Marvel Previews Picks: December 2021
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Hellions by Zeb Wells vol. 3
While the current line of X-books has generally been entertaining on its own terms, it’s mainly because they’ve been doing familiar superhero stuff quite well with a straightforward dramatic bent. Well, all of them except for “Hellions.” This has been a darkly funny, deeply cynical series that is ostensibly about damaged, antisocial mutants trying to use their gifts in a way that works out best for everyone around them. In actuality, they’re either knowingly or unknowingly doing Mister Sinister’s dirty work for him as mutantdom’s most fabulously evil scientist seeks to work around the restrictions placed on him by the Quiet Council.
I was hoping this series would have a nice, long run in it. That’s not the case, however, as it’s coming to an end with issue #18 in these solicitations. Vol. 3 collects issues 13-18, which will allow us to see what happens when the clone of Sinister that everyone thought was dead after it went to Arakko comes looking to get his cape back. Along with Tarn the Uncaring, and maybe one more villain from a previous arc who Wells has a fondness for. I’ll be sad to see this series go, though I hope it doesn’t mean the end of seeing what the writer does with the mutants of Krakoa…
Oh who am I kidding! I really want this series to continue because Wells writes the best Mister Sinister!
Devil’s Reign #’s 1&2 (of 6): Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto’s run on “Daredevil” has been pretty well-regarded. So well-regarded, in fact, that Marvel is giving their final storyline the Event Series treatment. I haven’t been reading their run, so I can’t say how much of this series is spinning out of it, but the premise involves a long-standing plot thread from the Marvel Universe. That would be the fact that Wilson Fisk has been mayor of New York City for more than a few years now, and after all that time he’s finally getting ready to crush all of the heroes within it. This is pretty straightforward, but Fisk is ruthless and cunning enough to pull it off. So long as he’s being written well. I’ll check in with Zdarsky and Checchetto’s run at some point just to see if this is worth following.
Timeless #1: Hey, so did you know that guy who showed up at the end of the “Loki” streaming series was meant to be Kang? And that he’ll also be showing up in “Ant-Man & Wasp: Quantumania” in advance of potentially being the MCU’s next Big Bad? Marvel Comics is well aware of it, which is why we’re getting this one-shot to boost the character’s profile as he goes to war against an alternate timeline that seeks to overwrite his favored future. Jed MacKay is writing this as Marvel seems to see this guy as one of their new Golden Boys. I haven’t read anything from him yet, so it’s possible that could be true. Kev Walker, Mark Bagley, and Joe Bennett are illustrating this… for now. After Bennett’s history of racist cartooning has come back to haunt him again, there’s no word on whether or not he’ll be doing anything further with Marvel.
Avengers Forever #1: Apparently Jason Aaron’s “Avengers” run is so big that one event series wasn’t enough for it. “Avengers Forever” isn’t another event series, however, it’s being solicited as an ongoing series spinning out of the events of “Avengers” #50/750. Something happens in that issue which sends Ghost Rider on a quest for vengeance throughout the multiverse and he’s going to need to recruit new and weird versions of familiar Avengers to help him out. The World’s Most Wanted Archaeologist, Tony Stark, and the Invincible Ant-Man are two heroes that are name-checked here, and it’s certain that the writer has more in store. While I’m down for seeing what Aaron Kuder will do with what he’s given, I can’t say that Aaron’s run has been good enough to warrant another ongoing series. At least I won’t have to spend any money to find out if this will be any good because… well, you know.
Elektra: Black, White, & Blood #1 (of 4): I’m not going to deny that Elektra is a character who deserves Marvel’s new spot-color anthology treatment. It’s just that for all of her “cool” factor, she hasn’t really been given much of a personality beyond “extremely badass” over the years. Then again, you don’t need to give your star a whole lot of depth when the stories about them are only 10 pages long, as is the case here. It does help, though.
King Conan #1 (of 6): Jason Aaron and Mahmud Asrar return to the Barbarian’s saga… to show him as a KING! A very old king, as the solicitation text promises that this story takes the character further into his future than any other media involving him has to this date. Whether or not they’ll do anything interesting with that is another story. I say this because the setup for this series involves King Conan becoming restless on his throne (big shock, I know) and sailing west to confront an old and familiar evil. Aaron and Asrar’s “Conan” run eventually came to a great end, but we wound up having to wade through a whole lot of predictable and familiar stories to get there. This series is only going to be half as long as that, so maybe it means we’ll get to the good stuff that much sooner.
Death of Doctor Strange: X-Men/Black Knight #1: The Doctor’s death continues apace and now the X-Men and the Black Knight(s) have been drawn into it. Normally I wouldn’t give this tie-in a second look, but it’s being written by Simon Spurrier, so it’s probably going to be better than its tie-in status would indicate. Even with a setup that involves Dane and his daughter Jacks fighting transformed mutants on the streets of London. Art for this one-shot comes from Spurrier’s “Way of X” partner Bob Quinn, which implies that series really is finished and not just “on hiatus.”
X-Men Legends #10: In which Charles Xavier, Beast, Amanda Mueller, Moira McTaggart, and Magneto all have a sit-down dinner with Mister Sinister to discuss the future of mutantkind. If this issue had been published in the 90’s, when writer Fabian Nicieza and artist Dan Jurgens were in their respective heydays, I would’ve been all over it to find out just what that future entailed. Now that I’m (much) older and (slightly) wiser, it’s hard for me to see any purpose to this issue as it’s not going to have any bearing on the future of the “X-Men” line. I’ll be interested to know what Paul O’Brien thinks of this when it comes out, at least.
Marauders #27: In which, “THE SUN SETS ON THE MARAUDERS,” which sounds awfully final. Unlike “Hellions,” this isn’t being billed as a final issue. So it could be that original writer Gerry Duggan is departing the title, which would warrant such fanfare given how integral he was to its success. Best of luck to whoever’s replacing him as Duggan finally showed that he was a writer worth following again with this series.
Amazing Spider-Man: Beyond vol. X: This would normally be where I’d write about how Nick Spencer’s run disappointed me (and reading everything that has come after “Last Remains” hasn’t done much to change my opinion), but that I’m hopeful this new brain trust of Spider-writers can make me a true believer again. Except that I really don’t need to worry about that. I’ll just continue to follow this series on Marvel Unlimited and not worry about buying a new issue every week. Of course, this will have to be REALLY good if they want me to start buying this series in print again.