From the official Marvel press release:

There’s a new Black Panther leaping onto shelves this February and she—yeah, you heard us—is already making waves in the mainstream. What’s happened to T’Challa, the previous Black Panther? What does it mean for the future of the Black Panther? And just who is under that mask? For some answers and hints, the men behind this new plot twist sat down with the Washington Post in their first interview–  read what Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada and series writer Reginald Hudlin had to say here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/2008/10/this_just_in_for_2009_the_new.html

There’s a storm brewing in Wakanda, and it hits this February in the extra sized Black Panther #1!

www.marvel.com

$2.99 on sale this Wednesday.

I’ve been reading Brian Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man for years (since issue 18 actually). I can say with total honesty that that book is the gateway drug that got me back into collecting comics when I was 16. The past few weeks I’ve been diving into my back issues to re-read arcs from years back and am still blown away by Bendis’ storytelling abilities. With each arc the series gets better, more mature and stronger, as he has an innate ability to mold Peter Parker, Mary Jane and countless other heroes and villains into three dimensional characters we actually give a shit about. Bendis’ proves his worth and relevance in Marvel Comics yet again, meticulously fleshing out back-story that is never dull and only leaves us wanting more. When Peter goes on a 10-page monologue on his search for resolution to his symbiote troubles and his detest for the barrage of corporations that are stealing his father’s life work we know Bendis isn’t fucking around.

This month’s issue of Ultimate Spider-Man sets up an the end of this current chapter of the Ultimate Venom mythos within the series and simultaneously kicks off one that marks the much-anticipated return of Gwen Stacy (or at least her clone). And maybe it will possibly answer our questions on why she is also part Ultimate Carnage and set us up for yet another story that takes what has been done in the normal Marvel Universe, flipping it on it’s ear and creating something fresh, original and of course fun to read.

Each week, Marvel is kind enough to provide us with a pile of comics for early preview and review. Every week we bring you previews of a few select comics from what Marvel sends us. Enjoy this weeks Marvel previews!

Daredevil #112 The Hand is back in New York City with Lady Bullseye at their helm! They are looking for something, and while what that is has yet to be revealed, you can be sure that it is not going to be good for ol’ DD. Daredevil continues to be an awesome read and you can check out my review of this latest ish on Monday!

New Avengers #46 The Hood and his gang need to gain an advantage on the Skrulls, and they need to do it immediately. In order to do so Hood will have to find out the true nature of his powers in this Secret Invasion tie-in! Watch for a review of this revealing issue from Clang! Boom! Steam! in the coming days!

Ultimate Spider-Man #127 This is it! Carnage vs. Venom! The exciting conclusion to the War of the Symbiotes! Peter must help find Venom or risk his secret identity being revealed! Oh, and did I mention an important character from Peter’s past shows up? Watch for a review from Human Junk!

And  that’s it for this weeks Marvel previews! You can pick up all of these titles plus a ton more on Wednesday, October 22! Be sure to check out our comic listings to see what’s on shelves!

Wondering just what Eisner & Emmy winning superstar writer Jeph Loeb & red-hot artist David Finch are planning for the blockbuster event known as Ultimatum? Well here’s your chance to find out the fate of the Ultimate Universe! UGO.com has your exclusive first look at the new trailer to Ultimatum—just click over to http://www.ugo.com/comics/marvel-ultimatum-trailer/! Featuring never before seen, eye popping art by Finch, this trailer will have fans’ jaws on the floor!

Each week, Marvel is kind enough to provide us with a pile of comics for early preview and review. Every Friday we bring you previews of a few select comics from what Marvel sends us. Enjoy this weeks Marvel previews!

Astonishing X-Men #27 The X-Men are back on track with a new look, a new locale, and a new resolve as a team. But the next challenge that faces them will shake each member to the core! This title has been great! Watch for a review from me on Monday!

Guardians of the Galaxy #6 The Guardians are trying their damndest to figure out the skrull infiltration amongst their ranks, but after the dust settles will the team stay intact? This is an underrated title that is certainly worth checking out… I mean, come on, there’s a bad-ass, gun-toting space raccoon!

Mighty Avengers #19 Mighty Avengers and Secret Invasion marches on! Of course, so much of this can be traced back to the Kree/Skrull war and in this issue the lives of Captain Mar-Vell and Marvel Boy will greatly affect the events of Invasion and shape the future of the Mighty Avengers!

Moon Knight #23 Osborn and the Thunderbolts have been instructed to bring in Moon Knight and have thus far come up empty handed. But now, does Osborn have a full proof plan? Her certainly has the muscle and the numbers, but what he doesn’t know? Moon Knight is not alone… Swank and I are fans of Moon Knight, so here’s to hoping this issue is better than the last one.

Ultimate Origins #5 This is it folks. The Watchers finally speak! And you won’t want to miss what they have to say about the future of the Ultimate Universe! This has been a great series I think, but you can see what Clang! Boom! Steam! has to say about it in his review in a few days!

That’s it for this week bots! You can pick up all of these titles plus a lot more on Wednesday, Oct. 15!

Earlier this year Jeffrey Brown put out a great little book called The Incredible Change-Bots. Just recently he posted this great trailer for the series. Go check it out!

Wow, lots of great stuff this week. Let’s get right to it:

• 100 Bullets 96 We’re getting closer and closer to the end of this great series.
• Amazing Spider-Man 570 I’m pretty sure this is the issue co-starring Stephen Colbert.
• Crossed 1 Garth Ennis is at it again. I can’t wait for this one.
• Deadpool 3 More of the merc with the mouth.
• Kick Ass 1-4 Reprints If you missed out on these issues up til now, here’s your chance to catch up.
• Legend of Zelda GN I know its gay, but I’m still reading it.
• Man Who Loved BreastsThere, are you happy now? Less gay.
• Marvel Zombies 3 #1 Is it just me or has this joke gone on long enough?
• Spider-Man loves Mary Jane 3 I know CyberNev and I aren’t the only ones reading this.
• The Stand 2 Seriously worth picking up.
• Sulk Vol 1 One of my favorite guys, Jeffrey Brown, starts his own ongoing series.
• Walking Dead 53 Everything gets more fucked up.

Writer- Grant Morrison
Pencils- Tony Dainel
Inks- Sandu Florea
Color- Guy Major

The Thin White Duke of Death is the title for issue #680 of Batman and is the 5^th issue of the story “Batman RIP” running through the main book. Batman RIP is the current Batman storyline running through the Batman family of comics (Batman, Detective Comics, Robin, Nightwing, and Batman and the Outsiders) but realistically is it’s own animal entirely. The other books seem to be thematically picking up pieces of the story and work themselves around it and not necessarily vital to reading RIP.

Morrison’s run on Batman has been met with mixed reactions and much controversy. People have either found Grant’s Batman to be “absolutely brilliant” or “complete and utter garbage”, there’s no in-between and fans feel very strongly one way or the other. Not only is the series continuing to draw in new readers from Morrison’s fan base, the speculation of the fate of Bruce Wayne’s fate has brought in new and old readers as well. DC’s even gone as far to pass out promotional buttons at cons this year featuring Nightwing, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, and Hush with the words “I Am Batman” beneath them.

To sum up the story thus far, Batman pays a visit to the recently disfigured Joker in Arkham Asylum (DC Universe #0). He questions him about the Black Glove, a mysterious person or crime organization apparently gunning to destroy Batman. The Joker responds in a cryptic series of clues that begin to lay the foundation of the story. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne has been romancing the fashion model Jezebel Jet, who uses her celebrity to provide funding for the small African nation she is in charge of. She’s recently discovered that Bruce is in fact the Batman, and in the first issue of RIP (Batman #676) questions him about what he will do when it’s all over and . Bruce sidesteps this question and instead becomes suspicious of the invitation they have received inviting them to the mysteriously rich elite Black Glove Dance Macabre themed party. Jet sees this as a fund razing opportunity, whereas Bruce sees this as a ploy to lure the Batman into the hands of the Black Glove.

Speed up a couple issues where, Bruce has been assaulted, drugged, and left as human refuse with his mind confused as to who he is. Bruce manages to pull himself together in an unexpected manner and assembles a ragged makeshift Batman costume and gear from scraps and trash. Bruce seems to be going crazy as his mind creates a back-up Batman persona to protect himself that is advised by a floating “Bat-Mite” (who has some kind of parasitic insect attached to his back). Batman begins hunting down the members of the Club of Villains (criminal opposites of the Club of Heroes, an international group of Batman inspired heroes) who is lead by Dr. Hurt, a psychiatrist who conducted hallucinogenic isolation experiments on Batman years ago in the name of “Space Medicine”. Hurt and the Club of Villains are tied into the Black Glove and are in the process of hunting down Robin in their plans to destroy Batman. Nightwing is captured and drugged and taken to Arkham Asylum, where the guests of the Black Hand have gathered to witness the destruction of the Batman.

The current issue shows the guests assembling to watch and gamble on the outcome of whether Batman will survive or fall. When Batman is revealed to the guests betting on the outcome, the guests think they are being conned as they can’t believe it’s Batman, due to his bizarre appearance.

As Batman makes his way to Arkham to save Jezebel from the Black Glove, the Joker is released by Dr. Dax, who reveals himself to be Le Bossu of the Club of Villains. In addition to Jezebel, Nightwing is also being held in the asylum, drugged and unconscious by the Scorpiana. After an explanation to Bat-Mite as to the color scheme of his outfit is to demonstrate total confidence, Batman makes an explosive entrance, disarming several of Le Bossu and Charlie Coligula’s henchmen. Bat-Mite informs Bruce he will not be able to continue and that it will be up to Batman alone to face what’s to come.

The climax of this issue actually come after the showdown between the Joker and Batman in a twin peaks-esque red and black backdrop. The verbal exchanges back and forth show how damaged and broken these two have become and become an encounter not to be soon forgotten. Without giving anything away, the final pages leave the fate of the characters hanging in a terrible place leaving an extremely unsettling cliffhanger to be concluded in the next issue. The characters at play in these final pages will not walk away from this story without damage, physical, mental, and emotional.

On the plus side, this is not a typical Batman story. Despite the nods to the silver age stories and straightforward narrative, there is a series of layers and metaphors beneath the skin of the plot. For folks looking for something more than standard superheroics, this series is a wonderful look at the character and a truly excellent read.

On the downside, this is not an easy read for most casual readers. It has so much going on that a reader picking up the current issue would be horribly lost. Not only that, the title character is almost unrecognizable in addition to a cast of villains with almost no back-story or point of reference.

Morrison’s work tends to be best viewed as a whole once finished allowing the reader to see the puzzle in its entirety. Regardless of what happens to the Batman by the stories end, I don’t think many will be forgetting this story soon, for better or for worse.

Batman RIP Required reading

DC Universe #0

Batman #676-#681

BSR’s resident Ghostbusters nerd (yours truly) received an e-mail from ZOMBIEcarrol about IDW’s Ghostbusters: The Other Side. Newsarama has a sneak preview of the first 5 pages. Go check it out!

Egon Spengler! Ray Stantz! Winston Zeddemore! Peter Venkman! The original Ghostbusters return in an all-new, four-part Ghostbusters story from IDW! Writer Keith Champagne (Green Lantern Corp, The Flash) is joined by artist Tom Nguyen in this new Ghostbusters saga. When the Ghostbusters capture a group of ghostly crooks, they unknowingly run afoul of a gang comprised of the spirits of some of America’s most legendary gangsters. Dead or alive, the mafia knows exactly how to deal with a problem like the Ghostbusters: rub ‘em out!

Ender’s Game is one of the most successful science fiction series of the eighties. Of course, I say this without having actually read it or ever having discussed it with anyone or even knowing a damn thing about it. I suppose I’d heard of it before, but I can’t really say that with any certainty.

Having read this introductory issue I’d say that there is a lot of potential for the comic series. The lead character is intriguing and the world is not overly complicated or hard to get into. There is a bit of lingo that is never clearly explained, but for the most part the meanings can be inferred. Certainly part of the charm is having all the elements of the story come together and finally make sense. While it was a lot of setup and not much action there’s really no other way for a quality story to begin. A solid foundation, so to speak. The art wasn’t really my style but it seemed well matched with the subject matter and was executed cleanly and consistently.

Overall I wasn’t completely bowled over but there are aspects that piqued my curiosity. I cannot guarantee that I would actively seek out and purchase the next issue but I am definitely interested to see how the story will develop.