Amph [Image Heavy] Marvel: THE HEROIC AGE

Annihilation was awesome, but Annihilation: Conquest and Realm of Kings... less so. Nova and GotG are very good series, I'll give you that. We'll see how the upcoming Thanos event goes.

I've liked the Avengers Disassembled meta-arc (New Avengers meta-arc?). And you have to admit the Dark Reign stuff has been crazy fun. They could have gone all grim and gritty and angsty on us, but they've thankfully used the "it's fun to be bad" approach.

 

Annihilation Conquest wasn't as good as Annihilation but War of Kings was excellent, the folow-up Realm of Kings suffers in comparison due to being a preparatory / aftermath event for both the War of Kings and the upcoming Thanos Imperative. As to whether either Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy come back from Hiatus in Jan 2011 post-Thanos Imperative is anybody's guess. Marvel has quietly cancelled titles by this method.

As to Avengers, pre-Bendis, Johns had done a run following Busiek's 56-issue run (+specials and linked series like Avengers Forever), Johns was followed by Austen and it wasn't good. So yeah, something had to be done. Although the seperation of titles was true of Marvel 1999-2004 across the board and it led to runs like Bendis' Daredevil and Morrison's New X-Men, long story arcs that would not be possible the same way in the event paradigm used for the last few years.

The bigger problem with the arc was that the marketing for Secret Invasion suggested that that event would be the big one, the finale - it wasn't but due to the how Osborn got into power, reader credibility fell - people did not buy into the premise, some did, but quite a few did not. Certainly I'd place myself in the latter category.

 

I think part of the problem is that Annihilation came out of the gates so quickly and strongly when it was completely unexpected that it was going to be hard for anything to follow-up well.

I really hope they don't kill off GotG. It's a great title and serves as an alternative to the general superhero stuff. And in using characters that are not as big and so entwined in multiple titles you have the real sense of danger that they can be killed and stay that way.

 

Yes, Civil War was massive but Annihilation took everyone by surprise.

But listen: I'd change both the cosmic the Avengers books for a new Nextwave ongoing. In a heartbeat.

 

Don't get me wrong (although I won't speak for the others), Conquest is still good but not as great as the initial series.

 

My personal DnA space epic so far has been War of Kings.

As to the other points:

Yeah, Nextwave was brilliant wasn't it?

Dingo, I agree, I want Guardians to continue, I'm just uncertain it will do because it tends to be the quirkier, lower-profile titles that get axed.

Quest, I'd agree with every event there's always a couple of really good titles that come out of them, in the case of Dark Reign, for me, those titles have been War Machine and Secret Warriors.

 

Secret Warriors is one of the best books Marvel has ever published, period. And Jonathan Hickman a very brave man for daring to straighten (and widen!) the continuity of SHIELD and HYDRA.

 

I believe Hickman has planned like 50 issues and then the series will end, similar to Wolverine Origins.

 

Secret Warriors has since become something like 30 issues as Hickman has recently said the conclusion of Wake The Beast takes the series to the halfway point. My expectation is the arc sets up Fury's plan to deal with both Leviathan and Hydra and the rest of the story is the execution of it.

Oh and Quest? Osborn was never Fury's primary concern, he ranked 2 on Fury's list remember?

 

Are these teams all affiliated? If so it makes sense. GURPS had Internation Super Teams(IST) in which super beings are recruited, trained, paid and given benefits and work for the UN in every country and state or city if need be.

 

The Initiative is more or less like that, but US based. We're assuming it's going to be disbanded before The Heroic Age begins; a pity, because I rather liked the concept and I still think it could co-exist with more traditional supergroups.

The Avengers teams are probably affiliated, yes, like the current X-Men teams, but it's all mere speculation on my part.

 

I hope there's some one-shot about number 3 in his list. Nick Fury's Beer. Now.

 

[image=http://www.comicbookresources.com/assets/images/articles/1269394950.jpg]

Thank you, Marvel.

 

I didn't make these but still...awesomesauce.
[image=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Gd8NBIma-zo/S2tf07KWcKI/AAAAAAAAMQA/UVdujD07sJ4/s1600/optimusPrime%2B-%2Biamanavenger.jpg] [image=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Gd8NBIma-zo/S2tf2f69npI/AAAAAAAAMQI/sxFr5RZan8E/s1600/ozymandias%2B-%2Biamanavenger2.jpg] [image=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Gd8NBIma-zo/S27or1GKRPI/AAAAAAAAMTw/35ZYdbBgETI/s1600/kratos%2B-%2Bavenger2.JPG] [image=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Gd8NBIma-zo/S2uKRh3cqxI/AAAAAAAAMQY/PsNtUXvyUOU/s1600/deadpool%2B-%2Bavengers.jpg] [image=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Gd8NBIma-zo/S2tfzGhiO3I/AAAAAAAAMPw/Wcgm_YGTpCM/s1600/jacksparrow%2B-%2Bavenger.JPG]

 

If there's one thing I want to see about Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova, it's that I don't want to see them visiting Earth very often. When they do visit, I think it'd be kind of funny to see the disparity in power levels that they deal with. Spider-Man fights guys who are threats to the whole neighborhood. Captain America fights guys who are threats to the whole planet. Star Lord fights guys who are threats to the entire universe (past, present and future). Nova, at this point, should effectively be at a level above Thor and the Sentry.

 

Dunno about Sentry. His whole schtick is "being more powerful than X; X = any other Marvel character".

 

Beast and War Machine have been confirmed as Secret Avengers.
[image=http://www.comicbookresources.com/assets/images/articles/1270660852.jpg] [image=http://www.comicbookresources.com/assets/images/articles/1270660850.jpg]

 

Awesome.

 

cool pics..

 

I want to know what is going to be happening with Steve Rogers and Barnes...

 

Bucky will be Cap and be a member of The Avengers.
I found this pic on IGN that I'm guessing is Steve. So it looks like he'll be a member of the Secret Avengers.
[image=http://comicsmedia.ign.com/comics/image/article/106/1067375/secret-avengers-20100212010207043.jpg]


Crazy Theory Time!
I do have a theory involving Steve Rogers somehow gaining the Sentry powers by the end of Siege however. I have no real proof and it's mainly based on the fact that with Bucky Cap out there, Steve has no real place in the world. The Sentry's formula is based on the Super Soldier Serum IIRC so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch. This image has been puzzling me for months now:
[image=http://www.comicsbulletin.com/news/images/0911/SIEGE_WhatPriceVictory_04.jpg]
Marvel obviously doesn't want to reveal who that is. It could just be the Sentry, foreshadowing his full turn into the Void but I think it's more than that. There's also a pic I unfortunately can't find right now. It was just the pencils for what looked like a cover with Steve Rogers, Thor, and Iron Man all fighting Norman Osborn. But Steve's costume was all blanked out so we couldn't tell what he was wearing.
Basically, my prediction is that in Siege #4 the Sentry's "power of a thousand exploding suns" will somehow be transferred into Steve Rogers as he is the only person with enough self control and good inside him to contain the Void.

 

That's not a bad theory, actually.

I always assumed that image was simply a way to create some expectation of Marvelman/Miracleman being a part of Siege.