The official press release accompanying this new clip reads,

Marvel is also proud to present MarvelFest NYC 2009, an all-new interactive outdoor experience in New York City to celebrate the iTunes release of the groundbreaking Astonishing X-Men Motion Comic on October 28th. In honor of this unprecedented event, Marvel.Com unveils a very special episode of the critically-acclaimed Marvel Super Heroes: What The—?! video series, taking you behind the scenes of what could've been! Join celebrities and the biggest names in Marvel history to commemorate the Astonishing X-Men premiere, projected three stories high in Union Square at MarvelFest! For complete details and official costume contest rules regarding MarvelFest NYC 2009 please visit www.marvel.com/fest.

Never mind the chance to meet people dressed up as Wolverine next Wednesday, we want to see more MODOK as Emma Frost.

Marvel's official PR for the project follows:

Marvel is proud to unveil the first full-length trailer to the hotly anticipated Astonishing X-Men: Gifted motion comic, based on the seminal comic story by superstar scribe Joss Whedon (Buffy: The Vampire Slayer) and renowned artist John Cassaday (Captain America). Now you can get your first look at Marvel's newest original motion comic (available October 28th on iTunes) as the X-Men embark on a bold new mission! Discover more at www.marvel.com/motioncomics, bub!

For those who think the storyline seems kind of familiar, you're right; it "influenced" the plot of X-Men: The Last Stand, much to Whedon's dissatisfaction. Us, we're hoping that the Disney/Marvel alliance may result in animation that doesn't remind us of Captain Pugwash.

Marvel apparently has high hopes for Spider-Woman, calling it both "mind-blowing" and "groundbreaking", but it doesn't quite live up to that hype. It's certainly the best "motion comic" - or, let's be honest, "really, really limited animation" - we've seen so far, but what it does right almost makes what it does wrong all the more apparent.

Let's be clear: As a regular comic, Spider-Woman will probably be great. Alex Maleev's art is atmospheric and stylish while losing the artificiality and sterility that crept into his Daredevil work with Bendis, and will doubtlessly look wonderful on the page. Likewise, Bendis' dialogue here is prime Bendis, with the cadence and asides that his fans have come to expect, and they're unlikely to be disappointed when reading it. It's just that... it doesn't work as a motion comic.

The animation, what there is of it, is well done. But there isn't enough of it... or there's too much of it; something about it, about the way the backgrounds move but the figures seem distractingly static, especially in the talky expositionary scenes, makes you all too aware of how limited the animation really is, although nothing demonstrates that as much as the "fight" sequence at the end of the episode, where the animation is almost laughably limited, killing any suspension of disbelief and drawing attention to itself far too much. Similarly, Bendis' trademark dialogue just sounds awkward and unbelievable when spoken aloud (although part of that could have something to do with the very flat line readings from the actors; Nicolette Reed may have the trans-Atlantic accent that the creators knew that Jessica Drew had to have, but her disinterest in the material - or maybe lack of ability to emote - can be amazingly apparent at times), including truly cringe-worthy lines like "This is what we call bull-ca-ca," which just can't help but sound ridiculous when said out loud.

Ultimately, Spider-Woman feels unsatisfying not because everyone involved hasn't tried their hardest, but because of the very format they're working in; it could just be that Motion Comics in general are not only not the "future of comics," but also not a format that will last past this initial fad and first blush of excitement. There's the start of an interesting story being told in Spider-Woman, but it's one that I'd rather read the rest of, than watch.

Spider-Woman, Agent of S.W.O.R.D. Episode 1 [iTunes]

It still looks a little hokey to me, but you have to admit - almost anything looks better than this:


The long-delayed Spider-Woman - to be released simultaneously on iTunes and as a physical comic book - is written by New Avengers and Secret Invasion's Brian Michael Bendis, with art coming from his former Daredevil partner Alex Maleev; the first episode of the digital comic will be shown at San Diego Comic-Con at Friday's "Marvel Digital Comics... and Beyond!" panel.

[Via CBR]

So yeah, I'm asking about the steamy scene in the comic between Buffy and Satsu, you know what I mean. But it doesn't even stop there: I'd love to see the Harmony reality TV show fleshed out a bit more as well. According to TV Overmind that's all possible. In an exclusive tip, a reader wrote in saying that there will be a Buffy motion comic made from the eighth season comics. They're not sure if it's going to be strictly like the aforementioned Watchmen motion comic, made out of the frames from the comic, or a fully animated series, but it will be based on comics either from the 8th season and even, quite possibly from comics written during the franchise's original run. So there's a lot of options. Personally I'm pulling for the 8th season.

What is certain is that because they're using the comic books as their starting point, all our favorite characters will be returning and this animated series will compliment the original series. Whether any of the original cast will provide voices is uncertain (though I'm doubtful). But Joss Whedon is involved.

While we're not massive fans of motion comics, and they do tend to get a bit cheesebally, the one thing they know how to do is suck in the ipod zombie youths. Watchmen's motion comic was distributed by itunes (and I hear did pretty great at getting the kids into Moore's world). There's no telling where this would be released, but since Joss is involved I'd hope it's done Dr. Horrible-style with the ability to download. If we can get a new generation of kids involved, then who knows what's next?

The worst offender of them all is definitely Watchmen, the first in a planned line of "motion comics" for Warner Bros. While bringing in artist Dave Gibbons to supervise the animation process is to be applauded, the result is... well, less than impressive:

I can almost overlook the limited, early-days-of-Flash-animation, style movement if it wasn't for the fact that all the voices are provided by one man... even Sally Jupiter's, rendering any potential drama in her dislike of Rorschach completely comedic with the ridiculous line-readings. Would it have killed anyone at Warners to approach this as less of a books-on-tape with added pictures and more as a regular cartoon?

Of course, even if they had, the result may have been similar to MTV's adaptation of Robert Kirkman's Invincible:

Sure, they have the full cast (Although lines like "Jesus, Debbie! Seven of my colleagues were just murdered" sound unintentionally hilarious when read out loud), but they've also gone for a visual style that seems to be modeled after the opening titles of Saved By The Bell; it's just too frenetic to follow, and completely takes you out of the story.

The best of the efforts to date is Marvel's Stephen King's N, which gets it right in a number of ways: Full cast, understated visuals and - and this may be most important of all - a completely original story. With nothing to compare it to (and find it wanting, especially if you're comparing it to the animated version you'd created in your head), Marvel's animated-ish webisode at least lets you experience it on its own terms. Even if those terms are still frustrating.

The problem, really, is this: Who really wanted to see this halfway point between comics and cartoons? Was there really anyone who thought "The problem with cartoons is that too many things move. I'd rather see a static picture where maybe one guy's arm moves occasionally"?

I'm all for series like Invincible (or even Watchmen) finding a wider audience, but I'd rather see them do so with something that has more time, care and attention spent on it than the creation of a new bastard format that awkwardly removes the benefits of both of its parent mediums and seems more like a quick cash-in from people who wanted to see how easy it was to jump on this comic book zeitgeist without spending too much money.

[Invincible The Series, Stephen King's N, Watchmen Motion Comics @iTunes]