Marvel Previews Picks: May 2014
You know, it occurred to me earlier today that with “Miracleman” now being republished by Marvel are there any other great series from the 80’s still waiting to be collected? One comes to mind: “Rom: Spaeceknight.” Originally a tie-in to a long-forgotten toy, “Rom” transcended its roots to become an epic about one man who was willing to sacrifice everything to save his people and the people of Earth from the threat of the Dire Wraiths. There’s a friend of mine who swears by this series and he loaned me all 75 issues (plus annuals) several years back. Given that the series hails from the 80’s, there’s a lot of Marvel-style histrionics and expository dialogue that you’ll have to be willing to wade through. However, if you can accept those things then it becomes quite easy to get caught up in Rom’s quest. Not only does the series provide a great trip through the Marvel Universe of the era as the title character teams up with EVERYONE, the legal circumstances surrounding his ownership meant that the ending he got has stuck (more or less) ever since. The great Bill Mantlo wrote every issue and it’s not hard to see why he’s so beloved for it. Given that “Rom” still has at least a vocal fanbase, it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that Disney may be working on getting the rights for themselves just so that they can have access to every Marvel character ever. I wish them the best of luck if that’s the case, so long as the original comics get reprinted if they’re successful.
Avengers #’s 29-30, Mighty Avengers #10, Deadpool #29: This is the solicitation text, “WHAT DID HE SEE?” I’m guessing he saw that these issues are all tie-ins to the “Original Sin” event which kicks off this month. Beyond that, any speculation about what these issues entails is apparently going to have to wait until they come out or until Marvel decides to spill the beans themselves.
Amazing Spider-Man #1.1: Apparently relaunching the title in time for the movie wasn’t enough. Now we’re getting a special miniseries detailing Peter Parker’s “Year One” as Spider-Man. To be honest, that does sound like something that could be sold to moviegoers save for the fact that I’m sure some of them will look at the issue number and go, “What the hell?” and pass it by. For the rest of us, this is written by Dan Slott. After all of his years with the character I’m certainly interested in seeing his take on the wallcrawler’s earliest days.
Cyclops #1: Uh, okay. I don’t think that the world was really calling out for a solo series for the longtime leader of the X-Men turned mutant outlaw, but it’s written by Greg Rucka so it gets a shot with me. Also, it’s not actually about the version of the character we’ve been following for years, but his time-displaced past self from “All-New X-Men.” What’s more, the first arc (at least) is going to involve him hanging out with his dad Corsair. So you’ve got the squarest of X-Men hanging out with his SPACE PIRATE dad! Hilarity should ensue from that setup and it makes me warm to the idea of this series a little more.
Thanos Annual #1: This is a curious solicitation as my copy of “Infinity” arrived earlier today. Written by the character’s creator Jim Starlin and illustrated by Ron Lim, who collaborated with Starlin on one of the definitive Thanos stories “The Infinity Gauntlet,” I’m wondering how or even if he’s going to address the character’s use here or even the “child killing” origin revision Jason Aaron foisted upon him. Marvel apparently believes in him as this is billed as a prequel to the upcoming “Thanos: The Infinity Revelation” graphic novel. So if the annual is good, then we’ll probably have more of it to like in a few months.
Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #1: Issue #200 arrived last month and now we’re getting an all-new #1 the month after. Because that’s how things work in the industry today. Cynicism aside, it’s still “Ultimate Spider-Man” by Bendis so it’ll likely still be worth reading.
The United States of Murder Inc. #1: This is the newest creator-owned series from Bendis and Oeming. It certainly has a compelling premise: What if the mob won the war on crime? I’m interested in finding out even if they’re letting it play out by having the old trope of a newly “made man” find out the truth about the world he’s been living in. It’ll at least be “good” based on their track record with “Powers,” with the potential for greatness. The issue here is that other title. You see, “USMI” is set to have its first six issues run on a monthly basis before it starts alternating bi-monthly with “Powers.” It sounds like a good idea on paper, until you realize the last title Bendis tried this with was “Scarlet” and we have yet to hear when we’ll be seeing issue #8. Also, Oeming still has his creator-owned title “The Victories” at Dark Horse. How’s he going to manage that in addition to these two titles? History dictates that this kind of scheduling is only going to result in a trainwreck, but… As is the case when creators and titles I like are involved in this kind of situation, I’m hoping to be proven wrong.
Fury MAX: My War Gone By HC: Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov’s thirteen issue epic about the character gets the one-volume treatment. If you didn’t buy the two volumes in softcover then this is absolutely worth your money. Or at least, it will be until Marvel decides to put out the “Fury MAX Omnibus” which will collect this, the original “Fury MAX” and “Fury: Peacemaker” to give us the complete run of Ennis’ take on the character. No, it hasn’t been announced yet, but given Marvel’s predilection towards collecting things like this it’s certainly plausible.
Avengers Assemble: The Forgeries of Jealousy: Warren Ellis teams up with regular series writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and finally gets me to buy a volume of this title. I know the first eight issues were a Bendis/Bagley joint, but I just haven’t gotten around to picking up that collection yet. Why not? Um, hey, I’ve got “Infinity” to read now along with the final volume of “Thermae Romae” so it’s just going to remain on the “to do” list for a while longer.
Amazing X-Men vol. 1: The Quest for Nightcrawler: Being that this is also written by Jason Aaron, this strikes me as being like “Wolverine & The X-Men” minus the kids. I really liked the kids, so that’s not a good thing. However, Aaron did do a great job with the adults so I think this’ll work out on balance. Having Ed McGuinness on board for the first six issues doesn’t hurt either.
Superior Spider-Man vol. 6: Goblin Nation: Can I wait for this? Yeah, I can BUT IT IS DIFFICULT! Given Slott’s work on the title so far I’m expecting nothing but great things from its finale.
All-New X-Factor vol. 1: Not Brand X: At this rate, Peter David will likely be writing some version of “X-Factor” for the rest of his life. This latest incarnation has Polaris leading a corporate-sponsored team that includes Quicksilver and Gambit, which sounds like an entertainingly volatile mix. Even though David effectively closed the book on the characters he was writing about in the title’s previous incarnation (except Polaris for obvious reasons) I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them popped up again here. The man does love re-visiting his past work in the Marvel Universe and he gets away with it because he usually finds something new to say about it every time.
Avengers World vol. 1: A.I.M.pire: This isn’t getting the “premiere hardcover” treatment? Sweet! I’ll buy it as soon as it comes out. Well, it’s co-written by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Spencer, so this seems like a no-brainer as long as the issues of “Avengers” they wrote together don’t turn out to be terrible.