Monday, October 26, 2015

Marvel's January previews reviewed

As with DC, January seems like a quiet-ish month for Marvel, with no real new books (just re-launches of recently launched or often relaunched books) and an ongoing Old Man Logan series. If we count that as an X-Men book, then the X-line is now up to five books (All-New X-Men, Extraordinary X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine and Old Man Logan), while the upstart Inhumans have two books of their own (All-New Inhumans and Uncanny Inhumans), which still feels like 1-2 Inhumans books too many.

Also, is the Deadpool movie coming out in January or February of next year? Because it looks like Marvel's output will be at least half Deadpool in January, thanks to some cheap, $1 reprints of various Deadpool books.

For a complete look at what Marvel is planning on publishing in January of next year, you can visit CBR's listing here. For my commentary, you need not go anywhere.


AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. #1
MARC GUGGENHEIM (w) • GERMAN PERALTA (a)
Cover by MIKE NORTON
...
It's high-stakes espionage in the Marvel Universe in this brand-new series inspired by the hit television show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Tony Stark guest-stars in the beginning of "THE COULSON PROTOCOLS."
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99


Aw, man. This seems to be replacing the Mark Waid-written SHIELD comic, which I liked the first volume of quite a bit, and/or the Ales Kot-written Secret Avengers, which I also liked quite a bit, and seemed like the Agents of SHIELD show Marvel might have made if they could get Sam Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Cobie Smulders to do a weekly network TV show.

Neither was too closely tied to the TV show, though, although the TV show isn't too closely tied to the Marvel Universe either, so I guess it's a lose/lose situation, in that respect. At least they've got Stark in the first issue, which is surely something the TV show wouldn't be able to do...at least not without spending a lot of money on RDJR's paycheck.


ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT AVENGERS #4
MARK WAID (W) • MAHMUD ASRAR (A)
Cover by ALEX ROSS
...
• You thought the origin of the All-New, All-Different Avengers was surprising? You haven't seen anything yet!
• When passions flare between Captain America and Thor, they lead to Earth's Mightiest Kiss!
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99


As far as kisses go between superhero teammates, I think this is about 50 times more exciting than that between Superman and Wonder Woman, and about 50 times less exciting than a lip-lock between the old Captain America and the old Thor would be.

It's a nice cover though, and should lead to some interesting story possibilities...especially if The Odinson ever figures out who holds his hammer...


CAPTAIN MARVEL #1
Michele Fazekas & Tara Butters (w) • KRIS ANKA (a/C)
...
Face front, true believers! The Captain has made her return and oh, how mighty it is. It's a bold new frontier for Carol Danvers as she soars to new heights in her greatest mission yet—leader of the all-new Alpha Flight space program. Yup, Alpha Flight. As earth's first line of defense, Carol and her team aim to protect the planet from extraterrestrial threats. But can Carol be a soldier and a diplomat? Especially when an unknown enemy emerges that Carol can't quite punch. The superstar team behind Marvel's Agent Carter television series, Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas, make their comics debut alongside the awesomely-talented Kris Anka.
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99


So between SWORD and The Guardians of The Galaxy, I guess this makes Captain Marvel's Alpha Flight the third first line of defense against extraterrestrial threats...?

I'm curious if Danvers' Alpha Flight is just appropriating the name of Canada's mutant super-team, or if some of its members will also be involved. I'm not exactly an expert on Alpha Flight or anything, but the majority of the team's make-up doesn't seem particularly well-suited to fighting aliens in outer-space.

I'm also curious to see how this new writing team fares with the character. No offense to Kelly Sue DeConnick, but her Captain Marvel seemed to constantly be on the cusp, and that Marvel kept it around more so because they wanted a Captain Marvel book on the stands, rather than because it was necessarily selling well or producing good stories on a regular basis or anything.


HOWARD THE DUCK #3
CHIP ZDARSKY WITH CHRIS HASTINGS (W)
JOE QUINONES WITH DANILO BEYRUTH (A )
Cover by JOE QUINONES
Variant Cover by PAOLO RIVERA
Gwenpool Variant Cover by ROB LIEFELD
• The entire universe is after Howard! Is it because he's very handsome? Charming? Yes!
• No, wait. Of course not. Sorry.
• Howard is actually very difficult to be around sometimes. Also, it's hard to tell if he's handsome since he's a duck.
• Join Chip & Joe for ... DUCK HUNT! The storyline created just so we could use that title!
• Plus the conclusion of the Howard/Gwenpool backup!
40 PGS./Rated T+ ...$4.99


The fourth bullet-point made me laugh. I kinda wish they used an image of Lockjaw holding a limp Howard up by his feet in the weeds for the cover though.

...

Woah, woah, woah...40 pages? $4.99? They're just daring he market to reject this book, aren't they?


I really like the way the roar is integrated into this cover image for Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. I hope the comic is good; I like dinosaurs.


OBI-WAN AND ANAKIN #1 (of 5)
CHARLES SOULE (W) • MARCO CHECCHETTO (A/C)
ACTION FIGURE VARIANT COVER BY JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
...
Before their military heroism in the Clone Wars, before their tragic battle on Mustafar, and many decades before their final confrontation on the Death Star...they were Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan learner, Anakin Skywalker. It's been a few years since Obi-Wan pledged to train the young "chosen one," but even as they have grown closer through training, it has been a difficult road. Now, called to a remote planet for assistance, Master and Padawan may be pushed to the breaking point. Writer Charles Soule (Lando, She-Hulk, Daredevil) and artist Marco Checchetto (Star Wars: Shattered Empire, Avengers World, Punisher) bring us a tale of the Jedi at the height of their power...
32 PGS./Rated T ...$3.99


I wonder if the "ACTION VARIANT" cover for this particular issue will turn out to be really valuable, as it will end up being super-rare, because it's hard to imagine any Star Wars fan being too terribly excited to get a Jake Lloyd comics cover. I don' know, did they even make a baby Anakin action figure when Phantom Menace was released...?

I'm a a little surprised to see Marvel dabbling with this part of the Star Wars timeline at all, given the concentration the transitional period from Republic to Empire has gotten in the Dark Horse comics and the recent videogames and TV shows. That said, the fact that this is pre-Clone Wars makes it kind of interesting. I mean, I am and have been curious about what heppened to Anakin during the time he went from being played by Jake Lloyd to being playded by Hayden Christiansen.


OLD MAN LOGAN #1
JEFF LEMIRE (w) • ANDREA SORRENTINO (a/C)
...
Fifty years from now, Logan — the man who no longer calls himself Wolverine — will have endured many atrocities: The Marvel Universe's villains will have banded together and rid the world of its heroes. Logan's closest friend, Hawkeye, will have been murdered in cold blood right before his eyes. And driven mad by the same radiation that gave him his superhuman strength, Bruce Banner will have fathered a family of hillbilly Hulks...that eventually went on to slaughter Logan's wife and two children. But now, in the present, Old Man Logan wakes up to discover himself in a world before these atrocities, before the Wasteland. And he's going to seize this opportunity and change history to ensure that his future never comes to pass...
40 PGS./Parental Advisory ...$4.99


I hate Andrea Sorrentino's art, so his isn't one I'll even be able to force myself to read, by I'm curious that Jeff Lemire is writing a book based on Brian Michael Bendis' extrapolation of Mark Millar's "What if Wolverine was in Unforgiven in Mad Max-land?" or whatever his pitch was for that original miniseries. From what Lemire said at CXC, he doesn't generally like to stay on superheroes longer than a story arc, so I can't imagine him being on this book too long, which is sort of weird, as it should have a pretty open-ended premise of an elderly Wolverine wandering around the modern Marvel universe, being all old and shit, and constantly being surprised and elated or dismayed by how different things are or were from when he was around.

I think killing off Wolverine only to replace him with an older version of himself from a different timeline is kinda weird too, and a bit of a cheat.


I don't know if this scene actually occurs in this issue of Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat or not, but I sure hope it does.


David Aja has produced a nice, creepy cover for this month's issue of Scarlet Witch.


SILVER SURFER #1
DAN SLOTT (w) • MICHAEL ALLRED (a/C)
...
"Fantastic Planet"
The Surfer has taken Dawn Greenwood to the end of the universe, and now he's going to show her the most fantastic planet of them all: Earth! It's your homeworld like you've never seen it before: with monsters, magic and...a secret that will change everything! The perfect jumping-on point for the book everyone's talking about!


I am soooo far behind on this series...

In fact, I haven't even read the first trade of the last volume (which is by this exact same creative team) yet. I hope that just because they're renumbering the serially-published issues, that doesn't mean they'll also be re-numbering the trades, so that there will be multiple trade paperbacks labeled Silver Surfer Vol. 1 by Dan Slott and Mike Allred....


SPIDER-MAN/DEADPOOL #1
JOE KELLY (w) • ED MCGUINNESS (a/C)
...
BECAUSE YOU DEMANDED IT!
The Webbed Wonder and the Merc with a Mouth are teaming up for their first ongoing series EVER! It's action, adventure and just a smattering of (b) romance in this episodic epic featuring the WORLD'S GREATEST SUPER HERO and the star of the WORLD'S GREATEST COMICS MAGAZINE. Talk about a REAL dynamic duo!
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99

A title so obvious it's incredible it isn't already being published! The two characters play off one another nicely, but the fact that one is a good guy and the other is essentially a not-so-bad bad guy makes an ongoing union between the two sort of difficult to imagine.

That's a great creative team, though...I wonder who they will gt to replace McGuinness in two or three months...?


I like his comic a whole lot, and will eventually get around to a formal review of the trade, I swear. I think this may be my favorite cover image of the series so far. Er, counting the previous volume, which they just relaunched with a new #1 because Secret Wars, that's why.


UNCANNY INHUMANS #4
CHARLES SOULE (W) • STEVE MCNIVEN (A/C)
DEADPOOL VARIANT COVER BY TBA
• The titanic first arc comes to its conclusion as Kang's final salvo hits the Inhumans!
• Can Medusa, Black Bolt, The Human Torch, Beast and the rest stand up to the Time-Lord?
• You will not see this ending coming!
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99


Beast? What are you doing with The Inhumans? Go back to your own people, McCoy! They need you! Now more than ever!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's oddly enthralling to see Scarlet Witch has a title of her own for the first time since... Vision & The Scarlet Witch? Am I right in thinking that's her only time having her "own" title?

Yet I don't know what the point of this book could possibly be. My last encounter with Wanda was when she turned into the plot device to decimate the mutant population. So what are they doing with her now? Is this a Secret Wars version of Wanda, like everything else? And if so, where on earth-whatever is she stationed in their needlessly complicated multiversal thing? The Boise Savage Land? Hoboken-Valhalla? Where!?

And does SW mean they've hit the reset on her incredibly broken family history? Are we building from the ground up? Because if that's the case I'm completely onboard.

Shriner said...

I'm somebody who got the last Howard The Duck series. But I'm off the train for $4.99 issues -- considering I have *zero* interest in "Gwenpool".

My understanding is that it drops (...) back to $3.99 after the backup is done -- but that's too late for me.

SallyP said...

Squirrel Girl looks fantastic of course, but Patsy Walker's book looks like fun too. I love how Charles Soule writes, but the Inhumans really do nothing for me.

Peter said...

I am incredibly happy to see Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness reunite on Deadpool/Spider-Man, since it's this creative team that propelled Deadpool into the hilarious character he has become. Nicieza laid a lot of the groundwork beforehand, but Joe Kelly really made Wade Wilson both very funny and very tragic. And McGuinness's art on the original Deadpool ongoing was some of his earliest work, befitting the character and his outrageous supporting cast very well.

Here's hoping for a lengthy run of Spider-Man/Deadpool by Kelly/McGuinness although much like you I assume he'll be gone after the opening arc. I would hope that Kelly will at least match his stint on the original ongoing but knowing Marvel, there'll probably be a new #1 in the fall :)