It's New York Comic-Con this weekend and, as expected, a number of exciting Marvel Comics announcements have been made during their various panels at the con. Loki fans can look forward to a new Marvel NOW! title on its way called Loki: Agent of Asgard, a supernatural spy series that builds upon the enormous popularity of the character thanks to Tom Hiddleston's performances, good looks and charm in portraying the character in the recent Marvel Studios movies. Writer Al Ewing and artist Lee Garbett will be producing the comic, and in
an interview on Marvel's website, Ewing said:
"I did have Tom Hiddleston partly in mind when writing him, but that's been pretty much overtaken by Lee's take on the Loki look. Also, in the first issue, he will fight Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow and the Hulk, because we are shameless, shameless, shameless."
Garbett also talked about Hiddleston's influence on the comic:
"Tom Hiddleston's performance is so nuanced and attractively flawed it'd be crazy to not try and add that to the mix and I've definitely got his performance in mind when drawing him but at the same time I don't want it to be too restricted by likenesses, etc.; it's more the vibe I'm after. That magnetism and dark charm. Those are the touchstones. That and keeping him sexy."
Johnny Blaze aka Ghost Rider will be joining Thunderbolts in February next year along with new creative team writer Charles Soule and artist Carlo Barberi.
In
an interview with Newsarama, Soule talked about what Ghost Rider brings to the current team lineup:
"He adds a supernatural element that the team doesn't have. By and large, the members of the team are soldiers, or warriors. So to add someone who has a completely different power set, a completely different kind of approach to what he does, makes for a neat addition."
Soule - who is currently one of the most prolific writers in comics, writing Swamp Thing, Red Lanterns and Superman Wonder Woman for DC, Letter 44 for Oni Press, and Thunderbolts and She-Hulk for Marvel - promises to bring the laughs in forthcoming Thunderbolts issues, with the issue following the conclusion of Infinity featuring the team going on a road trip in Punisher's War Wagon! Continuing the second wave of Marvel NOW! announcements, Marvel revealed that Peter David will be returning to X-Factor in the new year. In
an interview with Comic Book Resources, he confirmed that the All-New X-Factor lineup includes Polaris, Quicksilver, and Gambit with more names to be revealed closer to the release. David did mention that fans will not be seeing Guido and Monet saying that they had been snapped up by other creators, and that he would leave Madrox and Layla where they were at the end of X-Factor #262.
"At the moment, I'm happy to leave them as they are," he said "I mean, I could easily write a book about their adventures on the farm, but it would likely bore the hell out of everyone except me."
X-Factor is an unusual superhero team in that it's corporately sponsored by Serval, a company that David describes as "a cross between Stark Industries and Google in that they are a weapons maker, but also run an Internet search engine that's made them a ton of money. So they are heavily into corporate expansion, and X-Factor is one of the things they expand into." Talking about the inclusion of Polaris, a character whose mental state is questionable after her suicide attempt in X-Factor #260, David said:
"Well, she's kind of nuts, so that can serve as a problem... You will find yourself wondering whether she was chosen as the leader because they genuinely believe she's qualified, or because Serval was convinced that her delicate psychological nature would make it easier to control her."
All-New X-Factor #1 will be released in January.