Marvel Penguin Picks: September 2023
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Rom: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus HC vol. 1
Now here’s something I never thought I’d see in these solicitations. To recap: Rom was originally a toy made by Parker Brothers that Marvel published a tie-in comic for back in the (very) late 70’s/early 80’s. While the toy came and went without much fanfare, “Rom” the comic lasted for 75 issues and was fondly remembered by just about everyone who read it. However, the series was never collected in trade paperback form. The division of rights between Marvel and “Rom’s” subsequent owners meant that they couldn’t actually use the character himself in anything. The Spaceknights of Galador and everything else that Marvel created as part of the character’s backstory was still theirs, just not the Greatest of the Spaceknights.
While “Rom” comics were published for a bit over at IDW, it would appear that his current owner, Hasbro, has thrown in the towel on trying to make any kind of revival work on their own. Which is why we’re finally seeing these comics collected after all these years. As for whether or not they’re actually worth reading… yeah, they are. The writing may be as overwrought and bombastic as all other Marvel comics of the time were, but the series benefited immensely from being written by one man, Bill Mantlo, from beginning to end. In addition to giving the series a sense of continuity and forward momentum, Mantlo was also able to put a definitive end to the character with its final issue. It’s an ending which is very likely to be undone if (when) Marvel decides to put Rom back into the Marvel Universe, but don’t let that detract from the overall quality of the story being told here.
Captain America #1: Separate titles for Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson were launched last year, and subsequently wrapped up with the “Cold War” event earlier in this one. Now Steve Rogers is getting a new solo title from an interesting creative team. Jesus Saiz returns to the character, after illustrating his adventures during the “Hydra Cap” years, while J. Michael Straczynski returns to Marvel after a stint at DC, and doing creator-owned work over at Image and AWA. While I’ve liked some of his work in the past (see “Midnight Nation”) most of his work at DC could charitably be described as “misguided” while his latter-day creator-owned titles haven’t garnered much attention of their own. We don’t get a sense of what his run is going to be about from the solicitation text here, so your appetite for this title is likely to hinge upon how you feel about the writer himself. Or if you’re an (understandably) big fan of Saiz.
Wolverine vs. Predator #1 (of 4): Rational me says that this is about 30 years past its sell-by date. Teenage me says this is rad as hell and this is a fight that needed to happen no matter the decade it was published in! I’m inclined to give Teenage Me the edge here because, let’s face it, what’s the point of having the rights to one of the most iconic of movie alien monsters if you’re not going to pit it against your own set of iconic superheroes. Starting with the one he’s most evenly matched against. Regular “Wolverine” writer Benjamin Percy writes this miniseries with a variety of artists including Greg Land and Andrea Di Vito providing the art.
Avengers Inc. #1: Al Ewing teams with artist Leonard Kirk for this series that’s all about solving the mysteries of the Marvel Universe. It features Janet Van Dyne and a suspiciously Vision-looking character named Victor Shade and the first mysteries they’re going to solve are their own. As anyone who’s read his run on “Immortal Hulk” or any other series he’s done at Marvel, Ewing loves to do deep dives into the histories of its characters and the universe in general to find interesting stories to tell. This looks to be exclusively about that, which isn’t a bad thing given how the writer has yet to deliver a truly bad story in my opinion.
Uncanny Spider-Man #1 (of 5): Now this sounds interesting. It’s part of “Fall of X,” which means that it’s tying into the latest bad time for the mutant community. Only it’s about Nightcrawler posing as Spider-Man and… having the time of his life? We’re told that some bad stuff happened to the character at the latest Hellfire Gala, but he’s putting that off to the side by dedicating himself to the hero’s lifestyle. This comes from writer Simon Spurrier, who’s been chronicling Nightcrawler’s adventures for the past couple of years via “Way of X” and “Legion of X.” It may seem odd that the character is focused on having a good time while everything else is going wrong for the mutant community, but my gut tells me that’s a feature of the story here rather than a bug. Spurrier has never been one for delivering a straightforward, predictable, story regardless of the genre and I’m fully expecting him, and artist Lee Garbett, to do that again here.
X-Men #26 & Invincible Iron Man #10: Tony Stark and Emma Frost… MARRIED?! That’s, uh… an interesting pairing. It’s also one that I can only see working if Tony has given himself some heavy-duty telepathic shielding. Gerry Duggan writes both titles, and I’m curious to see what kind of setup for this will be done in the next volume of “X-Men.” As for “Invincible Iron Man,” I guess I’ll have to start reading it now to see how this event is being managed from that end.
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi #1 (of 6): This is an adaptation of the Disney+ series which came out last year. For what it is, this has a surprisingly high-quality creative team. Jody Houser is writing this while “Star Wars” and “Darth Vader” veteran, and artist of too many Marvel series to count, Salvador Larroca, provides the art. I still remember Houser’s sterling work on the adaptation of the “Thrawn” novel with Luke Ross. That, along with Larroca’s presence, is enough to get me to check this out when it hits Marvel Unlimited. Why am I not waiting for the trade? Because I still want to see if this series does anything differently or fleshes out the Disney+ series in meaningful ways.
Thor by Straczynski & Gillen Omnibus HC: Why is this an omnibus of two different writers’ work on “Thor?” That’s because Straczynski left Marvel rather abruptly during his run on “Thor” which led to Gillen having to wrap up some of the stray plot threads in subsequent issues. This is in addition to handling the tie-ins to the “Siege” event which was being set up at the time. It all worked out in the end since Gillen’s contributions were really quite good and set the stage for his subsequent work on “Journey Into Mystery.”
Hellcat: Patsy Walker has been framed for murder and she’s not even sure if she didn’t do it. Worse still is that the one person she can turn to, the superhero formerly known as Sleepwalker, is also in love with her. Writer Christopher Cantwell picks up where he left off with the character in the “Invincible Iron Man/Hellcat Annual,” which is also collected here. If you’re like me, and appreciated what the writer did with the character during his “Iron Man” run, then you’re likely to enjoy this. Or if you like weird superhero titles that leave you unsure what’s going on (based on my impressions of the first issue) this could be for you as well.
X-Men: Red by Al Ewing vol. 3: This collects only three issues of the regular series, but also includes the Ewing-written “Before the Fall: Heralds of Apocalypse” one-shot. That’s a hint that this volume is largely going to be focused on the Arakii population of Planet Arakko as their history is fleshed out here. We also get to follow up on one of the characters featured in the “X of Swords” crossover as the last warrior of the White Sword comes to tell of who destroyed them, and that they’re coming for Planet Arakko now. Ewing may be dealing with leftover setup and plot threads created by Jonathan Hickman, but he showed in vol. 2 that he’s quite good at that as well as working them into the stories he wants to tell.
X-Cellent vol. 2: Writer Peter Milligan and artist Mike Allred return to wrap up their follow-up to “X-Force”/”X-Statix.” Vol. 1 was a solid return for them, and there’s no obvious reason to doubt that things are going to go off the rails in this volume. OR IS THERE?! No, there is not.