Secret Empire extends to #10 issue come August

In what feels like a recurring trend for recent Marvel events, Marvel.com has announced that their current Captain America/ Hydra centered crossover story "Secret Empire" has been extended one more issue - bringing the total count to 10 and seeing the last issue come out this August. The story, written by "Captain America: Steve Rogers" writer Nick Spencer, sees the Cosmic Cube altered Steve Rogers as the new Supreme Commander of Hydra - leading his new council and army to take over the world and with the divided heroes trying to mount a stand against his secret empire.

In the article, Marvel SVP and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort explained why there was a need to add an issue #10:

“[Writer] Nick [Spencer] has constructed each issue of SECRET EMPIRE so that it ends with a climactic twist or a big reveal or a shocking development, and issue #9 is no exception,” said SVP & Executive Editor, Tom Brevoort. “So moving into the finale, with issue #10, the heroes across the Marvel Universe will be pushed to the breaking point as we race to the exhilarating climax we’ve been planning for months. Oh, and let me say again: we’re not going to use the Cosmic Cube to simply reverse everything away—the stakes matter, maybe more than they ever have before.”

Secret Empire #10 will be written by Nick Spencer and drawn by Steve McNiven, with a cover by Mark Brooks featuring a new look for the Hydra leader Cap.

Steve Rogers returns as Captain America this July!

With the new movie coming out this July 22, it was only a matter of time until this happened (again)!

Announced by Marvel Comics and reported by the likes of Newsarama and The New York Daily News, Steve Rogers will once again don the stars and stripes uniform and take up the shield, as he once again becomes Captain America in the new Captain America #1 comic coming out this July, taking the reigns away from his partner Bucky Barnes, who is the current Cap at this point of time. Longtime scribe of the series Ed Brubaker will still retain his position as the writer of the new relaunched title, with Civil War illustrator Steve McNiven joining him for art duties! That's right, Cap's getting a reboot and going back to #1 on the serial lists, just in time for the movie and for new readers to catch up on.

The news comes as both amusing and disappointing to hear about. It's great to have Steve Rogers back in the uniform and all, but I've taken to and respected Bucky Barnes run as Cap for the duration of Brubaker's run on the title. Ever since he "killed off" Rogers in the aftermath of Civil War and placed his onetime WWII partner on the costume, he's done great things with the character and did wonders showing that he certainly can wield the shield if push comes to shove. On the other hand, nothing will replace Steve Rogers - He's the one true Cap and there's no denying that the role was tailor made for him since he became the one and only Super Soldier to exist. It was fun seeing the role passed and poked around, but ever since Steve returned (and in a rushed and underdeveloped "Captain America: Reborn" storyline I might add), it already foreshadowed the inevitable happening - that he's going to be Captain America again sooner or later. We saw two Caps fighting together during the events of Siege, but Rogers willingly dropped the responsibility to Bucky so he could give his friend a new sense of purpose and direction, while taking up the mantle as the new "Top Cop/ Nick Fury" of the Marvel Universe. So much has come to pass in the Captain America stories since ED Brubaker took over, and I've stuck around the title since the writer made the jump to it way back in November 2004. It's fitting that he gets to relaunch it again in time for the new flick... but will I stick around and still collect it? Only time will tell for sure. The prospect of having Steve McNiven as artist only adds fuel to the fire. We'll just have to wait and see come July... which also has Chris Evans taking up the mantle in the big screen adaptation flick - Captain America: The First Avenger!

For more details and the official press release, visit Marvel.com, Newsarama, and The New York Daily News!

Captain America #1 is due in comic shops this July at $3.99!

Marvel presents Fear Itself #1 Cover!

Comic Book Resources and Marvel have unveiled the cover to their upcoming new crossover storyline, "Fear Itself". Those waiting for the next big event from Marvel can treat themselves to some juicy eye candy with this piece of cover art for the very first issue of this seven part series, drawn by Marvel's own Steve McNiven!

Woah! Looks like Thor's down for the count! What will happen to the rest of the Avengers? We'll just have to wait and see. For more info, visit CBR!

Fear Itself, written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by Stuart Immonen, will start off this April 6!

Mark Millar's Nemesis Has A Film Director!

Any of you read Mark Millar's Nemesis? If you haven't, you're missing out on some of the most awesome and intense s@#$ the writer has done since he introduced The Ultimates and Kick-Ass to comic geeks around the world! Imagine a story where Batman was The Joker? That's Nemesis for you - a costumed vigilante who traveled the entire globe to train and hone his body to kill cops around the world. Call it the reverse Dark Knight if you will, but the first two issues of this mini-sadistic-comic series has me glued on like a kid with his favorite candy treat. Millar's on a role with this comic... and following in the footsteps of Kick-Ass, it's even getting the big screen treatment!

News from io9 and Millar's own Millarworld Forums have just pegged legendary action movie director Tony Scott as the guy to helm the Nemesis film adaptation, and the comic's creators - Mark Millar and Steve McNiven, couldn't be even more pleased about the news. The man who directed Top Gun and The Last Boy Scout will be getting the green light to direct a film where we have a Batman archetype ready to dish it out against the law and kill anybody standing in his way, with guns and explosions blazing. It may sound crazy, but I'm actually very excited, and I can't wait for more details to pop up on the Nemesis movie!

The Marvels Project Gets A Cool Cap Variant Cover!

I caught this image over at Newsarama... and it's mighty awesome!


I don't collect The Marvels Project Miniseries, but I have to give props to veteran Marvel artist Steve McNiven for this talented piece of cover artwork. For issue #5, collectors will be graced with the choice of grabbing an alternate variant cover by Steve, and he's drawing none other than his namesake, Steve Rogers, the one and only original Captain America! It's great to see the moment captured where Cap dons the first iteration of his costume for the very first time to become a living symbol for America during World War II, and drawn by the guy who did Civil War and Old Man logan no less! This would make a great poster/ wallpaper for Cap fans... and we're all expecting a grand comeback for the Star Spangled Avenger in the next few months!