When It Reigns It Pours

Secret Invasion ended last week. I wish there was more to say about it than that, but that’s pretty much what happened. It ended abruptly, Wasp died, and then we quickly got away from that Skrull nonsense and jumped into Dark Reign mode, the next Marvel cross-title gimmick.

We should be used to this by now - the massive build up into the crossover and the quick deflation, which happened with House of M, Civil War and World War Hulk. And we should also be used to the way a new status quo is set.

Now this is probably due to Bendis’ style of writing, throwing several characters together and seeing what happens. But what we are continually seeing is another team or sets of teams thrown together, pulled by their respective stories and redefining Marvel due to the new situations they get thrust into. Of course that’s what always happens, I guess, but let’s look at the Illuminati, the New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Secret Warriors and now the Dark Reign team. These groups are just cobbled together for invented reasons, so that random and now important characters can bounce off of each other. Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Shows Us The Way!

I was skeptical. Fabian Nicieza really defined the character and brought him to the zany, fourth dimensional limits we all have come to expect from this character. Daniel Way’s run of Wolverine: Origins was lackluster, having what seemed like a single fight taking five issues.

I read those Wolverine issues, and I swear that this Deadpool is almost from a different writer. This new Deadpool is on par with Nicieza’s. What I mean is Way’s previous Deadpool read like watered down Nicieza, almost what Way thought Deadpool should be written like. But this Deadpool from the new Secret Invasion tied-in series is brand new and rustic old.

If you are a fan of Deadpool, I highly recommend this continuation. This series was always one that recognized the craziness of comics, and having a reality check from time to time again is essential for us nerds. Plus, reality checks are always best accompanied by big guns and pop culture references.

Marvel’s big secret has been unveiled - I think. The black-and-white image I previously posted will deal with Marvel’s upcoming Dark Reign branding stories. Basically, titles will have “Dark Reign” printed on the cover and they will deal with this new phase of the Marvel Universe.

Personally, this isn’t as exciting an announcement as I thought it’d be. We don’t really know what Dark Reign is, and the other two mysterious ads in comics recently were not linked to this event. I think the biggest news was Bendis’ stating he’s finished with Mighty Avengers after issue 20.

Regardless, I hope Dark Reign or whatever the conclusion of Secret Invasion is called will bring some slower pace to the Marvel Universe and allow stories to be told for awhile without being hijacked for crossovers.

For British Eyes Only

Many people don’t pay attention to a series after the first issue. The marketing departments of big companies hype the launching of the first book, but never really follow up. What I mean is that each issue deserves attention, and while a series looses its popularity as it goes on, comic readers should follow the entirety of a series, not just the first issue.

So how is Paul Cornell’s Captain Britain and MI-13 doing since it’s first issue?

This is the British book and practical in terms of the Marvel Universe. We needed this book to address what the British super heroes are doing during the Skrull invasion. The Marvel universe is a universe of implications, where one thing from one comic can affect the course of another. The excuse for this series is to explore Bendis’ Secret Invasion implications, but also slightly addresses issues presented in Cornell’s Wisdom, the newer Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos miniseries and in my mind, the end of Marc Guggenheim’s Blade run. Read the rest of this entry »

Marvel comics have a unique philosophy when it comes to their super hero universe - everything that has ever been published is considered to have “happened” in the comics. But, while Spider-man’s actions in the 90s crossover event Inferno are part of the character’s history, the subsequent issues have absorbed that storyline and its implications fade away. While everything has happened, not everything is important. This way, new readers can easily jump into the current issues.

Secret Invasion presents a problem - the premise is that Skrulls have been invading Earth for years and almost everything in the Marvel Universe, mostly the works of Brian Michael Bendis (which are the flagship titles like New Avengers and crossovers), hold clues to who is a Skrull and what is going on. Read the rest of this entry »

Skrulls and Crumpets

Following Chris Claremont’s run on New Excalibur, Paul Cornell (Doctor Who, Wisdom) takes over Britain’s premier Marvel super team. The Skrulls are invading, and Captain Britain and Wisdom’s team from Wisdom are fighting the Secret Invasion Skrulls as they attempt to conquer Avalon, the source of Britain’s magic.

Cornell has already proved himself a clever, witty writer with Wisdom where he created fun, unique characters like the Skrull Beatles and Captain Midlands. This kind of wanton absurdity, treated seriously, is a fun way to explore comics. Also, as a British writer, Cornell does not use this issue to name drop and establish the non-American setting and writers more about the super hero action.

All in all, a fun book. One of the only comics I’m looking forward to read each month.

Images courtesy Marvel

According to a recent Marvel press release:

“With Secret Invasion in full swing, Hercules’ sister Athena has banded together a sacred group of deities to face the imminent Skrull threat! Incredible Hercules #117, a tie-in to the red-hot Secret Invasion event, gives you a front row seat to a battle of divine proportions. In this issue, the critically acclaimed writing team of Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente unveil the premiere appearance of the all new GOD SQUAD, including fan-favorite Snowbird!” Read the rest of this entry »

This was a Marvel heavy week for me - mainly due to Deadpool. That’s not to say there wan’t more out from other publishers that deserves to be looked at, of course.

Deadpool Classic Vol. 1 TPB (Marvel) - This is a chronological reprinting of all of Deadpool’s major first appearances, hopefully leading into more volumes.

Deadpool vs. The Marvel Universe TPB (Marvel) - The end of Cable & Deadpool. This is where Deadpool teamed up with Wolverine, the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, the Mighty Avengers and fights Venom-ized dinosaurs! This also addresses story points from the first Deadpool series, which hopefully we’ll see in trade form down the line. Read the rest of this entry »

Please Don’t Sue

Cape never got off his Man With Spider-like Attributes kick. These two weeks were sort of a “why not?” idea, and I figured if they were going to “crossover” with any hero, it might as be the one hero in comicdom who has teamed-up with the most heroes (including all the DC ones, too). I wanted to stretch this out as much as I could, so I threw in a Scarlet Man With Spider-Like Attributes and a Scrooge McDuck reference. Read the rest of this entry »

Secret Invasion #1 (Marvel) - Marvel’s big crossover event begins here! This is the comic that defines Marvel for the next few months.

Hulk: Planet Hulk TPB (Marvel) - What happened before Secret Invasion? World War Hulk, that’s what! This is the lead up for jolly green and how our favorite gamma-irradiated scientist became the king of a world.

Shazam: The Greatest Stories Ever Told TPB (DC) - A compilation of Captain Marvel stories, from his first appearance to his later 90s series. As not many definitive chronological collections have been offered at this point, this is really all Shazam fans have got!

The Boys #17 (Dynamite) - Storylines converge as a ghost from Huey’s past literally has a bone to pick with him.

Brit #5 (Image) - Robert Kirkman’s fun series about an immortal and the crazy world he lives in continues. Kirkman is really good with disposable ideas and characters, using fun and bizarre entities in the background or filler (I’m talking buzz saw-laden animals here, people).