For those who didn’t feel like clicking,  Spider-Man was announced as  the 8th member Thursday evening.

Sorry for making you wait, it wasn’t my intention. My grandfather died and I’ve been busy helping my dad with arrangements etc. since then.

I hope to have another post up tomorrow on the Civil War. So stay tuned.

I’m sitting at work on a break waiting for the end of the day so I can head to the local comic book shop for this week’s stuff. I’m also waiting, semi-patiently for the 8th member of the (New) New Avengers to be revealed over at Newsarama.com.

The line-up so far in case you missed it:

1. Echo ( The old Ronin. I’m not all that excited about this choice)

2. Ronin (Much speculation that this will be Captain America, I’m personally guessing it’s either Hawkeye or Jubilee-Hawk did put his uniform up at the Avengers HQ before he went looking for Wanda in New Avengers #26. Joe Quesada also said that Hawkeye fans would forgive Bendis in an interview late last year.

3 Dr Strange (The most unique pick so far and one that’s going to work well if you ask me)

4. Wolverine (Still one of my favorite superheroes and adds some attitude to the mix)

5. Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew adds some uncertainty to the team with her ties to both S.H.E.I.L.D and Hydra.)

6. Iron Fist (Danny Rand, the man with the $ to replace Tony Starks financial backing)

7. Luke Cage (As the leader? Nice to see him with Iron Fist again)

8. ???

Waiting for number 8 to be revealed anytime now. Most believe it is Spider-Man, some say it’s Hawkeye ( but I think he is already in) others note the lack of power in the group and say it’s Hulk (where have these people been?)

Here is the link to Day 1 reveal in case you want to catch up.

The reaction to the new group so far has had its range of support as expected. Personally, this group seems a bit underpowered as compared to the upcoming Mighty Avengers but I like most of the mix and that this group offers for the most part, a “darker” Avengers team.

I think Spder-Man would be the most obvious pick for number 8, because Bendis has shown that he writes Spidey well. But that wouldn’t really be a surprise…

In a news release today, Dynamite Entertainment announced that Greg Pak and Nigel Raynor will begin a third storyline in Battlestar Galactica #9.

This is great news for fans! Pak and Raynor have authored and done the art respectively, for the first five issues and it has been a tremendous run! I mentioned yesterday that I was awaiting issue #5 with this week’s shipment. It’s doubly nice to know that we can look forward to the creative team that started it all to stay on-board for at least 6 or 7 more issues.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, think about doing it this week . Early issues are starting to become hard to find and the writing and art are amazing.

On another note I don’t know HOW I forgot to mention this week’s ship of Silent War #1. If you missed my posting about it, the direct link is here.

Last week was a really blah week for the comics I enjoy, but this week makes up for it a bit.

Spider-Man: Reign #2- Though it’s no Dark Knight, I enjoyed the first issue’s “dark and dirty” portrayal of the Peter Parker that could be. Kaare Andrews admits that he’s not the best artist in the industry. When he pencils, inks, colors, and writes there is a synergy that I enjoy.

Just a note. If you missed issue #1, the reprint ships this week as well( sans glans-sorry for the bad pun!). Spectacular Spiderman #33 and Ultimate Spiderman #104 are due to ship too.

Battlestar Galactica #5- I was a sci-fi fan as a kid before adding comics to the mix. The new Battlestar Galactica on the SCIFI network is a can’t miss show for me. The comic is no different. If you are a fan of the television show, you really should be reading this. It’s relationship driven stories are true to its on air show. Greg Pak, the series writer is awesome.

Fantastic Four #542- J. Michael Straczynski’s run on Fantastic Four has been really great. Though he isn’t writing this issue (Dwayne McDuffie pens 542 and 543), the fact that the team is fractured, spread over the globe, and on multiple sides of the Civil War issue, makes this one I’ve been looking forward to. The cover is Great as well (if only it was a full cover, instead of a Civil War cover.)

She Hulk #15- As posted a few days ago, “Planet Without A Hulk” begins here.

52 #37- No cover available, that means something big has to happen, doesnt it? Also,three cheers to DC for having 36 on-time issues from this mini-series.

BTW, four new one-shot spin-offs were announced for the 52 series this week as well.

My DC title’s are a bit skimpy for the week of the 17th, but next week isn’t looking too bad.

There has been alot of speculation over the past couple of months on who the New-New Avengers will be beginning in New Avengers #27, shipping February 7th. In case you’re interested, Newsarama has managed to convince, close-lipped until now, Marvel and Brian Bendis to reveal the new team.

Starting this Wednesday a new member is being revealed each day to the fans, with a bit of reasoning why, via Newsarama. Wednesday’s first reveal was Echo (aka Ronin). I’ll admit, yesterday’s reveal came as a surprise to me.

As an Avenger’s fan way back in the 80’s toearly 90’s when they weren’t as popular, I’m looking forward to seeing who today’s member will be.

Enjoy.

She Hulk #15 ships next week and in case you didn’t know, it is the “bridge” story to World War Hulk, Marvel’s big crossover event for 2007.

In Civil War’s aftermath the “Planet Without a Hulk” storyline Jennifer has picked her side (pro-registration) and is working for S.H.I.E.L.D. Her mission? Pretty much to face the villains that her cousin, Hulk normally did. S.H.I.E.L.D and the Illuminati tricked Hulk and sent him into exile awhile back for the “good of the planet” now someone has to take out the trash in his absence.

If you haven’t followed the Hulk’s adventures recently I would HIGHLY recommend it. The “Planet Hulk” storyline that began in Incredible Hulk #88 (88-91 are collected in trade paperback as Incredible Hulk: Planet Hulk Prelude) and is still ongoing. It has been an entertaining run for me.

I haven’t collected She-Hulk before this issue, but I’m going to see if I like the four-part story enough to give it a try. Who says green isn’t sexy!

Marvel announced yesterday that Civil War #7 was indeed delayed from January 31 to February 21. I have had so many hits from search engines yesterday and today I am breaking my promise (Sorry!) and letting people know.

The Marvel news release can be found here if interested.

Now that this week’s shipments are out, I find myself anticipating the Silent War mini series due out January 17th. Since I have come back to comic book collecting one of the new artists I have really enjoyed is Frazier Irving. Irving will be doing all of the art for Silent War (pencils, inks, and colors) and X-Men’s David Hine will be the writer.

Irving’s most recent work has been in the pages of DC’s Robin #157 (cover pictured) this month, and Marvel’s Iron Man: The Inevitable mini series in early 2006. He was the artist for DC’s Seven Soldiers: Klarion the Witch-Boy mini series in 2005. His style is very dark and unique. I imagine he will be picked up by one of the big two publishers for exclusive work soon, especially after seeing his work on Robin this month.

Silent War basically picks up on the successful Son of M mini-series and features The Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Karnak etc.) after Black Bolt’s declaration of war on humanity at the close of Son of M. The Fantastic 4(with Reed and Sue still together?) take up the challenge as humanity’s defenders.

Continuity concerns aside, I’m looking forward to it.

Civil War #7 to be delayed beyond the 3rd promised ship date.

It feels like all I have written about this week are problems with Marvel’s Civil War. I promise I’m laying off after this post. I personally have enjoyed every issue and have read most of the tie-ins and enjoyed them as well. The lateness has been annoying, but nothing I can’t live with. I just feel the need to pass along the news I find. Without further ado, in the words of Tom Brevoort (Marvel Executive Editor):

At this stage, we’ve finalized the page count for the issue, and as predicted, it’s a bit larger than a normal issue, clocking in at 28 pages. So we’re computing the schedule based on this fact (and now that we’re past the holidays so we can see what kind of effect they had upon everybody’s productivity) and David Gabriel and his guys will have an update on the shipping situation for everybody on Tuesday the 9th!
Extra pages, no extra cost!

At least they can’t have any more delay’s after issue #7. Though technically Marvel DID say the Trade Paperback version would be delayed in a communication with retailers last week, to allow them to sell through their issues.

OK I PROMISE to get back to happy news in this weeks posts, and will whine no more about lateness issues…unless they delay this week’s Thunderbolt’s #110, Batman #662, or 52 #36(I’m not a fan of this weeks cover though-pictured). At least 2 of the comic’s I’m looking forward to this week are from DC, so my chances are good!

Isotope Comics posted an extremely well written response to the West Coast Civil War #6 shipping issue this week. I completely agree with this idea:

Personally, I don’t think Diamond should distribute any book that has over 50% allocations to my coast if they have the option of waiting a week and filling our complete order the very next week. And for a book as popular as Civil War I feel they should have made our East Coast friends wait as well, if possible.

The Comic Book Publishers may be the “brains” of the “being” that keeps comic book collecting as a hobby alive. The Distributors of those comics may be the “heart” that pumps the books out for consumption. But it’s the retailers who are the “backbone” of Comic Book Collecting. The retailers risk their far more limited capital, sweat, plan and toil to stock the shelves everyday and keep the comic book collector (the lifeblood of comics?) happy and coming back for more. Without those retailers Diamond would be nothing. The publishers? Nothing.

I know Diamond doesn’t want to “sit” on inventory for a week. I know it costs them money for storage, care, etc. But by passing costs and headaches on to the small comic book retailers, forcing the retailer to make decisions in which none of their customers really wins (by the way, I am one of the fan’s who will have to wait– not that you will shed a tear ) and to cause these retailers to lose sales when their excited “Civil War fanboys” turn elsewhere is just wrong. A better method of notification at the very least or a better contingency plan needs to be come up with.

I think Isotope made some very valid points in their post and hope the “brains” and “heart” of our awesome hobby listen to their “backbone” to solve these problems in a better way next time.

Soapbox off!