PHILADELPHIA — A new look and a new suit are in store for Ultimate Spider-Man, but the fate of Peter Parker – the awkward teenager who catches thieves like flies – is still a mystery.
Marvel Comics said Monday that Parker is taking off the Spidey costume for good as part of its “Death of Spider-Man” story in its Ultimate Comics imprint, but it has offered scant clues as to what ultimate fate may befall the high schooler who was bitten by a radioactive spider.
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One thing is for certain: The iconic red-and-blue spider suit is history, replaced by a sleek, streamlined black outfit with a deep red spider on the chest and cobwebs on the shoulders and head.
Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso said that while Parker’s fate is still uncertain – “Let’s just say that Peter acts like the hero he is, and pays a price for it,” he said – there will be someone new slinging webs across Manhattan this summer after the current story arc written by Brian Michael Bendis with Mark Millar wraps up in “Ultimate Spider-Man” No. 160.
As for who that person may be, Alonso won’t say.
“We’re confident that once readers get to know the person who wears the new Spider-Man, they are going to fall in love,” he told The Associated Press. “This is a whole new voyage of self-discovery for the 21st century.”
George ‘W’ to lead vets on mountain bike tour
DALLAS — Former President George W. Bush will join 14 people wounded while serving in the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan on a three-day mountain bike ride next week in the Big Bend region of West Texas.
Bush is hosting the Warrior 100 – a 100 kilometer, or about 62-mile ride. It’s part of an initiative of his presidential center to highlight the work of those helping others. Several organizations that support wounded military members and their families will be represented on the ride, which begins Monday and will take riders through mountains and desert.
The George W. Bush Presidential Center is being built on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Former staffer to pen tell-all book on Palin
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — When a book is called “Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin,” you can guess it’s not a happy story.
An imprint of Simon & Schuster announced Monday that it had signed up “Blind Allegiance,” a long-rumored tell-all by former Palin aide Frank Bailey. The imprint, Howard Books, will release Bailey’s book May 24. Excerpts from an early draft were leaked to reporters earlier this year.
Bailey worked with Palin while she was governor of Alaska and when she was John McCain’s running mate on the Republican presidential ticket in 2008.
Howard Books is calling “Blind Allegiance” a “chilling expose.” Author Ken Morris and Alaska political blogger Jeanne Devon helped write the book.
‘Doctor Who’ goes stateside
If you’re waiting with bated breath for the royal wedding, you may want to tune into another eagerly awaited British event coming a week earlier.
The new season of “Doctor Who” starts at 9 p.m. April 23.
The classic British sci-fi television show, found on the cable channel BBC America and some PBS stations, opens with a two-part season premiere, “The Impossible Astronaut,” set in a very unusual spot: America.
In the first episode, The Doctor (Matt Smith) lands amid the rugged terrain of Utah’s Monument Valley.
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