Nerd Day!

BANE!

Catwoman

What an awesome day to be a nerd. Not only did new comics come out today, but we finally have some insight into some important casting in The Dark Knight Rising. Today a press release was given by Warner Bros announcing that Anne Hathaway will be playing Selina Kyle/Catwoman, and Tom Hardy will be playing Bane! I for one am extremely excited to see Bane redeemed on the big screen after the atrocious Batman and Robin, and I'm very intrigued by the thought of Ms. Hathaway stalking the Dark Knight. Here's hoping that the announcements don't stop there!

COMIC REVIEWS!!!!

Invincible Iron Man #500

 Yes that's right, the latest issue of Invincible Iron Man is numbered 500. Like they did with Thor, Daredevil, and Captain America before, Marvel has decided to go back to the original numbering of the first Iron Man series, and while most of the time it's just to make a few extra bucks, this time it actually contains a cool story.

Writer Matt Fraction continues his stellar job writing the adventures of Tony Stark, and this one-off issue is a perfect jumping on point for new readers. The story, which bounces from modern day to the future, finds Tony contacting Peter Parker for help with a weapon he had once designed with him. The problem is that with the recent events of Stark Disassembled, Tony has lost much of his memory, so he has no recollection of what the weapon was or why he was so obsessed with it. In the far future, Tony's children fight an onslaught of machines built by the Mandarin, who has taken over the world using Stark technology. After Iron Man and Spider-man break up a militant group who has gotten their hands on the weapon, Tony then realizes the ramifications of people who get a hold of his tech. Even though the people he stopped didn't really know how to use the weapon, what if a group that DID got their hands on it?

The art duties in this book were split between series regular Salvador Larroca (who handles all of the modern day scenes), and Kano, Nathan Fox, and Carmine Di Giandomenico (who each take on one of the different future characters). The changes between the artists aren't too jarring, most likely because we are aware of the fact that one scene is taking place in the future, while the other is not. Fraction's script is quick and witty(I love his voice for Spidey), and offers one of the few one-and-done stories of the past few years. Invincible Iron Man is one of Marvel's best titles, and this issue showcases why.

Superior #4(of 6)

Whoa.  After feeling a little lackluster on the previous two issues of Superior, the latest issue by Mark Millar and Leinil Yu nearly knocked me out with its sheer awesomeness. This "Big meets Superman" story has followed Simon Pooni, a kid with Multiple Sclerosis who wakes up as his favorite superhero, the very Kal-El like Superior. While I thought the second and third issue could have been combined into one(and I still do), this issue was awesome, with some pretty cool hints as to what's to come.

I'll avoid spoilers as best I can, but Simon's reasons behind many of his actions are wicked cool, and definitely make me think as a comic fan what I would do if I had the same kind of fantastic powers. While it's pretty obvious that this was most likely a pitch for an Elseworlds Superman story, it still works as a story about a kid whose dream of being a hero comes true (even though I'm sure we'll be getting some more major revelations about that soon). While it took a little while for the story to kick in for me, Superior is definitely a title that you should catch up on.