Marvel Penguin Picks: July 2024
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Fall of the House of X/Rise of the Powers of X
As if it could be anything else from this round of solicitations.
The “Krakoan Era” of “X-Men” has been one of its most fascinating. It took the marginalized status of mutants and flipped it on its head by making them not just a global power, but a cosmic one as well. They were still hated and feared, however, with their enemies, both old and new, now having a bigger target to aim for. Instigator Jonathan Hickman’s changes were so radical that a long walk back to the status quo was likely always inevitable. Yet the stories told in this space came from a genuinely new perspective for mutants, which is something the franchise was struggling with in the time before this.
This collection marks the end of that era from two different perspectives. Gerry Duggan is writing “Fall of the House of X” and he’s addressing what’s going to happen to mutants in the present-day context of the Marvel Universe. Kieron Gillen is doing “Rise of the Powers of X” and he’s using it to wrap up his “Sinister Saga” with, I imagine, an eye towards the current future for mutants. I am more excited about reading one of these than the other; but, after having stuck around for so long, I’d be a fool not to see how it all ends.
As for what comes next…
X-Men #1, X-Force #1, NYX #1, Phoenix #1: That long walk back to the status quo I just mentioned? Welcome to it. Cyclops leads one team of X-Men consisting of Beast, Magneo, Psylocke, Kid Omega, Magik, Juggernaut, and more from Alaska. Forge oversees a strike-first, ask-permission-later intervention team made up of Rachel Summers, Betsy Braddock, Sage, Surge and (for this opening arc) Deadpool. Ms. Marvel, Anole, Laura “Wolverine” Kinney, Prodigy, and Sophie Cukoo try to make their own way on the mean streets of New York. Jean Grey (the non-time-displaced version) gets her own series tackling cosmic level threats.
None of what I’ve just described sounds bad. Well, Jackson Kelly and Colin Lanzing writing “NYX” as a street-level book about young mutants trying to make it sounds really far outside of what we’ve come to expect from their usual work, but we’ll see. It all comes off like the same kind of “X-Men” stories we were getting for years before Hickman reinvented things, without any real hook to them. Along with creative teams – Jed MacKay is writing “X-Men,” Geoffrey Thorne is doing “X-Force,” and Stephanie Phillips is doing “Phoenix” – that don’t quite set my mind on fire. I could be wrong and one of these series could be a genuine breakout success. It’s just that I’m feeling better than ever about my usual stance of waiting for the trade to see if that happens.
Oh, and what is Hickman up to these days?
Aliens vs. Avengers #1 (of 4): Not only is he writing this, but his “Ultimates” and “Secret Wars” collaborator Esad Ribic is illustrating it. I’ll be frank, this strikes me as an ABSURD level of talent to be involved in a crossover like this, which has me hoping it’s because the two really wanted to do this. If that’s the case, then I hope it means we’re going to see some really crazy stuff not seen since the likes of the “WildC.A.T.S.” took on the Xenomorphs and led to the formation of The Authority. We do know that this is taking place in the near future of a different timeline, so the hope is that Hickman will be able to take this match-up in the most horrifying direction possible. Which is what anyone who’s going to pay $8 for each 48-page issue (they’re all going to be 48 pages like this one, right) should be hoping for.
Still, this isn’t the craziest crossover these solicitations have on offer…
Marvel & Disney: What If…? Donald Duck Became Wolverine: Which isn’t quite true, as the solicitation text implies we’re getting a version of Donald Duck becoming Old Man Logan. This is because Pete-Skull has turned Duckburg into a superhero-less Wasteland and it’s up to Mickey-Hawkeye and Goofy-Hulk to convince Old Duck Donald to join the fight back. It all sounds very cute and it’ll either be a cleverly subversive work of parody, or a rote exercise in plugging characters into a story they weren’t meant to be in and calling it a day.
Fantastic Four #22: You’ll never catch me doubting Alex Ross’ artistic skills, and the man has been doing consistently great cover work over the years at Marvel. His work always conjures up a familiarly reassuring sense of heroism… until now. His work on this cover is disturbing in a way that I wasn’t expecting from the man, as it takes what could’ve been a silly idea, “What happens when vampires bite Reed Richards?” and gives it an uncomfortable sheen of realism. I’m not saying Ross shouldn’t do stuff like this in the future; in fact, I hope that his years of loyal service to Marvel will afford him to do more going forward from here.
Namor #1 (of 8): Writer Jason Aaron was responsible for dethroning the character from his status as King of Atlantis in his “Avengers” run. Now there are seven contenders for his undersea throne while Namor himself sits behind bars on the surface with no intention of going home again. This is being billed as a reinvention of the character on the level of what the writer did with Frank Castle in “Punisher” which I never got around to reading. I’m feeling more amenable to this since this is springing from the writer’s “Avengers” work and not any real-world controversy. Paul Davidson and Alex Lins are credited as this issue’s illustrators, and the impression is that they’ll be illustrating present-day and flashback scenes, respectively, showing Namor and Atlantis’ history.
Hellverine #3 (of 4): I wasn’t expecting to talk about this series ever again… but I wasn’t expecting to see Stan Sakai of all people doing a variant cover for it. It’s different yet still recognizable in his distinct style. Yet one has to wonder, “Why ‘Hellverine’ of all things?” I can only imagine that Sakai said, “To hell with it!” *rimshot* and dove right in, relishing the chance to illustrate something he’d never be able to do within the context of “Usagi Yojimbo.”
Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman vol. 1: Married, With Children: I may not have been immediately sold on Hickman’s version of the Ultimate Universe after “Ultimate Invasion,” but this is the real test of what he has on offer. Can he offer up a worthy successor to what was the best version of “Spider-Man” I’ve ever read? I’m encouraged by the fact that this is going to be a very different version of “Ultimate Spider Man” than the previous series, what with Peter and MJ now married and with two kids of their own before he gets bitten by that radioactive spider. Oh, and the fact that the early issues have gone back to print multiple times in a way that suggests people actually like the story is good to know as well. It does seem like Hickman and artist Marco Checchetto have a hit on their hands, and I’ll be very interested in seeing if that’s the case for this new series.
Thanos: Return of the Mad Titan: Thanos’ latest return has led to the reformation of the Illuminati. Why? Because the Mad Titan is looking for something that they hid from him in the first place. This comes to us from writer Christopher Cantwell and artists Luca Pizzari and German Peralta. Cantwell has done enough quality work over the years that I’m interested in seeing what his take on a character like Thanos will be. If we’re lucky, we’ll get something as insightful and quirky as his well-liked “Doctor Doom” series from a few years back. Better still is that this four-issue collection is set to retail for $16. I know that doesn’t sound like something worth celebrating, but it is when you consider that each individual issue sold for $5.
Star Wars by Charles Soule vol. 8: The Sith and the Skywalker: I’ll get to vol. 7 when I talk about “Dark Droids” on the podcast. The short version is that it’s one of the best volumes in Soule’s run as it does some really good stuff with Lando Calrissian that really has me looking forward to his trial in this volume. Or rather, the start of his trial as the rest of it will be coming in vol. 9 as this volume only collects issues #42-45 plus extras from the “Revelations” and “Free Comic Book Day” specials. I can only imagine that they’re doing this because they want to collect issue #50 in the next volume, but it still smarts because it means I’m going to have to wait that much longer to find out what happens to Lando. I mean, I KNOW he’ll still be in the Rebellion’s good graces, but the HOW of that is what I want to find out.
The Resurrection of Magneto: *sigh* It’s not that I’m upset about Al Ewing getting to write a coda to his work during the Krakoan Era. I’m just bummed that it’s going to be dealing with something that was dealt with pretty effectively during that time. Look, death in superhero comics is effectively a revolving door and Krakoan Resurrection just normalized what was already a narrative joke. Now we’re being told that in order for someone to come back to life, there’s going to have to be actual work done again! “The time of easy miracles is over, and only the hard roads are left,” is what the solicitation text tells us. I wouldn’t put it past Ewing, and artist Luciano Vecchio, to wring something worthwhile out of this, but I’m feeling veeeeeeery skeptical towards their efforts at this time.
X-Men by Gerry Duggan vol. 6: Nominally the writer’s final volume on the title, but the actual finale for his “X-Men” work will be in “Fall of the House of X.” Which the issues collected here will be providing supplement information for, I imagine. Given what we got in vol. 5, that doesn’t sound like we’ll be getting anything terrible here, but it’s likely you could probably skip this and not miss out on anything in the main event.