By Ilias Kyriazis (click for full image)

Click the above pic to see the entire huge image, which you can zoom in and navigate around. You can also see his favorite 30 DC Characters.

Mark Bagley and Randy Emberlin The Amazing Spider-Man #352 Cover Original Art (Marvel, 1991). Spidey and Nova unite against the Tri-Sentinel in this cinematic cover illustration penciled by Mark Bagley and inked by Randy Emberlin. The art has an image area of 10″ x 15″ and it includes the original logo and masthead paste-up copy. Aside from some light buckling in the upper portion logo paste-up area, the work is in Very Good condition.

The issue was one of Mark Bagley’s first issues of Amazing Spider-Man, which he would go on to draw for years before moving on to another lengthy run on Ultimate Spider-Man. Before both of these runs, Bagley was the original artist for New Warriors and these team-up issues between Nova and Spider-Man were a natural transition.

Excerpt from the liner notes by Adam WarRock:

I’ve long been a fan of New Warriors since issue 1 of Nicieza and Bagley’s run that started in 1990. To this day, it’s still one of my favorite series. The Marvel Boy trial, the mystery behind Night Thrasher’s family, the introduction of Silhouette, and the flirtation between Nova and Namorita. As much as the series was filled with a lot of humor and goofiness, it remains intensely sad at its core (at least in that first 25 issue run), and that was why I was always drawn to it. I mean, I guess I’m a darker person than I’d like to admit, but when you have team drama mixed with teenage angst, something about it rings true to an actual teenager reading the darn thing. So it’s no surprise that this mixtape EP came out, well, a lot more serious than I ever thought it would be. I hope there’s some positivity in there, as there always was at the end of the tunnel in the comic itself.

You can download the entire EP for free here.

Tracklist:

1. Nova
2. Firestar (by The Ampersands)
3. Nita
4. Astrovik
5. Night Thrasher
6. Speedball
7. Psionex
8. Insurance (Bonus Track)

Another unique appearance may be coming up.

Nerdcore rapper Adam WarRock looks to be planning to release a new EP, similar to last year’s The West Coast Avengers, which included a track about Darkhawk.

Comics writer/journalist Kevin Church posted his cover design for My New Warriors E.P. (left) to his Tumblr page.

The exact release date is not yet known, although it appears it was going to be this Monday at one point.

All of the covers used are from the first 18 issues of the original New Warriors series, specifically issues #1, 3, 4, 10, 11 and 18.

Fred Hembeck wrote and drew the first chronological appearance of Speedball in Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #11 “With Babysitting Comes Great Responsibility!!”, one of his Petey stories of Peter Parker the future Spider-Man as a kid. He also wrote and drew Nova in a couple of issues of Marvel Age where Rich Rider explained his return and the name confusion with Frankie Raye. Nova by Hembeck also appeared in the Fantastic Four Roast.

Can you identify all of them?

If you’d like to add this unique appearance to your collection, you can buy different sized prints starting at $13.99, as well as hoodies, t-shirts and other goodies.

(Via Comics Alliance)

Was he really going to be on a team called the Teenage Negro Ninja Thrashers?

Find out, and also read about the tragic death of the man connected to both of these questions, Dwayne McDuffie, by clicking here.

Angel Salvadore, who took the guise of Tempest during New Warriors volume 4, will appear in this summer’s big X-Men: First Class feature film, according to a Variety article. Actress/model Zoë Kravitz (No Reservations) will play the role of Angel. Despite the use of characters from throughout X-Men’s history, the movie will be set in the 1960s.

Image from IGN's Know Your X-Men article (click to read)

Angel will be the third New Warrior to make it to the big screen. With Jubilee’s addition to the team in 2007′s New Warriors volume 4 under the name Wondra, she retroactively took the mantle. The character was portrayed by Katrina Florece in the first X-Men movie in 2000. Kea Wong took over the role in the sequels X2 in 2003 and X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006.

New Warriors volume 2′s Bolt appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine from 2009. Dominic Monaghan (Lost) played Chris Bradley. Original reports in 2008 stated he was to play Beak (Blackwing in New Warriors volume 4) but they ended up being erroneous, so you never know about these kinds of announcements.

Firestar still holds the honor of being the first New Warrior on the small screen, with her co-starring role in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, as voiced by Kathy Garver (Family Affair). The series originally aired on NBC from 1981 to 1983. Jubilee was among the cast of the X-Men animated series (1992-1997) and also the 1996 Generation X live action TV movie that both aired on Fox. Jubilee was played by Alyson Court (Resident Evil) and Heather McComb (Party of Five), respectively.

X-Men: First Class will be in theaters starting June 3, 2011.

Hulk is one of two projects that are priorities at Marvel Television, Marvel Studio’s TV division, which has been operating under the radar since Jeph Loeb took the reins at the end of June.

The second hot property is “Cloak and Dagger,” which is being developed for ABC Family.

Both are in the early stages of development; Hulk has a “showrunner wanted” placard around its neck. ABC had no comment. Meanwhile, Loeb is meeting with writers to hear ideas for “Cloak and Dagger.”

Marvel began narrowing it list of possible TV adaptations in May with a presentation on the Disney lot. Executives presented ABC suits with a list of titles they identified as possible series.

Ironically, “Cloak and Dagger” wasn’t on the list. (Hulk was.)

Although the focus appears to be on “Hulk” and “Cloak and Dagger,” “Punisher” also has been selected from the herd and is eyed as a cable play, but that is even further away. Marvel’s TV division wants to take things slow, according to insiders, focusing on one or two shows, making sure they are the best they can be and establishing a quality brand before moving forward.

Marvel is in the middle of establishing a shared universe with its movies (the pics and the characters form one big story), but it’s unknown whether the studio will undertake a similar path with TV. Also unknown is whether there would be a connection between the film world and TV world.

The duo created by Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan have had a couple of brushes with getting adapted to film or TV prior to this announcement.

In 2004, a Cloak & Dagger direct-to-DVD animated movie was included in a pitch for a bid at a partnership with Marvel Entertainment. It didn’t go any further than that when the contract ended up going to another production company, Lions Gate Entertainment, which resulted in a deal for 8 animated movies, including Ultimate Avengers, The Invincible Iron Man, Planet Hulk and others, all direct-to-DVD.

Then in 2006, Marvel Entertainment mentioned a Cloak & Dagger feature film in its updated movie plans for shareholders. It and seven other properties, including Power Pack, were “to be developed by Marvel” with no other details given. Four years passed with no further mention of either property at Marvel Films.

Of course this was all before the purchase of Marvel Comics by the Walt Disney Company in January and Marvel ramping up its TV division this past summer. Hopefully third time will be a charm.

Possibly one of the most unique appearances.

Geek rapper Adam WarRock has released a free concept album called The West Coast Avengers EP, which includes a song called “Darkhawk”. And yes, it’s really about Chris Powell. The lyrics include references to Darkhawk’s battles with Hobgoblin and Savage Steel. You can listen to the entire track and download the digital album exclusively at Comics Alliance.

“Darkhawk” samples Above the Law’s “Murder Rap” from their debut album Livin’ Like Hustlers, released in 1990. That song in turn samples Quincy Jones’ 1971 song “Ironside” from his album Smackwater Jack.

Adam WarRock’s official full-length debut album The War for Infinity is scheduled to drop October 7th and could include more New Warriors references. Watch for it at AdamWarRock.com.

Here are the lyrics to the song, provided exclusively to the Continuity Conundrum by Adam WarRock. Thank you, Adam!

“Darkhawk” by Adam WarRock from The West Coast Avengers Mixtape

Just the holder of boulder, the soul controller
Late night patroller, used to be a loner
Hobgoblin wanna battle gotcha playas sobbin’
Even Peter Parker didn’t want start shit

Cuz in the streets, where we battle for real
And the gangstas peel caps with the savage steel raps
Now we got ‘em on the run, cuz we rock it so hot
All the playas havin’ fun while doin’ the robot

My man Chris brings the dope game consistent
Sees the aliens that never even existed
Cuz he’s havin’ like a nervous breakdown
Anxiety attack, in the concrete playground

Suicide, it’s a suicide
If you runnin’ in the dark, then there’s nowhere to hide
Watch ya back, in the dark it’s pitch black
And we strikin’ like a hawk with the west coast raps

Hook:
Crazy ass cyborg, playa with his mind gone
Stalkin’ in the night, gonna strike like a python
Queens is chillin’, West Coast Chillin’
What more can I say to y’all villains…

Now I got a murder rap (repeat x4)

And now you can’t sleep cuz you stay up at night
So scared that you’re gonna see the black and silver in the light
We ain’t players on the Oakland Raiders
Cuz Al Davis (what?), never paid us (yeah)

Darkhawk, always stalkin’ when you walkin’
All alone, waiting for you when you open your apartment door
Can’t see his eyes, so you better recognize
He could kill you in a flash, darkstalker in disguise

And don’t confuse him like I used to do with Sleepwalker
Cuz Sleepwalker’s green and purple, and he’s sleepwalker
Actually, they’re not similar, so just forget it
Don’t know why I confused them even for a second

Flying through the air, metal razor wing tips
British Knight kicks, plus he’s got a beeper on his hip
Creepin’ and cruisin’, haters get a bruisin’
The crazy ass dude with a freakin’ robot suit, man

[hook]

Back in January, the long-running Funky Winkerbean comic strip by Tom Batiuk reminisced about Speedball, even spotlighting the cover of Speedball the Masked Marvel #2 by Steve Ditko! Crazy!

(click to enbiggify)

Oh the sub-text hilarity unknown to the general audience! Back in January Speedball was still the “deeply disturbed and borderline psychotic” Penance. Of course just this month, the bright fun-loving Speedball has finally bounced back in the pages of Avengers Academy, so maybe all hope isn’t lost yet.

(Thanks to Nebula of the New Warriors Source Forum. I can’t believe I missed this until now!)

Instead of ebay, I’m now doing an Amazon store. Shop at The Hindsight!

You can own a part of my personal comics collection. I’ve started to list them for sale on ebay. Every auction starts at just 25 cents, regardless of how many comics are in the lot.

Visit my ebay store and start bidding.

This really has nothing to do with the actual comics coming out now, and more to do with my evolving life, which has allowed less and less time to making it to the comic shop, reading comics, and updating this site in some sort of timely fashion.

My curiosity is shifting to new endeavors. While I’m sad to let the NWCC go, I’m extremely excited to be entering what feels like a new phase in my life. I’ve been devoting more time to original content for my new blog. As many know, I’m an actor and writer. I’m cooking up a lot of videos and other fun stuff that I hope you’ll check out. There’s not too much there yet, but there’s a lot in the works.

I’ll keep the existing information up. The Comments sections on each character’s page will allow you to add new appearances, if you are so moved. I won’t say I’ll never jump back in, or maybe sneak in an update here and there, but for now I must put it to rest. To keep up on all things New Warriors, I highly recommend any of the links below in my long and tedious thanks.

And here goes. I would feel remiss if I didn’t toss out some thanks. First, I really must thank my wife, who has probably been more understanding of the time this site has eaten up than she had a right to be. Really it comes down to the Crash Pad Mailing List Yahoo Group. Several stand out for their help and friendship since the NWCC started back in 2000. If I forgot anyone, or misappropriate something to someone, I apologize and blame my awful memory that was eaten up long ago with New Warriors trivia. Jeremy “Pen” Schwennen, thank you for the in-person meeting (must happen again!), the phone calls, NEWS, Page-by-Pages and Roundtable Reviews. Flank McLargehuge, thank you for NEWS and Roundtable Reviews, and good luck with the Doctor and all that comes of it (how far you’ve come and how much further you’ll go!). Doug Smith, thank you for your generosity, your patience on the web-project that never was, and for constantly raising the bar at the Nova Prime Page. PaxHouse, thank you for always being on the look out for anything New Warriors-related and frequenty beating me to the punch. James Hunter, thank you for the Roundtable Reviews and for asking questions. Jeph York, for being a helpful and resourceful smart@ss (look out, Marvel!). Liam Gibbs, for being a mighty fine bloke. Craig Watson, for remembering Speedball. Tawmis, for creating the New Warriors Dot Com and Crash Pad Mailing List community. Seth “speedbaldwin” for creating the New Warriors Source website and message board, which has become a great new home for NW fans. Also much thanks to David Gallaher, Danny Donovan, Tim O’Shea, and Don Lund, for the industry side. Tons of thanks to all of the comic book creators past and present who have worked and are working on these characters. My interest in and enjoyment of these characters is what started this silly obsession and it is what will keep me reading.

And finally, thank you to everyone who has visited this site and benefited from it. I’ve gotten a lot of emails from people saying how helpful the site has been for them when back-issue shopping. That’s really what’s kept me doing it for this long. I wish I could keep it going for you. There just aren’t enough hours.

Thank you. It’s been a blast.

Avengers: The Initiative (2007)
3
4
5
7
8
10
11
12
21
22
23
25
26
28
29
30
33
34
35
Annual #1

New Warriors (2007)
14
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New Warriors (volume 4) (2007)
10
12
13
14
16

Checklist

Chronology:

1. New Warriors v4 #10 “Thrashed Part Two”
2. New Warriors v4 #12 “Thrashed Part Four”
3. New Warriors v4 #13 “Thrashed Conclusion”
4. New Warriors v4 #14 “Invaded Part One” Secret Invasion
5. New Warriors v4 #16 “Blood and Iron Part One”

New Warriors (volume 4) (2007)
7
10

Slott on Justice:

“Vance is a complex character, but above all he’s a man of principle and a true hero. He’s proud to be both a New Warrior and an Avenger. The man’s got many facets. He joined the Initiative to be there for the young recruits, the way [Captain America] was there for him. But even Steve Rogers fought the system and became Nomad when he didn’t agree with what was going on. Maybe it’s time for Vance to take a chapter from that book. Maybe that’s the kind of person the kids need looking after them?”

Gage on Rage:

“Rage is young, much younger than he looks. He clearly [feels the New Warriors got] a raw deal from the public and the government. There’s [also] some regret there. Maybe he feels things were left unsaid [between him and] those who passed away.”

Slott on Slapstick:

“I think that Steve Harmon is starting to realize that being Slapstick is more than having toon-like powers. It might also mean having toon-like thoughts. And that’s kinda dangerous. Would you want your friends acting like Bugs Bunny in real life?”

Gage on Ultragirl:

“We’ll see in [Avengers: The Initiative #12] that Ultragirl has a lot more to her involvement with the Initiative than just her feelings for Justice.”

Gage on Debrii:

“See Avengers: The Initiative #12!”

For more on each character plus two pages of Avengers: The Initiative #11, read the full article.

Oh good! You clicked through! Thanks, you’re awesome!

The first thing I want to mention is that on April 6th, I’ll be participating in the MS Walk here in Los Angeles (well, Pasadena technically). I would be immensely appreciative if you could find it in your heart to sponsor me, sign up to walk yourself, and/or pass on this plea to others to help raise awareness and maybe even money to find a cure for multiple sclerosis. So, here’s the pitch:

My wife was diagnosed with MS in 2002, and since then she and I have become more aware than either of us would ever want about this disease. On Sunday, April 6, we’re going to participate in the Greater Los Angeles MS Walk in Pasadena. Can you make a tax-deductible donation? If you can pledge to donate any amount, you’ll help make each step of our 5K (~3.2 miles) walk build to something better for the hundreds of thousands that struggle with MS.

Click here to visit my personal page.

Click here to view the team page for teamMS – GLA.

Your donation goes to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which is dedicated to creating a world free of MS, and they need our help. It’s faster and easier than ever to Join the Movement! Simply click on the link at the bottom of this message. Or, if you prefer, send your contribution to the National MS Society, Walk MS: 2440 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Ste. 115, Los Angeles, CA 90064. If sending a check, please make the check out to the National MS Society and be sure to put my name on the Memo line.

Your contribution will allow the Society to fund research, help people with MS lead powerful lives, and advocate for change. I appreciate your support. Please don’t hesitate to post comments or email me with any questions.

For more information about the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, how proceeds from Walk MS: Greater L.A. are used, or the other ways you can do something about MS now, please visit nationalMSsociety.org.

Thank you for Joining the Movement!

-Corey Blake

Click here to visit my personal page.

Click here to view the team page for teamMS – GLA.

Okay, so that was item 1. Next item:

Typically I’m an actor. But technically I went to school for behind-the-camera stuff. Recently, I was fortunate enough to re-use that old muscle and I am extremely proud of the results. Here’s the blurb:

Voices From Chornobyl is a dramatization of the words spoken by the people and workers who lived to talk about the nuclear power plant disaster of April 26, 1986.

Voices From Chornobyl, directed and adapted by Cindy Marie Jenkins, is a stage production based on a book by Svetlana Aleksievich. A demo video has been produced by Nahleen Blake and associate produced by Corey Blake. The video debuted at the Remember Chernobyl Conference in the UK on March 8th.

To watch the the 10-minute demo video in its entirety, please visit the Voices From Chornobyl official site or click here.

And finally the third item. Currently I am in rehearsal for a show that will only have two performances. So if you’re going to be in the Los Angeles area at the end of March/beginning of April, I would be honored if you stopped by to check this out. Here are the details:

needtheater presents
the Workshop of
Ten
by Cindy Marie Jenkins

Set in the near-future, Ten revisits Ancient Greek mythology…

A ruler’s daughter is killed on her wedding night…

A brother escapes brutality in the war his sister fights…

A dramatic exploration of the individual’s role in the destiny of a nation…

Come see the newest and most ambitious work by the internationally recognized writer of Voices from Chernobyl…

March 30th and April 6th–
Two Performances Only

Written by Cindy Marie Jenkins Directed by Ms. Jenkins and Jennifer Kenyon
Produced by Matt B. Wells Stage Managed by Adele Dodds
Original Music Written and Performed by Stephen GC

Featuring:
COREY BLAKE * ADAM BURCH * LISA CASSANDRA * DOUGLAS DICKERMAN *
ENCI * MICHELLE GIACOPUZZI * WILLOW HALE * CONOR LANE *
WILLIAM KNIGHT * BARBARA PASSOLT * RENIE RIVAS * PATRICK SEITZ *
KATIE SWEENEY * MAX THAYER * TONY WILLIAMS * KAPPA VICTORIA WOOD

When & Where
MARCH 30th- 7 PM
@ the FAKE Gallery
4319 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90029
Tickets- $10
CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS
Or call 323-654-6698
FOR COMPLETE INFO, VISIT WWW.NEEDTHEATER.ORG

APRIL 6TH- 2 PM
Excerpts to be performed
@ the Arlington West Memorial
on Santa Monica Beach,
just north of the Pier
This show is FREE.

So that’s me recently. And believe it or not, there’s about 2-3 other things in the works that aren’t ready to be announced yet. And if you made it this far down to find out that last bit, I thank you very much for being that interested and/or that bored. If you’d like to find out more about me, I actually have a message board believe it or not. There you’ll find links to my official site, my Facebook and MySpace pages, and news about other things I’ve been doing. Probably more interesting to you, there’s a small but growing group of comic fans and friends building at the message board, so if you’d like to stop and chat about anything at all, please feel free.

Well, I think that’s enough of all that. I thank you very much for allowing me this little aside. Hopefully my schedule will let up soon and I’ll be able to update the site soon. Thank you for hanging in there.

-Corey