Mr. Anonymous, Is That You?

So I see an old friend pop on AIM and I decide to say hi. Last time he had juicy spoilers for me, I held back on coming right out with the info and made it into a guessing game. Since, I've kinda lost the hunger for getting spoilers. All of this is to say: I really was just saying hello.

But he had an update for me. Secret Avengers lineup.

Hmmm. Eclectic damn thing. We both agree that, if anyone can pull it off, Bru is the man. We disagree on whether it is a definite that Bru and Deodato can make it sell well, in addition to being a quality product. Then again, I guess cast didn't significantly hurt Avengers: The Initiative or the later issues of Mighty Avengers.

I'll say popular opinion on the first teasers is correct. I'll be picking up the first few issues just to see how they make this thing work.

STOP DAN SLOTT NOW!

Via a reader who likes the Huffington Post AND Schwapp!!! Online, apparently. It's all tongue-in-cheek, natch. The article at HuffPo is worth perusing.

Dan Slott: New Poster Child For Women In Refrigerator Offenses?

So, Tigra was having sex with the Skrull Hank Pym. Now she's pregnant. The internet is aghast, it would seem, at how Dan Slott has handled this.

If you check over on LiveJournal, you'll see a lot of discussion about it, but I'm reposting my favorite one (from kali921):

I don't have a problem with the scene in regards to its treatment of Tigra. For me it was about repercussions. When I stopped and looked at where the character was and where continuity and other creators had left her, I realized that here was a character who had casual sex with a skrull-- someone assuming a fake name/appearance/false pretenses. That's horrible. That's life-scarring.

Mr. Slott, do you not see how problematic that statement is, especially in regards to the way Tigra has been treated by Marvel's writers and editors over the last few years? Why would Greer be having unprotected sex? There are also troubling connotations to your statement, the kind of connotations that can lead one to believe that you're punishing a female character for having "casual sex."

While I don't know that this is supposed to be punishment for casual sex, it seems silly that Dan Slott's immediate assumption was that they were having unprotected, casual sex. Casual sex is sex that occurs outside of an established relationship, making it seem even more unlikely that our fair heroes would be bonking unprotected. I mean...Marvel IS the company that won't show a hero smoking because it can be deadly, right?

I'm told that Dan Slott is all over the internet defending his decision and honor.

Slott On Mighty Avengers?

So...they hand Mighty Avengers to one of the few people that couldn't keep their Bendis SI info straight?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Bendis clearly established that War Machine was supposed to be the only set of armor not completely linked to Stark's networks, making him safe from the Skrulls' virus attack. Yet Slott wrote him as suffering from that same virus in an issue of Avengers: The Initiative?

A guy can't manage to coordinate one book with Bendis, so he gets another he has to coordinate with him? Weird.

The Real Reason For "No More Mutants"

At this point, I'm pretty sure that the NO MORE MUTANTS edict was as much for the overpopulation of mutants as it was for plans to inject hundreds of cannon fodder level super-heroes into the Marvel landscape via the 50 State Initiative. I mean...c'mon...

Avengers: The Initiative #13
Written by CHRISTOS GAGE
Pencils & Cover by STEVE UY
There's a contract out on The Taskmaster, and no shortage of villains willing to fulfill it. But what'll kill him first -- the bad guys, or his latest class of recruits? Welcome Annex, Prodigy, Gorilla Girl, Sunstreak and Batwing to the Initiative. But are they -- is anyone -- ready for the coming of...Butterball??