At last, it’s the next episode of The CrashPod with myself, Tawmis Logue of NewWarriors.com and Doug Smith of the Nova Prime Page! We deal with the sad news of the cancellation of New Warriors, which will be ending with issue #12 in November. But the series isn’t over yet, so we dive in to discussing issues #6, 7 and 8, as well as Nova issues #18, 19 and 20. And of course we talk about Guardians of the Galaxy #18, the first part of the story that will explain what happened to Richard Rider. Despite the sad news and ridiculous amount of technical problems, I had a lot of fun recording this issue. Be sure to listen all the way to the end for our now-customary post-credits bonus. Hope you enjoy!
All of the above-mentioned issues have also been added to the site with more coming. Keep checking for my stealth updates.
And finally, Sam Alexander is still co-starring in Ultimate Spider-Man! The third season renames the series Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors and is airing now. Cloak and Dagger recently debuted. Sam will be a playable character in Disney Infinity: Marvel Super-Heroes (2.0 Edition)! Check out this trailer video released by Marvel.
To promote the release of New Warriors #1, writer Christopher Yost and artist Marcus To sat down with dyed-in-the-wool New Warriors fan and Marvel editor Ben Morse and Marvel Digital executive editorial director Ryan Penagos for an episode of This Week in Marvel NOW! at Marvel.com. Listen to the entire podcast for the full details. Here is a rough overview (with parenthetical comments by me to give some background info here and there):
Yost reiterated his love for the original New Warriors series by Fabian Nicieza and Mark Bagley. Marcus To is newer to the characters and brings a fresh perspective to the team.
The book is, in a sense, a spiritual successor to Yost’s Scarlet Spider. Yost knew at around Scarlet Spider #2 that it wouldn’t last forever. They felt it did tremendously well for a book about a clone of Spider-Man, but around the middle of the second year, they started looking for what to do next. He started working with editor Stephen Wacker on the next phase for Kaine and hit upon the idea of a new New Warriors. For a time, it was going to be “an all-clone book”. But because of the relaunched Nova series, and guest appearances by Speedball and Justice, they thought “maybe there’s an appetite for getting the band back together”. The book then transitioned into a “new take on the New Warriors”.
Editor Sana Amanat took over shepherding the book, and when she asked Yost if he had an artist in mind, he immediately suggested Marcus To from their collaboration on Red Robin at DC Comics.
Yost explained that the first story arc is the team coming together with a specific threat occurring at the same time. Again looking to the first series, Yost noticed that the original line-up consisted of a “microcosm of the Marvel Universe”, with a couple of mutants, a superhuman, an Atlantean, a space-based hero, etc. They took that concept to the next level with one of every type of hero in the Marvel Universe. This is what’s being targeted by the villain the High Evolutionary, who thinks he’s saving humanity from being wiped out from these stray species. (This is reflected in the recent High Evolutionary Journals posted to Marvel.com.)
Yost and To then ran through the newer characters joining the team for the first time:
Sun Girl is a regular human whose father was the villain Lightmaster. Her equipment is based on his technology. She is a classic hero and an idealist who had a run-in with the Superior Spider-Man (Doctor Octopus’ mind in the body of Spider-Man, believe it or not).
Water Snake is a brand new character. She’s an Atlantean and her mission on the surface world, which will “speak to New Warriors fans pretty clearly”, will be revealed as the series progresses. She has a connection to Namora (Namorita’s “mother”).
Hummingbird, from the pages of Scarlet Spider, has an Aztech deity residing in her mind, making her a demi-god. She can control people’s emotions. She is 15 years old and is bright and excited.
Heichi is an Inhuman with the power to absorb energy. He will be introduced in New Warriors #2. He will first be seen riding the subway trying to cover the large horn on his head after being transformed. He ties in to the recently concluding Infinity and upcomingInhumanity events. He is drawn in to the battle with the High Evolutionary.
Marcus To said that Water Snake was one of his favorite character designs to create. For Justice and Speedball, their designs remained mostly the same from their appearances from the recent past. In addition to the cast, he’ll be drawing the Salem Seven, the Morlocks, a character named Hybrid from the fondly-remembered ROM series, along with dozens of other stops throughout the Marvel Universe.
Regarding the ages of the team, Yost speculated that the team roughly ranges from 15 to 24. Scarlet Spider is the oldest at about 24, although being a clone, they guessed he’s really about 3 years old. Sam Alexander is the youngest at about 15 (along with Hummingbird). Speedball was speculated to be about 18 years old. Yost also talked about how life experiences factor into readers’ perceptions of the characters’ ages.
The team dynamic was further discussed. From early on, Yost and Wacker saw the team as becoming a group of heroes that want to be together – “If they weren’t out saving the world, they’d be hanging out, having fun.” They’ll bicker and fight, but they will get along. By the end of the first year, it will be a tight knit group. At issue 5, “they just hang out”.
Getting more specific, Yost considers Justice the linchpin of the team. Sun Girl is the little angel on his shoulder and Kaine is the little devil on his shoulder. They both yell in Justice’s ear to try to influence him in opposite directions. That trifecta will drive the book often. Kaine and Water Snake will form a mutual respect for each other after initially duking it out when they first meet (in issue #2). Hummingbird will have an “unfathomable crush” on Speedball. Everyone will put Nova through the ringer because he’s the rookie.
For callbacks to the original series, Yost said that Namorita will be a presence. He has a soft spot for Silhouette, so he’d be surprised if she didn’t show up at some point. “If I had my way, I would’ve had Firestar in here from issue one.” (Firestar currently has a spot on the team starring in Jason Aaron’s Amazing X-Men.)
Yost described his New Warriors as an old school Marvel comic with big adventure and a lot of fun. It is in the tradition of classic Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and is the “flagship title of the Marvel Universe right now” that is influencing every other book whether they know it or not.
New Warriors #1 was released today! Pick up your copy at your local comic shop, or buy digitally at comiXology, where you can also pre-order issue #2 (on-sale March 5) and/or subscribe to the series.
Appearances from the issue have been added to the site, plus there’s now a page for Water Snake.
Marvel.com posted a 2-part column titled “Open the High Evolutionary Journals” last week. They address the high concept of the series as well as what appears will be the main villain for this New Warriors team. The column breaks down each type of super-human, be it mutant, clone, Inhuman or what-have-you, and highlights one of the members of the new team as the “target specimen”. The Journals are written by New Warriors writer Christopher Yost, and include a preview of New Warriors #1 by artist Marcus To and cover artist Ramon Pérez. Here’s Part 1, and here’s Part 2.
To add to the growing buzz, the same preview pages are making the rounds on news sites, like Comic Book Resources and Comics Alliance, and also include a look at the three variant covers by To, Skottie Young and Chris Samnee.
New Warriors #1 will be on-sale in print and digitally on February 19th.
Pérez won three Eisner Awards and two Harvey Awards in 2012 for his work on the beautiful graphic novel Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand published by Archaia Entertainment. Since then he’s been the artist on Wolverine & the X-Men and John Carter: The Gods of Mars, among other comics.
Comic Book Resources now has a poll up asking its readers Which of the Upcoming All-New Marvel NOW! Titles Are You Most Excited About?. At the time of this posting, New Warriors by Chris Yost and Marcus To was in third place out of 13 titles announced at New York Comic Con with over 8% of the votes. Go vote!
Also, this is what happens when I have Columbus Day off the day after a new New Warriors series is announced: Yesterday I updated every character page with appearances up to the present. Keep in mind that most have not yet been confirmed, so the order of many is bound to change, and some may yet be removed or added as I find a way to read these issues (probably through comiXology’s Marvel app and/or the Marvel Unlimited digital subscription). Limbo Part 4 has not yet been updated. Please feel free to chime in on corrections/additions/etc. in the comments of each character page or here.
My goal is to soon add pages for the new Nova (Sam Alexander), Scarlet Spider (Kaine), Hummingbird, and the rest of the soon-to-be new members. NewWarriors.com has already beat me to the punch with a Sam Alexander page. If you haven’t checked out that site, you should definitely do so, along with its Facebook page and forum.
10/14: UPDATED with news from Twitter and Tumblr comments confirming the first villain, a Marvel.com interview, the possible logo, and an endorsement from Fabian Nicieza.
Announced during Sunday’s Superior Spider-Man & Friends panel at New York Comic Con, New Warriors will be relaunched as part of the All-New Marvel Now! branded titles in February 2014. The creative team will be writer Christopher Yost (Avengers: Earth Mightiest Heroes animated series, Thor: The Dark World feature film, Scarlet Spider) and artist Marcus To (Adventures of Superman, Batwing, Red Robin) with a team roster that includes original Warriors Justice and Speedball with the new Nova (Sam Alexander) and the current Scarlet Spider (Kaine). The cover at right, incorporating the familiar New Warriors triangle into the background, is by To.
The creative team of Yost and To previously worked together on DC Comics’ Red Robin. Yost’s Scarlet Spider ends with issue #25, followed by the character showing up in this series.
The book was first promoted in one of a series of teaser images released in the week leading up to New York Comic Con. The ‘War’ teaser (pictured below) was released on October 4th.
Comic Book Resources posted first about the news in their coverage of the Spider-Man panel. Editors Steve Wacker and Sana Amanat provided the details to attendees:
The final announcement of the panel, revealing the project behind the “War” teaser: A new New Warriors, coming in February from writer Chris Yost and artist Marcus To. Members include, according to Wacker, Justice, Nova, Speedball, Scarlet Spider and Sun Girl. Amanat said it brings together members of various groups in the Marvel Universe — mutants, aliens, clones and more — who have been “deemed a threat” by the High Evolutionary.
Along with the action, Amanat said, it’s about the cast becoming friends and learning to work together. Wacker said the creative team is going for a vibe somewhere between the Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans and Brian K. Vaughan’s Runaways.
Later in the panel, a Q&A session included a fan asking for everyone’s favorite version of Spider-Man. According to CBR, editor Tom Brennan answered, “I’ve been editing Scarlet Spider for a little under two years now. I kind of love Kaine.” Brennan then praise the Scarlet Spider creative team, thanked fans for their support, and encouraged them to buy New Warriors, where the character will be.
Minutes later, Newsarama provided their own panel report, which provides some additional small details:
Next, the teaser for “War”: Chris Yost and Marcus To will be taking on New Warriors.
Nova, Speedball, Justice, Scarlet Spider will be part of the team, as well as Sun Girl and a new Inhuman, as well as an Atlantean and a mutant. “We’re assembling superheroes of all backgrounds and all races, and they’ve all been deemed a threat,” Amanat said. “They must protect the people that they love.”
What is the purpose of the New Warriors when we have a powerful team like the Avengers? Amanat said that would be discussed in the book. “It’s about these kids coming together and getting to know each other and exploring who they can become outside of the Avengers.” Wacker said the vibe of this book was around Marv Wolfman’s Teen Titans and Brian K. Vaughan’s Runaways. It’s due out in February.
War teaser
Newsarama quickly followed that coverage with an exclusive first interview with Yost about the new series. The writer opened with his professing his love for the original series: “I’ve been a fan of the New Warriors since day one, when Fabian Nicieza and Mark Bagley launched it.”
Yost provided a quick take on the core members. “Justice isn’t sure the New Warriors are needed in an Avengers world, especially given how tainted the name became after Stamford. Speedball needs the New Warriors more than ever as he struggles with his personal demons. And Nova… he’s the new kid on the block, curious to be on a team with people who knew the previous Nova.” He also mentioned the possibility of other past members returning in the future. “Members like Silhouette, Turbo, even newer members like Debrii… maybe down the road.”
Yost stressed a sense of fun would be present, along with a look at all corners of the Marvel Universe through each of the characters.
Beyond the recognized team members, Yost described the rest of the cast: “Sun Girl, a human. Haechi, an Inhuman. Aracely, a Demigod. Water Snake, an Atlantean. And a Clone by the name of Scarlet Spider.” Aracely has been a supporting character in Scarlet Spider.
He ended the interview with what seems like a mission statement of sorts for the series: “The stakes are high. The action is huge. The hero-ing is super. This is old school Marvel Universe action that’s international, interplanetary, inter dimensional. There’s drama, romance, and world saving. And it’s fun. Remember that?”
Yost has also been talking on Twitter, where he revealed a possible first appearance for one of the new members.
@AnimeKing420 you’re going to meet one of them in Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #5
10/14: UPDATE: A subsequent tweet confirmed the planned use of the High Evolutionary as “one of the villains”.
Slideshow at NYCC
Marcus To has also been talking about the new series on his Twitter and Tumblr accounts. He revealed that the cover image above was the first time he drew the characters together, so they may end up looking a little different. Also, regarding ages, he stated that while he does tend to draw characters looking younger, the characters’ ages will remain consistent. Roughly, Nova is 14, Kaine is around 26 and most of the rest of the cast is about “17-18-19 ish”.
Marvel.com posted an interview with the two creators, which confirmed that Sun Girl will appear in an upcoming story arc in Superior Spider-Man Team-Up. It also revealed Aracely’s codename will be Hummingbird. There are good comments from both about their take on the characters and their plans for the series, which will be firmly set in the Marvel Universe.
Original New Warriors writer Fabian Nicieza also provided his thoughts, both on Facebook and Twitter:
Because I’ve been asked to comment by enough people already, here is what I honestly think of Marvel’s NEW WARRIORS series announcement: #1) It would have been nice to have been asked to write it. #2) If they weren’t going to ask me, then Chris Yost and Marcus To are an absolutely GREAT team to launch a new series!
Finally, Bleeding Cool got a picture of the slide shown at New York Comic Con, which might indicate the logo. It looks to be a variation on the logo used late in the original series.
This is all looking good to me! More info as I see it. I might even start updating character appearance pages again, along with new pages for our new New Warriors, schedule permitting.
This will mark the fifth Marvel comic book to bear the New Warriors title and the fourth ongoing series. The last series ran for 20 issues from 2007 to 2009. A 6-issue mini-series preceded it in 2005. The first relaunch occurred in 1999 and only lasted 10 issues (plus a special zero issue included in an issue of Wizard Magazine). The original series successfully ran for 75 issues from 1990 to 1996, and produced four spin-off titles (two ongoing series and two mini-series).
Illustrator Ilias Kyriazis made a fun mural of his favorite 100 Marvel characters interacting in funny and unique ways. The New Warriors are represented by Penance at number 96.
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.
The original art for Mark Bagley and Randy Emberlin’s cover for Amazing Spider-Man #352 from 1991 recently sold for $3,346. Heritage Auctions sold the artwork as part of their Vintage Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction held in Beverly Hills from November 15 to 17th. The entire auction brought in over $5 million. From the listing:
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.
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.
Missed this from back in August. (Thanks, Liam Sharp from the New Warriors Crash Pad mailing list.)
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.
News has broke that Marvel Television is in the early development stages to bring Cloak & Dagger to the cable television network ABC Family, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Incredible Hulk is also being developed for TV.
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.
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.
Marvel Comics assistant editor Nathan Cosby announced last week on his Hey! Kids! Comics! blog at Marvel.com that the publisher intends to release a new mini-series called Skrulls vs. Power Pack.
Details were limited but it seems likely that this will be the next mini-series in the ongoing run of all-ages Power Pack mini-series. No release schedule was announced but it will probably follow Power Pack: Day One, which concludes in June. No creative team was announced, although there is a look at four sketches for a potential cover.
Despite the Skrull connection, the book will not tie into Marvel’s next big summer event Secret Invasion. This will be the first time the Power Pack kids will be starring in their own mini-series without a co-starring Marvel hero since the 2005 Power Pack mini-series by Marc Sumerak and GuriHiru.
To read the full blog posting, which includes an amusing ‘appearance’ by Katie Power and the ability to vote on your favorite cover sketch, click here.
To read previous Hey! Kids! Comics! blogs with Katie Power appearances, click here, here and here.
Marvel Comics released solicitations for comics shipping in June. The highlights: New Warriors concludes its third story arc, “Thrashed,” as the team’s leader is missing when they need him most. Nova‘s clash against Galactus and the Silver Surfer continues. Power Pack: Day One concludes the brand new origin of the youngest super-heroes! Plus, the Thunderbolts, a new Official Handbook hardcover edition, and more new collections. Read on…!
Marvel Comics released solicitations for comics shipping in June. The highlights: New Warriors concludes its third story arc, “Thrashed,” as the team’s leader is missing when they need him most. Nova‘s clash against Galactus and the Silver Surfer continues. Power Pack: Day One concludes the brand new origin of the youngest super-heroes! Plus, the Thunderbolts, a new Official Handbook hardcover edition, and more new collections. Read on…!
Nevets Faulkner Presents: The New Warriors Continuity Conundrum 