by El Secreto

CBR just unveiled a look at Marvel's newest team, the Young Allies, who are set to debut in June. So far, I'm digging the line-up: the new Nomad in the lead; Araña; writer Sean McKeever's own creation, Gravity; longtime second-banana Firestar; and the new Toro, whose origins as an undocumented immigrant from Colombia might prove problematic, but let's wait and see how that plays out.

What I'm more interested to see, to be honest, is where it fits among the suddenly cluttered landscape of young heroes in the Marvel 'verse. Assuming they're not folded into the upcoming Avengers Academy, you've got the New Warriors, the Runaways, the Young Avengers and the former Initiative kids running around, and still no indication - in canon or otherwise - of how the Super-Human Registration Act is going to factor into everybody's life in this new Heroic Age.

And on a bigger level, I'm concerned about this team because of something I brought up on this week's episode: call it Teen Titans Syndrome. At some point, creating young heroes without allowing them to fully mature into the true Next Generation, or, ret-conning older heroes so as to not make them "too old" traps the young'uns in a state of perpetual adolescence. How crazy is it, for example, that it took nearly three decades for nearly all of the George Perez-era Titans to finish getting even abbreviated runs in the Justice League? Are we prepared for Rikki Barnes there to become a full-time Avenger in 2020? Or would you like to see these kids move up to the big leagues sooner?

by El Secreto

Is this the face of our new Sentinel of Liberty?

It just might be. Our buddy Rich pointed us to this Fox News story saying The Office's John Krasinski is in the lead to play Captain America. More surprisingly, though, an MTV poll shows JK got the most votes among the five supposed leading contenders.

Not to begrudge Krasinski wanting the role - it's a plum assignment any way you look at it - nor his old-timey good looks. But I can name you five Marvel characters that just seem like a better fit for him.

1. Ant-Man: Another hero that's been talked about for a big-screen adaptation. The thing is, Krasinski could play any of them: he's nerdy-looking enough to play Henry Pym; his guy-next-door persona makes him an excellent Scott Lang; and I have a feeling he can play the latest guy to wear the costume, ne'er do well Eric O'Grady.

2. Jack Of Hearts: The Avengers have been defined by promoting heroes you'd never see in their own books and making them good supporting players. In this case, the tragic powerhouse was a guy I always thought lent some depth to the team.

3. Stingray: Kind of like Jack, in that he's decidedly a second-tier hero, but he gives you the Pym geek factor - and one of the coolest costumes around. Seriously, how is that gear not getting cosplayed all over the place?

4. The Falcon: Kidding!

4. Winter Soldier: Hey, somebody's gotta play Bucky. Bonus: Krasinski/Scarlett Johnansson on-screen OTP?

5. Daredevil: Sooner or later, somebody's going to want to reboot this character for the movies, too. And Krasinski, I think, would get Matt Murdock's personality a bit more than that other fellow did.

Ask any Browncoat what the most shocking moment in Serenity was - besides the fact Firefly itself got canceled - and the majority of them will have just one word: Wash.

Patton Oswalt says he was one of them. And according to MTV, Oswalt will get to say goodbye to him in Serenity: Float Out, a June 2 one-shot. Oswalt says the story will involve friends of Wash's building and christening a ship in his memory, giving them the chance to reminisce about him. Patric Reynolds will do the pencils, and the cover art for the story, done by Buffy Season 8 artist Jo Chen, will be donated to Can't Stop The Serenity.

Oswalt, of course, is no stranger to the Whedonverse: he did two capable turns on Dollhouse as lonely rich man Joel Mynor.

Meanwhile, here's a neat little video from DragonCon 2005: Alan Tudyk, who played Wash, reading a eulogy for "himself."

Update on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 10:55AM by Hour42

UPDATE: As it turns out, both of the characters we lost in Serenity will get posthumous props: CBR reports that Dark Horse will release The Shepherd's Tale in November, covering the origin of Shepherd Book. And in an added bonus, this story will be co-written by series creator Joss Whedon and his brother Zack, with art by Chris Samnee.

by El Secreto

On last night's episode of HOUR 42, I reported on Gail Simone leaving Wonder Woman, and called on DC Comics to let us know sooner, rather than later, who would be replacing her after Simone's run ends in June.

Thank you, DC, for making a doubly good call: this morning came the announcement that Babylon 5 and Amazing Spider-Man writer J. Michael Straczynski would take over both Diana's adventures and Superman in July.

Now, would I have liked to see another woman get the reins on Diana's book? Yes. But, JMS is still a solid pick to handle her stories and Clark's. B5, of course, speaks for itself; his run on ASM was a major favorite of mine, because it illustrated quite elegantly that Peter Parker could mature, be married and still be fun to read about. To say nothing of the much-needed character rehab Aunt May went through under JMS' pen.More recently, Straczynski also won critical praise for his work on Thor, who's about as close of an equivalent to both Supes and WW as you can find in the Marvel U.

It's also interesting to note that JMS, besides writing the regular Superman title, is also slated to re-introduce him to the general market via that stand-alone graphic novel we talked about awhile back.

And now, because talking about JMS always gets me thinking about it, the last 5 minutes of Babylon 5. Spoiler - and tear-jerker - alert is on.