HeroesCon hosted another Marvel panel on Saturday, focusing on the highly successful and intriguing Dark Reign storylines that show no signs of slowing down.  Marvel talent scout C.B. Cebulski once again helmed the discussion, with Marvel editor Jeanine Schaefer, Jonathan Hickman (Secret Warriors), Brian Michael Bendis (Dark Avengers, New Avengers) and Matt Fraction (X-Men/Dark Avengers) on hand to answer questions and make announcements about upcoming events and happenings with Dark Reign.

Starting with a question and answer period, one fan asked about the tendency of Marvel to pose questions for their story lines, such as the “who’s side are you on” question for Civil War. Would there be a similar question to go along with this next arc of Dark Reign?  The answer seems to be the one on everyone’s mind, and Matt Fraction said it best, “when will Norman Osborn lose his $#!*”.  Good question! read more….

One of DC’s strengths in the past few years has been the quality of their animated productions, both of the feature-length and TV show kind. The latest entry in the series comes in the form of the straight-to-DVD Wonder Woman, a film based loosely in the George Perez stories early in the series relaunch of the late 1980’s.

The film opens with a surprisingly brutal battle, set centuries in the past, as the Amazons find themselves locked in combat with the forces of Ares, former lover of Queen Hippolyta. Beheadings, stabbings and allusions to Ares’ lack of prowess in the bedroom are all present in this scene, and the harsh reds, browns and yellows paint a savage landscape on which the battle is raged. To say that this film is not for children under the age of 12 would be a fair statement. I was a bit taken aback by these earlier images and the tone of the piece, but it worked beautifully in the larger context of the film, and anything less would have felt like cheating. The battle ends with Ares’ imprisonment on Themyscira, with only another god able to release him from his shackles and Hippolyta vowing never to interact with man again, for fear of a repeat of this result.

read more….