Thor, Capatin America, Green Lantern, Batman, Superman & the Death of Spider-Man

I can remember when we were approaching Y2K and the world was concerned about a worldwide technological collapse.  Now, we are approaching the end of 2010 and starting another decade in 2011.  In the last ten years we have seen the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, 2 wars, 2 economic recessions, 1 of which nearly collapsed the entire world economy, bank closings, the biggest Ponzi scheme in world history by Bernie Madoff, a major tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Hurricane Katrina, several typhoons and earthquakes, the world's worst oil spill in human history by BP, the death of Saddam Hussein, a nuclear threat from South Korea and Iran, the rising power of China, several school shootings and the list goes on.  These are just a few of the astonishing events that have taken place!  If the world ever needed a hero/heroes then this has been the decade for it!  That is exactly what we have gotten, too; so to speak!

This last decade, 2001-2010, has seen an increase in the interest of comic books, superheroes and the love of fantasy.  Marvel stock continued to rise even during recessions and was eventually bought by Disney.  Comic book movies have become more and more in demand.  We have seen Spider-Man, Wolverine and the X-Men, Superman, the Hulk and more.  Iron Man, probably the biggest success of them all, has become iconic.  Who can look at Robert Downey, Jr. and not see Tony Stark?  We also have animated films and TV shows featuring the X-Men, the Avengers, Batman and, one of my personal favorites, The Super Hero Squad.  We love our heroes and we love to be entertained by them.  Yet this is just the beginning!

2011 is going to be a pivotal year for comic book films and comic book events.  Fans the world over are in expectation of seeing major heroes on the big screen.  Planned for release in 2011 is Thor, Captain America, The First Avenger,  and Green Lantern.  Iron Man 3, Superman, Batman, The Avengers, Wolverine 2, X-Men: First Class and Transformers are all scheduled for release in the following years.   While these films are definitely anticipated by comic book fans, they have also generated a new era of fans; movie fans.  This generation loves the movie screen heroes but have no interest in comics themselves.  For comic book companies, however, this avenue has captured new revenue and new customers.  The fact is though that the world wants heroes and lots of them.

As a comic book fan myself, I have longed to see these characters come alive.  While some films have been dismal failures, i.e. Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Elektra, it is still a totally cool thing to see living, breathing crime fighting heroes saving the world; even if it is only fictional.

The 2 big guns, Marvel and DC, have lots of plans headed into the new decade.  One in particular is Marvel's plan for Spider-Man in the Ultimate Universe where just about anything goes.  It is basically a recreation of the Marvel Universe but with altered stories and origins from the originals.  The biggest thing to see in early 2011, will be the Death of Spider-Man.  This will prove to be the biggest, boldest move Marvel has attempted in the Ultimate Universe.  Recently we saw the death of Captain America in Marvel's regular titles.  Naturally, it he did not stay dead.  For Ultimate Spider-Man, however, it seems that this may not be the case since many characters in the world of comics always find a way to return (Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Bruce Wayne, Aquaman, Firestorm, Superman, Captain America and others).  It seems the only well known character who has remained dead is Gwen Stacy, unless you count her emergence in the Spider-Man movie trilogy.  In any event, the death of iconic heroes always seems to draw readers.  Whether it is a publicity stunt to sell comics or not it will certainly prove to be a key moment for Marvel and Spider-Man fans.

Of the upcoming films, which do you think will be the best?  Cast your vote!

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Which Upcoming Comic Film Will Be The Best?

Thor
Captain America, The First Avenger
The Avengers
Iron Man 3
Green Lantern
Batman
Superman
Transformers
The Wolverine



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Is Brian Michael Bendis the Best Comic Book Writer Ever?

With the creation of the Illuminati, Civil War and Secret Invasion, Brian Michael Bendis has done more than just make the Marvel Universe exciting again. He has unified the Universe bringing past and present together, cleaning up story holes from times past, made crappy characters cool and made cool characters awesome. His twists and turns and exciting plots keep us wanting more and more and more just as it should be. With the popularity of Marvel and the story arcs that are taking place, most of which originate in the mind of Bendis, many would argue that he is the greatest comic writer in the history of comics. What do you think? Is this the case?

I love reading Bendis' work. He has made me want to read more and more. I feel like I did when I was 16 reading Claremont's X-men stories, or when I was in my 20's and Alex Ross recreated the DC Universe with Kingdom Come. I love reading Bendi's work, plain and simple. I think he is the best writer in the industry at this time. However, comparing Bendis' to past writers is like comparing Barry Bonds to Babe Ruth or Mark McGwire to Hank Aaron. The comparisons are not quite that simple to make. Different eras brought about different creators; creators that were needed at the time. Is it fair to compare Alex Ross with Jack Kirby? Both have displayed talent above the expectation of the time and set a new bar for others to reach. Brian Michael Bendis certainly has done that for the industry. Comparing him to the likes of Stan Lee, a most humble creator, would not be fair. Why?

Stan Lee changed the face of comics in a way that Bendis has not done. He did not just create story-lines and plots, he created characters that have been come national icons. Spider-Man and the X-Men are international icons. They are known the world over. In fact, most of the popular Marvel characters were created during an era when they were most needed and have held their popularity even now. Iit was Stan Lee and his buddies who brought that about.

Bendis is an awesome writer and I love what he has done with the Marvel Universe. Without Stan Lee and his friends, however, none of it would be possible. What do you think? Who is the greatest comic book writer of all time?

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