Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Variant Covers Show An Evolving Ultron

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Brad Bird Shows Off An Amazing Unused Incredibles Poster

Of course the Batman scribe gave nothing big away, but he did whet fans appetites for the big finale:

I can tell you there are definitely some insane moments in the conclusion and some crazy things happen so, I’ve always been braced for it as something that isn’t designed to just shock for the sake of shocking, but is the culmination of the story in a way that feels organic and surprising. I can’t remember who it was, but I had a teacher that gave me a writing quote when I was a student that said ‘Every ending should be both inevitable and totally surprising,’ and I completely believe that. Hopefully this is an ending that feels organic to the story we’ve been telling, and when you get there you’ll say ‘I can’t believe this just happened,’ and at the same time, you’ll feel that it’s a cumulative, horrible thing out of everything that’s been going on.

It’s hard to imagine with a title like Death of the Family that everyone is going to make it out in one piece. While the story won’t conclude the Batman line, it does have some parallels to Dan Slott’s Spider-Man #700. Snyder recalls joking about the conclusion with his friend Slott:

I was actually joking on the phone with Dan Slott after “Spider-Man” #700. I was telling him how I felt so bad because it sounded like things got crazy for him, and he said, “Wait until you get to ‘Batman’ #17! You’ll have the same.” So honestly, maybe I will go be in a bunker somewhere the day that issue comes out. But I believe in the ending very strongly. I believe in the story beat we’re headed towards.

Two pages of Greg Capullo’s art have also been released to hype up the highly anticipated finale. Issue #16 was an absolute treat. The two page spread featuring the “throne room” was stunning. What do you think will happen in the final pages of Death of the Family?

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Scott Snyder Teases Death Of The Family Conclusion: Plus Preview Pages

Marvel touts the series as giving readers a “rare glimpse into the ultimate nihilist’s early days on his far-off home planet Titan” and the life events that lead him down his path of cosmic villainy. Aaron promised that the origin story is literally that, starting with the Mad Titan’s birth. The series will have some new characters, but there will be several familiar names including Thanos’ father Mentor and his mother Sui-San. Aaron talked about the question that runs through the series:

Well, that’s really the main question of the book. Who is Thanos? When the book starts, even Thanos doesn’t know the answer to that question. It’s the pursuit of that answer that begins to take him to some very dark places. This is not a super hero story. There are no good guys swooping in to save the day here. This is the origin story of a very bad dude. A cosmic mass murderer.

This past summer I had the opportunity to speak with Jim Starlin about the first proposed Thanos origin story, and he shared his thoughts on that (you can find that here). Starlin laid down a lot of history for his creation, but Aaron will be going through pulling it all together and giving it a slight twist. Aaron is sticking to Starlin’s work and talks about how he will continue on from what has already been written:

Jim Starlin of course had already laid down a lot of the pieces of Thanos’ origin, but they were spread out in several different stories written over the course of several years. THANOS RISING combines all those pieces and also fills in a lot of the cracks. I think it’s true to Starlin’s original ideas for the character, while also expanding on some aspects of the origin, and playing around a bit with the dark romance part of the character’s history.

The series starts in April, but as of now there is no word on how long the miniseries will run. Thanos Rising will serve as an entry points for people who just found out about the Mad Titan through The Avengers, but old fans will also get something out of it. Aaron has been writing some great stuff the past few years with Scalped and his recent Thor, so it will be interesting to see what he brings to Thanos. Bianchi’s art is great so that’s an added bonus. You can read the full interview to see what Bianchi had to say about redesigning a young Thanos by clicking here. What do you think about the proposed series? Will you be picking this one up?

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Jason Aaron To Write Thanos Origin Series: Thanos Rising

• It’s off to Jotunheim, the land of the Frost Giants as Bruce Banner and his lab team embark on an all-new secret mission for S.H.I.E.L.D! Caught trespassing by the local natives, they’re going to need the help of the mighty Avenger, Thor!

Waid is excited to get Simonson on the book and having the legendary artist draw Thor again. While Thor will be showing up, the question should be which Thor is showing up? Waid makes an interesting  statement about the Thor we’ll be seeing:

Why on Earth would you have the amazing Walt Simonson aboard and NOT ask him to draw Thor? The teasing question is–which Thor will we be seeing? Banner and his team of assistants build a portal to Jotunheim, land of the Frost Giants, in order to obtain a rare metal there–but in doing so, they may have accomplished something totally unforeseen!

While we’ll have to wait and see exactly what Waid means, Simonson touched on revisiting the world of Thor and how he goes about tackling the Hulk:

It’s been interesting drawing Thor and not writing him. (laughs) I like what Mark’s been asking me to draw a lot, and he has kindly allowed me to kibitz a little. My earliest work on Thor was done pretty much the same way when I did layouts for Len Wein to write on the Thor title in the 70s. I also got to draw Thor in some of the Brian Bendis Avengers recently. I’ve found it’s been a lot of fun for me to go back and revisit the old boy again.

Regarding the drawing the Hulk and Thor, there’s an essential difference in their natures I try to reflect in the figure work.
I’ve approached drawing the Hulk with a certain ‘wildness’, since he is essentially a ‘monster’ who is the unfettered version of a mortal. The shapes that make up his figure as well as the actual lines used to define those shapes can be far less restrained that they might otherwise be for a more ordinary character. In other words, the drawing technique itself is meant to suggest the limitless quality of the Hulk’s fury and power. And because of his ‘monstrous’ nature, the Hulk’s figure and face don’t require the kind of symmetry that a character like Thor needs in order to be handsome within the context of the comic. I’m also inspired by the earliest versions of the Hulk by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko where there seems to me to have been a nod to the Karloff Frankenstein monster of the early Universal horror films. All of which means I can pack a lot into my drawings to try to capture some reflection of the Hulk’s wild nature.

If you want to check out the full interview with Waid and Simonson click here. It will be exciting to see Simonson taking on Thor again. The artist did some incredibly work with the thunder god back in the day, so having him return to draw again mixed in with it being a Hulk book makes this a must get. What do you think about Simonson’s return? From what Mark Waid said do you think we’ll get a big twist with the Thor story?

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Waid And Simonson Talk Indestructible Hulk

Another publication is joining the fray in February 2012 — Multiverse, a UK publication started in 2010 that’s attempting to gain a foothold in the US market. It’s being released in conjunction with Ardden Entertainment — the publisher of Flash Gordon comics, among others — and is kicking off with a 68-page issue “promotionally priced” at $4.99.

Publisher Mike Conroy revealed that the magazine is intended as a “middle ground” between Wizard and The Comics Journal. The former folded earlier this year, while the latter now operates almost entirely online.

“My goal has always been to produce an entertaining title that occupies the middle ground between the late Wizard and the moved-to-another-plane Comics Journal,”

he explained.

Multiverse debuted in the UK in 2010. Past issues have featured interviews with Ghost Rider writer Rob Williams, artist Frank Quitely, as well as I, Vampire writer Joshua Hale Fialkov.

Issue #1 of the US edition arrives in March 2012.

wolverinept, Multiverse Magazine Announces February 2012 Release in the US!

The anthology will be available for a limited time, from December 1, 2011 to May 31, 2012, for $4.99 through VIZManga.com and the VIZ Manga App for iPad^®, iPhone^® and iPod^® touch. 100% of VIZ Media’s net proceeds will support Architecture for Humanity’s ongoing disaster reconstruction efforts in Japan. To learn more about these rebuilding projects, please visit: www.ArchitectureForHumanity.org.

http://www.sketchbooknews.com/news/creative-studio-art-exhibit.html.

Janet Alvarado                                   Don’t Lose Hope

Asuka 111 (Patipat Asavasena)          Hope

Azure                                                 Untitled

Greg Baldwin of CreatureBox              Sheltered

Alan Bay                                            A Little Piece of Hope

Drew Blom                                         Calvin Hedge and the Iron Golem

Steve Boura                                       Bright Future

Carsten Bradley                                 A Wish for You

Matthew Britton                                 Regrowth

Veronica Casson                                 The Guest Room

Geikou Chen                                      Rainbow Bridge to Tomorrow

Gemma Correll                                   Pierre, le Chat Français

Kalii Delarosa                                     The Rainbow in the Rain

Conrado Hernan Villa Gil                     Untitled

Dave Guertin                                     First Flight

Rob Guillory                                       Hope

Rodolpho Langhi                                A New Sunrise

C. Lijewski                                          Light Side of Dark

Chris Lui                                            Birds of a Feather

Holly Mongi                                        Good Morning, Friend

Jorge Monlongo                                  The Sprout and the Bean

Brian Muelhaupt                                 Ojizo-sama

Shaun Mullen                                     Kodama (Tree Spirits)

Susan Murtaugh                                Enduring Beauty

Ray N.                                                Deliverance

Joe Ng                                               Rise Above the Storm

Sirron Norris                             Kibou

Jacques Pena                                     Love

Luis Peso                                            Gathering Hope

Lark Pien                                            Wishes, Dreams

Kyle Runciman                                   Ready to Roll

Francesco Salvati                               DEAR HOPE

Janet Shaw                                        The Hope of Japan

Brad Silverman                                   Dancing Dragon

Joseph Strachan                                 Flight of the Phoenix

James Turner                                     Never Give Up

Colie Wertz                                        Sea Turtle

Pinar Yalcin                                        Beam of Light

John Yandall                                                One Little Sign

Jim Zub                                              Seed Starter

For more information on the ART FOR HOPE project, please visit www.VIZ.com/artforhope.

For more information on VIZ Media digital initiatives, please visit VIZManga.com or www.VIZ.com/apps/.

Agent Burgos, Viz Media To Release Art For Hope Digital Art Anthology In December!