San Diego Comic-Con 2007: Heroclix Gallery
Posted: 2007-08-02 Updated: 2007-08-05 02:06:06
Photos By Kalia Cheng

We're breakin' down the toy images   more...from Comic-Con '07 and showing off what WizKids had on display with a handful of Heroclix photos. Check out our other Comic-Con Toy Galleries for even more photos.  less

Endangered Species Visual Guide
The future of the mutant race is at stake and this cover gallery is your key to keeping track of everything
Posted: 2007-08-15   more... Updated: 2007-08-17 09:20:46
By Jason Juniewicz

Mutants are on the brink of extinction. This simple, crushing notion is the focus of the newest X-Men crossover, "Endangered Species." Writer Mike Carey, along with a cadre of stellar creators, takes readers on a roller-coaster ride through a series of backup stores in UNCANNY X-MEN, NEW X-MEN, X-FACTOR and X-MEN from June to October.

Carey promises that this is a crossover event not to be missed by any X-fan. "This is where we spell out what's at stake--for the X-verse as a whole and for a lot of individual characters," says Carey. "And it's where we get a sense of how the key players are aligned on the eve of...something incredible and irreversible."


X-Men:
Endangered
Species one-shot
interior art

The crossover focuses on Beast and just what he is willing to do to save the mutant race. "It's about one man's quest to pull mutantkind back from the brink of extinction," adds Carey. "The man in question is Henry McCoy, a.k.a. the Beast. But we're not seeing him primarily as a superhero here--we're seeing him as a scientist wrestling with a problem in the face of which the superheroes are helpless. This is Hank McCoy, two-fisted scientist, as you've never seen him before.

"When Wanda Maximoff said 'No more mutants' [in HOUSE OF M #8], she didn't just depower existing mutants," notes Carey. "She warped reality on a level that was far more profound than that. Since that day there hasn't been a single mutant birth or mutant activation. Homo superior--mutantkind--has been reduced to fewer than 200 members, and the inexorable process of attrition is working to reduce those numbers ever further. As one of the greatest scientific minds in the X-verse, it's down to Hank McCoy to see if there's a scientific solution to this crisis--and at what cost."


X-Men:
Endangered
Species one-shot
interior art

What Beast finds may be more than any mutant can handle. "It may mean that they don't HAVE a future," states Carey. "It's already put a huge question mark over the role of the Xavier academy, which can expect its current cohort of students to be its last ever. As Beast's odyssey continues, we'll see him interacting with a very wide cast of characters, all of whom are united by one thing: They're staring into the abyss. Into a future where the countdown gradually ticks down to zero and the last mutant (probably Wolverine) turns out the lights and closes up shop forever...

"In a less cosmic sense, this is a question that every X-Man has to face and answer alone, and as we've seen in the ENDANGERED SPECIES one-shot, their reactions are enormously varied. It's a question that will create unlikely alliances and unexpected enmities."

The crossover event also hopes to answer some questions that may be weighing on many X-fan's minds. "Can science undo the effects of magic?" asks Carey. "Can the mutant race survive? And how far is the Beast prepared to go to ensure that it does?"



X-Men: Endangered Species
» Uncanny X-Men #489: A Race Against Time
» Wizard World LA 2007 - X-Men: Endangered Species
» X-Men: Endangered Species Checklist
» X-Men: Endangered Species Sellouts & Previews! If you need to catch up on your recent X-Men lore, Carey has some suggestions to help get you up to speed as well as a look into the future after "Endangered Species" comes to an end. "Start with the HOUSE OF M mini-series," suggests Carey. "That's where it all started. And then read [DECIMATION: HOUSE OF M - THE DAY AFTER], which showed the repercussions spreading through the lives of the X-Men's core cast. Finally, read this year's X-MEN ANNUAL to see how some of the biggest powers in the X-verse are reacting to this situation.

"After that, 'Endangered Species' carries us forward into the end of year crossover, 'Messiah CompleX,' where all of this ignites in a way that you won't see coming."

With all of that in mind, here is what has been happening as "Endangered Species" rocks its way through the X-Books.


"No more mutants." Those simple words spoken by the Scarlet Witch are what started all of the trials and tribulations that mutants have been going through since HOUSE OF M came to an end. Mutants are in danger of going the way of the Dodo, a fact compounded by the revelation in X-MEN ANNUAL #1 that there have been no mutant births since M Day.

The X-Men begin to contemplate this realization through the X-MEN: ENDANGERED SPECIES ONE-SHOT, when they bury another mutant, killed when he is accidentally hit by a car. At this point the X-Men realize that the 198 mutants that kept their abilities intact thanks to Doctor Strange's timely intervention are becoming fewer and fewer, making every mutant life ever more crucial to the survival of the species. This is where Beast begins a quest that will take him through the X-titles for the next few months as he searches for answers in an effort to save the latest endangered species: mutants.

Added on 8/15/07: New X-Men #41


Other Visual Guides on Marvel.com:
Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter | Annihilation | Civil War | Dark Tower | Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America | Infinity Gauntlet | The Initiative | Marvel Zombies | Spider-Man: Back in Black | World War Hulk | X-Men: Endangered  less

Avengers/Invaders: The Return Revealed
Alex Ross, Jim Krueger and Steve Sadowski gives the full scoop on their massive 12-issue return to Marvel Comics   more...
Posted: 2007-08-14 Updated: 2007-08-15 11:36:53


Avengers/Invaders
» WW Chicago 2007: Alex Ross' Return By Ryan Penagos


Alex Ross art for
Avengers/Invaders

Captain America's back? Well, yes and no. Fans worldwide were ecstatic this weekend when Marvel announced that Alex Ross was making his way back to Marvel. And they went absolutely nuts when they saw the provided teaser image of Captain America, cryptically emblazoned with the word "Return." And now, after only a few days, the veil of secrecy is lifted and the truth—Alex Ross, Jim Krueger and Steve Sadowski return to Marvel in 2008 for the 12-part AVENGERS/INVADERS maxi-series—is sure to both surprise and excite.

Not quite the return of Captain America many were expecting, AVENGERS/INVADERS is actually a much more ambitious undertaking, constituting a time travel story featuring the Invaders in their prime thrust into the current Marvel Universe. And yes, the series will be fully integrated into, and reflective of, Marvel continuity.

"As a fan, as a reader, I enjoy those books," says Ross from his home in Illinois. "I enjoy MIGHTY and NEW [AVENGERS]. I have to read them every time they come in. That's the first book I have to ready every week that it ships. We're calling the series AVENGERS/INVADERS because for one, the brand name of Avengers has so increased in value now—because of the quality of all these series and the excitement regarding them—that you don't have to worry about whether it's got the modifier of NEW or MIGHTY in front of it. And in truth in the story, you're going to get both. How could you not?


Mighty Avengers #1

"Given the storyline, how could you not have both teams become very much involved to try and find out who these time travelers are or if they are the real deal, fighting over them and basically controlling or liberating them will be a key story point," explains Ross. "I'm so thrilled [Marvel] brought back people like the 1970s Ms. Marvel and Spider-Woman, it's just purely speaking to my heart as a fan. When you see things that are resurrected from Marvel's past, you realize, 'Why the hell did they ever get rid of that?' It's really thrilling to get a chance to play with that. If I can figure out a way to somehow in all of this revive Power Man's yellow shirt and tiara, I would do that too, but somehow I don't think that there would be an excuse to do that within the series.

"We have to use Luke Cage in our story because he's such an important character," he continues. "And of course, working with the contemporary Iron Man is a very striking thing. I'm not one of those fans who's against what they've been doing, I find the creative exploration to be very exciting and I have been jealous of wanting a chance to play in the playground and admiring a lot of the work that has been done."

"Being part of continuity is being part of the bigger story, the entire mythos, and that's a great thing," says Jim Krueger, Ross' long-time co-conspirator. "If anything, continuity is something Alex and I have always strived for, despite almost seeming to operate outside of it.

"Nick [Barrucci, Publisher for Dynamite Entertainment and President of Dynamic Forces], Alex and I have been talking together for a long time—about a lot of stuff," Krueger continues. "Anyhow, this was one of those things that just sort of organically began a number of years ago when Alex and I were signing copies of EARTH X at Dynamic Forces and talking about doing something with the [Human] Torch. Anyhow, a number of years later, Alex and I are working on Justice and we each got a call from [Nick]. [Dynamite] had just pitched an idea to Marvel of an Avengers/Invaders team-up with Alex and I attached. In my mind, I went back to the Torch and Alex's and my love for not only that character, but the entire Invaders mythology. So, we all started talking to Marvel and the ball just kept rolling."

AVENGERS/INVADERS has actually been on the burner for more than a year and in that time, as any well-versed Marvel fan knows, much as been done to the heroes of the Marvel U. Maybe none moreso that the Sentinel of Liberty, Captain America.

"Captain America being dead in the Marvel Universe today is not what we were every planning around in this entire endeavor," admits Ross. That must've thrown a kink into the massive story Ross and Co. have been plotting, right?


New Avenegers #28

"Actually, it may be one of the best things to happen to the storyline," reveals Ross. "Well, there's the thought of beforehand, the meeting of Golden Age/Modern Age Cap or what I would call the equivalent of Earth 1/Earth 2 Cap, that could be interesting too. But it sends more resonance to people in the modern universe to see a guy that they just witnessed die and have him come back, but have it be the guy in his youth, not his prime, but basically his point of origin that really constructed [his character] and was the key point of the history in the '40s. It will always remain part of Captain America's character that he is a soldier from World War II and that's what he was created for.

"Unlike most superheroes who were updated over time, or that's just considered to be one aspect of their history if they lived then, that's the defining moment of Captain America's origin. And to take him directly from that and bring him to today is almost like just crossing that 60-something years of being held in ice, doing it now except you've got the irony of being sucked right out of it with his team. The idea of the Namor-meets-Namor is one of the coolest things I'm looking forward to."

Aside from Cap and Namor, who else can we look forward to seeing? "You can expect exactly what's in the title," says editor Steve Wacker. "Beyond that, it's still a secret. Rest assured though, th  less