Solicits for New Avengers, their accompanying Annual, Fantastic Four, Nomad: Girl Without A World, and Dante's Inferno. Yeah, you read that last one right.
FANTASTIC FOUR #574 Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN Penciled by NEIL EDWARDS Cover by ALAN DAVIS Team Variant Cover by DALE EAGLESHAM All the Marvel cool kids show up at the bestest birthday party ever! We got X-kids, Power Pack, and Spider-Man in the house as Franklin celebrates his birthday!. Who cuts the cake? Who brings the best present? And who's the special guest of honor? It's Days of Future Franklin! 32 PGS./Rated A …$2.99
Davis really fits the covers for this series, I must say. I like giving a bit more spotlight to Franklin; Millar's best work on the title was updating Val into an actual character with a role, but he didn't really have much for Franklin apart from feeling left out.
Do the X-Men even have any kids Franklin's age (whatever the hell that is)? Nice to see them being included, though. Likewise with Power Pack, are they going to be ignoring Jule in The Loners or just have Franklin's party consist of a bunch of kids older than he is?
NOMAD: GIRL WITHOUT A WORLD #4 (of 4) Written by SEAN MCKEEVER Penciled by DAVID BALDEON Cover by RAFAEL ALBERQUERQUE The student body at Rikki's school has gone mad, and the combined efforts of NOMAD, FALCON and the YOUNG AVENGERS may not be enough to save them as the SECRET EMPIRE's wicked plan kicks into high gear! 32 PGS./Rated A …$3.99
I really, really love the cover designs for this series. They get amazingly evocative images with just three colours.
NEW AVENGERS #60 Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS Pencils & Cover by STUART IMMONEN Get ready for something you never thought you'd see! Is this the end of Luke Cage? Has the Dark Reign found a casualty so horrifying that the Avengers may not be able to keep it together? Another shocker from the crack team of Bendis and Immonen. 32 PGS./Rated A …$3.99
NEW AVENGERS ANNUAL #3 Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS Pencils and Cover by MIKE MAYHEW Clint Barton is in custody and that leaves not only Barton's life in severe jeopardy but all the New Avengers are at serious risk. So the ladies of the Avengers ban together to do what they have to do in a double-sized blockbuster Avengers story with a startling new chapter in the life of Jessica Jones. Brought to you by Brian Michael Bendis and artist extraordinaire Mike Mayhew. 48 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99
I don't know about you guys, but I totally believe that Bendis is about to kill off his all-time favourite character. Though if it happens, it looks like it'll be to inspire Jessica to become a hero again, which I suppose would qualify Luke as having been (and I'm loathe to use this term because I think it's really overused) "fridged". Most likely, he's out of action for a bit, necessitating Jessica to step up.
Immonen's cover design there is really good (I like the look on New Cap's face: "Hey I don't know you very well, all I know is you won't be messing up my house anymore.").
And over at DC:
DANTE'S INFERNO #1 Written by Christos Gage Art and cover by Diego Latorre Based on the upcoming EA video game, this classic epic poem is brought to life as never before, courtesy of writer Christos Gage (WILDCATS, X-Men/Spider-Man) and hot new artist Diego Latorre. Dante Alighieri is re-imagined as a holy warrior who has returned from the Crusades to find his beloved fiancÈe Beatrice murdered. When her soul is ensnared by Lucifer, only Dante has the strength and courage to break open the gates of hell and save her. But at what cost to his own immortal soul? And is Dante himself pure enough for this impossible task? Find out in this sizzling new 6-issue miniseries! On sale December 9 • 1 of 6 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US
... ... I had not heard of this game before, but for what it's designers have done, they must pay the ultimate price.