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By David Nieves

One of Marvel’s last SDCC panels came with several announcements on Sunday afternoon. Nick Lowe introduced the panel which consisted of fellow editor Mike Marts, writer Mark Waid, Gerry Duggan, Sam Humphries, and Charles Soule and editor Jordan D. White. Dan Slott was ” just talking to someone on the side.” Why not have him join.

To open, several recent announcements about new Sam Wilson Cap, Iron Man, and Thor were hyped again. In addition to these a new Deathlok series will be coming. We can all thank AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D for getting this title as the fan response seemed to demand it according to the panel. The Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier series is going to feature the creative teams of Ales Kot and Marco Rudy, look for it this October.

Soule then jumped into Death of Wolverine. Well, it’s about the Death of Wolverine,” Soule quickly fired. “He’s lost his healing factor and doesn’t bounce back the way he used to. That’s all the setup you need to have.” Each issue will have a distinct genre in it, like Bond, western, maybe even sci-fi.

After the series we’ll see Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy issues 1 and 7 will be written by Soule with various writers and artists doing the in between issues. Gerry Duggan and Scott Kolins will be doing a special called Death of Wolverine: Captain America & Deadpool with the de-powered Steve Rogers. If you still have your Captain America Annual 8, go back and read it because there will be a lot of call outs in it.

Then a new series was announced Death of Wolverine: The Weapon X Program. It’ll be five issues written by Soule with the art of Salvador Larroca. Look for it in November. No other details were given.

Ryan Stegman will join Soule on Inhuman. The series will continue to explore those turned into Inhumans and the people that want to use them. “One of the fun things about Inhuman is that we get to make up new superheroes.” Soule would go on to explain a particular character that reads things to make them real and when the town found this out they blinded him so now his powers are activated by reading braille.

The panel shifted to their other event Original Sin. Original Sin Annual 1 with Woodrow McCord will be written by Jason Latour. In Original Sin 5 we learned about the history of Nick Fury now we learn about the man who hired him to go all space protecting assassin.

Thanos will come to Legendary Star-Lord #4; it will be an Original Sin tie-in that deals with some unfinished business.

Cyclops new creative team will be John Layman and Javier Garron. Greg will be back in the X-Universe but his novel is forcing him to take some time out of other projects.

Mark Waid will have yet another book. S.H.I.E.L.D launches in December. The book will have rotating artists and be in-continuity while bringing characters from the TV show over to comics. Fitz!  “This is SHIELD the TV show but with an unlimited budget,” Waid said. Pacheco, Alan Davis, and Chris Sprouse are just a few of the artist scheduled to be on the book. It appears as though the series will read like television in that each issue is the one-and-done structure.

Gerry Duggan and Mark Bagley are the creative team of Hulk as of August’s issue 5. Waid chimed in whispering to Duggan “tough act to follow.” The series promises a lot of Hulk on Hulk action with Bagley turning in some incredible pages according to Duggan.

Then came the fan Q&A.

The first fan asked about getting more female creators.
Lowe: “More women would make me very happy, too. Believe me, our door is always open to it.”

Another fan asked how long Wolverine will stay dead?
Soule; “This is the perfect time to tell everybody the ending. Don’t worry about it, Lowe. So on the second to last page, Wolverine has won the day, we’re all so happy, he’s gonna make it out. And on the last page, Jubilee pops out and bites him. He dies, and he comes back as a Vampire. So he died so it counts.” A fabulous answer!

Q: Why no X-Men panel this year?

Apparently it was just a victim of circumstance, but there are big plans for the X-books in the coming year, but Lowe did comment on a recent controversy.

Lowe: “And I wanted to say, there have been rumors that we’re cancelling or sabotaging the X-Men and Fantastic Four – we’re not. We don’t put leading creators on titles we want to ‘sabotage’.”

The last fan asked Slott about plans for Silk, long term.
Slott: “Long, serious plans for Silk, and you will see her in the Spider-Verse.”

With that the panel came to an end.

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by David Nieves

Marvel got their C2E2 Saturday off to a running start with a panel dedicated to their next big event, Original Sin. The panel consisted of Mark Waid (who wrote last weeks zero issue) alongside James Robinson and editors Nick Lowe, Mike Marts, and Jordan White. Waid gets things started by talking about his identification with Uatu. According to him both are guys with a big bald head who know a lot about continuity.

Lowe talked about the murder mystery behind Original Sin, saying that the secrets the Watcher has could “do a lot of damage to a lot of people.” Characters who will play a large role in the series include Captain America, the Punisher, and Nick Fury who will be key in figuring out who murdered the Watcher.

The Original Sins tie in series was talked about on the panel. It will focus on the secrets held by Uatu in secret origin type stories featuring characters from all over the Marvel Universe. Issue 3 will feature a story by Charles Soule about Black Bolt and a new character named Lineage; after that their story will be featured in Inhuman. In addition to Sins, ongoing series in the Marvel U will also see tie-ins. One of those tie-ins will affect Peter Park with the reveal of a second person who was bit by the same radioactive spider. The cover image featuring the character named Silk was shown to the audience.

James Robinson spoke a little about the ongoing tie-ins he’s writing, most notable among them will be Fantastic Four 6-7. Robinson said, “The basic premise of the sin is that Johnny Storm messed up an opportunity to turn The Thing back into Ben Grimm.” This story will lead into a new arc that will see Ben Grimm become a murderer himself.

Waid talked about Daredevil 6, which reveals why Matt Murdock’s mother left him and his father. “It runs the risk of changing everything he does, why does everything he does,” said Waid. He also teased some easter eggs in issue 1.5 would give other story details coming soon to the book.

Mike Marts, pitched the last will of Charles Xavier and how it would tie-in to Original Sin. He noted how Bendis kept wanting to up his idea and once he got to where he wanted it, Marts wasn’t sure if his superiors would let them do it.

Nova 18-19 will reveal secrets about Sam’s father and the Black Novas. Lowe promised issues that will rock Sam to his core. Nova’s series tie-ins will also deal with Sam mourning for the Watcher, who as we saw in last week’s Original Sin 0, appeared to have a friendship with Uatu.

Nick Lowe talked about Original Sin: Thor and Loki: The Tenth Realm, the series with the longest title will have the most impact. Angela is revealed to be Thor’s sister and the series will pick up on that and add the origin of the tenth realm she comes from. We’ll also see how Angela will react to Odin being her biological father.

The S.H.I.E.L.D series by Jonathan Hickman is coming back with secrets of its own. But, a few more issues need to be finished before it officially goes back on solicit schedule.

A fan asked about any secrets we’ll learn about Marvel’s villains. Waid said “most villains don’t keep their sins secret!” Robinson did note that one of Doctor Doom’s sins will be in the Original Sins tie-in series.

Later a fan asked about Winter Soldier, Lowe assured him that he will figure in Original Sin as part of the team Nick Fury puts together.

Get ready to learn the Sins of Howard the freakin Duck! Original Sins just made it to my pull list.

With that the deus ended to a round of applause from the audience.

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Marvel Original Sin promos are finally getting a LITTLE outrageous, with the title “Daredevil has one” and a picture of a nun with a baby. As we mentioned before, Marvel’s retailer oriented promo for their upcoming Original Sin mini-series was a bit tepid on the shock scale, mostly involving tinkers with long ago continuity.  Of course knowing Marvel, this image just refers to that time as a kid that Matt Murdock was a babysitter and bought regular as opposed to organic applesauce for baby.

 

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  Beckett, Bernard. (2006) Genesis. London: Quercus Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84724-930-2. Author age: young adult. Litland recommends age 14+.

 

Publisher’s description:

The island Republic has emerged from a ruined world. Its citizens are safe but not free. Until a man named Adam Forde rescues a girl from the sea. Fourteen-year-old Anax thinks she knows her history. She’d better. She’s sat facing three Examiners and her five-hour examination has just begun. The subject is close to her heart: Adam Forde, her long-dead hero. In a series of startling twists, Anax discovers new things about Adam and her people that question everything she holds sacred. But why is the Academy allowing her to open up the enigma at its heart? Bernard Beckett has written a strikingly original novel that weaves dazzling ideas into a truly moving story about a young girl on the brink of her future.

 Our thoughts:

 Irregardless of whether you are an evolutionist or creationist, if you like intellectual sci-fi you’ll love this book.  How refreshing to read a story free from hidden agendas and attempts to indoctrinate its reader into a politically-correct mindset.  And while set in a post-apocalyptic era, the world portrayed is one in which inhabitants have been freed from the very things that sets humans apart from all other creation, including man-made. Once engulfed in the story, the reader is drawn into an intellectual battle over this “difference” between man and man-made intelligence. The will to kill; the existence of evil. A new look at original sin. And a plot twist at the end that shifts the paradigm of the entire story.

 Borrowing from the American movie rating scale, this story would be a PG. Just a few instances of profanity, it is a thought-provoking read intended for mature readers already established in their values and beliefs, and who would not make the error of interpreting the story to hold any religious metaphors. The “myth” of Adam and Art, original sin and the genesis of this new world is merely a structure familiar to readers, not a message. The reader is then free to fully imagine this new world without the constraints of their own real life while still within the constraints of their own value system.

 Genesis is moderately short but very quick paced, and hard to put down once you’ve started! Thus it is not surprising to see the accolades and awards accumulated by Beckett’s book. The author, a New Zealand high school teacher instructing in Drama, English and Mathematics, completed a fellowship study on  DNA mutations as well. This combination of strengths gives Genesis its intrigue as well as complexity. Yet it is never too theoretical as to exclude its reader.  See our review against character education criteria at Litland.com’s teen book review section.  And pick up your own copy in our bookstore!

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This book is a sequel, and the review contains spoilers if you have not read Personal Demons.

Just when things are looking up for Luc Cain and Frannie Cavanaugh, with their newly saved souls and Luc's fresh mortal shell, all Hell is unleashed upon them -- literally. With Gabe gone (in an attempt to save his wings from Frannie's wiles) and only a newbie angel standing between them and utter damnation, a whole host of infernal monsters arrive -- including Lucifer's right hand and possibly the most dangerous demon of them all. The Prince of Darkness won't rest until he lures them all into the abyss -- and unfortunately, not everyone is above the temptation.

In Original Sin, Lisa Desrochers invokes new facets of the Heaven and Hell mythology and takes her series in a surprising new direction. Characters new and old make an appearance, with varying degrees of success. Luc is sexy and snarky, as always, but his new-found humanity softens his edges and gives him an endearing vulnerability. His and Frannie's relationship is also as hot and heavy as ever, and Desrochers ratchets up the tension without Gabe around to distract our heroine. Their dynamic is winning, as Luc struggles to accept his new limitations and Frannie refuses to let him forget that she can thoroughly thrash him with her Judo moves. The alternating perspectives of the young lovers ring true, with incredibly genuine teenage voices despite the supernatural slant of the story.

Readers will sorely miss Gabe (even Team Luc fans like myself), especially since his replacement, Matt, is maddening. His hypocrisy and selfishness will make readers seethe, as will Frannie's extreme willingness to forgive his interference. Fortunately, this seems to be Desrochers' intention, and she once again proves herself a master at investing readers in her characters, evoking gut-wrenching and heart-pounding emotions. This novel made me laugh, swoon and scream in frustration -- sometimes all at once.

The villain of the piece is magnificently manipulative, macabre and just plain insane. The somewhat obscure mythology is fascinating, and Desrochers adds her own flair to create a unique paranormal romance that stands out among the masses. Like Personal Demons, Original Sin is hormone-driven, playing out like a soap opera with intensity, passion, betrayal and bliss that will leave readers breathless. However, the angst becomes a little overwrought near the end of the novel, when Frannie once again begins the waffling act that exasperated me in book one, and Luc exhibits one of the more frustrating paranormal hero behaviors (you'll see what I mean).

The truth also becomes obvious to the reader midway through the story, making the characters' sluggish realization agonizing and rather forced. Nonetheless, the nonstop drama is gripping and the final twist stunning -- it is nearly impossible not to read ahead. The cliffhanger conclusion will leave readers eager for their third and final taste of this cosmic love story, as both Heaven and Hell hang in the balance.

Note: This novel is recommended for mature teen audiences.

Rating: 

Disclosure: I received an advance copy of Original Sin at BEA. This did not affect my review in any way.

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The winner of GODS OF JUSTICE and a first chapter critique is: David Jace! Keep reading for ANOTHER chance to win.


I hope you all remember when Luc visited in honor of the release of PERSONAL DEMONS by Lisa Desrochers. Well, the second book of the series, ORIGINAL SIN, is set to release on July 5th! And I want to celebrate. *throws confetti* I love Lisa's writing. Especially Luc. *fans self* 


Enjoy the following guest post/scene courtesy of Lisa Desrochers, and if you stick around and leave me a comment with your email address I will pick one lucky winner of a pre-ordered copy of the book! U.S. only please. It's that easy.* This book is hot hot hot - I've read it. ;D 



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