Once again it's time to check out what Marvel have coming down the pipeline. As usual, the focus is on stuff that interest me, as opposed to adaptations of novels and such-like.
Human Torch Comics #1 70th Anniversary Special
and
Marvel Mystery Comics #1 70th Anniversary Special
There's nothing too extraordinary to talk about here so far as the story goes, but I felt the need to point out that Marvel are celebrating their 70th anniversary. There used to be a trend from the company to ignore its entire output before 1961, so it's nice to see them acknowledging a lot of that stuff now.
Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #1 (of 4)
by Chris Eliopoulos and Ig Guara
and
Fin Fang Four Return! #1
by Scott Gray & Roger Langridge
I'm lumping these two together to highlight Marvel's continuing efforts at publishing things that are Very Silly Indeed. The first involves various pets of Marvel characters, from the teleporting dog Lockjaw, to Speedball's cat, to the Falcon's bird. Also - Frog Thor.
The second involves a bunch of giant monsters from 1950s comics that have been shrunk down to human size, and have to try and survive in the modern world.
Needless to say, I approve of both titles.
Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #6 (of 6)
by Damon Lindeloff & Leinil Yu
Well, I never thought I'd see the day when this was released. When was issue #1... Five years ago? Six? I think that just leave Daredevil: Target on Marvel's list of stuff not finished by Hollywood people too lazy to get off their asses and write a comic book.
Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem Book #1 (of 2)
by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley & Stuart Immonen
For those who are unaware, a revamp of the Ultimate line was announced at New York Comic Con. So far Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men have been cancelled, and a couple of new titles like Ultimate Avengers have been announced. Ultimate Spider-Man is getting the relaunch treatment as well, finishing its run and then going back to #1 with the same writer. I don't expect much to change, but it's been at least passably good since the beginning. It's good to see Marvel not messing too much with a title that works.
Spider-Man: The Short Halloween
by Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, & Kevin Maguire
Because it's worked so well for them in the past, Marvel are grabbing a couple of no-names from TV and letting them write a Spider-Man story (apparently they're from Saturday Night Live, which explains why I've never heard of them). I'm generally against this sort of thing on principle, but it does have pencils by Kevin Maguire...
Howling Commandos #1
by Jesse Alexander & John Paul Leon
Alas, it's just a one-shot, but I'm a sucker for Sgt. Fury stories set in World War II. And with John Paul Leon it's guaranteed to look gorgeous.
Thor: Tales of Asgard #1 (of 5)
by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
It's a reprint series, but it ought to be a damn good reprint series. The Tales of Asgard strips that ran as Thor back-ups were pretty kick-ass, being the first place where Kirby started to expand his style with over-sized panels and mythic action shots. And to top it off this is getting recoloured in the modern style - I've long held that the onlt thing separating the best Silver Age artists from the best modern artists is the colouring. I doubt I'll buy this, but I'll be certain to take a good look.
New Mutants #1
by Zeb Wells & Diogenes Neves
Yes, it's the original New Mutants together again - Cannonball, Karma, Sunspot, Dani Moonstar, Magma and Magik (I guess Wolfsbane is busy eating her Dad over in X-Force). Now I like these characters, but I think putting them back together is a bad idea. They've grown beyond that, some having graduated to full-fledged X-Men, and others moving on to lives outside the X-Men. It's kind of a demotion for them to be a team now. And you know what made them interesting in the first place? They were new, they were learning their powers and their place in the world. Now they're adults, so what is there to do with them? I don't expect this to be good, unless Wells has a really good premise for the reunion.
X-Men Forever Alpha
by Chris Claremont & Jim Lee
It's another reprint book, this one to get people up to speed for X-Men Forever, in which Chris Claremont gets to continue from where he left off 18 years ago. I've written extensively on this, so I won't say much now. But it was supposed to have a new 8-page story as well. There's no sign of that in the solicitations - if it ain't there, I won't be paying up for the reprint.
Genext: United #1 (of 5)
by Chris Claremont & Jonboy Meyers
The other big announcement for Chris Claremont is that he's continuing with GeNext, his tale of a future X-Men team made up of kids of various members. I didn't much enjoy the first mini, as it was a pretty substandard rehash of themes he's already explored to more effect in old-school New Mutants. I won't be bothering with this, as much as I like to support Claremont's books.
Well, that's enough of me banging on about X-Men Forever. I'll try to keep that under wraps until it comes out in May. For now i'l restrict my self to comics that actually exist, and specifically the ones that came out yesterday.
G.I. JOE: ORIGINS #1
by Larry Hama and Tom Feister
This is the second title in the IDW G.I. Joe relaunch. Where Chuck Dixon's book focuses on the Joes already in action and investigating Cobra, this book supposedly shows the formation of the team. Except that Hawk's already there, and Stalker's already there, and Scarlett's already there, so it kind of feels like we've joined in the middle, and doesn't seem to different from the other book.
The story sees Duke and Scarlett sent on a secret mission into the Nevada Desert, while elsewhere some random millionaire is on a shooting spree. To be honest I didn't quite catch it all. The characters aren't introduced suffuciently, and I couldn't quite follow the action. It didn't help that the characters were often distractingly grotesque - if Tom Feister is the regular series artist I'll have a hard time enjoying this.
It's a shame really, because I was looking forward to this book the most. It's better than the Chuck Dixon one, but I feel like IDW has kind of sucked the fun out of Joe in going more plausibly military. I liked the gonzo mix of military action with crazy supervillain terrorists that the Marvel run had. I'm hoping things head a bit more in that direction soon, or I might not stick with it.
TRANSFORMERS: MAXIMUM DINOBOTS #3
by Simon Furman and Nick Roche
This starts well with a cool scene for Shockwave, and after that tumbles downhill with a massive fight scene between the Dinobots and whole load of Sunstreaker clones. The story is fine, but the art is muddled and obscured by the colouring. There's also the problem with how this ties into All Hail Megatron, but that's irrelevant. This is OK, but there are better Transformers comics out there.
UNCANNY X-MEN #506
by Matt Fraction and Terry Dodson
The many interweaving subplots continue, with Emma having bad dreams, Angel and Beast still assembling their Fringe Science Team, refugees flooding into San Francisco to live with the X-Men, and Colossus infiltrating the Russian mafia. It's not quite as good as last issue, but with this much stuff going on X-fans are bound to find something to like. It's good to see Uncanny on the right track again.
X-MEN: KINGBREAKER #3
by Chris Yost, Dustin Weaver and Paco Diaz
The set-up for War of Kings rumbles along adequately, with Havok and his crew escaping and preparing for the 'final' confrontation with Vulcan. (That's the third one of those we've had so far?) Yost puts everything into place well enough, and manages to make even minor characters like Ch'od and Raza come alive. It's nothing earth-shattering, but it does the job. I just can't shake the feeling that it's going to be ultimately meaningless given that we know Vulcan is a major force in War of Kings. Unless he kills the Starjammers...
X-MEN: LEGACY #221
by Mike Carey and Scot Eaton
Thanks goodness for X-Men: Legacy. Mike Carey's been knocking it out of the park since #200, providing what is easily the best X-book on a consistent basis. This issue sees Professor X and Gambit looking for Rogue in the Australian Outback, only to find a series of holographic scenarios from the past trying to kill them and her. As always the references to the past are welcome (even if the costumes are way off for the Muir Island Saga) but they don't get in the way of enjoying the story. Good stuff.
YOUNG X-MEN #11
by Marc Guggenheim and Rafa Sandoval
Another forgettable issue of a series that's going to be cancelled with next issue - and there's an indication of how far the X-Men brand has fallen. There was a time when any old trash with an X on it was going to sell, but those days are gone. Anyway, there's a glimmer of interest here, with a dying Dust helping Donald Pierce to escape from the X-Men in exchange for him saving her life. And the ending would be a shock if I actually cared about Dust. But she basically has no personality, and is the epitome of the token muslim - I could literally tell you nothing else about her personality. I won't shed a tear to see this one go.
Henry10
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