Holy Crap, I know the Marvel Ultimate line is famous for lateness, but does anyone even remember when the first half of ULTIMATE IRON MAN came out? I guess Orson Scott Card is a busy man, lets just hope he used this time to actually finish all 4 issues before this was announced.( Then again the full series was originally billed as a 6 issue that was later turned into 2, 5-parters, and now the second half is only 4)
Don’t get me wrong I thought this was a great comic, and I’m looking forward to the wrap-up, I just wish that Marvel and DC would wise up to how these lateness issues make the whole industry (and my livelihood) look like a joke.
Speaking of late titles ULTIMATES 3 is finally ready to start. The team for thi
s book was 
announced more than a year and a half ago while we were still waiting for Ultimates 2 to finish up. The main reason for this was the idea of putting Joe Maduriera on the art chores. Anyone remember Battlechasers? The book it took Joe Mad 3 years to get 7 issues out. I notice this volume of Ultimates is listed as a 5 issue mini, rather than the 12-13 issue arcs the first 2 runs got. The next batch (volume 4) has already been announced with the art by Ed McGuinness, it might have been smarter to give us the more reliable McGuinness first and give Maduriera more time to catch up. The art is also a radical departure from the more realistic style used by Hitch, but both artists have a solid fan base so sales should be fairly consistent.There is also the promise that this series will change the Ultimates Universe forever. Marvel seems serious about getting people on board for whatever is coming up because they are releasing a special FREE comic featuring art and info on all the Ultimate titles new and old that will be shipping during 2008. Simply titled ULTIMATE MARVEL it will be given to all regular members who order any Ultimate titles regularly.
Peter David returns to the Hulk in a special one-shot pitting him against that other big green
monster, FIN FANG FOOM. Its 48 pages of mayhem with a bunch of classic slugfests as backup. (It doesn’t say how much of the 48 pages is new material but I’m expecting it to be the standard 21-22.) I’m kind of surprised they don’t have an artist listed. You think that would be the first order of business. Lets all hope for someone like Dale Keown and not Liefeld.
World War Hulk continues with WARBOUND, a 5 issue mini-series that features the monster squad the Hulk brought back with him from space, fighting against an old Hulk enemy in the New Mexico desert.The latest fad seems to be to bring back old Golden Age characters and throw
them together as a group. This was done well with the underrated Marvel series Agents of Atlas earlier this year. Now J. Michael Straczynski is putting together THE TWELVE, twelve individual characters from the glory days of Marvel back when they were known as Atlas Comics. This #0 issue is a preview for the upcoming regular series, and features the reprinted origins of 3 of these classic characters from the 40’s, along with preview art from Chris Weston.Dynamite Entertainment is releasing their 40's revival series the same month, only theirs features story and some art by Alex Ross.
SUPERPOWERS #0 is a special 40 page preview issue to start of this amazing new series and as a bonus its only $1.00!! The book comes with 2 connecting covers that will be worth the price of the comics themselves.
The BADGER is back at last in, THE BADGER SAVES THE WORLD. Apparently our favourite crazy hero is up to his old tricks, kicking butt and saving Larry from the forces of evil. First Nexus and now Badger? its like Mike Baron is helping me celebrate my 20th year in the comics business by bringing back the 80's singlehandedly.
You'd think Branson was serious about getting into the comics business or something with some of the latest books listed from Virgin comics. November starts the revival of DAN DARE by Garth Ennis and now in December comes the 25cent preview issue of Jenna Jameson's SHADOW HUNTER#0. Although limited to mature sales only, I'm sure this one will be a quick seller at Christmastime.
