New Behind the Panles

Issue #1 takes an in depth look at The Amazing Spider-Man!

Check it out at:

http://silverbulletcomics.com/news/story.php?a=4041

Where does it go...

Hello Everyone,

I haven't updated in a while, but I've had a bunch of stuff going on, so lets me catch you up.

I've finished 3 and half years of military service (it's mandatory in Israel) and am now back to being a civilian.

I've recently recieved a column at Silver Bullet Comics. The column, "Behind the Panels", will take an in-depth look at various comic characters and storylines in a "Inside the Actor's Studio" type of thing.
Check it out over HERE.

Work on Awesome Storm Justice 41 is proceeding along nicely, and pretty soon you'll be able to check out my first work on the title, letters for Web 18.

Work on the secret project with Ielle Palmer is moving a long nicely. And as soon as we have something to show, I'll be sure to pimp it out over here.

Lastly, check out my ComicSpace page for lots of comic goodies. ComicSpace!

Oh!, I'll be in New York Comic Con! It's a big deal 'cause I'm flying from Israel, so expect a full report when I get back (and if anyone reads this, is attending, and will like to meet, then get in touch with me and we'll make it happen!)

See ya later!
- Itai

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So much to do, so little time...

Wow, you wouldn't believe the amount of good things to happen this week.

First, I got a gig writing reviews for Silver Bullet Comics. So that's awsome. 
You can find my first review for them, for Punisher War Journal #3, right HERE. 

Secondly, I found an artist to collaborate with me in the DimeStore Productions Small Press Idol contest. The contest's grand prize - guranteed publishing of 4 issues of your own issues. That's awsome too. You can check out Paul Ganguly's, my artist, work over HERE.

And lastly, things have been going on quite well with "the project". I really can't talk about it yet, but will say that it's quite exciting and we're planning some amazing stuff for you...

And one more thing after lastly, I've found a new web comic, it's a gaming comic, and it just proved to me that I am still a gaming nerd, despite being away from games for a long time, as I still got most, if not all, of the references. Check out Ctrl+Alt+Del, right HERE.

And that's it for this today's edition of... this.

Line-ups and such...

And there you have it.

That right there is the new line-up for the (new) New Avengers, begining with issue #27. Let's walk this over, shall we?

For my thoughts on the first 3 members: Dr. Strange, Echo and Ronin, check out my last post...

1. Wolverine
I don't hate Wolverine, it's just that he's getting old. I don't think the character deserves two ongoings (which, frankly, are not that good [and one should be burned...]), plus appearances in every other book with an X on the cover, AND appear in an avengers title as well. I mean, yeah Wolverine is cool, and he's got claws and he regenerates, and he's all tough-like - but come-on, how much could you capitalize on the guy? Isn't it enough that two of the 3 X-Men movies were Wolver-centric. Isn't the spotlight on this guy enough?
I think what annoys me the most is, way back in the beggining, Wolverine was hired into the New Avengers for a very specific role - that of the black ops man, the guy who does the dirty stuff. That hasn't happened. Wolverine was not sent on any covert missions, any underhanded business. All he did was drink beer and make passes at Mary-Jane.
So... I wouldn't shed any tears if it was suddenly announced that Mr. Regenerate-After-I've-Been-Incinirated-to-a-Fine-Powder is now off the team.

2. Luke Cage & Iron Fist
Let's face it, these two belong together. I wasn't around for the old "Heroes for Hire" days, as I'm fairly new to comics (I got into them 3 years ago...) but even I can tell that these two have a rich an detailed history. And the fact that Bendis has a man-crush on Luke Cage only helps to ensure that these two will be handled properly on this new team. Hopefully.
I do have high hopes, but I have been disappointed before by Bendis (Ultimate Deadpool?!?). Anyways, seeing Cage and Iron Fist together, should be kinda of cool as these two are used to working together. They know each other's strengths and could play towards that. And with Cage being the apparant leader of the team (until we find out that Ronin is really Captain America and he assumes command, that is) the two should have a pretty prominant role.

3. Spider-Woman
I like Jessica Drew. As a character she has a rich and detailed history, with her working for both S.H.I.E.L.D and Hydra. And I like her status as a double-agent, even though that no-longer seems to be the case, but it could still be re-incorporated.
And with the storylines that will probably dominate this book - more espionage, something's rotten with the world and we're here to fix this, type stories, I think Jessica will make a fine addition to the team.

And she's smokin' hot.

4. Spider-Man
At the begining I thought Spider-Man should not be on a team. He's a loner at heart, and works best while out solo. But as the Newsarama feature went on, and more members were revealed I found myself hoping that Mr. Parker will make the final cut.
Becuase, let's face it - everyone loves Spider-Man. He just worked with the New Avengers. And with this current roster - featuring more street-level heroes (pretty much everybody but Strage) Peter will really shine through. I mean, besides Wolverine Pete is the most experienced hero on the team. And all of the people on it actually respect him - Jessica, Strange, Cage, hell even Logan respects Peter - he earned it.
And besides, Bendis writes one of the best Spidey's currently around. He definatly does a better job than PAD... Evil Uncle Ben... my god, what was he thinking?

And that wraps up my thoughts on the New Avengers Line-up. You can post a comment and tell me what you think.

On a different note, I want to overhaul this Blog a bit, both in appearance and content.
Content-wise - I am formally dubbing this place as "Intillegent Entertainmnet Commentary" focusing mainly on Comics and Games (though the occasional TV and Movie rants may slip through).
Graphically - I'm pretty much sick of using the Blogger templates and I want to work up something of my own, so if anyone knows how to do that and can give me some instructions and/or help - drop me a line.

Until next time,
Cheers!

Double the Ronin, double the fun!

A few things of note, let's not waste any time:

Ronin, Ronin and Dr. Strange

Well, Newsarama has started a feature where they're (painfully) slowly revealing the new line-up of the (new) New Avengers.
Now, I love the New Avengers, it's one of the best series to come out of the Avengers Disassemled event a couple years back (it's also the first series I started collecting [not counting Ultimate Spider-Man {well, they were started simultaneously}]). So I'm damned excited about this new line-up. Until I started hearing about it. Now I'm no longer excited, I'm baffled.
I've yet to decide if that's a good thing...

So... the first in the new line-up is.... Ronin!
Well, Echo to be precise. You see, in New Avengers #11-13 a new character named Ronin was introduced in a story-arc aptly named - Ronin. Much speculations went about as to who is behind the Ronin mask, with the major contenders being Matt Murdock and Elektra. However, in a move completley out of left field (and hat's off to one B.M. Bendis for that one) Ronin was revealed to be none other than Echo, a David Mack creation which appeared as a guest star in Daredevil. For the full details on Echo you can read Daredevil #10-15, #53-55 and the afore mentioned Ronin arc (New Avengers #11-13). Also, check out the Wikipedia article on Ronin right here.

The second member of the new New Avengers is... Ronin!
Wha? Huh? But isn't... wait a minute...
Turns out Echo will go back to being Echo after the first arc of the (new) New Avengers, and someone else will fill-out the Ronin man-suit. And hey, it may even be a man this time around. Bendis has mentioned a charatcer which has becom a "masterless" samurai following the events of Civil War. My guess, one Steven Rogers, formerly Captain "You-think-this-A-stands-for-France" America. Though I'm probably WAY off, as that's TOO obvious.

Moving right along, the third member of the new line-up is... Ro- nah, just kidding. It's Dr. Strange.
Huh? Dr. Strange on a super-team that doesn't start with the letter D?
Yep! Apperantly ol' Stevey-boy kinda regrets taking on the role of Switzerland in this past war and moves to rectify the situation. I'm still on the fence on wether that's a good thing or not... But apperantly Leinil Francis Yu (the new [new] New Avengers artist) draws a kick-ass Strange, so we'll see.

Ultimate Ronin

Yep, you read that right. We now have an Ultimate Ronin. Which pretty much cements Bendis' love for the black man-suit. Who is in the actual suit, possibly Ultimate Echo, possibly someone else. We'll find out come April. Here's an image for you:

Poor Spidey, you never seem to catch a break...

Do You Believe in Magic?

I saw The Prestige today. And it was awsome. Besides featuring the great cast of Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Cain and Scarlet Johanson (who was there for possibly 10 minutes... shame...), the plot was excellent.
Two victorian-era Stage magicians always trying to out do one another. All that and a Tesla Coil. So, highly recomended.

Resolution

Where is that damnable reboot button....

Ah... there it is.

O.k., my New Year's Resolution (which I made about 5 minutes ago) is to start
updating this blog regularly. At least once every 2-3 days. Let's see how long it lasts.

Let's see, where to start... well a lot of things have happened in the past 
couple of weeks. The most important of which is... I'm getting out of the army. Yep, I've managed to shorten my service, and I am now leaving February 8th. I'm happy, which probably means the world is happy. One can only assume.

The second major update is that I've managed to get a US Visa. But why 
would I need a visa you ask?
Well that's because after I'm out, I plan on flying to New York, for Comic-Con!! Hoora! I can't wait it'll be so much fun, and who knows, I may land a writing-gig somewhere...

Speaking of writing gigs, things are going pretty well at PBR and at ASJ, pretty soon you'll be able to see some of my lettering on Webisode 18. From then I've got a webisode that I am editing, 3 that I'm writing and an ASJ mini written by yours truly.

And also theres.... nope, can't talk about it yet. But it's cool.

Moving on, let's hype some stuff up:

Ahh... Buffy.
Who doesn't like Buffy? In March Dark Horse is publishing a new Buffy ongoing. Now, what makes this so special? Well, it's a direct, canonical continuation to the series. They're even calling it Buffy: Season 8 (the show, for those who don't know, stopped at 7). And what's extra-special about this, it's being written by Joss Whedon. Yep - Buffy + Joss = Guaranteed Goodness. Now get Joss to write a Firefly book...

Heroes comes back in 2 weeks. January 22nd, write it down. For those not watching the show, you should. It's a show about ordianry people who suddenly realize they can do extraordinary things. And not one of them gets a pair of tights.
But seriously, Heroes is one of the best-written shows on television. You should definatly check it out. And for those of you who watch the show, but want more - you may not know this (but you probably do) but NBC is contantly releasing short, 6-page graphic novels which take place in the Heroes-universe. They've even got one drawn by superstar-artist Michael Turner! You can check those out Here.

And that's it for today... thanks for checking me out.