This year marks the 90th anniversary of Donald Duck’s as well as the 50th anniversary of Wolverine, and in July, fans will be able to see both their sagas collide in a special comic book one-shot, Marvel & Disney: What If…? Donald Duck Became Wolverine #1! Today, fans can see all the covers for this highly-anticipated issue and check out some interior pages.
This first-of-its-kind mashup adventure will celebrate everything the world loves about both these pop culture legends from their heart and humor to their epic rage.
The comic will introduce Donald-Wolverine along with all sorts of reimagined Disney and Marvel mashups in a wild adventure inspired by one of Wolverine’s most memorable story arcs, Old Man Logan. In addition, the saga will revisit some of the greatest moments in Donald-Wolverine’s history including his time spent with Weapon X and the Uncanny X-Men!
Travel to the near future where chaos rules as Pete-Skull transforms Duckburg into a super-hero-less wasteland. Only Old Donald Duck can turn the tide, but he’s given up his battling days and prefers naps and his grandma’s apple pie over fighting villains. But when Mickey-Hawkeye comes knocking at the door with Goofy-Hulk at his side, Donald-Wolverine has to make a choice! Will a trip down memory lane change his mind to save the world? Or will the lure of the backyard hammock and a long nap keep him from popping his claws one last time?
On merging these two icons, writer Luca Barbieri said, “Donald Duck and Wolverine are two characters that seem almost impossible to make coexist, but in fact they possess very similar personality: they are both hot-tempered and unlucky, but in adversity they do not lose heart and always show that they have a big heart! Once this point was focused, writing the story turned out to be easy and fun!”
“I always thought Wolverine’s sideburns only looked good on Uncle Scrooge, but when I drew them on Donald Duck I realized they fit him perfectly too!” artist Giada Perissinotto added. “Those pointy head tufts and thick sideburns go well with his shaggy being. I had so much fun adapting Wolverine’s hair to Donald Duck that I would do him like this all the time now!”
See the variant covers and page art following the jump. For more information, visit Marvel.com.
By Tim Marion: This one has left me so unsatisfied that I feel obligated to spoil it. Oh yes, there will be spoilers!
The X-Men cartoon in the early 90s was incredibly beautiful, and a bit complicated in the storylines when they would time travel and change events in the past. This Fox cartoon was so successful that it lasted for several seasons and every season I collected faithfully onto VHS tapes, the outside shell of which I decorated with graphics from TV Guide and elsewhere. I still have all of those tapes and those (and ones of other Marvel Comics characters) are definitely ones I intend to keep. I was delighted when they all became available on DVD. Rewatching them was a lot of fun.
The new cartoon from Disney+, X-Men ’97, was a delight visually, seeing the Disney animation applied onto what was already a beautiful, realistic art style. However, it feels like the creators of this cartoon were totally out-of-touch with the characters.
(X) Magneto looked completely bizarre. The artist(s) put extraneous lines all over his face, apparently in an effort to make him look older or evil or whatever, even though he wasn’t presented as being an all-evil character when the original series ended.
(X) Magneto’s outfit was also bizarre. When he takes over leadership of the X-Men (in the absence of Charles Xavier, who everyone says is dead, but really he’s the Royal Consort on the homeworld of the Sh’iar), he suddenly has a new outfit which looks insufferably feminine. This outfit includes a bright, red-purple tanktop with matching tight gauntlets (really, evening gloves) going all the way up his arms, baring his shoulders. What’s he going to do? Be a mutant mastermind or break a flashdance?? Bleah. Seldom ever seen a worse superhero or villain outfit.
(X) Then, Magneto and Rogue’s ability to have a relationship, despite the fact that Rogue’s touch depletes one of one’s powers and even personality, is explained away as if it was magic, and as if it had never been explained before. Indeed, the writer and creator of this new series, who has since been fired (wonder why?), even claimed that was never explained, but it was in the very comics story arc which is being referenced! In the comics, Magneto was almost as much a genius at mutant science as was Charles Xavier. Magneto had an entire laboratory hidden in the Savage Land (Marvel’s version of Pellucidar) where he experimented on creatures and turned them into mutates. This story occurred during the last few issues of the original run of The X-Men and was gorgeously illustrated by the late (sob) Neal Adams (arguably the best penciller in comics at the time) and Tom Palmer (unarguably the best inker ever), and even if the writer had not been born at the time, these are important, popular, seminal stories which have been reprinted almost 10 times! Magneto was, of course, defeated by the X-Men and friends, but later makes a more innocuous home for himself there when Rogue visits him (seeking help because she’s overwhelmed by her powers). It was obvious (from the dialog and before all the smooching) that he used his lab and his smarts to scientifically modify their powers so that Rogue’s touch was not lethal to him. Are these new writers just somehow not able to understand or remember details from stories which they claim they are referencing? Maybe that writer only remembers Magneto smooching a grateful, rag-clad Rogue (dressed appropriately for the barbaric Savage Land, I guess, while Magneto, of course, kept on his usual red togs) and, like this fanboy in his 30s at the time, fantasized himself as Magneto and forgot everything else?
(X) Rogue is actually one of the toughest, strongest X-Men, due to her once siphoning the powers of a female Captain Marvel. But towards to end of this 10-episode series, the technology-controlling mutant Bastion is choking her to death (before he is stopped by someone else). Why couldn’t she siphon off his powers when he was doing that? Not explained. On with the drama…
Rogue, Cyclops, Jubilee, Bishop.
(X) Then, when all else fails, and Magneto is out of control and destroying the world, Wolverine pops his claws right thru Magneto’s chest. Does Magneto die? No. Does he even look wounded? No. Instead, they reprise a scene from the comicbooks and have Magneto very dramatically withdraw all of the adamantium (indestructible steel coating) out of Wolverine’s skeleton. Magneto doesn’t even have a cough from having his chest punctured in 3 places. None of that is explained. On message boards, no one seems to notice it. For me, it was just the last claw. I mean, straw.
(X) And there are tons of other things which don’t make sense. Morph was a character created just for the cartoon in the early 90s; he was never a comicbook character. This was so they could have a character die early in the series who would not be a fan-favorite. But somehow, here he is back, and if that was explained in the old series, I forget. Not only is he back, but somehow, when he changes his appearance to that of other super-powered characters, such as Quicksilver or even The Hulk, he also acquires their powers! For how long, I don’t know; this isn’t explained. But that seems so unrealistic even within their own fantasy milieu, which is supposed to have a scientific basis. This would actually make him one of the most powerful Marvel characters, right in the range of the Mimic (whom the writer probably never heard of) or Apocalypse. Yet all of this is trotted out very casually and without explanation.
Part of the problem here is that the live action movies, as well as this cartoon, are the brain children of young men in their 30s who were probably in their early teens when they first encountered the comics or the previous cartoons, and thus they have different sensibilities and feelings about these characters than I do. Even if they invest a lot of thought into those characters, those thoughts frequently seem wacky, illogical, and inappropriate.
In short (I know: it’s too late already), this wasn’t really a continuation of the previous cartoon, except maybe in appearance. It was more the vision of an individual fanboy who couldn’t correctly remember the stories he was claiming to reference and adapt and is too young to have read other seminal stories. Altho the previous series was complicated, if episodes were watched again and paid attention to carefully, they made sense. This series makes no sense. It is just confusion, chaos, and sensationalism; a proverbial “tale of sound and fury.”
Well, whatever, I’m glad I watched X-Men ’97 just because I would have felt like I was Really Missing Out if I hadn’t. But, despite how beautiful this cartoon was, I doubt that I will feel inspired to watch any future ones, or any possible cartoons of heroes whose cameos they featured.
Then, I attempted to watch a new, touted animé on Disney. Commercial before it started. 3-5 minutes into it, a set of commercials. I stopped it and cancelled the service. “Too many commercials!” I told them. “For this amount of commercials, I should see the programming for free!”
Marvel Comics kick offs Pride Month with its annual Marvel’s Voices: Pride anthology one-shot, titled X-Men: The Wedding Special #1, followed by an all-new series of Pride variant covers. On sale throughout June, this year’s Pride variant covers were drawn by two of the industry’s most promising talents—Betsy Cola and Davi Go. Eight covers on Marvel’s hottest titles celebrate LGBTQIA+ heroes from throughout the Marvel Universe, including members of the Avengers, the X-Men, and more. Each piece teams up LGBTQIA+ characters with one of their fellow icons, showcasing both the spirit of Pride Month and exemplifying the importance of strong allyship.
Here are some of the characters spotlighted on this year’s covers:
America Chavez, who delivered justice…like lightning! during Devil’s Reign in Thunderbolts.
Angela, who returns later this month in Immortal Thor #11 where she’ll team up with her siblings to rescue another child of Odin!
Black Cat, whose team-up series with Mary Jane Watson, Jackpot & Black Cat, is on sale now.
Hercules, soon rejoining Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the upcoming Blood Hunt tie-in issues of Avengers.
Hulkling, the “King of Space” who’s made recent appearances throughout the Marvel Universe in Captain Marvel, Loki, and more.
Lightning, the most electrifying member of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes who played a pivotal role in 2018’s “No Surrender” event. He’ll be rejoining the team later this year in a yet-to-be announced new Avengers title.
Loki, currently sowing chaos and reigniting an eons-old sibling rivalry in Immortal Thor.
Northstar, the groundbreaking first openly gay character in Marvel Comics. Fans recently saw Northstar lead a new iteration of Canada’s premier super-team during the Fall of X limited series, Alpha Flight.
Rachel Summers, currently playing a pivotal role in Krakoa’s final battle in Rise of the Powers of X. She will star alongside her girlfriend, Betsy Braddock, in the upcoming new run of X-Force.
Rūna, a legendary Valkyrie who first appeared in 2021’s King in Black crossover before making appearances in the pages of Thor, Avengers Unlimited, and more.
Check out all eight covers following the jump. For more information, visit Marvel.com.
Titan Comics will release Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor #1 on June 26.
The Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday have followed a mysterious signal to a shopping mall in the last days of Earth. It’s sure to be a trap, but to find the source, The Doctor must face his greatest fears…
The issue is written by Dan Watters, with art by Kelsey Ramsay, and colorist Valentina Bianconi.
Following the jump, check out the brand-new unlettered pages preview below, which feature the first look at the comic’s iconic villains.
By Daniel Dern. Item 10 of the May 9 Pixel Scroll, “Glimpse The Next Chapter Of Neil Gaiman And Mark Buckingham’s Groundbreaking Miracleman Saga”, brought good news for us long-time MiracleMan fans. I’ve read one or two of the issues, but decided to wait for the seven-issue run to be collected into book format, and having learned that that’s happened, have just library-reserved it.
For new-to-MiracleMan Filers looking to learn more (as in, read) about What Has Gone Before (which helps you understand the who’s-who along with what-has-gone-before), good news: everything previous (or just about) is easily available, to buy, e-buy, or e-borrow.
This article is mostly WHERE TO FIND IT. I’ll leave “about MiracleMan” info and discussions to others, his Wikipedia page, and other online info. (I’ve included a few links at the bottom, to speed that.)
A BRIEFISH DIGRESSION: HOW I FOUND OUT ABOUT MIRACLEMAN. Back in the mid-80’s, I was working at a place which had Usenet access, and was a regular (mostly reading, occasionally posting) on the rec.arts sf and comics groups, so when Eclipse Comics began printing MiracleMan in 1985 (to oversimplify a bit), I began getting it (via my still-local comics shop, The Outer Limits).
My MiracleMan stash/collection consists of the (I think) full run of the Eclipse comics (and a handful of duplicates), plus four trade paperbacks collecting them:
Miracleman Book 1: A Dream of Flying
Miracleman Book 2: The Red King Syndrome
Miracleman Book 3: Olympus
Miracleman Book 4: The Golden Age
(Plus Kimota! The Miracleman Companion, by George Khoury and Alan Moore) (Aha! I see there’s a newer – 2010/2011 vs 2001 – edition, with new material doubling the original’s 100-ish pages.)
As I’ve learned over the past few years, this doesn’t include stuff from Warrior (with MiracleMan and/or WarpSmiths and other “Miracle-verse” stuff). My remedy for that, conveniently, was e-borrowing; I don’t feel the need to get/own ’em all.
ONE BUY/BORROW TO GET (NEARLY) ‘EM ALL. Conveniently, close to the full MiracleMan opus (prior to the new Gaiman Silver Age) is available, not just in individual comics and modest-length book collections, but also in a single large volume, going under the names: Miracleman: The Original Epic and Miracleman Omnibus.
Hardcover book: MIRACLEMAN OMNIBUS. (Finding this as a physical book on Marvel.com is too complicated). Pub: Marvel Universe (October 25, 2022)? 808 pages
“Collects Miracleman Books One Through Three, complete with a massive trove of covers, original artwork and rare features. Collecting Miracleman (1985) #1, #3 and #6-16; Miracleman Special #1 and material from A1 (1989) #1 and WARRIOR #1-18 and #20-21 [as presented in Miracleman (2014) #1-16] – plus ALL-NEW MIRACLEMAN ANNUAL #1.”
This edition collects the complete original epic (A Dream of Flying, The Red King Syndrome and Olympus) — plus tales of the Warpsmiths and rare Miracleman stories! Collecting MIRACLEMAN (1985) #1, #3 and #6-16; and material from WARRIOR #1-18 and #20-21; MARVELMAN SPECIAL #1 and A1 (1989) #1 [as presented in MIRACLEMAN (2014) #1-16] – plus ALL-NEW MIRACLEMAN ANNUAL #1.
Your public library system may have a physical copy (mine does); they may also have copies of the individual volumes.
Libby (libbyapp.org by app, libbyapp.com via desktop browser) – Maybe; depends on whether your library’s eholdings include it
Given the near-identical list of contents, it’s not clear why the hardcover is >300 pages longer. Perhaps “a massive trove of covers, original artwork and rare features.”
A FEW MARVEL SINGLE-ISSUES. Here’s the ones I’m aware of:
MiracleMan #0 (Marvel)
Worth it, particular for the page of Ty Templeton’s Sunday-Funnies-style parodies: “Doomed. Buried”, “Bates In Hell”, Big Ben In Sleeplyland” and “Kimota Kat”. (Click for larger image.)
Miracleman: Marvel Tales (2023) #1. April 26, 2023
“…classic British tales from MIRACLEMAN (1985) #1, WARRIOR #1-11, MARVELMAN SPECIAL #1 and A1 (1989) #1 — restored and refreshed in the pages of MIRACLEMAN (2014) #1-4”
CAMEOS AND MORE. I’ve spotted at least two) cameos in Marvel, as in, the Marvel Comics universe (yes, I know that’s not specific enough.)
There’s one reference — MiracleMan’s MM costume logo — at the end of Timeless #1 (2021) and it feels like I saw M-Man as part of a group-of-heroes-at-a-funeral panel within the past year.
On Free Comic Book Day – May 4 – pick up Titan Comics’ The Fifteenth Doctor Free Comic Book Day Edition at participating stores.
The Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday have followed a mysterious signal to a shopping mall in the last days of Earth. It’s sure to be a trap, but to find the source, The Doctor must face his greatest fears…
Sample art below.
DOCTOR WHO: THE FIFTEENTH DOCTOR FREE COMIC BOOK DAY EDITION Writer: Dan Watters. Artist: Kelsey Ramsay. 24pp, FC, SC. On sale May 4, 2024
In honor of Women’s History Month, the current class of Marvel’s Stormbreakers will be depicting their favorite women super heroes in March’s batch of Stormbreakers Variant Covers. These action packed covers feature some of today’s most popular comic book icons including She-Hulk, Gamora, Ms. Marvel, Shuri, Ghost-Spider, Ironheart, and Squirrel Girl.
Each month, Marvel’s Stormbreakers flex their skills with exciting themed variant cover collections for fans’ favorite comic series and characters. The current group of artists includes Elena Casagrande, Nic Klein, Jan Bazaldua, Chris Allen, Martin Coccolo, Lucas Werneck, Federico Vicentini and C.F. Villa.
Each of these artists embody the raw talent and creative potential to shatter the limits of visual storytelling in comics today. As the next evolution of the groundbreaking Marvel’s Young Guns program, Marvel’s Stormbreakers continues the tradition of spotlighting and elevating these powerful artists to showcase their abilities, artwork and prominence in the world of comic books.
Check out all seven covers following the jump. For more information, visit Marvel.com.
Marvel Studios’ X-Men ’97, a follow-up to the classic Nineties X-Men: The Animated Series is coming soon to Disney+. In anticipation of the upcoming X-Men ’97 animated series, some favorite Marvel characters flash back to the ‘90s in new variant covers in February.
On sale throughout February, these new covers capture the essence of this blockbuster era by depicting these superheroes in their iconic ‘90s looks, reuniting ‘90s lineups, and paying homage to memorable ‘90s covers. For more information, visit Marvel.com.
By Daniel Dern: “Done Patrol,” Season 4 Episode 12, and the season/series finale episode of DCUniverse/HBO/Max’s The Doom Patrol, (finally!) (as announced in File770’s September 21, 2023 scroll, Item 12: Final Doom) aired, on Thursday, November 9, 2023, letting (us) fans (“Doomies” is the term I’ve seen) breathe a bittersweet sigh or three of relief.
One, we have gotten to see all the 44 episodes, albeit the final season’s second half-dozen more than half a year later than originally scheduled, so, avoiding the potential “shelve unshown” fate of other HBO Max properties (e.g., the Batgirl movie — two days ago, I would have added the live-action/animation Coyote vs Acme, but it looks like the movie, like Wiley C., may yet survive).
(<grumbling memories of other shows with unshown or very-belatedly-elsewhere episodes, e.g. Awake and Wonderfalls, omitted>)
Two, satisfactory ending (In My Opinion, ditto a few friends). Major plot lines and character arcs have been wrapped up, and many characters were given (screen) time for closure and we had the chance to say our farewells.
Alan Brennert, a friend and fellow comics fan (and Nebula/Emmy award-winning tv, mainstream, sf and comics writer, the fan favorite Batman-marries-Catwoman story, “The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne” (included in Tales of the Batman: Alan Brennert), says “THE DOOM PATROL was, in my opinion, the best adult television adaptation — so, not including movies — of a superhero comic I’ve ever seen. It was amazingly faithful to the surrealism of Grant Morrison’s run on the series, while blending in favorite characters from the 1960s original series and giving them more sophisticated and satisfying backstories.”
In the process, the show’s also received a fair number of award nominations, including GLAAD Media Awards 2022 for Outstanding Drama Series.
It’s been a great multi-year ride, starting with an intro/cross-over in November 2019, in Season 1 Episode 4 of DC Universe’s Titans (see my scroll Scouting Ahead: The Doom Patrol – note, some links there no longer work), albeit with some characters played by different actors, and some other differences versus the DP series.
We’ve gotten to see heroes from across the various creators and plot arcs, including Crazy Jane, Flex Mentallo, Danny The Street, Steve “Mento” Dayton, and Casey “Space Case” Brinke, and often-surprising turns from the antagonist side, like the Brotherhood of Evil’s The Brain, Monsieur Mallah, and Madame Rouge, along with Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, Mr. 104, Garguax, and Mister Nobody.
We even (minor non-plot spoiler) got, unexpectedly (to me and others I’ve talked with), got a musical episode, including at least one great production number, in the Season 4’rs preantepenultimate episode, “Immortimus Patrol,” (Previous episodes have included some song/song-and-dance numbers, it’s worth noting, including a novel rendition of “Shipoopi” from The Music Man.)
(Advisory note: Doom Patrol includes lots of cussing, some sex, violence, and some scenes that may be triggering.) How/where to watch:
Online, according to JustWatch include MAX, Apple+, and Amazon Prime.
Physical media: All four seasons are now available on DVD and BluRay — if you don’t want to buy/own them, try your public library. (I see that mine currently has the first three seasons.) (Or seek out used copies.)
NO GOTTA-READ/WATCH PREREQUISITES, THANKFULLY: One of Doom Patrol’s notable virtues for new viewers is the near-zero knowledge barrier-to-entry (unlike far too many of the other Marvel and DC movies, shows and comics).
No previous familiarity with Doom Patrol comics, characters, or plotlines needed. Per-character origins and backstories get brought in over time, but you don’t have to know anything before you start watching. And while the show draws heavily on the Doom Patrol characters and plots — largely from Grant Morrison’s exquisite run, but also going back the very first issues, and post-Morrison as well, notably Gerard Way and artist Nick Derington’s Casey “Space Case” Brinke, we get their origin stories as the series progresses.
No larger-“universe” knowledge needed. The show takes place within the DC universe, but (IIRC), there’s no reference to other plots, plans, arc, or whatever, with the arguable exception of Cyborg, who was (and continues to be) linked with the (Teen) Titans and the Justice League). The closest it comes (IIRC) is the names “Superman” and “Justice League” (and possibly “Batman” and one or two other DC heroes do get mentioned a few times, but not as plot points.
Having read some or all of the Doom Patrol will help know who’s who/what a little sooner than if you come in cold…but it won’t help you know where it’s going most of the time.
THE COMICS BACKGROUND, SUMMARIZED AND SIMPLIFIED, IN CASE YOU’RE INTERESTED. For those not familiar with the Doom Patrol (from their decades of comics, and/or the TV), some briefish non-spoiler backstory.
Here’s what-started-as-brief recap/spoiler free info about the Doom Patrol, comic, Max series, etc.:
Doom Patrol began as a DC comic, first appearing in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963), created by writers Arnold Drake and Bob Haney, along with artist Bruno Premiani. Perfect timing for a kid like me willing to gamble twelve cents (which was real money and a meaningful piece of my own money at that point in time). (I was a DC kid, just in time for their Silver Age, not encountering Marvel until college.)
The DP’s initial members were Professor Niles Caulder, a (in most episodes) wheelchair-confined doctor/scientist, Cliff Steele (“Robotman”), Larry Trainor (“Negative Man”) and Rita Farr (“Elasti-Woman”).
The DP debuted a few months before Marvel’s X-Men #1, dated September 1963 — another group of people with powers (here, teenagers), also led by a smart adult in a wheelchair.
Whether this was coincidence, information leakage, or deliberate, I dunno; Wikipedia speculates. Similarly, Wikipedia observes one might character-correlate the initial DP members with Marvel’s Fantastic Four’s powers of smart/strong/flying/size manipulation; this was new to me, and I again have no opinion.) (Feel free to discuss.)
In both the comics and this TV series, DP membership over time included Dorothy Spinner, Victor Stone (“Cyborg”), Casey Brinke (“Space Case”), and were often joined by great characters like Flex Mentallo and Danny The Street.
(Flex also went on to his own four-issue miniseries, written by Grant Morrison, art by Frank Quitely — I highly recommend this book! — available in book format, on Hoopla, etc.)
The Doom Patrol also appeared in a several DC animated shows, a decade or so ago, including in their own three-episode mini-series, of which I’ve recently skimmed a few.
The Doom Patrol comics have all been collected into “graphic novel” books, available at your local comic shop, and many public libraries. Library-digital-wise, Hoopla has at least a dozen volumes, and Libby.org has several (harder to suss out there). DC’s Infinite Universe (until they rename it again) service has all or nearly of the Doom Patrols, in single-issue and “omnibus” form — I’ve just (And I’ve got a bunch of collections and issues in my shelves and boxes.)
(Also be sure to look for the DC/Young Animal Milk Wars six-issue miniseries, which may not show up in searching on Doom Patrol.” Ditto the Grant Morrison/Keith Giffen (and other artists) one-shot Doom Force.)
And, earlier this year, the Doom Patrol started up again, under the series title The Unstoppable Doom Patrol. (Up to #6 as I write this.)
Thanks, MAX, for (finally) running those last six episodes.
And thank you to the show’s producer(s?), writers, actors, and the myriads of people doing costumes, sets, props, music, and digital stuff — you exceeded my expectations, and it was a wild ride.
My only remaining question: Do the BluRays include any added features making it worth doing a library-borrow?
Next year marks 50 years of Wolverine being the best there is and Marvel Comics will celebrate its most ferocious hero in various ways including new series like the recently announced Wolverine: Madripoor Knights, special reprints, and a new variant cover program.
Launching in January, the Wolverine Wolverine Wolverine variant covers sees Logan take over the most iconic covers in Marvel Comics history, filling in as each and every character along the way. The covers gave artists the chance to spotlight their favorite Wolverine costumes, identities, and alternate versions, and also feature other members of the “Snikt Family.” It’s the perfect way to celebrate one of Marvel’s most ubiquitous and storied heroes and proves that there’s no such thing as too much Wolverine.
Check out 15 Wolverine Wolverine Wolverine covers following the jump. For more information, visit Marvel.com.
