Nerd Up!

Secret Invasion, Civil War, House of M, Marvel has had a pretty good track record for it’s big summer cross-over events. So when they announced “Fear Itself”, I was excited! Fraction has been solid and Stuart Immonen’s work has always been breathtaking. I did enjoy the prologue (“Book of Skull”), so when I picked up issue #1 this week, I wasn’t completely blown away. I know it’s early, but the plot feels like something out of a week-long GI Joe serial, collecting items??, umm, Infinity Gauntlet anyone? What worries me most is, at the end of issue one I wasn’t left with an “oh shit moment” that had me pining away for next months issue. It will be interesting to see how this story pans out, and judging by the solicitation Marvel sent out, “shits about to get real” for the Marvel’s merry bunch of heroes.

Marvel is proud to present your first look at Fear Itself #2 (of 7), from comics megastars Matt Fraction and Stuart Immonen. The comic blockbuster of 2011 is here and fans and critics everywhere are asking “Who are The Worthy?” Seven hammers of unfathomable power have fallen to the far corners of the Earth and the race is on to see who will be the Serpent’s champions. With the Asgardians leaving the Marvel Universe to fend for itself, can the Avengers repel a foe that gets stronger the more he’s feared? The Marvel Universe’s worst nightmare comes true this May as the event iFanboy.com calls “a huge, epic story that is exactly the kind that comic books are made for” continues, only in Fear Itself #2 (of 7)!

So Why should you care? Penciled by STUART IMMONEN and Cover by STEVE McNIVEN, two of Canada’s Marvel’s best artists!

On Sale 5/4/11

Marvel’s ‘Thor’ is coming to the big screen next summer, and ET’s own Kevin Frazier is exclusively with the hammer-wielding Norse god himself, Chris Hemsworth! Plus we get our first look at Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Idris Elba as Heimdall!

I was always a little bit skeptical about the Captain America movie based purely on the superhero’s costume. I mean, lets face it, if you’ve seen the Matt Salinger Captain America movie, you know how ridiculous swash buckler boots look. These images look realistic and the costume concept seems to be based more on the Ultiamtes version of Cap, but I have a feeling we’ll see “Stars and Stripes” at one point in this movie. Cant’t wait to see some Red Skull concept art!

As for Thor, what makes these images interesting is the fact that it’s the first time we’ve seen movie Thor holding the legendary hammer Mjolnir.

Idris Elba (The Wire, The Office, The Losers) answered a few of questions regarding his role as The Bifröst Bridge Gaurdian, Heimdall in the upcoming Thor movie.

How is your Roque different from the comic book?

Elba: Roque in the comic book is white and I’m black.

I didn’t even know that.

Elba: Yeah, I didn’t know either but it didn’t matter. There was no reflection on that in the screenplay but I definitely used Roque in the comic book as my skeleton to build my Roque. So I stayed as true as I could to him. The scar was the only physical attribute that I took from the comic book and applied to myself. Other than that, I just used his personality, his persona in the comic book to make my Roque.

Is this a recent development that you can make a change like that?

Elba: Yeah, casting now is taking definitely a more open-eyed approach to it. I was cast in Thor and I’m cast as a Nordic god. If you know anything about the Nords, they don’t look like me but there you go. I think that’s a sign of the times for the future. I think we will see multi-level casting. I think we will see that and I think that’s good.

With Thor do you look at the comic books or Nordic mythology?

Elba: I looked at the comic books actually because Heimdall, he’s a very central character and I wanted to reflect him as he is in the comic books.

What do you look like in Thor?

Elba: [Laughs] I look like how he’s designed, man. I can’t say but he looks phenomenal.

Do you get to do any cool action in that?

Elba: Yeah, I do, yeah. I can’t say, brother, but it’s really, really cool.

Source: Latino Review

When I first got into comics, I used to love the “What if” series; it would always explore the road not travelled and somehow resolve itself in less than 18 pages. The series has long been cancelled and now is reduced to a series of one-shots.
Well guess who’s back? The team that brought us fanboy favorite “Old Man Logan” and “Civil War” have returned to answer the question, What if “Batman” was the Joker? After being pushed back a couple of weeks, this New Comic Wednesday (March 23, 2010), Nemesis #1 will hit stands for a low a price of $2.99. As Master P would say; make sure you pick up two copies, one for home and one for the…. variant cover!