{mosimage}Well, week 2 of This Week In Marvel is upon us…and, perhaps fittingly in the week before Halloween, it’s the darkest week of Marvel books I can remember for a long time. So, onwards and upwards!
Darkest of the week: Moon Knight #13.
Boy, is there a stylistic change here. Charlie Huston is still scripting, so no difference there, but the artwork takes a dramatic one off shift as Tomm Coker pencils this "double-sized" issue. Moon Knight is an acquired taste to begin with, but he’s always been one of my favourite characters. He’s the Batman of the Marvel universe; an exceedingly wealthy guy who is crazier than an outhouse rat. And Marc Spector totally out-crazies Bruce Wayne. Both of them have suffered some pretty traumatic experiences. And although I haven’t so much as glanced at a Batman book for almost 15 years, I feel fairly confident in saying that Moon Knight is way past the edge of sanity that Batman occupies. Which is why I love where Marvel take their heroes…into psychological realms that they’re famous for. Basically, the issue revolves around Spector’s attempts to get registered following the Civil War. Without spoiling anything, he finds a crazy (there’s that word again) way around the registration act’s regulations. This is a guy who cut up his Avengers membership card after all. A whole new creative team starts next issue, and I can’t reccomend this book highly enough. It’s a well thought out examination of a physically, mentally and spiritually broken down man, taking extreme measures to make the world around him safer.
More Darkness in the week: Annihilation Conquest – Wraith #4.
This book has never really clicked for me. I think a large part of that is I can’t help but thinking of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman every time I look at him. With a sword. So that makes him cool, as all sci-fi characters with swords are cool. Anyhoo, after four issues of this Conquest prelude series…we hit a cosmic reset button. Nothing much has changed in the series, and, aside from being a battle against the Phalanx, it’s very difficult to see how this has effected the COnquest in its totality. Hopefully there will be a bit more pay-off when the series proper starts, but for now, this is just the weakest book in the event.
Slightly less emo: She-Hulk #22.
Peter David jumps aboard and immediately the tone of the book shifts a bit. True to his word, David hasn’t gone for the high humour factor. Not yet anyway. Instead, we’ve got a bit of a mystery on our hands here. And, joy of joys, this book feels like one that will read better in the monthly format, a rarity these days at Marvel. The art is serviceable, and David gives us a great twist in the book (which is a joke, for those who’ve read it). Good to see that the high standard of the book hasn’t dropped.
Fun, fun, fun, till Banner hides the old Hulk away: X-Men First Class #5
Not a single World War Hulk tie-in this week. Great Scott! But the jade giant still pops up, in X-Men Retro. I surprise myself every issue of this series by just how much I enjoy it. Great character work in the earliest days of the X-Men. No angst. No self-doubt. No dystopian futures. Just a bunch of fun super-heroing by a group of teenagers exploring their new powers. Oh, and Hulk smashes for a little while too. If you were feeling withdrawals for that sort of thing.
The rest of the books, or the emo run-down.
- Thunderbolts #117 – Doc Samson asks Penance why he cuts himself. Songbird is unsure. And Norman takes pills…or tries to. SOP.
- Daredevil #101 – Matt Murdock used to be a bit of a swashbuckler. Years ago. Now, there’s more paranoia and Mr Fear, as Matt’s wife Milla faces psychological evaluation after pushing a bloke under a train last issue. Still above average.
- X-Men #204 – The final prologue to Messiah Complex. A conveniently unexplained recovery makes this book slightly happier than everything else out this week, but it is still effectively only a prologue. Oh, and Endangered Species just stops…in two parts. Hrm.
- Cable & Deadpool #46 – Deadpool, Bob, and Fantastic Fours new and old in the time stream. The Cable-less book is always a smiler, with DP turning over a new leaf. Welcome relief this week.
- Foolkiller #1 – Confusing, violent, and angry. Not an essay by Germaine Greer or Noam Chomsky, but close. Is there a market for this? Maybe wait for the trade.
- Black Panther #31 – Erm…how did we get here? Something disconnected between the end of the last issue and the start of this. And, yeah, that bit is a dream sequence. All a lot of Deus Ex Machina for my liking. Dipping in quality a bit.
- X-Men: Die by the Sword #2 – That was a quick turnaround after the first issue. Reunions bring hi fives all round. Sage is a better fighter than Psylocke, never mind about her ninja training. And a lot of time is spent in a pink palace. Standard Claremont gabfest.
- Oh, also out, What If? Planet Hulk. Haven’t read it, but there is a WWH book after all. Silly me.
A grim week, punctuated by the levity of Bob, Agent of Hydra. More Bob please Marvel. More Bob.
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