Brian Michael Bendis

Marvel is planning its first big cosmic event since the end of the Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning-penned Annihilation/War of Kings cycle that ran from 2006 to 2010. (Or last year's Infinity, if you count that, but that was all about Earth, so we don't.) Black Vortex will cross over between Guardians of the Galaxy, the space-bound All-New X-Men, Cyclops, Legendary Star-Lord, Nova, Captain Marvel, and more. Marvel also announced Operation S.I.N., by Kathryn Immonen and Rich Ellis, which serves as both a prequel of sorts to the recent Original Sin event and a tie-in to Marvel's Agent Carter TV show; and Kanan: The Last Padawan, a five issue mini series also written by Greg Weisman and illustrated by Pepe Larraz, tying in to the Star Wars: Rebels animated series.

Late last week it was announced that Eddie Izzard, Noah Taylor, and Olesya Rulin have joined the cast of Sony's Powers TV show as Wolfe, Johnny Royale, and Calista, respectively -- but that left two major roles unaccounted for in the adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming's creator-owned superhero detective series. Now we finally have names for those roles. Sharlto Copley will play the male lead, Detective Christian Walker, while Michelle Forbes will play Retro Girl, the hero whose murder triggers the first Powers storyline in the comics. (The story is called "Who Killed Retro Girl," so we're going to say that's not a spoiler.)

Among the colorful cosplay, massive booths, interactive displays and walls of merchandise at Comic-Con International in San Diego — colloquially known as SDCC — remains the most important component of the show: comic book creators. ComicsAlliance photographer and Loikiamania podcast host Pat Loika hit the show floor to catch the men and women who tell our favorite stories in sequential art and captured the enthusiasm that comes from fans getting to meet their favorite storytellers at one of the biggest conventions of the year. Check back with ComicsAlliance throughout the weekend for more of Pat’s great photos from San Diego.

The cast for the Powers TV series from Sony Pictures TV is starting to take shape with the announcement that Susan Heyward will take the female lead role of detective Deena Pilgrim. The other lead role of Christian Walker has yet to be announced. The series is being produced for distribution via Sony Playstation consoles, and is based on the Icon comic series of the same name by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming. Powers tells the story of two detectives assigned to investigate superpower-related crimes.

Get a look at this Friday's links, after the cut.

We've already heard about the new Skottie Young Rocket Raccoon series coming this July, but it's not the only Guardians of the Galaxy solo title that will be hitting shelves that month. Marvel has announced the first issue of a new Legendary Star-Lord series, which will also be coming in July, just in time for the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. The new series will be written by Sam Humphries (Aven

  Each week, ComicsAlliance’s Chris Sims and Matt Wilson host the War Rocket Ajax podcast, their online audio venue for interviews with comics creators, reviews of the books of the week, and whatever else they want to talk about. ComicsAlliance is offering clips of the comics-specific segments of the show several days before the full podcast goes up at WarRocketAjax.com on Mondays. This week, it’s

After several attempts to get a TV show based on Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming's comic series Powers off the ground at FX, Sony Pictures TV has announced it will launch the show on the PlayStation video game console. There's no official, set date for when the series will start. It also isn't clear whether it will follow the Netflix model of all the season's episodes going up at once

Getting all the way to issue #25 without a relaunch is a legitimate accomplishment for a Marvel Comics series in 2014, so the publisher and writer Brian Michael Bendis are doing it up big for next month's All-New X-Men #25, with a more than formidable list of contributing artists...

When Marvel announced the concept of All-New X-Men, we were sceptical. A comic book about the original teenage X-Men in the present-day Marvel Universe felt like a crazy idea for a miniseries, much less an ongoing. Yet Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen won us over; All-New X-Men is solid entertainment, earning a spot in ComicsAlliance's list of the Best Comic Books of 2013. And yet, 15 month