- Marvel Comics has released their latest new "Marvel NOW" launch, just in time for the start of a new slate of solicitations for a month. Coming in April is a book simply teased as "XX" written by Brian Wood and drawn by Oliver Coipel, as revealed by USA Today. Considering Wood has mostly worked on X-Men related books since his return to Marvel, it is speculated that it will be an X-Book; in particular, one headlined by female characters due to the teaser's DNA code. If so, it would mark the second "all female" superhero team at Marvel this spring, after FEARLESS DEFENDERS by Cullen Bunn and Will Sliney debuts in February. It would also match well with CAPTAIN MARVEL as the third title exclusively headlining heroines, a year after X-23 was Marvel's lone heroine title. Naturally, it would also be what seems like the zillionth X-Men book. In fairness, some of Marvel's strongest and most well known female characters hail from the X-Men (such as Rogue and Storm), so it could be a bit of a no brainer move.
- Legendary artist Walt Simonson, best known for an epic run on THOR in the 1980's, will be the artist for the second arc of Mark Waid's INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK in the spring. He will replace Lenil Yu, although whether for good or simply an arc is unknown.
- A teaser for SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN by Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos in April claims that he may be "fired" from something, presumably the Avengers or Horizon Labs. Without spoiling too much, SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN debuts later today and features a brand new Spider-Man than Peter Parker, sort of. While it has earned the ire of many fans, some should expect a return to normalcy by summer 2014 (when Sony's next film debuts) and it could be used as an exercise to remove Spidey from certain things and make him a loner figure again. It is the latest gamble taken with AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.
- Director James Mangold has revealed more tidbits about "THE WOLVERINE", Fox's latest X-Men related film starring Hugh Jackman which hits theaters July 26th. Originally claimed as an independent prequel piece, Mangold reveals that the film is "set after X-MEN 3" without being a sequel to it, alluding that such attachment was a demand of the studio. The film borrows themes from the original WOLVERINE mini series by Frank Miller and Chris Claremont, such as it being set in Japan and Logan feeling like a ronin. However, Mangold also cites other inspiration such as "THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES", and mentions a bit of angst. With "IRON MAN 3" and Warner Brothers' "MAN OF STEEL" both hitting theaters this year, it certainly will be another crammed year for superhero cinema.
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