Marvel's April previews reviewed

I have nothing snarky or relevant to say about the cover of Omega Flight #1. I just posted it above because I really like how the red maple leaf of the Canadian flag is used as a sort of comic book-y explosion, encasing the whole team in a "scream" graphic. I have no particular feelings about any of the characters involved or the past incarnations of the Alpha Flight name, but I may check this out to see if the interiors are as well-cosntructed as the exterior. Guy Maddin remains my dream writer for a Marvel book about Canada's superheroes, however.


ULTIMATE VISION #5 (of 5) Written by MIKE CAREY. Pencils and Cover by BRANDON PETERSON. The Gah Lak Tus module is sinking its alien cables down into the Earth’s core as it draws the planet’s elemental energies deep into itself. And the only chance Ultimate Vision has to defeat the module is—to talk it to death! And when the Vision speaks—run for cover! A fitting finale to one of the finer limited series of the year.

“A fitting finale?” That may just be the most equivocal and uncommitted statement about a book’s quality I’ve ever seen in a solicitation. And that’s Marvel’s marketing people talking. It’s like whoever was writing it just couldn’t bring themselves to say that the last issue was any good at all.


CIVIL WAR: FALLEN SON – WOLVERINE (NOTE: NOT ACTUAL TITLE) Written by JEPH LOEB. Pencils and Cover by LEINIL YU. Variant Cover by MICHAEL TURNER. How will Wolverine react to the death of one the most beloved characters in the Marvel Universe? He ain't buyin' it! Join Logan as he tries to track down the truth and he's not going to be happy when he does! The secret story that will transverse the post Civil War landscape—stars Marvel's most popular characters—begins here! How do people with amazing powers face a force that no one can fight? Who has fallen, and is more violence coming? With Wolverine on the scene, is there any question? Be there as superstar Jeph Loeb teams with the industry's top artists on a story that will have everyone talking! Loeb! Leinil! Logan

CIVIL WAR: FALLEN SON – NEW AVENGERS (NOTE: NOT ACTUAL TITLE) Written by JEPH LOEB. Pencils and Cover by ED MCGUINNESS. Variant Cover by MICHAEL TURNER. The devastating end of Civil War has two decidedly different reactions from the Mighty Avengers and the New Avengers! If you thought heroes were divided during the War, just wait until the aftermath! That's right, it's both teams in one book, and we got the superstar team from Superman/Batman – Jeph Loeb & Ed McGuinness – to take on Earth's Mightiest Heroes…and the Avengers Assemble like never before!

Man, it’s not often that solicitations elicit a laugh out loud response, but these one’s did. I love the parenthetical statement about the titles—So, Civil War #7 is now officially so behind schedule that it’s causing Marvel marketing problems even announcing books three months away?

And if they’re concerened about the title being a spoiler in and of itself, why not just go with something like Civil War Aftermath: Wolverine instead of putting the name of the dead person in the title?

As for who that dead person they’re all grieving over is, Newsaramians seem to think it’s either Captain America or Iron Man. It’s worth noting that the only four major players who seem missing from these solicitations, and all talk of Marvel’s future storylines, seem to be Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Cap and Tony Stark (the Iron Man armor appears repeatedly, but it could be Howard the Duck piloting it and you wouldn’t be able to tell).

Given the presence of the armor (and an Iron Man movie on the horizon) and of a new “Ronin” character conveniently in Captain America’s old New Avengers team, I think it’s more likely that Reed or Sue die (their movie franchise isn’t very good anyway) or, even more likely, it’s a cleverly faked death, perhaps on the parts of more than one player.

I really have no interest in reading anything with the name “Jeph Loeb” attached after suffering through his godawful Superman/Batman and Supergirl runs, but I have a feeling these will be the sorts of books that are required reading for anyone who devotes themselves to writing about comic books for a living.


SPIDER-MAN/FANTASTIC FOUR #1 (of 4) Written by JEFF PARKER. Pencils and Cover by MIKE WIERINGO. Two great tastes that taste great together! The world's greatest super hero and the world's greatest super team collide for an adventure set nowhere near a CIVIL WAR (and upon which we will not put a CIVIL WAR TIE-IN label)! After a visit by the Impossible Man, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is faced with a dangerous new alien threat for which he has only one recourse...call in the Fantastic Four. Separately, Spidey and the FF are the foundation of the Marvel Universe. Together...they just may save it.

After Marvel Adventures Avengers and Agents of Atlas, I think it’s safe to say that any Marvel book with the name Jeff Parker on it deserves a look. And this one looks especially promising, as it features several of Marvel’s most fun characters, and sweet, sweet Mike Wieringo art.



MARVEL ILLUSTRATED: JUNGLE BOOK Written by MARY JO DUFFY & GIL KANE. Penciled by GIL KANE. Cover by P. CRAIG RUSSELL. The saga of Mowgli and his brothers, adapted from Rudyard Kipling's THE JUNGLE BOOK by comics legends Gil Kane and P. Craig Russell! Originally presented in MARVEL FANFARE #8-11. Includes sneak previews for the upcoming Marvel Illustrated line of books featuring the Last of the Mohicans and more! 64 PGS./ $2.99

Woah, woah, woah…Gil Kane, P. Craig Russell, 64 pages and $2.99? Jesus, and I thought the Showcases and Essentialss were good deals...





AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #1 (of 6) Written by DAN SLOTT. Penciled by STEFANO CASELLI. 50/50 Covers by JIM CHEUNG. CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!

BLACK PANTHER #27 Written by REGINALD HUDLIN. Penciled by MANUEL GARCIA. Cover by NIKO HENRICHON. CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!

FANTASTIC FOUR #545Written by DWAYNE MCDUFFIE. Penciled by PAUL PELLETIER. Cover by MICHAEL TURNER. CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!

IRON MAN #17 Written by DANIEL KNAUF & CHARLIE KNAUF. Penciled by PATRICK ZIRCHER. Cover by GERALD PAREL. CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!

MS. MARVEL #14Written by BRIAN REED. Penciled by AARON LOPRESTI. Cover by GREG HORN. CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!

NEW AVENGERS #29Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS. Pencils and Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU. CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!

SHE-HULK #18 Written by DAN SLOTT. Penciled by RICK BURCHETT. Cover by GREG HORN. Planet Without a Hulk: Part 4 of 4. CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!

I’m not sure if Marvel “classifying” the solicitation for these particular books is just the company trying to be cute or trying to screw with retailers or a mixture of both, but they’re pretty silly.

Even sillier still is the proposition that they’re not trying to be cute or purposely irritate retailers, but honestly think there’s nothing to say about these books that wouldn’t spoil the ending of Civil War.

I mean, no one could come up with even an extremely vague sentence or two about any of these titles, the covers of which are all released at the same time, and the authors of which have done rather extensive interviews about the contents of the books? It can’t be that hard. Here, I’ll do one for you Marvel, for Black Panther #27, the cover of which is above: “The First Family of Wakanda pays a visit to the First Family of the Marvel Universe, but what brings Black Panther and Storm to the Baxter Building in the aftermath of the Civil War?” It ain’t rocket science.





HEROES FOR HIRE #9 Written by ZEB WELLS. Penciled by CLAY MANN. Cover by MICHAEL GOLDEN. Welcoming the new creative team of Zeb Wells (Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways) and Clay Mann (Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four)! The Heroes are offered a mark that will make them rich, but it comes with conditions... 1) They have to work with the treacherous Paladin, 2) They have to travel to the Savage Land, and 3) They're hunting a Tyrannosaurus Rex!

Well, this book didn’t keep its creative team very long. I generally have zero interest in this title, but the fact that the Tyrannosaurus seems to be red and seems to have a hairy little monkey thing behind it makes me think that this isn’t just any T-Rex, but Jack Kirby’s Devil Dinosaur and Moonboy, which means it may be worth a read. And speaking of Devil Dinosaur, where the hell is Essential Devil Dinosaur at?


MARVEL ADVENTURES THE AVENGERS #12Written by JEFF PARKER. Penciled by JUAN ROMAN & CANO SANTACRUZ. Cover by CAMERON STEWART. The skies of Earth are a boiling tempest. Tidal waves threaten the coasts. A large dark force draws closer. Is it Armageddon? Naw, that's love in the air, baby... Ego style!

First, this, and now Ego the Living Planet in love? Marvel Adventures Avengers is not only the best Avengers title on the shelves, it features by far the best covers on the shelves. If you like this sort of thing, anyway. Me, I love it.



CIVIL WAR: FRONT LINE BOOKS 1 & 2 TPB Written by PAUL JENKINS. Penciled by RAMON BACHS, STEVE LIEBER, LEE WEEKS & MORE. Covers by JOHN WATSON. In “Embedded,” there’s a truth buried deep in the heart of every war, and reporters Sally Floyd and Ben Urich will be there, uncovering that truth in the midst of the biggest conflagration in the Marvel Universe! In the wake of the Stamford disaster, the public cries out for super hero registration. Are the costumed heroes of the Marvel Universe protectors or ticking time bombs? Find out here! And in “The Accused,” the lone survivor of the team that caused the Stamford tragedy has been found. But living through one of the worst super human disasters in history may be the worst thing that could happen, as this vilified hero is placed under arrest for the deaths of an entire town. Unfortunately, the trouble’s just beginning. Also featuring “Sleeper Cell,” starring Wonder Man, and true tales of war time in “Correspondence."

I’m almost as disappointed with this announcement as I was with the 52 trade announcement yesterday. Like 52, Frontline was presented in an admirable trade-busting format, one that worked against wait-for-the-trade-ism in that the book was laid out so peculiarly that it was difficult to imagine how they would collect it into a trade. Each issue featured two to four serialized stories, three of which would run from issue to issue.

I was expecting them to collect “Embedded” as a trade of its own, and perhaps “The Accused” as a trade of its own as well. If not, an “Accused” and “Sleeper Cell” trade might work (although, at this point, collecting “Sleeper Cell” at all seems an odd move; other than showing that the Registration Act is indeed a backdoor draft, it has yet to connect to the rest of the “Civil War” storyline).

And I only found one or two of the “Correspondence” stories, the ill-conceived back-ups which drew direct parallels between real wars and Marvel’s superhero crossover*, tolerable. In general, they were a bad idea badly executed, and most fell somewhere between being in extremely bad taste and being outright offensive (See Paul Jenkins argue the point with fans here).

I was honestly rather surprised to see Marvel print these stories once. I’m downright shocked they’re going to print them each twice.


*And not through metaphor, but by blatant, ham-fisted juxtaposition, essentially saying, “The use of mustard gas to slaughter soldiers in World War I is kinda like when the Green Goblin pumpkin-bombed those blue-skinned Atlanteans, isn’t it?”