More first issues reviewed

ARCHIE & FRIENDS#1 by Dan Parent. In this world of twisted takes on the Riverdale gang, it’s nice to see a straight forward, old school Archie comic. This one, called MUSIC JAM, features a handful of tales involving Archie and his band. Parent is a long time Archie artist in the classic style and every now and then…that’s what you need. No twisted plots, lots of inside jokes, some of which are plain silly, and a clean, non-threatening book for children of all ages. And let’s not forget the killer cover by Jeff Schultz. Next time around, it’s BEACH PARTY.

AVENGERS NO ROAD HOME #1 by Mark Waid, Al Ewing, Jim Zub and Paco Medina. This weekly mini-series, the grounds of which were set in motion during last year’s mini-series, starts with the destruction of Olympus and all of those gods, which seriously pisses off Hercules. The big baddie here is Nyx and even Voyager is back. For completists, these issues have a legacy numbering in addition to it’s own self-contained numbering. The story is a bit on the winding side, which you could expect with three writers putting in their two cents worth, but the art is gorgeous!

BLACK WIDOW #1 by Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska and Flaviano. The twins of horror, known for such movies as DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK and SEE NO EVIL 2, come on board with the adventures of the presumed dead Avenger who has been hiding out since SECRET WAR ended. There were high hopes for this title and this issue, which deals with Tasha and Cap fighting against a Cap impersonator, is a letdown. I was hoping for some dark, gritty stuff and it just feels…light. Flaviano’s art is kind of cartoony and is a little inconsistent. And there is a big bad at the end of the book who looks to be a super powered pimp. Is this really what I want in a Black Widow title?  

CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 by Kelly Thompson and Carmen Carnero. She’s the hottest superhero going at the moment, with the new movie dropping in March and her back issues going through the roof. So now, Marvel drops a new #1 on us to whet out appetite. Coming out of her mini-series that redefined her origin, Carol Danvers is back on Earth, dealing with that knowledge, the death of her mother and the resurrection of her man Rhodey. She is also dealing with getting hit on by Tony Stark. So, by the end, she is in another world with a new team of unknowns. Thompson does some nice stuff and possibly some of her best work since HAWKEYE, despite the obvious man-hating jabs throughout. Truly, this was a pleasant surprise.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN #1 by Jason Aaron and Mahmud Asrar. After many years at Dark Horse and a very disappointing crossover with Wonder Woman as their last gasp, Robert E. Howard’s legendary hero is back home again where it all began almost a half century ago: Marvel. It begins with a beautiful collage featuring some of the classic art by some of those Marvel artists most associated with Conan and then runs headlong into a tale that ops between the past and the present, where Conan is king. Overall, it’s a fun story with a decent amount of plot, back story devices and action. All hail the King!

COSMIC GHOST RIDER DESTROYS MARVEL HISTORY #1 by Paul Scheer, Nick Giovannetti and Gerardo Sandoval. After much fanfare with advance press, Marvel unleashes this obvious cash grab. Well, what was promised is not quite what gets developed. The Cosmic Ghost Rider shows up in the recent past, where he meets up with his wife and kids. Obviously, this is before Frank’s family gets killed and The Punisher is born. So Frank’s “uncle” relates a story of how the Ghost Rider became a part of the Fantastic Four. Obviously, the whole story is totally made-up and that’s the only way it works. It’s Cosmic Frank retelling his view of the origins of the Marvel Universe. Don’t expect Earth changing things here…it’s just a little bit of silly fun.

CRYPT OF SHADOWS #1 by Al Ewing, Garry Brown, Stephen Green and Djobril Morissette-Phan. During the horror boom of the Seventies that brought us FRANKENSTEIN, WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, TALES OF THE ZOMBIE and more, Marvel produced a series of horror anthologies which featured new and reprinted material. In honor of their 80^th anniversary, Marvel gives us this one shot with three tales with a connection. It’s not E.C., but it is nice to see. Not the best food forward, except for the variant cover that feels like a Fifties horror title. A shame the insides didn’t live up to the expectation. For my dollar, I’d rather read one of the various horror reprint collections out there.

DAREDEVIL #1 by Chip Zfarsjy and Marco Checchetto. The Man Without Fear is back from the almost dead and ready to take back his spot in the world of superheroes. After a pretty useless mini-series that told tales which Matt Murdock was comatose, he’s out of the dreamworld and finds himself accused of killing a small-time crook. Looks like Wilson Fisk is back in the business of discrediting his biggest enemy. Also included is a short silent tale by Zdarsky. Basically, the book picks up from the previous run and probably didn’t need a new numbering system, although it does follow the Legacy numbering. If you were a fan of the old series, you will like this one, even with the addition of Zdarsky as the new scriber.

DOMINO HOT SHOTS #1 by Gail Simone and David Baldeon. With the end of the DOMINO series, which I really enjoyed, we get this mini-series which actually feels like a continuation of the regular series. Because it is. If you enjoyed that series, you will love this. The art is great, the story is fun and Simone’s characters and dialogue are sharp.

FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #1 by Tom Taylor, Juann Cabal and Marcelo Ferreira. Marvel ends their PETER PARKER title and comes back with this. Initial reports said this is all ages and allegedly out of continuity, but I question that. It is designed to focus more on Peter’s alter ego fighting street level crime in his neighborhood instead of big villains and this issue truly delivers that. The story is nicely written and has some great sentimental notes in it. But the back-up, by Taylor and Ferreira, drops some stuff that I find hard to believe is out of continuity. It’s a heavy plot drop that I really can’t believe won’t pop up as a plot point going forward in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Overall, I recommend this title if you’re a Spidey fan.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1 by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw. So, Thanos is dead and the universe has taken note. But, as always, the beheaded Thanos has a plan which would allow him to be resurrected. That leads to a wild ride which results in a reborn Guardians of the Galaxy with a ragtag group of heroes. Gone are Gamora, Rocket and Drax but now on board, whether they ant to be or not, are Star Lord, Groot, Moondragon, Phyla, Beta Ray Bill and the Cosmic Ghost Rider. Leave it to Cates to turn up the heat on what was a dead franchise. This was a ton of fun and I look forward to the next issues.

GUNHAWKS #1 by David Lapham, Maria Lapham and Luca Pizzari. Back in the day, Marvel was all about superheroes, romance titles, war books and Westerns. In this 80^th anniversary throwback one-shot, the Laphams, the driving forces behind STRAY BULLETS, tell a tale of a sheriff with a price on his head by the Soldaderas. Pizzari’s painted art is beautiful and the story is a typical Lapham jaunt with gunfights and a lot of heart. This was one of my favorites of the 80^th anniversary one-shots because it just touched back to simpler times with a twist.

INFINITY WARS INFINITY #1 by Gerry Duggan and Mark Bagley. The one-shot is a nice epilogue which ties up some dangling plot points from the mini-series but then drops a bomb into the ending which will lead to another mini-series. Adam Warlock has taken the Infinity Stones away from the heroes and is allowing them to find their own users. That’s the major plot point here as to where those stones end up and who has them.  Well written and expertly drawn by Bagley, it’s a fun piece that will set the table for the next great series.

INVADERS #1 by Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno and Butch Guice. I passed on the recent DEFENDERS reboot, which, along with recent issues of AVENGERS, has established Namor as a bad guy again, meaning he has had more face/heel turns than most Professional Wrestlers. With Zdarsky at the helm, known mostly for writing ARCHIE and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, I didn’t have high hopes for this title and the characterization of our heroes and villain. But I will totally admit that I was mistaken. Set both in the days of the World War II Invaders and in the present, the art shines and the story is fun. I was a huge fan of the classic 1970’s Invaders stories and I don’t see this attaining the same heights, but I like where it is going, especially bringing in some of those classic heroes like the original Human Torch. So this may end up on my pull list while BLACK WIDOW, which I had planned to add, may not.

JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS #1 by Cullen Bunn, Clay McLeod Chapman, Guillermo Sanna and Francesco Manna. Marvel again visits it’s past in the 80^th Anniversary one-shot. Two tales of a science fiction/fantasy nature are presented here. In the first, we have a team of scientists , an alien skeleton and a twist. In the second, a boy scout outing and a ghost story turns ugly when an alien arrives. All in all, it as old school 50’s style fun.

LOVE ROMANCES #1 by Gail Simone, Margaux Motin, Dennis “Hopeless” Hallum, Jon Adams, Roge Antonio, Pacco Dorwling-Carter, and Annapaola Martello. The 80^th anniversary one-shots continue with four tales of unrequited love and lust. I was never a fan of the romance titles but this one has some nice twists to the stories and art styles which, in many cases, seem to come from Indy comics or even harken back to the old Warren line of horror books. Truly, for me, the highlight as the variant cover of Spidey and Mary Jane, by Russell Dauterman.

MAJOR X #1 by Rob Liefeld. Well, the man who helped create Cable and Deadpool is back. In a tale set in the past, Major X debuts in a big, bold, brash title with lots of action and not much substance. While it is some of Liefeld’s best artwork in some time, the story falls flat, even with guest appearances from Beast, Wolverine, Cable and Deadpool. Oh…and a last page reveal of who Major X is and it’s just another red herring, I’m sure.

SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH #1 by Kelly Thompson and Veronica Fish. Fans of the CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA series will be severely disappointed with this one. Where the last series was all about creepy, horror stuff this is a light-hearted book that owes as much to the old TV series as it does to the classic ARCHIE series. Oh sure: there are mystical pieces and a scary monster too. But, all in all, it’s a nice, fun little book without the scary elements.

SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN #1 by Gerry Duggan and Ron Garney. Marvel continues mining old classic characters with a second CONAN title, now that they have gotten the license for this character back. Set in the days of a younger Conan, it’s a typical sword slinging adventure with our hero fighting, drinking and loving. Duggan’s story is truly influenced by the groundwork laid many years ago by Roy Thomas and Garney’s art truly feels like his own take on the John Buscema style. This was good Cimerian fun!

SPIDER-MAN: LIFE STORY #1 by Chip Zdarsky and Mark Bagley. Here’s a real unique take on the story of Peter Parker. This mini-series will follow Peter and his cast as they move through life, starting in 1966 with Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, as a 19-year-old college student. The book is filled with familiar faces including Gwen, Harry, Norman, JJJ, Flash and more. The series to promise Peter through his life to the present, which means we will get to see them all age in real time. Zdarsky’s story hits home telling a tale of turbulent times and the war in Vietnam. Bagley’s art shines as always. Can’t wait to read this rest of this series.

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #1 by Christos Gage and Mike Hathorne. Spinning out of recent events in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and the recent SPIDERGEDDON mini-series, Otto Octavious is back as a “hero”. He’s been reborn in a new body and a new identity and he’s determined to split his time between working at Horizon University with his old girlfriend Anna and fighting bad guys. I was especially thrilled to see Stilt Man open the book and Terrax end it. But it’s just an okay tale with a character I find still works best as a super villain and not a wanna-be hero.

TUROK #1 by Ron Marz and Roberto Castro. I grew up as a huge fan of the Gold Key characters, especially Dr. Spektor, Solar, Magnus and Turok, although finding those books were not as easy as finding Marvel and DC books on my local newsstand. When Valiant brought these heroes back, I was thrilled. And then we have had to suffer through some reboots from Dynamite which were not exactly for my taste. But this book, by legendary writer Ron Marz is going to my youth! Bringing back Turok, Andar and the Lost Valley just means, despite having a sparse story thus far, we’re looking at some classic dinosaur meet cowboys stuff. And Castro’s art is gorgeous! So happy to have a book which looks to have great potential.

UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #1 by Ed Brisson and Carlos Gomez. Spoiler: Cyclops is back from the dead, like most heroes and villains in comics history, and this “first” annual is all about his rebirth. It seems that it goes back 13 years ago when a young Cyclops saved a man and now, so many years later, “young Cable” shows up and gets the guy to reverse engineer a device to bring Scott back from the dead…twice. So now the mutant boy scout is back and teamed up with a version of his son to lead the mutant revolution. Interesting…

WAR IS HELL #1 by Howard Chaykin, Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Alberto Alburuerque. As part of their 80^th anniversary, Marvel presents another of their rebooted one-shot of classic titles in their history. WAR IS HELL was a short-lived anthology title during the Seventies and this one picks up the baton here. A great World War II tale by legendary creator Chaykin which  shines as the highlight here while Johnson’s tale set in Afghanistan is fitting but doesn’t have the same bite that Chaykin’s does, either from a story standpoint or artistic. Overall, it’s a fun book with a great variant cover by Greg Land.

WOLVERINE INFINITY WATCH #1 by Gerry Duggan and Andy MacDonald. Well, the old Canucklehead is back from the dead and now he is in charge of finding the Infinity Stones. He meets with Loki, who fills him in on what he missed during his death, and also the future Wolverine, who possesses the Pheonix force. So he’s looking for Stones and so are the Chitauri. The story is a bit rambling with a lot of the issue spent getting our hero up to speed and the art has a nice Barry Kitson feel to it. Seek out the George Perez variant, you’ll be very happy with it!

X-FORCE #1 by Ed Brisson and Dylan Burnett. The “other” mutant team is back as Domino and company put the band back together. Along with Domino is Shatterstar, Warpath, Cannonball, Deathlok and the young Nate Summers. Also along for the ride is Boom-Boom, although not quite back with the team. I was hoping for a great book here, but unfortunately while the story is fun the art work is a little hard to swallow. When we first see the team, I found it hard to figure who was who and wasn’t 100% sure that Cannonball was on the team until Domino called him by name. I’m uncertain if I will be around for issue #2, as much as I look forward to the adventures of this rogue team.

ZIGGY PIG SILLY SEAL #1 by Frank Tieri, John Cerilli and Jacob Chabot. As part of Marvel’s 80^th Anniversary, we get another throwback one-shot. Yes: funny animal comics were once a thing and this is a nice nod to those books, especially the original version of this that was published back in the Forties. A whole of bunch of classic characters show up including Doctor Doom and…Method Man? Wow! Didn’t see that comin’! This was a fun way to end up these tribute books.