Looks like I better start seasoning up one of my hats for the chow down challenge of the century. If you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about, I can point in the direction of Yesterday's Fantastic Four post here. This teaser file is actually called FourFinal.jpeg and it's Friday so it's probably safe to say if this isn't the last one, then I'll cut off my right pinky (a little Smodcast joke there for those in the know, complete nonsense for those who aren't).

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If this isn't the final Fantastic Four #600 teaser, I'll eat one of my many hats. The cat is now well and truly out of the bag, all of the Fantastic Four stuff we've been showing this week, here and here has eluded to the Fantastic Four title returning to it's original numbering but now it's for definite.

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Welcome back to another edition of your weekly guide to what’s hot in your local library. It seems our beloved leaders are still at each others throats, and Bones shows no signs of admitting he’s wrong (Go Team Daredevil).

I’ve decided to make this weeks as fair as possible, and so have decided to review a book from each camp. To make things even more equal both books are written by the same man, the legendary Frank Miller.

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Of all the Avengers titles out there, Avengers, New and Secret, the adjectiveless one is easily my favourite. This Avengers title feels old school, it's filled with big stories that span time and space, it is worthy of calling itself an Avengers book.

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Link: http://clintmag.com/

So last week we saw the launch of Mark Millar’s CLiNT onto our newsagent’s shelves and I've kept quiet about it, mainly because I wanted to actually read the thing before I started throwing around wanton, ill informed and derogatory opinions, two out of three ain’t bad eh? Before we get into the big question I’ve decided to break the magazine down in the style of its namesake:

The Good
• Found it no problem, just popped to Tesco on my lunch break and they had plenty of copies right there, clearly displayed and ready to part me with my hard earned £3.99.
• Whilst we’re mentioning cost £3.99 is very good value for approximately 70 pages of comic book, especially when you consider the price I personally paid for both Turf and Nemesis was almost that for each book!
• Rex Royd, Frankie Boyle’s contribution to the comic quota was pretty good in my estimation. It wasn’t the best story I’ve ever read but it showed an understanding of the medium and a lot of promise, I look forward to reading the next instalment.
• Kick Ass 2!
• Although I’ve already read them both, Turf (Jonathan Ross & Tommy Lee Edwards) and Nemesis (Mark Millar & Steve McNiven) are still pretty good and benefit wildly from the larger format, especially true for Turf, a story that is very dialogue heavy.

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I thought I'd play a little game with this pretty sweet JRJ cover to Avengers #4, a little spot the hero. Now this is not an exhaustive list because there are guys in there I either don't recognise or I'm sure I've missed. Don't click on Read More until you've played yourself and see how many more you get than me. CLICK IMAGE TO EMBIGGEN

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So after the Siege is over and the gangs all back together again we will have the Heroic Age from Marvel. Apparently all the heroes will be heroes again and the darkness of Civil War and Dark Reign will be but a distant memory. Well thank Christ for that because quite frankly I've had enough of there being like twenty Avengers teams and not knowing who's a good guy and who 's a bad guy, I'm a simple man looking for simple pleasures. All this change of status quo is the exact reason I jumped off the Avengers book in the first place, as far as I'm concerned the Avengers should be about iconic characters getting together to knock some heads together and should be allowed to do it's own stories without being affected by every single fortnightly event that Marvel puts out.

At the forefront of this movement is the relaunch of The Avengers title now without the 'New' attachment and with an all new lineup. Hang on, above and below are two of the released teaser images for this relaunch showing Captain America and Spider-Woman respectively, aren't they both already in the Avengers?! Bold new direction you're taking there. The writer of this new book, oh it's Brian Michael Bendis, the same guy that's been writing it for a dog's age, I actually love Bendis but I'm trying to make a point here. Ok there is a new artist and it is John Romita Jr. so maybe you aren't all bad Marvel but the next teaser image we get better be somebody that isn't already in the lineup or Thor or Iron Man or Spider-Man because we already bloody know, that's not a teaser it's just a fact.

Link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2009/12/matt-fraction.html

Interesting news that Matt Fraction will be taking over the reigns of Thor in 2010, kicking off with a team-up between Thor and Iron Man for Free Comic Book Day with art by John Romita Jr. Seeing as these two characters have been opposed to each other since Thor's return to the (im)mortal coil it seems pretty safe to assume that The Siege will putting all the big players back where they belong, at each other's side.

CLICK IMAGE TO EMBIGGEN

No stranger to Thor, Fraction recently wrote the mini series Age of Thunder which chronicled Thor's Asgardian history but for the ongoing title Fraction will be dealing with the Thor we know now and the issues that arise with a God wandering around the Marvel Universe. For more on Fraction's intentions for his ongoing Thor check out the interview over at CBR.

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Link: http://www.hitfix.com/galleries/2009-1-13-exclusive-new-kick-ass-images/?page=3

Hitfix has debuted three new images from director Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass, starring Nicolas Cage, Aaron Johnson, Lyndsy Fonseca, Mark Strong, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Chloe Moretz. To view the pictures click on the picture above or HERE.

I have to say that in terms of looking like the comic, this film has got it all. They seem to have literally ripped this from the pages of Mark Millar's Icon published book, and seeing as I'm really enjoying the comic that can't be a bad thing. Dan did mention in the last episode of Sidekickcast that he felt they were concentrating on the movie too much and forgetting about the comic, the actual source material. There does seem to be an element of truth in that statement and normally I'd be right there with him ready to burn Millar at the stake but the visuals look so good I reckon the time is being well spent. I wonder how much, if anything at all, John Romita Jr is involved in the art design on the flick, anyone know? please don't hesitate to drop us a line and let us know.

Link: http://www.newsarama.com/film/081113-kick-ass-images.html

Here at Sidekick comics I think we've made it quite well known of our man-love for comic book writer Mark Millar and thanks to Newsarama now we get to take a sneak peak at his latest movie adaptation; Kick Ass.

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