Asgardians of the Galaxy #5
(W) Cullen Bunn (A) Matteo Lolli, Stephanie Hans, Luca Maresca (CA) Dale Keown, Jason Keith
Rated T+
In Shops: Jan 16, 2019
SRP: $3.99
RAGNAROK IS HERE!
It’s the final battle for Earth as the Asgardians take on Nebula’s full armada! But the undead may be the least of their problems. Just want is their supposed ally Loki up to now? Don’t miss the end of the first thrilling arc!
(W) Cullen Bunn (A) Matteo Lolli, Natacha Bustos (CA) Dale Keown, Jason Keith
Rated T+
In Shops: Dec 12, 2018
SRP: $3.99
ASGARDIANS UNDER ARREST!
Just when Nebula falls within their grasp, the Asgardians of the Galaxy find themselves in hot water with the Nova Corps! And every second they’re detained, Nebula comes closer to ruling the galaxy. What’s a team of warriors and assassins to do?
This January, Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw – the creative team that brought you Thanos – will bring a new Guardians of the Galaxy series to readers! And to celebrate the debut of this brand-new team, Marvel is releasing a series of variant covers showcasing past and present Guardians of the Galaxy characters from superstar artists Mike McKone, Ema Lupacchino, Dale Keown, Will Sliney, and more!
Look for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy variant covers on these select titles:
Don’t miss your chance to collect all Guardians of the Galaxy variants, coming this January to your local comic shop!
Black Cat didn’t commit the crime…but Spider-Man will need to befriend his once-foe-once-friend-once-crime-boss Felicia Hardy if he wants to solve this case!
This October and November, join Peter and Felicia Hardy in Amazing Spider-Man’s Black Cat arc, featuring two new variant covers by J.G. Jones (with colors by Paul Mounts), Mike Wieringo (with inks by Tim Townsend and colors by Jason Keith) and a Hidden Gem variant by J. Scott Campbell (with colors by Nei Ruffino).
The excitement starts this October – don’t miss the start of the action in Amazing Spider-Man #8, on sale October 24th at your local comic shop!
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #8
Written by NICK SPENCER
Art and Cover by HUMBERTO RAMOS
Black Cat Variant Cover by J.G. JONES (AUG188288)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #9
Written by NICK SPENCER
Art and Cover by HUMBERTO RAMOS
Black Cat Variant Cover by MIKE WIERINGO (AUG188290)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #10
Written by NICK SPENCER
Art and Cover by HUMBERTO RAMOS
Black Cat Variant Cover by J. SCOTT CAMPBELL (AUG188289)
Out this Wednesday is a new team of Asgardian misfits, Asgardians of the Galaxy!
Asgardians of the Galaxy #1 is by Cullen Bunn, Matteo Lolli, Federico Blee, Cory Petit, Dale Keown, Jason Keith, Humberto Ramos, Edgar Delgado, Cliff Chiang, Skottie Young, Nick Russell, Sarah Brunstad, and Wil Moss.
The issue comes to shelves September 5th. To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.
Amazon/Kindle/comiXology or TFAW
Marvel provided Graphic Policy with FREE copies for review
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Full disclaimer: for a long time, Kitty Pryde was my all time favorite Marvel superhero thanks to her awesomeness in X-Men Evolution and Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men run, and there is a Marvel Legends figure of her sitting on my bookshelf right now as I write this.
Even though Kelly Thompson, Marika Cresta, and Federico Blee end up almost saving the day with a fun tale of X-Women out on the town with pretty, shiny art to match, X-Men The Wedding Special #1 is a big stinker of a “special issue.” Greg Land’s stiff art style isn’t a good fit for a raucous bachelor party, Chris Claremont can’t rekindle his old magic, and this book doesn’t really have much for long time X-Men fans who might be a little lapsed (Like yours truly.) and definitely not new or casual fans. Why are Kitty and Piotr even getting married? Maybe, the X-Men Gold hardcore readership will find something to love here.
In the first story, Kitty Pryde’s co-creator/father of the X-Men Chris Claremont returns to Marvel with his Nightcrawler collaborator Todd Nauck and skilled colorist Rachelle Rosenberg. However, after having Nauck re-draw Kitty’s greatest hits courtesy of John Byrne, Dave Cockrum, John Romita Jr., Alan Davis, and others, he makes the story all about Kitty’s relationships with the dead men in her life, namely, her dad, Wolverine, and some guy from a 1999 time travel miniseries called X-Men True Friends. Claremont is a still verbose prose stylist, Rosenberg is game with the bright colors of the different eras, and Nauck turns in some gorgeous dualistic compositions contrasting the triumphs and trials of Kitty Pryde’s life as an X-Man.
But there isn’t really a coherent story to channel these skills and traits into as Claremont abruptly cuts from Kitty recounting her life story and feelings about being phased through a bullet (Thank you, Joss Whedon.) to randomly talking about Wolverine and the aforementioned guy from a time travel story. Plus I guess I missed the issue of X-Men Gold where she worked as a bartender at the Hellfire Club themed branch of Coyote Ugly as Claremont and Nauck cut to this, and Nightcrawler has some great lines about faith and facing challenges. There are a few good ingredients, a few bad ones, and sadly, the story doesn’t touch on the great female friendships (and possibly romances) that Claremont set up for Kitty with Magik, Storm, and Rachel Summers among others and focused on ghostly men instead. It’s like a great slice of Chicago deep dish (Shoutout to Deerfield, Illinois resident Kitty Pryde.) that’s completely burnt to a crisp too bogged down in a continuity to have any real emotion or even nostalgia.
The second story by X-Men Gold writer Marc Guggenheim, the aforementioned Land and inker Jay Leisten, and colorist Jason Keith tells the story of Colossus’ bachelor party and except for the part where Piotr throws an anti-mutant alien monster around a casino, it’s cliched, heteronormative, and just plain bad. In keeping with his introverted nature and desire to be faithful towards Kitty after decades of breakups, reunions, and the original Secret Wars crossover, Colossus wants a chill night out and not the typical strippers/booze/brawling trifecta of a normal bachelor party. But Nightcrawler, Gambit, Iceman, and the “boyo” overusing new-look Pyro have other ideas for him including Bobby lecturing Piotr on traditional masculinity and making me glad that Sina Grace had almost exclusive creative control over him for a year. The story follows a limp, through line of getting Colossus to “lighten up”, and you have to buy a whole other comic to see how the story ends. It’s pretty terrible except for the huge smile on Nightcrawler’s face as he ushers his squad into Las Vegas and beams that there is a casino run by demons so he doesn’t have to feel weird or different while having a good time for once. Kurt is such a great character that he shines even in subpar stories like the first two in X-Men Wedding Special #1.
The final story in X-Men Wedding Special #1 is a fun, cute, grownup version of the “X-Men go to the mall” plotline as Storm, Rogue, Jean Grey, Psylocke, and others take Kitty to karaoke, which is actually “stripperoke”. However, there are both male and female strippers at the club, which Kitty is cool with. And it’s also this issue’s only nod at the bisexual subtext surrounding her since the late 1980s. In a similar way to Piotr, Kitty is introverted and more than a little Type A so the cocktail of strippers and karaoke is pretty lethal for her, and she spends most of the issue hoping for a fight.
Kitty does end up doing hand to hand combat with Callisto, who I think had a crush on Colossus, in the 1980s, and her resolves shows how much she has grown in 38 years from the X-Men’s kid sister to their leader. It also shows that artist (and star in waiting) Marika Cresta has a knack for fight sequences as well as conversation, beautiful faces, and high fashion. The bright filters used by Federico Blee and soft lighting definitely give this issue a very laidback field even if Kitty is freaking out a little bit about her wedding. The Kitty/Callisto derails the story a little bit, but Thompson and Cresta easily counterbalance with great moments like Storm rocking the karaoke stage, and Rogue and Kitty having a true heart to heart that reminded me of a more mature version of their bond in X-Men Evolution.
X-Men Wedding Special definitely lessened my faith in the marriage between Kitty and Colossus as well as heterosexual, monogamous marriage as an institution in general. Okay, maybe not completely, but the Marc Guggenheim and Greg Land story is a great example of how bachelor parties are dated and played out. However, Marika Cresta is a real find as an artist in the final story and should definitely be the main artist on one of the big X or Marvel books.
Story: Chris Claremont, Marc Guggenheim, Kelly Thompson
Art: Todd Nauck, Greg Land with Jay Leisten, Marika Cresta
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg, Jason Keith, Federico Blee Letters: Clayton Cowles
Story: 5.0 Art: 7.0 Overall: 5.0 Recommendation: Pass
Marvel Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
This summer, Marvel is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Captain Marvel’s alter ego Carol Danvers with variant covers showing how everyone’s favorite high-flying super hero has evolved throughout the years!
Look for Marvel’s Carol Danvers variant covers on these select titles:
Don’t miss your chance to collect all 5 variant covers, coming to comic shops this July!
It’s all been building to this – the biggest Peter Parker and Norman Osborn story of all time, and the first Marvel comic EVER to hit 800 issues! In celebration of the 800th issue of Amazing Spider-Man and the now historic run of Dan Slott, Marvel is excited to show a variant cover from industry great Mark Bagley with colors by Jason Keith!
Witness the culmination of the Red Goblin story as Slott is joined for his final issue by epic artists such as Stuart Immonen, Humberto Ramos, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Nick Bradshaw! It also features a regular cover by Alex Ross.
The Amazing Spider-Man #800 is out May 30th.
As Wonder Man struggles to get through to the Hulk, the Black Order attacks Avengers HQ! The grand cosmic game comes to its shocking conclusion – but the war for Earth is just beginning!
I’ll admit, I thought last issue slipped a little as it focused on a lot of punching and not much else. Avengers #686, part 12 of “No Surrender,” corrects that and then some.
Written by Jim Zub, Mark Waid, and Al Ewing, the issue focuses on Wonder Man’s attempt to reason with the Hulk. What’s revealed though feels like a Hulk we’ve never seen. And, that revelation is scarier than anything presented last issue. Gone is the thoughtless machine of destruction. Now it’s clear this is a being full of rage, one full aware of what it’s doing, with a clear agenda and reasoning. Hulk has been many things and presented in so many ways but what we see here feels frightening and had me pause to say, “oh shit.”
Where the last issue was a giant action sequence, this is the portion that adds some depth to it all as we see things from Simon, aka Wonder Man’s perspective. Zub, Waid, and Ewing have done an excellent job in this series shaking things up when it comes to the narrative. This isn’t an event about punching things. Where you think an issue might be that, it turns out to be presented in a different way. The trio regularly change the narrative and in doing so keep the storytelling fresh and interesting.
The art by Paco Medina, with ink by Juan Vlasco, and color by Jesus Aburtov is fantastic. The Hulk feels intimidating in his size and strength compared to everyone else. And, while it’d be easy to go over the top in the destruction, things feel focused here. What’s even bigger is the perspective of Simon. You can see the fear and his working through the situation on his face. The artistic team does a solid job of presenting the various emotions Simon goes through. And through his realization of the horror, we experience it too. The lettering by Cory Petit enhances that emotion with emphasis on key words.
Just when you think things might have fallen into brainless punching, the series event series has no problem showing it can shake things up. Here we get a depth to the destruction and fighting that’s unexpected and through subtle moments we also get different perspectives. A wonderful issue that continues the excellent narrative that’s been weaved. “No Surrender’ is proof that big events can work and is one of the most unexpected positive surprises of the year so far.
Story: Jim Zub, Mark Waid, Al Ewing
Art: Paco Medina Ink: Juan Vlasco Color: Jesus Aburtov Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover: Mark Brooks Variant Cover: Dale Keown, Jason Keith
Graphic Design: Carlos Lao
Editor: Tom Brevoort Assistant Editor: Alanna Smith
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy
Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Invincible Iron Man #598
Story: Brian Michael Bendis Art: Stefano Caselli, Alex Maleev
Color: Marte Gracia, Alex Maleev Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover: Alex Maleev
Variant Cover: Dale Keown, Jason Keith
Editor: Tom Brevoort Assistant Editor: Alanna Smith
Rated T+
In Shops: Mar 28, 2018
SRP: $3.99
THE SEARCH FOR TONY STARK Part 6
Since the beginning, the houses of Stark and Doom have been unshakeable pillars of the Marvel Universe – and one of them is about to fall. No one ever thought they’d see what is about to happen, but the world of Tony Stark will NEVER be the same again. It all leads up to the explosive, blistering, quadruple-sized INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #600, with a cliffhanger you will NOT want to miss!
