Marvel Penguin Picks: August 2022
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
X-Men: Red by Al Ewing vol. 1
I know that I put the first two issues of this series here back in January, but my excitement for this series has only grown since then. That’s mainly due to the fact that I finally got around to reading vol. 2 of “S.W.O.R.D.” in the interim and saw the writer’s new take on Abigail Brand. No, she’s not a villain; but, she’s got ideas on how interstellar peace should be managed and they’re not aligned with the mutant agenda. That’s going to spell trouble for the new leader of Arakko, Storm, as she’s having to keep the Arakki mutants in line, which is going to prove difficult with openly treacherous characters like Tarn the Uncaring on the ruling council. Oh, and Robert Dacosta is back, hopefully in the smooth, see all the moves businessman form that he was written as over the course of Ewing’s “New” and “U.S.A.” “Avengers” titles. It sounds like a lot to tackle in this five-issue collection, but I’m sure that the writer and artist Stefano Caselli (with help from Juann Cabal and Andres Genolet) are more than up to the task.
Fantastic Four #47 & Avengers #60: What’s this? New writers on both of these titles? Have the eras of Dan Slott and Jason Aaron ended on the series they’ve written for years? No, that’s not the case, they’re just taking a skip issue while other writers do the dirty work of writing tie-ins to “Judgment Day” here. David Pepose tackles “Fantastic Four” with Juann Cabal while Mark Russell and Greg Land make “Avengers” their own. While I’m more familiar with Russell’s work, his Hawkeye-centric story where the archer is called on to justify his existence does seem like your enjoyment of it will hinge on how much you like the character. Whereas Pepose’s story involves Oubliette “The Exterminatrix” Midas assaulting the Baxter Building with only the Invisible Woman left to oppose her. It’s billed as “FF” meets “Die Hard” and I’ll be damned if that analogy doesn’t make me want to read this!
Amazing Fantasy #1000: Has it been 1,000 issues of the comic that spawned Spider-Man already? …Suuuuuuure, let’s say that it is. Anything to give Marvel another random anniversary issue to hawk to completists. That being said, they’ve assembled a pretty formidable group of writers and artists to celebrate Spidey in this issue. Neil Gaiman! Jonathan Hickman! Dan Slott! Jim Cheung! Oliver Coipel! Kurt Busiek! And these are just the ones I’m really excited about! If you’re a fan of Armando Iannuchi from his work on “The Thick of It” and “Veep” then you should know that he’s contributing a story here as well. Will it be any good? Who knows, but I’m sure that Gaiman or Hickman’s contributions will make up for it if it isn’t.
Edge of the Spider-Verse #’s 1-3 (of 5): In case you haven’t heard, there’s another “Spider-Verse” miniseries coming and it’s supposed to be the LAST one. Which… sure, fine, whatever Marvel wants to say. Apparently it’s so big that it’s causing Dan Slott to come out of Spider-retirement to write it, which certainly says a lot about the permanence of such things at the publisher. Before the main event, however, we’ve got another lead-in series featuring all sorts of Spider-people, with Spider-Man Noir, Spider UK, Spider-Man India and more getting name checked in these solicitations. Slott is also writing a story in each of the solicited issues, so if the thought of seeing more Spider-people given the spotlight in this issue doesn’t get you excited, the fact that there’s a lead-up to the event itself in every issue might be more relevant to your interests.
Amazing Spider-Man #9: “Judgment Day” isn’t the only event being tied-into in these solicitations. What we have here is a fashionably late arrival to this year’s “Hellfire Gala” as Spider-Man and Wolverine are forced to team-up after a shocking event sends them across the world to make things right. As for what the nature of this problem is, the solicitations are being tight-lipped about that. However, anyone who read the “Avengers/X-Men: Free Comic Book Day” probably wouldn’t be wrong in assuming it has something to do with who’s wearing Mary Jane Watson to the Gala this year. I’m expecting great things from this issue because it’s written by someone who knows both the X-Men and Spider-Man very well: Zeb Wells.
Venom #11: Okay, so having finally read the first volume of the new “Venom” series (review forthcoming) I can tell you that Al Ewing and Ram V aren’t actually co-writing it. There are actually two stories being told here, with V telling the one about Dylan Brock and Ewing giving us Eddie’s adventures. One of which is a horror-infused romp through the darker corners of the Marvel Universe, and the other is a cosmic adventure with some huge ideas attached to it. No points for guessing who is writing which story, though I will tell you that Ewing is writing this issue, and that it follows up on what were apparently literally gut-wrenching story developments from the previous issue.
Alien #1: Twelve issues in and the series is already being relaunched? Original writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson is still onboard, but the reason for the relaunch appears to be that original artist Salvador Larroca has decamped back to the Marvel Universe. New artist Julius Ohta is here to illustrate a story about a colony of synths that have established a secret colony on a backwater moon. It’s not secret enough, as they’re visited by some Colonial Marines who are looking for their help in retrieving some biotech on a hostile planet. The solicitation doesn’t come out and say it, but this means that either the planet is hostile because it’s infested with Xenomorphs, or the biotech they’re going to retrieve is related to them. Or both. I’ve read the first arc of this series on Marvel Unlimited, and the reason you haven’t read a review of it here is because it was just fine. It wasn’t particularly great or awful compared to previous “Alien” stories I’ve read, and my gut tells me that this one will probably be more of the same.
Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The New Republic vol. 6: Here’s another series of reprints where it makes a whole lot of sense to put all of these comics in one volume. Save for the fact that one of the storylines collected here is crap. Vol. 6 collects all of the comics related to Kir Kanos who was once one of the members of the Emperor’s elite guard and now makes his way through the galaxy on his own terms. He starred in three “Crimson Empire” miniseries, of which the first was pretty decent and the second was better as it embraced intrigue over pure action. It bears mentioning that these first two miniseries were co-written by Dark Horse co-founders Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley. The third was written by Richardson himself and it’s just further evidence that the man’s a far better comics publisher than a comics writer. Series artist Paul Gulacy also delivered some sub-par work on that closing miniseries, which also felt like it was trying to cram in every “Star Wars” cameo it could muster. This volume also collects related stories from “Dark Horse Presents” and “Dark Horse Extra,” as well as the “Bounty Hunters: Kenix Kil” one-shot.