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This
Week In Marvel 01/03/08
brought to you by Illusive
Comics and Games of Santa Clara
The cold, early days of January bring weight
loss resolutions, then after a Christmas flurry of special
events and one-shots, a blissful week of not much in the
comic book store. Of course, this year we need that empty
time to try to swallow "One More Day," as it still isn't
going down as smoothly as Marvel wants.
Nor, apparently, have the Annihilation
books been garnering much attention. This week, Annihilation
Conquest #3 hits, continuing the return of Adam
Warlock. In the right hands, Warlock could be interesting,
but almost every time he gets a revival, it's really just
a rehash of what has gone before. Writers Abnett and Lanning
infuse a little bit of the energy of Greg Pak's shot at
the character a couple of years back, but it still doesn't
bring anything new to what's going on.
Starlord also confuses me, as one of the
characters that instantly recognizes Ultron. For a guy that
spent most of his adult life fighting for justice on the
far side of the galaxy, it seems odd that Peter Jason Quill
knows his heretofore Earth-bound villains. Someone correct
me on that one, please. Overall, it's a competent enough
story, as Abnett and Lanning write great space opera. But
if you didn't read all the other tie-in books, it's hard
to find an emotional hook. Characters appear, get dealt
a temporary fate, and then disappear. By virtue of the whole
event's set-up, it's just too sprawling.
Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake,
Vampire Hunter makes her return to comics with issue
#7, after several months off while Marvel regrouped things
on the title. They broke off at an odd point, but what's
there to really say? Brett Booth's artwork still doesn't
have much variation to it, but at least provides a bridge
to next issue's debut of Ron Lim. Hopefully, Lim will be
able to pull things over into the realm of artistic satisfaction
and provide an actual reason to buy this book if you're
not a Hamilton fan. Right now, it's just barely above the
level of softcore doodling in an anime fan's Math binder.
Speaking of Guilty Pleasures, Marvel releases
an Exiles one-shot, Exiles: Days of Then and
Now to bridge between the end of one series and
the launch of a new one written by Chris Claremont. This
book provides a good jumping-on point, reliving highlights
of the previous team's adventures while playing with its
basic premise.
A variety of artists handle different chapters,
letting Marvel try out a few new pencilers and inkers without
too many people noticing. Most of it stands above competent,
and the main "alternate reality" featured feels like a classic
What If -- ? situation that perhaps should have been
saved for an actual What If -- ? special. It may
also ask the question "What if Warren Ellis finished Newuniversal?"
Another question plaguing me is "Who cares
about Moon Knight?" Mark Texeira has been doing some of
the best work of his career on a book that has simultaneously
been just unpleasant at best. A new writer has come aboard,
with Moon Knight #14 being mainly a check-in
of the status quo of all the characters. For some reason,
Moon Knight has registered with the government and beyond
that, um, he's still pretty vicious and violent while being
goaded on by the walking corpse of his benefactor, the god
Khonshu. I think I may have just saved you $2.99.
Certainly not unpleasant is Ms. Marvel
#23, even though I maintain that the current plotline
has to logically run afoul of World War Hulk. All
of Carol Danvers' past incarnations collide together as
she tries to wipe out a Brood nest that apparently the Brood
in Hulk's Warbound cannot sense.
Series Brian Reed has taken the basic premise
of an insecure superhero and done the very wise thing of
not making her ridiculously unsure of her abilities. Instead,
he has put her into situation after situation where she
barely has time to think, and surrounded Ms. Marvel with
a great supporting cast that almost even makes me like Arana.
Throw in the caustic Machine Man stuck on a Photon LMD body
- an image that should surely haunt all our dreams - and
Sleepwalker finally being effective in the mainstream Marvel
Universe, and you've got a fun if not particularly earth-shattering
book.
Not particularly fun but surely someday
we will regard it as literate, Omega the Unknown #4
continues being as obtuse as people remember Steve Gerber's
original series. Yet some of it feels very realistic, keeping
me going trying to figure out what all the outlandish elements
are going to mean. If nothing else, this is a noble experiment,
giving series artist Farel Dalrymple a good mainstream showcase
and allowing writer Jonathan Lethem an indulgent tribute
to comics before he goes back to the novel-writing upon
which he has made his reputation.
And because we cannot escape it, here comes
Thunderbolts #118. Finally, Warren Ellis deals
with the reality that eventually the public will notice
that this super-team are all pretty violent criminals, and
they're not really okay with that. The symbiote that turned
Scorpion into Venom turns on him, Doc Samson seems
to make a breakthrough with Penance, and everything turns
south. Luckily, nobody told Ellis about One More Day,
so he can play freely with Norman Osborne until somebody
figures out just how recent events in Spider-Man books change
everything for him.
As I said when Ellis and Mike Deodato first
took over this book, it provided a great set-up for a limited
series, commenting on the concept but ultimately with a
very clear ending. It's headed there now, and issue after
issue has kept that promise of good writing, good characterization
and a sense of finality.
Yet I can't shake the feeling Marvel has
an escape clause somewhere, and that's the thing keeping
me from truly loving any mainstream book from Marvel or
DC right now - I've got no sense that anything will be permanent,
that anything will be let to stand.
But at least Spidey has his mechanical
web-shooters back…
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