Marvel Penguin Picks: June 2023
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Avengers Assemble
Even if individual stories in this run haven’t worked as well as they should’ve, I’ve been invested in the overall story that Jason Aaron has been telling since the start. That’s because he’s found a new villain be the big bad for an “Avengers” title that I’ve not seen before: Mephisto. Marvel’s answer to Satan has been the antagonist for multiple stories, but he’s been built into a multiversal foe for the team to defeat in a way that he hasn’t been before. It’s a new look that the Lord of Lies is wearing well and after years of buildup I’m ready to see Cap, Iron Man, Thor, and the rest of the team smash his scheming face in.
This collects ten issues of story – the “Alpha” and “Omega” issues, issues 63-66 of “Avengers” and issues 12-15 of “Avengers Forever” – in one $30 collection. That’s a surprisingly good value for your money these days from a major comics publisher. Marvel could’ve easily split this into two collections, or put it in hardcover, or *rolls eyes* done both. They didn’t, though, and I appreciate that. So expect to hear a podcast on the run as a whole once I get my hands on this in June.
Ultimate Invasion #1 (of 4): It has been over 20 years since the creation of the Ultimate Universe, so I guess it qualifies as nostalgia to be mined by Marvel. Fortunately it’s easy to get past how old this makes me feel when you’ve got Jonathan Hickman writing and Bryan Hitch illustrating this new miniseries. It involves the Illuminati – Reed Richards, Tony Stark, T’Challa, Stephen Strange, Black Bolt, and Namor – re-uniting to face the threat posed by the Maker, Richards’ evil counterpart from the Ultimate Universe. He plans to re-build his collapsed universe, regardless of what it might cost or who might die in the process. Even if I wasn’t a fan of this particular variant Marvel Universe I’d still be onboard because of Hickman and Hitch’s respective track records. Also, if you think that four issues sounds too small for a story of this size, this first issue is 56 pages with an appropriately large ($9) price point attached to it.
Hulk by Donny Cates vol. 2: Hulk Planet: That should really read “Hulk by Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley” as the artist wound up writing a fair chunk of this volume after family circumstances caused Cates to step away. This collects the final eight issues of this incarnation of the Green Goliath’s adventures and I’m really not sure how or if they’ll be able to wrap things up in a satisfying manner. The team was swinging big with their first volume and the “Banner of War” crossover and it’s unclear if six issues is enough space to do their ambitions justice. Still, some closure is better than no closure at all, so I’ll be picking this up when it arrives.
We also get a new Incredible Hulk #1 this month courtesy of writer Philip Kennedy Johnson and artist Nic Klein. Hulk has had enough of Banner’s interference and is now trying to take over his mind. This comes just as a mysterious force has turned all of the monsters in the Marvel Universe against Hulk, causing him to seek some unlikely assistance in fighting them all off. Klein did great work on the current “Thor” series while Johnson’s work on “Aliens” has been solidly “Not Bad” in my estimation (though I’ve heard his work on “Action Comics” is quite good). Maybe this isn’t a “must buy” for me, but I can surely see myself checking it out on Marvel Unlimited.
Captain Marvel #50: The last time Carol Danvers had a series reach this milestone was back when she was going as “Ms. Marvel.” Kelly Thompson and company therefore deserve a lot of credit for pulling off a run that has lasted this long. I’ve already read a good chunk of this run on Marvel Unlimited, so it looks like it’s time to start catching up in advance of this upcoming finale.
X-Men: Before the Fall – Heralds of Apocalypse #1: “Fall of X” is due to hit at the end of this summer and we’ve got more setup for this issue. Meaningful setup, judging by the contents of this issue. Apocalypse left the Quiet Council to fight with his wife Genesis against the hordes of Amenth at the end of “X of Swords.” His return was always a matter of “when” rather than “if” and writer Al Ewing, along with artist Luca Pizzari, are here to let us know how that’s going to happen. It apparently involves words spoken to the big guy’s wife by Annihilation ages ago, and what the revelation of those words mean in the present day.
Amazing Spider-Man by Zeb Wells vol. 5: Dead Language, Part One: One nice thing about reading this series on Marvel Unlimited is that I don’t have to put up with shenanigans like the one this volume is engaged in. I’m talking about the “Part One” in its subtitle. This contains the first half of the story which promises to reveal What Peter Did prior to the start of this current run of “Amazing.” The catch is that we’re only getting half of that story as this volume also collects the fill-in issues from Joe Kelly and Terry Dodson (which will likely turn out to be pretty fun, regardless). So instead of waiting a few months between volumes, I’ll just have to wait a few weeks between issues. You know, I could get used to this reading comics on an issue-by-issue basis thing.
Invincible Iron Man by Gerry Duggan vol. 1: Demon in the Armor: A timely solicitation because I’m currently re-reading the Christopher Cantwell run on the title that preceded this one. While I’ve been enjoying the writer’s work on “X-Men” I can’t say that I’ve been dying to see him take on the Armored Avenger. Particularly when the angle for this run looks to involve Tony hitting rock bottom again, only to find out that he has even more to lose. I’m interested in seeing if Duggan can find a unique spin on this setup… so you can probably guess how I’ll be checking out the issues contained here.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra by Alyssa Wong vol. 6 – Ascendant: The Saga of the Spark Eternal finally reaches a conclusion with this volume. Also, you know how I’ve been talking this storyline up as a three-volume, fifteen-issue one? Well I was wrong about part of that. It’s still a three-volume story, but it covers sixteen issues. Let’s hope for an exciting finale to make this epic-sized adventure worth it for the Doctor and her friends!
Legion of X vol. 2: Have I already said the review of vol. 1 is forthcoming? Well it still is and you can be sure it’ll arrive before this volume does in July. As for what you can expect from it: Legion vs. Uranus the Undying, Nightcrawler and Angel getting demonic new looks, Cypher and Warlock investigating strange blooms on the Astral Plane, a welcome guest appearance from the Black Knight, and a much less welcome one from Nimrod. There’s a lot to cover here, but I’m sure that writer Simon Spurrier and artists Rafael Pimentel, Netho Diaz, and Phil Noto are up to the task. The real question is whether the “X-Men: Before the Fall – Sons of X” one-shot included here will serve to aid in that wrap-up or serve as a setup for whatever storylines will be spinning out of this title.