It’s time for the second part of the journey to check out the other alternate universe takes on Venom. We should probably start off with—wait, a sec.

What about Exiles? That’s a series that’s all about different Marvel universes. From what I’ve seen, Venom got shafted throughout. There was an inclusion of Peter Parker with the Carnage symbiote (I think), but Venom wouldn’t appear until the very last issue.

You see, Marvel always has to give Chris Claremont something to do… or else. He’s like the incompetent nephew that Quesada always has to give work to or else his sister will give him hell. They tend to give him stories that take place outside of Marvel 616, such as Exiles. The series became New Exiles and Claremont ran it into the ground, all while fulfilling his rampant [insert female X-Men member] fantasies. They relaunched it with Jeff Parker at the helm, where Morph would lead a team made up of Blink, Scarlet Witch, Beast, Black Panther, Forge and Polaris. It was fun, but nobody cared because of the stigma attached to the previous run. It was canceled by #6.

Venom appeared for a single panel. Why did I go through all that explanation to cover a single stinking panel? Because in it, the team sees another Exiles supergroup and I just know that Jeff Parker made the wrong choice.

Look at that team! I swear, if Parker went with that lineup instead of mutants and wacky Black Panther, it would be outselling Blackest Night.

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A year ago, I bought, read and reviewed Peter David’s novelization of Spider-Man 3. I thought it was pretty good and went on record to say that Sam Raimi would have to go out of his way to fuck up that movie. Wouldn’t you know it, he did exactly that. He deleted a handful of scenes that would have turned the movie’s three villains into more than ridiculous, one-dimensional jokes. While he removed all the valuable Eddie Brock and Sandman scenes, he made it even worse by hardly shaving off any whiny Mary Jane moments.

I made the decision to go for round two. This time Peter David writes a novelization based on the upcoming Iron Man film. More than anything, I was curious. The build-up has been nice. Not just with the trailers, but the feeling that there’s love in the movie. I recall Jon Favreau saying that in preparation, he had been reading every single issue of Iron Man from the 60’s on. So would love be enough to make this story work?

Yes. Yes it really would.

I’m not going to give out explicit spoilers, but if you really want an absolute blank slate to the point that you didn’t even watch the trailers, by all means don’t read this and instead just give me $5.

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Good God. I’ve reached the point where I use the term “musings” on the internet. Shoot me.

I’ve been taking a break lately, due to several things holding me up and taking my time, like a crappy work schedule, Guitar Hero Rocks the 80’s and a bunch of crap you don’t care about.

In the meantime, a couple quick thoughts.

– I made like 15 new 4th Letter headers and then hermanos had to go and redesign the site. Fuck him! Though I have to admit, the new look is growing on me. I like the little “4th ____” gags in some of those headers. Took me a second to get why Ares is labeled “4th Planet”.

– If you didn’t know by now, Greg Pak is going to be doing a What If issue with a trilogy of stories based on Planet Hulk. One has Hulk land on the peaceful planet as the Illuminati planned. One has Bruce Banner land on Sakaar instead. The last, and most interesting one, is about Hulk dying in the warp drive explosion and his queen surviving to seek vengeance on Earth. This comic sounds awesome.

– Norman Osborn is the glue holding Thunderbolts together and making it readable.

– I just bought a ton of trades last week. Ant Man: Low-Life, because even though hermanos dislikes it, I give Kirkman the benefit of the doubt. Hyperion vs. Nighthawk, as it’s the only Squadron Supreme story I haven’t read other than that nine issues of hurt called Ultimate Power. Cassanova, because hermanos loves it so much and I dig that Matt Fraction. The Hood, because it’s BKV and I could go for a nice Marvel MAX title that doesn’t star Frank Castle or his oversized, black nemesis. Seven Brothers, because I’m in the mood to read something by Ennis that isn’t “heheh superheroes is fags”. And I bought Goon: Noir and 52 Volume 2 because… uh… well, there wasn’t really any thought process in those decisions. One is the Goon and the other is 52. That’s reason enough.

– CHIKARA show this Sunday in Philly at the ECW Arena. Come and join the fun.

– The cover image to Ultimates Volume 3 fills me with a strong sense of dread. Not only is this going to be an awful comic, but it’s going to be like a shotgun blast to the Ultimate universe. If this comic is as bad as I fear it to be, then the Ultimate line of comics will be at death’s door in probably two or three years. That’s such a damn shame.

– On the other side of the coin, the Marvel Adventures line is pretty fantastic right now. While the first issue of MA: Hulk wasn’t special, I absolutely loved MA: Iron Man’s initial issue. That’s the best reimagining of his origin outside of canon I can recall. Pick up Giant Size Marvel Adventures: Avengers if you’ve ever wanted to see a gorilla suckerpunch Wolverine in the back of the head through a closing time portal.

– Not comic related at all, but in the last couple weeks, I’ve dropped 15 pounds. Hells yeah!

Next time I’ll have actual content. I promise.

The new solicitations for July are out and Marvel looks to have quite the month. Annihilation 2 begins, Iron Fist takes part in Mortal Kombat for some reason, we get the conclusion to Ash Williams vs. Zombie Sentry, Deadpool and the Great Lakes gang get their own special, Eddie Brock gets his own story arc, Captain America makes friends with Optimus Prime, Namor does his thing and Thor makes his mighty return.

What really gets me excited is this blurb:

GIANT-SIZE MARVEL ADVENTURES THE AVENGERS #1
Written by Jeff Parker
Pencils and Cover by Leonard Kirk
Remember your history-The Avengers didn’t thaw out Captain America, and Kang the Conqueror became Master of the World throughout all time. To make a brighter future, our heroes have to go to the 1950’s and enlist the help of The Agents of ATLAS! Plus extras!

Now that is a comic worth looking at. I’ve already discussed Agents of Atlas here and there. It’s a great miniseries and it’s nice that Marvel looks to be trying to sprinkle their appearances through their various books. Gorilla Man is set to show up in X-Men: First Class, Namora is going to be a player in World War Hulk and now this.

I love how the cover is actually an update of the What If issue that created this “Avengers-before-the-Avengers” concept. Of course, back then, 3-D Man was a member of the team.

If you’re unfamiliar with Marvel Adventures: Avengers, you might be wondering why Storm is there in Thor’s place. Marvel Adventures is like the all-ages version of Ultimates. Instead of grim and gritty, we get a new continuity that has a friendlier, Saturday morning cartoon feel. As kiddy as it sounds, it’s actually pretty high-quality.

The roster is Captain America, Iron Man, Storm, Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine and Giant-Girl (Janet Van Dyne with a more useful gimmick). Yes, each issue is self-contained, but they cluster together to create story arcs. The first issue has them fight Ultron. The second issue has them fight the Leader. The third has them fight Baron Zemo. This all ties together into the fourth issue, where those three villains start up the Masters of Evil.

The second arc focuses on Loki. Somehow they’ve brought Loki in as a major Avenger villain without a single mention of Thor. Even more impressive is that they introduced Juggernaut as a villain without a single connection to Xavier or the X-Men. His new origin is actually really good and they tossed in the option of redemption if they ever want to make him like he is now.

Not to mention that there’s an issue where the team gets transformed into a bunch of MODOCs (C is for Conquest here. That’s good enough for me). Seeing them drive the Leader to tears by making fun of his inferior, “tiny” head is priceless.

I’m a couple issues behind, but damn if this series didn’t surprise me with its fun factor. I haven’t been this pleasantly surprised with a comic since Marvel Megamorphs.

No. Really. Megamorphs was good. I’m serious.

NEWSARAMA.COM: NEW JOE FRIDAYS – WEEK 24, A WEEKLY Q&A WITH JOE QUESADA

Longtime readers to the blog, all one of you, know that I think very, very highly of Eduardo Risso. 100 Bullets is a true 50/50 collaboration that works out into a beautiful book. Brian Vaughan and Risso were announced to be on a book called “Logan” I think during con season 2005, but nothing was officially shown. This week’s Joe Fridays has pages and they are tops.

Really, Risso is an incredible talent. If his work on Logan is half as good as Batman: Broken City, I’m going to be sold. He does great emotions, great action, and great character bits. He also draws snarls like no other!

Anyway, scroll down past Mike Deodato’s art for Thunderbolts to see Risso’s three preview pages, uncolored. I like his take on Wolveroonie’s hair.

I’m still mixed on T-bolts. I like Ellis, yeah, but Deodato managed to make me stop reading Spider-Man after JRjr left. His art is muddy and his people ugly, and not ugly in that Quitely/Risso/Robertson style that looks good.

Check out the rest of Joe Fridays for this bit in the comics for kids section:

NRAMA: Most impactful storyline?
JQ: How about two, The New Girl in Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #6-#10. The Gwen Thing, in Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #9.

NRAMA: MVT – Most Valuable Title?
JQ: Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane.

NRAMA: MVC – Most Valuable Creator?
JQ: Sean McKeever.

Yeah, buddy. Spider-Man :love: MJ is the best Spidey book out right now, I guarantee. Don’t let anyone tell you different. And is that Firestar on the new cover there? Man! Things are looking up. I’m sad that Takeshi Miyazawa is pulling back to do only covers, but David Hahn is a good replacement. Bite Club was excellent!

Also, holy crap, Marvel Adventures Avengers (the best Avengers book out, btw) vs Ego the Living Planet, who appears to be in love with Earth? Yes! Sold!

Also, c’mon guys, read the below post 4l is for… David (and Cassandra) Cain! I need to know if I’m crazy or if it makes sense. Don’t make me beg.