Illustrator John Cassaday recently announced his departure from the Star Wars comic book with author Jason Aaron. Issue #6 is his last, as announced on Sunday from his Facebook page.
“While wrapping up my final issue (#6) and the first arc of STAR WARS,” said Cassaday.
The All-New Captain America artist Stuart Immonen is jumping on board with Aaron. Immonen is set to draw the upcoming issue #8, and provided a cover that has yet to be colored with Luke Skywalker – it should be no surprise that it looks nothing short of excellent. He’s a great choice for the series, able to provide lots of different characters and faces with dynamic action and linework as proved with his tenure on All-New X-Men.
Author Jason Aaron advised fans not to worry about his involvement with the title clarifying that he’s going to be on the comic for sometime.
Just for the record, I am on STAR WARS for the long haul. There are so many stories I want to tell with these characters.
CBR broke the news, and also teased that a special artist is jumping on #7. Any guesses? I’m hoping for Arthur Adams, but after delivering interior art for Guardians Team-Up #1 it seems unlikely.
Kathryn and Stuart Immonen are of course well known for their stellar superhero work, but in their “spare time” they turn out some more personal work which though smalelr and quiter, has an even greater scope. 2010’s Moving Pictures
was a thoughtful and tense exploration of the relationship between a museum curator in Nazi occupied France, and a German officer set against the backdrop of World War II’s art pillaging.
Now they’re back with the collection of Russian Olive to Red King a very long in the making story about a woman whose lover dies. It’s described as “a tortured love story” featuring “petroglyphs and plane crashes and bad dogs and angry people.”
After being promised for several years, AdHouse is publishing the book in May. And here’s a preview. As you can see, it looks amazing.
Ordering info:
Russian Olive to Red King
by Kathryn Immonen and Stuart Immonen.
Published by AdHouse Books
When your lover may be dead, how long can you hold on to what remains? To whatever is left of you? A plane crash, a package, her dog, her voice. A notebook, his writer’s block, and heat-distorted summer memories of a search for Jumbo the Elephant and an absent father.
details:
176 4C pages
7 ” x 10.5″HC
$24.95 US funds
ISBN 978-1-935233-34-3
Shipping May 2015
Diamond Order Code: MAR15 0857
By Nicholas Eskey
All New Captain America #1
Written By Rick Remender
Art & Cover By Stuart Immonen
Following with Marvel’s drastic revamping of some of their well-known comic franchises, Captain America is also getting a total face lift. The “All New Captain America,” which is also the name of the comic itself, has a brand spanking new character at the helm. Well, not really new. Described in the very first page spread over six panels, it is explained how Steve Rogers is no longer able to hold the title of Captain America. The role, along with the iconic shield, is passed on to Sam Wilson, formerly the Falcon.
I’m going to be very blunt in saying that this is a bold move for Marvel and writer Rick Remender. Captain America was originally created amidst WWII as a sort of propaganda comic, on how the lowly Stever Rogers came to become a mighty man who defended truth, liberty, and justice. In essence, it was to show how powerful America was, and how it could kick any foreign butts. Though delving into Captain America history, there was a timeline where it was revealed that the super soldier serum was first tested on African American soldiers, before it was deemed usable for their actual choices. So technically, the first Captain America was black, as shown in The Truth mini series by Robert Morales and Kyle Baker.
Steve Rogers chose Sam Wilson as his replacement, they being long colleagues and friends. But where the new Captain America lacks in super soldier serum, he makes up for with large wings he can use to fly and fight with. And that’s not the only difference. Sam Wilson’s background is that of his father being a righteous Baptist preacher, always calling on those to do good by his words and his deeds. His father is killed, with his mother following suite shortly thereafter, leaving Sam to raise his younger siblings. All the while, the words of his father kept with him, and helped to shape him.
With the total change in appearances, their reasons for being Captain America are also drastically different. Steve Rogers wanted to serve his country, and thus chose to become the Captain. Sam Wilson was forced to face harsh realities early in life, and thus chooses now to fight for himself and the memory of his father.
The idea of giving Captain America a change for a new generation I think is a nice idea, the unimaginative name aside. And Sam Wilson is definitely qualified to be a hero on the same level. Though I do personally have an issue with Sam Wilson being Captain America; it just looks like they took the stars and stripes, and slapped it on the Falcon along with Captain’s shield. And viola, he’s the new Captain America. I really do think there needs to be more than just passing of costume if he’s really going to be Captain America.
Definitely read for yourself though and draw your own conclusions. I just hope the series doesn’t read as a “Falcon” comic with nothing but a “Captain America” dust jacket. “All New Captain America” is available now at your local comic shop.
Battle of the Atom, the 2013 X-Men event crossover, will see All-New X-Men, X-Men, Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine & the X-Men tell a story in which the current X-Men have to deal with past versions of themselves – and, uh, also future versions of themselves.
Over the next few months, I’ll be tracking the story with each issue and keeping score on how well the storyline is going.
There will be spoilers below! Although, really, you’re not going to understand what I’m talking about unless you’ve read the issue first.
All New X-Men #16 is by Brian Michael Bendis, Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger, Marte Gracia, and Cory Petit
Boy oh boy, telekinesis was just MADE for Brian Michael Bendis, wasn’t it? This second chapter of the crossover features a bounty of telekinetic double-talk, allowing the writer to offer second and third takes on each situation as they occur in the story.
It’s also a step up from the first chapter, which was designed mainly to get people up to speed on the All-New and Uncanny X-Men teams. Here we finally get to see a wider section of the X-Men in action, as more and more teams start to pile up on each other. But, if there’s any artist able to handle twenty-thirty people in a scene, it’s Stuart Immonen. Immonen steals the issue with his work, giving each character a ‘pop’ from their background, assisted by some careful and bold inking from Wade Von Grawbadger.
Von Grawbadger’s work with Immonen doesn’t get talked enough as much as it should, really – although Immonen’s pencilling is fantastic, it’s Von Grawbadger who gives the characters that feeling of satisfying chunkiness – they feel solid and bounce off each page. He gives them chunky outlines when he needs them to take the foreground and thins down the aspect for characters like Iceman – establishing the different body types and mannerisms of the characters. He’s a perfect fit for the X-Men.
And what a lot of X-Men there are in this issue! This time we have a brief check-in with Cyclops and his Uncanny team, whilst most of the issue focuses in on a three-team drama in which several characters pick an individual side. The main set-piece here is a telekinetic sequence taken fairly shamelessly straight from the pages of Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men run, as a lengthy discussion and fight are then replayed from a telepathic aspect.
At first it seems like there’s a single discussion going on until Bendis rewinds and replays the scene from Jean Grey’s perspective – revealing that the whole time she’s been telepathically talking to other people in the room, changing the context of the sequence entirely. Whedon held onto this surprise for a few issues, but Bendis establishes and switches the sequence almost immediately. It’s a faster-pace and allows to create a quick, useful conflict between the characters without having to resort to a one-dimensional fight sequence.
It’s pretty obvious that Bendis has been hankering to do this sort of thing for a while, as his All-New X-Men prior to this issue has been full of telepathic tics and quirks. When writing quickfire dialogue, Bendis is hampered by the fact his characters can only say so many words on a panel, within their one motion. Removing that obstacle by writing out thoughts means he can fill each page with as much text as he likes, coating each sequence with side-commentary and exposition.
This is a dream come true for him, you can tell. Luckily the creative team also have the advantage of a few well-planned surprises. The future X-Men team contains one of them, although it’s not quite the surprise you might think it to be. If I can go into an extended analysis of aging, you can see that the Future X-Men team are all around 40 years older than the present day team. With that in mind, the reveal of Jean is not one which returns the version last seen in the hands of Morrison/Pak. Rather, this is the teenage version of Jean, if she stays in the present and ages normally.
Jean’s unveiling is a clever twist for the story, but it also serves to hide what is possibly a more important thing – there’s no future version of Cyclops or Angel amongst the Future X-Men team. Jean is just a distraction from the fact that Bendis has something in mind for his Uncanny X-Men team, and it’s the biggest hook of the issue.
We do check in on that team here, as they recover from Cyclops’ death-experience in the prologue. Interestingly, the story hasn’t bothered to identify any of these characters aside from Cyclops himself. The book relies on readers already knowing who all the new characters are, and that Emma Frost is now wearing the generic suit which Chris Bachalo gives every female character. After finally nailing down one trailing part of time travel – Marvel have by now changed the rules of time travel every year for the past fifty years – that team gets a motivation for their next few issues.
That’s a canny trick, isn’t it? Last issue defined the motivation for the team, but Bendis cut away from the scene before actually telling that to the reader. Instead he pops the aftermath scene into this new issue, therefore quickly giving readers a one-issue wait before confirming that, yes, they are all now worried about the new development from before.
Speaking of how efficiently the issue manages to bring in the other books – Rachel Grey has a very brief, but massively substantial, appearance. She runs in after the fight and does EXACTLY what the reader wants her to, and rounds on the new Xorn. Brian Wood’s X-Men have still not appeared as a team, but they are now set up through Rachel’s one-panel outburst and a single dialogue-free reaction panel from Storm. Two words from Jean, and suddenly the next issue has a purpose as well. That’s a remarkably effective use of a page!
That’s what comes across most strongly in the issue. It’s quick and economical. We still haven’t had much beyond Brian Michael Bendis setting up the pieces of the story… but it FEELS like a lot more than that. There’s an effective use of panel-time here which Avengers readers will look upon enviously. Having telepaths present in each issue means Bendis can write overextended thought bubbles for characters – but it also means he can no longer waste the characters’ time. He can’t have character lie to each other, because there are now four or five telepaths around who will call that out.
With the story so far stuck in a room filled with X-Men (there’s still no sign of a villain, unless you count the DJ who makes a TOTALLY UNCALLED FOR dig at Dazzler’s career), the narrative finally has had to force itself forwards, creating some dramatic momentum for Brian Wood to dig into as we head to chapter 3 of the crossover.
More to come…
By Steve Morris
Stuart Immonen’s artwork is one of the key selling points to, well, anything he is involved with, and All-New X-Men #1 is no exception. The premise of the book is that the original five members of the X-Men – Angel, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman and Beast – have come to the present for some reason (no, there’s no sign of other founding X-Men Shortpack and Sage at this point in time). They are in the present, and they are… in the present. And Stuart Immonen is drawing it! So now you know the premise of the series in its entirety.
The regardless point being, Marvel have released some of Immonen’s pencils for the first issue of the series, written by Brian Michael Bendis. And unsurprisingly, they’re spiffing, corking, and several other 1960s adjectives.
The first page shows us the Jean Grey school, Wolverine’s semi-creepy tribute to his friend’s dead wife, who is now 16 and about to stare him right back in the face. But before he has time to sleep with her and freak us all out, it looks like the team are going to first endure some face-time with Beast. Which is probably going to be especially weird for Beast. You can also see a few students running round in the background, which reveals that Pixie has moved to Westchester along with the others. Yep, Utopia is doomed. Toad is also busy, uh, washing a tree. Cyclops Jr will probably blast him in the face in a moment or two.
The third page revealed shows Beast talking to the younger X-Men, who look like the Famous Five. Look at Jean’s adorable haircut! Shame she’s about a year away from murdering billions of people, isn’t it? If young Beast is scared now, just wait till he hears about the repeated genocides his older self has been enjoying over the past few years. And let’s not even get started on Trish Trilby! Ominous times are ahead for you, McCoy. This appears to be page 20 of the first issue, so lord only knows what the first 17 pages are going to be made up of.
And as a final note, here’s the interconnected cover for the first two issues, which sees all your favourite X-Men scowling at you.
lesstalkmorepaint:
Potatoshop, pixels on cintiq.
By Frazer Irving, from the new group painting blog Less Talk, More Paint featuring Ray Fawkes, Stephanie Buscema, Frazer Irving, Stuart Immonen, Camilla D’Errico, and Karl Kerschl.
“Special artist”. Hmmmm …..
Chaykin?
I vote for Leonard Kirk. He did excellent work with me on the Star Trek DS9 books for Malibu. He does fantastic likenesses and was great to work with on a licensed property.
I wonder who is drawing #7. I’m sad to see him go from Captain America. They did the same thing with him with All-New X-Men.
I’m glad they are putting him on this huge book, though. Hopefully he is paid like it too. He really is their most versatile artist, and that’s saying a lot with the great crop of artists they employ or contract.