The Black Panther motion comic has been on DVD here in Australia since the 1st of December last year, but for some reason other countries haven’t had that privilege until now. The 6 episodes briefly premiered on iTunes before disappearing, but now the DVD is out collecting all the episodes based on the Reginald Hudlin/John Romita Jr. comic story. See if it was worth the wait here.

Jen Van Meter is writing a 40 page Red Sonja one-shot for Dynamite that arrives in April. It’s a surprising choice for the writer of Hopeless Savages and Black Lightning: Year One, but it should be worth a purchase, even though the title seems a bit odd.

Written by Jen Van Meter and drawn by Edgar Salazar, the Red Sonja: Break the Skin one-shot is a must-read!  In the story hitting comic shops this coming April, it looked like such a simple job: Zepur, a princess of the nomadic Talakma Horsemen, sought Sonja’s sword to defeat an unwelcome suitor and his army. When Sonja discovers she’s led her mercenary band into the middle of a bitter and vicious rivalry for leadership of Zepur’s clan, she’s got to figure out who’s lying to her the least, which promises she can keep, and how to fight the soul-eating avatar of an angry ape god.

“It had been awhile since I’d gotten the opportunity to write a character like Sonja–an unapologetic badass who answers to little outside herself–so I dove into this gleefully,” says writer Jen Van Meter.  “Red Sonja: Break the Skin is my effort to really look at her mercenary, sword-for-hire life in a world in which  the lies and political machinations that are handled comparatively cleanly in other genres are visceral and passionate and immediate, and in which angry gods are active players who can be manifest, grotesque and cruel.  The great thing about Sonja, to me, is that she feels like a lone gunslinger and a wild-eyed pirate captain at the same time; there’s tons of charisma, lusty bravado and brazen ego there, alongside this wonderfully quiet isolation.  There aren’t a lot of female characters who have both those modes available to them so readily, so it’s been a real delight to write her.”

Writer Jonathan Hickman talks about the death in this week’s issue of Fantastic Four. I won’t mention who it is, unlike the mainstream press.

Sticking with Marvel super teams, you can see two more full episodes for free of the new Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! cartoon, focusing on Hawkeye, Captain America and Black Widow. I assume it only works if you’re a U.S resident though as it won’t work for me, alas.

January 26, 2011
Categories: Comic Art, News . Tags: Dynamite, Marvel . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment