The Mighty Captain Marvel #1

The Mighty Captain Marvel #1

Carol Danvers was an Air Force pilot but after encounter with alien tech gained her powers and became.. The Mighty Captain Marvel.

After the events in Civil War II we see a Captain Marvel suffering alienation from the superhero world, due to her friends either being dead or just not wanting to speak to her after her actions. She comes across in this book as stern, well-coordinated, eager to make a difference. She’s basically what you would think Captain America is.

The book is written by Margaret Stohl and is her first full length comic book. Stohl started with Marvel only recently (2015) with some Black Widow but has moved very quickly to a mainstream ongoing title. It’s an interesting but perhaps unsurprising move by Marvel in an attempt to attract more young adults particularly girls to the genre. Stohl’s previous work includes writing young adult fiction series, the Caster Chronicles of which there are four books now as well as a movie.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen Marvel get a female writer to write a female comic which seems to feature empowerment themes on every 2nd page. It’s surely a good thing to normalise the genre for girls but from my point of view reading it can get stale.

It’s like she has too much .. something. It’s like if you’ve ever watched a show on Discovery and the narrator keeps saying “and you won’t believe what happens next” but not in a cheesy unnecessarily crap way but in a we’re-trying-to-be-serious-but-DC-does-it-better way.

Basically Captain Marvel is her own Discovery Channel narrator…

And you won’t believe what happens next...

The Mighty Captain Marvel #1 is out today.

Scarlet Spider is back!

Scarlet Spider is back!

For those reading the Amazing Spider-Man right now this is the big reveal from the Clone Conspiracy series-crossing story from Dan Slott and Marvel. The Jackal, one of Peter Parker's most nefarious foes, is back and cloning again (raising from the dead in fact...). This time however, the Jackal is revealed to be Ben Reilly! Ben, of course, being the clone of Peter Parker whom the Jackal created.

Long time fans of Spidey will remember Ben Reilly from the Spider-Man clone saga and probably fondly recall how he took over Parker's life as the Amazing Spider-Man for a while. When Clone Conspiracy finishes in the coming weeks it won't be the end of Ben Reilly because he will get his own title Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider. 

I was initially very psyched when I heard this because he's such a cool character but also because Peter David (the awesome guy behind Spider-Man 2099 with Cork-native Will Sliney) will be writing it. However the first cover art reveals a Scarlet Spider that I'm not really digging. The original hoodie that was ripped and torn and thrown over his old costume is now finely crafted and made to look identical to Spider-Gwen (why?!) and is clearly aimed at a younger aesthetic with a glossy digital art look.

I'll inevitably pick it up anyway and I hope for the best out of it but for now I'll remain skeptical...

Darth Maul #1

Darth Maul #1

One of my favourite characters from the prequel trilogy is coming to the comic medium in the pages of Marvel’s Darth Maul series! Written by Cullen Bunn (Deadpool, Magneto, Sinestro) and drawn by Luke Ross, this title will probably examine the time before Episode 1 where Darth Maul and Darth Sidious are plotting against the Jedi.

One of my long-living memories of seeing Maul in The Phantom Menace is his snarling face when facing Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui Gon Jinn on Naboo, incidentally this face is the subject of one of the variant covers coming out with the first issue along with a few other variant covers.

Maul has had a lot more exposure recently as well through the hit show Star Wars Rebels in which it is revealed that his fate at the end of Episode 1 may not have been so final after all. He is a sinister, evil character that feeds on hatred and through seeing him along with Palpatine in Episode 1 I often wondered about that got the two of them to that peak where they could finally reveal themselves to the Jedi.

Darth Maul #1 is out February 1st.

Star Wars #26

Star Wars #26

*cue theme music*

This Star Wars book has been Marvel’s primary offering since getting the licence to publish Star Wars again for the first time since 1986! The series started with plenty of fan fare but actually overshadowed Dark Horse’s final run on it which was also brilliant and well-worth picking up retrospectively, apart from the fact that all of Dark Horse’s work is now non-canon….

“sorry-not-sorry, Dark Horse”

- Marvel

The current Star Wars story follows the Rebels after the destruction of the first Death Star and focuses on a few different characters even doing some issues from the Imperial point of view (say hello to Scar Squadron). Along with this we have a series of Obi Wan Kenobi issues done in the style of diary entries of when he was protecting young Luke on Tatooine. Throw in a host of excellent variant covers and Marvel have put an appreciable amount of effort into what is essentially a side-show for them.

This issue happens to be one of the Obi-Wan stories but this is the first time that the Obi-Wan diaries are interspersed with the ongoing story-line.

In the ongoing story our mighty heroes have restored HOPE to the Galaxy. I capitalized the word hope because apparently hope is super important as shown in the recent documentary Rogue One.

Rebels have captured an Imperial Star Destroyer not unlike previous Star Wars story arcs (Wedge Antilles shows up in the captured Lusankya in Crimson Empire) and the main characters have escaped the clutches of the evil Darth Vader. All except one of them... C-3PO who now faces interrogation at the hands of Scar Squadron.

Much like Action or Detective Comics you can jump into Star Wars at any issue number and enjoy it. Even better this issue kicks off a new story arc: Yoda’s Secret War. Get on it!

Old Man Logan #16

Old Man Logan #16

Written By: Jeff Lemire

Drawn by Sorrentino

We're back to Old Man Logan once again! In Old Man Logan our hero is transported from a horrific future where his family is dead and he is guilty of butchering the X-Men under the malign influence of Mysterio.

The setting is like Stephen King’s Dark Tower, not just that one of the key settings is The Wasteland, a desolate terrain in a future where the bad guys have won. The hero is the same as well, reluctant, sometimes starved and dehydrated, disoriented. Logan has journeyed from the Wasteland to somehow end up back on Earth as we know it in the Marvel Universe. This is a Logan where the wires are more exposed than ever. The claws are quick problem solvers, like they were in the aftermath of the Weapon X Program. When it’s fighting time he doesn’t talk as much, it’s like he’s decided at this late stage that death is inevitable. For everyone else.

In this issue Logan is back in the Wastelands, somehow transported back from our Earth in events he can’t recall clearly.

The art is incredible. I quit Old Man Logan for a couple of issues when they got Filipe Andrade to pencil some issues (#14-#15) but now Sorrentino is back. He gets a huge amount of emotion from his facial expressions and contrasting scenes, helped by the fact that Logan is one of the most ‘real’ superheroes, despite overexposure to the movie industry and a legion of comic books left the character vulnerable to typecasting and not being relevant any more but Old Man Logan is possibly my favourite rendition of Wolverine since Weapon X.

The colouring of the book is on par with the sketching and evolves over the course of the first 10 issues moving from harsh contrasting colours to pastel shades later on. Jeff Lemire is writing other X-Titles but this seems to be the Marvel title where everything gels just perfectly throughout.

Often switching between worlds (or planes of existence, take your pick) is hard to pull off but Old Man Logan has been doing it for over a dozen issues. The book is consistently good (as long as they don’t go changing artist again…) and I can’t recommend enough. Start with Old Man Logan Vol. 1 - Berserker, out on paperback already. This should give you a good taste. But in my opinion a good comic can only ever stand up to someone being able to get into it based on reading a random issue. If the writing and art speaks to you you’re onto a winner so maybe just grab #16, out this week.

Hulk #1

Hulk #1

Jennifer Walters, formerly She-Hulk...now just Hulk (because Hulk is dead remember) is a female lawyer type recovering from her Civil War II comatose (aren’t we all?!). She just called Hulk now because her cousin, the Hulk, is dead. Clint Barton killed him. Yes that Clint Barton. We start to see the fallout of Civil War II now in these titles. She-Hulk was comatose by Thanos when fighting him and by the time she woke up Bruce Banner had been killed.

Jennifer is going through something we’ve all had to face in our lives. That horribly awkward first day at work. As awkward as it is there is some instant comic relief after she makes it through the gaggle of co-workers.

The issue has Jennifer meeting her new clients at her new law firm and getting on with life after the death of Bruce but it will delve a little deeper into the psyche of recovery and psychology from the looks of it.

The series is written by Mariko Tamaki. Who is Mariko Tamaki I hear you asking, well hang on and let me Google it for you. She is a graphic novelist (thanks Wikipedia) and apart from working on one other project (Supergirl: Being Super) she has not worked in mainstream comics before.

I think it’s really great and definitely not completely hypocritical that Marvel and DC have brought in more female writers in order to write female-only stories.

Definitely great.

Not hypocritical.

Issue #1 was very enjoyable with an absolutely creeper of an ending.

Issue #2 is out on the 25th of January.

Hawkeye #1

Hawkeye #1

How many times can they release a Hawkeye #1 you ask? Well Marvel have another rung to add to that ladder. This time our Hawkeye is the Kate Bishop version. From Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye (aka Hawk-Guy, try to keep up, please) you’ll remember Kate as being the competent one when compared to Clint Barton (and Lucky of course, who could forget Lucky!).

In this first issue (penned by Kelly Thompson[this her first Marvel series from issue #1 I believe], art by Romero) Hawkeye is in beautiful California tailing a hot surfer gentleman by the name of “Brad” when she comes across a bothersome bank robbery. Being a total heroine she foils the robbery with sass (and trick arrows) and goes about her day after losing track of Brad.

In this first issue we’re introduced to Ramone, the not-as-clutsy-as-Hawkeye surf shop owner in Venice Beach. Ramone does what any good friend does upon first meeting, she makes fun of Kate’s crappy drawing the tells her to move her car. I’m 99.95% sure that Ramone will show up again...

Next we meet our first victim, I mean client, of the Kate Bishop. Hawkeye. PI Agency. Thing. Her name is Mikka and she is facing online harassment. Well Mikka, welcome to the internet, a more villainous hive of scum and villainy you will not find in this galaxy. Kate does some investigating and finds the culprit, job well done! But all is not quite as it seems… issue #2 is out this week in your friendly local comic store.

Review: Lando Mini-Series

This is a review of the mini-series 'Lando' by Marvel. As such it contains spoilers of the series.

The short version: Lando sucks.

The long version: Lando sucks a lot.

The slightly longer version:

We start in bed with a woman. Marvel feel the need to point out how suave and better with women than I am Lando is in every series apparently (see Shattered Empire which I helpfully reviewed here... you're welcome.).

We are told that the woman is in fact some big governor of an Imperial world and Lando (that old dog) is trying to steal some artifact from her. She doesn't appreciate this. Why don't you just use your smooth moves on her Lando?

That's exactly what he does. She pulls a gun and he's all like "Netflix and chill, bae."

Next up, after stealing all her nice stuff, we meet Lobot, the rather silent type from The Empire Strikes Back who helps Lando run Cloud City on Bespin. It's actually nice to see a bit more of this character and the series is as much about him as it is about Lando.

Lando gets cornered by [insert generic crime boss] and is told he owes him money but, as luck would have it, the crime boss has one lined up nice and easy like. By easy I mean go and rewatch Firefly to see how the easy jobs usually end up. On an unrelated by more pleasant note, I'm currently taking part in an awesome Firefly RPG run by my good friend Dave, see the first write up here.

At the end of the issue they successfully acquire the ship and we pan out to see that it belongs to none other than Emperor Palpatine himself. Oh what a wonderful twist which no one was expecting. But wait, there's more! Issue two to be precise, the cover of which looks like Lando is scratching Lobot's belly...

Here the Emperor takes some action to get his ship back and that's about it up until the last page where Lobot opens one of the doors in the ship and gets stabbed by the Emperor's Royal Guard. If you're unfamiliar with the Emperor's Royal Guard then you can see glimpses of them in Return of the Jedi or catch them in their pinnacle series: Crimson Empire. 

We're on to issue #3. They kill the Royal Guards.

We're on to issue #4. The Sith artifacts on the ship drive everyone a little insane and the Emperor's Bounty Hunter catches up to Lando and the ship. Lo and behold, it's a woman who Lando knows...

Issue #5 moves with sluggish predictability. The only actual gap that was plugged by Marvel in this story is how Lobot ends up not being able to speak or be human any more. His implants have taken over his mind since he wasn't able to fend them off since he was stabbed. 

That's it.

Don't you wish you'd read the short version now?

Star Wars Shattered Empire #2

Issue #2 Variant Cover I picked up on release day

What a blast that issue was to read. A-Wings, Y-Wings, Imperial AT-ATs attacking a civilian city and Leia visiting a familiar place, this issue had a lot of bang for your buck and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

So before I talk about the story there is one little tidbit I spotted in this issue which could be something or could be nothing.

Lieutenant Shara Bey has been flying non-stop since the Battle for Endor and her commanding officer is concerned. At one point he asks her:

"When did you last hear from Kes? Or your boy?"

"I talked to my father and Poe last week but...Kes [ ]"

So hold on, her son's name is Poe? And the new character just released for the X-Wing Miniatures Game is Poe also? Something tells me it's not an overly common name in that far-far-away galaxy. 

The Poe Dameron card for the X-Wing Miniatures Game

We're reading the story about Poe Dameron's parents!

In fact I should have spotted it in the first issue when Green Four addresses her lover as Sargent Dameron!

The story itself revolves around the fact that Green Four has been flying too many combat missions since Endor so she gets assigned transport duties for Princess Leie to visit Naboo. While on Naboo the eerily familiar event of planet-wide communications blackout occurs, only this time it's not a droid army in orbit, it's the Imperial Navy!

Issue #2 was a blast. It's an impressive book so far, looking forward to the rest of it.

PS: Keep an eye on how they deal with the AT-AT problem...

Darth Vader

I discuss Marvel's Darth Vader run.


I've been reading Marvel's Darth Vader since it first came out as part of Marvel's onslaught on the Star Wars Universe, culminating recently in the latest series, Shattered Empire, on final approach to Abrams Airport in December.

As has been their purview this year Marvel's plan is apparently to fill in every gap ever left in the original trilogy (keep an eye out for my Lando review coming soon, Star Wars and Shattered Empire). Vader does this but with some decent writing on the part of Kieron Gillen (The Wicked + The Divine and the upcoming Invincible Iron-Man title) and grim, dusty colouring art (Adi Granov).

Love this Variant cover for issue #1 by Mike Del Mundo.

For me Gillen doesn't capture Vader properly though. Inevitably when Vader speaks I have his voice in my head (no not Dave Prowse's voice thank the maker...) and some of the lines just don't suit what I feel Vader would actually say. In some cases he even talks too much whereas I see Vader as a 'doer' not a 'talker'. The only extended talking he does in the original trilogy before taking on Skywalker in RotJ is on Bespin when he's telling his son that he was his real father! Almost every other line is an order barked at every poor soul he meets or an argument defending his place in the ruthless Galactic Empire.

This is how I picture Vader as a key player in the Galactic Civil War: Decisive, Ruthless, Aggressive and Authoritative. He displays all of those characteristics in the Darth Vader comics but sometimes sparingly and rarely cohesively.

On to the story itself. We're coming up on issue #10 now and it has progressed nicely. A force-sensitive pilot (some jerk called Luke Starkiller or something) has blown up the Death Star orbiting Yavin 4. The Emperor is less than happy about this and blames Vader for everything (literally everything, he even left the immersion on apparently) and expects attonement. Vader takes this as a hint to do whatever the hell he wants including going behind the Emperor's back and hiring all kinds of very untrustworthy types in his quest for the Rebel pilot.

There are some absolutely brilliant bits of imagery and writing in the series, including colouring that is well-suited to lightsaber battles and that classic Vader ruthlessness I mentioned. At one point he skips the force choke and just actually chokes someone, scaring the living piss out of them.

I'll continue reading the series but how far past issue #10 I go depends on the direction the story starts to take I'm afraid. While I am a huge Star Wars fan there are just too many good titles out there right now to spend too long holding your breath for a book to come good if it's not doing it for you already.

What will I move on to? The millions of new Marvel titles coming out this October/November as part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel event starting: Invincible Iron-Man, Spider-Man 2099 (my personal favourite), Silk, Chewbacca, Extraordinary X-Men, Spider-Woman, and the rest.

Spider-Man 2099

I discuss the recent run of Spider-Man 2099 from Marvel.

Back since I can remember first getting my cousin's hand-me-down's of old Spider-Man 2099 comics I have completely loved the character and the setting. For me it felt a lot more like a 2000AD comic spliced with Marvel characters. For those who haven't experienced the 2099 setting before, it was something that Marvel did in the early 1990's where they selected some characters from their modern arcs and set them in the year 2099. The characters were Spider-Man, Punisher, Hulk, the X-Men and a heap more with Spider-Man probably being the most successful with the longest run.

In 2099 Spider-Man is actually Miguel O'Hara who, trying to replicated Spider-Man of the 20th century's strength, accidentally has his DNA rewritten with a spider's genetics. The results are awesome as written by Peter David and Rick Leonardi. I won't go into the old series any further and get back to the 21st century now.

In the Superior Spider-Man title a series of unfortunate events leads Miguel O'Hara (Spider-Man 2099) to travel back in time to original Spider-Man's time (remember that this Spider-Man was actually Doctor Octopus...) and gets stuck there working for the company that would turn into the mega evil corporation in his time. After this Spidey 2099 gets his own title with Peter David back at the helm and writing better than ever bringing his brand of intelligent hero to the modern era.

The art work is by Irish artist Will Sliney who's work is dynamic and well-suited to the character. The upside-down aerial acrobatics are particularly awesome! Interested parties should get down to Big Bang Comics in Dundrum, Dublin to meet Will and get your shiny new copy of Spider-Man 2099 #1 signed by him on October 14th.

I've been reading Spider-Man 2099 up until the events of Spider-Verse unfold. I didn't enjoy Spider-Verse at all really so I've left that one alone and will rejoin our beloved web-slinger when the new series kicks off in a couple of weeks.


-J

Star Wars Shattered Empire/We Stand on Guard

The new Star Wars Shattered Empire Force Awakens series and the latest offering of We Stand on Guard.

In general my opinion of 'filling-in-the-gaps' and 'flashback' story arcs, let alone a series where that aspect is the entire premise, has been quite low. Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens might just be the exception. 

The story starts in the maelstrom of battle that takes place over the forest moon in Return of the Jedi. We follow Green Squadron and an A-Wing pilot named Shara (Green Four) as they try and survive Emperor Palpatine's well-laid trap: a fully armed and operational battle station (if you just said that in Ian McDiarmid's voice have an internet cookie).

The abrupt 'ending' in Return of the Jedi was obviously necessary for the cinematic experience but in the context of the Galactic Civil War the destruction of the second Death Star was to Star Wars what Normandy was to World War II; yes it was a huge tide turning event but it was the beginning of the end, not the end itself and all of the real work now had to be done. There was a huge amount of fighting to do after this and that is the path that this series starts down.

The drawing is detailed, muted and epic all in one go and well-suited to space combat. For the recent wave of gamers getting serious about X-Wing Miniatures Game from Fantasy Flight Games this first issue is worth your coinage for sure.

It also includes something that I always played out in the back of my mind: what happened after Luke loaded his dying dad onto that shuttle in the Death Star II hangar bay. Snippet below, full scene in the comic.

We Stand on Guard is a series I spoke of previously. It is written by Brian K. Vaughan (of Lost and Saga fame). My local comic guru in Dublin warned me that the last issue was a bit graphic and he wasn't underselling it either, this issue (#3) is hard to read at times as the writer and artist go into some detail about the true horrors of what it's like to get interrogated in wartime and how much easier it is to break the rules of prisoner treatment than it is to have them enforced.

After reading it, the cover image becomes haunting and iconic for the characters in the series so far.

Both well-written and outside the main-stream, if you haven't tried it yet and you're looking for something to distract you from the impending Marvel revamp, look no further.

Star Wars/Amazing Spider-Man

I discuss the special Obi-Wan Kenobi throwback issue from Star Wars #7 and picking up a sweet variant of Amazing Spider-Man #3.

Star Wars #7

My friendly-local-comic-book-store kindly obliged me in putting aside a variant cover of Star Wars #7. After issue #6's bombshell that Han was married and had a wife issue #7 departs completely from the normal story arc and instead reveals an excerpt from Obi-Wan Kenobi's diary (I wonder if he means old Ben Kenobi...).

Simone Bianchi steps in as the artist to work on this issue with Jason Aaron continuing the writing. Bianchi's signature is all over this issue, using dark shadows to accentuate his character's expressions. Aaron shows glimpses of Luke's life on Tatooine with iconic images from the movies like Luke staring out at the horizon with the two settings suns approaching turned into young Luke sitting on the roof of the old stone building in the same cinematic shot but looking up to the sky dreaming.

Another scene has Luke captured by *insert generic Tatooine gang-member* and has resonance with his father's childhood on the same planet when Luke says he's scared. The same conflict of emotion was evident in young Anakin Skywalker when he runs back to his mother's arms as he's leaving but later when he's asked "Are you afraid?" by Padme he just says he's cold. The parallels between the two young Skywalkers and their lives on Tatooine before leaving the planet behind are revealing and well-portrayed, if only briefly in this issue. Maybe a sign of more young Luke stories in the future of the title? Here's hoping.

Amazing Spider-Man #3 Variant

I also did some impulse shopping in Dublin over the weekend and, while rooting through a big back-collections of comics, found a variant cover I absolutely love. It's the Tim Sale variant cover (1:25) of Amazing Spider-Man #3. For me it really rolls back the years to older Spider-Man covers but with really nice, muted tones and pastel colouring. I think I'll be selling this one rather than keeping it but until then I'll be looking at it and drooling all over the plastic.

-J

Spider-Woman / Old Man Logan / We Stand On Guard

I've just returned to our fair, green and glamorously-wet weather from the States and while I was over there I rediscovered my love for comic books. Having a comic store on every corner and a donut shop right beside them may have helped...

I've picked up too many titles to discuss in one stop, (Deadly Class, Judge Dredd, X-Men '92, etc.) so I'll space them out a little for ease of reading. Many of these I've started reading since I came back too.

Spider-Woman

First up, a title I've never once read before. This one I picked up on a whim since I haven't been all that interested in the many, many, many, many new Spider characters. I'm a bit of a variant cover fiend lately as well and since this was a variant cover of the issue (Kris Anka Design Variant Cover. Limited 1 for 20.) with Spider-Woman's new look it seemed like a bargain for less than 10 euro!

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the pages though, the art is dynamic with lots going on from panel to panel, the writing is typical cliche Marvel but the character herself is a very good addition to the Marvel world. If you followed Matt Fraction's Hawkeye and found Kate Bishop's 'can't-stop-me' attitude exciting then the current Spider-Woman could be right up your spout (see what I did there? spout? spider? ...so alone). In my view she's vying with DC's very successful New 52 Batgirl and provides a great alternative to those who prefer Marvel over DC (Batgirl is really worth checking out if you haven't yet!). As of July, Spider-Woman is up to issue #9.

Different Story, Same Old Character

Juxtaposing the young, energetic female lead I'm also reading Old Man Logan, a Secret Wars title. For me, Secret Wars doesn't hold all that much appeal personally, it just seems like a cheap trick to fit in as many What-If? stories in one fell swoop. This, for me, is the best book your money can buy right now. It sees our heroic Wolverine cast down decades before this story takes place after being tricked into killing his fellow X-Men. 

The cinematics of everything in this series so far; the sky; the scenery; the expressions on Logan's face enhance the story immeasurably. It should come as no surprise that a guy who cites Aaron Sorkin as an influence in creating dialogue that Old Man Logan reads like a motion picture. Not only years now, but decades of misery can be read on Logan's face and after the tragic death of his family at the hands of the Hulk Clan it's come a time again for Logan to do what he does best...

Old Man Logan is different in that the writing and art fit together so perfectly with the story-telling that it doesn't matter what 'Big Story' arc Marvel are trying to architect. This story could stand alone and seems to bridge the gap between Marvel's vision for super heroes and DC's dark story-telling. If, like me, you have been wanting for something to reach back to the glory-days of Barry Windsor-Smith's Weapon X then this is well worth a read.

Blame Canada

I never read Brian K. Vaughan's Saga (stop shouting at me through the internet, it doesn't work.) but after a friend (read enabler/dealer) in my local comic store put aside an issue of We Stand On Guard for me based on what I had previously bought I find myself completely immersed and foaming at the mouth for issue #2 (August 5th). 

The story is great and fast-paced with some grandiose atmospheric art pieces scattered throughout to capture the scale of the task set before our heroes: defending Canada from the invading Americans. It appeals to me in that kind of "the island in Lost could have existed" kind of way too. Everything is just believable enough that you can get on board and get behind the characters. Highly recommend it for something new.

-J