Kieron Gillen

Unless you’re a big fan of 1990s British pop punk and riot grrl music, the name Kenickie is just a character of Grease to you. (Only one of their songs is available to stream on Spotify, but some of their live performances and music videos are on YouTube.) However, the band plays a major role in the first issue of Phonogram: Rue Britannia as writer Kieron Gillen (making his comics debut) and artist/letterer Jamie McKelvie use them as a feminine alternative to the masculine power of the Brit Pop music that dominated the 90s and will play a major role in the series going forward. The first issue is about David Kohl, the series’ protagonist as he goes to Ladyfest in Bristol, England to leach off the magical energies of these “pop-feminist” artists, meet with a phonomancer named Lady Vox, and most importantly to him, pick up women. He is a toxic agent in a space meant to empower, and McKelvie dresses in him in all black with a dark grey Superman sigil or “pop icon” that Kohl wears for the masculine power of the superhero with none of his morality or hopefulness.

With its witty (and wee bit pretentious) conversations about musical trends, smart design and color choices from Jamie McKelvie and Matthew Wilson, and robust character work with Emily Aster, Phonogram #1 reads like if The Smiths weren’t utter drama queens and made another album after Strangeways, Here We Come. (The Smiths are my favorite band so this is a high compliment as far as music metaphors go.)

As Kieron Gillen’s swan song (for now) from the Marvel Universe, Siege #1 has an exciting premise as versions of characters from books he’s written ranging from Uncanny X-Men and SWORD to Young Avengers and Journey into Mystery. A rag-tag band of warriors from all over Battleworld, including Abigail Brand (the protagonist), Ms. America, Lady Kate Bishop (from the 1602 universe), Ben Grimm, Leonardo da Vinci, Leah (Loki’s girlfriend in Journey into Mystery), and an army of Scott Summers clones must defend the Shield, which borders all of Battleworld from a variety of threats including Ultron knockoffs, giant ant zombies, and an even worst threat revealed in the comic. Basically, it’s like reading the Jon Snow POV chapters in Game of Thrones, but sassier. And Siege #1 has some of the problems that those early Jon Snow chapters had, such as some interesting bits of lore and characterization, but almost no plot. The comic reads like a prologue to the real action of the miniseries and takes it sweet time establishing the setting, cast, and some of Abigail Brand’s backstory. But it’s definitely not without entertainment value.

For any Star Wars fan, it’s a familiar sight: a boy named Skywalker staring off into the distance under Tatooine’s twin suns. His past is a series of choices that were out of his hands to make and his future is as yet unwritten. He’s a kid from a backwater planet who will one day hold the destiny of a galaxy in his hands. You probably know the picture or recognize the description but in Darth Vader #7, Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca turn the image upside down. Instead of an idealistic and young Luke Skywalker looking towards the future, Gillen and Larroca show us Vader in that very similar pose on the Lars desert homestead, where Tatooine is a past that he cannot escape.

Witch Hunter Angela #1 is a tasty cake with layers of Elizabethan style wordplay from Bennett, impeccable costume design from Sauvage and Hans, and puns and in-jokes from Gillen. Also, there’s finally a reference to Edmund Spenser of Faerie Queene fame and undergraduate toil in a Marvel comic. It is filled with subtle or not so subtle shots at everything from William Shakespeare (and a certain Marvel hero) being overused in pop culture to the fandom and good looks of a certain, once underrated character, but these shots are playful and not biting. And in its own winding way, it continues the arc of the friendship between Serah and Angela from the now wrapped Angela Asgard’s Assassin series. Come for the clever history, literature, and comics jokes and stay for a well-rendered and realized world courtesy of Marguerite Sauvage and Stephanie Hans.

As comic book readership becomes ever more aware of problems within popular media, it’s been harder and harder to find a book that isn’t problematic. Kelly Sue DeConnick’s ongoing independent book,Bitch Planet, is a gem in the slowly improving realm of comic books and geek culture.

In The Wicked + the Divine #10, Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie explore the fallout of Cassandra becoming the final Pantheon member while also giving readers their first glimpse of Ragnarock, which makes Coachella look like your set at the middle school talent show. Gillen, McKelvie, and colorist Matthew Wilson lay on the tragedy while also looking into the lighter, more wondrous side of godhood. This issue is a big turning point in Laura’s personal arc as she gets to reflect and act upon the fact that she’s left out of the Pantheon, and McKelvie does little things with her facial expressions and character acting to show her feelings towards the various gods and fans. These all happen while Gillen starts to wrap up the first arc’s murder mystery, reflect on the twisted, yet beautiful nature of fandom, and continue to show Baphomet’s turn towards the dark side.

So, The Wicked + the Divine is a very strange series. It’s not one that’s easy to review as the series often eye drops information to the reader though off hand bits of dialogue. The story so far follows a pantheon of various deities all whom reincarnate every nine decades in the form of super inspirational icons. In the 21st century, the pantheon find themselves as pop stars bearing blatant parallels to the likes of Daft Punk, Kanye West, and Prince. All of this is perceived (mostly) from the view point of Laura, a super fan whom is out to solve the framing of Lucifer for murder.

Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie write and draw this issue as one big party while adding some insights into each deity and Laura too. They closely work with colorist Matthew Wilson, or this issue’s true MVP, to make WicDiv #8 the most acid-dropping, bass popping closest thing a digital or physical comic has gotten to one of those illegal warehouse raves.

Darth Vader #1 Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Salvador Larroca Colors by Edgar Delgado Published by Marvel Comics With a skilled artist at the reins, a silent sequence can be a comic’s deadliest weapon. Artist Salvador Larroca uses several such sequences to show his “hero’s” rage, willpower, and sheer brutality in Darth Vader #1. The story follows Darth Vader on a “diplomatic” mission to …

The Wicked + the Divine #7 Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Jamie McKelvie Colors by Matthew Wilson Published by Image Comics The Wicked + the Divine #7 is all about the world-building. In the “Faust Act” arc, the focus was predominantly on Luci and Laura, but in “Fandemonium”, Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie slow down the pace (slightly in this issue) and …

Cullen Bunn is unique. If nothing else can be said about him, he is certainly unique. The Empty Man shows the full extent of Bunn’s ability. The series focuses on two detectives as they struggle to sort out the mystery surrounding a series of suspicious deaths and murders. The deaths are connected by the strange hallucinations experienced by the perpetrators, as well as their last words “The Empty Man made me do it”. The Empty Man is unpredictable because it follows so very few tropes. Nothing like this series has been seen before, and readers will be asking themselves the same question over and over: Who is the Empty Man? (Or “What the F*ck?”).

The Wicked + the Divine #6 Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Jamie McKelvie Colors by Matthew Wilson Published by Image Comics If there is one word to describe The Wicked + the Divine #6 (WicDiv from now on) it would be: somber. The book begins in dreary Brockley, South London, and Matthew Wilson’s bright, gaudy palette has been muted …

Angela: Asgard’s Assassin #1 Written by Kieron Gillen and Marguerite Bennett Pencilled by Phil Jimenez; Art by Stephanie Hans Inked by Tom Palmer Colors by Romulo Fajardo Published by Marvel Comics Originally created by Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane for Spawn, Angela made her first appearance in the Marvel Universe at the end of the Age of Ultron event after a long legal battle. Since then, …

There are many of definitions of comics out there. One French theorist Thierry Groensteen decided to not define comics, but instead create a system for them. Part of this system is the frame. The frame is a panel and its boundaries including the margins and gutters. The frame has various (actually six) functions. One of the functions of a frame …

The 2014 Image Expo helped partially prove my theory that there is no longer a Big Two in comics, but a Big Three. At the Expo, a plethora of new titles stretching across different genres were announced along with news about popular creators, like Grant Morrison, Ed Brubaker, Jock, and Kyle Higgins working on new …

Much like Grant Morrison killing Batman before one of the Christopher Nolan films came out, Marvel killed Loki before The Avengers movie debuted. Looking at the cinematic Marvel oeuvre, if there’s a character who has taken on a life of his own, it’s Loki. Tom Hiddleston’s performance of the upstart brother of Thor and ungrateful …

Three #1 Writer: Kieron Gillen Art: Ryan Kelly Colours: Jordie Bellaire Lettering: Clayton Cowles Historical Consultant: Professor Stephen Hodgkinson Publisher: Image Comics Purchase: https://www.imagecomics.com/comics/releases/three-1 At the beginning of Frank Miller’s seminal tale 300, we see a young Spartan expertly hunting and killing a pack of wolves. This young boy, pitted against nature, outnumbered but never …

When the son of the Scarlet Witch wants to make his boyfriend happy, things like reality and death don’t get in the way. In Young Avengers V1: Style > Substance, Teddy (a.k.a. Hulkling,) a half blooded alien shape changer is struggling through a world without a mother, without a superhero boyfriend at his side and …

In the Marvel NOW to Infinity panel, Marvel’s creators and editors teased big events in the Avengers and Cosmic families of books leading up to their biggest August event Infinity, which will be written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Jim Cheung, Dustin Weaver, and Jerome Opena. Rick Remender teased the return of dead characters Grim …