The big news today both in business and entertainment is that Disney has purchased Marvel.
Folks in the know say that there will be no difference in the content of the types of entertainment Marvel produces. No mass firings, cancellations or anything else are currently on the horizon.
Apparently Marvel will continue to operate much the same way Pixar does in relation to Disney.
So does this mean Howard the Duck can finally take off his pants again?
"More Answers" - my comic book review of New Avengers #43, by Brian Michael Bendis and Billy Tan, is now online at Avengers Forever.
Spider-Man, Ka-Zar and Shanna the She-Devil battle Skrulls in the Savage Land - all this and more - check out my review here:
http://www.avengersforever.org/reviews/default.asp?RID=616
...and...
"Loose" - my comic book review of New Avengers #48, by Brian Michael Bendis and Billy Tan, is also now online at Avengers Forever.
In the aftermath of the Secret Invasion, the new Captain America tries to reform what’s left of the New Avengers - all this and more - check out my review here:
http://www.avengersforever.org/reviews/default.asp?RID=618
...but that’s not all... 
"The Fall of Luke Cage" - my comic book review of New Avengers #49, by Brian Michael Bendis and Billy Tan, is, yes, you guessed it, now online as well at Avengers Forever.
As Dark Reign begins, Luke Cage makes a deal with the devil and the New Avengers get their first look at the Dark Avengers - all this and more - check out my review here:
http://www.avengersforever.org/reviews/default.asp?RID=619
Enjoy!
If you want to discuss these reviews, these issues or anything Avengers, please check out the Avengers Forever Forum.
As I turn forty-five today I’m thinking of a birthday exactly thirty-five years earlier, when all I wanted in the whole wide world was the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle Set. I even remember that tongue-twister name to this day, probably from saying it so much in the weeks before my tenth birthday.
I think it was one of the few times as a kid that I was obsessed with a toy that much. Evel Knievel in the 1970s was a larger than life figure. I remember watching his jumps on ABC’s "Wide World of Sports," and even listening to my AM transistor radio that Sunday afternoon for news of how his Snake River Canyon jump went. He was like a superhero, even dressed like one, but he was real. Maybe that’s where it came from.
The toy itself was pretty simple, a motorcycle, an action figure of Evel himself, and the 'gyro-rev-booster' that made the cycle go. It was magic in a box. The problem was, it was a 'doll.' And my father was dead set against me having 'dolls.' It was a dead stop point.
I had no dolls. Hell, I had no action figures, even though that term to my father meant doll, no matter what you called it. This was something that separated me from my friends. I couldn’t play equally with the other boys with their G.I. Joes, their Six Million Dollar Men, or ~ drool ~ their Mego Super-Heroes. It didn’t even matter that my cousin, who I was always being negatively compared to, had all those toys.
My father eventually gave in, and my tenth birthday was filled with an afternoon of enjoyment racing that stunt cycle up and down my front porch and making him jump the ramps from my SSP Demolition Derby Set. I was in heaven! My sister and her husband got me Evel’s Scramble Van that birthday, but as much as I loved them, it just wasn’t me. The van and its camping accessories were just a bit too much Barbie Dream House for me. So I guess my father really didn't have that much to worry about.
Eventually the magic wore off. The handlebars of the stunt cycle broke off, and Evel’s hands broke off as well. Still, that was one of the best birthdays I ever had.
Marvel Comics is expanding their characters to Japanese animation in 2010. Madhouse will be producing four animated features next year with Iron Man, Wolverine, Spider-Man and the Hulk.
Honestly I’m surprised this hasn’t been done before. Wolverine’s origins and best stories have always involved Japan - and Iron Man, come on, Iron Man just screams anime with all that tech. He's practically a mecha. Looks good, can’t wait.
Bestselling author Dominick Dunne passed away yesterday in his home from complications of bladder cancer. He was 83.
An advocate for victims' rights, a WWII veteran, a stage manager for the original Howdy Doody show, a movie producer and a correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine, Dunne was many things, but what he will be most of all, is missed. We've lost one of the good ones.
