I’m loving the current X-Men: Second Coming storyline as you may have read about here. Rather than just ride that wave, Marvel has released a series of images for May’s X-Men books reading “We Are The X-Men” to tease the status quo post Second Coming. The images (posted below) show what is presumably the new team tearing through an image from the cover of 1991’s X-Men #1 by Jim Lee. The first was intriguing in that it featured Spider-Man, but then it got weird as they revealed Blade, Elektra, and the new She-Hulk from an alternate future were part of the team. I don’t know where this is going. Could be great, could be awful. I’ll give it a chance, but only because I always do. I am looking forward to seeing how Nate Grey is involved and the interactions between him, Hope and Magneto. The vampire Jubilee could be intriguing as well.

Along with the images, Marvel.com did provide some information to go along with each reveal, but they don’t really speak to the details of why these particular characters might be together (or associated with the X-Men at all for that matter). Considering each of the non-X-Men characters in the context of recent X-events:

• Blade may be around as a result of X-Force’s recent battle with Selene during Necrosha as she was a vampire of sorts. Although it makes more sense that he may be after the vampire Jubilee.
• The new She-Hulk is from the future and may be connected to Hope in some way as she is also a key figure in things that haven’t happened yet.
• Elektra was associated with the X-Men in the Mutant X universe, so there could be an unrevealed connection that brings her into the fold in this story.
• Spider-Man has interacted with the X-Men in the past and was even invited to join the team in the X-Men/Spider-Man mini-series that saw print in 2009. On a side note, this was a great story for any long time X-fan.

More information is scheduled to be available at today’s X-Men Panel at C2E2.

One of the things I enjoy most about reading comic books is speculating about what happens next. Sometimes what comes out of this process happens, sometimes it’s better that it doesn’t. Regardless, my favorite titles have kept me coming back for a long time.  Earlier tonight, I was thinking about Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man comic and what’s been going on for the last few years.

I’ll recap some of the history and then get into what might be next, but first I want to warn anyone that might not want read any of this to turn away.  I’d hate to waste your time or disappoint you if any of this happens.  As a disclaimer, I just want to point out that I do not have any advanced knowledge of the future.

The story so far:  Peter Parker is the Amazing Spider-Man.  In his first comic book adventure, Peter decided not to stop a criminal who went on to shoot and kill his Uncle Ben, who along with his wife May had raised Peter since the death of his parents.  Peter has been married to Mary Jane Watson since 1986 and has loved his Aunt May since 1963. During the Marvel Civil War, Peter made a series of bad choices ultimately leading to his publicly unmasking as Spider-Man.  His family was placed in grave danger and an assassin’s bullet meant for Mary Jane fatally wounded Aunt May.  Peter tried many things in an attempt to save her, but nothing worked.  He was eventually approached by the demon Mephisto and offered the choice of trading his marriage and love for Mary Jane in exchange for May’s life.  Believing that Peter would not be able to live with the guilt of May’s death, Mary Jane accepts the Faustian pact and we are taken to a world where they never married.  Additionally, Peter’s identity as Spider-Man is once again secret and his long dead friend Harry Osborn is alive and well.

Since this story, we’ve been introduced to a slew of new villains, new love interests and new pitfalls in Peter Parker’s life.  While it was assumed these new conditions were the result of Mephisto’s deal, there have been hints that everything is not as it seems. Peter has no recollection of the deal, but he knows that his identity was put back under wraps and he was directly involved. Harry’s return was chalked up to his being hidden in Europe by his father.  Mary Jane is back in the picture as well, but it seems that she may remember all that has transpired.

The deal with Mephisto and the magical erasure of the marriage are hot button issues among fans. Marvel has promised that we’ll find out what happened on their wedding day this year.  At the time the deal was going down, I remember having an idea that something crazy was going to happen to stop it.  In Amazing Spider-Man #500, Peter saw a vision of himself in the future where he was on the run from the police and making his last stand at Aunt May’s gravesite (I refer to him as “Last Stand Spider-Man”).  This image remained with the Peter of the present, and he clearly saw that his life could completely fall apart around him.  I was sure that Last Stand Spider-Man was going to swoop in and stop Peter from making the deal.  I was even convinced that it was his glove on the cover of the last issue of One More Day.  No such luck.

I’m now thinking he (or someone else for that matter) could still save the day.  Let’s say that Last Stand Spider-Man knows that the deal will hurt everyone and lead to his future, but instead of stopping the deal when it’s offered to Peter and Mary Jane, he stops it from ever being offered in the first place.  What if he stops the marriage from happening at all?  There would be no deal to offer up.  This would allow Marvel to keep their number one hero from having made a deal with a devil, and keep him single, which seems to be their intention.  If the marriage never happened as we’re now being told, and we haven’t seen the entire story, it’s entirely possible that time travel is part of that story.  Admittedly, it’s not very likely, but I think about these things when Angie’s not around.  I’m sure there are dozens of reasons why this could or should not happen, and I’d love to hear them.

Here’s a quick weekend follow up to two of last week’s posts.

Just when you thought the puzzle was complete, Marvel filled in three more little pieces that could turn Spider-Man’s world upside down in 2010.  Is that Peter and Mary Jane’s long missing baby?  Would Marvel go back to this story after dropping it like a radioactive potato 13 years ago?  Only time will tell, but while I’m incredibly excited for things to unfold I’m reserving judgement.

Doctor Who – The End of Time has aired in its entirety in the U.S. and an international trailer for the next season is now available from the BBC for all to see.  Some exciting things are planned for the new Doctor and as far as I’m concerned they can’t get here soon enough.  Looking through the chatter regarding the trailer, Matt Smith already has some fans as well as detractors, but I’m willing to trust the show in the hands of new executive producer Steven Moffat, writer of some of my favorite episodes including The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, and Forest of the Dead.

The final piece to Marvel’s 2010 Spider-Man teaser image can be seen on their main site, but for some reason it’s not part of the article yet.  Looks like the magically undone wedding will be the focus of this year’s Spider-Man stories.

Additional images for this puzzle teaser were released each day this week at Marvel.com.  A rough assembly looks something like this:

What does 2010 have in store for Spider-Man?  The Gauntlet, a Spider team-up, the Juggernaut, romance with Carly Cooper, and an explanation of what happened on the day of Peter and Mary Jane’s wedding.  Good luck, Spidey.

Well, it’s the week before Christmas and all through the house… I don’t actually have a rhyme to go with that… Bottom line, I’m spending the weekend in sunny (or cloudy and rainy but still distinctly warmer and nicer) Florida. Heck, there’s a winter storm warning in effect at home for tomorrow night. Suckers.

Why do they even pretend to celebrate Christmas down here?

At home, they’re predicting a white Christmas. Down here they’re putting lights on palm trees.

Anyway, I took a break from the Operations Management final that I’ve been working on unsuccessfully for the last six days to join my wife for a trip to Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure today. Since Pete is such a huge Marvel fan, I spent the day harassing him with photos from the park’s Marvel Island. Pete suggested that I should be posting the photos here as well to share them with the world. So since I’ve been too buried with school work the last few months to post much, I figured that sounded like as good of a way to jump back into it as any.

So we’ll start with the scene when we arrived at Islands of Adventure this morning.

The lack of people suggested to us that we had slept through the Apocalypse overnight and luckily survived.

While uncertain about the fate of the rest of the world, we headed over to the Spider-man 3D ride where the line was unbearably long.

Actually, it was just us and Doctor Octopus.

We rode the Spider-man ride that seats 12 or 18 people alone. Just the two of us. It was so romantic until the fires and spinning started.

That was the highlight of the Marvel section of the park until I reached the gift shop and saw this.

Psycho is right.

I have no interest in the Punisher. None. But that bobble head might be the greatest piece of Marvel merchandising I’ve ever seen. It’s better than all three of his movies combined… (and I’ve only seen two of them.)

I soon realized that there was a whole line of Marvel products in this awesomely cute style. Here are some highlights.

Amazing.

Spirited.

Unpredicatable.

All American.

Seeing the Hulk pin made me sad as they didn’t have a larger Hulk bobble head to go with the line, but they at least did design work on him. As it is, I may end up picking up a Captain America for me and Spider-man for Pete but I wish I was coming home with a Hulk as well.

The final couple of photos I’ll share with you tonight are below. While I’m not a huge fan of the Harry Potter movies, I know some people freak out for them. Well, you may have seen ads lately for Universal’s upcoming Harry Potter attraction as they have been airing incessantly on television. Here’s a sneak peak at the still under construction Hogwarts school. I believe it’s set to open in the Spring.

That’s it for today. Maybe tomorrow I’ll share photos of manatees and gators.