Marvel Previews Picks: April 2021
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Way of X #1
Right now, there’s room for a lot of “X-Men” stories. We’re getting a modern-day pirate story with lots of conflicting agendas in “Marauders.” Character-driven detective action in “X-Factor.” Dark comedy and action in “Hellions.” And whatever Head of X Jonathan Hickman feels like writing about in a given month over in “X-Men.” Yet the appeal of “Way of X” is in how it makes what seemed like a very unlikely fit several years back look completely natural now.
I’m talking about Simon Spurrier writing another X-title. While I really enjoyed his Legion-centric take on “X-Men: Legacy,” it initially struck me as commercial suicide. Then he had a fifteen-issue run on “X-Force” where he took a long, hard look at the team’s (Cable’s, actually) violent tendencies. Now he’s back with Nightcrawler’s efforts to establish a mutant religion and answer some of the big questions facing mutantkind now that death is no longer an issue for them. Spurrier’s mainstream comics work usually succeeds because he’s willing to look into the weird, dark corners of a given setup and ask some hard questions about them rather than do a straightforward story involving them. Here, he and artist Bob Quinn have been given a weird, open-ended premise to do what they want with. I can’t wait to see what kind of questions Nightcrawler will be asking, and what he’ll do with the answers he’ll find!
Venom #200: Not just a gargantuanly oversized and overpriced issue! (It’s $10 for 96 pages.) It’s also the finale of Donny Cates’ run on this title. Original series, “Absolute Carnage,” and “The King in Black” artist Ryan Stegman returns to illustrate the writer’s last word on Eddie Brock and family. As to what that entails… I have no clue. While I know that “The King in Black” is all about Knull arriving on Earth, I’m not aware of any developments from this event that would lead me to guess at what surprises this final issue will hold. Honestly, I’d be fine if this was just 96 pages of Eddie and Dylan hanging out like a normal father and son, with some wacky Marvel hijinks thrown in for good measure. I don’t think that’s going to happen, but I can still dream.
The Marvels #1: Kurt Busiek has written “Marvels,” “Astro City,” “Avengers,” “Conan,” and more over the course of his illustrious career. Now he’s hyped as delivering his most epic and sprawling storyline for the Marvel Universe yet. It starts in 1947 and promises to involve a massive cast of characters ranging from the Golden Age Vision, Captain America, the Punisher, Storm, Black Cat, Aero, and two all-new characters as well. While the solicitation text conveys the excitement and scope of this project well, what it doesn’t do is give me a convincing plot hook to properly grab my attention with. Busiek is a solid writer, but not someone who I’d blindly follow into a project like this. Especially a project that sounds like it’s telling a finite story, yet is billed as an ongoing series. If this does sound like something you’d be interested in, best get in on the ground floor now to support it and make sure it’s set to run as long as it needs to. Yildray Cinar is providing the art, which means it’ll look good in the detailed, caricature-esque way that I appreciate from his inspiration, Darick Robertson.
Black Panther # 25: It took a while to get here, but this is the finale to Ta-Nehisi Coates’ run. It’s been an uneven journey. Fortunately, that unevenness comes from the back half being more entertaining than the front half. Plugging T’Challa into a space opera may have seemed like a risk at first, yet it has paid off really well up to this point. Time to see if Coates, regular artist Daniel Acuna and returning artist Brian Steelfreeze can stick the landing with this finale.
Guardians of the Galaxy #13: Oh good, Al Ewing’s run isn’t ending. Instead, it’s getting a new artist with Juan Frigeri and a slightly new premise as well. Rather than bouncing from planet to planet as they look for trouble, the Guardians are now working as an intergalactic rescue service for everyone including stranded explorers to Emperor Hulkling. Seems like they’re spreading themselves thin there, but I’m just glad to see that Ewing’s run isn’t coming to an end. I’ll have more to say about that once I finally get around to writing my thoughts on the first volume.
Also being solicited here is Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2: Here We Make Our Stand which picks up on a lot of plot threads: The fallout from “Empyre,” “The King in Black,” the Cosmic Olympians, and the death of Peter Quill. Yeah, he died in the first volume. I’d have been concerned about it… if it wasn’t, what, his third brush with death within a year-and-a-half? I know he doesn’t have access to the Krakoan Resurrection Protocols, but you have to wonder if Thanos is getting jealous of this time that he’s been spending with Death as of late. Repetitive as this particular plot device might be, I wouldn’t put it past Ewing to have found some way to put a clever spin on it and wring some actual drama out of it this time around.
Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow #1 (of 4): Now here’s a killer “What if…?”-esque premise: What if Spider-Man didn’t give up his symbiote suit? What if he kept it… and eventually became Venom himself? The setup here is rife with potential. Potential that will be explored by… Chip Zdarsky. Look, after “Spider-Man: Life Story,” Zdarsky has used up all of the goodwill I might have towards seeing him take on a high-concept premise like this. Pasqual Ferry will be illustrating this miniseries, so it’s sure to look nice. Still, Zdarsky’s involvement tells me that if you decide to check it out, you’ll be doing so at your own peril.
Aliens: The Original Years Omnibus vol. 2 HC: This omnibus contains some of the best stories to be produced while the license was held by Dark Horse. The depths of human depravity are explored in “Labyrinth” while writer Jim Woodring and artist Kilian Plunkett serve up some disturbing body horror along the way. “Salvation” boasts the A-list creative team of writer Dave Gibbons and artist Mike Mignola, as they explore a priest’s efforts to survive on a planet infested by xenomorphs. “Stronghold” is one of the quirkiest tales set in this universe, expertly delivered by writer John Arcudi and artist Doug Mahnke. There’s more here too, including the one maxi-series that was never reprinted by the company until they started reprinting all “Aliens” comics in their Omnibus editions. That would be the ambitious, ten-issue “Colonial Marines” which went through three writers over the course of its run and about as many artists as well. Despite this creative chaos, the story holds together better than you might think. However, the reason it wasn’t reprinted is likely because its “aliens infecting humans to become alien-esque zombies” plot was out of character for the license. If this interests you, then this omnibus has that story and more for your reading pleasure. Or you can see if the smaller and cheaper “Aliens Omnibus vol. 2” is still available at your local or online retailer.
Marauders vol. 1 HC: The first two volumes of the most purely entertaining of current X-titles have been collected together for your reading pleasure. Very highly recommended if you’re an X-fan who hasn’t checked out this series yet in single issue or trade paperback form.
Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer vol. 12: Kith and Kindred: Still waiting to read vol. 11 before I make a decision about picking this one up.