Brian Michael Bendis

Spider-Man will die on Wednesday. We knew this was coming. After all, the tragedy that will unfold in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man No. 160 has been looming for a while now, even if it takes place in the Ultimate universe. What does that mean for fans of the arachnid warrior? Well, Peter Parker’s mighty misadventures can still be found in “regular” continuity. In fact, they’ll continue in lots of titles: The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers (occasionally), The New Avengers, FF (remnants of the Fantastic Four) and even in Amazing Spider-Man Digital. But Spider-Man’s death still marks a pivotal moment. Marvel sent out a press release to hype the occasion, and in it, senior editor Mark Paniccia says: “Ten years ago, Brian Bendis and Mark Millar changed the way people saw super heroes with the birth of the Ultimate Universe. With ‘Death […]

Marvel’s Ultimates universe has had a good number of twists and turns since its inception in 2000, even after its apocalyptic Ultimatum storyline.  But in any reality, alternate or not, when someone says “The Death of Spider-Man,” it grabs the attention of comic book fans. “We called this story ‘Death of Spider-Man’ for a reason,” said Axel Alonso, Marvel editor in chief, in a statement. “This is a huge story that’ll have fans around the world talking for a long time as we set the stage for the debut of our new Spider-Man.” Now, the Ultimates continuity is separate from the mainstream Marvel  mythology so this doesn’t “count” in some ways. Still, in this contained reality, Marvel says Peter Parker will be taking off his Spidey threads for good after a traumatic event (let’s just say it involves The Punisher), and the familiar […]

A comic book store can be a vast and wonderful landscape, but sometimes it’s nice to have a compass to help you as you wander those aisles. With that in mind, the Hero Complex and the mighty G4TV.com offer up weekly video recommendations. Geoff Boucher of the Hero Complex will select and celebrate a new release  from the vivid world of superheroes and more traditional-minded fare, and the always insightful Blair Butler of G4′s Fresh Ink blog will recommend worthy new releases from the both the capes side and the “non-Spandex” side of comics — those graphic novels and alternative press titles that use their comics panels in the name of memoir, literary experimentation or underground voice. – Geoff Boucher MORE PICKS: “Noche Roja” /  “Morning Glories” “Daytripper” / “The Fantastic Four” “Let Me In” / “The New York Five“ “Rat Catcher” / “Infinite Vacation”

Here’s the trailer for “Spider-Woman, Agent of S.W.O.R.D.” —  the first motion comic from Marvel, which is dipping a toe into the medium that DC has been pursuing more aggressively to date. This five-part story is by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Alex Maleev and goes on sale today at iTunes. The episodes cost 99 cents for the first two weeks of release then jump to $1.25. It’s interesting to consider the motion-comics marketplace. The medium hasn’t really captured the imagination of fans yet, and it’s not clear what the upside is. The funny thing for me is that, at first, motion comics and their static image and use of screen-slide approach reminded me of the 1960s’ Marvel television cartoons — the same cartoons that I simultaneously loved and mocked as a kid because they were far less “animated” than other animation. Clearly, though, […]

Welcome to today’s edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe. Does "Torso" have legs?: As far as historical crime theories and graphic novels go, Alan Moore’s fascinating argument on the identity of Jack the Ripper in "From Hell" is the most celebrated, but my own personal favorite is "Torso," which was first published a decade ago as a six-issue series by Image. In "Torso," co-writers Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko present Eliot Ness, fresh from the Untouchables squad of Chicago, on the job in Cleveland in the 1930s and on the trail of a serial killer who just might be the same predator who would also commit the infamous Black Dahlia murder in Los Angeles. It’s true-crime theory as illustrated entertainment, and it’s wonderfully executed and the black-and-white Bendis artwork is perfect for […]