rick remender

I think we can all agree that Nextwave was the pinnacle of superhero comic books as an art form. Of course, while I'm not sure the world could have handled more than 12 issues of beautiful perfection, I will say that if Marvel isn't going to have more comics about Elsa Bloodstone beating broccoli monsters to death with a shovel and declaring herself to be President Frankenstein, the least they can do is give us more comics featuring the incredible art of Nextwave's Stuart Immonen.

Sam Wilson makes his first appearance as the new Captain America at the end of Rick Remender's current run on the book, Captain America #25, in October. Sam gets his own book in All-New Captain America #1 in November, by Remender and Stuart Immonen. But another story will bridge the gap between those two titles, and it will be released as a digital mini series.

Marvel unveiled its next original graphic novel at the All-AXIS panel at San Diego Comic-Con this afternoon; Avengers: Rage of Ultron, by Uncanny Avengers writer Rick Remender and former lead Avengers artist Jerome Opeña. It promises to be... all the rage. Ho ho. The story pits a mixed bag of Avengers against a "Planet Ultron" formed when Ultron takes over the computer core in Saturn's moon of Titan (which is a thing that exists in the Marvel Universe and, who knows, maybe in ours as well). Ultron creator Hank Pym may be able to save the day... but at what cost?

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.

In the final few hours before San Diego Comic-Con opened its doors to the public for Preview Night on Wednesday, Image Comics Expo took place in an upstairs ballroom at the nearby San Diego Bayfront Hilton, where the publisher welcomed a group of press, creators, and fans to watch as the company announced, discussed and otherwise promote a great variety of upcoming Image titles.

Universal Cable Productions, the cable and digital arm of NBCUniversal, announced three new projects rooted in the comic book realm, including what will be Planetary and Transmetropolitan writer Warren Ellis' first original series developed especially for television. Additionally, UCP optioned Night Mary, a 2005 IDW drama by Rick Remender and Kieron Dwyer about a young woman trained to enter the dreams of serial killers; and Five Ghosts, the recent critical hit from Image Comics/Black Mask Studios and creators Frank Barbiere and Chris Mooneyham, who tell the story of Fabian Gray, a 1930s adventurer possessed by the spirits of five literary ghosts — Merlin, Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, Miyamoto Musashi, and Dracula. Five Ghosts began as a miniseries but its success resulted in an upgrade to ongoing, and now, it seems, an "upgrade" (because comics are the best, obviously) to television.

On Tuesday morning Whoopi Goldberg and the hosts of The View announced that Marvel will relaunch Thor this October with a 'worthy' woman brandishing the hammer. Marvel followed that announcement with two more high profile switcheroos on Wednesday night as Entertainment Weekly revealed a new-ish and possibly superior Iron Man, and Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada joined comedian Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report to announce that a new guy will take up Captain America's shield. That in itself isn't much of a surprise -- original Cap Steve Rogers has passed on his mantle a few times, before eventually yanking it back. After spending some time in Dimension Z and fighting the Iron Nail and whatnot, he's now too old to Avenge from the front lines. The big reveal is that the new Captain America will be Sam Wilson, the African-American superhero currently known as Falcon.

Over the past couple of years, Rick Remender has done a pretty solid job of balancing his work for Marvel with creator-owned titles. In addition to his work on Captain America, he's launched Black Science with Matteo Scalera and Deadly Class with Wesley Craig and Lee Loughridge, and now, he and artist Greg Tocchini are reuniting for a new sci-fi series called Low.

If our weekly Ask Chris column isn't enough of definitive comic book (and pro wrestling) opinions for you, good news: ComicsAlliance is proud to present Here's The Thing, a series of videos where you can join our own extremely opinionated senior writer, Chris Sims, as he sits in his living room under a framed portrait of Destro, drinking a cup of coffee and sharing his opinion on comic books. On this week's show, Chris revisits a previous episode to examine why FrankenCastle, the story where the Punisher became a grumpy Frankenstein monster with a giant metal arm, works much better than Angel Punisher, the story where the Punisher became a grumpy angel with a coat full of heaven guns. Believe it or not, there is a difference.

You might have heard that there's a new Captain America movie coming out on April 4. If Marvel's marketing department has gotten its way, this news may very well be tattooed on the inside of your eyelids in phosphorescent ink. Let's say, however, you've never read any Captain America comics before, but now that he's been legitimized as a multi-million dollar film franchise, you're suddenly very in