Marvel’s Phase 2 domination of filmdom kicks off with Iron Man 3, but we’ll also get to see a bunch more superhero movies. Like this one, Thor: The Dark World, which takes place some time after the first movie. I’m not sure what exactly is going on, but it somehow involves Christopher Eccleston, Loki and his not sudden-and-inevitable betrayal. I was somewhat underwhelmed by the fist movie and I can’t say this one does a whole lot for me either.
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Welcome back to Roll Perception Plus Awareness, a column about roleplaying games and their place in a genre reader’s and writer’s world. For what I have for you this time out, let me set the scene:

Three X-men and a former Avenger investigate a breakout on the Raft, the maximum security prison in the East River for supervillains. There, they find that numerous inmates have escaped, with the help of Electro. Cinematic battles are fought in and on the raft. In a key moment, the Hulk, at the Raft in self and solitary confinement, proves valuable in taking out Vapor, Ironclad, Vector and X-Ray, the evil Fantastic Four-like group known as the U-Foes. And discover that there are deeper and darker things afoot, that mandate a temporary alliance to uncover.

Was this the latest issue of a comic? A motion comic on DVD? A new animated Marvel series? No, none of the above. This was a recent session of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game that I participated in. Marvel is the latest roleplaying game from Margaret Weis Productions (yes, that Margaret Weis, fantasy fans).

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Marvel Comics is shaking things up with their new Marvel Now!  Among the changes comes some huge stuff for the mutants of the X-books following the events of Avengers Vs. X-Men.  Enter X-Men Legacy #1, kicking off the all-new ongoing series from acclaimed writer Simon Spurrier and Eisner Award Winning artist Tan Eng Huat!

Legion, the most powerful and unstable mutant in the world and son to Professor Charles Xavier, has killed gods and reshaped the face of the universe. Now, Legion will finally attempt to conquer his demons and establish his place among mutantkind!

Trailer is after the jump.

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In episode 163 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester and his rag-tag band of panelists, discuss:

Star Wars, Disney, Marvel, Timothy Zahn, The Thrawn Trilogy, Star Wars: Episode 7, the Star Wars Extended Universe, Star Trek, Pathfinder Tales, Tie-In novels, George Lucas, Stargate, The X-Men, the 501st Legion, Lucasfilm, Disneyland, Family Guy, Robot Chicken, Pixar, Disney Princesses, Disneyland’s overhaul / rebranding of the iconic Submarine Ride as the new “Gungan Undersea Extravaganza’, Marvel Comics, Joe Quesada, Terry Brooks, The Sword of Shannara, Triumph over Tragedy, Attack of the Show, Newsroom, Pirates 101, Baldurs Gate, The Jar-Jar Binks Live Action Generic Non-Traditional Holiday Special with guests Tinkerbell, Wolverine and The Incredibles, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Ship Breaker, The City’s Son, and Reboots…

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Welcome to a new column here on SF Signal: …And Another Thing, a weekly commentary on issues and news from the speculative fiction community! We feel that there’s a lot of news that comes flying out from every corner of the internet on a number of issues: the incident at ReaderCon, the extreme popularity of the summertime releases of Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises, to the landing of Curiosity on the surface of Mars. This column will feature a roving band of SF Signal Irregulars and their takes on the world around us.

As John and I were getting ready to launch this, a proverbial earthquake happened: Disney announced that they were purchasing LucasFilm Limited for $4.05 billion dollars in cash and stocks. Almost immediately, my Twitter and Facebook feeds exploded with people excited, freaking out and everything in between. The noise is going to continue for a while, I suspect, and while I was initially skeptical, I realized that this isn’t something that’s unexpected.
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What? Who are you accusing of being late to the party?

Iron Man 3.  I can’t wait. Seriously, this looks great.  Extremis?  Pepper as Rescue?! (Maybe.)  The Mandarin?!  The Iron Patriot?  AGENT COULSON RIDING A UNICYCLE?!

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How do you follow up The Avengers, amovie that currently hold the number 3 spot in the list of all-time top worldwide grossing films? Well, if you’re Marvel, you announce your next set of films at Comi Con! That’s just what they’ve done.

G4tv is reporting that Marvel has announced the following schedule for their next superhero films. And look! It even includes Guardians of the Galaxy…
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On the Kirkus Reviews blog today, I list my Top 5 Graphic Novel picks starring the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!

From the post:

Sergei Kravinoff burst onto the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man in 1964.  Since then, he has hunted Spidey relentlessly in the hopes of proving to everyone he is the greatest hunter in the world.  Collecting Web of Spider-Man #31-32, Amazing Spider-Man #293-294, and Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132, Kraven’s Last Hunt, written by J. M. DeMatteis and illustrated by Mike Zeck, brought Kraven and Spider-Man together for their final confrontation.

Driven mad by his inability to defeat Spider-Man, Kraven the Hunter launches his ultimate end-game and manages to defeat the web-head.  He shoots him, and buries him.  To further prove that he is the greatest hunter in the world, Kraven takes on Spider-Man’s mask and hunts his latest enemy, Vermin, and defeats him in a brutal attack.  Two weeks later, Spidey wakes up (he was drugged, not killed) and has to dig his way out of his own grave. Kraven is no longer interested in him.  Vermin, however, is out for revenge following the beat-down Kraven gave him.

Click through to the Kirkus Reviews blog to read the full piece and see all my picks.

REVIEW SUMMARY: Marc Webb’s updating of Spider-Man’s origin story looks good but feels flat and, ultimately, too familiar.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: High school student Peter Parker’s investigation into his parents’ disappearance bring him to Oscorp, where he is bitten by a genetically engineered spider and begins to take on its powers.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Exceptional special effects; great chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone; early scenes where Peter learns to use his powers.
CONS: Lack of necessity in retelling the origins of the title character; inappropriate tone undermines the character’s primary appeal; too little humanity in the villain.

Haven’t we been here before?  It seems like only yesterday when Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man opened to rave reviews and a huge opening weekend, with the pitch-perfect casting of its title character (Tobey Maguire), love interest (Kirsten Dunst, who went red to play Mary Jane Watson), and key villain (Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin),  to say nothing of scene-stealer J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, exceptional dialogue, and its…well, honestly, rather substandard effects, but those didn’t detract from the action and suspense.  Raimi followed it with a superior sequel (Spider-Man 2) written by Michael Chabon and a lifeless continuation (Spider-Man 3) crammed with too many villains.  Now Marc Webb, hot off the success of indie favorite (500) Days of Summer, takes the helm to continue… Read the rest of this entry

On April 27–29, EPIX will be hosting Marvel Heroes Weekend – a marathon of superhero movies including Iron Man 2, Thor, the world television premiere of Captain America: The First Avenger and the EPIX Original Documentary With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story.

Hosted by legendary comic book creator Stan Lee, the marathon also includes EPIX Extra: Mighty Movie Superheroes, examining the origins and fan following of the mighty team. The weekend celebration of Marvel’s famed superheroes and their creator features the movies that have led up to the highly anticipated theatrical release of The Avengers on May 4.

Trailer for With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story follow…

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Joss Whedon is bringing The Avengers to movie theaters everywhere on May 4th.  Not everyone knows who The Avengers are or what they’re all about, so I thought we might take a look at the team before that movie comes out.

The Avengers began in the pages of Marvel comics way back in 1963.  They followed in the footsteps of DC comics who re-launched their team, the Justice League of America, in 1960 (The Brave and the Bold #28). A lot of heroes have been part of the team throughout the years, but the original team had Iron Man, Ant-Man, Wasp, Hulk, Thor, Hawkeye and the Black Panther.  Captain America joined a little later.  Similar to the JLA, the idea was the team would ‘assemble’ whenever there was a threat too big for any one superhero to handle.  Hence, they were ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’.

For the film, they are looking at a team of: Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow, all of whom have been part of the team at one point or another. 

Let’s take a look at each one…

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In episode 103 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester asks the SF Signal Irregulars to chime in with their Favorite Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies and TV Shows from 2011.

This week’s panel includes:

• Jeff Patterson
• Jay Garmon
• Derek Johnson
• Patrick Hester

© 2011 SFSignal.com
Featuring original music by John Anealio
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• Interviews & Profiles:
  • John Scalzi turns the Whatever mike over to Malinda Lo, author of Ash.
  • Agony Column podcast-interviews Peter S. Beagle, Karen Joy Fowler, Michael Swanwick, and M. Rickert.
  • War Rocket Ajax podcast-interviews Jess Nevins.
  • The latest BookBanter podcast features Seanan McGuire (Rosemary and Rue).
• AWARDS NEWS: Pawel Dembowski writes in to tell us that the Polish Janusz A. Zajdel Award for 2008 was awarded on Saturday at Polcon in Lodz. The winners are: Kameleon (Chameleon) by Rafal Kosik (novel), and “Swiaty Dantego” (“Dante’s Worlds”) by Anna Kantoch (Short story).
• Over at Dear Author, Heather Massey makes the case for Steampunk Romance.
• Wired: Why E-Books Look So Ugly. [via MobileRead Forums]
• @Centauri Dreams: Science Fiction and Interstellar Thinking: “…science fiction’s clout doesn’t come so much from prediction as much as from the ability to try out new ideas by remodeling the world so as to accommodate them.”
• David Langford has posted Ansible 266 for September 2009.
• Lena Headey (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) lands the last major part in HBO’s Game of Thrones pilot.
• Nicole at Geekend is on a quest for the ultimate geek movie.
• Stan Lee (and … Jack Kirby?) on the Marvel/Disney deal.
• Real Science: Mike Brotherton is Rethinking Pluto.
• Not Real Science: New Species Of Lobster May Have Come From Outer Space.
• Look at This has a handy graphic on how to tell the difference between swine flu, bird flu…and zombie flu.
• A Venn Diagram of Mythical Creatures. [via MonkeyFilter and Cynical-C Blog]
• It’s back to school time. And what better way to celebrate your inner geekness than with these Star Wars Text Book Covers. Of course, doing so means it’s no longer “inner” but “outer” which may subject you to extended periods of time inside a locker. Cover you books at your own risk!
• Cyberpunk Review lists Cyberpunk Movies by Decade. (Old list but still useful.)
• @Magical Words, Misty Massey lists 5 Things You Ought To Know About Writers.
• @SciFi Scanner: The 10 Most Dastardly Supervillain Quotes.

• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @The Dragon Page: Jane Lindskold (Nine Gates).
  • Bibliophile Stalker interviews Marc Gascoigne, Publishing Director of Angry Robot books.
  • Rick Riordan Discusses Labyrinth and Lightning Thief at B&N Video. [via Missions Unknown]
  • Mary Robinette Kowal-bits:
    • @Writing Excuses podcast-interviews Mary Robinette Kowal.
    • Locus Online has interview excerpts with Mary Robinette Kowal.
• For those who wish to follow the latest Genre vs. Literary debate, follow this trail:
  • @WSJ: Good Novels Don’t Have to Be Hard Work by Lev Grossman. And subsequent responses from:
    • Cheryl Morgan
    • Ellen Datlow
    • Matt Cheney
    • Patrick Nielson Hayden
    • Jeff VanderMeer
    • Edward Champion
  • Guardian: Why Kelman’s rage at the genrefication of Scottish literature concerns us all. And responses from
    • Cheryl Morgan
    • Seanachie
• @Guardian: Ursula K. Le Guin reviews Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood. [via Locus Online]
• Author Philip Palmer has a thoughtful essay on George Orwell’s sf masterpiece, 1984.
• BookViewCafe.com to Publish Steampunk Anthology.
• Free Excerpt: Chapter One of The Other Lands by David Anthony Durham (whose website just got a face lift). [via Suvudu]
• Jonathan Strahan on eBooks vs. printed books.
• Oh Noes! “e-Books Will Be Our Downfall!” says publisher.
• @The World in the Satin Bag, S.M. Duke talks about Punking the begeezus out of Everything in SF/F.
• Spike TV Announces Nominees for ‘SCREAM 2009′ – Star Trek Tops List With 17 Nominations.
• Bored: here’s How to Create a SciFi Space Helmet for less then $20.
• Old news by now: Disney buys Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. [Insert your own joke here.]
• Lists:
  • Fandomania is undertaking an ambitious project to name The 100 Greatest Fictional Characters of All Time.
  • Make Use Of has tips on How To Find A Book Without Knowing The Title Or Author.
  • @Wired.com: Wired‘s Favorite Sci-Fi Flicks of All Time.
  • Damien G. Walter lists 3 ways to help Support Our ‘Zines Day (October 1, 2009).

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • Suvudu has a video interviews with Aaron Allston, Christie Golden, and Troy Denning, authors of the Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi series.
  • The Nebula Awards website interviews Charles Coleman Finlay.
  • SciFiNow has an interview with Director Alex Proyas.
• The World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award winners for 2009 are Jane Yolen and Ellen Asher.
• Win Scott Eckert posts covers for Phantom Chronicles 2.
• Cory Doctorow explains Why free ebooks should be part of the plot for writers: “…the right time to do a free ebook release is when the printed book is available…”
• David Brin has some issues with LOST, that “infuriating television show”.
• The Outer Alliance is a new group dedicated to intelligent discussion of LGBT issues in speculative literature. [via Cheryl's Mewsings via Hal Duncan]
• Amy Sterling Casil looks at more Star Trek book covers.
• James Wallace Harris asks: Has the Universe Gotten Too Big for Science Fiction?
• EVENT: As part of the Fantastic Fiction free reading series, Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present Andrew Fox (The Good Humor Man and Calorie 3501) & Chris Genoa (Foop! and the upcoming Lick Your Neighbor) Wednesday September 16th, 7pm at KGB Bar in NYC.
• Quiz: Can you name the books of George Orwell?
• The chicago-sf.org has some tidbist of interest:
  • Peter Watts (posting as ‘megasquid’) answers questions about his book Starfish.
  • The reading group’s September selection is Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr. [via Allan Rosewarne]
• Apex is running a promotion in support of Harlan County Horrors.
• @Wired: Marvel Moves Into Motion Comics With Spider-Woman.
• The Steampunk Workshop points us to the cool steampunk artwork of Ivan Mavrovic.
• Publishers Weekly‘s Genreville blog gets a reboot and a new (redirect) domain name.
• Horror Squad looks at science fiction horror films. [via ScifiSquad]
• Retro-Geek-cool: USS Enterprise record player.
• Lists:
  • Neil Gaiman and Wil Wheaton make the list of Top 10 Twitter Feeds to Follow by HowStuffWorks.
  • @Geeks are Sexy: Top 5 Places to get Free Science Fiction Online.
  • @GeekDad: 5 Science Fiction/Fantasy Books We Wish Had Never Been Written.
  • @Comicbook.com: 10 Fall Movies For Comic Book Geeks.
  • @Bookstove: 5 Sci-Fi Books That Should be Made into Movies.
  • @io9: The Best of SciFi’s Oppressed Alien Species.
  • @SFX: SciFi’s 26 Greatest Tearjerkers.
  • @Fancast: 50 Sci Fi Things You Must Watch Now.
  • @SCI FI Wire: The 10 most badass sci-fi battlesuits ever.
  • A response to Quentin Tarantino’s picks for Top 20 Movies of the last 17 years: Joseph Mallozzi’s Top 20 Movies of the Past 17 Years.
  • Just…Wow. Concept Art World has 25 Inspiring Examples of Spaceships and Aircraft.