Marvel Penguin Picks: February 2025
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman vol. 2: The Paper
Yeah, this feels too easy. There’s some other stuff I was considering for this spot – first volumes of relaunched X-titles, the climax of Ewing’s “Venom” – but when it came down to it, this is the one I wanted to read the most. Hickman just did an incredible job re-imagining “Spider-Man” for that first volume with big things like making Peter an adult and married to MJ with two kids and having [REDACTED] alive and well and friends with J. Jonah Jameson. Yet it was the little things that sold me on it like Peter actually getting on well with JJJ, “With great power comes great responsibility” coming from someone completely different, and a refreshing lack of small cheap drama. So yeah, I REALLY want to see where Hickman is taking this with artists Marco Checchetto and David Messina. Even though with the new Ultimate Sinister Six being introduced with this volume the answer is likely to be PAIN!
One World Under Doom #1 (of 9): When Ryan North started writing “Fantastic Four,” it seemed like a reward for years of doing good work on lower-profile books like “The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.” I figured we’d be seeing the series tie into other crossovers, like “Blood Hunt,” as whenever North felt like it, but I never thought that we’d be seeing him spearhead an event like this so soon. Still, he’s been doing good work on “Fantastic Four” and the groundwork has been laid for the remarkably straightforward premise of this series. It’s right there in the title, in case you missed it. As for how it happened: Doom became Sorcerer Supreme at the end of “Blood Hunt” and now he’s got those powers in addition to his already formidable scientific acumen. Reed is going to have to lock himself in a room for quite a while this time if he wants to “Solve Doom.”
Which is exactly what he does in Fantastic Four #29, because of course this title will be tying into the event. While Reed is busy in his room, Ben, Sue and Jen “She-Hulk” Walters decide to hit the town in order to try and get their mind off things. This goes badly when they encounter a mob looking to address lingering issues from the “Blood Hunt.”
Red Hulk #1: I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s a new “Captain America” movie coming out in February that features the title character. I’m all for a return to the paranoid thriller aspects of “The Winter Soldier” and for seeing Harrison Ford Hulk it out as President Ross. Here, however, we have a stealth tie-in to “One World Under Doom” as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross finds himself in a cell underneath Latveria that’s part of a prison complex serving as a think tank for Doom’s latest plan to take over the world. I’m sure it’ll work out fine for the good doctor. After all, when has locking up a Hulk against their will ever backfired on their captor? Benjamin Percy writes and Geoff Shaw illustrates.
Weapon X-Men #1: Wolverine, Deadpool, Cable, Chamber, and Thunderbird are working together on a rescue mission from the ultimate global hot spot. But, what if the real enemy is… from within? That’ll be a problem for a team whose membership requirement is, “No mercy allowed!” This sounds utterly ridiculous, in a way that writer Joe Casey is trying to write an over-the-top 90’s superhero comic in a self-aware way. Unfortunately my interest in seeing the writer try and do that is at an all time low after I suffered through “Junior Baker the Righteous Faker.” Chriscross illustrates, which promises the book will look good if nothing else.
Eddie Brock: Carnage #1: Huh. I wonder if this is a spoiler for who won the “Venom War” or the identity of “All-New Venom?” That said, the idea of repentant former villain Eddie Brock becoming the new host for Carnage is a solid one. He’s still trying to do good while bonded to the most vicious symbiote of them all. Lots of potential for interesting moral dilemmas to be had there, and if there’s someone who’s likely to have considered most of them it’s writer Charles Soule. I never pictured the writer taking on someone as over-the-top bloodthirsty as Carnage, but he’s also the guy who wrote a comic about “Eight Billion Genies.” I’m sure he’ll do fine, especially since he’ll be working with his “Swamp Thing” and “Star Wars” collaborator Jesus Saiz.
Star Wars: The Legacy of Vader #1: Soule is back again because I’m sure he’ll keep writing “Star Wars” comics as long as he wants to. Which is fine by me since they’ve generally been pretty good. Anyway, this series is serving as a something of a follow-up to the “Kylo Ren” mini he did a few years back. We pick up with Han and Lei’s fallen son after he’s fallen in with the First Order and is looking to find out more about his grandfather. Which naturally leads him to Fortress Vader on Mustafar. Luke Ross re-teams with Soule after “War of the Bounty Hunters” and “Dark Droids” for this latest series.
Uncanny X-Men by Gail Simone vol. 1: Red Wave: The next batch of “From the Ashes” collections rolls out this month, led by the latest version of “Uncanny.” Simone’s team has Rogue reluctantly placed in the role of team leader, but she’s going to have to step up quick if she’s going to deal with the appearance of a group of violent new mutants. Of which one of them might be the Endling – the one destined to stand over them all at the end. Simone struck me as a surprise choice to write this since she hasn’t been a regular presence at Marvel over the years, but the early word is that she’s doing fine here. David Marquez illustrates most of this volume, quite well from what I hear, with the talented Javier Garron pitching in as well.
X-Factor by Mark Russell vol. 1: Mark Russell is the writer who never met a comic he couldn’t use as a a vehicle for satire, social commentary, or both takes on the government-sponsored mutant team once again led by Havok. Now he’s joined by Angel, Frenzy, Pyro, Feral, and more on missions that I’m sure are going to result in the world being made a better, safer place. Believe it! Kidding aside, this does sound like fun – especially if Russell can mine his setup for genuine comedy alongside the superhero action. Bob Quinn illustrates.
Venom War: Ostensibly the end of Al Ewing’s run on “Venom” with “All-New Venom” ostensibly serving as a transition to the new writer and/or victory lap for his work here. Though this was a bonafide event, it was also one that had the good fortune to be properly set up in the pages of its parent title. What with the increasing enmity that developed between Eddie Brock and his son Dylan after the former wound up being flung through time in an increasingly insane time loop while the latter was hunted on Earth for his connection to Venom. Now they’re both going head-to-head for control of the symbiote and the only one that can stop them is the one person who wants it more than they do… Peter Parker?! Oh, and Meridus is also here to enact his endgame and it’s not out of the question that Doom might show up again to twist the knife after his last encounter with Eddie. Iban Coello and Carlos Nieto illustrate what will hopefully be more than a lot of gooey space parasites smacking the heck out of each other and any Marvel hero that crosses their path.