Last year, Beenox took a drastic departure from the Spider-Man video game experience by not only taking the open world sandbox enviroment out of play, but also for the first time creating a game that had multiple Spider-Men at the player’s fingertips with Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.

This year’s iteration of the Spider-Man franchise brings a different experience as well. While the Spider-Men in Shattered Dimensions all shared a common goal, their actions were independent of each other.

Now, in Spider-Man: Edge of Time both Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 must work together to save the past as well as the future from a mad scientist who has interfered with the time stream by causing the death of Spider-Man.

Gameplay:

Much like the previous Spider-Man title, Spider-Man: Edge of Time focuses on contained levels instead of a free roaming city. The story is kept fairly on rails with little room for full exploration, though there are hidden collectibles that can be used to upgrade the powers of both Spider-Man and his 2099 counterpart throughout the game. As a result, the focus on much of the game revolves around combat.

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As expected, Activision made a strong showing at this year’s E3. Of course, they headlined with their premiere franchise Call of Duty with Modern Warfare 3. But they didn’t forget about the rest of their games.

One of the games right now being most closely followed by us is Spider-Man: Edge of Time.  The followup from Beenox from Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Edge of Time tells a story about time being ravaged by the untimely death of the modern day Peter Parker and the ripples it sends in to the future.

In the latest trailer and screen shots below, one of the game’s first major villains is revealed with Anti-Venom. Anyone reading the current Amazing Spider-Man arc will be familiar with Anti-Venom who fancies himself as a cure on society’s cancers. Much like Eddie Brock’s former lethal protector mentality as Venom, Eddie’s personal delusions get in the way of his motives and inevitably put Spider-Man in the sites as one of his targets.

How this will play out in the game remains to be seen but it is refreshing to see Beenox putting newer characters in to their game instead of just rehashing the most famous of Spider-Man’s rouges over and over again.

Take a peek below at Spider-Man: Edge of Time featuring Anti-Venom, Spider-Man 2099 and of course everyone’s favorite modern day Spidey. Stick to The Flickcast for more on Spider-Man: Edge of Time as it becomes available.

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This past weekend at WonderCon, Activision and Beenox gave the world its first look at their latest Spider-Man title, Spider-Man: Edge of Time. As we discussed last week, Spider-Man: Edge of Time is a concurrent storyline between two versions of Spider-Man, Amazing in the present and 2099 in the future.

Visually, there are a lot of similarities that can be seen in the trailer between Spider-Man: Edge of Time and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. It looks like even gameplay will be similar as well, as can be seen from the return of Spider-Man 2099′s freefall combat section shown in the trailer.

It has been revealed that two of the voice actors from Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions will be returning to Edge of Time as well, but strangely neither will be reprising their previous role. Sadly, Neil Patrick Harris will not be returning to the role of Amazing Spider-Man as it will be voiced by Josh Keaton who played Peter Parker in the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon and the Ultimate Spider-Man in Shattered Dimensions.

Spider-Man 2099 will be voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes who voiced Spider-Man in the 1990′s animated series and Spider-Man Noir in last year’s game.

Take a look at the screens and trailer after the jump and be sure to check back right here for more on Spider-Man: Edge of Time.

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Writer Peter David must have found something very special within himself when he created Spider-Man 2099 nearly twenty years ago. Of all of the characters that came to be from the 2099 universe, Spider-Man 2099 is the one who keeps coming back.

Whether it was in Marvel’s “Time Stream” crossover or having a place on the Exiles or his most recent appearance in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Miguel O’Hara has earned his place as a true Spider-Man (unlike the much despised Ben Reily or Kaine).

Now, Spider-Man 2099 will be a part of Activision and Beenox’s latest adaptation of Spider-Man with the newly announced Spider-Man: Edge of Time.

Taking a cue from games like Singularity, Spider-Man: Edge of Time plays on the concept of actions in the past affecting the future as both the current day Spider-Man and the Spider-Man of 2099 both take actions to prevent a premature death of this generation’s Peter Parker which leads to a future that should never come to pass.

Here’s all the info you need to know from the official press release:

“The first Spider-Man entry by Beenox, Spider-Man™: Shattered Dimensions was touted as one of the wall-crawler’s best Spider-Man games to date from both critics and fans,” said Vicharin Vadakan, Director, Global Brand Management. “Beenox is once again taking a fresh and different approach to bring a fast-paced and high-octane adventure and unexpected story to life in Spider-Man: Edge of Time.”

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Even with E3 dominating the week we can’t forget that awesome comics are also coming out on Wednesday as well from our friends at Marvel. This week we’re pretty excited about the latest issue of Ultimate Comics, Heralds #3, New Avengers #1 and Black Widow #3. Remember, comics come out on Wednesday this week so be sure to head on over to your favorite comics store early for best selection.

Don’t know where your nearest comic store is? Use this handy guide to find one.

Comics On-Sale:
AGE OF HEROES #2 (HA)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #633
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #633 HEROIC AGE VARIANT
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #634 YU COVER
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #634 FYLES COVER
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #634 QUINONES VARIANT
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS: BLACK CAT #1
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS: BLACK CAT #1 CAMPBELL VARIANT
ANITA BLAKE: CIRCUS OF THE DAMNED – THE CHARMER #2
ATLAS #2
BLACK WIDOW #3 (HA)
DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER – THE JOURNEY BEGINS #2

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This week brings more new comics from our friends at Marvel. Of the ones coming out we’re particularly interested in the latest The Marvels Project, Secret Warriors #14, Peter Parker #1 and the latest X-Factor. Remember to get to your nearest comic shop early for best selection.

Don’t know where your nearest comic shop is? Use this handy guide to find one.

Comics On-Sale:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #626
AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #34 (S)
BREAKING INTO COMICS THE MARVEL WAY! #2
CAPTAIN AMERICA #604
DEADPOOL #21
DEADPOOL CORPS: RANK AND FOUL #1
FALL OF THE HULKS: RED HULK #3
HALO: BLOOD LINE #4
MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #61
MIGHTY AVENGERS #35 (S)
MILLAR & MCNIVEN’S NEMESIS #1
MILLAR & MCNIVEN’S NEMESIS #1 YU VARIANT
NEW AVENGERS #63 (S)

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New week, new comics from our friends at Marvel. This time around there’s some very cool and interesting titles hitting stores tomorrow. Among the ones we’re looking forward to are S.W.O.R.D #4, Dark X-Men #4, Punishermax #4 and the debut of Hit-Monkey, the monkey hit man. Yes, that’s right, a monkey hit man. How can you possibly not read that one?

As always, check out covers from some of these books after the break. New comics hit stores tomorrow. If you don’t know where to get comics in your area, use this handy guide to find a store near you. Check out all the comics below.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #620 (GNTLT)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #620 DEADPOOL VARIANT
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS: JACKPOT #2
ANITA BLAKE, THE LAUGHING CORPSE – EXECUTIONER #4
DARK AVENGERS POSTER BOOK
DARK TOWER: THE BATTLE OF JERICHO HILL #3
DARK TOWER: THE BATTLE OF JERICHO HILL #3 ZIRCHER VARIANT
DARK X-MEN #4
ENDER’S GAME: COMMAND SCHOOL #5
HIT-MONKEY #1
MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPER HEROES #20
MARVEL BOY: THE URANIAN #2
NEW MUTANTS #10
NEW MUTANTS #10 DEADPOOL VARIANT
PUNISHERMAX #4

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Welcome to the first edition of The Pull List Comic Reviews for 2010! This week both Blackest Night and Siege took center stage with numerous titles, but don’t worry as the Caped Crusader and the Wall Crawler make appearances, too. As always, WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

PULL OF THE WEEK:

Blackest Night #6 [of 8]
DC Comics – $3.99 US
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ivan Reis
Score: 9/10

When we last saw our heroes, well… let’s just say that some of them were no longer heroes. As black rings zoomed towards the Flash and Green Lantern, their friends and allies who had suddenly switched sides surrounded them. Superman. Wonder Woman. Green Arrow. And so on. With the universe slipping precariously into a never-ending pool of black, a new group of Lanterns have risen to the cause, and you won’t believe your eyes when you see who they are.

I’m starting to think that Geoff Johns should have been a major league pitcher as opposed to a writer, just with the sheer number of curve balls he’s thrown at readers throughout this series so far. Clearly outdoing himself, Johns put together a new group of Lanterns consisting of some of the most inspiring choices to date. The story beats keep pumping along, making the rapidly approaching ending all the more bittersweet.

Artist Ivan Reis continues to weave his magic in this series. Classic speedster moments? Check. Glorious double-page spreads? You bet. Jaw-dropping panels for significant moments? Of course! All this, and a slew of costume re-designs for the new Lanterns, just in case you didn’t know that Reis is drawing at a level that’s almost peerless. The art in this issue, and the series overall, can be summed up in one word: unparalleled.

The fifth installment of this mini-series received a Pull of the Week and a spot on the Best of 2009 list, so I wasn’t expecting an encore performance with this latest chapter. Shame on me. Both Johns and Reis raise the bar once again, and let the record show that, if this upward trend continues, I might not survive the series in its entirety. For sheer comic brilliance – and Lex Luthor! – this was easily the Pull of the Week.

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Its a new year so that means new comics and our friends at Marvel are already ready to unleash some brand new titles to keep you excited going into 2010. Some of the ones we’re most interested in this week include the latest issue of Cable, Punisher Max: Get Castle, Nation X: X-Factor and, of course, the debut of Marvel’s latest “event” Siege #1.

As always, we’ve got some cool previews of some of the covers for some of these books, so be sure to check them out after the jump.

Comics On-Sale:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS: JACKPOT #1
CABLE #22
DAFFODIL #1
DAFFODIL #1 VARIANT
DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #897
MARVEL BOY: THE URANIAN #1
MARVEL PREVIEWS #77
NATION X: X-FACTOR
NEW MUTANTS #9 (XN)
PUNISHER MAX: GET CASTLE
SIEGE #1

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With 2009 coming to a close, the challenge was to pick and rank the 10 best comics from the entire year. I’ve estimated reading approximately 1,500+ issues over that time frame, so obviously it wasn’t the easiest task to complete. Still, after much deliberation, these are my picks for the 10 best comics of 2009.

1. Jonah Hex #50
DC Comics
Writers: Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti
Artist: Darwyn Cooke
Originally reviewed on December 3, 2009

Perfection. Defined as the highest degree of proficiency, skill or excellence, perfection is near impossible to achieve, especially when every comic ever printed is subjective in nature. You know, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and all that jazz. Still, when I thought about all the comics I’ve read this past year, this issue of Jonah Hex kept coming back to me. While not perfect (frankly, what is?), it’s pretty close.

A wonderful done-in-one tale following our “hero” as he diligently goes about his day job, in this specific case while hunting down 50 various bad guys who had it coming to them. A fine story on it’s own. Now add a dash of romance – or the bounty hunter’s version of it – to the mix, sprinkle in a little personal vengeance, and top it off with a jolting reminder of how cruel life can be, and you’re left with a portrait of a man who makes no excuses for who he is or what he does, life expectations be damned.

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Welcome to another edition of The Pull List Comic Reviews! The latest mutant milestone issue gets top billing, Spidey winds up in the wrong sandbox and Guy Gardner sees a whole lot more than just red. As always, WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

PULL OF THE WEEK:

X-Factor #200
Marvel Comics – $4.99 US
Writer: Peter David
Artists: Bing Cansino, Marco Santucci, Karl Moline
Score: 9.5/10

X-Factor Investigations makes the move from Detroit to New York in hopes of wrangling some new clients of the super-hero variety, but when their first client winds up being Franklin and Valeria Richards – the children to Reed and Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four – the team realizes that all is not what it seems.

Long-time X-Factor scribe Peter David continues to mix jaw-dropping plot bombs with great characterizations and intelligent humor in this over-sized anniversary special. The mystery of the missing Invisible Woman, on it’s own, is a great story, but throw in Monet’s father being abducted by terrorists, Siryn’s shocking rendezvous with an old flame (hint: he’s nuts) and Layla Miller’s surprising allegiance to Latveria, and you’ve got one hell of a jump-on issue.

The art team of Bing Cansino and Marco Santucci do a great job of pacing this mammoth story, and their takes on the characters are both familiar and fresh. With a title that relies heavily on many speaking scenes, which should come as no surprise to current readers, their art is right on the money, but they also flex their proverbial muscle in the action scenes, especially where the Thing is involved.

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With Christmas fast approaching, if you’re still not sure what gifts to get for your favorite geek, why not some cool comics? Our friends at Marvel want to help and are coming out with all new comics this week which would make perfect gifts for that geek in your life, or even for yourself. Come on you work hard, why not reward yourself with a few comics too, right?

To help you in your gift-giving quest, here’s a list of all the comics coming out this week from Marvel. And, as always, be sure to click through to check out some cool art and overs for these books.

Comics On-Sale:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #615 (GNTLT)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #615 VILLAIN VARIANT (GNTLT)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS: ANTI-VENOM – NEW WAYS TO LIVE #3
ASTONISHING X-MEN #33
BLACK PANTHER #11
CABLE #21
CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN #5 WRAPAROUND COVER
CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN #5 CASSADAY VARIANT
CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN #5 FINCH VARIANT
DAREDEVIL #503
DARK AVENGERS #12
DARK WOLVERINE #81
DEADPOOL: MERC WITH A MOUTH #6

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