SHIELD

The folks at Marvel would really like you to meet their new hero Mosaic, who debuted in Uncanny Inhumans and is getting his own ongoing series this October. So they've released a free ten page Mosaic prelude comic, which you can get on the Marvel App or in the Marvel digital store.

This week saw the release of the prologue issue to Marvel’s spring event Avengers Standoff, in the form Avengers Standoff: Welcome To Pleasant Hill #1 by Nick Spencer, Mark Bagley, Scott Hanna and Paul Mounts. The event has been touted for a long time now, but heading into this first issue it was still rather unclear exactly what Standoff was going to be about. Things are a lot clearer following the release of Welcome To Pleasant Hill, which is a moody mystery hidden behind a sunny suburban smile. Be warned this review contains meaty spoilers for the first salvo in this event as we unpack the events of the issue and its killer cliffhanger. In other words, if you want to know what Standoff is actually about before you investigate further, we're going to do our best to tell you.

Marvel really likes to spread its announcements around at San Diego Comic-Con, and that's never more evident than at the publisher's final panel of the weekend, which it calls 'Next Big Thing', possibly because Columbo has a prior claim on using the phrase, 'One More Thing,' just as you're getting ready to leave. The major new announcement out of the Next Big Thing panel is that Marvel is finally going to publish a new S.H.I.E.L.D. book (which I'll henceforth refer to as SHIELD, because no-one has time for that much punctuation). Mark Waid will write the new series, with Carlos Pacheco on issue one and a rotating team of artists thereafter. Agent Phil "Cheese" Coulson will be the book's lead, and each issue will tell a self-contained story.

You may want to sit down for IDW's New York Comic Con 2013 Artist's Editions... today the publisher announced that it will be releasing Jack Kirby's New Gods Artist's Edition, two Jim Steranko Marvel Artist's Editions and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen Artifact Edition.

TV: Production on ABC's SHIELD TV pilot has wrapped, according to co-showrunner Maurissa Tancharoen. Gaming: Fans can get a look at playable Shazam! in the latest Injustice: Gods Among Us "Battle Arena" episode. TV: Just in case you were worried, Arrow has totally been renewed for a second season on the CW...

TV: SHIELD TV series co-showrunner Maurissa Tancharoen hit Twitter yesterday to lay down some set rules. Animation: The A.V. Club looks back at DuckTales... very thoroughly. Movies: Here it is, for your fascination, B. Gupta's 1987 Superman film ... Read More ...

Movies: Henry Cavill is standing tall in his Man of Steel suit on the latest cover(s) of Empire magazine. Movies: Director Bryan Singer has announced that X-movie veterans Anna Paquin (Rogue), Ellen Page (Shadowcat) and Shawn R. Ashmore (Iceman) will reprise their mutie roles in X-Men: Days of Future Past...

Movies: The latest batch of Avengers movie concept art gives fans a closer look at SHIELD's vehicles and various tech. Contests: Archie Comics is hosting a special Mega Man fan art contest in honor of the blue bomber's 25th anniversary...

Art: The Kirby Museum has posted some awesome unpublished Devil Dinosaur art, which should delight any Jack Kirby fan. TV: Joss Whedon is apparently already shooting the SHIELD pilot. TV: David E. Kelley cops to his missteps shooting a Wonder Woman pilot, but says the CW is smart to try their own take with its Amazon series...

What's it like to join SHIELD? Apparently, very easy, at least according to Ming-Na Wen, who also reveals that the ABC show may not resemble the comic book version of the spy agency as much as some fans would like if it makes it to series...