Second Coming #6 channels The Last Temptation of Christ and Superfriends and is a solid season finale despite the occasional whiplash in tone from funny and satirical to earnest to maybe serious. Mark Russell, RichardPace, Leonard Kirk, and Andy Troy spin the story of Sunstar’s wedding and Jesus’ final showdown with Satan that may have some people of faith have similar reactions as some Superman fans did to the ending of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel.
The best part of this comic and probably of the whole miniseries is how Russell and Pace riff on how Jesus, God the Father, and Satan are portrayed in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. (My favorite one is Jesus’ reaction to the writings of St. Paul.) With callbacks to changing water to wine, the Last Supper, and even Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, the interrogate the nature of faith as well as the temptations of money and power that Jesus rejected according to the New Testament narrative. Pace’s scratchy inks and sepia color palette versus the cleaner lines, bright colors, and classical proportions of Kirk and Troy’s art in the Sunstar scenes create tension and doubt in these flashbacks.
Russell sometimes undercuts this by going for the easy, obvious joke (i.e. his description of circumcision), but from his work on the page and in the letters column, he seems to have a desire to grapple with the relationship between faith and religion, Instead of going the route of Christian philosopher Soren Kierkegaard and seeing Abraham as a “knight of faith”, Russell and Pace point out the absurdity of his actions and especially the naivete of Isaac, who despite being a teenager, lets his father kill because God “said so”.
However, there is a positive side to this dig as Jesus shares with his new “followers” that they need to think carefully about what they choose to trust and believe and not just blindly do something or follow someone because they think a higher power told them to. Pace is great at showing the quick reactions to these ideas from Jesus’ new followers, who have a knee jerk reaction instead of listening and asking questions. Then, Leonard Kirk and Andy Troy jump back in when Sunstar comes to save the day to show the futility of the outwardly heroic, yet inwardly flawed superhero to bail him out. Jesus has to make a sacrifice, and in Second Coming, he makes an ideological one that raised the stakes higher than any crucifixion/resurrection redux or superhero slugfest.
Speaking of superheroes, these elements are the weakest in Second Coming, and the conspiracy theorist in me thinks that they were inserted to make the pitch more initially palatable to DC Comics/Vertigo. The superhero genre is so well-trodden, and Russell, Pace, Kirk, and Troy don’t really break new ground with Sunstar’s struggle to balance relationships with crime fighting. However, earlier issues created a nice contrast between Jesus’ pacifism and Sunstar’s violence. Russell and Pace unfortunately don’t have Jesus and Sunstar after Jesus gives into violence in the conclusion of Second Coming and just have him and Sheila be Jesus and God’s bowling partners. It’s a fun joke, but shows that the superhero part of Second Coming was just kind of there and didn’t really enhance the narrative except for the aforementioned visual contrast or a joke or two.
The final sequence of Second Coming #6 is both profound and banal. There are a few more fun jokes like God sucking at bowling and the “+” of the pregnancy looking like a cross. Russell and Pace are also trying to create some kind of meaning out of Jesus choosing to be a killer and not a martyr and land on “You messed up. There will be a fresh start next day/bowling frame.” There is a dark layer of irony to these statements because they’re delivered by God, who basically took this approach to the Earth and its inhabitants during Noah’s flood and was about to destroy the world again if Jesus was killed by modern humans. There’s a whole “I’m all powerful. I don’t give a shit.” attitude air to the gestures and body language that Richard Pace gives whereas Jesus is much more tense, angsty, and heavily inked. Life goes on, and there are no consequences. Oh, and look, here’s a miracle baby for the “faithful” Sheila and Sunstar because that’s something I’ve done in the past.
Second Coming #6 is a comic that is both entertaining and attempts at wrestling with the big questions in life, and Mark Russell, Richard Pace, Leonard Kirk, and Andy Troy succeed at the first part more than the second one. However, there’s also a level of humility to not trying to wrap up a tale of gods and humans, faith and doubt in an easily packaged takeaway. Just like God’s bowling game and metaphor, humans are flawed and messed up, but we have our moments and can find friendship and community like Jesus did with his superhero roommate in Second Coming.
Story: Mark Russell Art: Richard Pace with Leonard Kirk Colors: Andy Troy Letters: Rob Steen Story: 7.0 Art: 8.5 Overall: 7.3 Recommendation: Read
Ahoy Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
2019 was an interesting year for me comics-wise as I did not get to read as widely or deeply as I liked because of a variety of factors, including my final two semesters of graduate school, working two library jobs (Where ordering and promoting comics were part of my duties.), and an impending move. Also, I decided to catch up on some “classic” comics like Miracleman, Ghost in the Shell, Junji Ito‘sTomie, and most of Brian Michael Bendis‘ and Michael Oeming‘s Powers, and Gail Simone‘s run on Secret Six.
However, I did have the opportunity to read some fantastic comics in 2019 as two of my favorite series of all time reached their conclusion. I also branched out a little bit, and this is the first time my year-end list has featured books from Ahoy and Harper Collins as well as a self-published comic.
10. Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion (Dark Horse)
Gerard Way, Gabriel Bá, and Nick Filardi‘s Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion is as wild and anarchic as the Netflix show was tame and Muggle-friendly. Hotel Oblivion is a love letter to Silver Age supervillains while actually taking time to deal with the relationships between the Hargreaves siblings. Bá and Filardi’s visuals are a chaos magic-shaped bullet to the head and especially sings in the world and city-rending set pieces towards the end of the miniseries that I read in trade paperback format.
Ned Barnett‘s self-published graphic memoir-meets-historical biography Dreamers of the Day is one of the most unique comics I’ve read in recent years. It chronicles the author’s trip to England as he conducts research on a graphic biography about T.E. Lawrence aka Lawrence of Arabia and is educational while being emotionally compelling. If there’s one word to describe this comic, it is “enthusiastic” as Barnett’s passion for making art, studying history, and making it relevant to contemporary readers shines through in his iconic, Herge-esque art style and accessible prose.
8. Winter Soldier#2-5(Marvel)
Kyle Higgins and Rod Reis create a redemptive narrative for the sidekick-turned assassin-turned superhero and occasional black ops agent, Bucky Barnes in their Winter Soldier miniseries. The comic’s beating heart is the flawed relationship between Bucky and RJ, a child assassin, that Bucky sees a lot of himself in. There is both humor and tragedy in their interactions. Reis’ lush pencils to color art style works for both the emotional breakdowns and action beatdowns.
7. Steeple #1-4 (Dark Horse)
The fantastic John Allison (Giant Days) both writes and draws this miniseries about an Anglican priest in training named Billie, who is assigned to a parish in the kooky village of Tredregyn, Cornwall. Steeple has an “anything but the kitchen sink” tone as its plots include fights against sea monsters, a charismatic Christian cult connected to windmills, and an ongoing conflict against the Church of Satan. (Billie also strikes up an unlikely friendship with the Satanic priestess, Maggie.) Allison mines a lot of humor out of the idiosyncrasies of different religions and small town life as well as the melodrama of good versus evil, and his art is expressive as always with the help of colorist Sarah Stern.
6. Second Coming #1-5 (Ahoy)
Speaking of religious satire, Mark Russell, Richard Pace, Leonard Kirk, and Andy Troy do an excellent job of showing how the historical figure Jesus would be received in the modern world with the twist of having an “edgy” superhero named Sunstar as a roommate. Beginning with a retelling of the creation of the world, Russell and Pace walk a tightrope between reverence and irreverence touching on a variety of issues, including megachurches, homophobia, and Pauline theology. Another enjoyable part of Second Coming is Leonard Kirk’s inking when the story decides to be a traditional superhero comic for a second, or there’s a flashback to Satan tempting Jesus as he plays a complex role in the narrative.
I knew Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora, and Tamra Bonvillain‘s Once and Future would be my cup of tea when it featured Arthurian legends and the town of Bath where I studied abroad in summer 2014 as plot points as well as having a complicated relationship between a grandmother and grandson at its core. Once and Future is action-packed read steeped in Arthurian lore with dynamic art from Mora and a mystical color palette from Bonvillain. It’s a straightforward adventure/dysfunctional family/romance comic that also plays with the symbols (Excalibur, Holy Grail etc.) and tropes of these kinds of stories, and I’m glad that it’s an ongoing and not just a mini.
4. Giant Days #46-54, As Time Goes By (BOOM! Studios)
Esther, Daisy, and Susan finally go their separate ways in the final issues of John Allison, Max Sarin, and Whitney Cogar‘s Giant Days plus a reunion one-shot where Daisy and Susan tag-team and rescue Esther from the clutches of Type A London publishing types. The final year of Giant Days had a lot of pathos to go with its usual comedy with several issues focusing on the strained relationship between Susan’s boyfriend McGraw and his father and his reaction to his sudden death. There is also all the usual college shenanigans with moments of reflection to show that these women have come a long way from randomly sharing a room back in far off 2015.
3. House of X #1-6, Powers of X #1-6 (Marvel)
In their ambitious twelve-issue House of X/Powers of X “event”, Jonathan Hickman, R.B. Silva, and Pepe Larraz made the X-Men relevant again thanks to a heavy dose of speculative fiction, geopolitics, and good old fashioned superhero soap opera. Hickman gave B-list characters like Goldballs, Doug Ramsey, and of course, Moira MacTaggert and the sentient island of Krakoa pivotal roles in his story of a rise of a mutant nation as well as the usual suspects like Magneto, Professor X, the Summers family, Jean Grey, and Emma Frost. He created a fantastic sandbox for these fan-favorite characters to play in as well as leaving some intrigue open for the spinoff stories. (The whole Moira X thing, Kitty Pryde being unable to enter Krakoa, Apocalypse and Sinister’s intentions.) I haven’t been this excited to read the X-Books as a line since Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen were writing Wolverine and the X-Men and Uncanny X-Men respectively. Plus the Hickman designed diagrams add great depth to the story and area visual treat.
2. New Kid (HarperCollins)
New Kid is a middle-grade graphic novel by cartoonist Jerry Craft that was recommended to me by my supervisor at the public library I worked at. Itis about an African-American teenager named Jordan, who transfers from a diverse public middle school to a less diverse private one. Over the course of the book, Craft fleshes out Jordan and his relationships with his old friends from his neighborhood to his new ones at the private school as he navigates playing soccer, racial microaggressions, crushes, and bonding over art and video games. The comic deftly navigates race and class issues while being an enjoyable slice of life story with Craft adding some fun visual flourishes like making the title page of each chapter a pop culture homage. New Kid‘s clear storytelling and a relatable storyline about not fitting in at a new school make it a book that I would recommend to kids and adults, comics and non-comics readers.
1. The Wicked + the Divine #41-45 (Image)
Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, and Matthew Wilson really stuck the landing in the final arc of The Wicked + the Divine, which was titled “Okay” and followed the surviving Pantheon members as they gave up divinity and lived normal lives. Basically, they grew up, and so did I. The last issues of WicDiv are peppered with powerful moments as Gillen and McKelvie connect flashbacks of the millennia past to the Pantheon’s reality and let Ananke/Minerva be a manipulator, Luci be wicked, Baal be a protector, and Laura be human one last time. The final issue is an epilogue set in the future and filled with love and emotion with McKelvie and Wilson nailing the look of the elderly, former Pantheon members. It’s sad to see WicDiv go, but it had a beautiful ending and was my favorite comic, both of 2019 and of the decade as a whole.
Comic book creators Mark Russell and Steve Pugh, Mariah McCourt and Soo Lee, and Tom Peyer and Alan Robinson are launching three all new series for the fourth wave of AHOY comic book magazines. The three series all tackle 21st century fears and anxieties with a heavy dose of humor. The new wave of titles from the Syracuse-based company will launch next spring.
AHOY Comics’ fourth wave includes three all-new titles:
BILLIONAIRE ISLAND, a 6 issue mini-series by acclaimed writer Mark Russell (Second Coming) and artist Steve Pugh (Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass), and colorist Chris Chuckry, with lettering by Rob Steen. Issue 1 features a cover by series artist and co-creator Steve Pugh and a variant cover by bestselling artist Pia Guerra (Y The Last Man).
Debuting in March 2020.
Welcome to Billionaire Island, where anything goes…if you can afford it. But the island’s ultra-rich inhabitants are about to learn that their ill-gotten gains come at a VERY high price. BILLIONAIRE ISLAND is a savage satire that reunites the creative team behind DC’s The Flintstones.
“BILLIONAIRE ISLAND tells the story of Freedom Unlimited (FU Island), a private island created and populated by billionaires hoping to wait out the end of the world,” said writer and co-creator Mark Russell. “But because they are in international waters and not subject to any law, their haven is a nightmarish police state for anyone on the island who crosses them. In a broader sense, it’s a series that asks the question: how do we save the world when all its resources are partying offshore?”
ASH & THORN, a 5 issue mini-seriesby bestselling writer Mariah McCourt (True Blood, Stitched), artist Soo Lee (Mine!, Charlie’s Angels vs. the Bionic Woman), and colorist Pippa Bowland, with lettering by Rob Steen and covers by legendary artist Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother, Wonder Woman: True Amazon).
Debuting in April 2020.
The apocalypse is nigh! The world needs a Champion, and the only heir to a sacred mystical lineage is…a little old lady? Meet Lottie Thorn, reluctant savior of the world, and her also-elderly trainer Lady Peruvia Ashlington-Voss. They might not look it, but these women are prepared to take on any Big Bad that comes along. But first, perhaps a nice cup of tea?
“Everyone knows Chosen Ones are supposed to be young and extremely expendable, but even the Universe makes mistakes sometimes,” explained McCourt. “And sometimes the mistakes are big ones. Like when it taps an 80+ year old retired art teacher to be the Champion who fights the next Apocalypse. Can an octogenarian overcome age and arthritis to save the world from cosmic monsters, world eaters, and gross creepy crawlies?”
PENULTIMAN, a 5 issue mini-seriesby writer Tom Peyer (The Wrong Earth), artist Alan Robinson (Planet of the Nerds), and colorist Lee Loughridge, with lettering by Rob Steen and covers by Robinson.
Debuting in May 2020.
Penultiman is the greatest, best-looking, and most admired superhero in the world. Penultiman is The Next-To-Last-Stage In Human Evolution. So how can he stop hating himself? Only Penultiman’s android understudy, Antepenultiman, knows the answer. Or, at least, he thinks he does!
“Penultiman, The Next-To-Last Stage in Human Evolution, is hailed as the godlike epitome of beauty, power, and compassion in the year 2020,” said Peyer. “In the far-future century he came from, however, his more advanced contemporaries saw him as a brutish evolutionary throwback and exiled him to our era. Paragon or primitive? His one chance for peace is to deny the haters and admirers alike, and discover who he really is–if he only knew how to begin.”
AHOY Comics’ fourth wave also includes 2 trade paperback collections:
SECOND COMING: Volume One trade paperback by Mark Russell, artists Richard Pace and Leonard Kirk, and colorist Andy Troy, with lettering by Rob Steen and a cover by Richard Pace. The book will be released timed to Lent and will be on sale in comic shops on February 26th and in bookstores on March 10, 2020.
DRAGONFLY & DRAGONFLYMAN: NIGHT & DAY trade paperback by Tom Peyer, artist Peter Krause, and colorist Andy Troy, with lettering by Rob Steen. The book will be released timed to dragonfly season on the east coast and will be on sale in comic shops on May 27th and in bookstores on June 9th, 2020.
Since its debut in September of 2018, AHOY Comics has pledged for readers to “expect more” from its line of comic book magazines and graphic novels with full length comic book stories, accompanied by “extras” including short prose fiction, the occasional recipes, and even a crossword puzzle.
The Wrong Earth introduced us to Dragonfly and Dragonflyman. Similar heroes from very different Earths. Each represented an era of superhero comics. One is innocent with some levity while the other is dark and gritty. Dragonfly & Dragonflyman #1 picks up their adventures in a funhouse mirror version of each.
Writer Tom Peyer continues to nail the two different worlds and able to flow from one tone to another without issues. One version of the character is friendly and nurturing while the other is a jerk.
The adventures of the two heroes are interesting as they each deal with a different version of the same villain. The two depictions is fascinating as it emphasizes how much has changed in the depiction of comics in the twenty-ish years between these two styles (60s vs 80s). The storytelling style too is slightly different in their pacing and focus.
Peter Krause handles the art with Andy Troy on colors and Rob Steen on lettering. Like the dialogue and story itself, the art shifts effortlessly between the two eras. The Dragonfly/Dragonflyman characters have so many subtle differences between the two, many of them visual. The artistic team captures the body language along with the details of each world. It’s impressive to be able to change styles like this and the visuals really enhance the story and is key in making it work.
With it being an AHOY comic, Dragonfly & Dragonflyman #1 is packed with extras. Writers Matt Brady, Tyrone Finch, and Kek-W along with illustrations by Joe Orsak and Shawn Crystal deliver a wide range of topics and prose to enjoy. It’s a bonus as the main comic itself is solid and a draw by itself.
AHOY Comics continues to deliver a series that celebrates and examines the superhero genre. It’s a must for fans who like the concept of deconstruction and those who just enjoy an entertaining tale.
Story: Tom Peyer, Matt Brady, Tyrone Finch, Kek-W Art: Peter Krause, Joe Orsak, Shawn Crystal Color: Andy Troy Letterer: Rob Steen Story: 8.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy
AHOY Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Writer: Mark Russell Artists: Richard Pace and Leonard Kirk Colorist: Andy Troy Lettering: Rob Steen Cover: Amanda Conner
Searching for his missing grandmother, Sunstar is forced to confront the shortcomings of his super-powers. Jesus, left on his own for the day, runs afoul of street preachers. Also: the usual assortment of AHOY prose stories and extra features.
Writer: Mark Russell Artist: Richard Pace Inker: Leonard Kirk (for the Earth sequences) Colorist: Andy Troy (for the Earth sequences) Letterer: Rob Steen Cover: Amanda Conner and Paul Mounts August 14, 2019 $3.99
The book everyone’s talking about! When a weirdo stalks and threatens Sunstar’s girlfriend, Jesus tries to prevent the superhero from succumbing to rage—but God has other plans. Plus AHOY’s customary offerings of illustrated short prose fiction.
In addition to the main story, this comic book magazine features two extras:
“The Fare” by writer J. Endress, featuring an illustration by Ameilee Sullivan
“Important NYC Checklists” by writer Matt Buechele, featuring an illustration by Dan Schoeneck
AHOY Comics has announced its third wave of titles, featuring more literary parodies of Edgar Allan Poe, the return of a fan-favorite superhero satire, and the latest installment of an intergalactic space epic featuring cats and dogs.
AHOY Comics’ third wave of titles include:
EDGAR ALLAN POE’S SNIFTER OF TERROR Season Two
By Various, featuring covers by Richard Williams Debuting in October, 2019
Once upon a midnight dreary, AHOY Comics assembled acclaimed comic book creators to mangle Edgar Allan Poe’s classic gothic tales and create brand new stories in the tradition of Tales from the Crypt and Drunk History. Just in time for Halloween, EDGAR ALLAN POE’S SNIFTER OF TERROR Season Two kicks off with writer/artist Dean Motter and inker Alex Ogle’s ultimate Poe mash-up —“The Tell-Tale Black Cask of Usher”—in which the drink-addled writer falls prey to his own horrific imagination. Upcoming issues will include a new spooky, sugary cereal story by Mark Russell and artist Peter Snejbjerg as well as stories by Alisa Kwitney, Paul Constant, Carol Lay, Linda Medley, and Greg Scott. Each and every issue of EDGAR ALLAN POE’S SNIFTER OF TERROR features Hunt Emerson’s slapstick “Poe and the Black Cat” backup story as well as a cover by legendary Mad Magazine artist Richard Williams.
AHOY will publish the EDGAR ALLAN POE’S SNIFTER OF TERROR Volume One trade paperback in comic shops on October 2nd and in bookstores on October 15th. EDGAR ALLAN POE’S SNIFTER OF TERROR Season Two debuts on October 9th.
DRAGONFLY & DRAGONFLYMAN
By writer Tom Peyer, artist Peter Krause, and colorist Andy Troy Debuting in November, 2019
Springing from the pages of the breakout hit THE WRONG EARTH by writer Tom Peyer and artists Jamal Igle and Juan Castro, comes DRAGONFLY & DRAGONFLYMAN by Peyer, artist Peter Krause and colorist Andy Troy. This stand-alone prequel to THE WRONG EARTH features the adventures of everyone’s favorite new superheroes—when they were on the right earths. On Earth-Alpha, the cheery caped campaigner Dragonflyman must foil the diabolical schemes of the criminal Devil-Man. Meanwhile, on Earth-Omega, gritty vigilante The Dragonfly battles the dangerous psychopath known as the Devil-Man. Will our heroes be tempted into wrongdoing by their respective versions of their dastardly foe? Tune in this November!
CAPTAIN GINGER Season Two
By writer Stuart Moore, artists June Brigman and Roy Richardson, and colorist Veronica Gandini Debuting in January, 2020
Cats running a starship? At AHOY, that’s only the beginning! In CAPTAIN GINGER Season Two, Ginger and his crew must decide whether to make contact with the other survivors of Earth—unaware that they’re all scampering into a deadly cosmic trap. Writer Stuart Moore, legendary POWER PACK comic book artist June Brigman, Roy Richardson and colorist Veronica Gandini reunite for CAPTAIN GINGER Season Two, in which cats come face-to-face with the creatures formerly known as man’s best friend. Meow meow RUFF RUFF!
After so much controversy, Second Coming #1 is finally here. The series sees Jesus sent to Earth by his father to learn from a superhero Sunstar. Part comedy, part homage, part exploration of religion, the first issue delivers on expectations.
The comic opens taking us through history and God’s interaction with humans. From Adam and Eve to Jesus’ resurrection, we get a quick look at how things went so wrong.
Created by Mark Russell and Richard Pace, the comic is an entertaining look at religion and superheroes without fear of pushing buttons for either. We’re presented with a rather naive Jesus and a father frustrated with his creation.
What’s interesting though is the lack of any real controversy. The truly religious will recognize Jesus depiction not as mockery but as a focus on his real message of love and healing. Then there’s Sunstar, a punch first ask questions later superhero from another world. The two together deliver a juxtaposition of philosophy and action. And how the two must deal with the evil that is mankind is one of the more interesting aspects.
Russell and Pace give us a modern debate as to the best course of action. Is punching and violence the way to defeat evil? Is listening, compassion, and love the way to go? They present their debate in an over the top method that brings humor to it all and keeps it from being a bit too serious. This culminates in the first issue with Sunstar going after counterfeiters of a Pokemon-like game and dispensing with extreme justice.
The art of Second Coming #1 is solid with a style that shifts depending on the time period. Pace’s art, with “Earth pages” finished by Leonard Kirk and colored by Andy Troy delivers a comic that shifts in tone visually. The scenes in Heaven or the past have a more serious aspect about them. The superheroics have a more comedic look with over the top violence. There are also small details that bring about the humor as readers are forced to pay attention to entire panels to get every joke. It’s a comic that uses the art to deliver a second and third laugh beyond the obvious initial one. The lettering by Rob Steen also enhances the situation giving us a more wrath of God feel when appropriate with a simple switch of style.
As with AHOY Comics, we’re also presented with a prose story by Stuart Moore featuring art by Cayetano Valenzuela. While there’s not really a thematic connection between it and the main comic, it feels like the added bonus we’ve come to expect from this publisher. It’s a value-add and even without it, the comic would be a must get.
In reality, Second Coming #1 is much to do about nothing when it comes to the protests against it. The blasphemy isn’t there. Russell continues his dissection of religion, boiled down to the basics, we’ve seen from him before. It’s an interesting debut that entertains and makes you think and definitely will have you coming back for more.
Story: Mark Russell, Stuart Moore Art: Richard Pace, Cayetano Valenzuela Finisher: Leonard Kirk Color: Andy Troy Letterer: Rob Steen Story: 8.15 Art: 8.15 Overall: 8.15 Recommendation:Buy
AHOY Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
AHOY Comics and the Delcourt Group are partnering on a deal to distribute select AHOY Comic graphic novels in France and inviting readers to “espérer plus.” The announcement was made jointly by both companies in advance of San Diego Comic-Con2019.
Delcourt will launch the deal by translations of three acclaimed AHOY Comics titles:
L’AUTRE TERRE (THE WRONG EARTH) by writer Tom Peyer, artists Jamal Igle and Juan Castro and colorist Andy Troy. PUBLICATION DATE: January 2020
Meet your new favorite superheroes: the crime-fighting Dragonflyman and the grim, vigilante Dragonfly. With THE WRONG EARTH writer Tom Peyer and artist Jamal Igle deliver the superhero satire you didn’t know you needed.
“if you love superheroes, you NEED this. If you HATE superheroes, this will change your mind.” ― Mark Millar
CAPTAIN GINGER by writer Stuart Moore, artists June Brigman and Roy Richardson and colorist Veronica Gandini. PUBLICATION DATE: July 2020
When the human race died out, the cats inherited the Earth! Or at least a starship. Legendary comic book artist June Brigman and writer Stuart Moore present CAPTAIN GINGER, a graphic novel featuring cats united against a hostile universe—and their own worst feline instincts. Featuring an introduction by award-winning writer/ artist Walter Simonson.
“The best books usually transport me into a world with which I am largely unfamiliar and reveal its mysteries to me, whether it’s the mean streets of a great urban metroplex, a small village lying somewhere on a distant steppe in central Asia, or a starship full of individualist cats trying to keep it together long enough to survive…these may very well be the characters that June was born to draw and Stuart was born to write!” ― Walter Simonson
SECOND COMING by writer Mark Russell and artist Richard Pace, featuring a cover by Amanda Conner. PUBLICATION DATE: October 2020.
In the controversial, satirical SECOND COMING by New York Times bestselling writer Mark Russell and acclaimed artist Richard Pace, Jesus Christ resumes His Holy Mission after God commands Earth’s mightiest superhero, Sunstar, to accept Him as his roommate and teach Him how to use His power in a… more powerful way. Jesus, shocked at the way humans have twisted his message over two millennia, vows to straighten it out.
“No one captures the lyrical disconnect between real personalities in fantasy bodies like Mark Russell. SECOND COMING is beautifully drawn and hilariously blunt. It’s ribald, cranky, and warm at the same time, and it might be my new favorite thing.”― Gail Simone
This week marks the end of both “War of the Realms” and the Messages from Midgard column. There are a few straggler tie-ins like Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and an Omega issue, which I will cover in its own review, but the core miniseries plus three ancillary tie-in minis and Jason Aaron’s arcs on Thor and Avengers wrap up this week. Plus there’s a fun Superior Spider-Man story where Peter Parker and, of all people, Gwenpool, teaching Doc Ock that heroism is about saving individuals and not just trying to glory hog the whole event. That privilege is reserved for Thor, of which there are four, because its their event.
War of the Realms #6
In War of the Realms #6, Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, and Matthew Wilson knuckle down to give both this event and basically Aaron’s seven year run on Thor one hell of a conclusion. It’s centered around a simple premise. If only Thor can break the magic circle and confront a Knull-infused Malekith, then why not bring four of them: Odinson, King Thor, Young Thor, and Jane Foster’s Thor, who now wields Mjolnir from the Ultimate Universe. What follows is an exercise in fighting, bickering, and true heroism while the rest of the heroes confront Laufey on Midgard.
Before digging into the fantastic things that Aaron does with both Thor and Jane Foster’s arcs, I would like to praise the visuals of Dauterman and Wilson, who really outdo themselves in issue six. Wilson’s palette is majestic and varied ranging from the eye of the storm to the clash of lightning on symbiote ooze and a snowstorm to end all snowstorms. Like the different hammers and weapons used by the Thors, Dauterman switches up his inking style to fit the scene from looser work when Malekith does anything symbiote-y to more clean polished art when Odinson forges Mjolnir anew in the eye of a storm. His attention to detail is uncanny, and he draws many epic moments like when Odinson punches his own hammer and memorable small ones like Screwbeard and Ivory Honeyshot doing their best Gimli and Legolas imitation at the end of the world.
One word that can be used to describe War of the Realms #6 is “satisfying”. Odinson has gone on a painful heroic journey that draws comparisons to the one his own father, Odin, went on to become All-Father sacrificing body parts to gain the wisdom and power to rule Asgard. There are also parallels to the journeys of Dionysus and Jesus Christ in his story as he humbles himself and suffers to save the whole world. But, lofty comparisons aside, this is really the story of a man who becomes a hero and “worthy” in spite of his flaws, which is a metaphor for most of the Marvel heroes, who have fantastic abilities and feet of clay. It is a rare sight to see such an iconic character, like Thor, grow and change over a run, and Jason Aaron has pulled this off with War of the Realms #6 being the finishing touch and earning an Overall Verdict of Buy.
War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas #4
In New Agents of Atlas#4, this new pan-Asian superhero team finally gets their act together to assemble and prevent Sindr, the Fire Goblin queen from melting the polar ice caps. Greg Pak and artists Gang Hyuk Lim, Moy R, and Pop Mhan take their cues from third act of the 2012 Avengers film from Jimmy Woo playing the Nick Fury role and lying about Pele’s true nature to get the team to work together and lots of big epic splash pages of heroes doing team-up moves. However, with the exception of Brawn, Shang Chi, and the Filipina heroine Wave, I feel like I barely know these heroes so the big fight scenes look pretty, but feel like action figures in position, not characters reaching the end of their journey.
Pak, Lim, Federico Blee and the guest artists and colorists had a tall order introducing new characters and ones who had only appeared in Korean and Chinese comics as well as mobile games to a new audience. Having four issues and a big, yet underdeveloped baddie helped, but in the end, the cast of New Agents of Atlas was simply too large to get to know the new folks. Hopefully, the upcoming miniseries will take its time to develop their personalities as well as show off their cool costumes and powers. Unfortunately, New Agents of Atlas #4 earns an Overall Verdict of Pass despite its one genuinely memorable twist.
War of the Realms: Punisher #3
War of the Realms Punisher#3
features the same fantasy baddies as the rest of “War of the Realm’s” tie-ins,
but Gerry Duggan, Marcelo Ferreira, Roberto Poggi, and Rachelle Rosenberg
take a grittier, more violent, and at times, fatalistic approach to their story
beginning with Frank Castle having guns pointed to his head by former mobsters.
He gets out of this pickle pretty easily by swearing on the souls of dead wife
and kids that he’ll spare the criminals once they get the civilians to safety.
Most of them don’t have to worry about living as they’re immediately set upon
by a squad of trolls; one of which Frank tortures in a chilling scene that
makes the criminals realize that they’re not getting out of this alive too.
Duggan and Ferreira portray Frank Castle as a hardened soldier in War of the Realms Punisher #3, and his enemy is the criminal element, both mortal and otherworldly. Sure, he’ll get the civilians to safety in New Jersey, but he’ll also gun down the last criminal standing with him while the doctor he was assisting shrieks in terror. This is because Castle is as much of a monster and a force of nature as the trolls and Fire Goblins that he was gunning down or blowing up tanker trucks to stop. Duggan’s understanding of Frank Castle’s character, and that we can cheer for him to take out the bad guys and recoil at killing one in cold blood as well as the hellish visuals of Ferreira, Poggi, and Rosenberg earns War of the Realms Punisher #3 an Overall Verdict of Buy and definitely has me interested in Duggan’s upcoming Punisher Kill Krew series.
War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men #3
Even though it’s nice to see Cyclops, Multiple Man, and your
favorite former New Mutants defending Citi Field from Frost Giants, Matthew Rosenberg, Pere Perez, and Rachelle
Rosenberg’sWar of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men has been the weak link of the tie-in
minis. Issue three is no exception with the pointless killing off of Sunspot,
the repetitive dialogue of (dead in the main series) Wolfsbane’s lover
Hrimhari, and a tacked on sequence with Dani Moonstar and the Valkyries even
though this plot point was only touched upon at the end of issue one. It could
have been a good hook for the miniseries and a through-line to the main action,
but in the end, it’s too little, too late.
War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men #3 does have a few cool moments like Multiple Man’s dupes luring the Frost Giants into a Limbo portal, a visceral claw on claw fight between Sabretooth and Wolfsbane, and Cyclops precision sniping Frost Giants. However, these are few and far between, and after three issues, this miniseries has really done nothing to justify its existence and earns an Overall Verdict of Pass. But the silver lining is that Jonathan Hickman is coming in a month and probably all these events/pointless character deaths will be retconned.
Thor #14
Jason Aaron, Scott
Hepburn, and Matthew Wilson’s story in Thor
#14 covers much of the same ground as War
of the Realms #6, but from the POV of Young Thor as the Fantastic Four
summon him from brooding and trying to lift Mjolnir to a fight for all ten
realms. I read this almost directly after War
of the Realms #6, and there are obvious re-draws of Russell Dauterman’s art
although Hepburn has an earthier take on the material to match the boisterous,
shit-talking Young Thor. The issue also has more direct connections to the last
adventure of the three Thors in Aaron’s Thor,God of Thunder series and a similar
art style although Hepburn is no Simon Bisley. There’s a lot of gruffness, talk
about hammers, and an indirect reference to Back
to the Future along the way.
However, compared to the standalone issues about Loki, Cul Borson, and even Gorilla-Man in Aaron’s tie-in issues of Thor and Avengers, Thor #14 seems less essential because Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman portrayed Young Thor’s carelessness, brashness, and adventurous nature so well in War of the Realms #6. He does get a cool action sequence against a gnarly Hepburn-drawn Venom symbiote and lifts Mjolnir in a moment that again proves that “worthiness” and heroism is not something bestowed externally, but internally. Most of the material in Thor #14 is covered in Realms #6, but that scene and the sheer joy that Aaron gets at writing Young Thor earns the issue an Overall Verdict of Read.
Avengers #20
Avengers #20 is yet
another standalone success from Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness, Mark Morales, and
Jason Keith and is a metafictional
look at She-Hulk, and how she’s changed as a character in the past few years.
The opening sequence is brilliant and set in side a Wakandan therapy simulation
where She-Hulk looks at a pinup of the John Byrne version of her and beats up a
version of her that looks like it was drawn by Javier Pulido. The comic is a
narration about how she likes embracing the monster and getting to beat up
enemies with her new powers instead of being sexually harassed while in
costume. Unlike Bruce Banner, she enjoys the freedom of being Hulk, and
McGuinness and Morales use wide panels to show the swath of destruction she
causes with her bulging forearms.
Using the character of She-Hulk as a case study, Avengers #20 is also a bigger commentary about how women have to fit pre-conceived roles in the workforce (Even if that means the Avengers.) and society and get pushback whenever they’re assertive or show anger. Deadpool asking She-Hulk why she doesn’t crack jokes or break the fourth wall any more is the metafictional version of a male co-worker asking a woman why she doesn’t smile. And, on a more a geeky level, this issue also has some foreshadowing of Aaron’s future plans for the Avengers title with the help of omniscient Daredevil showing Aaron can work on both a micro and macro level. Avengers #20 is a fantastic, holistic character study of She-Hulk and her recent developments and easily earns an Overall Verdict of Buy with a side dish of allusions to Immortal Hulk.
Superior Spider-Man #8
Superior Spider-Mancontinues
to be an underrated delight and study in ego from Christos Gage, Lan Medina,
Cam Smith, and Andy Troy. Doc Ock continues to be terrible at reading the room,
er, event and wants to take out Malekith all by himself with the help of the
Fantastic Four and West Coast Avengers. He doesn’t want to protect New York
City, but basically hack America Chavez’s portal abilities to get to what he
thinks is the real action. This ends up backfiring, and he gets one hell of a
dressing down from Spider-Man in the nature of heroism while Spider-Man is
wearing his helmet from the Land of
Giants one-shot and is immediately abandoned by his “minions” aka the West
Coast Avengers.
Gage and Medina use the wide scope of “War of Realms” to tell an entertaining and at times fourth wall breaking (Thanks to Gwenpool.) story about how heroism isn’t just about defeating the final boss, but saving one person from death and danger. Having Spider-Man deliver the lecture about this topic makes sense because for the most part, he has focused on protecting his neighborhood instead of mixing it up with gods and monsters. Gage’s script is self-aware, and Medina and Smith have a classic, illustrator style approach where it is easy to follow the action even in a Southern California blizzard. For commenting on the nature of heroism, being funny as hell, and having plentiful America Chavez side eye, Superior Spider-Man #8 earns an Overall Verdict of Buy.
War of
the Realms #6 was the best ending to a summer Marvel event since
Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic’s Secret Wars,
and it shipped on time too. One thing that these two events shared in common is
that they were a culmination of two macro-stories, namely, Jason Aaron’s Thor
run and Hickman’s Fantastic Four-Ultimates-Avengers/New Avengers project. The
War of the Realms has been foreshadowed for years, and the early battles were
fought in the pages of Mighty Thor and
Thor so the event was really just
icing on the cake. Sometimes, the montage of the different battles were a
little insufferable, but when Aaron, Dauterman, and Wilson grabbed onto the
character journeys of Odinson and Jane Foster, the book really sung. Nowhere
was this more evident than in War of the
Realms #6, and the spinoff I’m most excited for is Valkyrie even if I’m little disappointed that Tessa Thompson’s take
on the character is nowhere in sight although Al Ewing may pluck her from
somewhere in the multiverse.
Panel of the Week
Young Thor and King Thor bonding over craft beer is the cutest thing. (From War of the Realms #6, Art by Russell Dauterman and Matthew Wilson)
