Written by Keiron Gillen Drawn by Valerio Schiti Colored by Marte Gracia Lettered by VC’s Clayton Cowles Published by Marvel Comics
The Skinny: Marvel’s big crossover event for the summer dives deep into Superhero Politics
Spinning out of The Eternals and Destiny of X, Guillen and Schiti deliver the opening salvo in a summer event comic that promises to be a bit more than your typical hero vs. hero slugfest. Because this isn’t just a book about superheroes. It’s a book about superhero international relations. The Mutant Nation of Krakoa continues to dominate the world stage by doing the impossible. After terraforming and colonizing Mars last year, the secret of their ability to resurrect dead mutants has become public knowledge. The fact that they are unable to bring back humans has led to a public backlash and mistrust. Meanwhile, the Eternals have been facing some societal shake-ups of their own. The tumult has left scheming Druig in charge as the Prime Eternal, and many of the other immortal heroes unsure of their purpose after being abandoned by their creators, the Celestials. Oh, also the Avengers are using the hollowed-out corpse of a dead celestial as their new base. For reasons. With Druig on shaky political footing, he comes up with a plan to unify his people and secure his power by convincing them that the Mutants are byproducts of their ancient enemies, the also Celestial-created Deviants, and thus they must be eradicated. Not unfamiliar with attempted genocide against them, the Mutants on Krakoa fend off the assault. The ones on Mars aren’t so lucky. As Druig moves through more and more of his fantastical arsenal of ancient Celestial technology to use against Mutantkind, sides are chosen. But who wins in a war where both sides are effectively immortal? And will anyone else still be standing when the dust settles? Obviously, the answer here is going to be ‘yes’ because this is a superhero comic, but I am enjoying the way this event is spinning out less from Action-movie cliches of previous events and the more cerebral moments from Eternals and Immortal X-Men. The first issue is mostly scene setting and getting the characters where they need to be, but it’s still a strong first issue, with great writing by Gillen. The scene between Druig and Moira X, and the whole thing with the protesters (no spoilers) is just chilling. Schiti and Gracia’s art is excellent. I love the opening pages, which juxtapose Iron Man and Sersi having brunch against the human protesters surrounding the X-Men’s treehouse headquarters. The colors are rich and the characters are all expressive and dynamic. This feels more like a political thriller than a superhero dustup, and the art sells it when the pages are mostly talking heads. A.X.E. Judgement Day #1 is now available in print from your local comics shop or digitally from the usual sources.
Immortal X-Men #1 Written by Kieran Gillen Drawn by Lucas Werneck Colored by David Curiel Lettered by Clayton Cowles Design by Tom Muller Published by Marvel Comics
The Skinny: The X-Wing The next ‘season’ of X-Men comics kicks off with this banger of a book focusing on the Quiet Council, the ruling body of the Mutant Nation of Krakoa. And while this book is a who’s who of A-list comics characters, Gillen puts the story in the shoes of his favorite villain, Mr. Sinister. As a new number one, Immortal X-Men #1serves as a good jumping-on point for readers who missed the X-Men’s glow up from a boarding school with teachers who shoot lasers from their eyes to international and even interplanetary politics. It reintroduces the status quo and the major players. The council is a mixture of white and black hats, the issue opens with a big one hanging his up. Magneto is stepping down from the council, and most of the issue is spent on the debate over who should replace him. It’s a risky move to start a comics story with so little action, but one of the strengths of the X-line has always been the way the books fit together, using varying tones to tell complex stories that appeal to different audiences. X-Force and Excalibur are books in the same line, with very different tones from the ‘core’ X-Men title. And Immortal X-Men is an extension of that idea, a book that focuses on the politics of running the mutant nation. The X-Wing if you will. Gillen pulls it off by focusing on Sinister’s twisted perspective. A supervillain’s supervillain, he plots and schemes and seems to know everybody else’s secrets. Except for Destiny, the precognitive mutant recently back from the dead. The book opens with the two sparring in post-WWI Paris, and a hundred years later, not much has changed. The issue is further saved from being a collection of talking heads by Lucas Werneck’s excellent art, which is stuffed not only with gorgeous, expressive characters, but delightful background images as well. The X-Men, and Mr. Sinister in particular, has leaned into its own weirdness in the last decade. Werneck is serving that weirdness up with cool body horror and bizarre monsters. I can’t wait to see what else is up the sleeves of this artist and writer pair. If you’re into comics for the fight scenes, this isn’t the book for you, but this book takes the central political conflicts of the X-Men and turns the tension up to eleven. If sci-fi politics is your jam, you owe it to yourself to check out Immortal X-Men. You can find the first issue at your local comics shop or online from Amazon. (R.I.P. Comixology)
Cable Reloaded #1 Written by Al Ewing Drawn by Bob Quinn Colored by Java Tartaglia Lettered by VC’s Joe Sabino Design by Tom Muller Published by Marvel Comics
The Skinny: Maybe the real Time-Traveling Cyborg Super Soldier was Friendship all along.
Cable has never been one of my favorite Marvel characters. In a lot of ways, the cybernetic super-soldier from the future represents a lot of the problems that crept into 90’s Marvel Comics. His backstory is a complicated mess, his design is unpleasant, and his plots center around the hyper-masculine dourness that dominated the comics industry at the time. In short, I think he’s just not a lot of fun. Cable recently returned to his status quo after he was murdered and replaced by a teenage version of himself because Comics and this solo one-shot integrates him back into the Marvel Universe. Since I didn’t read Teen Cable’s solo series, I would’ve given this issue a pass if it weren’t written by one of my favorite writers, Al Ewing. I’m glad I didn’t skip it because it turns out, this is a great single issue. Cable Reloaded is also a tie-in to Al’s Last Annihilation storyline going on right now in Guardians of the Galaxy and S.W.O.R.D. Fortunately, you don’t need to know much about either book to be brought up to speed. Cable’s new mission is to infiltrate the infamous Breakworld, previously seen in Astonishing X-Men. But again, that’s not anything you need to know because this is actually a comic about Cable reestablishing his connections and friendships after being gone. Because he’s a time traveler, it’s been a lifetime for him since he’s been in this era, but only a month in everyone else’s time, including the reader. Cable gets a few nice moments with Cannonball and Boom-Boom, his mentees from when he was leading X-Force, as well as with the staff of S.W.O.R.D, where his younger self was working as Security Chief. We also see a fair bit of Cable’s internal monologue throughout the issue, and it is an interesting peek into the thoughts of a normally taciturn and laconic character. One of the fun things you can do with a character like Cable in the context of a crossover is to use him to build up the importance of an event or put over another character. There’s a fun scene in which Cable meets Guardian of the Galaxy Rocket, and is awed by meeting such a famous and brilliant historical tactician. Rocket is clearly one of Ewing’s favorite characters, but it’s still a nice scene. Bob Quinn’s art is also very good in this issue. He evokes a 90’s aesthetic without falling into the failings of the era, and he is a steady hand at making complex action easily understandable. The issue’s page layouts have a particularly nice flow to them. java Tartaglia’s colors are warm and glossy, also evoking Cable’s origins while remaining easy on the eyes. I picked up this issue not knowing what to expect, but I’m glad that I did. Cable Reloaded #1 is a self-aware and oddly sweet return to form for the character, and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of this creative time and this character in the future. Cable is a character of excess in a lot of ways, but this issue hits all its points without overindulging. If you’re at all curious about Cable, S.W.O.R.D., or The Last Annihilation, do yourself a favor and pick this issue up from Comixology or your Local Comic Shop.
The Union #1 Written by Paul Grist Drawn by Andrea Di Vito, Drew Geraci and Le Beau Underwood with Paul Grist Colored by Nolan Woodard Published by Marvel Comics
The Skinny: This comic feels a lot like Jack Staff, but that’s hardly a bad thing.
The Union, Marvel’s (mostly) new team of British superheroes debuts at a rocky time for the island nation, both in the real world and the Marvel universe. On our Earth, Brexit continues, while on Earth-616, their most prominent superhero, Captain Britain, has been replaced by his sister, Betsy Braddock, who is a mutant. While neither of these issues are explicitly addressed in the comic, both loom large over the book as it introduces a new government sponsored team lead by Britannia, a character who feels very familiar to the absent hero. The one familiar member of the team is Union Jack, who fills the role of a Captain America-like super-soldier on the team. Grist wrote a long-running indie comic Jack Staff, about a similar character who was based on a rejected pitch to Marvel. This opening chapter has a similar feel, and artist Andrea Di Vito literally has him holding onto a flag for most of the issue in a likely homage. The Union looks like the start of a clever superhero satire. Let’s just hope it can survive being tied-in to Marvel’s latest event, King in Black. You can download it digitally through Comixology, or pick up a print copy at your local comics shop.
Immortal Hulk: Great Power #1
Written by Tom Taylor
Drawn by Jorge Molina
Inked by Adriano Di Benedetto with Roberto Poggi
Colored by David Curiel
Published by Marvel Comics
The Skinny: This self-contained issue is a modern twist on a fun What If? premise.
Even the most serious concept can be fun sometimes. Superhero comics, as a sub-genre, lend themselves to certain kinds of experiments you rarely see in others. Who would win in a fight? What if this story had ended differently? and of course, What if X character had Y’s Powers?
The premise of Immortal Hulk: Great Power is that Spider-Man has somehow taken the powers of the Hulk from Bruce Banner. But the twist here is that this is the modern, horror-version of the character currently written by Al Ewing.
The result is a book that strays a bit far from the premise of that book, but is a good deal of fun, and serves as an introduction to the characters for readers who don’t know their current deals. It feels like something from the 70’s brushed off and polished to modern style, in the best way possible.
Taylor’s writing is very strong, capturing both the classic essence of these character as well as the modern takes. For instance, Loki has a cameo that feels right in line with his more recent appearances, as do the Fantastic Four.
The art is good, particularly the colors. Molina doesn’t display as much body diversity as one would expect in the characters, though, and in particular his version Bruce Banner is way more ripped than he should be.
This self-contained little story isn’t exactly consequential, but it is a lot of fun and a very enjoyable superhero romp for Marvel fans. You can snag a copy at your local comics shop, or read it digitally through Comixology.
Marauders #1
Written by Gerry Duggan
Drawn by Matteo Lolli
Colored by Federico Blee
Lettered by VC’s Cory Petit
Design by Tom Muller
Published by Marvel Comics
The Skinny: X-Men’s big Sci-Fi experiment embraces the New Wave. On a boat.
Marauders #1 is the X-Men book I’ve been waiting for.
The X-Men, right down to their creation as five white teenagers in 1960’s America, has always been a metaphor for oppressed groups. This isn’t a new idea, whether Marvel Editorial admits it or not. But with House of X, Jonathan Hickman and Pepe Larraz changed tack. The core concept was still there, but Krakoa altered the dynamic and outlook of mutants so it became less of a struggle between them and human oppressors and more of a big, Golden-Age Science Fiction meditation on divergent futures.
But with Marauders #1, at least some corner of the X-line is back on solid New Wave SF ground, and examining the structures of what Krakoa hath wrought, because there’s no such thing as a problem-free utopia. The problem being that not everybody can use the gates to get to the distant island. In some cases, it is because the countries those gates are in have cordoned them off. For Kate, (formerly Kitty) Pride, it’s because Krakoa won’t let her in.
So, along with a crew of Iceman, Storm, and accidentally the original Pyro, she sets to sea in a boat to bring the mutants that want to come to Krakoa but can’f find a way. The result is the usual superhero dustup against a cadre of generic Russian soldier baddies, but the premise has legs to explore the real consequences of the new era. We get to see who’s being left behind, and where the cracks are in Moira and Xavier’s plans. Plus, this looks like the book where we’re going to see all of Emma Frost’s scheming play out, and that was the most interesting part of House of X, in my opinion.
X-Men as a concept always works better for me when it deals with characters rather than concepts. Marauders looks like the book where we’re actually going to see the two intersect in interesting ways. Issue one is out now digitally from Comixology, and in print at your local comics shop. Go check it out.
House of X #1
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Drawn by Pepe Larraz
Colored by Marte Garcia
Lettered by VC’s Clayton Cowles Design by Tom Muller
Published by Marvel Comics
The Skinny: Hickman’s first X-Men book is a bold first step. But where exactly is he taking us?
For decades, X-Men comics have been firmly situated in the ‘mutant metaphor,’ the idea that mutants, unjustly hated and feared for their superpowers, corresponded to real-life marginalized and oppressed people. Notable examples include Magneto being a holocaust survivor, and the island of Genosha, an apartheid state which enslaved mutants to provide lives of luxury to their human citizens. Usually, this metaphor brings the reader in and establishes sympathy for the characters. With his first X-Men issue, Jonathan Hickman is doing something completely different.
House of X takes a much more outsider perspective. It barely spends any time at all with familiar heroes, and when it does, there’s something decidedly off about them. They are truly outsiders to the readers in a way that they haven’t been since their inception. The story instead follows a group of Ambassadors taking a tour of a new ‘mutant embassy’ established in Jerusalem. Mutants have unified under Xavier’s banner and established a new nation on the Island of Krakoa, a sentient being that was the villain way back in Giant-Sized X-Men #1. Led by Magento, and assisted by a pair of characters that were previously dead, the humans get a tour of the plant-covered building. The rest of the oversized issue are vignettes and infographics that provide background details but also further establish the otherness of this new Mutant Nation.
Xavier’s motives and endgame are still very much up for interpretation, but the whole thing is decidedly sinister.
Laraz’s art is top-notch, and the graphics, designed by Tom Muller, really add to book and establish the stakes. This is, without a doubt, a well-written, drawn, and executed book. But I worry. For over fifty-five years, the mutants were the good guys, and a direct metaphor for oppressed people. If Hickman is flipping that script, what does that say for the politics of this story, and for the Marvel bullpen in general? Marvel has always made a firm stance on where it stood on oppression, right from the beginning. With the state of the world as it is today, this is exactly the wrong time for them to soften it.
I’m not sure where this book is heading, but I can’t deny that I’m hooked. You can get your own copy from your local comics shop, or digitally through Comixology.
The Unstoppable Wasp Unlimited Vol. 1: Fix Everything
Written by Jeremy Wihitley
Drawn by Gurihiru
Published by Marvel Comics
The Skinny: After escaping from the assassin school where she was raised and establishing a lab for teenage scientists, Nadia Van Dyne discovers that her greatest enemy may be herself.
Having thoroughly enjoyed the over-too-soon first volume of Unstoppable Wasp, I was delighted that Marvel revived the series. This book collects the first five issues of the second volume, and is even better than the first, mixing superhero action with personal drama and super-science in a way that is accessible and compelling.
One of the things that really drew me to Nadia as a character was her optimism and sunny personality. In a world filled with gruff badasses whose personal traumas made them into tough loners, Nadia relished the opportunity to finally live the life she was always denied. She was a constant delight in a grimdark universe.
But of course nobody can be happy all the time, and Nadia’s father, the original Ant Man Hank Pym, had a history of mental illness that wasn’t presented as thoughtfully or carefully as it maybe should have been. When an unexpected super-villain attack catches Nadia by surprise and puts her friends in danger, she cracks. But Whitley and Gurihiru do an amazing job in how they present and resolve Nadia’s mental health crisis, as well as the reactions of her friends and mentors. This is rarely handled well in a medium where so many rogues galleries are littered with the ‘criminally insane,’ and it is all the more an achievement that it was handled so deftly and so frankly in a comic with a YA audience.
Whitley has managed a rare comeback with a character: building on the first volume and raising the personal stakes without falling back on the status quo. That’s an easy trap for comics to fall into, and I’m glad that he not only avoided it, but vaulted it. Gurihiru’s art is a perfect fit for the book as well. Their style is fun and poppy but still has that edge to it that the book needs. This book is a must read for its hidden depths.
Unstoppable Wasp Unlimited Vol. 1: Fix Everything is available digitally from Comixology, and you can also find it on Amazon and at your local comics shop. Support Me on Ko-fi
Written by Jason Aaron
Drawn by Russell Dauterman
Colored by Matthew Wilson
Lettered by VC’s Joe Sabino
Published by Marvel Comics
The Skinny: A mythological army takes Times Square in the kick-off to Marvel’s latest event.
I’ve been notably mixed on “event” comics in the past, but Marvel’s latest, “War of the Realms” is a the very least starting on its best foot. Spinning out of a long-running series of events in “Thor,” the story involves Malekith, king of the Dark Elves, and the titular war that he has been waging, a war that has finally reached the last holdout realm: Earth. And it wouldn’t be a Marvel comic if it didn’t start in the heart of Manhattan.
This opening issue does a good job of avoiding the pitfalls of most of these sorts of books. The situation is cleanly and precisely explained without too much of an exposition dump, the characters all feel correct and act appropriately, and the action moves along at a brisk pace, feeling like a complete issue even if it just lays out the characters and the stakes.
It helps that Dauterman’s art is drop-dead gorgeous, with rich, dark colors by Matt Wilson. Scenes are detailed without being too busy, and all of these giants and heroes have a lovely dynamism to them. But ti’s the little touches that make this comic for me. For example, an opening graphic shows the Norse mythological world tree, with the various realms and their denizens, with a sketch of Spider-Man hanging over a city representing Midgard. Also, Malekith is at his David Bowie-best here, riding into Times Square with a manic grin atop a giant winged tiger.
War of the Realms #1 kicks off a six-issue limited series, along with innumerable spin-offs. You can find it at your local comics shop, or buy it digitally on Comixology.
Daredevil #1
Written by Chip Zdarsky
Drawn by Marco Checchetto
Colored by Sunny Gho
Published by Marvel Comics
The Skinny: After recovering from dying (again,) Matt Murdock returns to crime-fighting, but things aren’t so easy anymore.
Matt Murdock is tired. After having come back to life, although in a bit more medically plausible fashion this time, he is hitting the rooftops as Daredevil, but finding that things aren’t as easy as they used to be. With Wilson Fisk the elected mayor of New York, NYPD has standing orders to stop vigilantes, with Daredevil being a major target.
Plus, Matt is rushing things. He’s impatient, and isn’t back to his old self. Like an old boxer, he is wondering if her ever will be, and how long he can rebound before physical injury and infirmity catch up to him.
Chip Zdarsky is hitting it out of the park with another more serious book at Marvel. I’ve already reviewed his writing on The Invaders, and this is a similarly thoughtful take on a character who has seen horrors and how they have internalized them. My favorite line of the issue is when he tells the woman he takes home from a bar not to fetishize his disability. There is a bone-tiredness there that speaks volumes about Matt’s experiences both in and out of his superhero identity.
Marco Checchetto’s art and Sunny Gho’s coloring both serve the story well. I liked Checchetto’s cramped, overlapping page layouts and Gho’s dark and gritty colors both do a great job of establishing an atmosphere and pace to the issue that would be a little unclear without them.
The issue also has a four-page backup story by Zdarsky that is a nearly-wordless short about Matt saving a kidnapping victim that does a great job of showing the events first from an outside point of view, then from Matt’s, using a great visualization of his sensory powers.
Daredevil #1feels very reminiscent of the Netflix series, but this is a very strong return for the character, and I can’t wait to see where this team goes with this direction. You can pick up a copy from your Local Comics Shop, or get the digital version from Comixology.
Hugh J. O'Donnell 