Marvel Comics

All throughout the issue, readers are granted a great example of colors from Richard Isanove, and how they blend to make each character look distinct. Every member of the Team has colors that render them dynamic and lets them exude a personality all on their own. If this issue is anything to go by, the Uncanny Avengers will be in good hands under Gerry Duggan’s dialogue, character portrayals as well Ryan Stegman and the rest of the art team making the Unity Squad a team to look out for.

After an almost two month setback, Secret Wars is back with issue 6 (of 9 now). This newest issue of Marvel’s biggest event (ever!) is a mixed bag with some intriguing moments, but little explanation or exploration of the pieces being moved across the chess board.

While picking up the pace of the plot a bit from the previous issue, Star Wars #10 succeeds almost singlehandedly on the strength of one particular pairing of characters. After being teased in the cliffhanger of issue #9, this issue fully introduces Chewbacca into the “Showdown on Nar Shaddaa” storyline (in the same month as the first issue of his solo limited series launches) and pairs him with perhaps the unlikeliest of partners: C-3PO. The end result is comic book gold.

If anything can be said for Dan Slott’s run on Spider-Man, it’s that he knows how to think in terms of the long run. But that doesn’t mean new readers are screwed.

Hosted by the energetic Miz Caramel Vixen, the founder of Vixenvarsity.com, the #BlackComicsMonth Diversity in Comics panel featured a wide variety of panelists from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and sexualities. They also work in vastly different comics genres from Mildred Louis writing and drawing a Magical Girl webcomic with women of color called Agents of the Realm to David F. Walker, who directed a documentary about the blaxploitation genre and currently writes Cyborg for DC Comics and much more. One of the panelists, Mikki Kendall, only recently broke into comics with the Swords of Sorrow: Lady Rawhide/Miss Fury one-shot and is more well-known for her pieces about intersectional feminism for XoJane, The Guardian, and others as well as prose fiction. Vixen let each panelist speak their mind about what diversity means to them, and they often tied in their thoughts with their comics from Genius (which I scored a free copy of) to Princeless and even Batman.

Everyone should pick up Invincible Iron Man #1. The colors from the art team absolutely explodes in varying colors across every page. This is Dave Marquez and Justin Ponsor at their peak. All of the characters involved in the issue are vibrant and distinct, the action is beautiful and rightly acquainted with Bendis dialogue that is clear and informative. This is a brave new run for the Armored Avenger, and it’s off to a roaring start.

In the world of comic books, sometimes ideas that at first seem really controversial or asinine turn out to be great ideas that push the series in exciting and new directions.  Despite all the death threats that they received for it, giving Spider-Man the black symbiote suit was probably the second best idea that ever …

Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps #4 will make readers feel truly victorious and want to “punch holes in the sky” (from DeConnick’s sign-off on the series) in a battle royale that combines both hard punching hand to hand combat and beautiful aerial maneuvers courtesy of Laura Braga, Paolo Pantalena, and Lee Loughridge. Kelly Sue DeConnick and Kelly Thompson also don’t neglect character relationships as Captain Marvel inspires the Banshee Squadron to fight gods while also helping her old friend Kit find thunderous redemption. Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps #4 is a single issue party celebrating the power of Carol Danvers as one of Marvel Comics’ most inspirational icons and wraps up DeConnick’s work on the character in powerful and occasionally tearful way.

Continuing “Showdown on the Smugglers Moon”, Star Wars #9 is, essentially, an all-out action issue, advancing both of the story’s two plots incrementally in favor of extended action scenes. The end result is an entertaining issue that nonetheless reads briskly and is somewhat unsatisfying as a result, since not a whole lot of plot advancement or character development happens.

Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #4-5 is a decent, if a little rushed retelling of Iron Man’s origin story awkwardly sandwiched into a mandated team-up with Spider-Man because this is technically his book.

Ultimate X-Men #7-9 goes for a more political look at the well-worn “mutant as a metaphor for oppressed minorities” story by making the formerly shady Weapon X folks completely aligned with the US government even if members of the government and military want to shut them down.

In a sentence, Ultimatum is the superhero comic that will make you hate superhero comics and will have you reading nothing but Harvey Pekar, R. Crumb, and Daniel Clowes for the rest of your comics reading career. (My apologies to Fantagraphics.) Jeph Loeb really should have apologized to Mark Millar and Brian Michael Bendis for destroying their carefully crafted, simultaneously optimistic and nihilistic universe with all the skill of a child knocking over sand castles and then pulling its pants down to take a piss on the wretched ruins.

Some arbitrary sci-fi geek stuff happened in the Marvel universe recently thanks to the Secret Wars event comic, resulting in really weird continuity that is going to last for the few months this event will need tie-ins to hit comic shops with. For nerds who want more pieces of the large, sprawling story, there are certainly tie-ins to fit their desires, but there are also straight up goofy releases that certainly don’t need Secret Wars to exist. Yes, tie-ins like Howard the Human aren’t even remotely anchored to the main Secret Wars storyline, simply using the messed-up-continuity angle to deliver a wacky What If? story.

Though less photo-realistic and painterly than previous artist John Cassaday, Immonen is much more of a traditional comic book artist, eschewing strict realism for more representative & kinetic action and layouts. He also has a particular knack for using body language and facial expressions to express characterization, showing readers visually what a given character is feeling at a given time just by the look on their face or the way they’re standing. It’s a skill he puts to good use here, making vivid Luke’s aw-shucks naivete as he stumbles his way through a Nar Shaddaa bar fight, Han’s combination of chagrin and frustration at Sana’s continued instance that he’s A. up to no good and B. her husband, and the transition of Leia’s reaction to Sana from wry amusement to righteous fury as the woman proves to be no easy pushover.

With four great stories and one mediocre one, Secret Wars Secret Love #1 is definitely worth picking up as it looks into a variety of relationships from platonic to struggling marriages and even ones that will make long time Marvel fans smile. This is a comic that will bring all generations of Marvel fans together and is filled with humor, heart, and a nice variety of art styles. (Gurihuru’s Danny Rand/Misty Knight is the cherry on top though.)

Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #2-3 succeeds on a superficial level with artists Phil Hester and Ande Parks showing the Hulk’s destructive, powerhouse nature compared to the spindly Spider-Man, who can only bait him or run away. (They do get points off for making Spidey’s webs looking like used bubble gum.) Writer Brian Michael Bendis also deserves credit for depicting Spider-Man simultaneous heroism and freaking out and ending the story with Peter Parker passed on the couch in front of the TV, like most people do after a hard day’s work. However, though still a disaster film worthy smashing machine courtesy of Hester, the Hulk is a one dimensional wrecking crew and could’ve easily been subbed in for the Abomination.

With a dose of political satire, some soaring team-up action grounded in character moments (Storm struggling with her power; Quicksilver’s daddy issues; Wolverine the reformed assassin), and a robust arc for Cyclops, Ultimate X-Men #4-6 is definitely an improvement over the preceding three issues. The “death” of Beast is a cheap storytelling ploy, and I am still skeezed out from Wolverine’s sexual liaison with Jean Grey, but Millar and the Kuberts end this first arc on a triumphant, if dark note albeit with some skeletons in the closet waiting to be brought out for the following “Return to Weapon X” storyline.

The Fantastic Four are the first family of Marvel Comics. Created in 1961 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (apocryphally, the result of an edict by Marvel publisher Martin Goodman to tryout a superhero team, a la rival DC Comic’s super-successful Justice League) and heavily inspired by the monster comics Marvel was publishing at the time, their tremendous popularity and success is responsible for launching Marvel’s Silver Age superhero renaissance, transforming a middling publisher of romance and sci-fi comics into one of the “Big Two” publishers of superhero adventure stories, leading to the creation of some of pop culture’s most enduring and beloved characters. Without the Fantastic Four, there would arguably be no Spider-Man, no Hulk, no X-Men or Avengers. Fantastic Four #1 is, simply, the Big Bang of Marvel Comics.

It’s hard to stomach that Mark Waid’s Daredevil, which has been hitting stands every month for around four years, is about to end, but it is indeed going to be that time very soon. There’s a feeling of culmination in this penultimate issue, bringing back plot threads from not just the start of the “Marvel Now!” relaunch in 2014, but even before that from the first major part of Waid’s run. The result is solid modernistic superhero storytelling with high stakes, tough battles, and a constant questioning of the hero’s philosophy and capability. It’s a great read, page-for-page.

For the most part, Star Wars #7 is skippable filler even for hardcore Obi Wan fans. The character does get a bit of an arc, but it is mired down in navel gazing narration and shoddy action set pieces. Colorist Justin Ponsor does nail the fact that Tatooine is the planet farthest from a bright spot in the universe with his light browns and faded whites and yellows with a tinge of red for its beautiful binary sunsets. However, this is just a tiny plus in a book filled with minuses.

The series kicks off well, using as its starting point an opportunity for characterization left unexplored by the film. After all, in A New Hope, we see Leia consoling Luke over the death of Ben Kenobi, a man he’s known for all of a few days, while the massive grief she herself must be feeling at the time over the destruction of her entire planet, including her family, goes unspoken. With the Death Star destroyed and the Rebellion victorious (for now), Waid and Dodson kick off their story by exploring how Leia is dealing with the aftermath of her homeworld being obliterated before her eyes.

Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #1 introduces a more traditional version of Wolverine to the Ultimate Marvel Universe. He is gruff and violent, but actually wants to co-exist with humans and leave his dark past behind. In a later filler arc of Ultimate Spider-Man, Bendis would explore the comic potential of a Wolverine/Spider-Man team up, but he looks at the more serious implications of being a mutant in the Ultimate Universe while also making Spidey kind of geek out around him. Even if Sabretooth is a fur coat wearing punching bag and some of jokes don’t land, it is a rare privilege to see comics legend Matt Wagner put Spider-Man through his acrobatic paces and use the full comics page (or two) to its storytelling potential.

Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde #1 is maybe worth checking out if you’re a huge Star-Lord (not Kitty Pryde) fan and has a couple laughs and a shimmering color palette. But for the most part, it’s a tie-in with a quirky setting that doesn’t add anything new to the “doubt” plotline surrounding god emperor and inconsistently characterizes both its leads with a by the numbers plot.