Top Comics Publisher Announces Historic Initiative To Reshape The Comic Industry


The Marvel ReEvolution is here—and comics will never be the same! The future of comic book publishing was unveiled yesterday to the raucous crowd at SXSW Interactive’ s ScreenBurn Arcade courtesy of industry superstars Axel Alonso (Editor in Chief, Marvel Comics), Peter Phillips (SVP/GM, Marvel Digital Media) and Jeph Loeb (Head of Marvel Television) during the historic Marvel: House of Ideas panel.

An industry first, the Marvel ReEvolution seamlessly brings the worlds of print and digital media together for a comics experience like no other. The first two elements of this exciting new initiative were revealed as Marvel Infinite Comics, a new comic book format, and Marvel AR, the first major augmented reality app from a comics company. And fans will not have to wait long to get in on the action as they will both be released with the hotly-anticipated Avengers X-Men #1 on April 4th, when the two biggest Super Heroes teams in the world go to war!

“Marvel’s always led graphic fiction industry in digital media innovation and the Marvel ReEvolution is a quantum leap into the future of publishing,” said Dan Buckley. Publisher & President of the Print, Animation & Digital Divisions, Marvel Worldwide, Inc. “We see print and digital product as complementary, not competitive—so we’ve made sure that not only do we have new digital content but also digital products that enhance the printed page. The release of Avengers VS X-Men #1, the biggest story we’ve ever told, is the activation point for the re-evolution of comics as a whole.”

Marvel Infinite Comics represent a new form of comic book storytelling, using tablets and smartphones as a new canvas for storytelling, taking advantage of modern technology while staying true to medium’s greatest strengths. The first comic released in this format will be Avengers VS X-Men #1 Infinite, from acclaimed creators Mark Waid and Stuart Immonen and available on April 4th for purchase on the Marvel Comics app, free with the redemption of the code found in print copies of Avengers VS X-Men #1 or included with the purchase of the digital version.

“We call these Marvel Infinite Comics because the storytelling possibilities are, frankly, infinite. Writers and artists now have a whole host of new tools at their disposal to redefine the comic book medium,” said Alonso. “Current tablets and smartphones, along with comiXology’s Guided View technology, allow us to develop new, full length stories for a different medium that are very much truly comics—but experienced by readers in a way no other major company has ever executed.”

The Marvel AR app, powered by Aurasma, will be released in April for iOS and Android devices. By opening this app and scanning select Marvel products featuring the Marvel AR logo, you’ll unlock exclusive content starring the world’s most popular Super Heroes -- including Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk and many others! Go behind the scenes of your favorite comics, see new footage, hear from creators, catch yourself up on past events and more!



“Marvel AR is a perfect example of how digital innovation not only gives added value to print comics, but also brings a delivers an entirely new reading experience,” explained Phillips. “Now fans will have access to more behind-the-scenes material from their favorite Marvel products than ever before—and it’s all absolutely free.”

Check out www.marvel.com for more information on the Marvel ReEvolution and stay tuned for exciting developments as the comic industry changes forever.

To find a comic shop near you, call 1-888-comicbook or visit www.comicshoplocator.com

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing. For more information visit www.marvel.com

Cosmic Book News loves The Owl #1!  Read the review from the link below! http://comics.cosmicbooknews.com/content/advanced-review-owl-1-4

Gail Simone’s Red Sonja #1 gets a stellar review at Comic Vine!

http://www.comicvine.com/articles/early-review-gail-simone-s-red-sonja-1/1100-146593/

Here’s a look at commentary of Miss Fury #1 from Rob Thomas!

Enjoy!

PG 1

"Everyone is doing themselves a weak and cowardly disservice if they don’t ask themselves this question… What are YOU angry about?” Start a storyline with the controlling idea front and centre. It's on the nose, yes, but it's effective. And this was the key question for Miss Fury when I approached the book. She's called 'fury' yet she’s a super rich Manhattan socialite who’s incredibly good looking. What’s she got to be angry about? Over the course of the first arc – that’s the core question. And we open in 1943. The world’s at war. America’s at war. Millions dying and suffering. Yet Marla Drake’s life is all roses. She hasn’t found herself yet.

“Anger is an energy,” was something I wrote in the pitch, stealing from John Lydon.

And that telegram in panel 3 is a flashback, by the way. To a key moment in her journey towards her own anger. We’ll find out more as we go.

PG 2

My first draft of the script I started things further on with some character-setting dialogue, but then I decided this was an issue one, we probably needed some action straight out of the blocks.

More punching. And kicking. This is a superhero book.

We’re establishing here that a) Miss Fury is a fearsome, superhumanly quick fighter (she twists an assailant around in time to get his body to take the bullets meant for her – that’s quick). And b) she’s not a squeaky clean, morally black and white figure. She’s slashing and drawing blood here.

Also: Jack Herbert, our seriously impressive artist, is establishing that he can draw an action sequence really, REALLY well.

PG 3

She catches a knife in mid-air and returns it at the thrower, getting him right between the eyes!

You know, for kids!

When I saw these pages in B&W I was delighted. I hadn’t worked with Jack before but there’s a real fluidity to the action here, and Miss Fury looks terrific in panel 4. Lots of swagger there. The colours are wonderful too. Ivan Nunes did a killer job on the book. Really talented colourist.

Love the ‘Thunk!’ sound effect there too. Nice job by Simon Bowland, our letterer, throughout.

PG 6

The idea here was, on a kind of suggestive level, that Miss Fury doesn’t just fall through the skylight into the Nazi’s time machine, but the time machine rather pulls her through. It wants her. None of this is established in text, and to have her saying “It almost feels like it… wants me,” would’ve been plain bad writing. A bit of ambiguity here and there isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I think. Let readers fill in the blanks as long as the narrative us clear. Even if no one gets what the intention was, she still falls into the time machine so the plot is serviced.

The whole idea of Miss Fury’s time travel in the arc is so personal to her. It’s meant to be ambiguous to an extent. Is she really travelling through time or is she still in 1943 and insane?

PG 9

Jack drew this to be a real highlight of the issue. And it’s completely different from the script and what I imagined. But who cares when it looks this amazing.

The script called for a side-on shot of an art deco bath, which sits in the middle of a huge room in Miss Fury’s Manhattan apartment. The idea being that this room is enormous but she’s kind of so emotionally empty that there’s nothing in it, just a luxury bath. Jack changed the angle, the sense of this huge room with just a small bath in it. But she’s still wearing the gloves in the bath (that’s not for 'cool and sexy' aesthetic reasons, we’ll reveal why later). She’s reading the ’43 newspaper, and the contradiction of the salubrious image and the dialogue “there’s a war on, you know. It’s a terrible business” is still there. I don’t mind an artist changing what I’ve asked for as long as the narrative point is served. It is here.

And it looks fantastic. So shut up Mr. Writer.

PG 13

Miss Fury’s new origin. Her voice is more than a little tongue-in-cheek here. “The implicit local hallucinogenic…” “he may have just been trying it on.” The humour hopefully lifts this scene beyond being the typical superhero origin. And I liked the fact that she isn’t 100% sure if she has superpowers. It’s, again, a little ambiguous.

PG 14

Sex Panther! It stings the nostrils.

Is the panther real? She doesn’t know.

Although, she is covered in blood during sex in the final panel, so there’s a hint. She’s a dark one, eh? I wanted to show her as being in control here. She drives the action. Titillating? Yes. But true to her character. These are all little snapshots of Marla Drake. The entire initial arc is something of a jigsaw puzzle for her and, hopefully, by the end of the first storyline, you have something of a three-dimensional woman. And who among us can say that we haven’t had sex with a Masai tribesman while under the influence of a powerful hallucinogen and covered in the blood of a MASSIVE jungle cat that we’ve just killed in hand-to-paw combat? I know I have.

PG 18

Who’s this bloke then? Badly burnt face? He’s a super-villain, surely.

This is Captain Chandler. Who’ll make a big difference in Marla Drake’s life. A key figure in her journey.

Great faces in the crowd scene behind Captain Chandler. Jack does great faces.

And there’s that telegram again in panel three. If it repeats like this, it’s a key moment.

PG 21

And suddenly we’re in a scene from Modern Warfare. Tanks, guns, jet fighters, a street scene where Manhattan’s been turned into Chechnya. Romance is very much over and Miss Fury’s suddenly thrust into war. Her war.

And something big overhead is blocking out the sun. That can’t be good.

The script, by the way, asked for her to be carrying a ‘Sienkiewicz rifle’, as in Bill. I used the same phrase in an issue of Daken: Dark Wolverine and it’s become shorthand for an impossibly large and deadly weapon. The language of comics… I’m going to keep using it.

Contest for Vampirella "Tooned Up" Statue from Sideshow Collectables!

Go to the link below for a chance to win a free Brand-New Vampirella "Tooned Up" Statue from Sideshow Collectables!  Enter for a chance to WIN!

http://tinyurl.com/l7pr6qg

Both the Chris Eliopoulos "Cute" cover for Battlestar Galactica #1 and Jonathan Lau's cover to Mark Waid's Green Hornet #2 made the best Covers of the Week from Comic Vine!  Congrats to both Chris and Jonathan!!!

http://www.comicvine.com/articles/best-comic-covers-of-the-week-5-17-13/1100-146583/

Alex Ross The Shadow #13 cover made in Top Covers with Cammy’s cover of the week on Bleeding Cool!

Cammy had this to say about Alex’ cover.

“Speaking of contrasts, major props to Ross for this bloody masterpiece. It brings chills seeing the Shadow in the reflection, for it looks as if he’s trapped in a doomed city of some kind. The lady in white doesn’t look all that innocent for no matter who you are, everyone has someone’s blood on their hands (including her). Ross always succeeds with the angelic glow technique, for just from looking at this cover you’re lead to believe that she must be innocent in all.”

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/05/18/cammys-covers-fatale-to-wonder-woman/

Craig Cermak has been nominated for a 2013 Russ Manning award for his amazing art work on Dynamite's Voltron: Year One, to be given out at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Read more about this on the press release below and congrats to Craig!

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=45438

Click the below link to download the Damsels: Mermaids Free Comic Book Day comic from Dynamite!

http://www.dynamicforces.com/upfiles/FCBDMermaids0FullIssues.zip

Click the below link to download the Grimm Free Comic Book Day comic from Dynamite!

http://www.dynamicforces.com/upfiles/FCBDGrimm0FullIssue.zip

Title says it all: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=45086