{mosimage}This week, Marvel gave us an absolute avalanche of books. Messiah CompleX and World War Hulk continue in varying degrees, and the Annihilation Conquest ramps up in earnest. But this week, I thought I’d shine the spotlight on some of those books flying under the radar a bit.
Pleasant Surprise of the Week: Iron Man – Enter the Mandarin #3. Joe Casey is Marvel’s go-to guy for books that delve into the unexplored nooks and crannies of history. Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes 1 & 2 were great reads, and this new Iron Man mini continues Casey’s home-run hitting form. Reading about Stark learning and adapting in some of his earliest appearances, with a modern twist, is a lot more fun than reading him as the political head of SHIELD. And the artwork by Eric Canete has a very retro feel…elements of Romita and Kirby root this book in past eras. The Mandarin is cold and calculating, a perfect foe for Iron Man, the traditional world’s antithesis to Iron Man’s modern world sensibilities. This series is probably sneaking you by, but it’s worth your investment.
Pleasant Disappointment of the week: Mystic Arcana #4 – Sister Grimm. Pleasant disappointment? How does that work? Well, you may not remember this at all, given the zero buzz this series has had, but Marvel promised that the use of magic in the MU would be forever streamlined in the pages of this series. Rules would be made, rules they said. But, no, nothing’s really changed as far as I can tell. Magic is still just, well, magical. ANyway, Nico from Runaways is the lead character in this book (had you completely forgotten she was called Sister Grimm as well? I had). It’s a forgettable kind of story, mainly because nothing can actually happen of consequence to her outside her chief book. The back-up focussing on Ian McNee brings that story to a close. I’m guessing that’s where the magical rules were supposed to be defined, but it didn’t happen. Look, it’s not a bad series, but certainly not the Annihilation comparable series that Marvel touted it as. It’d make a nice trade read though.
Pleasant "What The…?" book of the week: Omega the Unknown #2 Yeah, this book is published by Marvel Comics. It doesn’t look or read anything like a Marvel Comic. At all. It’s an indie book, with the Marvel logo on the cover. I have no idea how this got greenlit. It’s weird. Yet wonderful. Mysterious, funky, and with funny robot cannon fodder. Two issues in, and I don’t care if it’s good or bad…it’s something very different from Marvel. And it’s a worthwhile trip to take, I think. Pick it up, and I don’t think you’ll find it forgettable.
Pleasant Guilty Pleasure of the week: Supervillain Team-Up: Modok’s 11 #5 All out fun, with a bunch of villains double and triple crossing each other, beating each other up, and then quadruple crossing each other. MODOK certainly has the potential to be the most likeable villain in Marvel right now. The floating big head is petty, intelligent, and funny. Oh, and insane. The plot is wonderfully convoluted, the art shiny, and I dare you to read this book without smiling at the sheer energy of it. Plus, when you read MODOK’s final equation, if you’re like me, the Underpants Gnomes of South Park may just pop into your mind (Step 1 – Steal Underpants. Step 2 – … . Step 3 – Profit!). Buy the trade if you haven’t read the series.
Pleasantness all round: Howard the Duck #2 Only a short capsule on this book. But remember a couple of week’s back, how I pointed out the overall grimness of Marvel’s release schedule. So far, not a lot of grimness in any of these books. But Howard makes me smile all the time. Who wouldn’t smile at MODOT? (Yes, that’s a ‘T’ at the end). Enjoyable lunacy.
Other pleasantness:
- Annhilation Conquest – Starlord #4 – The final fate of Peter Quill’s crew. A little anticlimactic, but it’ll be good to see the survivors interact throughout…
- Annihilation Conquest #1 – The real deal starts here. And although the minis have been a little off, Conquest rolls along beautifully here. Abnett, Lanning and Raney tell a rip-roaring tale here.
- Astonishing X-Men #23 – Things are happening here. And it’s good. But the delays are painful. It’ll be great as a trade. As issues…not so much.
- Fantastic Four #551 – Doom, Panther & Namor from the future come to prevent Reed screwing things up. A nice nod to what Priest hinted at in his Black Panther run, and a mildly successful issue. Feels like the books treading water now.
- Iron Fist #10 – The tournament fight is over too quickly, but still one of the best books Marvel publishes. Excellence in comic form.
- Ms Marvel #21 – Just ok. Ms Marvel finds out about the blue skinned creature that’s seemingly taking over her body. The character of Ms Marvel is getting lost these days, and the core concept needs a bit of re-examining.
- New Avengers – Illuminati #5 – Skrulls. SKRULLS!!! Much as you may hate the idea, this book is actually a perfectly done intro piece to the invasion storyline. The set-up is there, bang, ready for the storyline to take off.
- Uncanny X-Men #492. Cyclops kicks arse. The heavy hitting leaders of the X-Men take centre stage. And Messiah CompleX is off to a good start. Pity that Danny Miki’s inks make Billy Tan’s pencils look Frank Quitely-ish form time to time…these two don’t really mesh together.
Not reviewed this week (Come on, there’s so many books!) Silver Surfer – In thy Name #1, The Order #4, World War Hulk Gamma Corps #4.
Next week’s another big week, see you there!
Additional Links