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Marvel announced two more Secret Wars tie-ins today respectively via their website and FastCompany. First, Marc Guggenheim and Carlos Pacheco bring the Squadron Supreme into the fold with a new series called, Squadron Sinister. The book brings brings back the original and much more villainous incarnation of the Squadron as seen in The Avengers #69 and #70 back in 1969.

The writer teased a battle between Squadron Sinister and a modern Squadron Supreme, which won’t end well for one of the groups. When Guggenheim was asked about the idea behind the series, he responded, “This series is really rooted heavily in the new politics of Battleworld, which you’ll really get more of a sense of in Secret Wars,” Guggenheim told Marvel.com. “Our guys live in a province called Utopolis which they rule with an iron thumb. Basically the ruler of Battleworld gives the barons of the provinces pretty wide birth, but at the same time, if you screw up the repercussions are pretty severe.”

Marvel also announced via FastCompany that the fan favorite combination of writer KellySue DeConnick and Captain Marvel would get a Secret Wars revamp in the form of a new series titled Captain Marvel and The Carol Corps. DeConnick will be joined by co-writer Kelly Thompson and artist David Lopez. The series pairs Carol Danvers with an all-female squadron of fighter pilots. Some of these characters will be returning faces from the Banshee Squadron team introduced earlier in DeConnick’s run. More than just an off-beat story orbiting the event, the book will dive into Carol Danvers past while putting her in conflict with forces all over the Marvel Universe.

Editor Sana Amanat acknowledged the books title as a nod to the groups of fans that have identified themselves as Carol Corps, “It’s really meant to be a celebration of all of the women, and not even just women, all of the fans who flock towards Captain Marvel and Carol Danvers, who are really saluting her while they’re reading about her at the same time.”

Both series will launch in June under the Warzones! banner.

By Steve Morris

Carol Danvers has never fully clicked as a solo hero, which is strange because in most ways she seems designed to be the star in the spotlight. A blonde-haired, plane-flying, all-American girl, she’s got a simple powerset which makes her visually interesting and still realistic enough to be relatable. Her most recent solo series lasted an impressive 50 issues, but ranged in quality, and struggled to provide much in the way of memorable or defining characteristics. That’s the reason why Kelly Sue DeConnick’s new, revamped take on the character decides to find two big hooks and stick to them. Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t work, and Carol’s personality sinks almost immediately. The book follows.

It’s a shame, because there are things to like about the issue. Dexter Soy’s art is very similar to Crayton Crain in style and use of page breakdowns, but adds a lot more light and clarity to the story. His use of colour and shade are excellent here, and gives the book a unique tone and style which isn’t seen anywhere else in the Marvel universe. DeConnick gives him a range of different things to play around with too, including a short fight scene, some space flight, and a heroic pose or two. He does seem to have a little too much interest in drawing Captain Marvel’s arse, but I suppose that won’t hurt the readership too much.

The problem is that DeConnick’s two hooks for Carol Danvers aren’t particularly compelling. For all Marvel’s talk about how this is a book featuring a strong female hero, Carol doesn’t get much of a showcase here. Most of the dialogue is concerned with emphasising that she is a woman, and she lives in a man’s world, and men are men, and women are women, and that’s different, and we can never change the status quo. The story is so obsessed with defining Carol as “not a man” that is doesn’t do much to define her as a woman. She’s held down by gender, with a particularly weak internal narrative and no promising plots to steer her into. DeConnick wants her lead to be impressive for being a strong woman, but doesn’t do anything but bog her down in leaden ideas about feminism and gender roles.

I can provide an example. The very first fight Captain Marvel gets into is against Crusher Creel, the Absorbing Man. Who JUST WILL NOT STOP with misogynistic jokes. He’s a constant torrent of abuse, and puts Carol Danvers on a constant offensive. Unlike her old friend Peter Parker, Danvers is immediately on the reactive, rather than the proactive. And hey, how come Crusher Creel is a misogynistic character now? Of all the villains who might be demeaning towards women, why did they choose the one who dates Titania? It’s an early example of the defensive attitudes towards Captain Marvel which tank her personality almost immediately in the issue. She can’t come across as her own person, because she’s busy being the ideal for everyone else to judge themselves by.

The second hook is that Carol is a space pilot, which is an EXCELLENT hook. It works for Green Lantern (and sort of for Batwoman), and ties a wave of patriotism into the character which gives her a boost above any of Marvel’s other female heroes. She is military, and sh

By Steve Morris

It’s not over quite yet! Even while Torsten attempts to shoo the remaining sheep out of Stately Beat Manor’s library and Todd tries to piece together one of Heidi’s vases, SDCC 2012 still has a few small bits and pieces left for us all. Marvel’s Spider-Man panel have been announcing a few changes in the company’s third-biggest franchise (assuming that X-Men are first, Avengers are second, and Doop fourth) today, including the cover for this year’s issue #700, and details on the ‘Minimum Carnage’ crossover story.

Yes, Minimum Carnage, following the previous two Zeb Wells-helmed stories featuring the red-fury symbiote villain. Starting with ‘Minimum Carnage Alpha’ and, absolutely, concluding with the Steve-predicted ‘Minimum Carnage Omega’, the series is this time a crossover story. Chris Yost’s Scarlet Spider and Cullen Bunn’s Venom are the two books involved, as the pair of antiheroes team up (after probably fighting each other a bit, as per tradition) to try and stop Cletus Kassady from, y’know, doing a load of murders. Lan Medina will draw the opening issue, before Khoi Pham tackles the Scarlet Spider side of the story and Declan Shalvey draws Venom.

Avenging Spider-Man #13 will be by Kevin Shinick and Aaron Kuder, and features Hypno Hustler and Deadpool. This may well be part of a tie-in to the weird web series Marvel announced earlier in the con, called ‘All-Winners Squad’. This series – live action – features Squirrel Girl, The Unicorn, Hypno Hustler and Doop as they… do something… and Morgan Spurlock is involved. It’s bizarre, nobody quite knows what’s going on. You can read a little bit about it on CBR, who seem equally confused about what Marvel are trying. OR! The issue is unconnected to the webseries entirely, and I just wasted ten seconds of your time.

Issue 700 of Amazing Spider-Man will look like this:

In other news, Punisher: War Zone was revealed to be a five-issue miniseries which wraps up Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto’s current run with the character. To confirm: Punisher is cancelled in September, with this miniseries starting in October.

In it, the Avengers finally decide that it’s time to do something about the ol’ mass murdering vigilante, and things get messy

What have Image got to offer us? Y’know, on top of EVERYTHING ELSE they’ve been offering us this year? Here’s a look at the books announced tonight at their SDCC panel. I’ll throw some pictures at the bottom, but let’s just try and get a hang on just what’s being announced! They are announcing TONNES OF COMICS. I’ll re-update this with new pictures and info as soon as possible, folks.

So far we have:

Non-Humans - Whilce Portacio and Glen Brunswick

Nowhere Men – Eric Stephenson

Satellite Sam - Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin.

A murder mystery set in the world of children’s television.

Pretty Deadly - KellySue DeConnick and Emma Rios

A spaghetti western in classic style

Multiple Warheads – Brandon Graham

Saviour - James Robinson and J. Bone

About an alien invasion of earth by shapeshifters, and a stoner’s attempts to stop them

Sex - Joe Casey and Piotr Kowalski

The Bounce – Joe Casey and David Messina

Lazarus – Greg Rucka and Michael Lark

Gritty sci-fi thriller set in a dystopian future

Reign – Chris Roberson and Paul Mayberry

Oliver – Darick Robertson and Gary Whitta

Point of Impact – Jay Faerber

Great Pacific – Joe Harris