Star Wars: Shattered Empire #2 (Marvel)
From December 2015
writer: Greg Rucka
artist: Marco Checchetto, Angel Unzueta, Emilio Laiso
Thanks to a deliberate purchase and then an incidental one (in one of those convenient packs this issue also came from) of the first issue, I know how this mini-series began, twice, but until now hadn't read further into the story. Finally!
Shattered Empire is part of the new initiative that replaces all the other stories that tried to flesh out what happened after Return of the Jedi. In fact, Shattered Empire starts immediately at the end of Return of the Jedi, with the parents of The Force Awakens character Poe Dameron participating in the Battle of Endor.
That's all well and good. Greg Rucka usually writes strong female characters, and so his focus is squarely on Poe's mum, Shara. This issue she's drafted to escort Princess Leia to Naboo. Yes, this is a story that not only takes the prequels seriously, but remembers that Leia's mum was Queen Amidala. I like the prequels. I like stories that make nice logical connections, too.
The part of this comic that doesn't work nearly as well for me is the Emperor having a fail-safe program that's more or less a complete duplicate of Order 66, which indicates to all surviving Imperial forces that they must eradicate the Rebellion. Listen, if this had been remotely possible, that would've happened well before the events depicted in A New Hope. It's this very kind of shoddy storytelling that the Disney canon was theoretically envisioned to replace.
Frankly, I'm surprised to see someone like Rucka participating in it.
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Quarter Bin 97 "Star Wars: Obi-Wan & Anakin #1"
Star Wars: Obi-Wan & Anakin #1 (Marvel)
From March 2016
writer: Charles Soule
artist: Marco Checcetto
Charles Soule, otherwise known as one of my favorite new writers of the past few years, very easily. I was crushed when he left DC for Marvel, but relieved when I saw him work on quality projects at his new home, including the excellent Lando Calrissian mini-series. So here he is again, bringing his trademark grasp of character back to Star Wars and...characters as depicted and depicted in the prequel era???
The horror! Except for someone like me, who inexplicably likes the prequels, and is happy that not only is Marvel dipping its toes into those waters, but allowing someone the caliber of Soule to not only do it for them, but do it brilliantly.
As if there was ever any doubt.
The relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker is one of the most important ones in all of Star Wars lore. Their hellacious fight in Revenge of the Sith was long a part of franchise legend, even before the movie ever existed, and its sequel in A New Hope leant the very first movie considerable emotional depth. And yet, their relationship was otherwise one of friendship. Obi-Wan was the one person, besides Padme, who took Anakin seriously, warts and all. So Soule can be comfortable allowing Anakin to voice the same kinds of doubts and theories that would lead to Darth Vader we'd previously only seen between him and Padme, and Obi-Wan accept it in stride.
The best part, the big twist, of this issue however, is the Jedi ending up on a world that has no place for their kind, and in fact has no idea what a Jedi even is. It's an irony that the Jedi-heavy prequels alienated fans, while the Jedi-light originals, and The Force Awakens, have been such fan-favorites. One would almost venture to assume that it's Jedi the fans don't like. They like their lone wolves, thank you very much.
So putting a couple of prequel-era characters into a situation ripe for that kind of storytelling is yet another sign of Soule's genius. I love that guy. He might actually get some readers to be okay with the prequels. Such a feat is worthy of a Jedi.
From March 2016
writer: Charles Soule
artist: Marco Checcetto
Charles Soule, otherwise known as one of my favorite new writers of the past few years, very easily. I was crushed when he left DC for Marvel, but relieved when I saw him work on quality projects at his new home, including the excellent Lando Calrissian mini-series. So here he is again, bringing his trademark grasp of character back to Star Wars and...characters as depicted and depicted in the prequel era???
The horror! Except for someone like me, who inexplicably likes the prequels, and is happy that not only is Marvel dipping its toes into those waters, but allowing someone the caliber of Soule to not only do it for them, but do it brilliantly.
As if there was ever any doubt.
The relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker is one of the most important ones in all of Star Wars lore. Their hellacious fight in Revenge of the Sith was long a part of franchise legend, even before the movie ever existed, and its sequel in A New Hope leant the very first movie considerable emotional depth. And yet, their relationship was otherwise one of friendship. Obi-Wan was the one person, besides Padme, who took Anakin seriously, warts and all. So Soule can be comfortable allowing Anakin to voice the same kinds of doubts and theories that would lead to Darth Vader we'd previously only seen between him and Padme, and Obi-Wan accept it in stride.
The best part, the big twist, of this issue however, is the Jedi ending up on a world that has no place for their kind, and in fact has no idea what a Jedi even is. It's an irony that the Jedi-heavy prequels alienated fans, while the Jedi-light originals, and The Force Awakens, have been such fan-favorites. One would almost venture to assume that it's Jedi the fans don't like. They like their lone wolves, thank you very much.
So putting a couple of prequel-era characters into a situation ripe for that kind of storytelling is yet another sign of Soule's genius. I love that guy. He might actually get some readers to be okay with the prequels. Such a feat is worthy of a Jedi.
Friday, September 30, 2016
Quarter Bin 96 "Nova #1"
Nova #1 (Marvel)
From January 2016
writer: Sean Ryan
artist: Cory Smith
A few years back Jeph Loeb introduced Sam Alexander, whose touching backstory included a dad who was a Nova, and no one believed him until he went missing, leaving his Nova helmet behind, at which Sam did believe him, and became the new Nova (who like Green Lantern over at DC is actually a whole space cop corps, as represented in Guardians of the Galaxy). Then Marvel decided to ditch the poignant angle, and just keep Sam as a Nova, a new Nova, and basically leave it at that.
This relaunch teases a father/son reunion, but the end of the issue predictable disabuses us of such depth...Sorry, this is another one I just didn't get. I get that comics are supposed to be fun, and that there ought to be plenty of stuff for readers who don't want to be bothered with too much backstory and such, which is to say young and/or immature readers, but when you have Jeph Loeb create something, you don't immediately ditch what he set up for the sake of convenience. And maybe he himself was okay with what Marvel did with Sam, knew it right from the start, but as a reader, I just don't get it.
It's like everyone who's disappointed with DC movies trying to be too dark. Well, my Marvel stereotype is that their stories are too dim. And stuff like this doesn't help.
From January 2016
writer: Sean Ryan
artist: Cory Smith
A few years back Jeph Loeb introduced Sam Alexander, whose touching backstory included a dad who was a Nova, and no one believed him until he went missing, leaving his Nova helmet behind, at which Sam did believe him, and became the new Nova (who like Green Lantern over at DC is actually a whole space cop corps, as represented in Guardians of the Galaxy). Then Marvel decided to ditch the poignant angle, and just keep Sam as a Nova, a new Nova, and basically leave it at that.
This relaunch teases a father/son reunion, but the end of the issue predictable disabuses us of such depth...Sorry, this is another one I just didn't get. I get that comics are supposed to be fun, and that there ought to be plenty of stuff for readers who don't want to be bothered with too much backstory and such, which is to say young and/or immature readers, but when you have Jeph Loeb create something, you don't immediately ditch what he set up for the sake of convenience. And maybe he himself was okay with what Marvel did with Sam, knew it right from the start, but as a reader, I just don't get it.
It's like everyone who's disappointed with DC movies trying to be too dark. Well, my Marvel stereotype is that their stories are too dim. And stuff like this doesn't help.
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Quarter Bin 95 "Karnak #1"
Karnak #1 (Marvel)
From December 2015
writer: Warren Ellis
artist: Gerardo Zaffino
Warren Ellis is one of the elite comic book writers I don't normally have much time for, but he's got at least one project (Supreme: Blue Rose) that I think truly does warrant his genius reputation, so I always like to keep his work in mind.
Karnak is an Inhumans series. The Inhumans are Marvel's attempt to try and replace the X-Men as the dominant subset group of its publishing line, because currently the X-Men belong to 20th Century Fox as a movie franchise (Marvel has taken the Fantastic Four completely off the board for similar reasons, but it would be foolhardy to try and do the same with the X-Men, but darned if it doesn't try really hard to do so). I don't know much of anything about Karnak as a character outside of what I've read in this very issue, but the Inhumans in general seem to have very little definition and a lot of suggestion about them, and I'd never heard of Karnak until I saw this series on the shelves for the first time.
I wish I could bother uploading images, because it's the cover of this issue that always had me semi-interested in it (I finally read this because of a handy comics package). It's a great, impressive cover, Karnak's face imposing itself so that he looks completely badass without really having to do anything to achieve it.
But Karnak turns out to be a little like Doctor Strange mixed with the Spectre. Ellis tends to write genius characters because there's so little work involved in actually establishing their genius. It's just assumed that whatever they do is genius. I mean, it's practically a comics staple, and in that regard, Ellis is right on target. (He ought to write a Doctor Doom series.)
Grumpy Karnak is asked by Phil Coulson (who's one of those characters Marvel is using a lot these days because of the movies, but whose appearance here totally justifies it; Ellis should be writing a Phil Coulson series instead of a Karnak series) to look after one of the many, many humans recently exposed as an Inhuman because of a McGuffin (Ms. Marvel is the most famous example; she otherwise has absolutely nothing to do with the Inhumans, except for a few early issues). Karnak proves to be a dick, because he can get away with it. Pretty much end of story.
Bottom line is, I have absolutely no idea why Karnak exists. Doesn't really rate such a killer cover.
From December 2015
writer: Warren Ellis
artist: Gerardo Zaffino
Warren Ellis is one of the elite comic book writers I don't normally have much time for, but he's got at least one project (Supreme: Blue Rose) that I think truly does warrant his genius reputation, so I always like to keep his work in mind.
Karnak is an Inhumans series. The Inhumans are Marvel's attempt to try and replace the X-Men as the dominant subset group of its publishing line, because currently the X-Men belong to 20th Century Fox as a movie franchise (Marvel has taken the Fantastic Four completely off the board for similar reasons, but it would be foolhardy to try and do the same with the X-Men, but darned if it doesn't try really hard to do so). I don't know much of anything about Karnak as a character outside of what I've read in this very issue, but the Inhumans in general seem to have very little definition and a lot of suggestion about them, and I'd never heard of Karnak until I saw this series on the shelves for the first time.
I wish I could bother uploading images, because it's the cover of this issue that always had me semi-interested in it (I finally read this because of a handy comics package). It's a great, impressive cover, Karnak's face imposing itself so that he looks completely badass without really having to do anything to achieve it.
But Karnak turns out to be a little like Doctor Strange mixed with the Spectre. Ellis tends to write genius characters because there's so little work involved in actually establishing their genius. It's just assumed that whatever they do is genius. I mean, it's practically a comics staple, and in that regard, Ellis is right on target. (He ought to write a Doctor Doom series.)
Grumpy Karnak is asked by Phil Coulson (who's one of those characters Marvel is using a lot these days because of the movies, but whose appearance here totally justifies it; Ellis should be writing a Phil Coulson series instead of a Karnak series) to look after one of the many, many humans recently exposed as an Inhuman because of a McGuffin (Ms. Marvel is the most famous example; she otherwise has absolutely nothing to do with the Inhumans, except for a few early issues). Karnak proves to be a dick, because he can get away with it. Pretty much end of story.
Bottom line is, I have absolutely no idea why Karnak exists. Doesn't really rate such a killer cover.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Quarter Bin 94 "Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1"
Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (Marvel)
From December 2015
writer: Frank Barbiere
artist: Brent Schoonover
I have little enough to say about this one, which I think is dedicated to the kind of hardcore Marvel reader who will care about this attempt to keep the Howling Commandos brand alive, but I will say that I love the idea of Dum Dum Dugan as the lead, and I'll expand a little on why:
First, it's a Marvel tradition I don't normally get to see a lot of, because it usually turns up in all the stuff I don't read from the company, because I've just never been a dedicated Marvel fan. Dugan is officially a Life Model Decoy, which in the past has been a gimmick used to explain away (retcon) things that didn't prove popular among readers. Dugan is part of the original Howling Commandos, who fought with Captain America in WWII (they're in Captain America: The First Avenger to prove it, and Dugan is played by Neal McDonough, who's long been a favorite of mine).
Dugan as a LMD plays into my DC/Star Trek roots. Cadmus is a cloning facility familiar to "Reign of the Supermen" fans as the secret origin of Superboy, plus it employs the Guardian, another WWII legacy character who looks like the blue/yellow version of Captain America (which I'm sure is no coincidence), who's also a legacy clone. In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Vorta Weyoun appears in various clone units throughout the series (the last one dies in the last episode).
So Dugan dealing with being a clone is the best thing I can take from this, and the fact that he dies this issue, and his replacement is activated, and asks where S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps his trademark bowler hats. That much is good stuff, and I'll just leave it at that.
From December 2015
writer: Frank Barbiere
artist: Brent Schoonover
I have little enough to say about this one, which I think is dedicated to the kind of hardcore Marvel reader who will care about this attempt to keep the Howling Commandos brand alive, but I will say that I love the idea of Dum Dum Dugan as the lead, and I'll expand a little on why:
First, it's a Marvel tradition I don't normally get to see a lot of, because it usually turns up in all the stuff I don't read from the company, because I've just never been a dedicated Marvel fan. Dugan is officially a Life Model Decoy, which in the past has been a gimmick used to explain away (retcon) things that didn't prove popular among readers. Dugan is part of the original Howling Commandos, who fought with Captain America in WWII (they're in Captain America: The First Avenger to prove it, and Dugan is played by Neal McDonough, who's long been a favorite of mine).
Dugan as a LMD plays into my DC/Star Trek roots. Cadmus is a cloning facility familiar to "Reign of the Supermen" fans as the secret origin of Superboy, plus it employs the Guardian, another WWII legacy character who looks like the blue/yellow version of Captain America (which I'm sure is no coincidence), who's also a legacy clone. In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Vorta Weyoun appears in various clone units throughout the series (the last one dies in the last episode).
So Dugan dealing with being a clone is the best thing I can take from this, and the fact that he dies this issue, and his replacement is activated, and asks where S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps his trademark bowler hats. That much is good stuff, and I'll just leave it at that.
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Quarter Bin 93 "Hawkeye #2"
Hawkeye #2 (Marvel)
From February 2016
writer: Jeff Lemire
artist: Ramon Perez
To call Jeff Lemire one of my favorite active writers would probably be an understatement. He's been writing some of my favorite comics for years now. If anyone could follow up Matt Fraction's Hawkeye with something with even a slim chance of being as clever, it would be Lemire.
(Never mind that it would've been perfectly acceptable to keep the same numbering. Uh-uh. Not Marvel. Not these days. DC at least let a bunch of its New 52 series actually reach fifty-two, consistently-numbered consecutive issues. Marvel now has seasons, which only makes sense for the dedicated monthly readers.)
Lemire even keeps Clint Barton and Kate Bishop working alongside each other in-tact. I love that. I've been a fan of Kate since she debuted in Young Avengers. If any of those characters were going to extend their shelf lives, I'm glad it was her. It doesn't hurt that she's following in the footsteps of a less-than-giant. (As if to punctuate that, Marvel recently had Clint murder the Hulk, and so that's probably the end of him.)
In true Lemire fashion, however, he's not just content to keep things the way Fraction had them, but have a look at the future, with the past and future converging. It shouldn't work but it does.
I love that the art keeps general pace with the Fraction era, too. I mean, that's Marvel really letting a good thing continue, in the best possible way. Bravo, Marvel.
From February 2016
writer: Jeff Lemire
artist: Ramon Perez
To call Jeff Lemire one of my favorite active writers would probably be an understatement. He's been writing some of my favorite comics for years now. If anyone could follow up Matt Fraction's Hawkeye with something with even a slim chance of being as clever, it would be Lemire.
(Never mind that it would've been perfectly acceptable to keep the same numbering. Uh-uh. Not Marvel. Not these days. DC at least let a bunch of its New 52 series actually reach fifty-two, consistently-numbered consecutive issues. Marvel now has seasons, which only makes sense for the dedicated monthly readers.)
Lemire even keeps Clint Barton and Kate Bishop working alongside each other in-tact. I love that. I've been a fan of Kate since she debuted in Young Avengers. If any of those characters were going to extend their shelf lives, I'm glad it was her. It doesn't hurt that she's following in the footsteps of a less-than-giant. (As if to punctuate that, Marvel recently had Clint murder the Hulk, and so that's probably the end of him.)
In true Lemire fashion, however, he's not just content to keep things the way Fraction had them, but have a look at the future, with the past and future converging. It shouldn't work but it does.
I love that the art keeps general pace with the Fraction era, too. I mean, that's Marvel really letting a good thing continue, in the best possible way. Bravo, Marvel.
Monday, September 26, 2016
Quarter Bin 92 "Hail Hydra #1"
Hail Hydra #1 (Marvel)
From September 2015
writer: Rick Remender
artist: Roland Boschi
Yeah, I had no idea this one even existed, or at least what it was, among the glut of Secret Wars spin-off mini-series. Someone over at Marvel had a look at what DC was doing with Convergence, and decided they'd like some of that action, and so a lot of old storylines were revisited in one form or another, and apparently one of them was Rick Remender's run on Captain America, by Rick Remender himself, and that Secret Wars spin-off mini-series is this very title. Again, I had absolutely no idea. The title doesn't exactly give it away, now does it?
There were apparently four issues of this, all of them written by Remender. It's a follow-up, specifically, to his notion that Arnim Zola had a son who in Damian Wayne fashion ended up being mentored by Steve Rogers. While the greater story around Hail Hydra draws on the bonkers kit-bashing reality of Secret Wars and thusly dumps Leopold Zola/Ian Rogers into an alternate reality where Arnim Zola rules with an iron fist, it at least puts him into a situation where he must confront his past all over again.
Remender's Captain America was easily one of my most pleasant discoveries of the past few years, something that broke free of the pseudo-earnestness of the Ed Brubaker years and just had some fun with the core concepts. I love that Marvel gave him a shot to revisit it. I don't know if it was Marvel's or Remender's idea to completely bury the result, but it at least becomes another pleasant discovery, because this is once again one of the best things I've read from Marvel recently.
I also love that Roland Boschi, whether at Remender's direction or otherwise, ends up depicting the alternate Leopold Zola Ian finds himself confronting exactly like Tom Hardy's Shinzon from Star Trek Nemesis. It can't have been a coincidence one way or another.
From September 2015
writer: Rick Remender
artist: Roland Boschi
Yeah, I had no idea this one even existed, or at least what it was, among the glut of Secret Wars spin-off mini-series. Someone over at Marvel had a look at what DC was doing with Convergence, and decided they'd like some of that action, and so a lot of old storylines were revisited in one form or another, and apparently one of them was Rick Remender's run on Captain America, by Rick Remender himself, and that Secret Wars spin-off mini-series is this very title. Again, I had absolutely no idea. The title doesn't exactly give it away, now does it?
There were apparently four issues of this, all of them written by Remender. It's a follow-up, specifically, to his notion that Arnim Zola had a son who in Damian Wayne fashion ended up being mentored by Steve Rogers. While the greater story around Hail Hydra draws on the bonkers kit-bashing reality of Secret Wars and thusly dumps Leopold Zola/Ian Rogers into an alternate reality where Arnim Zola rules with an iron fist, it at least puts him into a situation where he must confront his past all over again.
Remender's Captain America was easily one of my most pleasant discoveries of the past few years, something that broke free of the pseudo-earnestness of the Ed Brubaker years and just had some fun with the core concepts. I love that Marvel gave him a shot to revisit it. I don't know if it was Marvel's or Remender's idea to completely bury the result, but it at least becomes another pleasant discovery, because this is once again one of the best things I've read from Marvel recently.
I also love that Roland Boschi, whether at Remender's direction or otherwise, ends up depicting the alternate Leopold Zola Ian finds himself confronting exactly like Tom Hardy's Shinzon from Star Trek Nemesis. It can't have been a coincidence one way or another.
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