What The--? The Heroic Age

Okay class, time for a history lesson. Remember these important periods events:

1. Golden Age (1930s-1940s)
2. Silver Age (1956-late 1960s/early1970s)
3. Bronze Age (1970s-1980s)
4. Modern Age (mid 1980s-2010)
5. Heroic Age (May 2010-Next Major Marvel Crossover)

Before you start to flame me, please hear me out. For those of you are familiar with Ages, don’t worry, I’m aware that the Heroic Age is nothing more than a kitschy title used to draw in consumers who are (as my good friend described them) Marvel Whores. Well, I prefer the less colourful term "fan” or “follower”, but I have to admit, I fall under this category to a certain degree. (Un)fortunately, at this moment, little is known about this new reboot -- I mean crossover, but every week Marvel fanboys and fangirls are treated to little tidbits of the upcoming storyline. This new crossover will be the start of a new era. Heroes will be heroes, villains are villains, the status quo has been returned and everyone is happy-go-lucky. Prancing woodlands creatures, and choirs of cherubs are not included. We have numerous ongoing series such as:

• Avengers #1
• Secret Avengers #1
• New Avengers #1
• Avengers Academy #1
• X-Men #1
• Wolverine #1
• Young Allies #1

Most of you are probably thinking “But UXM266! Isn’t there already ongoing series using those names? Well, to answer your question, YES they are. But many of the current series are being cancelled and then restarted. As for Wolverine and the X-Men, new ongoing series are being introduced. Now one might then ask is “WHY?!”, well hold your horses. Before I get to this , there are still more changes that I have not yet mentioned.

• Luke Cage running the group of super villains called the Thunderbolts, replacing Norman Osborn
• Hope Summers (who is assumed to be a reincarnated Jean Grey.) is returning t the X-Men
• Wolverine is going to Hell.
• Captain America *Batman ripoff* was never dead, but actually sent back to the past. He's back
• Iron Man has no recollection of Civil War. He and Steve are now back to being best of buds.

Well it’s official: Marvel has run out of ideas. Okay. Let me rephrase that. They ran out of ideas a long time ago. I am still on the fence about the changes being made. There are so many ways this could go wrong. The potential for unoriginal ideas be rehashed under a different name is not only dull, but simply disappointing. Now let me answer the question "WHY?!". Every event starting from Avengers: Disassembled to Siege lead up to this Heroic Age. All of the crossovers have been given blows to egos, relationships, friendships and to the status of a hero. The Heroic Age is how the status quo will be returned to normal. Crimes will most likely be petty, new members will introduced, and most everything will be back to as normal as it gets in a superpowered New York. The Heroic Age is the equivalent to the Marvel Universe giving a hug, a warm blanket and a nice cup of cocoa to soothe the bullying everyone had to endure in the past 6 years. The event starts officially this month, but I would rather not focus too much on it because of all the possible variables that could change at the last minute.

Shinier, braver, and with 100% more Gorilla!

Even though I complained about the decisions Marvel has made, I am not opposing this decision. I’m just sceptical like I’ve been with every other Marvel event. Here’s hoping for the best! As a special treat, I would like to spend some time going over the major crossovers that occurred since the beginning of the end, those which lead to the beginning of this new age. In the next issue: the Avengers Disassembled!

Snikt!

By Joe Milone

The X-Men have appeared in animation many times over the course of the last twenty-something years from a guest appearance in Spiderman and his Amazing Friends, to the failed pilot known as Pryde of the X-Men.

But since the 90’s there have been 2 Long running X-Men shows, the Fox kids Classic X-Men, and the odd (at least in my opinion) X–Men Evolution, which cast most of the main characters as teenagers. I’ll gripe about that show in a later column.

But this past January (well at least in the US), a new chapter in the lives of our favorite animated mutants debuted, called Wolverine and the X-Men.

This series starts out with the X-Men disbanding after an explosion occurs at Xavier’s institute resulting in both the Professor and Jean Grey disappearing. This causes the team to disband and Cyclops goes all Emo. A year later the MRD (Mutant Response Division) starts to hunt down and imprison all the mutants. This prompts Wolverine to take charge and reform the X-Men, first bringing Beast back into the fold. Then we get a few more recruits back to the mansion, including Emma Frost. I do believe this is the first time The former White Queen has been animated, but I could be wrong

I won’t ruin the rest of the plot of the first season for those who haven’t watched it yet, because it is on par with the Fox X-Men show and has the potential to be even greater. The whole first season has already aired in Canada while we have only gotten to episode 13 here in the states.

The animation, voice acting and stories are top notch. Even considering that it is being produced by the same team who brought us X-Men- Evolution. Personally I can’t wait to see how the first season ends, and I hope that this show could run for a long time.

Any how, if you want to see this great show click here Wolverine and the X-Men
They have every episode that has aired on Nicktoons thus far. If you have ever been an X-Men fan in your lifetime, you owe it to yourself to check out this show. You won’t regret it.