ALL NEW INHUMANS #1: Gorgon, Grid, and Flint arrive to a royal welcome in Australia while protestors have one of the NuHumans caged up. Crystal arrives to try to free the NuHuman and one of the protestors reveals that the Terrigen Mists have affected him. Gorgon and company show up and lend a hand. Later, they go to investigate a skyspear that has landed in Uluru. Translating a word on it, it reveals the word genocide. They get contacted by Swain, who informs Crystal that the cloud is heading towards Sin-Cong. In the back-up set three months before the events in the main story, we see that Crystal is using subterfuge to portray the Inhumans as Australia’s friends.
While this is a neat first issue, I’m not totally sold on it. I love these classic characters, but I’m not a fan of these NuHumans. What is worse is that there isn’t a whole lot of love for me with these other characters as they don’t seem to have a ton of depth to them. James Asmus and Charles Soule do a nice job of telling a story and the back-up, by Soule sets up the main tale. Stefano Caselli handles the art on the main story while Nico Leon does the same for the back-up and the two compliment each other so well you would think the same artist was handling both stories. Overall, the book was okay, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the other INHUMANS title.
ALL NEW X-MEN #1: The Warren Worthington from the past and Laura are skiing in Colorado and apparently are romantically involved. Meanwhile, Scott Summers from the past battles a group who worship the late Cyclops, leading to the rest of the team to come to his rescue.
Dennis Hopeless and Mark Bagley give us a tale of the displaced-in-time X-Men and their journey to find out who they are. Iceman has already come to grips with his sexuality and now the rest of the group needs to find their way in this world. This series has potential, for fans of these out of place heroes. Personally, I never really gravitated to them, but I’m sure Hopeless can find a way to make it work. Perhaps a Jack Kerouac road trip is in order.
DAREDEVIL #1: Daredevil is back in Hell’s Kitchen and is in the process of saving someone named Billy from the Tenfingers gang. In the process, the mysterious Blindspot shows up to land a hand. Later, Daredevil patches himself up at his longtime friend Foggy Nelson’s place, along with dumping Billy off until he is ready for trial. Matt Murdock is no longer a defense attorney-he’s now a prosecutor and Billy is his star witness. Elsewhere, we meet Tenfingers…who has ten fingers on each hand.
Well, Charles Soule has managed to infuse some much-needed life into Matt Murdock and Daredevil. Right off the bat, we have a costume redesign, which really scared people before this book came out. The red suit is gone and now he wears black. Apparently the world has forgotten that they all knew his secret identity, because it’s a secret once again. And Foggy Nelson, once on death’s door, looks pretty hefty and healthy again. Add into that Ron Garney’s art and you will immediately think of David Mazzucchelli and Frank Miller. This book is entertaining from page one to the end. And who is the mysterious Tenfingers who looks an awfully lot like The mandarin…but with TWENTY FINGERS!
GUARDIANS OF INFINITY #1: Rocket, Groot, and Drax meet the Guardians 3000 and they all meet another group of Guardians from the past. In the back-up, Ben Grimm and Rocket find themselves on a planet where professional wrestling is king.
Dan Abnett and Carlo Barberi give us a main story that throws out more questions than provides answers. How did our heroes end up in 3016? Who are these NEW Guardians? While I love Abnett’s work, I can’t find anything that makes me want to keep on with this series. Two Guardian titles with another on the way is two too many. The back-up by Jason Latour and Jim Cheung looks great but is too silly for my liking.
PATSY WALKER A.K.A. HELLCAT#1: Hellcat is out of work and living in a storage closet. She battles Telekinian, before getting him to turn over a new leaf and they team up together. That’s a good thing because he needs a roommate and she needs to get out of the closet. The issue ends with her getting as real job…in retail!
ENOUGH!!! Stop with the Batgirling, Squirrel Girling and Black Canarying of our super heroines! Kate Leth, Brittney L. Williams, and Megan Wilson are responsible for this mess and I DO MEAN MESS! So, not that I am against women in comics because some of the best creators in this business are women, but suddenly the Big Two seem to think that only female creators can creates female heroes. If that is the case, then I think the Big Two need to rethink themselves, as they have it all wrong. But…it’s not as wrong as this!
RED WOLF #1: It’s 1872 in the Western town of Timely and Red Wolf is doing his best to maintain order as the sheriff. Two people are found dead, looking as if they had been hit by lightning. Red Wolf and a boy named Alex agree to go off and investigate. They discover a stranger who is apparently from the future and wielding a powerful weapon that kills Alex, Deputy Santos and some other folk. Red Wolf hits the stranger’s power supply with his knife and that creates an explosion and transports a wounded Red Wolf to present day.
What I really liked about the 1872 SECRET WARS mini-series was that it was set in 1872. By moving Red Wolf from the past to the present just makes him another displaced time traveler in a universe filled with displaced travelers. So, it goes from being a fun look at characters related to the Marvel Universe and dumps the concept to a Stranger in a Strange Land tale. Nathan Edmondson wrote it in his usual flair while Dalibor Talajic did a cool job with the art. And I enjoyed the story…right up until our Native American hero got plopped into the present.
SCARLET WITCH #1: Wanda Maximoff wakes from a dream of the good old days of the Avengers. She has a discussion with her old mentor Agatha Harkness and then gets involved with a supernatural murder mystery, where she performs an exorcism. Later, she talks with Agatha as they both realize that someone or something is attacking magic.
I had high hopes for this series, with James Robinson at the literary helm. After all, Robinson’s last work was AIRBOY which blew me away! Unfortunately, it is a rambling attempt at trying to create Scarlet Witch from the ashes of the old. She has gone from a super heroine to a supernatural version of the Scooby gang. Vanesa Del Ray provides the art and it’s quirky enough. But I truly HATE the new costume and can’t get past the whole idea of Wanda Maximoff-Supernatural Detective.
SPIDEY #1: Peter Parker is doing his best to juggle fighting crime and school, which involves Gwen Stacey having to save him from a beating at the hands of Flash Thompson. Later, on a field trip to Oscorp, Doctor Octopus shows up to cause havoc and make Peter change into costume. Ock retreats as Spidey saves the day. In the end, Norman Osborn has a quick conversation with his other half, the Green Goblin.
I had hopes for this title, as it is set in the early days of Spider Man. And, even though it is rated T for Teen, it is pretty much an all ages book. Now, Robbie Thompson and Nick Bradshaw do a nice job on the title, but it is not the Spider Man I grew up with. Sure, I understand that this isn’t the 1960’s and life isn’t as innocent as it used to be. I don’t expect to see Gwen in mini-skirts, but I DO expect to see Harry and Norman Osborn with their trademark hair! So, if you’re a die-hard Parker fan, buy the book. If you’re a casual fan, or a part of the much younger generation, pick it up.
SQUADRON SUPREME #1: Eight months after their worlds ended, a group of super survivors have come together to figure out what to do now. SUPREME POWER’s Nighthawk, AVENGER'S WORLD’s Hyperion, NEW AVENGER’s Doctor Spectrum, the classic Power Princess and D.P. 7’s The Blur want to get revenge on the person responsible for destroying Spectrum’s planet: the Sub-Mariner. They destroy Atlantis and Hyperion uses his heat vision to decapitate Namor. While Thundra and Tyndall hope that the Squadron will be able to help Lord Arkon, the Uncanny Avengers plan on getting stopping them
Holy crap! Namor’s dead!? James Robinson and Leonard Kirk give us a blockbuster beginning to what I hope will be a long and successful run. And, by bringing together all these different characters from different places in what used to be the Marvel Universe and putting these refugees together as a vengeful team, Robinson cranks up the ante right from the beginning. Are they heroes or villains? Let’s not forget, as anyone who has read SUPREME POWERS, that this Kyle Richmond has issues.
STARBRAND AND NIGHTMASK #1: Starbrand and Nightmask are superheroes who are also college students. They meet Squirrel Girl and some other sand then get into it with Gravitron and Nitro.
Dear Comics Big Two: As a lifelong comic book fan, I have spent almost all of my life reading and enjoying the adventures of super and non-super heroes. So please do me a favor: STOP SCREWING WITH MY HEROES! C’mon: do we really need to drop these two rebooted heroes into college and have them hang with Squirrel Girl? Greg Weisman writes it and Domo Stanton draws it. And it does nothing for me! I would much rather read old issues of AMAZING SPIDER MAN where Peter Parker is trying to survive Empire State University than this. And it looked much better too!
TOTALLY AWESOME HULK #1: A monster emerges from the surf causing Amadeus Cho to finish eating quickly and head into action as the Totally Awesome Hulk. He defeats the creature and saves a girl and the boy she is babysitting, but causes him to lose him pants in the process. With the creature shrunk to miniature size, he takes the creature back to his sister and her flying food truck. Flashing back to four months ago, Bruce Banner’s Hulk absorbs a dangerous amount of radiation, with the final results being unknown. Back in the present, Cho is again fighting monsters, this time paired up with She Hulk and Miles Morales. Just when you think things are going well, Lady Hellbender shows up.
This has been one of the most talked about and highly anticipated Marvel titles to be announced in recent months. And I’m happy to say it does not disappoint. Greg Pak delivers a fun and funny story with one of the world’s smartest men in the role of the big green guy. How he got there and what happened to Bruce Banner in the process is still a mystery. But hey: this is only the first issue! Oh yeah: Monkey Boy himself, Frank Cho, is the artist on this book and, in typical Frank Cho fashion, he totally delivers! Yeah…this book needs to be on your reserve list.
WEIRDWORLD #1: Meet Becca Rodriguez. She is in a strange place called Weirdworld and she meets Goleta the Wizardslayer. Apparently one of the wizards in Morgan LeFay.
I had great hopes for this, after the way the SECRET WARS series started. But even that went downhill fast. This one started out confusing and got more ridiculous as it went. Is the great rebooting of classic universes all about giving us new characters who represent our diverse culture? I understand the world isn’t about only white, heterosexual superheroes anymore. But we have had black, Spanish, gay, drug addicted, paranoid characters before. This is nothing new. And this book wants to pave new roads but just travels down a boring one. Mike Del Mundo’s art, a great holdover from the mini-series can’t save Sam Humphries’ story.
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