential in the former Beak and Winddancer as there was in Namorita, Firestar, Marvel Boy, and Speedball. Add in the man called Nova, fighting well beneath his weight-class, and Night Thrasher, actually far better than his “Punisher with a skateboard” thumbnail sketch would have you think, and Marvel accidentally found a recipe for greatness. With most of the current Warriors shrouded in secrecy, what we’ve seen thus far feels remarkably like “The Ex-X-Men.”
Ok. You’ve seen the New Warriors #2 sneak without the word balloons, now Marvel has released the full preview that has the dialogue. For those wondering what’s with the product placement, perhaps this sneak gives you the answers… Apparently New Warriors are the number one search topic on Google, Yahoo and MSN.com. I think that would only be true if the search phrase was “New Warriors naked spoilers”, but that’s just me.
The new New Warriors have a mission - fightin’ crime and the Super Human Registration Act. You’ve read the first issue, now, thanks to Marvel, Major Spoilers brings you a sneak peek at issue #2. How will Iron Skrull Man deal with this new band of heroes?
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