Marvel Penguin Picks: February 2022
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Venom by Al Ewing & Ram V vol. 1: Recursion
The “Venom” run by Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, and friends was the first time I followed the adventures of Eddie Brock and his symbiote on a regular basis. It was all worth it in the end, too. This is in spite of the fact that run ended with a major change in the status quo for the character with someone new bonding with the Venom symbiote. While it was disappointing to learn that Cates wouldn’t be sticking around to deal with this change he instigated, the people who were writing this new “Venom” series, Ewing and V, are pretty good writers as well. Oh, and this new series was going to be illustrated by Bryan Hitch, who’s no slouch in the art department either.
Now the first volume is here and there’s been an interesting twist with this month’s round of solicitations. While both writers were listed as co-writers for the first three months of this book’s run, V got a solo credit with issue #4. This didn’t surprise me as I figured Ewing was mainly onboard to add some credibility and hype to the series following his “Immortal Hulk” run, and that he was too busy with other projects to fully co-write this series. Then I read the solicitation for issue #5 and saw that Ewing had a solo credit as writer there. Which means that this series could actually be a collaboration between these two writers. Whatever the case is, I’m now even more curious to see how this first volume reads and what they’ve got in store for this new Venom. As well as to see how Hitch knocks it out of the park on this series as well.
Ghost Rider #1: Here’s a character that a lot of creators have great affection for, but very few have been able to make a long-running series out of. The latest creator to give it the ol’ college try is writer Benjamin Percy, who is joined by artist Cory Smith. They’re taking a back-to-basics approach to the character with Johnny Blaze living a quiet married life with two kids as an auto mechanic in a small town that appreciates what he does. But wouldn’t you know it, Johnny has been having some bad dreams lately, and they’re starting to bleed into his waking life. Oh, and this idyllic life might just be too good to be true, given the character’s history. This strikes me as a less-than-compelling setup for Ghost Rider’s latest latest series as it’s pretty obvious to see where things are going to go from here. I can’t give this the benefit of the doubt either because Percy’s work on “X-Force” and “Wolverine” has only been fine so far.
Devil’s Reign: Spider-Man #1 (of 3): In case you read through the “King’s Ransom” arc of “Amazing Spider Man” and went, “Wow, Nick Spencer brought back the Kingpin’s, son, the Rose! I wonder what they’re going to do with him in the future?” then writer Anthony Piper and artist Ze Carlos have you covered. Everyone else, as you were.
Luke Cage: City on Fire #3 (of 3): This would be where Ho Che Anderson’s miniseries wraps up… if it was actually coming out. In a surprise move, Marvel has retroactively cancelled this miniseries after it had been written, solicited, and the first issue had been drawn. No explanation was given, save for writer David Walker expressing condolences to Anderson on Twitter and noting that he had gone through similar situations with Marvel in the past. You’ll also note that Walker isn’t currently writing anything for Marvel. Make of that what you will.
Amazing Spider-Man #88: In which the Queen Goblin makes her debut. Not the Goblin Queen, the QUEEN GOBLIN.
…Now that I’ve written that, I want to see a crossover where Spider-Man fights the Goblin Queen, teams up with her to fight the Queen Goblin, or the two Queens team up to fight Spider-Man. It’s worth pointing out that noted Goblin Queen superfan Zeb Wells is writing this issue, so maybe the odds of this happening aren’t as remote as I’m assuming them to be.
Savage Spider-Man #1 (of 5): Joe Kelly’s latest Spider-Saga started off as a “Non-Stop” story before wrapping up after five issues. Now it gets another name, a new artist, Gerardo Sandoval, and a more frightening version of our hero if the covers to this issue are any indication. If you wanted your Spider-Man to look more… spidery, they Kelly and Sandoval have you covered here.
Secret X-Men #1: This is a one-shot from “Excalibur” writer Tini Howard and artist Francesco Mobili. It’s following up on the Shi’Ar Empire as a new team of X-Men is recruited to rescue Empress Xandra after she’s been kidnapped. While the team is made up of Marrow, Strong Guy, Banshee, Tempo, Forge, Armor, and Boom-Boom, the best part is that it’s being co-captained by mutant dudebros extraordinaire Sunspot and Cannonball. It’s not clear if this is meant to be a setup for another X-Men title, but it’ll be interesting to see how straightforward superheroics suit Howard. “Excalibur” was something of a bore for me to read and her previous series, “X-Corp” crashed and burned over the course of its first arc. Fingers crossed here.
X-Cellent #1: Back at the turn of the Millenium, the X-Books underwent a soft relaunch that aimed to make them more accessible while giving each title its own unique identity. None of these was more unique than the revamp “X-Force” got, which saw Vertigo mainstay Peter Milligan take over as writer and cult-favorite Mike Allred take over as artist to give us a series about mutants as superhero celebrities. It was, against all expectations, a critical and commercial success and this run of “X-Force,” along with its successor series “X-Statix” remain fondly remembered to this day. Which is why we’re seeing Milligan and Allread together again on “X-Cellent” which, by the looks of the cover, involves the return of the classic lineup, and a few new surprises. If you’ve never read the Milligan/Allred “X-Force/X-Statix” run, then go check it out. It’s a wild and fun ride that I’m interested in seeing how it’ll play out in the Krakoa Era where mutants have (mostly) taken over the world.
Star Wars: The High Republic #15: In which we’re told that lots of monsters are running around on Starlight Beacon as Phase One of the “High Republic” reaches its conclusion. While the idea that these stories are being told in Phases suggests that there’s some long-term planning going on here, it also implies that these first fifteen issues have just been one long opening arc. This would be less of a problem if the first volume I read of this series was more than “just fine.” Still, after reading this I’m left feeling that I may be better off following this series on Marvel Unlimited to see if the quality substantially improves after those first five issues.