Marvel Penguin Picks: March 2023
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Guardians of the Galaxy by Al Ewing
You’d think that getting the now A-List writer of “Immortal Hulk” and a hot rising star artist to tackle Marvel’s premier cosmic team would’ve a lengthy run for this incarnation of their series. Despite writer Al Ewing and artist Juann Cabal’s (and friends’) best efforts, the Guardian’s latest series only ran for eighteen issues, and the soft reboot 13 issues in which led to a mini-event wound up being its swan song rather than its rebirth. Still, there was a lot to like here, from the epic scope of Ewing’s storytelling, to his and Cabal’s astounding reworking of Peter Quill, to Rocket trying to solve a locked-room mystery with some of the galaxy’s biggest power players, to finding smart ways for characters like Hercules and Doctor Doom to work as part of the team. It also had great art from start to finish, even if Cabal wasn’t part of the team all the time. While it’s disappointing that the Ewing-written tie-in issues for “The Last Annihilation” aren’t included here, we are getting the six issues of “Rocket” he wrote, which is a very solid consolation prize.
Amazing Spider-Man #’s 21 & 22: Wells and Romita Jr. are back and they’ve got a story to tell. Specifically, the story of what Peter did that put him at odds with so much of the Marvel Universe. This arc is promised to answer all of your questions in that regard, but it’s not being marketed as a two-part storyline. So expect those answers to remain elusive for another month or two. I’m willing to be patient, however, considering how good the Wells/Romita Jr. run has been so far.
The X-Cellent #1 (of 5): Wait a second. Didn’t we just get a miniseries called “The X-Cellent” last year from the same creative team of writer Peter Milligan and artist Mike Allred? Yes. Yes we did. Despite having the same name and being given a new #1 issue, this is actually the second half of the storyline the creators started in the previous miniseries. The way Marvel is publishing this seems needlessly confusing to me, as it seems that they’re assuming the fanbase for the series and creators are dedicated enough to do the legwork to figure out that this is the follow up on their own. In anycase, the back half of the storyline sees Zeitgeist continuing his quest for godhood via social media, which I’m sure is going to work out well for him and won’t involve any kind of monkey’s paw-esque misfortune coming back on him. A better question to ask is whether or not the current incarnation of “X-Statix” will be able to get their act together long enough to look good in the spotlight while they spoil his plans.
Predator #1: Yes, this is also getting a new #1 after its (long-delayed) first storyline concluded. Writer Ed Brisson remains onboard, though he’s now joined by new artist Netho Diaz for a storyline that sees the Predators themselves being hunted. Which seems a little dubious from a storytelling perspective. Here you have some iconic aliens known solely for their hunting prowess and now we’re introducing a new threat that’s even worse than they are? The hope here is that this is all misdirection on Brisson’s part and the Predators’ dominance will be re-established at the end of the arc. Or maybe he’s got a genuinely ambitious plan to replace them as the “Predators” of the franchise. We shall see.
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi – Jabba’s Palace #1: Guess which “Star Wars” movie celebrates its 40th anniversary this year? This is billed as the first in a series of one-shots celebrating “Return of the Jedi” and, appropriately enough, it focuses on Jabba the Hutt. Someone has the crimelord in his sights, and… that’s it. While a premise that thin can still be intriguing with the right creative team behind it, this is coming to us from writer Marc Guggenheim and artist Alessandro Miracolo. While Miracolo did solid work with the issue of “Obi-Wan” he illustrated, Guggenheim’s work on “Han Solo & Chewbacca” did not inspire confidence (review forthcoming). So even if this “Jedi’s” 40th, it’s hard to get excited about Marvel’s efforts to celebrate it just yet.
Nightcrawlers #2 (of 3), Storm and the Brotherhood of Mutants #2 (of 3), & Immoral X-Men #2 (of 3): While it was nice to see one artist illustrating all of the issues for the “Sins of Sinister” event, Paco Diaz will not be illustrating the whole thing. If these solicitations are any indication, we’ll be getting a new artist with every month and “Savage Avengers’” Patch Zircher is the one illustrating the issues this month. The change in artist will definitely help with the central conceit of the event as each month sees the storyline move further into the future by a factor of 10. Things get more cosmic as the Empire of the Red Diamond extends across the stars, but not everything is going to Sinister’s plan. This includes the return of Rasputin, last seen in the “Powers of X” miniseries, which is something that I’m going to have to let Rob know about since he was asking about her the last time I saw him.
Cosmic Ghost Rider #1 (of 5): Because you can’t let a concept this crazy lie fallow for long, even after the title character has found a measure of peace for himself. The cosmic and demonically empowered version of Frank Castle has been living a quiet life for himself in deep space. Until he hears about a vicious bounty hunter tearing things up and leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. A bounty hunter going by the name of the Cosmic Ghost Rider. Getting the character back into the saddle again are writer Stephanie Phillips, and artist Juann Cabal, which assures me that this miniseries is going to look fantastic even if the story doesn’t wind up being as nuts as I’d like. Speaking of Phillips…
Rogue & Gambit #1 (of 5): She’s writing this new miniseries which sees one of mutantdom’s most drama-prone couples working together on a secret mission. At least, that’s what Gambit is planning after Destiny tasks Rogue with an assignment that only she can carry out. He sees it as a way for them to reconnect after their responsibilities to Krakoa have seen them spending less time together recently. This may seem like he’s needlessly butting in, but as we’ve seen in “X-Men” this may actually be a long-term plan for Destiny to finally break the two up. Which would be awful after seeing how well they’ve come together in Kelly Thompson’s stories about them. Which is to say that Phillips, and artist Carlos Gomez, have a lot to live up to here.
Hulk #13: The bad news is that Donny Cates is officially off this series, and “Thor” as well, due to some family issues he had in 2022. The good news is that he’s let us know that he’ll be back with Marvel eventually. In the meantime, Ryan Ottley will be taking over writing and art duties on “Hulk” for its second year. While he’s written comics before, this will be his highest-profile gig yet and it’s not something he started with. The hope here is that all of those years working with Robert Kirkman on “Invincible” have instilled in him a good understanding of how to subvert the conventions of superhero stories. Even if he doesn’t wind up doing that, and we just get some straightforward story about Hulk vs. Titan, there’s no question that it’s going to look fantastic at the very least.
Venom by Al Ewing & Ram V vol. 3: Dark Web: Vol. 2 (review forthcoming) showed us the big idea behind this run of “Venom” and it’s a good one. Enough to keep me invested even as the time-traveling Eddie Brock parts continue to be more interesting than the present-day Dylan Brock sections. However, there’s a chance that could change as the subtitle of this volume implies that those present-day sections will have some added weight to them as they tie into the next big “X-Men” and “Spider-Man” storyline.
Dark Web: Here’s how this is going to work for people invested in the current run of “Amazing Spider-Man.” You can either buy this volume now which collects the relevant issues of that series plus tie-ins for “X-Men,” “Venom,” and “Ms. Marvel” for $35. Or, you can wait a couple months for just the relevant “Amazing” issues for $20. Alternatively, you can be like me and just read the parts you want on Marvel Unlimited. The choice is yours.
Namor: The Sub Mariner – Conquered Shores: It is the future and Namor is now king of the world! …Mostly by default as global warming has raised the sea level and left most of the surface world uninhabitable. There are still humans around, but does Namor owe them anything? Maybe his former comrade-in-arms Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch, has some answers for him – if he can be found. This comes to us from writer Christopher Cantwell, who has shown in the past that he can be counted on to provide quality work within the Marvel Universe. Now he’s working in his own alternate timeline, so I’m interested in seeing what he’ll do with the freedom afforded him. Pasqual Ferry provides the art, which means that this is going to be a sharp-looking future at least.